Psalm 119:64

In today’s meditation we find the psalmist looking beyond himself to what he observes in the world around him.

Psalms 119:64  The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.

To get the full impact of what the psalmist is saying, we need to understand what mercy is.

Forbearance and compassion shown by one person to another who is in his power and who has no claim to receive kindness; kind and compassionate treatment in a case where severity is merited or expected.

When God created this earth, He created it “very good” (Genesis 1:31).  He filled this earth with His goodness and His riches. 

Psalms 33:5  He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

Psalms 104:24  O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

The mind fails in trying to comprehend the wealth of this earth, the abundance of its resources that have sustained the teeming billions of creatures that have moved upon its face.  Not only have the resources in the earth supplied the necessities to sustain the lives of the billions of mankind throughout history, but its resources have also provided much of mankind with many comforts and conveniences in addition to their necessities. 

But all this goodness and these riches that fill this earth are here only by the mercy of God.  Before God ever created the earth and filled it with His goodness, He knew that the man He would create would sin against Him.  He knew in advance all the defiance, denial, rebellion, and blasphemy that would be raised up against Him by the very men to whom He gave this earth.  Yet He made the earth anyway and gave it to men (Psalm 115:16).  Therefore, it follows that the children of men do not deserve the goodness and riches that they receive on this earth.  They rather deserve the severity and wrath of God because of their sin and rebellion.  They deserve to be banished from the earth.  Yet sinners who live on this earth enjoy the sunshine; the beautiful skies, lakes, rivers and oceans; the beauties of nature in bloom; they eat and drink of the delicious fruits of the earth; they enjoy the benefits that come from the use of the earth’s energy supplies; to name but some of the goodness and riches of the earth that men enjoy.  That God bestows upon sinful men this kindness when they merit His severity is a display of mercy by definition (see above).  When you consider how much of God’s goodness in this earth sinful men enjoy, then you understand why the psalmist wrote:  the earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy.

That God created this earth knowing what rebellious man would do was an act of mercy, as the following psalm expresses:

Psalms 136:3  O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

4  To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.

5  To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.

6  To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.

7  To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever:

8  The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever:

9  The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.

It is interesting to note that whereas many focus on the misery that fills the earth, the psalmist focused on the mercy that fills it.  Imagine how much more miserable this world would be if that misery were not tempered with God’s mercy!

But the thought runs deeper.  Before God created this earth He foresaw the fallen mass of mankind and out of that mass He chose a people to be the objects of His mercy.  He chose them to save them from their sin by His grace through His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord.  Therefore, God went ahead and created the earth knowing that from its ruins He would raise up a people to the praise of the glory of His grace.  God purposed to set His chosen people apart from the earth’s wicked inhabitants and to restore them to His righteousness thus having a testimony to His mercy and grace in the earth.  Therefore, God bears with this earth and the wicked people in it because of His chosen people, whom He is calling out for His glory. 

Romans 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

He fills this earth with His goodness to provide for His chosen people.  The wicked enjoy God’s goodness in this earth only because of God’s chosen people among them.  And when the Lord removes His elect from this earth at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory (Matthew 24:30-31), the mercy of God will also be removed from this earth.  The wicked will be raised out of their graves to damnation and the present earth will be destroyed (John 5:28-29; 2Peter 3:10-12).  Then the wicked will be judged and consigned to their place in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).  The wicked will be removed from the place that was full of the mercy of God to a place where no mercy is extended to them.  When this occurs, the prayer of Psalm 104:35 will be answered:

Psalms 104:35  Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.

Then the words of Solomon will be fulfilled:

 Proverbs 2:22  But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

On the other hand, the righteous will be ushered into a “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth rightouesness” (2Peter 3:13). 

Being aware that this earth is full of God’s mercy led the psalmist to make this request:  teach me thy statutes.  It tells a lot about the depth of the psalmist’s spirituality that the one mercy he would desire out of all the mercy filling the earth is the mercy of being taught God’s statutes.  There is no greater mercy than to know the Lord and His will as revealed in His word.  Mathew Henry wrote:  “A gracious heart will fetch an argument from any thing to enforce a petition for divine teaching.  Surely he that will not let his birds be unfed will not let his children be untaught.”  To this I can but add a hearty “amen”!

This brings us to the close of this octave entitled Cheth.  The next octave is called Teth.  Looking ahead from Cheth to Teth I can see that Teth like Cheth has some rich things to consider.  God willing, I will take up Teth after the first of the year.  I hope you have enjoyed our meditations on Cheth.  Be it Beth (the second octave), Cheth, or Teth, it is all good as it comes from the hand of the good Lord.  Remember now, leth you forgeth!  It’s Beth, Cheth, and Teth.

Psalm 119:63

I am amazed at how comprehensive Psalm 119 is.  It covers so many different aspects of our lives.  Psalm 119 is at once the same and yet different.  The same theme recurs throughout the psalm, that theme being the written word of God, the Scriptures.  And yet that recurring theme is related to our lives in so many different ways.  The verse we considered last time took us into midnight, when most of us are asleep or trying to sleep.  Hence, our night life was addressed.  Today’s verse speaks of our social life.

Psalms 119:63  I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.

The verse turns on that word companion.

Companion – One who associates with or accompanies another; a mate; a fellow.

The psalmist chose to associate with those who fear God.  Those who fear God are also described in this verse as those who keep thy precepts.  The fear of the Lord manifests itself in obedience to His precepts.

Deuteronomy 6:2  That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

How can one truly fear the Lord if he has no regard for what the Lord commands him to do?

Now the reason the psalmist chose those who fear the Lord for his companions is that he himself feared the Lord, as he described himself earlier in this psalm: 

Psalms 119:38  Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.

Indeed, birds of a feather flock together.   The man who truly fears God can never be in complete harmony with those who do not.  There will always be something missing that binds their souls together. 

Amos 3:3  Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

While we who fear God should endeavour as much as possible to live peaceably with those who do not fear Him (Romans 12:18), we will never have the degree of fellowship with them that we have with those who fear the Lord.  For, you see, the fear of the Lord and obedience to His precepts should be that which shapes, guides, and defines our deepest, truest self.  We should be so molded by the fear of God that we would not be who we are without it.  If we are thus governed by the fear of the Lord, there will be a certain sympathy that will arise between us and others who also fear our Lord.  When we meet another God-fearing person there will be a love there, a love that is born in us by our God.

1 John 5:1  Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

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

Obeying the Lord’s precepts is how we fear God, how we love Him, how we show that we are begotten of Him.  And when one begotten of God sees evidence in someone else that he is begotten of God, a love is shared, a potential for companionship is realized. 

Observe that the psalmist said, I am a companion of all them that fear thee.  This was the case whether he had yet met them or not.  He had a disposition to make a God-fearing person his companion whenever and wherever he met him.  It could be expressed this way:  Any friend of my Lord is a friend of mine.

Also note that the psalmist was a companion of all them that fear the Lord and keep His precepts.  He was their companion regardless of their age, their nationality, or their social status.  Paul thanked God for the Ephesians in that they, like the psalmist, had “love unto all the saints” (Ephesians 1:15).

It was conducive to the psalmist’s personal well-being and growth that he was a companion of all them that fear the Lord and keep His precepts.  Make no mistake about it.  The people you choose to associate with have an influence on you.    

Proverbs 13:20  He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

Now we cannot altogether avoid the company of those who do not fear the Lord.  We would have to go out of the world to do that.

1 Corinthians 5:9  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

10  Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

Nevertheless, the servants of our God should be our preferred company, the ones whose influence we most desire.

And permit me to add this admonition to any single believers who are seeking a spouse.  In Malachi 2:14 a man’s wife is called his companion.  A marriage is a companionship.  Now in the light of today’s verse doesn’t it make sense to seek a companion who fears the Lord and keeps His precepts?  While a believer/unbeliever mix in a marriage can be maintained in peace (1Corinthians 7:12-14), it is much to be preferred that you find someone who shares what should be most important to you, and that is your fear of and faith in the Lord God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ the Lord.  Your marriage will have its share of troubles that will stress your relationship.  There may be times when your romantic love for each other will be at a low ebb, if at all.  But when both of you fear and love the Lord and want to please Him, you will find that to be the thing that will keep you together, bear you through the storms of life, and pave the way for your marital love to be restored.  You will have something that will transcend your fluctuating romantic feelings.

This has been a longer meditation.  But the subject matter is too serious to gloss over.  It merits a thorough treatment.  I close with these beautiful words taken from the hymn The House of the Lord by Austin Lane:

You may value the friendships of youth and of age,

And select for my comrades the noble and sage;

But the friends that most cheer me on life’s rugged road

Are the friends of my Master, the children of God.

If those words do not express the sentiments of your soul, you may well consider that you are backslidden and in need of returning to the Lord.