Psalm 119: Conclusion

On 17 August 2010, over six years ago, I began what I then described as “a gargantuan task,” and that was to set out on “a verse by verse consideration of Psalm 119.” And now at long last on this day, 9 December 2016, I submit to my readers the conclusion. It seems surreal to have continued in this task all the way to this point. Now here I am sending out the 181st meditation. These 181 meditations comprise three written for the introduction, one on each of the 176 verses, one on the first three verses, and now this conclusion.

This psalm is the largest chapter in the Bible. It comprises 176 verses divided up into 22 octaves (eight verses each) corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is obvious that the theme of this psalm is the written revelation of God, which is called the Holy Scriptures and which we also call the Holy Bible. The word Bible comes from a Greek word meaning books. It strikes me as interesting that a psalm about the Scriptures is arranged according the alphabet of the first language of the Holy Scriptures which was Hebrew. It also strikes me as interesting that the Bible is made up of 66 books, which is the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet times 3. The triune (three in one) God communicates with man in words which are made up of letters, in this case, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

As I pointed out in the introduction of this psalm, the author recorded “a variety of experiences, emotions, and frames of mind in which he found himself.” As one makes his way through the 176 verses of this psalm he vacillates between the high peaks of praise to God and the deep valleys of depression, and whatever comes in between. In reading the varied experiences of the psalmist we see those same experiences lived out in the apostle Paul, who described his life thus:

2 Corinthians 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed....

 Indeed, Paul could have traced his own life in Psalm 119 and so may we all who walk with God in the light of His word. The outstanding feature of this psalm is that all the varied experiences and emotions of the psalmist were processed through the word of God. There is something in the Bible that bears on any and everything about life. The very last words of the psalm define the psalmist in whatever condition he found himself: I do not forget thy commandments. Eight times throughout this psalm he affirmed that he did not forget God’s word (verses 16, 61, 83, 93, 109, 141, 153, 176). He resolved in verse 16 that he would not forget it. He further resolved in verse 93 that he would never forget it, and indeed he made good on that promise. No matter what happened, he kept his Bible in hand. He was like Ezra the priest whom Artaxerxes the king described as having the law of God “in thine hand” (Ezra 7:14).

The psalmist always had his counsellers nearby to advise him: “Thy testimonies are also my delight and my counsellers” (Psalm 119:24). From Psalm 119 we learn that the Scriptures provide us with the answers for either coping with our problems or solving our problems. This reminds me of something I read in a blog written by Pastor Larry Lilly, whom I personally know. I cite it here:

“I know a man who uses a simple, yet largely unused method in solving problems. He first writes out the nature of the problem, then searches to see if there is a similar problem identified in the scripture, then writes out a biblical definition of the problem and the biblical solutions. He then asks, ‘How can I fit this solution to my problem?’ The answer will come.”

To that I can but add a hearty “Amen.”

Psalm 119 opens with a description of the blessed man: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.” This description finds its ultimate expression in the Lord Jesus Christ of Whom is it written:

Hebrews 7:26  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens….

And thus we have been able to see our Lord Jesus peering through the verses of the Psalm.

As I look back over the six plus years in which I have been writing these meditations, I am touched by all the varied experiences that I have passed through during this time. As I have been engaged in this task I have, of course, grown older. I endure frequent stiffness and shots of pain in the muscles and joints of my body. It takes a bit for the parts to loosen up in the morning. And I notice that I tire out more rapidly. But I am still able to do exercise classes and keep fairly fit. I am able to fulfill the duties of my ministry which consist of praying, preaching about 70-75 minutes every Sunday, conducting a Bible study each week, writing these meditations, counselling, and some travelling here and there. Thanks be to God that as of this writing I am not on any pharmaceutical medications. During this period I have watched some of my grandchildren enter into their teen years. Two of my grandsons are now taller than I. It seems but yesterday that I cradled them in my arms. I also saw the increase of our family with the birth of my youngest daughter’s two children with now another on the way. Not long after I began this work I made a ministerial trip to the Far East which lasted the better part of six weeks. It took months of preparation to get ready for that trip. I count that time as one of the busiest of my life. The trip itself was exciting and eventful, but hugely draining. It literally took me months to recover from it. Also during these years I had the privilege of participating in the ordination of two men to the ministry, one of whom took over the pastorate of a church I started in Minnesota. As I was working through this psalm I went through some of the worst depression of my life, but the good Lord brought me through it. I also experienced a bout with my nerves and narrowly escaped what could have been a crippling battle with anxiety. Over these years I have lived with the sorrow of watching my beloved mother decline with the dreadful disease of Alzheimer’s. It hurts to watch the person you know fade before your very eyes so that they cease being the person you knew. It is a protracted loss that brings a protracted grief. I have also experienced other losses of things I loved and enjoyed. I have seen members, including three of my grandsons, added to the church under my ministry whilst also seeing members leave my ministry. We lost two of our most faithful members to death and others in the congregation are nearing their end. Yet we are also reaping a crop of babies in the congregation which gives us a prospect for the future of the church, if God so will. During this time I have done some very serious self-reflection digging down beneath the surface of my problems to discover the deeper issues that give rise to them. This has helped me in my personal growth. Like the psalmist, I too can say to God that “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies” (Psalm 119:59). Over these years God has blessed me to continue to increase in the knowledge of His word. Just preparing these meditations on Psalm 119 has been very rewarding. I have learned so much. I look forward to going over them again as I edit them with the intent of composing them into a book. God has also blessed me in preparing some serial messages that have been personally enriching to study and that have greatly blessed the congregation. Of all the blessings that I have experienced over these years, I esteem those gleaned from the study and meditation of the word of God to be the best. My sentiments echo those of the psalmist when he wrote:

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

Psalms 119:103  How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Yes, the years spent in composing these meditations have seen their gains and losses, their ups and downs. In short, as I have been composing these meditations on this psalm to a great extent I have lived this psalm. And just as God’s word met the psalmist wherever he was and brought him comfort, so God’s word has met me and been “my comfort in my affliction” (Psalms 119:50).

And so I am done. My heart is warm and my eyes moisten at the thought that I have finally arrived at the end of this undertaking. I take my leave of this task with the certain realization that I have only skimmed the surface of all that can be gleaned from these verses. The riches of God’s word are unsearchable (Ephesians 3:8). Even eternity itself will not be enough time to fathom “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God” (Romans 11:33). But thanks be to God that by His amazing grace we will have an eternity to engage in the task. In relation to that, this task of searching through Psalm 119 was not gargantuan at all. It was but a shallow skimming of the cream on the surface. But, oh, it is a delightful cream and a foretaste of yet richer and fuller things to come! And so I commend this work to God with thanks to Him, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, Who enabled me, His unworthy servant, to execute it in His name. May it please Him to make further use of this work for His glory and the good of His people.

Philippians 4:20  Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalm 119:176

At long last we now come to the last verse of Psalm 119 and the end of the octave entitled Tau.

Psalms 119:176  I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

We begin by focusing on the expression thy servant. This is the thirteenth time in this psalm that the psalmist designated himself as God’s servant (see verses 17, 23, 38, 49, 65, 76, 84, 122, 124, 125, 135, 140, 176). If one is a servant of God, his chief aim and purpose is to do the will of his Master, God. Every time he addresses God as Lord, he is using a word which means master. And God, the Master, expresses His will for His servants in His word. So God’s servants serve Him by keeping His word. Therefore, being a servant of God, the psalmist prayed this prayer in verse 125 of this psalm:

Psalms 119:125  I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.

Commenting on this verse I wrote:

“As a servant of God, the psalmist wanted to know God’s testimonies. He wanted to know His Master and His will so that he might serve Him. What servant is worth his salt that cares nothing for what his master says?”

As a servant of God the psalmist was living his life in subjection to his Master rather than in rebellion against Him. And he kept His Master’s commandments ever before him as he testifies in today’s verse:  for I do not forget thy commandments.

And yet even though he served the Lord and did not forget His commandments, he still had to confess:  I have gone astray like a lost sheep. The Lord’s people are sheep.

Psalms 100:3  Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

And as sheep they are prone to go astray.

Isaiah 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Therefore, even when we are serving the Lord and keeping His commandments in mind, we will still find ourselves going astray from time to time. If you think about it, you will find this to be true. Have you ever found yourself thinking some abominable thought for a period of time before you caught yourself thinking it? Weren’t you amazed that you could let your mind wander to something like that without realizing it right away? Does your mind ever wander during a sermon you should be listening to? Have you ever been caught up and carried away in a relationship only to realize later on that it was not one that was healthy for you; and, therefore, you had to back out of it at the cost of pain to yourself and perhaps the other? Have you ever been so enthralled with a pleasure or a sport, or have you ever been so consumed with a care or worry, that it was choking the word of God in your life before you realized it? Have you ever involved yourself in a business that seemed so good at the start only to later regret you ever signed on? Have you ever pursued an idea that seemed so grand at the time only then to have it blow up in your face leaving you to ask yourself how you could ever have been so stupid? Have you ever in an unguarded moment been seized by an emotion that carried you where you shouldn’t go? Of course, such things have happened to you. You see, what happened is that you went astray like a lost sheep. And it can happen even with the best of intentions because we are sheep prone to wander from the right way. Being finite there are just so many things we cannot see, we cannot know. Therefore, there are things that may look very good that in reality are very bad, but we just don’t see it.

This is why we must ever pray: seek thy servant. We should ever be asking the Lord to watch over us and reel us back in when He sees us going astray. In essence, this is what we are asking for when we pray: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This prayer of the psalmist was also expressed in these words in verse 10 of this psalm: “O let me not wander from thy commandments.” If the Lord does not seek us, we will wander hopelessly lost. I think it is good to say to the Lord something to this effect: “Lord, do whatever He it takes to keep me in the strait and narrow way, even if it means slamming me upside the head with an iron frying pan; but just don’t give up on me.” And sometimes, being slammed with an iron frying pan is about what it takes for some of the Lord’s sheep to be brought back from their errant ways.

But if you would have the Lord to seek you, be sure you can add this plea to your prayer: for I do not forget thy commandments. Keep the Bible in your life and in your thoughts. Do not cast it aside. It is your rallying point. If you discard the Book, then you will go astray like a lost sheep. And the Lord, as a judgment, may just let you spend the rest of your days in this world wandering about from one error to another with no return as the following two passages declare.

Psalms 81:8  ¶Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

9  There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

10  I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11  But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

12  So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

Psalms 95:7  ¶For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

8  Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

And whilst I am on the subject of not forgetting God’s commandments, let me point out that it is not only for your good that you remember them, but also for the good of your children!

Hosea 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Commenting on verse 168 of Psalm 119 and comparing it with today’s verse, Charles Spurgeon had this to say:

“We are struck with the contrast between this verse, which is the last of its octave, and verse 176, which is similarly placed in the next octave. This (verse 168) is a protest of innocence, ‘I have kept thy precepts,’ and that (verse 176) a confession of sin, ‘I have gone astray like a lost sheep.’ Both were sincere, both accurate. Experience makes many a paradox plain, and this is one. Before God we may be clear of open fault and yet at the same time mourn over a thousand heart-wanderings which need his restoring hand.”

My experience certainly confirms what Mr. Spurgeon wrote. Then I would also like to pass on to you the comments first of Matthew Henry and then of Charles Bridges on today’s verse.

“Thus he concludes the psalm with a penitent sense of his own sin and a believing dependence on God’s grace. With these a devout Christian will conclude his duties, will conclude his life; he will live and die repenting and praying.”

“And thus will our Christian progress be chequered, until we reach the regions of unmixed praise, where we shall no longer mourn over our wanderings, no longer feel any inclination to err from him, or the difficulty of returning to him – where we shall be eternally safe in the heavenly fold, to ‘go no more out.’ (Rev. iii.12).”

As we have now come to the end of this psalm let me remind you of something that I said at the outset that I would do. I said that as I pored over the verses of Psalm 119 I would “keep an eye out to behold the Lord Jesus Christ as He is certain to show Himself here as in all the other Scriptures.” As we consider today’s verse we see the Lord Jesus Christ showing Himself, for the psalmist speaks of himself as a lost sheep needing to be sought. And who seeks the sheep but the shepherd? And Who is the Shepherd of God’s sheep but the Lord Jesus Christ. Speaking of Himself He said, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14). And being the good Shepherd, it is He that seeks the sheep when they are lost.

Ezekiel 34:11  For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

12  As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

Who of us that profess to be the Lord’s sheep have not from time to time experienced “the cloudy and dark day” when we lost our way? And yet the Lord Jesus brings us back into the way so that we can say with David as he wrote of his Shepherd: “He restoreth my soul” (Psalms 23:3).

This concludes the verses of Psalm 119. God willing, I shall write a conclusion to this series of meditations in the next installment.

Psalm 119:175

Today we come to the next to the last verse of Psalm 119.

Psalms 119:175  Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.

As we have walked through this psalm we have found that the psalmist lived amidst enemies, enemies that doubtless would have rejoiced to see him dead. But even though death would have meant an end to the conflicts of his life and an entrance into heavenly rest, the psalmist yet wanted to live. He wanted his soul to abide a while longer in the body on this earth. And all of us who live and enjoy a degree of health and happiness in this world understand this desire. But why did the psalmist want to live longer? Was it that he might see his children and grandchildren grow up? Was it that he might serve his country? Was it that he might continue to play sports? Was it that he might pay off his house and leave his loved ones provided for? No! He wanted his soul to live that it might praise God. For if the psalmist died, while his soul would praise God in heaven it would no longer do so on this earth. And it is a great honour to God when a soul praises Him in a body of depraved flesh that is indisposed to His worship in the midst of a world that is in rebellion against Him.

This prayer of the psalmist reminds us of the prayer of Hezekiah when he pled with God for an extension of his life. He, too, wanted his days lengthened so that He might praise the Lord.

Isaiah 38:18  For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

19  The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

20  The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

21  For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.

22  Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?

Hezekiah reasoned with God that if he died, he could not praise God and make known His truth to the next generation. But, like the psalmist, he reasoned that if the Lord would let his soul live, he could and would praise God. So if you perceive you are facing some situation that is threatening to shorten your days, let this be your bargaining chip with the Lord: Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee.

As the psalmist resolved to praise his God, he sought this help: and let thy judgments help me. Charles Spurgeon noted that this was the second time in this octave that he asked for help. He wrote: “He was always in need of help, and so are we.” In this case it was God’s judgments that would help the psalmist. That word judgments is one of the ten words used in this psalm to refer to the Holy Scriptures, which we call the Bible. Now if you want to praise God, you need to know how to do so acceptably and for that you need the help of your Bible. If we would praise God, we must do so according to His word. Since God is the Judge Who pronounces righteous judgments, it is His to decide how He will be worshipped. That is not left to our judgment! To worship God we need the right doctrine, the right method, and the right attitude. Not just anything will do no matter how sincere it might be. “They that worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). That is why the psalmist said early on in this psalm:

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

True worship requires the instruction of God’s judgments laid down in the Scriptures.

Now notice the word let in the prayer of this verse: let my soul live….let thy judgments help me. We find this same type of prayer in other verses of this octave: “let my cry come before thee” (verse 169); “let my supplication come before thee” (verse 170); “let thine hand help me” (verse 173). From all these verses we see that the psalmist was beholden to what God lets, that is, to God’s permissive decrees. No prayer or supplication he might utter would get through to the Lord unless He permitted it to get through. He would receive no help from the hand of God unless God willed to let it happen. His soul would not live unless God allowed it to live and God’s judgments would not help him unless the Lord permitted them to do so. Now focus on that last statement. The only way our Bible will ever help us is if God lets it help us. So whenever you are trying to witness to someone and you give them plain Bible verses to show them the truth and they don’t get it, it may be that the Lord is simply not allowing His judgments to help them. From time to time God disallows men the help of His word. Such was the case with many in the days of our Lord as Isaiah prophesied in these fearful words:

Isaiah 29:9  Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

10  For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

11  And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

12  And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

It is sobering to realize that you could have a Bible in your hand in a language you understand and yet that Book would be closed to your understanding. In this case, you would have the judgments of God and yet they would not help you because God won’t let them help you. This happened to the Jews of Christ’s day because they laid aside the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men (Mark 7:6-8). If we reject the help of God’s judgments and choose to follow other judgments be they our own or those of others, the day may come when the Lord will no longer let His judgments help us. God forbid! May we never lose sight of just how much we need the help of God’s judgments and may we ever pray to God to let them help us. And, most importantly, when those judgments are made known to our understanding so that they may help us, may we ever choose them above the doctrines and commandments of men.

Psalm 119:174

We continue into the final stretch of Psalm 119.

Psalms 119:174  I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.

We begin as we often do by defining key terms in the verse.

Long – To have a yearning desire; to wish earnestly. Const. for.

Delight – Pleasure, joy, or gratification felt in a high degree.

Show me what a man most desires, what he yearns for, and what is his greatest delight, and I will show you what he is. Think about how much of your life is shaped by what you desire and what you enjoy.

The psalmist longed for God’s salvation. Now God saves His people from troubles of all kinds.

Psalms 34:17  The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

Psalms 25:22  Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

But the greatest trouble we all have is the trouble of sin. Sin lies at the foundation of all grief. It was not until Adam sinned that trouble entered into the human experience. When you examine the curse that God pronounced upon Adam and Eve because of their sin, you will find mention of sorrow, thorns, thistles, sweat, and dissolution (Genesis 3:16-19). Any trouble you and I have can be reduced down to some kind of sorrow in body or soul, some kind of resistance to our efforts like thorns and thistles, some kind of strain in work that causes sweat, and the dissolution of our bodies in aging and death. That being the case, God’s salvation ultimately centers in salvation from sin, which is the cause of all trouble.

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.

Psalms 130:8  And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

This fact is brought forth in the incident in which our Lord healed a man sick of the palsy when the disciples let him down through the roof (Mark 2:1-12). At first our Lord said to the sick of the palsy: “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” Afterward He said to him: “Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.” Healing this man of his palsy demonstrated that Jesus had “power on earth to forgive sins.” This narrative shows that the ultimate cause of the palsy was sin, which Christ addressed first. By taking away the sin which caused the trouble of the palsy, Jesus took away the palsy. I say all that to say this: God’s salvation is salvation from sin! So if you long for God’s salvation, then the thing you most want to be saved from is sin.

But notice that the psalmist longed for God’s salvation. If you have something in your life that you know you need to be saved from such as a bad habit, a weakness, or a fear, and yet you are still trapped in it, it might be that you are not longing for salvation from it. Perhaps you have become too comfortable with it.

But if you find you are not longing for God’s salvation as you ought, then the second half of the verse may identify the problem: and thy law is my delight. Sin is defined as the transgression of the law (1John 3:4). Therefore, if God’s law is your delight, then sin transgresses what you find a high degree of pleasure in. In other words, sin spoils your greatest joy, as well it should! Thus it follows that you long for God’s salvation from sin. And you especially long for the salvation that is to be brought to us at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ when we shall be forever removed from even the presence of sin.

Hebrews 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

2 Timothy 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

If you are not earnestly desiring the appearing of Christ, it is likely owing to the fact that you are not finding much pleasure in the word of God. The more you relish learning the Scriptures, the more you long to see the Saviour of Whom they testify (John 5:39).

This longing expressed by the psalmist echoes the longing of our father Jacob as he lay on his death bed.

Genesis 49:18  I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

May this be our longing as we near the end of our pilgrimage through this world.

As the psalmist nears the conclusion of this great psalm, he repeats something he affirmed eight time previously and that was his delight in the word of God (see verses 16, 24, 35, 47, 70 ,77, 92,143). Any man who delights in God’s word like that is a blessed man. His life has the proper direction, and he is stable, productive, and prosperous in all the ways that count.

Psalms 1:1  ¶Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Psalm 119:173

We come to the next verse of this last octave of Psalm 119 entitled Tau.

Psalms 119:173  Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

This petition of the psalmist echoes one of the petitions of the prayer of Jabez recorded amidst the genealogies of 1 Chronicles.

1 Chronicles 4:10  And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

That God’s hand be with us and help us is a thing to be sought. Consider what we are asking when we ask Almighty God: let thine hand help me. The hand of God is big enough to contain all the waters in the earth and skies in its hollow so as to measure them. This hand when outstretched is so large that it can measure the entire universe. This is the hand that “hath laid the foundation of the earth.”

Isaiah 40:12  Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span (the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended)….

Isaiah 48:13  Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

This hand became flesh and blood in the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. When this hand of God in Christ touched a fevered woman, the fever departed; when it touched a leper, the leprosy departed; when it touched the ears of a deaf man, he heard; when it touched the eyes of a blind man, he saw; and when it touched the body of a dead man, he came to life again (Mark 1:30-31, 40-42; 7:31-35; 8:22-25; Luke 7:11-15). This is the hand that rescued Peter when he began to sink in the boisterous sea (Matthew 14:29-31). I point all this out to show you the exceedingly great power of the hand of God to help! There is no greater help than the help of that hand for whatever your need might be because it is the help of Omnipotence.

But if you would have that hand help you, then you need to also be able to advance this as a plea: for I have chosen thy precepts. When it comes to the eternal salvation of God’s children, that does not depend upon their choice, but rather upon God’s choice of them (Ephesians 1:4; 2Thessalonians 2:13). But the quality of their lives in this earth and the help of God in their pilgrimage is conditioned upon their choice. Just consider how much of your life is shaped by the choices you make. If we would have God help us, then we need to choose His precepts to govern the course of our lives. It is as simple as this: “The LORD is with you, while ye be with him” (2Chronicles 15:2).

Think of it like this: in His precepts God is stretching His hand out to you. If you choose those precepts you are taking His hand in yours. In this way God’s hand will help you as you muddle your way through this fallen world. In fact, God has promised you the help of His hand when enemies arise against you. Note the words I have italicized in the following passage that lines up with today’s verse.
 

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.

11  Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.

12  Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.

13  For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

14  Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

But if you do not choose God’s precepts and if you refuse their counsel, then God’s hand will not be there to help you, even though you seek it.

Proverbs 1:20  ¶Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

21  She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

22  How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

23  Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

24  Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

25  But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

26  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

27  When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

28  Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

29  For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

Note the words I have italicized above. The Lord stretched out His hand and they refused; they did not choose to fear Him. If you refuse the hand of God outstretched to you in His precepts, He will refuse the help of His hand in your calamity. What a fearful thought!

Psalm 119:172

We come to the next verse of this last octave of Psalm 119 entitled Tau.

Psalms 119:172  My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.

The psalmist was not only going to learn his Bible, he was not only going to obey the commandments of his Bible, he was going to talk about it: my tongue shall speak of thy word. And in talking about God’s word, he would be saying the right thing for all thy commandments are righteousness. If you are ever unsure of what is the right thing to say about something, then say what the Bible has to say about it, and you will be saying the right thing for you will be speaking righteousness.

All God’s commandments are righteousness. They are not only righteous, as the psalmist stated in Psalms 119:138, they are righteousness itself. And this is true of all the Scriptures in everything they say. When you hold a King James Bible in your hand, which is the preserved word of God in the English language, you are holding righteousness itself. It is not to be tampered with, altered, or taken lightly. It is to be heeded and reverenced with godly fear.

The very fact that the psalmist would speak of God’s word shows that the word of God was dwelling in him abundantly as our Lord Jesus said: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34). When the word of God is dwelling in us richly, it will manifest itself in the things that come out of our mouth as this verse makes plain:

Colossians 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Or consider this instruction taken from the book of Proverbs:

Proverbs 22:17  Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.

18  For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.

If you get the word of God “within” you, it will be “fitted in thy lips,” that is, you will be able to speak it forth. And it is a sign of spiritual growth when you not only know the truth, but when you are “speaking the truth in love.”

Ephesians 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ….

If we are the Christians we should be, our tongue will be “as choice silver” (Proverbs 10:20); it will be “health” (Proverbs 12:18); our lips will “feed many” (Proverbs 10:21) and will “disperse knowledge” (Proverbs 15:7). Don’t you want your mouth to be a source of rich, healing, nourishing instruction to others rather than a fountain of destructive foolishness and non-sense? Well, if you get into your Bible and let it get into you, that will help! We would all be so much better off is we spoke more often of the words of God and less of the words of men. Alas, too many can expound extensively on what they hear in the news; read online or in a novel; or see on YouTube or in a movie; but grow strangely silent when the subject of the teaching of the Scriptures comes up.

When you are speaking of the Holy Scriptures, you have an inexhaustible subject for discussion. Charles Spurgeon said of the Scriptures: “the tale is for ever telling, yet untold.” How true! I have been preaching the story for going over 46 years and yet I feel I am but skimming the surface of all there is to tell.

Psalm 119:171

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

Psalms 119:171  My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

In this psalm we find seven verses before today’s verse in which the psalmist prayed to the Lord to teach him His statutes (verses 12, 26, 33, 64, 68, 124, 135). As we noted in our introduction to this psalm, God’s statutes are His laws and decrees. Praying to be taught God’s statutes, the psalmist was praying to learn the laws of God given to govern human conduct, and the decrees of God that affect the course of this world and the destinies of men. In verse 66 the psalmist prayed to be taught “good judgment and knowledge,” which come from God’s statutes; and in verse 108 he prayed to be taught God’s “judgments,” which entail His statutes. In short, the psalmist wanted the good Lord to teach him the Scriptures. He wanted to learn his Bible.

When commenting on verse 12 of this psalm, we pointed out that God uses instruments to teach us His statutes, instruments such as the Scriptures themselves, parents, pastors and teachers, fellow believers, tribulation, and chastening. But even though these instruments are used of the Lord, it is the Lord that is teaching us by them and, therefore, He is to be praised for the lesson learned. And that is precisely what the psalmist is doing in today’s verse.

When the Lord answered the psalmist’s prayer to be taught His statutes, the psalmist resolved this in response: “My lips shall utter praise.” The psalmist would verbally and audibly worship God for this answer to his prayer. And well it is that God should be praised for this blessing, for to have God’s words and to learn them is the chief blessing of all.

God bestowed many favours upon the nation of Israel. This following passage lists some of them:

Deuteronomy 6:10  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 

11  And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

12  Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

The were miraculously delivered from oppressive slavery in Egypt; they were miraculously sustained in the wilderness for forty years; and then they were led into the land of Canaan, a land of plenty available for the taking. But above all these advantages was the advantage granted to them of the revelation of God in His word, which was written and preserved for their learning. It was this advantage that made Israel a truly great nation.

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 (the revelation) of God.

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.

Deuteronomy 4:8  And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

So if God has committed to you a copy of His pure, preserved word, you have the chief advantage. But in order to profit from that advantage, that word must be learned because it is “the entrance of” God’s words that give light and understanding (Psalm 119:130). You must be taught the statutes of the Lord. What is written on the page must find its way into your understanding if it is to benefit you.

Proverbs 2:10  ¶When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

11  Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee….

Therefore, with Bible in hand we must pray to God to teach it to us, to give us understanding of it. And when He does, we must praise Him for the gift of His instruction. Furthermore, we ought to praise Him chiefly for this since, as we have seen, it is the chief advantage we have from Him. So, do you thank God for what you learn in a sermon as much, or more, than you thank Him for food, health, family, and friends?

In conclusion, it is a sign we have learned God’s statutes when we are about the business of praising Him, since those statutes frequently instruct us in that business. As Matthew Henry wrote: “We have learned nothing to purpose if we have not learned to praise God.”

Psalm 119:170

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

Psalms 119:170  Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.

In this verse the psalmist does the same as he did in the first verse: he prays to God to let his prayer come before Him. In the last verse he called his prayer a cry. In today’s verse he refers to it as his supplication. A supplication is the act of supplicating. Therefore, in order to know what a supplication is, we need to define the word supplicate.

Supplicate - To beg, pray, or entreat humbly; to present a humble petition.

Simply stated, a supplication is a prayer in which one humbly begs God for something. The psalmist is praying to be admitted into the presence of God as a beggar. In praying thus, the psalmist assumes a humble posture before God, which pleases Him. Had he not been humble, his prayer would not have come before the Lord as the next two verses make plain:

James 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Psalms 138:6  Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

Matthew Henry’s comments on this verse are worth noting:

“His prayer that his supplication might come before God implies a deep sense of his unworthiness, and a holy fear that his prayer should come short or miscarry, as not fit to come before God; nor would any of our prayers have had access to God if Jesus Christ had not approached to him as an advocate for us.”

Thank God for the Lord Jesus Christ through Whom we “have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Ephesians 2:18).

Then the psalmist brought this request before the Lord: deliver me according to thy word. This is the sixth time in this psalm that he prayed to be saved or delivered (see verses 94, 134, 146, 153, 154). In this prayer he does not specify from what or from whom he prays to be delivered. But when you consider that believers are locked in a battle with the devil and his angels (Ephesians 6:11-12); and that they live in a world that hates them (John 15:19); and that they live in corruptible bodies of flesh in which there “dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18); then you understand that believers always need deliverance. Hence, they need to be always praying deliver me.

Since we are finite creatures with very limited knowledge, there are many things that threaten us that we are not even aware of. There are things that will look very good to us that are in reality very bad; but because of our shortsightedness, we just don’t see the bad. Therefore, we need an infinite Mind to look out for us and deliver us from that which we do not, yea, cannot see. Of course, that infinite Mind is our God Whom we should ever supplicate to deliver us. For there will always be something we need to be delivered from, whether we know it or not.

And notice that the psalmist sought the deliverance that is according to God’s word. He wanted the deliverance that is promised in God’s word in the way that God has promised it. He prayed for that deliverance that would make him more holy, more in conformity to the commandments of God, and would thus be to the glory of God. If that deliverance came through the path of suffering, then let it be. He wanted that salvation that fulfills the desire of a heart that is right with God, a heart that continually says: “The LORD be magnified.”

Psalms 40:16  Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.

Philippians 1:19  For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

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.

In that last reference were the words of the apostle Paul. If Christ was magnified in his body, that was salvation for Paul, even if it meant death. Is that the kind of deliverance you seek from God? Do you seek a deliverance that centers in God’s glory, or one that centers in your personal ease and ambition? In other words, do you seek to be delivered according to God’s will as expressed in His word or do you want to be delivered according your will as you may too often express in your words? His will or yours? His word or yours? Which is it?

Psalm 119:169

Today we come to the last octave of Psalm 119. I feel a sense of awe that we have come this far in our meditations on this great psalm. It seems surreal to be so close to the end.

This last octave of Psalm 119 bears the title of the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet pronounced Tau. The pronunciation guide in my Bible shows that the au in this letter is pronounced the same as the au in our word maul or the letter a in our words all, hall, tall. I have listened to some pronunciations of the Hebrew alphabet online and I have heard the au in Tau pronounced like our word of so that it has a slight v sound at the end. Anyway, tau tau, chaps! This is enough of the Hebrew lesson from someone who does not speak Hebrew.

Psalms 119:169  ¶TAU. Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word.

This is the only verse in the psalm where we find the word cry in its noun form. Let’s define it.

Cry – 1. The loud and chiefly inarticulate utterance of emotion; esp. of grief, pain, or terror. An exclamation expressive of any emotion. 2. Shouting, calling in a voice loud and uttered with effort. 3. An importunate (persistent and pressing) call, a prayer, entreaty; an appeal for mercy, justice, etc.

When a prayer to God is a cry, it is not a mindless, heartless, habitual mumbling of the same words, as many prayers too often are. It is a fervent, emotional, pressing appeal to God. In the case of this prayer of the psalmist, the emotion it conveys is further expressed by the exclamatory word O used when he addresses the Lord, O LORD.

Now this verse is a prayer for a prayer. It is a prayer to God to let his cry come before Him. This acknowledges that there is a possibility that his cry might not get through to God. The idea that God hears all prayers flatly contradicts the clear teaching of Holy Scripture. That God does not hear all prayers is certainly the case when men reject the word of God.

Proverbs 28:9  He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.

Proverbs 1:28  Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

29  For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

There are even cries, intense, emotional prayers, that are not heard by the Lord.

Jeremiah 11:11  Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.

If we do not humbly submit to the reproofs of God’s word and repent of our sins, the Lord will not hear us.

Psalms 66:18  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me….

So considering what sinners we are and considering that so many prayers are not received by the Lord, it is a mark of humility to pray:  let my cry come before thee.

And think about what happens when your cry does come before the Lord. Here you are a puny creature upon this earth pouring out your heart to God in your distress. The sound of your single, little voice rises up through the din of all the noise in this world and is carried all the way from where you are praying, through the skies, through the galaxies, through the gates of heaven, into heaven itself, God’s holy dwelling place and temple, and into the ears of the highest Majesty, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Almighty God of heaven and earth. And you get His attention. He hears you and considers your request.

2 Chronicles 30:27  Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.

Psalms 18:6  In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

How this fact should spur us to pray with much more fervency and earnestness.

This verse reminds me of the story of a blind man whom Jesus healed. Here is the account as it is given in the gospel of Luke.

Luke 18:35  ¶And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:

36  And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.

37  And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

38  And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

39  And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

40  And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,

41  Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.

42  And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.

43  And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

First notice the intensity of the blind man’s prayer. He “cried” and when urged to hold his peace “he cried so much the more.” Like the psalmist in today’s verse, his prayer was a cry. It was an emotional and persistent appeal to the Lord. He wanted the Lord to let his cry come before him. And the Lord in His mercy did just that. He let the cry come before him so that it said that the blind man “was come near.” And coming near he presented his prayer for the gift of sight and Jesus granted him his request.

Now the thing the psalmist cried after was this: give me understanding according to thy word. This request also reminds me of the story we just read from the gospel of Luke. In a very real sense, the psalmist was also asking for sight. Scripture speaks of “the eyes of your understanding” (Ephesians 1:18). Understanding is to the mind what eyes are to body. When we finally understand something, we often say, “I see it now.” Understanding is seeing with the mind. Thus the psalmist cried to God for sight like the blind man cried to Jesus for sight.

But the understanding the psalmist cried for was understanding according to God’s word. This makes sense since it is through God’s word that we get understanding (Psalms 119:104). In order to fully understand, that is, to fully make sense of anything, you need to understand it in the light of the teaching of God’s word. The Bible is the single book that stitches all the branches of knowledge together. And so in order to really understand where everything came from, why things are the way they are, and whereunto they are all tending, you need to earnestly apply to God to give you understanding according to His word. This will carry you much further along the path of understanding than any degree acquired from the most prestigious university could ever carry you.

This is the sixth time in this psalm that the psalmist prays for understanding of God’s word (see verses 27, 34, 73, 125, 144). Now the fact that the psalmist continued to pray for understanding of God’s word shows that he was seeking to grow in his knowledge and understanding of it, which is something all Bible believers should do if they would be truly wise.

Proverbs 1:5  A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels….

1 Peter 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby….

2 Peter 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Psalm 119:168

We now arrive at the last verse of this octave of Psalm 119 bearing the title of the Hebrew letter Schin.

Psalms 119:168  I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.

The psalmist reaffirms what he had stated in the previous verse and that is that he had kept God’s testimonies. However, in this verse he attaches the word precepts to the word testimonies. As we noted in the beginning of our treatment of this great psalm, the words precepts and testimonies both refer to the written words of God, the Holy Scriptures. The definitions of those terms are cited in that introduction.

As can be deduced from the definitions, the psalmist was not being needlessly redundant in using these two words. The precepts refer specifically to the commands the Lord has issued to regulate our conduct whereas the testimonies are broader in scope. While God’s testimonies do indeed include His precepts, they also include the documentary evidence given in Scripture that supports God’s claims about Himself and His works. The testimonies provide the evidence that establishes God’s authority to issue precepts.  The psalmist was careful to cling to anything his Bible taught both by way of commandment and by way of testimony.

Now the psalmist cites both a proof that he had kept God’s precepts and testimonies, and a reason why he did so: for all my ways are before thee. There is nothing about us, nothing we are and nothing we do that is not known to the Lord. The following verses make this abundantly clear:

Psalms 139:1 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2  Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3  Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

5  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

6  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Proverbs 15:11  Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?

Hebrews 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

So when the psalmist was declaring that he had kept God’s precepts and testimonies, he could call God to bear record that he had indeed done so for God had seen him doing it. All his ways were before the Lord. He could say with Job: “Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high” (Job 16:19).

But this statement, all my way are before thee, is also a reason why the psalmist kept God’s precepts and testimonies. He knew that everything he thought, said, and did was under the watchful eye of God and nothing could be hidden from Him. And this prompted him to render to God’s word a most careful attentiveness and obedience.

Jeremiah 23:23  Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

24  Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

Job was also motivated to fear God and eschew evil by the realization that God saw all his ways as he himself testified: “Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?” (JOB 31:4).

It is the wicked who think they can do evil and God will not see it.

Psalms 94:3  LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?

4  How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?

5  They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.

6  They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

7  Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.

8  Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?

9  He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?

10  He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?

Therefore, the psalmist advanced the words for all my ways are before thee as both a proof and a reason that he kept God’s precepts and His testimonies.

And this brings us to the end of this octave of Psalm 119 entitled Schin. This leaves us with one more octave to cover before we reach the conclusion of Psalm 119. May God grant us grace to see it through to the finish, if the Lord Jesus tarries and we live. And should our Lord come before I finish this series, we will have all eternity to delve into the riches of that last octave so that in the end, we will have missed nothing. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

Psalm 119:167

We are making our way toward the end of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Schin.

Psalms 119:167  My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.

In verse 129 the psalmist said of God’s testimonies: “therefore doth my soul keep them.” In today’s verse he affirms again that his soul kept them. As I noted when commenting on verse 129, the psalmist did not merely keep God’s testimonies outwardly and on display for other men to see. Rather, his innermost self, his very soul, kept them. He “obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered” to him (Romans 6:17). Like the apostle Paul, he delighted “in the law of God after the inward man” (Romans 7:22).

In verse 129 the psalmist wrote in the present tense: “therefore doth my soul keep them.” In today’s verse he writes in the present perfect tense: my soul hath kept them. The present perfect tense of a verb refers to a past action the effects of which continue into the present. What the psalmist had done in the past he was continuing to do in the present and that was to keep the testimonies of the Lord. Furthermore, having kept God’s testimonies had this present effect upon him: and I love them exceedingly.

Repeatedly in this psalm the psalmist stated his love for God’s word (see verses 47-48, 97, 113, 119, 127, 140, 159, 163). The reason he kept God’s testimonies was because he loved them. He did not keep them merely because it was socially respectable, or because it was his duty, or because it secured him from punishment. He kept the testimonies because he loved them. Love of the testimonies themselves was the spring of his obedience to them. His obedience proceeded from the very affections of his soul. W. M. Statham’s comments on this point are insightful: “To keep it because we love it is to show that it is already part of us – has entered into the moral texture of our being.” 

As we keep the testimonies of the Lord from a principle of love, we come to love them more and more, even to the point of loving them exceedingly.

Exceedingly – Of degree: Above measure, extremely.

The psalmist’s love for God’s words was beyond his ability to measure. It was extreme. We generally tend to be critical of extremism. But this is one form of extremism we would all do well to develop and maintain.

Psalm 119:165

Are you a person that is often offended by others or that gets your feelings hurt easily? If so, then you have a serious problem that today’s meditation specifically addresses. God grant that it may prove helpful to your soul.

Psalms 119:165  Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

As we consider this verse, let us be reminded that God’s law, His written word, is the truth (Psalm 119:142). Therefore, I shall speak of the law and the truth interchangeably throughout this meditation.

Let’s begin by seeing how the Oxford English Dictionary defines the word offend.

Offend – In Biblical use: To be a stumbling-block, or cause spiritual or moral difficulty, to (a person); to shock; to cause to stumble or to sin.

Oxford supplies another definition of the word offend that agrees with this Biblical use of the term.

Offend - To hurt or wound the feelings or susceptibilities of; to be displeasing or disagreeable to; to vex, annoy, displease, anger; now esp. To excite a feeling of personal annoyance, resentment, or disgust in (any one).

First off, people who love the law of God are not offended by the truth in that law even though it may be offensive. And there is plenty of truth in there that is offensive to all of us, especially painful truth about ourselves.

When the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the truth (John 14:6), was in this world and spoke among men, there were those that were offended by what they heard.

Matthew 15:12  Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?

John 6:60  ¶Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

61  When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?

These were obviously people that did not truly love the law of God, although they professed to do so. You can always tell how much a person loves the Bible when you see how they react when the Bible crosses them!

When today’s verse speaks of those who love God’s law, it is not referring to some whim or passing fancy that they experience. It is talking about a love of the law of God that is constant, a love for the law even when it exposes one’s sins and infirmities. It is talking about a love of God’s law that leads one to submit to its commandments even when it is personally costly or painful to do so. When you love the law like that, you are going to experience the opposition of the devil and the world over which he is the god and prince (2Corinthians 4:4; John 14:30).

1 Peter 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour....

John 15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

20  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Our Lord was gracious enough to inform us of this hatred of the world in advance just so that we would not be offended when it happens.

John 16:1  These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.

Yet it happens that there are those who receive the truth with gladness, but whatever fondness they feel for it does not run deep. It is not the kind of love of the truth that endures. Therefore, when opposition comes for the truth’s sake, they are offended and fall away.

Mark 4:16  And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

17  And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

But whatever affliction or persecution comes to those who love God’s law, it is offset by the great peace they have. In the same discourse in which our Saviour forewarned us of the persecution that would come upon us “for the word’s sake,” He promised us His peace.

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

John 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

The same law of God that reveals to us what sinners we are and how deserving of God’s wrath we are, also reveals the Saviour from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. It also reveals that those who love God’s law of truth are just the ones whom the Lord Jesus has loved and saved. As it is written:

1 John 4:19  We love him (which includes loving His law), because he first loved us.

And loving us first, God sent His only begotten Son to take away our sins and give us eternal life.

1 John 4:7  ¶Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Now this passage commands us to love one another. Those who love God’s law will love one another since to love our neighbour as ourselves sums up that law.

Galatians 5:14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

So we learn from this passage (1John 4:7-11) that our love for God’s law is an evidence of our eternal salvation and security in the love of God from which nothing can separate us (Romans 8:35-39). And being at peace in the knowledge of our salvation in Christ, we can better endure whatever persecutions or slights come our way since we know we deserve so much worse. When you think you deserve worse and you are thankful for the salvation God has freely given you by His grace, then you are less prone to be offended.

It is clear from today’s verse that the way to avoid being offended is to cultivate your love of the law of God. And the more you love the law of God, the more out of love you will be with yourself. You see, that is where so many of our personal offenses arise. We just think too highly of ourselves and, therefore, we are offended by whatever anyone says or does that does not square with our estimation of ourselves. We need to learn that the world does not revolve around us. Everyone is not going to crouch down before our every little whim. People will cross us, even unintentionally. We live in a hurting world, or have you noticed? And it also happens among Christians, even the best of them. So if your petty little feelings are always being hurt, pay more attention to what God’s law says about you. The most important thing is not what others think of you, but what Almighty God thinks of you, which you will discover in His law of truth. When you see how bad you really are under the searchlight of that law and when you see how loved you are by God notwithstanding all, then your feelings should calm down into a settled peace that will set light by the negative judgments of others whilst you bask in the strong and constant love of God in Christ.