Psalm 119:133

Today’s verse from our meditations on Psalm 119 is a prayer that I use often for reasons that should be clear as I comment on it.

Psalms 119:133  Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

When we consider the usage of the word order in the first clause of this verse as it is applied to ordering the psalmist’s steps, the word is speaking of regulating, directing, or governing his steps.  This becomes evident by the usage of the word dominion in the second clause of the verse.  If the Lord orders my steps in His word, He will not let any iniquity have dominion over me.  To understand what the psalmist is asking we need to understand the meaning of the word dominion.

Dominion - The power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority; lordship, sovereignty; rule, sway; control, influence.

The first verse of this psalm sets forth the blessedness of those who walk in the law of the Lord.  The psalmist was one of those blessed souls in that his steps were in the word of the Lord.  His walk was regulated by the teachings of his Bible.  However, if his steps were to continue to be in the word of God, he needed the Lord to exercise a controlling influence over those steps.  In calling upon the Lord to order his steps he was submitting to God to govern him.  If he tried to order his steps on his own, he would falter.  He needed the enabling and keeping power of God in his life if he was to stay his course.

Psalms 17:5  Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.

Psalms 37:23  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

24  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

Psalms 119:10  With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

Commenting on this verse Charles Spurgeon wrote:  “By his grace he (the Lord) enables us to put our feet step by step in the very place which his word ordains.” 

Furthermore, the psalmist needed the Lord to wield a restraining influence over iniquity so that it would not gain dominion or control over him.  This dominion of iniquity to which the psalmist makes reference can refer to the iniquity that is without us and around us.  We live in a world that “lieth in wickedness” (1John 5:19).  It is called by Paul “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4).  We live “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation” (Philippians 2:15).  Considering some of the perverse policies of the civil government we live under, we could well describe this government as “the throne of iniquity.”

Psalms 94:20  Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?

How this was forcibly driven home to us just last week when the United States Supreme Court legalized same sex marriages, which, by the way, are not marriages at all since marriage by definition is between a man and a woman.  This ruling is a classic example of the throne of iniquity framing “mischief by a law.”  As Christians, we wonder how such a ruling will be used as leverage against us.  And so it is that each of us must pray:  let not any iniquity, including “the throne of iniquity,” have dominion over me.  Or to put in another way:

Psalms 25:2  O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

But a far greater threat arises from the iniquity that lurks within us seeking to wield dominion over us.  Paul described it thus:

Romans 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

We must have nothing short of the power of almighty God restraining the evil in our flesh and giving our inward man divine strength to withstand the warring of sin in the members of our fleshly bodies.  And thus we pray regarding iniquity without and iniquity within:  Order my steps in the word; and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

We need the Lord to so order the temptations we are exposed to that they be not more than we can bear.

Matthew 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

1 Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

God has absolute sovereignty over everything, evil included.  No temptation in whatever form or from whatever source can touch us without God’s permission.  It is He that can forbid any iniquity to have dominion over us.  And if God does not intervene to restrain iniquity, it will surely have dominion over us and draw our steps away from His word.  As our Saviour said, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

This prayer is echoed in the petition our Saviour taught us to pray: 

Matthew 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

This is a prayer for the dominion of God to overpower the dominion of iniquity in our lives.

Finally, it is comforting to know that this prayer finds it ultimate answer in the grace of God.

Romans 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

God’s grace assures us that no iniquity will gain the final victory over us.  Were it left up to us under the law to overcome sin in our own strength, iniquity would be our ruin.  But thanks be to God, we are saved by grace!

Psalm 119:132

We have pointed out in previous meditations on this Psalm that there are four verses in it that do not use one of the ten words used in the Psalm to refer to God’s written word.  These four verses are 90, 91, 122, and today’s verse.  However, as we showed with the other three of these verses, the teaching of this verse extends to the overall theme of this psalm, which is the written word of God, the Holy Scriptures.

Psalms 119:132  Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.

It is said of our Lord that “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).  But the psalmist would have the Lord to look upon him, that is, to focus His sight upon him for special consideration.  He would have the Lord deal with him as He use to do unto those that love His name.  That phrase use to do means to be accustomed to do.  Find those mentioned in the Bible that loved the name of God, see how God was merciful to them, and you will know what the psalmist was asking of the Lord.  The Lord was merciful to Job in restoring him to his health and wealth after he had tried him.  The Lord was merciful to Abraham in guiding him as he followed Him by faith not knowing whither he went.  The Lord was merciful to Jacob and enriched him in spite of the fact that his father-in-law Laban kept changing his wages.  The Lord was merciful to Moses in holding him up to lead a people who often resisted his leadership and showed themselves unappreciative of all that he had done for them on God’s behalf.  The Lord was merciful to David in saving him repeatedly from Saul’s attempts to kill him, in pardoning his great sin of adultery, and in saving him from his own son Absalom, who seized his kingdom and sought his life.  The Lord was merciful to Hezekiah in delivering him and his kingdom from being swallowed up by the Assyrian threat.  The Lord was also merciful to Hezekiah in giving him fifteen extra years of life when his time was come to die. All these men loved the name of the Lord and all these men were dealt with mercifully by the Lord Whose name they loved.  The psalmist asked no more and no less than to be dealt with by the Lord as they had been dealt with.

But how could the psalmist know how the Lord use to deal unto those that love His name?  The same way we know it, that is, by reading the accounts of God’s dealing with these men in the Scriptures.  It is in the Bible that we discover the ways of the Lord, what He is accustomed to doing.

Now these merciful dealings of God are unto those who love His name.  In several places in the Scriptures God’s name is put for God Himself.  I shall cite but a couple of examples. 

Psalm 52:9  I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints. 

This verse talks about one waiting on God’s name.  And yet the next verse commands us to wait on the Lord. 

PSA 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. 

Therefore, to wait on the Lord’s name is to wait on the Lord Himself.  Or take this verse as another example.

Acts 4:10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

Note from this verse that what was done by the name of Jesus Christ was done even by him, so that the name of Jesus and Jesus Himself are the same.  So to love the name of the Lord is to love the Lord Himself.  Think about it.  If you really love the Lord, then you love the very name that identifies Him.

Furthermore, God bears several names.  He bears these names because of Who He is, what He does, and the relation He bears to His people.  A sampling of verses should make this clear.

Exodus 3:13  And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

15  And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

Exodus 15:3  The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.

Isaiah 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Jeremiah 32:17  Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

18  Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name….

Matthew 1:21  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost….

Think of any one of these names of the Lord that are listed above.  Each name is the name of the Lord.  Do you love that name?  If so, then the prayer of today’s verse is your prayer.  And where are those names revealed but in the Holy Scriptures!

But how do we show that we love the name of the Lord?  We do so by keeping His commandments.

1 John 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

God is use to dealing mercifully with those who love Him by keeping His commandments.

Exodus 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

And where do we find God’s commandments but in His word.

So in the Bible we learn how God use to deal unto those that love His name.  Also, in the Bible we learn what the name of God is.  And in the Bible we learn how to love God’s name in keeping His commandments.  Therefore, today’s verse is very much in keeping with the overall theme of Psalm 119 which is the written word of God, the Holy Scriptures.  This is the case even though no one of the ten words used in this psalm for the Scriptures is found in this verse.

So if you love the name of the Lord, you can be counted among those with whom God dealt mercifully as He used to do unto others who loved that name.  I can’t think of anything more to be desired that to be numbered with the noble men and women of the Bible who loved the name of the Lord.

Psalm 119:131

We continue making our way through the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Pë.

Psalms 119:131  I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.

So great was the longing of the psalmist for God’s commandments that he described it as opening his mouth and panting.

Pant – To breathe hard or spasmodically, as when out of breath; to draw quick laboured breaths; to gasp for breath. To gasp (for air, water, etc.); hence, fig. To long or wish with breathless eagerness; to gasp with desire; to yearn (for, after).

Whenever we have an intense need for air or water, we pant for it.  And when we pant, we open our mouth to breathe in the coveted air or to drink the water for which we greatly thirst.  This way we take in more air or water to satisfy out greater need.  However, in this case the psalmist had an intense need for God’s commandments.  Imagine being that desirous to be told by the Lord what to do, for that is precisely what God’s commandments do!   But as we noted in our meditation on verse 19 of this psalm, God’s commandments also refer to His commandments that created and govern the universe, His commandments of our deliverances, and His commandment of our eternal salvation.  In short, the expression thy commandments encompasses the whole story of the Bible.  So what the psalmist is expressing in this verse is great yearning for His Bible, a yearning so great that he opened his mouth and panted for it. 

Sadly, this gasping desire for God’s word is too often wanting in God’s children.  They allow the cares and pleasures of this life to stifle their desire for God’s holy words.  If you wonder just how spiritually minded you are, check the level of your desire for the teaching of the Holy Scriptures.  Is your level of desire to the degree that you pant after God’s commandments?  Should you find your desire for the word of God to be weak, then stir yourself up and pray to be revived as the psalmist prayed several times in this psalm when he besought the Lord to quicken him.

Now the Lord reveals Himself to us in His commandments.  Studying the commandments of God we learn His works and His will for us.  So if you are panting after God’s commandments, it is owing to the fact that you are panting after the Lord Himself. 

Psalms 42:1  As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

2  My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

This intense thirst for God and His commandments, all of which are righteousness (PSA 119:172), is a blessed thirst and one certain to be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Psalm 119:130

We come to the second verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Pë.

Psalms 119:130  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

In the Scriptures, the word light is sometimes used as a figure for knowledge and understanding.

Ephesians 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints…

According to this passage, those who are given knowledge have the eyes of their understanding enlightened, that is, they are given light.  And then we have this passage:

2 Corinthians 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Today’s verse uses the word light to signify understanding in that the entrance of God’s words giveth understanding.

But observe that it is the entrance of God’s words that give light and understanding.  If you are to derive understanding from the Scriptures, then they need to get into you. 

Proverbs 2:10  When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

11  Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

God’s words will impart no light if they are not received.  And they will not be received if the heart of the hearer is not open to receiving them.  And the heart will not be opened unless the Lord opens it.

Acts 16:14  And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

So if we really want the light of the words of God shining in unto us to give us understanding, we should be praying for the Lord to open our hearts to receive them. 

But note that the words of God give understanding to the simple. 

Simple – Of persons, or their origin:  Poor or humble in condition; of low rank or position; undistinguished, mean, common.  Deficient in knowledge or learning; characterized by a certain lack of acuteness or quick apprehension.

In Scripture sometimes the word simple is used in a negative way to refer to those who are gullible and lack discernment.

Proverbs 14:15  The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.

Proverbs 14:18  The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

But elsewhere the word is used to describe those who are sincere and humble and so it is used here.

Psalms 19:7  The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

Psalms 116:6  The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

2 Corinthians 1:12  For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

It is one thing to be simple in that you lack understanding because you either do not want to learn or you are too proud to admit your ignorance; and it is another thing to be simple in that you humbly acknowledge your lack of understanding and are willing to be taught.  It is the latter that will receive understanding from the words of God.  In fact, before one can ever truly be wise and understanding, he must first recognize his ignorance, even if he is highly educated.

1 Corinthians 3:18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

The light of God’s words will not shine into the hearts of the wise and prudent of this world who trust in their own wits rather than in God.  The Bible is written in such a way as to conceal its message from the proud and lofty who think themselves too good and too wise to need a Saviour to save them and a God to guide them.  So it is that the simple, or the babes as our Lord calls them, understand things the great intellectuals of this world do not understand.

Matthew 11:25  At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

26  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.

An excellent example of the Lord giving understanding to the simple is Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived.  Solomon did not become so wise until he first confessed himself to be but a child. 

1 Kings 3:7  And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.

8  And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

9  Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

But when Solomon came before the Lord as a simple child, confessing his ignorance and begging His Maker to give him understanding, God answered thus:

1 Kings 3:12  Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

But, get this!  The believer today who humbles himself before the Lord as a little child (Matthew 18:3-4) and receives in his heart the gospel of Christ is given light and understanding that excels that of Solomon.  Hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples:

Matthew 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Solomon would have rejoiced to understand what a simple believer in the gospel message understands.

But there is another way of looking at this verse.  Think of the very first verses of the Bible as the entrance into the Bible, the entrance of God’s words.  This is where the story begins.  Commenting on this Matthew Henry wrote:

“If we begin at the beginning, and take it before us, we shall find that the very first verses of the Bible give us surprising and yet satisfying discoveries of the origin of the universe, about which, without that, the world is utterly in the dark.”

If we can’t make it through the entrance of God’s words and if those beginning words make no entrance into us, then we will be enshrouded in darkness.  And does not this explain the widespread intellectual darkness of our age despite our advances in science?

Psalm 119:129

I now take up the next octave of Psalm 119 bearing the title of the Hebrew letter PË.  According to the pronunciation guide in my Bible the letter ë in pë is pronounced like the letter a in our words same, tame, or pay.  Now we shall not pë a whole lot of attention to the letter pë.  We shall rather pë attention to the verses that this letter introduces.  Yes, I know.  My humour is lëm.  Oh, well, let’s turn to serious things.

Psalms 119:129  ¶PE. Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.

The Lord’s testimonies are wonderful, that is, they are full of wonder.

Wonder – Something that causes astonishment.  A marvellous object; a marvel, prodigy.  A deed performed or an event brought about by miraculous or supernatural power; a miracle.

We dealt with the wonder of God’s written word when we considered verse 18 of this psalm in which the psalmist prayed for the Lord to open his eyes to “behold wondrous things out of thy law.”  I do not wish to repeat here what I wrote then.  You may refer back to that meditation to refresh your memory.  Suffice it to say that the Bible is a miraculous book.  It is not only a miracle considered in its entirety, but each testimony, each verse in it is a miracle.  Every word in it is given by the same power that created and preserves the worlds.  If read and studied with faith, it will never cease to amaze its reader.

We often describe things in this world as wonderful.  We might ask a person returned from a trip, “How was your vacation?”  In response we often hear:  “It was wonderful.”  “How was the weather?”  “It was wonderful!”  “How was the wedding?”  “It was wonderful.”  “What do you think of your new grandbaby?”  “Oh, she’s wonderful!”  “How was the concert?”  “It was wonderful.”  “How would you rate this product?”  “It’s simply wonderful.”  “What did you think of that speech?”  “Oh, I thought it was wonderful.”  And on and on we go chanting the wonders of our experiences.  And, yet, all these “wonders” are nothing compared to that Book that is sadly too often neglected and ignored by even God’s own children, who of all people should appreciate its wonder.  Perhaps one reason we lose sight of the wonder of the Book is that we are taken up with the wonders of this world.  But do we judge things to be wonderful mainly because we find them pleasurable or fun for us?  And if we don’t get pleasure from something, well, then it isn’t so wonderful is it?  At least it is not so wonderful in our estimation. Commenting on this verse George Horne wrote: 

“While we have these holy writings, let us not waste our time, mis-employ our thoughts, and prostitute our admiration, by doating on human follies, and wondering at human trifles.”

Wow!  That is a powerfully convicting statement, especially in our day of digital devices that offer endless follies and trifles at the touch of a screen. 

And why are God’s testimonies wonderful?  Because they testify of Him Whose name is Wonderful, even the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 5:39  Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Isaiah 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Now it was precisely because God’s testimonies are wonderful that the psalmist kept them:  therefore doth my soul keep them.  How often do we try to record the things we deem to be wonderful.  We want to keep those things.  It seems that wonder is something we want to hang on to.  Hence it is that photography is a booming business.  And with everyone carrying cameras around with them all the time on their mobile devices, everyone is becoming a photographer.  We are ever trying to preserve the wonder.  Yet a photograph or video cannot capture the wonder of the moment!  Looking at the picture or film of something is not the same as experiencing it first hand.  But the wonder of God’s testimonies will not be lost if we keep them in our lives by referring to them often, remembering them, and obeying them.  In fact, the more significantly they figure into our lives, the more wonderful we will find them to be.       

But observe that the psalmist said his soul kept the Lord’s testimonies.  He did not merely keep them outwardly and on display for other men to see.  Rather, his innermost self kept them.  Look within yourself and consider what most dazzles your soul and what it most holds on to.  Ask yourself, does today’s verse describe your soul?