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?