Psalm 119:109

In today’s meditation we find two outstanding themes that recur throughout this Psalm 119, those being danger and duty.  Although the psalmist often found himself in danger, he remained constant in his duty.  And that is what it means to be “a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2Timothy 2:3).

Psalms 119:109  My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.

To have one’s soul or life in one’s hand is to be in danger of losing it.  When Jephthah passed over against the children of Ammon and thereby risked losing his life, he described his plucky action as putting his life in his hands.

Judges 12:3  And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me?

Or when David, but a youth, risked his life to defy the giant Goliath, it was said of him:

1 Samuel 19:5  For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel….

This makes sense when you think about it.  If you have something in your hand, you run the risk of dropping it, losing it, or having it snatched from you.  Such is the case when your soul is in your hand.  If your soul is lost or snatched from you, you lose your life since the body without the soul is dead.  And that the psalmist’s soul was continually in his hand means that he was in continual jeopardy of losing his life. 

Although the psalmist was in danger of losing his life, he was in no danger of losing his faith as he held that fast in his heart and mind:  yet do I not forget thy law.  Now this word yet introduces an interesting element in the sentence.  It is a conjunction joining the two main clauses of the sentence together and is defined as follows:

Yet – Introducing an additional fact or circumstance which is adverse to, or the contrary of what would naturally be expected from, that just mentioned:  In spite of that, for all that, nevertheless, notwithstanding.

What is stated in the second clause is contrary to what you would expect from what was stated in the first clause.  Imagine the stress of living with such a constant threat of losing your life.  You would think the psalmist would be scarcely able to think of anything else other than fending for his safety.  But although this is what you might expect, yet the psalmist had God’s law in his thoughts.  How this should remind us of our Lord Jesus Christ Whose life was threatened from His infancy until He was finally killed on Calvary.  Nevertheless, though His life was continually in His hand, He always had the law of His Father uppermost in His mind.  This is readily apparent from His words as He was ever speaking of the Scriptures.  Even on His cross as His life was being drained from Him, He said things for the express purpose of fulfilling the Scriptures. 

John 19:28  After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

He never forgot God’s law.

I close with Charles Spurgeon’s beautiful comments on this verse:

“They say that all things are fair in love and war; but the holy man thought not so:  while he carried his life in his hand, he also carried the law in his heart.  No danger of body should make us endanger our souls by forgetting what is right.  Trouble makes many a man forget his duty, and it would have had the same effect upon the Psalmist if he had not obtained quickening (verse 107) and teaching (verse 108).  In his memory of the Lord’s law lay his safety; he was certain not to be forgotten of God, for God was not forgotten of him.  It is a special proof of grace when nothing can drive truth out of our thoughts, or holiness out of our lives.  If we remember the law even when death stares us in the face, we may be well assured that the Lord is remembering us.”

Psalm 119:108

We continue working our way through the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Nun.   

Psalms 119:108  Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.

Commenting on this verse Matthew Henry pointed out that we are here taught to pray for two things “in reference to our religious performances,” those two things being the acceptance of them and assistance in them.

The psalmist besought God to accept the freewill offerings of his mouth.  These were not offerings of his herd, or flock, or purse.  They were offerings of his mouth.  This refers to the praise and thanksgiving that we offer to God with our mouth.

Psalms 50:14  Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High….

Hebrews 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Hosea describes this as rendering “the calves of our lips,” instead of the calves of the stall (Hosea 14:2).  And this kind of sacrifice is more pleasing to God than any sacrifice of beasts such as the Jews brought in the Old Testament.

Psalms 69:30  I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31  This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

But note that these are freewill offerings.  Let’s define freewill.

Freewill – Spontaneous will, unconstrained choice (to do or act).

A freewill offering is an offering that one chooses to make simply because he wants to do it, not because he has to do it.  Do you praise and thank God because you know you should or because you want to?  Is your praise constrained or freely offered?  We find far more joy in those things we do willingly than in those we do by necessity.

1 Chronicles 29:9  Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.

And such offerings delight the Lord as well.

2 Corinthians 9:7  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

As the psalmist brought his offerings of praise to God, he besought the Lord to accept them:  Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth.

Beseech – To beg earnestly for, entreat (a thing).

He literally begged God to accept his praise.  When we think of begging, we tend to think of one begging another to give him something.  But in this case, the psalmist was not begging to be given to, but rather he was begging to give.  Now that says a lot about how earnest the psalmist was in worshipping the Lord.

He also begged the Lord:  teach me thy judgments.  He not only prayed that the Lord would accept his worship, but he also prayed that the Lord would teach him so that he might perfect his worship.  In order for our worship to be acceptable to the Lord, it must be in accord with the instructions of His word.

Psalms 119:7  I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. 

The more of God’s judgments we know and keep, the more acceptable praise we can offer to Him.  On the other hand, you may be sure that all the singing and shouting of praise and thanksgiving heard in churches that are governed by the tradition of men rather than the commandments of God, are vain lip service that God utterly rejects, no matter how freely it is offered.

Matthew 15:7  Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

8  This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Let us join in prayer with the psalmist beseeching God for His acceptance and assistance so that such may never be spoken of our worship.

Psalm 119:107

When you are dealing with a lot of problems that inflict pain either in body or soul do you ever state that you are “going through a lot”?  In the verse of Psalm 119 that we consider today, the psalmist did, in effect, say the same thing. 

Psalms 119:107  I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.

The psalmist was afflicted very much.  He was “going through a lot.”  He was, as Peter put it, “in heaviness through manifold temptations” (1Peter 1:6).  The psalmist’s problems were bearing down on him to such an extent that they were having a deadening effect.  He was losing his joy, hope, and zeal.  He was to such a point that he felt he couldn’t handle it anymore.  How do I know this was the case?  I know this from the prayer request he made:  quicken me, O LORD.  Once again, consider the definition of quicken.

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.

The psalmist needed to be revived.  He needed something to invigourate him since he felt so sapped of life and strength.  He needed to be brought back from the dead, as it were.  And for this revival and restored vigour he looked to God.  Good choice!  For, as we have noted in previous meditations, God has promised in His word to revive those who humbly wait upon Him.

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.

Referring to this quickening operation Charles Spurgeon wrote:  “This is the best remedy for tribulation; the soul is raised above the thought of present distress, and is filled with that holy joy which attends all vigorous spiritual life, and so the affliction grows light.”

The psalmist looked to God to quicken him according unto thy word.  He did not expect the Lord to revive him apart from his Bible, for God uses His word to quicken us as we saw in verse 93 of this psalm.

Psalms 119:93  I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.

According to verse 50 of this psalm, the psalmist had already experienced the quickening power of God’s word when he was in affliction.

Psalms 119:50  This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

Since God’s word had quickened him in the past, the psalmist had good reason to expect it to do so again.  How many times has a passage of Scripture, one of these mediations on this psalm, or an edifying sermon revived you when you were down?  If this has happened before, then it is likely to happen again.  Therefore, based on today’s verse, I would heartily advise you to keep coming to this reviving, invigourating source of refreshment, the word of the living God.  For it is there that you will encounter the Lord Who will quicken you again.  To fail to come to God for quickening is either to give up in despair or to look to some other source to revive you.  When you do that, your heart will depart from the Lord and you will perish in your affliction.

Psalms 119:92  Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.

Oh, dear reader, if you have allowed your affliction to embitter you to the point that you neither call on the Lord for help nor search His word, may I urge you to repent and retrace your steps back to Him Who alone can revive your drooping heart and give you “songs in the night” (Job 35:10).