Psalm 119:120

We now arrive at the last verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Samech. 

Psalms 119:120  My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.

The Bible is the most comforting book in the world to those who receive it as it is in truth, the word of God.  But it can also be the most terrifying book if you consider the judgments that God has pronounced in it.  In just the two verses that go before this one we read that God has trodden down all those that err from His statutes and puts away all the wicked of the earth like dross.  Right there are two judgments that should strike terror in anyone who has ever erred from the word of God.  The God of the Bible is certainly no Being to be trifled with.  He is to be greatly feared for it is written:

Hebrews 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

When the judgments of God were made known to the prophet Habakkuk, he responded like the psalmist. 

Habakkuk 3:16  When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

When the good king Josiah heard out of the book of the law the great wrath that was pronounced against his nation for their transgressions against that law, “he rent his clothes” (2Kings 22:11).  He, too, was afraid of God’s judgments.  Now it speaks well of the psalmist, the prophet, and the king that they had a fear of God and His judgments.  Far better is it to have such a fear than to be like those who have no fear of God, His word, or His judgments.  We read of such persons in the following passages. 

Psalms 36:1  The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

2 Peter 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

When Jehudi read the prophecy of Jeremiah before the king and his servants, look at the reaction.

Jeremiah 36:23  And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

24  Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.

Now as for those whose flesh trembleth for fear of the Lord and who are afraid of his judgments, the Lord has His eye upon them and takes delight in them.

Isaiah 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Psalms 147:11  The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

Those who fear the Lord even to the point of trembling are those who can also hope in His mercy, because His mercy is upon those who fear Him.

Psalms 103:17  But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;

18  To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

One of the reasons those who fear God keep His commandments is that they are afraid not to since they know the judgments that befall those who do not. 

To be sure, we do not obey the Lord only because we fear Him.  We also obey Him because we love Him.  Hence our service to God arises from a balance of fear and love.  We know that “we love Him because He first loved us” (1John 4:19).  But we also know that “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6).  Therefore, we fear Him.  And when you consider how prone to err we are, you understand that we need both fear and love to keep us in line.  As George H Horne sounded off: 

“Encompassed with a frail body, and a sinful world, we stand in need of every possible tie; and the affections both of fear and love must be employed, to restrain us from transgression; we must, at the same time, ‘love God’s testimonies, and fear his judgments.’”

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Anyone that shares the sentiments of the psalmist in fearing God and His judgments may also take great comfort in all the reassuring promises that God has made to those who fear Him.  That is why Habakkuk, even though he trembled for fear, could “rest in the day of trouble.”  He knew that as one who feared God the Lord would take care of him in that day.  Thus it is that we read of the early churches that they were “walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 9:31). 

As the end of 2014 is upon us, let me take this opportunity to wish all of my readers who fear the Lord a most blessed New Year.

Psalm 119:119

Today’s meditation brings us to the verse number that matches the chapter number of this great psalm.

Psalms 119:119  Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.

To clearly grasp what the psalmist is saying, let’s define dross.

Dross - The scum or extraneous matter thrown off from metals in the process of melting.  In general:  Refuse; rubbish; worthless, impure matter.

This is a very sobering verse in that it clearly shows us God’s estimate of all the wicked people of this earth.  They are dross in His sight.  They are just so much scum, refuse, or rubbish to be discarded.  This is true of the wicked individually and collectively.  All the wicked are dross. 

Now many of the wicked of this earth are intelligent, or wealthy, or mighty, or beautiful.

Job 5:13  He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

Job 21:7  Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

8  Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.

9  Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

10  Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

11  They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

12  They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

13  They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.

14  Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

15  What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

Psalms 73:12  Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

2 Samuel 14:25  But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom (the wicked son of David) for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.

But whatever glitz and glitter the wicked display, it is not the lustre of genuine silver or gold.  It is just the dross of those precious metals posing as the real thing. And because the wicked often do well for themselves in this earth, they think highly of themselves and others praise them for their accomplishments.

Psalms 49:16  Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

17  For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.

18  Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.

Nevertheless, because they are wicked and have no regard for God or His laws, they are vile, worthless scum.  And being worthless, they are not worth keeping around.  Therefore, God takes them away, just as a refiner takes away the dross from gold and silver. 

Proverbs 25:4 Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.

Now throughout history God has been discarding the wicked of this earth into the garbage pit of hell, the place of destruction. 

Job 21:17  How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.

18  They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

Psalms 9:17  The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

Psalms 37:35  I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

36  Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

Psalms 73:18  Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

19  How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

Now just as dross is often mixed with precious metals and must be extracted and discarded, so the wicked are mixed with the righteous in this earth.  The wicked even mingle among the righteous in the church.  But God has His ways of ridding the church of them, as this writer can attest.  Yet a Day is coming when all the wicked will be forever rooted out of the earth and cast into the lake of fire.  At that day they will be separated from the righteous never to be mingled among them again.

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

Psalms 1:4  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Matthew 13:47  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

48  Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

49  So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

50  And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Revelation 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Realizing that God puts away all the wicked of the earth like dross had this effect on the psalmist:  therefore I love thy testimonies.  When God puts away the wicked of this earth like dross, He is fulfilling His word of truth.  He is doing precisely what He testified in His word that He would do.  Therefore, since God is always true to His word, we can trust it.  And just as we can trust God to fulfill His decree of judgment upon the wicked, we can trust Him to fulfill His promise of salvation to the righteous.  And that is certainly a reason to love the Lord’s testimonies! 

When we consider that God’s chosen people by nature are wicked and, therefore, equally deserve to be put away like dross, we have great cause to love the words of Scripture that testify that He has saved them from their wickedness and made them righteous through His Son Jesus Christ.  Therefore, instead of being put away like dross, they shall gathered unto the Lord as His jewels.

Malachi 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

Psalm 119:118

We continue taking up the verses of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Samech.  Today’s verse presents an opposite scenario from that of the two previous verses.  The two previous verses speak of the Lord upholding people whereas today’s verse speaks of Him treading them down.

Psalms 119:118  Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood.

The Lord treads down all them that err from His statutes.  What is it to err?   

Err – To ramble, roam, stray, wander.  To go astray; to stray from (one’s path or line of direction).  To go wrong in judgment or opinion; to make mistakes, blunder.  To go astray morally; to sin.

Those who err from God’s statutes are those who are operating by a different set of rules than those laid down in the Holy Scriptures.  They are taking their cues from someone other than Almighty God.  Therefore, they are going astray from the direction God’s says they should be taking; they are forming wrong opinions; and they are making mistakes.  In short, they are sinning.  Now they deceive themselves into thinking that the way they are pursuing is best for them, which is why they err from God’s statutes.  Of course, their thinking is utterly false as the psalmist said:  for their deceit is falsehood.  Or to describe it another way, it is like our brother Greg Ohly (a member of the church I pastor) described recently.  When one is not aiming his arrow or gun at the right target, his shot goes astray.  If our aim in life is anything other than keeping God’s statutes, then we are sure to err from them.  And what happens when we err from God’s statutes?  We find ourselves being trodden down by God Himself.

When God chooses to tread under foot a man or a people, it is a crushing experience.  There is not one mighty enough to resist as Jerusalem experienced when the Lord trod her down.

Lamentations 1:15  The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.

The psalmist wrote in Psalms 119:21 that it is “the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.”  The proud are they who think too highly of themselves, their plans, and their opinions.  Such people are sure to err because the Lord’s statutes have a way of crossing the plans and opinions of men as He says in this verse:

Isaiah 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

Now the psalmist wrote of the Lord treading down those who err from His statutes as having already occurred:  Thou hast trodden down.  Doubtless the psalmist had already witnessed in his life those whom God had brought low because of their error.   And throughout history the Lord will continue to tread down those who err from His statutes until He finally treads them down forever when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to judge the quick and the dead.  So that we may say that this verse is not only historical, but prophetic.  For the dealings of our immutable and unchangeable God in past history presage His dealings in the future.

1 Corinthians 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

Isaiah 2:17  And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

Isaiah 63:3  I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

4  For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

But our verse says the Lord has trodden down all them that err from His statutes.  So that includes even God’s own children when they err.  Speaking of the Lord’s own people the psalmist wrote: 

Psalms 106:43  Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

44  Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:

45  And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

I know the good Lord has had to trample me down from time to time.  But the difference between a child of God and one who is not is that when a child of God is “brought low” for his error, he is not trodden down forever.  God remembers His covenant with His people and lifts them up again.  Speaking to God’s own children James wrote:

James 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Now folks do not normally like to be trampled on.  So if you do not want the Lord treading you down, then I suggest you get into your Bible and aim towards keeping God’s statutes.  I close with this fitting prayer:  “O let me not wander (err) from thy commandments” (Psalms 119:10).

Psalm 119:117

The next verse of Psalm 119 that we take up today makes the same request to God as was made in the previous verse.  Both the previous verse and today’s verse are a prayer to be upheld by the Lord.

Psalms 119:117  Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.

To hold someone up is the same as to uphold that person.  

The psalmist well understood that if he was going to be safe, he would need the Lord to hold him up, to preserve him in danger.  Scripture is very clear on this point.  Safety is of the Lord.

Psalms 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

Psalms 33:16  There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.

17  An horse (or a cell phone, ed.) is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.

18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

19  To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

Proverbs 21:31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.

We do well to constantly beg our God to hold us up that we may be safe because there are so many dangers in this fallen world and in our fallen nature, dangers we are aware of and dangers we are unaware of.  Often the greatest perils are not those we expect, but those that we do not expect.  The surprise attack is always the one we are most likely to be fall before because we did not see it coming.  How often have you succumbed to the unexpected temptation? Therefore, we need the Lord on our side looking out for us and holding us up if we are ever to be kept safe from evil. 

Attached to the psalmist’s prayer for safety is this resolve:  and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.  To have respect unto God’s statutes is to give heed, attention, and consideration to them, to have them in view.  Notice that whenever the psalmist desires some blessing from the Lord for himself, like safety in this case, he wants that blessing so that he may serve God by keepings His commandments.  His whole life revolved around his Bible as well it ought since one’s fellowship with God is experienced through His word.  Yet, in order to maintain this respect for God’s statutes continually, we need the Lord to hold us up.  Otherwise, we shall slip and fall.

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

Psalms 94:17  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.

Being held up by the Lord we will be able to keep God’s statutes continually and keeping God’s statutes continually we shall be safe.  As Charles Spurgeon wrote:  “In obedience is safety; in being held up is obedience.”

Proverbs 1:33  But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

As we look back over our lives we find that it has been the Lord that has been holding us up all along, else we would never have made it this far.

Psalms 71:6  By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

So it is fitting from time to time to raise an Ebenezer and say, “Hitherto hath the LORD helped us” (1Samuel 7:12).  And looking out into the future we can be confident that the Lord will continue to hold us up so that we have nothing to fear come what may.

Psalms 73:23  Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.

24    Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

We need but to trust the Lord’s hand to hold us up and we shall be safe.

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

I close with a stanza from the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

Here I’ll raise my Ebenezer,

Hither by Thy help I’m come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to save my soul from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.

Psalm 119:116

I am now ready to take in hand a meditation on the next verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Samech. 

Psalms 119:116  Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.

It will help to open up the verse if we define the word uphold.

Uphold – To support or sustain physically; to keep from falling or sinking.  To support, sustain, maintain by aid or assistance; to preserve unimpaired or intact.  To sustain spiritually.

The psalmist was seeking God’s support and assistance so that he might live:  uphold me…that I may live.  If the Lord does not maintain us, none of us will live another second.  So if you have things you want to accomplish in this life before you die, I suggest that you ask God to uphold you that you may live.  However, this matter of God upholding us that we may live goes beyond just the extension of our natural life in this world.  As Christians there is a certain way we should live in this world.  We call it the Christian life.  The following passages show that to live a Christian life we must live by faith; we must live unto the Lord and not unto ourselves; we must live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; and we must live to the will of God rather than to the will of the flesh and of the world. 

Hebrews 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

2 Corinthians 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Titus 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world….

1 Peter 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

To sum it up, the Christian life is living by faith in obedience to God’s word.  It’s like the old song says:  “Trust and obey.”  However, we cannot live this life unless the Lord upholds us.  Our corrupt flesh and this corrupt world are a force that works like gravity to pull us downward.  And downward we will fall unless the Lord upholds us, which He has promised to do.  Hence, the psalmist prayed:  Uphold me according to thy word.  Here is a sampling of promises from God to uphold us:

Deuteronomy 31:8  And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

Isaiah 41:10  Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Hebrews 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

6  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Whenever you feel yourself overwhelmed and sinking down in an affliction or temptation, then pray as did Peter when he began sinking in the water:  “Lord, save me.”  And then you will experience this:  “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him” (Matthew 14:30-31).  This is a beautiful example of the Lord upholding His servant according to His word.

Then the psalmist added this petition:  and let me not be ashamed of my hope.  Now hope is defined as an expectation of something desired.  If you expect the Lord to help you to live the life He ─ notice I said He and not you ─ wants you to live and if He indeed helps you to live that life, then you will never have a reason to be ashamed of your hope.  To ask God to not let you be ashamed of your hope is another way of asking Him to uphold you. 

But just what is your hope?  What do you expect from the Lord?  Consider Paul’s hope as clearly expressed in this verse:

Philippians 1:20  According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

Now if your expectation and hope are that Christ be magnified in your body by life or by death, you can be assured that God will uphold you to realize that hope so that in nothing shall you be ashamed.  It says a lot about a man when magnifying Christ is the thing he wants most out of life.  Such a man may expect to be upheld by his God to the end and forever.

Psalm 119:115

We continue making our way through this octave of Psalm 119 entitled Samech.

Psalms 119:115  Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.

There are a couple of facts about this verse that causes it to stand out from the rest.  First, there are four verses in this psalm that are not a prayer.  They are the first three verses and this verse.  Second, this is the only verse in this psalm that mentions the word God.  When God is named in the other verses, He is called LORD.

The psalmist directly addresses the evildoers:  depart from me.  We cannot altogether escape mingling with evildoers in this world.  We deal with them on our jobs, in business, at school, at social events, and even in our families.  In order to avoid dealing with evildoers altogether, we would have to go out of the world.

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.

Yet even though we have to deal with evildoers, we must at the same time maintain a separation from them so as not to be corrupted by their evildoing.

Proverbs 9:6  Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

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

2 Corinthians 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you….

Ephesians 5:5  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

6  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

7  Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

So the question is:  How do we bid evildoers depart whilst at the same time maintaining some dealings with them?  The answer lies in the psalmist’s reason for bidding evildoers to depart:  for I will keep the commandments of my God.  When it comes to our obedience to the commandments of our God, we must never allow any association with evildoers under any circumstances to interfere or lead us astray.  To put it bluntly in the language of the street, whenever anyone attempts to turn us from keeping the commandments of God, we are justified in telling them to “bug off.” 

In the matter of our membership and communion in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must bid evildoers depart.  As Peter said to Simon, an evildoer who had crept into the church;  “thou hast neither part not lot in this matter” (Acts 8:21).  Paul instructed the church of Corinth when they had an evildoer in their number to “put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (1Corinthians 5:13).  By standing with the church in its discipline we say to such persons in so many words:  “Depart from me, ye evildoers.”

Whenever anyone comes into your house attempting to bring an evil doctrine or practice into your home, then bid them get of your house. 

2 John 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

So the bottom line is this:  Be stedfast and unmovable in your resolve to keep the commandments of God without any deviation to the right or to the left and that will provide you with the safeguard against injurious and unsuitable company with evildoers.  For it is the word of God that the Lord uses to sanctify us and set us apart from evildoers in this world.  Hear the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ for us before He left this world: 

John 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Please allow me to quote the excellent words of Charles Bridges on this verse:

“As great is the difference between the Christian and the world, as between heaven and hell─as between the sounds, ‘Come, ye blessed, and, ‘Depart,  ye cursed.’ (Matt. xxv.34, 41).  The difference, which at that solemn day will be made for eternity, must, therefore, be visibly made now.  They must depart from us, or we from God….Shall we not then walk on earth with those, with whom we hope to spend our eternity, that our removal hence may be a change of place only, not of company?”

Psalm 119:114

We come to the second verse in this octave of Psalm 119 entitled Samech.

Psalms 119:114  Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.

Let us recall that this 119^th psalm is a series of prayers to God. In the prayer we consider today the psalmist acknowledges to God that He was his hiding place and shield. 

Today’s verse stresses the fact that the Lord was the psalmist’s defense and protection in danger.  This protection is contemplated from two angles. When one is in danger from enemies he has two options. He can flee the danger by seeking refuge in a hiding place. Or he can stand his ground and resist the enemy by wielding a shield. A shield provides one with protection from the weapons that the enemy would thrust or hurl at him. With a hiding place and a shield, one has a means of defense whether he runs away or stands his ground. So when the psalmist confesses the Lord to be my hiding place and my shield, he is confessing God as his defense whether he was fleeing danger or resisting danger.

When the adversary attacks us with persecution or temptation, it is sometimes wise to flee and just avoid the situation if at all possible (see 1Corinthians 6:18; 10:14). We find times in the life of David when Saul was pursuing him and he fled away (1Samuel 19:10-12; 21:10). When the Jews were laying wait for Paul in Damascus to kill him, Paul was let “down by the wall in a basket” and thus fled the danger (Acts 9:23-25; 2Corinthians 11:32-33). But even though David and Paul utilized means for escape from danger, it was God Who was protecting them. He was their real hiding place and that is why their enemies could not seize them before the time. Thus we find David writing:

Psalms 31:19  Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

20  Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Psalms 64:1  Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:

3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words….

Psalms 143:9  Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.

So, dear reader, when you feel the devil closing in on you with fierce accusations and temptations, then flee to God in prayer and you will find in Him a hiding place where you will know that you are safe from the power of the enemy. When you have the Lord for your hiding place it is amazing how many hurtful things cannot get to you. Let your enemies plot and say what they will, you remain safe when you live in the secret of God’s presence. In fact, you will be so safe that not even death itself can separate you from the secret of His presence since to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2Corinthians 5:8). 

But sometimes the thing to do is to stand your ground and resist the attack of the enemy.  David did this when he went out to meet Goliath on the field of battle. Instead of running away from the giant, as the soldiers of Israel’s army had been doing, David went right up to him in the confidence that the Lord was his shield. Goliath was utterly powerless to inflict harm on someone armed with such a shield.

1 Samuel 17:45  Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

46  This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

47  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands. 

When the apostle Paul was finally arrested and made a prisoner of Rome, he could no longer run away. But God intervened to be his shield and he was wonderfully defended so that he became a witness of Jesus Christ even in Caesar’s palace. Trace the Lord as Paul’s shield in his personal testimony:

Philippians 1:12  But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;

13  So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;

2 Timothy 4:16  At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

17  Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

18  And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

In this prayer the psalmist also confessed to God what he was doing:  I hope in thy word.  And it is just such persons as hope in God’s word as have Him for a hiding place and a shield.  When our enemies accuse us with our sins and weaknesses thus trying to discourage us, the promises we read in Scripture of God’s merciful forgiveness and the help of His strengthening grace point us to a sure hiding place and shield from those stinging accusations. But that hiding place and shield will only be found if we hope in God’s word of promise. If you find yourself defenseless before your enemies, it may just be that you have placed your hope and expectation in the wrong place. Perhaps you are placing all your hope in the promises of man rather than in the promises of God. You are looking to someone or something else to defend you, to take up your cause rather than the Lord. Perhaps you are expecting your ultimate deliverance to come in this world, rather than in the next. I know from sad experience how naked and defenseless one can be when his hope is misplaced. Unfulfilled expectation can leave you feeling devastated with nothing to look forward to and wondering what it is all for. You need to get back to your Bible and discover there the One that has the power to defend you. Fix your hope upon God’s sure word of truth and you will find the hiding place and shield you so much need in this perilous world.

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

I know I am stretching this out a little longer, but I am compelled to pass on to you the weighty words of William Grant on the subject of hope.

“Of all the ingredients that sweeten the cup of human life, there is none more rich or powerful than hope. Its absence embitters the sweetest lot; its presence alleviates the deepest woe. Surround me with all the joys which memory can awaken or possession bestow, ─without hope it is not enough. In the absence of hope there is sadness in past and present joys ─sadness in the thought that the past is past, and that the present is passing too. But though you strip me of all the joys the past or the present can confer, if the morrow shineth bright with hope, I am glad amid my woe.”

For those of us who hope in God’s word, we live “in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began…” (Titus 1:2). Indeed, “the morrow shineth bright with hope” and here I find a place to hide and a shield to defend me.

    

Psalm 119:113

I am now ready to take in hand the next octave of Psalm 119 entitled Samech.  From the pronunciation guide in my Bible, sa would be pronounced the way we Midwesterners pronounce saw and mech would be pronounced like meck.  This is not likely the exact pronunciation, but it’s close.  Now you probably do not know anyone by the name of Mech.  I do not think there are many Mechs around.  But if you do know someone named Mech, you can say when you see him or her that you samech.  Now let’s consider today’s verse.  

Psalms 119:113  ¶SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.

Today’s verse at the beginning of this octave follows logically upon the last verse of the preceding octave.  In that verse the psalmist stated that he had inclined his heart to perform the Lord’s statutes alway.  With an inclination like that, it follows that the psalmist would hate any thought that would interfere with his objective to perform God’s statutes. 

Now just what is a vain thought?

Vain – Devoid of real value, worth, or significance; idle, unprofitable, useless, worthless; of no effect, force, or power; fruitless, futile, unavailing.

A vain thought is an unprofitable, useless thought.  It does you no good to think it.  Note in today’s verse that vain thoughts are contrasted with the law of God.  So any thought that opposes God’s law and distracts us from our duty as defined by God’s law is a vain thought.  This would, of course, include any thought of sin, since "sin is the transgression of the law" (1John 3:4).  Sinful thoughts are certainly unprofitable.  But any thought that distracts you from what you should be thinking at a given time is a vain thought, even if it is not a thought of something in itself sinful.  For example, when you are praying to God, reading His word, hearing His word preached, or partaking of the Lord’s Supper, or when you need to be focused on your job or on the needs of your family, you should not be thinking about the exciting football game you saw last weekend, or the exchange of texts with a friend, or the ill-matched colours of someone's outfit.  Such thoughts at such times are drawing you away from your duty to God’s law.  They are so many vain thoughts in that they do not help you to achieve what you should be achieving at the time. 

And then consider the myriads of imaginations that dance around in our heads that are nothing but so many vain thoughts.  We sometimes imagine tragedies that have not and may never occur.  We imagine people saying or doing hurtful things to us that they have not done.  But, oh, don’t we love to think of ourselves as the victim of the injustice of others!  Such thoughts carry us to a moral high ground over others causing us to feel superior.  We fancy great things for ourselves.  How easily our vain imaginations can transport us from a cubical at work to the oval office of the White House.  We imagine ourselves performing heroic feats that draw the admiration of our fellows.  We sometimes do this to such an extent that we would be painfully embarrassed if others knew what we had been thinking.  Speaking of this, John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, wrote:

“Nor does my fancy confine itself within the narrow limits of probabilities; it can busy itself as eagerly in ranging after chimeras and impossibilities and engage my attention to the ideal pursuit of things which are never likely to happen.  In these respects my imagination travels with wings; so that if the wilderness, the multiplicity, the variety of the phantoms which pass through my mind in the space of a winter’s day were known to my fellow creatures, they would probably deem me, as I am so often ready to deem myself, but a more sober and harmless kind of lunatic.”

Oh, can I ever relate to that!  There is not a sinner on this earth who is not guilty of vain thoughts.  This is true of the most educated minds.  In fact, it is especially true of the most educated minds.

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.

19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

20  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

So much that is taught in institutions of higher learning is only so much vanity that one must renounce if one is ever to know the wisdom of God.  Consider the theories of evolution, scientism, socialism, atheism, relativism, or existentialism, to name a few, that are poured into the minds of idealistic youth in colleges and universities thus filling their heads with so many vain thoughts.  Add to this the plethora of doctrinal errors propounded in various religious schools and seminaries.  And then consider all the vanity that daily bombards our minds from the various media outlets that we are continually exposed to, or worse, that we expose ourselves to.  No wonder we have such a battle with vain thoughts.  The wonder is that we have any profitable thoughts.

It is an evidence of man’s depravity that he loves vain thoughts and hates the law of God.  It says a lot about the corruption of our culture that Hollywood has thrived even though Hollywood is an abounding source of vain thoughts.  But people support Hollywood with hours and hours of their time and millions upon millions of their dollars.  Why?  Because they love vain thoughts!  Nowadays the best of films are laced with filth to corrupt our thinking.  And add to this all the sheer non-sense that passes for entertainment.

Now if my pointing out all these examples of vain thoughts is stirring hatred within you for such thoughts, then that is a good sign.  It is the work of God’s saving grace to reverse the trend of our depraved, fallen nature.  Charles Gurnall wrote:  “The work of Divine grace is to restore the disordered affections to their proper centre, and to bestow them on their right object; ─ hating vain thoughts, and loving the law of God.”  How a man reacts to vain thoughts says a lot about his character, whether he loves and indulges them or whether he hates and resists them.    

Now the psalmist does not say that he had no vain thoughts.  He had his share of them as do we all.  But he did not love those thoughts.  Vain thoughts may have entered into his mind, but they were neither welcomed nor allowed to stay there.  This brings to mind the following verse:

Jeremiah 4:14  O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

We cannot always prevent vain thoughts from passing through our minds.  But we can prevent them from lodging there.  The psalmist mounted a resistance against vain thoughts because they were contrary to what he loved most and that was God’s law.  And so must we do.  If we truly want to clean up our act, we need to wash our heart, that is, our thoughts from wickedness since actions take their rise from thoughts.  Instead of allowing vain thoughts to set up housekeeping in our heads, we would do well to heed Paul’s instruction:

Philippians 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Thoughts of “these things” that Paul listed are profitable thoughts.  They are thoughts that perfectly align with God’ law, which we should love supremely.  The more we cultivate our love of God’s law, the more our hatred of vain thoughts will increase and the more we will resist them.  And bless God for the promise of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ when the day shall dawn and the day star shall arise in our hearts (2Peter 1:19), for then vain thoughts shall be forever banished from our minds and every thought be pure.  “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).   

Psalm 119:112

Today’s verse brings us to the end of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Nun. 

Psalms 119:112  I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.

We defined this word incline when we dealt with verse 36, but that was a long time ago.  So let’s define it again.

Incline – To bend (the mind, heart, will, etc.) towards some course or action; to give a mental leaning or tendency to (a person); to dispose.

The heart is the apparatus of thought, intent (will), and desire (Hebrews 4:11; Psalms 37:4).  Therefore, to incline the heart to something is to bend the thoughts, desires, and will toward that something so that you think about it, want it, and choose it.

In our modern culture we often encounter the idea that people should incline their ways to their heart.  “Follow you heart,” we hear.  But the Biblical instruction is the very opposite.  We should rather incline our hearts to the way we should go.  Instead of letting your heart guide you, you should rather follow the advice of Solomon and “guide thine heart in the way” (Proverbs 23:19). 

As a result of the fall of man into sin, man’s heart has an aversion to God’s statutes so that he cannot incline his heart and mind toward them.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Romans 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Before a man will incline his heart to perform God’s statutes, the Lord must give him a new heart so that he possesses the ability to bend his thoughts, desires, and intents toward doing what the Lord commands.

Ezekiel 11:19  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

20  That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Philippians 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Being given a new heart, a man can now, with God’s continued assistance, incline his thoughts, desires, and intentions to perform God’s statutes.  But notice the qualification that I have just stated:  he can do this with God’s continued assistance.  Without continual supplies of grace, even the new heart is unable to surmount the opposition mounted by the world, the flesh, and the devil against one’s duty to God. Our brains, which are a part of our flesh, are programmed by the fall and by years of sinful practice toward breaking God’s statutes.  Our Christian duty consists in overcoming that inclination with the inclination of the new heart towards God’s law.  It is only “through the Spirit” that we can “mortify the deeds of the body” and obey the truth (Romans 8:13; 1Peter 1:22).  That is why we found the psalmist in verse 36 praying to the Lord:  “incline my heart unto thy testimonies.”  So must we be ever praying and seeking the help of the Holy Spirit if we are to maintain the right inclination. 

Now the psalmist resolved to perform God’s statutes alway, even unto the end.  He would obey his God every day in every situation to the end of his life or the end of the world, whichever came first.   I love Charles Spurgeon’s terse summation of this verse:  “He made it his end to keep the law unto the end, and that without end.”

And that brings us to the end of the octave Nun, pronounced like noon.  Now that Nun is past we will see what comes in the afternun, Lord willing.

Psalm 119:111

Today’s meditation turns a searchlight onto our heart and reveals how much we truly value the Scriptures.

Psalms 119:111  Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.

Let’s begin by defining the word heritage.

Heritage – That which has been or may be inherited; any property, and esp. land, which devolves by right of inheritance.

Have you ever thought of your Bible as an inheritance?  Today’s verse is teaching us to do just that.  Although the Bible is everywhere available for anyone to read, it is especially the property of God’s chosen and professed people, which God has bequeathed to them.  Hence, it is theirs by inheritance.

Psalms 147:19  He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

20  He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.

Romans 3:1  What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?

2  Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

Of course, the psalmist was a professed Jew and a member of the church of the Old Testament, to which the testimonies of the Lord were committed.  The testimonies were, therefore, his heritage. The same can be said for those who comprise the church of the New Testament.

Ephesians 1:9  Having made known unto us (the saints, see verse 1) the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself….

Colossians 1:25  Whereof I (Paul) am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you (the saints, see verse 1), to fulfil the word of God;

26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

God gave the Old Testament to the predominantly Jewish church, called Jacob or Israel, and God has given the New Testament to the predominantly Gentile church, called the saints.  The church is represented as a woman in Revelation 12 and it is she and her seed that “have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” that is, they possess the Scriptures, which testify of Christ (Revelation 12:17 with John 5:39).  So if you are a baptized believer in a New Testament church, the Bible is your inheritance.  It is specifically written to you.  This is evident from the fact of how much of the New Testament is specifically addressed to local churches, their members, or their officers. 

But if you are to enjoy your inheritance, you must do as the psalmist did, you must take it unto you.  If someone left you an inheritance of one million dollars, how quick would you be to take it unto you?  Well, here is an inheritance of far greater value.  Why then do you just let it sit on a table or a shelf without taking it unto you?  Could it be that, truth known, you do not value it as much as you do money?  Perhaps you and the psalmist do not share the same values.  Said he:

Psalms 119:72  The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

Now the next part of today’s verse explains why the psalmist took God’s testimonies for his heritage:  for they are the rejoicing of my heart.  When your heart finds joy in something, then you are moved to take that something that you enjoy for your possession.  We want to own and take unto ourselves what we most enjoy.  This principle drives markets in the economy.  If you enjoy something, then you are far more likely to spend your time and money acquiring it.  So if you are not taking the Bible for your heritage, it is probably owing to the fact that you don’t find much joy in it.  Therefore, you neglect this wonderful inheritance.  Now that is a sad and sorry state of affairs!

Lastly, observe that the psalmist said that he had taken the Lord’s testimonies as an heritage for ever.  He held tightly to his Bible and would not be parted from it.  It was his by inheritance and he aimed to keep that inheritance.  Furthermore, the Scriptures are the Lord’s testimonies.  That is, they testify of Him, Who is an infinite, inexhaustible Being.  This explains why one can spend a lifetime studying the Bible and yet only scratch the surface of all there is to know in that Volume.  It will take us an eternity to explore “the depth of the riches” of the God and Saviour revealed in the pages of the Scriptures (Romans 11:33).  That is why the psalmist could say that he had taken God’s testimonies as an heritage for ever.  This is something you can inherit that will never pass away.

Isaiah 40:8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Matthew 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.