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.