Psalm 119:118

We continue taking up the verses of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Samech.  Today’s verse presents an opposite scenario from that of the two previous verses.  The two previous verses speak of the Lord upholding people whereas today’s verse speaks of Him treading them down.

Psalms 119:118  Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood.

The Lord treads down all them that err from His statutes.  What is it to err?   

Err – To ramble, roam, stray, wander.  To go astray; to stray from (one’s path or line of direction).  To go wrong in judgment or opinion; to make mistakes, blunder.  To go astray morally; to sin.

Those who err from God’s statutes are those who are operating by a different set of rules than those laid down in the Holy Scriptures.  They are taking their cues from someone other than Almighty God.  Therefore, they are going astray from the direction God’s says they should be taking; they are forming wrong opinions; and they are making mistakes.  In short, they are sinning.  Now they deceive themselves into thinking that the way they are pursuing is best for them, which is why they err from God’s statutes.  Of course, their thinking is utterly false as the psalmist said:  for their deceit is falsehood.  Or to describe it another way, it is like our brother Greg Ohly (a member of the church I pastor) described recently.  When one is not aiming his arrow or gun at the right target, his shot goes astray.  If our aim in life is anything other than keeping God’s statutes, then we are sure to err from them.  And what happens when we err from God’s statutes?  We find ourselves being trodden down by God Himself.

When God chooses to tread under foot a man or a people, it is a crushing experience.  There is not one mighty enough to resist as Jerusalem experienced when the Lord trod her down.

Lamentations 1:15  The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.

The psalmist wrote in Psalms 119:21 that it is “the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.”  The proud are they who think too highly of themselves, their plans, and their opinions.  Such people are sure to err because the Lord’s statutes have a way of crossing the plans and opinions of men as He says in this verse:

Isaiah 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

Now the psalmist wrote of the Lord treading down those who err from His statutes as having already occurred:  Thou hast trodden down.  Doubtless the psalmist had already witnessed in his life those whom God had brought low because of their error.   And throughout history the Lord will continue to tread down those who err from His statutes until He finally treads them down forever when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to judge the quick and the dead.  So that we may say that this verse is not only historical, but prophetic.  For the dealings of our immutable and unchangeable God in past history presage His dealings in the future.

1 Corinthians 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

Isaiah 2:17  And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

Isaiah 63:3  I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

4  For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

But our verse says the Lord has trodden down all them that err from His statutes.  So that includes even God’s own children when they err.  Speaking of the Lord’s own people the psalmist wrote: 

Psalms 106:43  Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

44  Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:

45  And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

I know the good Lord has had to trample me down from time to time.  But the difference between a child of God and one who is not is that when a child of God is “brought low” for his error, he is not trodden down forever.  God remembers His covenant with His people and lifts them up again.  Speaking to God’s own children James wrote:

James 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Now folks do not normally like to be trampled on.  So if you do not want the Lord treading you down, then I suggest you get into your Bible and aim towards keeping God’s statutes.  I close with this fitting prayer:  “O let me not wander (err) from thy commandments” (Psalms 119:10).

Psalm 119:117

The next verse of Psalm 119 that we take up today makes the same request to God as was made in the previous verse.  Both the previous verse and today’s verse are a prayer to be upheld by the Lord.

Psalms 119:117  Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.

To hold someone up is the same as to uphold that person.  

The psalmist well understood that if he was going to be safe, he would need the Lord to hold him up, to preserve him in danger.  Scripture is very clear on this point.  Safety is of the Lord.

Psalms 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

Psalms 33:16  There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.

17  An horse (or a cell phone, ed.) is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.

18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

19  To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

Proverbs 21:31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.

We do well to constantly beg our God to hold us up that we may be safe because there are so many dangers in this fallen world and in our fallen nature, dangers we are aware of and dangers we are unaware of.  Often the greatest perils are not those we expect, but those that we do not expect.  The surprise attack is always the one we are most likely to be fall before because we did not see it coming.  How often have you succumbed to the unexpected temptation? Therefore, we need the Lord on our side looking out for us and holding us up if we are ever to be kept safe from evil. 

Attached to the psalmist’s prayer for safety is this resolve:  and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.  To have respect unto God’s statutes is to give heed, attention, and consideration to them, to have them in view.  Notice that whenever the psalmist desires some blessing from the Lord for himself, like safety in this case, he wants that blessing so that he may serve God by keepings His commandments.  His whole life revolved around his Bible as well it ought since one’s fellowship with God is experienced through His word.  Yet, in order to maintain this respect for God’s statutes continually, we need the Lord to hold us up.  Otherwise, we shall slip and fall.

Psalms 17:5  Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.

Psalms 94:17  Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.

18    When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.

Being held up by the Lord we will be able to keep God’s statutes continually and keeping God’s statutes continually we shall be safe.  As Charles Spurgeon wrote:  “In obedience is safety; in being held up is obedience.”

Proverbs 1:33  But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

As we look back over our lives we find that it has been the Lord that has been holding us up all along, else we would never have made it this far.

Psalms 71:6  By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

So it is fitting from time to time to raise an Ebenezer and say, “Hitherto hath the LORD helped us” (1Samuel 7:12).  And looking out into the future we can be confident that the Lord will continue to hold us up so that we have nothing to fear come what may.

Psalms 73:23  Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.

24    Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

We need but to trust the Lord’s hand to hold us up and we shall be safe.

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

I close with a stanza from the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

Here I’ll raise my Ebenezer,

Hither by Thy help I’m come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to save my soul from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.

Psalm 119:116

I am now ready to take in hand a meditation on the next verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Samech. 

Psalms 119:116  Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.

It will help to open up the verse if we define the word uphold.

Uphold – To support or sustain physically; to keep from falling or sinking.  To support, sustain, maintain by aid or assistance; to preserve unimpaired or intact.  To sustain spiritually.

The psalmist was seeking God’s support and assistance so that he might live:  uphold me…that I may live.  If the Lord does not maintain us, none of us will live another second.  So if you have things you want to accomplish in this life before you die, I suggest that you ask God to uphold you that you may live.  However, this matter of God upholding us that we may live goes beyond just the extension of our natural life in this world.  As Christians there is a certain way we should live in this world.  We call it the Christian life.  The following passages show that to live a Christian life we must live by faith; we must live unto the Lord and not unto ourselves; we must live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; and we must live to the will of God rather than to the will of the flesh and of the world. 

Hebrews 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

2 Corinthians 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Titus 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world….

1 Peter 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

To sum it up, the Christian life is living by faith in obedience to God’s word.  It’s like the old song says:  “Trust and obey.”  However, we cannot live this life unless the Lord upholds us.  Our corrupt flesh and this corrupt world are a force that works like gravity to pull us downward.  And downward we will fall unless the Lord upholds us, which He has promised to do.  Hence, the psalmist prayed:  Uphold me according to thy word.  Here is a sampling of promises from God to uphold us:

Deuteronomy 31:8  And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

Isaiah 41:10  Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Hebrews 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

6  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Whenever you feel yourself overwhelmed and sinking down in an affliction or temptation, then pray as did Peter when he began sinking in the water:  “Lord, save me.”  And then you will experience this:  “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him” (Matthew 14:30-31).  This is a beautiful example of the Lord upholding His servant according to His word.

Then the psalmist added this petition:  and let me not be ashamed of my hope.  Now hope is defined as an expectation of something desired.  If you expect the Lord to help you to live the life He ─ notice I said He and not you ─ wants you to live and if He indeed helps you to live that life, then you will never have a reason to be ashamed of your hope.  To ask God to not let you be ashamed of your hope is another way of asking Him to uphold you. 

But just what is your hope?  What do you expect from the Lord?  Consider Paul’s hope as clearly expressed in this verse:

Philippians 1:20  According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

Now if your expectation and hope are that Christ be magnified in your body by life or by death, you can be assured that God will uphold you to realize that hope so that in nothing shall you be ashamed.  It says a lot about a man when magnifying Christ is the thing he wants most out of life.  Such a man may expect to be upheld by his God to the end and forever.

Psalm 119:115

We continue making our way through this octave of Psalm 119 entitled Samech.

Psalms 119:115  Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.

There are a couple of facts about this verse that causes it to stand out from the rest.  First, there are four verses in this psalm that are not a prayer.  They are the first three verses and this verse.  Second, this is the only verse in this psalm that mentions the word God.  When God is named in the other verses, He is called LORD.

The psalmist directly addresses the evildoers:  depart from me.  We cannot altogether escape mingling with evildoers in this world.  We deal with them on our jobs, in business, at school, at social events, and even in our families.  In order to avoid dealing with evildoers altogether, we would have to go out of the world.

1 Corinthians 5:9  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

10  Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

Yet even though we have to deal with evildoers, we must at the same time maintain a separation from them so as not to be corrupted by their evildoing.

Proverbs 9:6  Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

Proverbs 13:20  He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

2 Corinthians 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you….

Ephesians 5:5  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

6  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

7  Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

So the question is:  How do we bid evildoers depart whilst at the same time maintaining some dealings with them?  The answer lies in the psalmist’s reason for bidding evildoers to depart:  for I will keep the commandments of my God.  When it comes to our obedience to the commandments of our God, we must never allow any association with evildoers under any circumstances to interfere or lead us astray.  To put it bluntly in the language of the street, whenever anyone attempts to turn us from keeping the commandments of God, we are justified in telling them to “bug off.” 

In the matter of our membership and communion in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must bid evildoers depart.  As Peter said to Simon, an evildoer who had crept into the church;  “thou hast neither part not lot in this matter” (Acts 8:21).  Paul instructed the church of Corinth when they had an evildoer in their number to “put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (1Corinthians 5:13).  By standing with the church in its discipline we say to such persons in so many words:  “Depart from me, ye evildoers.”

Whenever anyone comes into your house attempting to bring an evil doctrine or practice into your home, then bid them get of your house. 

2 John 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

So the bottom line is this:  Be stedfast and unmovable in your resolve to keep the commandments of God without any deviation to the right or to the left and that will provide you with the safeguard against injurious and unsuitable company with evildoers.  For it is the word of God that the Lord uses to sanctify us and set us apart from evildoers in this world.  Hear the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ for us before He left this world: 

John 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Please allow me to quote the excellent words of Charles Bridges on this verse:

“As great is the difference between the Christian and the world, as between heaven and hell─as between the sounds, ‘Come, ye blessed, and, ‘Depart,  ye cursed.’ (Matt. xxv.34, 41).  The difference, which at that solemn day will be made for eternity, must, therefore, be visibly made now.  They must depart from us, or we from God….Shall we not then walk on earth with those, with whom we hope to spend our eternity, that our removal hence may be a change of place only, not of company?”

Psalm 119:114

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

Psalms 119:114  Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.

Let us recall that this 119^th psalm is a series of prayers to God. In the prayer we consider today the psalmist acknowledges to God that He was his hiding place and shield. 

Today’s verse stresses the fact that the Lord was the psalmist’s defense and protection in danger.  This protection is contemplated from two angles. When one is in danger from enemies he has two options. He can flee the danger by seeking refuge in a hiding place. Or he can stand his ground and resist the enemy by wielding a shield. A shield provides one with protection from the weapons that the enemy would thrust or hurl at him. With a hiding place and a shield, one has a means of defense whether he runs away or stands his ground. So when the psalmist confesses the Lord to be my hiding place and my shield, he is confessing God as his defense whether he was fleeing danger or resisting danger.

When the adversary attacks us with persecution or temptation, it is sometimes wise to flee and just avoid the situation if at all possible (see 1Corinthians 6:18; 10:14). We find times in the life of David when Saul was pursuing him and he fled away (1Samuel 19:10-12; 21:10). When the Jews were laying wait for Paul in Damascus to kill him, Paul was let “down by the wall in a basket” and thus fled the danger (Acts 9:23-25; 2Corinthians 11:32-33). But even though David and Paul utilized means for escape from danger, it was God Who was protecting them. He was their real hiding place and that is why their enemies could not seize them before the time. Thus we find David writing:

Psalms 31:19  Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

20  Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Psalms 64:1  Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:

3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words….

Psalms 143:9  Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.

So, dear reader, when you feel the devil closing in on you with fierce accusations and temptations, then flee to God in prayer and you will find in Him a hiding place where you will know that you are safe from the power of the enemy. When you have the Lord for your hiding place it is amazing how many hurtful things cannot get to you. Let your enemies plot and say what they will, you remain safe when you live in the secret of God’s presence. In fact, you will be so safe that not even death itself can separate you from the secret of His presence since to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2Corinthians 5:8). 

But sometimes the thing to do is to stand your ground and resist the attack of the enemy.  David did this when he went out to meet Goliath on the field of battle. Instead of running away from the giant, as the soldiers of Israel’s army had been doing, David went right up to him in the confidence that the Lord was his shield. Goliath was utterly powerless to inflict harm on someone armed with such a shield.

1 Samuel 17:45  Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

46  This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

47  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands. 

When the apostle Paul was finally arrested and made a prisoner of Rome, he could no longer run away. But God intervened to be his shield and he was wonderfully defended so that he became a witness of Jesus Christ even in Caesar’s palace. Trace the Lord as Paul’s shield in his personal testimony:

Philippians 1:12  But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;

13  So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;

2 Timothy 4:16  At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

17  Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

18  And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

In this prayer the psalmist also confessed to God what he was doing:  I hope in thy word.  And it is just such persons as hope in God’s word as have Him for a hiding place and a shield.  When our enemies accuse us with our sins and weaknesses thus trying to discourage us, the promises we read in Scripture of God’s merciful forgiveness and the help of His strengthening grace point us to a sure hiding place and shield from those stinging accusations. But that hiding place and shield will only be found if we hope in God’s word of promise. If you find yourself defenseless before your enemies, it may just be that you have placed your hope and expectation in the wrong place. Perhaps you are placing all your hope in the promises of man rather than in the promises of God. You are looking to someone or something else to defend you, to take up your cause rather than the Lord. Perhaps you are expecting your ultimate deliverance to come in this world, rather than in the next. I know from sad experience how naked and defenseless one can be when his hope is misplaced. Unfulfilled expectation can leave you feeling devastated with nothing to look forward to and wondering what it is all for. You need to get back to your Bible and discover there the One that has the power to defend you. Fix your hope upon God’s sure word of truth and you will find the hiding place and shield you so much need in this perilous world.

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

I know I am stretching this out a little longer, but I am compelled to pass on to you the weighty words of William Grant on the subject of hope.

“Of all the ingredients that sweeten the cup of human life, there is none more rich or powerful than hope. Its absence embitters the sweetest lot; its presence alleviates the deepest woe. Surround me with all the joys which memory can awaken or possession bestow, ─without hope it is not enough. In the absence of hope there is sadness in past and present joys ─sadness in the thought that the past is past, and that the present is passing too. But though you strip me of all the joys the past or the present can confer, if the morrow shineth bright with hope, I am glad amid my woe.”

For those of us who hope in God’s word, we live “in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began…” (Titus 1:2). Indeed, “the morrow shineth bright with hope” and here I find a place to hide and a shield to defend me.