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.”