Psalm 119:85

We are working our way through the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Caph.  In this octave the psalmist is obviously experiencing prolonged stress with no relief in sight.  In the foregoing verse we saw that the source of this stress was persecution.  In today’s verse we find the psalmist’s persecutors identified as the proud.

Psalms 119:85  The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.

In previous verses, which we have already considered, we saw the psalmist being troubled by the proud.  Recall that the proud are those that are so full of themselves that they defy Almighty God and His servants.  They will reject and resist anyone that crosses their will. 

The proud had had him “greatly in derision” (verse 51).  They mocked him.  They had “forged a lie against” him (verse 69).  They invented falsehoods against him.  And he wrote:  “they dealt perversely with me without a cause” (verse 78).  They did not treat him right.  Now we find the proud digged pits for him.

The proud were obviously out to get the psalmist.  Something about his life exposed them in such a way that they had to rid themselves of him.  So they digged pits for him.  They deliberately, with malice aforethought, devised ways to trap the psalmist.  And they didn’t just dig one pit; they digged pits, plural.  They made numerous and varied attempts to trap him, first digging a pit here and then another there thinking he would surely stumble into one of them.  This reminds us of the attempts made by the scribes and Pharisees to entrap our Lord in His words so they could have some cause against Him.    

Luke 11:53  And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:

54    Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.

The pits that the proud digged for the psalmist were not after thy law.  God’s law warns us against devising evil against our neighbour.

Proverbs 3:29  Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

God’s law commands us to love our neighbour as ourselves rather than trying to destroy him.  So any such pit as the proud were digging was not after God’s law. 

But, alas, the proud who dig pits for the righteous will themselves fall into the pits they have dug.  So that we may say, when you set out to destroy someone else who has done you no wrong, you are really digging your own grave.

Psalms 57:6  They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.

Proverbs 26:27  Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.

In contrast to the pit-digging proud, let us rejoice with thanksgiving for our humble and lowly Saviour Who came into this world, not to dig a pit for us, but to deliver us from the pit.

Psalms 40:2  He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

John 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Psalm 119:84

Have you ever encountered a stressful situation which seemed to drag on and on to the point that you wondered how long you were going to live with it?  In fact, you wondered how long you were going to live, period!  If so, you are in the company of the author of Psalm 119, for we find him wondering the same thing. 

Psalms 119:84  How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?

As we have been noticing in this octave of Psalm 119, the psalmist was in a comfortless condition that was stretching out in front of him with no relief in sight.  From this passage we can deduce that prolonged persecution was the source of his stress.  As the persecution continued to wear him down, he became weary of life and, therefore, asked:  How many are the days of thy servant?  One’s life can become so distasteful that he begins to wish for it to end and to wonder how long it will be before it does.   

Job shared the sentiments of the psalmist as he too was the object of persecution, not only from the devil who was smiting him, but even from his friends.

Job 19:21  Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

22    Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

Job suffered prolonged misery and could find no relief during the day or during the night.  Therefore, he longed to die and end his days on this earth.

Job 7:1  Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?

2  As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:

3  So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

4  When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.

13  When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;

14  Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:

15  So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.

16  I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.

Now the psalmist posed this question to his God:  when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?  That God will execute judgment on the persecutors of His people is a given.

Psalms 7:11  God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

12  If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.

13  He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.

When God will execute this judgment is the question.  Of course, God will ultimately execute judgment on our enemies at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:6  Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

7  And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

8  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

9  Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power…. 

However, history is replete with examples of the Lord executing judgment on the persecutors of His people during their lifetime on earth.  Consider the judgments executed on the Egyptians who refused to let Israel go.  Did not the Lord execute judgment on Saul who persecuted David?  And don’t forget the judgment executed on the Assyrians who besieged Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah, when an angel of the Lord smote 185,000 Assyrians in a night.  These are to name but a few.  With such precedents before us, we are encouraged to ask the Lord when He will execute judgment on our enemies and bring our trouble to an end. 

So the limited time the psalmist had on this earth was running out and what days he had were being spent being mistreated by his enemies.  But the silver lining in this grey cloud is the fact that the psalmist did not avenge himself.  He could have reasoned that since his days on earth were numbered, he might as well take matters in his own hands and secure his own relief so that he might pass the rest of his days in ease.  Instead, he brought his concerns to God appealing to Him as the One Who could resolve them.  Charles Bridges sums it up beautifully:

“Your trial has done its appointed work, when it has brought you to him; and inclined you, after your blessed Master’s example, instead of taking the vengeance into your own hands, to commit yourself and your cause ‘to him that judgeth rightouesly’” (1Peter 2:23).  

 

Psalm 119:83

We are working our way through the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Caph.  Today’s verse connects with the previous verse by the word for.  In the previous verse the psalmist was in a low and dark condition of soul.  His eyes were failing for the comfort of God’s word wondering when it would come.  Now the psalmist gives a graphic description of himself in this comfortless state:

Psalms 119:83  For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes.

In Bible times animal skins were used to make bottles.  Therefore, such a bottle in the smoke would have been charred, dried, and shriveled up.  This is how the psalmist felt.  David experienced this same dismal frame of mind when he wrote:  “I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel” (PSA 31:12).  Or we hear the lament of the author of Psalm 102 pouring out a similar complaint: 

Psalms 102:3  For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.

And it is not out of the question that his comfortless soul was affecting his body so that he appeared withered physically.

Proverbs 17:22  A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. 

The prophet Job took on a charred aspect as he underwent his afflictions:

Job 30:30  My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

But even if you aren’t physically withered, if you are as I, you have times when you feel withered under the weight of stress with no comfort in sight.  Charles Spurgeon eloquently expressed this:

“Some of us know the inner meaning of this simile, for we, too, have felt dingy, mean, and worthless, only fit to be cast away.  Very black and hot has been the smoke which has enveloped us; it seemed to come not alone from the Egyptian furnace, but from the bottomless pit; and it had a clinging power which made the soot of it fasten upon us and blacken us with miserable thoughts.” 

Although the psalmist felt so utterly miserable, he still remembered his Bible:  yet do I not forget thy statutes.  No matter what condition the psalmist found himself in, he always referred it to the Scriptures.  He brought everything before the word of God.  It was indeed his court of appeal in every situation.  I cannot improve upon Matthew Henry’s comment on this point:

"We must in every condition, both prosperous and adverse, have the things of God in remembrance; and, if we be mindful of God’s statutes, we may pray and hope that he will be mindful of our sorrows, though for a time he seems to forget us.”

Psalm 119:82

Today we plunge more deeply into the darkness of this octave of Psalm 119 that Charles Spurgeon called “the midnight of the psalm.”

Psalms 119:82  Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?

The psalmist needed comfort.  Thomas Manton wrote the following about our need for comfort:

“Comfort is necessary because a great part of our temptations lies in troubles, as well as allurements.  Sense of pain may discompose us as well as pleasure entice us.  The world is a persecuting world as well as a tempting world.  The flesh troubleth as well as enticeth.  The Devil is a disquieting as well as an ensnaring Devil.”

Therefore, we need strength, encouragement, help, and support, all of which are wrapped up in that word comfort. 

In asking the Lord “when wilt thou comfort me?” the psalmist was acknowledging God as the Source of comfort and rightly so, since God is “the God of all comfort” (2Corinthians 1:3).  Now the God of all comfort uses the Scriptures to comfort His children (Romans 15:4).  So the psalmist was rightly expecting to find comfort in the word of God.  God’s word was his comfort in his affliction (Psalm 119:50).  However, the comfort of the Scriptures that he looked for was delayed in coming, so long delayed that his eyes were failing for it. 

Fail – To fall off in respect of vigour or activity; to lose power or strength; to flag, wane; to break down; fig. of the heart.  Of the eyes, light, etc.:  To grow dim.

He was losing his power to find comfort in the word of God.  If there was any comfort in the Scriptures for him, it seemed as if his eyes were unable to see it.  He was in darkness of soul.  It was as if he were going spiritually blind.

Now it says a lot for a man when he so loves his Bible and so much expects comfort from it that he will keep looking for it until his eyes wear out.  But we do have a breaking point, a point where we grow so weak through affliction that we despair of ever finding comfort.  There are times when we may prayerfully read our Bible regularly, but for some reason its message does not seem to reach us.   Sometimes our experience is echoed in these passages:

Psalms 77:2  In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

3  I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

4  Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5  I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

6  I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

7  Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

8  Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

9  Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

Psalms 88:6  Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

7  Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

8  Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

9  Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.

If it is any comfort to you to know this, then know that I, whose calling is to study and teach the Scriptures, have times when the comfort of those Scriptures is beyond my reach.  Although I read the words, it is as though I am staring into a void.  I put my Bible down as comfortless as when I opened it.  I go to God asking for help and rise from my knees as burdened as when I knelt to seek relief.  I sometimes feel shut up and shut out.  But, thanks be to God, it has been my experience that just about the time I think I can hold out no longer, the Lord comes through with a word of comfort to carry me forward.  It is said of our Lord:  “And therefore will he wait, that he may be gracious unto you” (Isaiah 30:18).  Charles Bridges wrote:  “He waits – not because he is reluctant to give, but that we may be fitted to receive.”  The Lord knows just how to time the gift of His comfort.  You may think He is just wearing you down, when He is really stretching your capacity to endure.  By withholding relief, He is really strengthening you.  It works like that in physical exercise.  You strengthen your muscles by working them to the point of muscle failure. 

Are your eyes failing after the comfort of God’s word?  If so, you are likely nearing the point when the light will break forth and you will find the comfort that will turn your night to day, your mourning into dancing, and your heaviness into praise. 

Psalm 119:81

The next octave of Psalm 119 that we meet is entitled Caph.  Caph is pronounced like the first syllable of coffee or like the word cough, if you are from the Midwest.  As we go through this octave, I’ll see what I can caph up for you.  Oooooh!  That was bad!  But at least I try.

As we have gone through the octaves we have noted that some of them bear a distinguishing characteristic.  Unlike some of the other octaves, the verses that comprise this one connect with one another to form an overall theme.  Following is Charles Spurgeon’s summation of this octave, which I find quite interesting:

“This portion of the gigantic psalm sees the Psalmist in extremis.  His enemies have brought him to the lowest condition of anguish and depression; yet he is faithful to the law and trustful in his God.  This octave is the midnight of the psalm, and very dark and black it is.  Stars, however, shine out, and the last verse gives promise of the dawn.  The strain will after this become more cheerful; but meanwhile it should minister comfort to us to see so eminent a servant of God so hardly used by the ungodly:  evidently in our own persecutions, no strange thing has happened unto us.” 

With this we come now to consider the first verse of the octave.

Psalms 119:81  ¶CAPH. My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.

Now let’s define the word faint so that we understand what the psalmist was experiencing.

Faint - To lose heart or courage, be afraid, become depressed, give way, flag.

First note that the soul of the psalmist was fainting for God’s salvation.  He did not want any deliverance other than that which the Lord would give in His time and way.  We must ever guard against wanting deliverance so desperately that we will take it any way we can get it.  This can open us up to Satan’s devices.  Not every way out of a difficulty is a good way.

But the salvation of the Lord was apparently delayed in coming.  In fact, it was so long in coming that the psalmist was fainting for it.  The delay was wearing him down so that he was losing heart and becoming depressed. 

However, the psalmist may have been cast down in his soul, but he was not destroyed (2Corinthians 4:9).  There was something else at work in the psalmist to counteract his fainting fit and that was hope in thy word.  He believed the promises of salvation in the word of God and expected their fulfillment in due time.  The deliverance might be long delayed, but it would certainly come.  The psalmist could count on it.

Habakkuk 2:3  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

I refer again to the words of Charles Spurgeon commenting on this verse: 

“To faint for salvation, and to be kept from utterly failing by the hope of it, is the frequent experience of the Christian man.  We are ‘faint yet pursuing.’  Hope sustains when desire exhausts.”

Our complete and ultimate salvation will be brought to us at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ when He shall redeem our bodies from the present bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Hebrews 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Romans 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Sometimes this bondage of corruption presses us to the point of fainting, but we are saved from collapsing under the weight of it by our hope in the promised coming of our Redeemer.  And thus our fainting souls sigh in the hope:  “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).