Psalm 119:27

We continue our meditation in the fourth octave of Psalm 119 entitled Daleth.

Psalms 119:27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

If we are to understand God’s word, God must enable us. He must make me to understand. When the verb make is used with an object and infinitive, as it is here, it means to cause a person or thing to do something. In this sentence the object is me, make me, and the infinitive is to understand, make me to understand. So the psalmist is asking God to cause him to understand the way of His precepts.

So how does God cause us to understand His word? First of all, He does not just pour understanding into us. We are commanded to search and study the Scriptures in order to understand them (Proverbs 2:4-5; John 5:39; 2Timothy 2:15). We must be receptive to what God has to say in His word, even if it crosses us. We must submit to and listen to the teachers He sends us. But in order to actually gain understanding from our study, God must energize our thoughts and desires as we apply them. He must restrain the devil and the evil within our flesh that would otherwise obstruct our ability to understand. God must be involved with us as we study and listen. If left to ourselves without His gracious influence, our thoughts will be distracted and confused; and we will not understand His words. But if we are applying ourselves to learn as God teaches us, He will open our understanding. He will make us to understand.

Luke 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

Observe that the psalmist does not just ask to understand God’s precepts. He prays that he may be made to understand the way of God’s precepts. All of God’s precepts cohere together to form a single way, a path of life to follow. If you ever wonder which way to go in life, go in the way of God’s precepts. Make sure that the decision you make, the path you choose, fits within the boundaries of God’s commandments rather than transgressing or stepping over them. Learning God’s precepts is all about learning the way to live. Our foremost desire should be to understand and follow the way of God’s precepts, rather than the way of the world’s fashions, ideals, and goals. I quite agree with the assessment Charles Bridges made of understanding the way of God’s precepts: “The smallest attainment in this knowledge is (as the great day will fully declare) of infinitely greater value than the highest intelligence in the field of earthly science.”

Having asked the Lord to cause him to understand the way of His precepts, the psalmist makes this resolve before God: so shall I talk of all thy wondrous works. He will be taught of the Lord first. Then he will talk to others of the Lord’s wondrous works. They are best qualified to speak to others who have been first taught themselves.

Psalms 71:17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

But before he will talk of all the wonderful works of the Lord, he will first understand how God wants him to live. In other words, he will learn to walk the walk before he talks the talk. It rings hollow with God and with spiritually discerning believers to hear people talk about the wonderful things God has done when they don’t understand the way of His precepts.

Notice also that when he understands the way of God’s precepts, he will talk of God’s wondrous works and not his own. Anyone who boasts of his own wonderful works does not understand the way of God’s precepts. Such persons may be in for a rude awakening in the Day of Judgment.

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Lastly, God means for His wondrous works to be talked about and that from one generation to the next.

Psalms 145:4 One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.
6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.
7 They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.

God’s wondrous works are worthy of universal acclaim. They are a theme that can and ought to be expressed in all languages.

Acts 2:9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

Talking of God’s wondrous works will be one of the activities of God’s redeemed when they stand before Him in glory.

Revelation 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

God’s works are indeed wondrous. There is nothing more wonderful to talk about. Sadly, we all too often hear the inventions and achievements of men spoken of as if they were more fascinating than the things God has done. For example, compare how much you talk about the feats of your favourite athletic team as opposed to how much you talk of the wondrous works of God. Which thrills you the most? Which do you think is most wondrous? Check your speech. Its content will reveal the answer to those questions. I close with this beautiful piece of poetry that fits well with today’s meditation:

Bless, O my soul, the living God;
His favours claim the highest praise;
Let not the wonders He hath wrought
Be lost in silence, and forgot.

Psalm 119:26

The verse for today’s meditation addresses an extremely important step in our walk with God.

Psalms 119:26 I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.

Recently I have taught the congregations I serve to search and try their ways as taught in the following passage:

Lamentations 3:40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.

To search and try our ways means that we explore our ways, find out what they are, and examine them thoroughly. We should search and try the way we think, the way we act, the way we react, the way we relate to God and to others. We should thoroughly examine our desires, our choices, our plans, our intentions, and our motives as these are also our ways. And acknowledging our ways, we should declare them to God, as did the psalmist whose words we consider today.

What is it to declare our ways?

Declare - To make clear or plain (anything that is obscure or imperfectly understood); to clear up, explain, expound, to interpret, elucidate. To manifest, show forth, make known; to unfold, set forth (facts, circumstances, etc.); to describe, state in detail; to recount, relate.

The Hebrew word translated declared in our verse is caphar and means to record, enumerate, recount. When you declare your ways to God, you bring them out into the open between you and God; you list them off; you describe them in detail as you recount them both good and bad. And if you are not sure of whether they are good or bad, you ask God to give you discernment. Tell the Lord about your burdens, your troubles, and your temptations as these are ways down which you are travelling. If you are angry with someone and struggling with hatred, declare it to God. If you are angry with God because you do not think He is dealing fairly by you, then bring it out into the open. Don’t deny it. He knows what is going on in your heart. Declare it! If you are being drawn to something you know is not good for you, admit it to God. If you are involved in something destructive to your spiritual, mental, or physical well-being, have out with it. If your ways have taken you into sin, confess it. Are you depressed? Then tell the Lord all about it. Explain it to Him. If you are being tossed about by uncertainty and doubt, tell Him. If you are afraid of something, admit it to Him. If you are considering a move, a change, a business venture, a relationship, bring it before Him. Whatever your ways are, declare them to Him.

The beautiful thing is that when we declare our ways to God, He hears us: and thou heardest me. God truly does care for us.

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

God is interested in what goes on in your life. He wants you to make Him a part of it by declaring your ways to Him. And when you do so, He listens to you. Just knowing that a caring person is listening to you is immensely helpful.

Now having declared your ways, follow that with the prayer: teach me thy statutes. When you do this, you are inviting the searchlight of God’s statutes upon your ways. This is part of the process of trying your ways. You are submitting your ways to the scrutiny of the word of God. And when you pray this prayer, then take to reading and studying your Bible. Listen carefully to the teaching of your minister. Seek godly counsel. And when you do this, you will receive the instruction that will let you know whether the ways you are choosing are acceptable or not, whether they are profitable or not. You will get the answers that will help you think, act, and react as you ought to whatever life brings your way. I close with this passage that relates directly to what I am writing about:

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Psalm 119:25

We now launch into the fourth octave of Psalm 119 entitled Daleth.

Psalms 119:25 ¶DALETH. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

The psalmist acknowledges that his soul cleaves to the dust. Let us begin by defining cleave.

Cleave - To stick fast or adhere, as by a glutinous surface. In wider sense: To cling or hold fast to; to attach oneself (by grasping, etc.) to.

The psalmist’s soul is stuck to the dust; it is clinging to it. In order to understand what the psalmist is saying, we must understand what he means by the dust. First of all, our fleshly bodies are material in nature, made of the dust of this earth.

Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

On the other hand, our soul is immaterial in nature and dwells within our fleshly body until it departs at the death of the body.

Job 14:22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

Genesis 35:18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin

The soul is the seat of our consciousness and the place where our personality resides. A body without a soul has no personality. It is merely a hunk of clay. Now with this information in front of us we can get some idea of what the psalmist was confessing when he wrote: “my soul cleaveth unto the dust.”

Christians are given this commandment in 1 Peter 2:11:

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul….

Our battle is to not let our personality be controlled by the lusts of our fleshly body. The desires of the body should be controlled by the soul rather than the soul being controlled by the desires of the body. But, alas, our soul cleaves to the dust. Our fleshly desires exert a powerful influence on us and without the help of almighty God they will overpower us. Trying to rise above the pull of the flesh is like trying to get unstuck from powerful glue. This was Paul’s lament:

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.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Furthermore, Scripture describes a state of affliction and oppression as a lowly experience with the dust.

Psalms 44:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.

To be in the dust is to be in a low condition. It is to be down, as we say.

Isaiah 26:5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.

Have you ever been so low that you felt like you were groveling in the dirt? Our afflictions sometimes drag our souls down so that our faith falters, our love grows weak, and our hope is dim. In such cases our soul cleaveth unto the dust.

In short, a soul cleaving to the dust is a soul bowed down with sin and sorrow. Sound familiar? Now over against this cleaving to the dust, the psalmist prays to God: quicken thou me according to thy word. Let’s define what it means to be quickened.

Quicken – To give or restore life to; to make alive; to vivify or revive; to animate. To give, add, or restore vigour to (a person or thing); to stimulate, stir up, rouse, excite, inspire.

When our soul is cleaving to the dust, we need a revival. We need to be given vigour, renewed strength to rise above the power of the dust which holds us down. The good news is that God has promised in His word to give precisely this to those who humbly seek His help.

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

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.

Psalms 113:7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
8 That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.

Therefore, when God quickens you it is according to His word of promise. When the psalmist was down, he sought the relief that is found in keeping with the Scriptures and so should we. You may be down low, cleaving to the dust, but if you seek the Lord's help and await His promised relief, it will come in due time. He will revive you. Did this meditation help anybody?

Psalm 119:24

Today we consider the last verse in the third octave of Psalm 119, the octave entitled Gimel.

Psalms 119:24 Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.

By means of the word also, the psalmist adds this thought to the thought of the previous verse. Recall that in the previous verse the psalmist wrote that “princes also did sit and speak against me.” His way of coping with this persecution was by meditating in God’s statutes. Rather than despairing over what the princes spoke against him, he focused on what God in His word spoke for him. Now in today’s verse, he tells us what God’s word was to him as he meditated in it. The testimonies of the Lord were his delight and his counsellors.

It is interesting to notice the things that the Holy Scriptures link together by the word and. In this particular case delight is linked with counsellors. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense that these two things are joined together. A counselor is one who gives counsel, which is advice or direction. When one is in perplexity or distress, to receive good counsel is one of the most delightful things that can happen. It brings relief and comfort to gain insight into a difficult situation, to get some direction on how to deal with it. To put it straightly, a good counselor is just a pleasure to have around. Solomon acknowledged this in this proverb:

Proverbs 27:9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.

The hearty counsel of a friend rejoices the heart; it brings delight.

But observe that God’s testimonies are our counsellors, plural. Solomon wrote:

Proverbs 11:14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

Proverbs 15:22 Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

The Scriptures contain a multitude of counsellors for our safety. None of these counsellors will ever give bad advice. And because of that, your purposes or plans can be established; they can be well-settled rather than being tossed about in indecision and uncertainty. Indeed, there are counsellors in Scripture for every situation that you can be involved in. And no counsellors in this earth are more expert in giving advice than the counsellors of Scripture. In fact, the advice of every other counsellor you may consult should always be weighed in relation to the counsel of Scripture to determine its merit.

Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Thomas Manton made the following interesting comments on this passage that show the advantage of finding our counsellors in a book:

“Alphonsus, king of Arragon, being asked who were the best counsellors? answered, ‘The dead (meaning books), which cannot flatter, but do without partiality declare the truth.’ Now of all such dead counsellors, God’s testimonies have the pre-eminence. A poor, godly man, even then when he is deserted of all, and hath nobody to plead for him, he hath his senate, and his council of state about him, the prophets and apostles, and ‘other holy men of God, that spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ A man so furnished, is never less alone than when alone; for he hath counsellors about him that tell him what is to be believed or done; and they are such counsellors as cannot err, as will not flatter him, nor applaud him in any sin, nor discourage or dissuade him from that which is good, whatever hazard it expose him to.”

Now that is rich!

If you would have God’s testimonies be your delight, then take them for your counsellors. They will bring you little joy if you do not seek their advice. And if you would find in God’s testimonies your counsellors, then take them for your delight. You will not be prone to seek the advice of that which you dislike.

Lastly, we refer to attorneys and psychotherapists as counsellors. A beautiful thing about having God’s testimonies for our counsellors is that their advice and help are free. Imagine having access to a multitude of lawyers and psychotherapists to be consulted as often as you wish for as long as you wish and it costing you nothing but the time you spend seeking their advice. Now that is a deal! This fits well with this admonition with which I close:

Isaiah 55:1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

Psalm 119:23

By means of the word also today’s verse from Psalm 119 picks up the thought introduced in the previous verse.

Psalms 119:23 Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

In the preceding verse the psalmist wrote of being the object of reproach and contempt. In the verse we consider today we find that this reproach and contempt did not just arise from the common folk, but it also came from princes. Let’s define what a prince is.

Prince – 1. A sovereign ruler; a monarch, a king. 2. One who has the chief authority; a ruler, commander, governor, president; also, the head man, chief, or leader of a tribe.

A prince can refer to anyone in authority in any sphere. Those who occupied places of authority in the life of the psalmist were speaking against him, heaping upon him their reproach and contempt.

Observe that our verse does not simply state that princes spoke against him. It rather says that they did sit and speak against him. When someone is functioning in an official capacity as an authority figure, he is spoken of as doing so from a seated position.

Judges 5:10 Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.

Isaiah 16:5 And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

Matthew 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

When our blessed Lord, Messiah the Prince, gave His authoritative pronouncements in that great Sermon on the Mount, He did so from a seated position.

Matthew 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:…
2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,….

In fact, notice this definition given of the word sit in the dictionary:

To occupy a seat in the capacity of a judge or with some administrative function.

It is interesting that when someone today runs for office, we say that he is seeking a seat in parliament, or a seat in the senate, or a congressional seat. And when we speak of judges issuing their findings in a case, we say they are speaking from the bench, the place where they sit.

So taking all this together, we see in our verse that these princes were speaking in an official capacity; they were using the power of their office to speak against the psalmist. Sadly, it has happened all too often in history that persons in authority have abused their power by using that authority to speak against the good and godly. Time and space would fail to mention all of the unrighteous laws and decrees throughout history that have been handed down from seats of power against the innocent and the righteous. The ultimate example of this took place when the religious and political rulers of the Jews used their authority to speak against the only perfectly innocent and just Man in all of time, even our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,….

Although reproached and spoken against even by princes, our psalmist did meditate in God’s statutes. He found in God’s words comfort, strength, and refuge when those who should have been his protectors became his persecutors instead. As Matthew Henry pointed out, he found that when they spoke against him, the word of God spoke for him. In those statutes the believer finds that he is not alone when he is reproached for his godliness. He is in the company of the saints spoken of in the Scriptures. He is having fellowship with the sufferings of Christ His Lord. He finds that while princes may persecute him, God stands up for him and will vindicate him in due time as the following passage declares:

Psalms 94:16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts (found in God’s statutes) delight my soul.
20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
22 But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

It is to the psalmist’s credit that during this time in which he was persecuted by princes, he mediated in God’s statutes. Rather than focusing on what the princes were saying against him, he focused on what God says. He did not envy the princes and spend his time fretting over what they were doing. Instead he meditated in God’s law. His position was vastly superior to the position of those evil princes as the following passage shows:

Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

How much better off some would be if they spent more time and energy meditating in God’s statutes than they do meditating on the unrighteous decrees of wicked princes.