Psalm 119:132

We have pointed out in previous meditations on this Psalm that there are four verses in it that do not use one of the ten words used in the Psalm to refer to God’s written word.  These four verses are 90, 91, 122, and today’s verse.  However, as we showed with the other three of these verses, the teaching of this verse extends to the overall theme of this psalm, which is the written word of God, the Holy Scriptures.

Psalms 119:132  Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.

It is said of our Lord that “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).  But the psalmist would have the Lord to look upon him, that is, to focus His sight upon him for special consideration.  He would have the Lord deal with him as He use to do unto those that love His name.  That phrase use to do means to be accustomed to do.  Find those mentioned in the Bible that loved the name of God, see how God was merciful to them, and you will know what the psalmist was asking of the Lord.  The Lord was merciful to Job in restoring him to his health and wealth after he had tried him.  The Lord was merciful to Abraham in guiding him as he followed Him by faith not knowing whither he went.  The Lord was merciful to Jacob and enriched him in spite of the fact that his father-in-law Laban kept changing his wages.  The Lord was merciful to Moses in holding him up to lead a people who often resisted his leadership and showed themselves unappreciative of all that he had done for them on God’s behalf.  The Lord was merciful to David in saving him repeatedly from Saul’s attempts to kill him, in pardoning his great sin of adultery, and in saving him from his own son Absalom, who seized his kingdom and sought his life.  The Lord was merciful to Hezekiah in delivering him and his kingdom from being swallowed up by the Assyrian threat.  The Lord was also merciful to Hezekiah in giving him fifteen extra years of life when his time was come to die. All these men loved the name of the Lord and all these men were dealt with mercifully by the Lord Whose name they loved.  The psalmist asked no more and no less than to be dealt with by the Lord as they had been dealt with.

But how could the psalmist know how the Lord use to deal unto those that love His name?  The same way we know it, that is, by reading the accounts of God’s dealing with these men in the Scriptures.  It is in the Bible that we discover the ways of the Lord, what He is accustomed to doing.

Now these merciful dealings of God are unto those who love His name.  In several places in the Scriptures God’s name is put for God Himself.  I shall cite but a couple of examples. 

Psalm 52:9  I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints. 

This verse talks about one waiting on God’s name.  And yet the next verse commands us to wait on the Lord. 

PSA 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. 

Therefore, to wait on the Lord’s name is to wait on the Lord Himself.  Or take this verse as another example.

Acts 4:10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

Note from this verse that what was done by the name of Jesus Christ was done even by him, so that the name of Jesus and Jesus Himself are the same.  So to love the name of the Lord is to love the Lord Himself.  Think about it.  If you really love the Lord, then you love the very name that identifies Him.

Furthermore, God bears several names.  He bears these names because of Who He is, what He does, and the relation He bears to His people.  A sampling of verses should make this clear.

Exodus 3:13  And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

15  And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

Exodus 15:3  The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.

Isaiah 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

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.

Jeremiah 32:17  Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

18  Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name….

Matthew 1:21  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost….

Think of any one of these names of the Lord that are listed above.  Each name is the name of the Lord.  Do you love that name?  If so, then the prayer of today’s verse is your prayer.  And where are those names revealed but in the Holy Scriptures!

But how do we show that we love the name of the Lord?  We do so by keeping His commandments.

1 John 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

God is use to dealing mercifully with those who love Him by keeping His commandments.

Exodus 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

And where do we find God’s commandments but in His word.

So in the Bible we learn how God use to deal unto those that love His name.  Also, in the Bible we learn what the name of God is.  And in the Bible we learn how to love God’s name in keeping His commandments.  Therefore, today’s verse is very much in keeping with the overall theme of Psalm 119 which is the written word of God, the Holy Scriptures.  This is the case even though no one of the ten words used in this psalm for the Scriptures is found in this verse.

So if you love the name of the Lord, you can be counted among those with whom God dealt mercifully as He used to do unto others who loved that name.  I can’t think of anything more to be desired that to be numbered with the noble men and women of the Bible who loved the name of the Lord.

Psalm 119:131

We continue making our way through the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Pë.

Psalms 119:131  I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.

So great was the longing of the psalmist for God’s commandments that he described it as opening his mouth and panting.

Pant – To breathe hard or spasmodically, as when out of breath; to draw quick laboured breaths; to gasp for breath. To gasp (for air, water, etc.); hence, fig. To long or wish with breathless eagerness; to gasp with desire; to yearn (for, after).

Whenever we have an intense need for air or water, we pant for it.  And when we pant, we open our mouth to breathe in the coveted air or to drink the water for which we greatly thirst.  This way we take in more air or water to satisfy out greater need.  However, in this case the psalmist had an intense need for God’s commandments.  Imagine being that desirous to be told by the Lord what to do, for that is precisely what God’s commandments do!   But as we noted in our meditation on verse 19 of this psalm, God’s commandments also refer to His commandments that created and govern the universe, His commandments of our deliverances, and His commandment of our eternal salvation.  In short, the expression thy commandments encompasses the whole story of the Bible.  So what the psalmist is expressing in this verse is great yearning for His Bible, a yearning so great that he opened his mouth and panted for it. 

Sadly, this gasping desire for God’s word is too often wanting in God’s children.  They allow the cares and pleasures of this life to stifle their desire for God’s holy words.  If you wonder just how spiritually minded you are, check the level of your desire for the teaching of the Holy Scriptures.  Is your level of desire to the degree that you pant after God’s commandments?  Should you find your desire for the word of God to be weak, then stir yourself up and pray to be revived as the psalmist prayed several times in this psalm when he besought the Lord to quicken him.

Now the Lord reveals Himself to us in His commandments.  Studying the commandments of God we learn His works and His will for us.  So if you are panting after God’s commandments, it is owing to the fact that you are panting after the Lord Himself. 

Psalms 42:1  As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

2  My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

This intense thirst for God and His commandments, all of which are righteousness (PSA 119:172), is a blessed thirst and one certain to be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.