So far in this octave of Psalm 119 entitled Schin we have found the psalmist fearing, rejoicing, hating, and loving. In today’s verse we find him praising. And all these varied emotions and exercises are centered on the written word of God.
Psalms 119:164 Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.
In verses 147-148 of Psalm 119 we found the psalmist engaged
in his devotions before daybreak and at
various times of the night. In today’s verse
we find him praising God seven times a
day.
Recall that with the exception of verses 1-3 and verse 115, every verse in Psalm 119 is a prayer. In the prayer of today’s verse we have the
psalmist confessing to God the fact that he praised the Lord repeatedly during
the day. Thank God when we have
something about ourselves besides sin to confess to Him. And it speaks well of the psalmist that he
praised God seven times a day rather
than once every seven days. How much
better we would all be if we praised God at least as many times as we asked Him
for something! In fact, the continual
praise of God should be the very element in which we live.
Psalms 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.Psalms 71:8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.15 My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.Psalms 145:1 I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.2 Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.Luke 24:52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
The psalmist cited this specific reason for his repeated
praising of God in a day: because of thy righteous judgments. Commenting before on this expression thy righteous judgments I wrote: “God’s righteous judgments consist of the
commandments He has given to mankind in His law and of His dealings with men
based on their obedience or disobedience to that law.” God’s righteous
judgments are above all a reason to praise Him repeatedly on a daily basis. Have you ever experienced a great deliverance
that caused you to frequently praise the Lord?
Perhaps it was a deliverance from a potentially fatal sickness. Perhaps it was a deliverance from financial
ruin. Maybe it was the rescue of a loved
one from the brink of destruction. It is
good that you should repeatedly praise God for such things. But how often do you praise God for your
Bible?
Praise God we have
a Bible. Praise God we have the Bible in our mother tongue. Praise
God He has given us a heart that desires to know His righteous judgments else we would disregard them. Praise God has given us understanding of
His righteous judgments else we would
not know them. Praise God that His righteous
judgments restrain wickedness in this world, else we had all long since
perished from the earth. Praise God that His righteous judgments for our sin were poured out on our Substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God that a Day is coming in which
His righteous judgments will be
manifested in the everlasting destruction of the wicked and in the everlasting
life of the righteous. Now in this
paragraph I have praised God seven times today for His righteous judgments.
And on and on I could go praising God for His righteous judgments. For those righteous
judgments encompass everything God has said in His word and everything God
does, for “all His ways are judgment” and all His ways are right.
Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
God’s righteous
judgments are so all encompassing that it will take us an eternity of
endless days to praise Him for them. In
fact, we are specifically told that when we get to the other side, God’s righteous judgments will be the matter
of our praise.
Revelation 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
