Psalm 119:153

The next octave we take up from Psalm 119 bears the title of the Hebrew letter Resh.  From what I can gather about the pronunciation of this letter, the e is pronounced like our letter a in the words tame, ace, or race.  With that in mind, as I undertake this octave I feel like I am in a resh to finish these blogs.  Now that is really scraping the bottom of the barrel for something funny to the point that it isn’t even funny. 

Looking out over this octave we can see some threads stitching it together.  Twice, in the first two verses the psalmist prays for deliverance.  In verse 153 and verse 159, he asks the Lord to consider him.  Then we find him beseeching the Lord three times to quicken him (verses 154, 156, 159). From these requests and from the statements he makes in this psalm he is obviously in affliction, some of which is arising from the presence of the wicked who are his persecutors and enemies.  And this brings us to consider today’s verse:   

Psalms 119:153  ¶RESH. Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy law.

What is it for one to consider something?

Consider – To view or contemplate attentively, to survey, examine, inspect, scrutinize.  To look attentively.  trans. To contemplate mentally, fix the mind upon; to think over, meditate or reflect on, bestow attentive thought upon, give heed to, take note of.

The psalmist was praying to God to fix His holy mind on his affliction, to take notice of it.  This is something our God has done for His afflicted people throughout history.  The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt arose from the Lord considering the affliction of His people in Egypt.

Exodus 3:7  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

8  And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians….

Perhaps it was the memory of this that provoked the psalmist to beg God to consider his affliction and deliver him.  The psalmist David had this testimony that accords with today’s verse:

Psalms 31:7  I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

8  And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.

While God was upon this earth in the flesh of Jesus Christ, many times He looked attentively upon the affliction of men; and moved with compassion by what He saw, He delivered them.  Here are but a couple of several instances we might cite:

Luke 7:11  And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.

12  Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.

13  And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her  (He considered her affliction), and said unto her, Weep not.

14  And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

15  And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

16  And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

John 5:5  And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

6  When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case (He considered his affliction), he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

7  The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

8  Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

9  And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

We who have the completed canon of Holy Scripture in the 66 books of the Bible have numerous examples of the Lord considering the affliction of His people and delivering them.  We do indeed serve a considerate God.  Therefore, we have abundant reason to offer to Him the prayer of today’s verse.

But notice that in begging the Lord to consider him, the psalmist could advance that he had not forgotten the Lord:  for I do not forget thy law.  He did not let his affliction crowd out the memory of God’s law.  In fact, his affliction had accomplished the purpose for which God had permitted it and that was to direct him to God’s law.

Psalms 119:71  It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Afflictions should make us mindful of our Bible. 

The psalmist had resolved back in verse 16 of Psalm 119:  “I will not forget thy word.”  And according to today’s verse, he had made good on that promise:  for I do not forget thy law.  We are far more apt to remember something if we determine that we will remember it.  Forgetfulness often occurs because we lack the willpower to remember. 

When you are pleading with God to pay attention to your affliction and deliver you, it is always to your advantage to be able to tell the Lord that you have paid attention to His word and have not forgotten it.  God gives special consideration to those who give special consideration to His law.

Deuteronomy 7:9  Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations….

    

Psalm 119:152

We now come to the last verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Koph.

Psalms 119:152  Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.

God’s testimonies, which make up the Bible, are indestructible.  This is because the Lord has founded them for ever.

Founded – Based, having a (specified) base or ground (with qualifying adverb).  Also without adv. = ‘well founded’, well grounded, etc.

When something is well founded, it is able to withstand the forces that would destroy it.  Our Lord demonstrated this in the parable of the wise and foolish builders.

Matthew 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

Every word the Lord has spoken is like the words He spoke by the prophet Samuel of which we read:  “the LORD…let none of his words fall to the ground” (1Samuel 3:19).  Being founded, God’s testimonies are like the house built on the rock that “fell not.”  Many have been the efforts to destroy the written word of God.  Yet God’s testimonies continue to stand because they are founded forever.  And they are founded for ever because God declares they will stand forever and He cannot lie.  Furthermore, God has infinite power and can insure that they are preserved.

Psalms 12:6  The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

7  Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

Isaiah 30:8  Now go (God speaking to Isaiah), write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever….

Isaiah 40:8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Matthew 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Even though the words are written on destructible paper, the words themselves continue.  The paper on which they are written changes, but the words written on the paper remain and shall never pass away. Today’s verse states the reason they remain:  thou hast founded them forever.  It is God’s work to see to it that once His testimonies are spoken, they remain.  He sees to it that His words are carried over from one piece of paper to another and, yes, from one language to another.  Yet they remain as much His testimonies as when He first uttered them.

Now the psalmist was convinced of old that God has founded His testimonies forever.  He knew this when he penned these words and he knew it a long time before that.    

Of old:  of old time, in the olden time, long, since, formerly; also, From old days, for a long time (preceding the present).

That God has founded His testimonies forever was an established fact long before the psalmist ever appeared on the scene.  His fathers knew it and their fathers knew it and so on back to the beginning of time.  Once God had given His words, those words remained for them to learn, to observe, and to see fulfilled.  They could compare the events of time with those words and see how God’s testimonies were vindicated over and over in the prophecies they declared, the blessings they promised, and the judgments they pronounced. 

Deuteronomy 32:7  Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

Job 20:4  Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

5  That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

Psalms 44:1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou

didst in their days, in the times of old.

Psalms 78:1  Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2  I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

3  Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

4  We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

5  For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

6  That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

7  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments….

Our holy religion rests on a firm foundation tried and proven of old, even from the beginning of earth’s history.  God’s testimonies provide us with a sure support when every thing else around us gives way.  It is as we sing:  “How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!”  It was because of this firm foundation that the psalmist had such confidence in prayer as he attests four times in this octave.  It was because of this firm foundation that the psalmist could take solace in the fact that God was near him when his enemies drew nigh.  Commenting on this verse Charles Spurgeon wrote:  “Bubbles please boys, but men prize those things which are solid and substantial, with a foundation and a bottom to them which will bear the test of the ages.”  And so we conclude our meditations on this octave of Psalm 119.  Amen!

Psalm 119:151

We closed our last meditation stating that “our next verse will show us that as the wicked draw nigh to us, they will encounter Someone else Who is near us.”  And so we read:

Psalms 119:151  Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.

The Lord’s people are described as “a people near unto him” (Psalm 148:14). The Lord assures us that when we are with Him and seeking Him, He is with us, yea, “nigh (near) unto” us.

2 Chronicles 15:1  And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:

2  And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

Psalms 145:18  The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Therefore, anyone who draws nigh unto us to do us mischief, will have our God to contend with.  This is so much the case that we can even defy the enemy to come near to us in the assurance that our God will help us.    

Isaiah 50:8  He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.

9  Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.

Paul echoed these words in this great passage:

Romans 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

We may take great comfort in knowing that when trouble is near, God is also near, yea, “a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).  When someone is “very present,” he is right there at hand in whatever you are going through.  So our chief concern should not be the drawing nigh of the wicked.  Rather, our chief concern should be that we are on the Lord’s side seeking Him and calling upon Him in truth; for if we are, He assures us He is right there with us.

Now the psalmist connects this assurance of the nearness of the Lord with the fact that all His commandments are truth.  Charles Spurgeon wrote:  “God neither commands a lie, nor lies in His commands.”  These commandments not only include everything God has commanded us to do, but also to the promises of His covenant which He has commanded.

Psalms 105:8  He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.

No matter how nigh the enemy might have come to the psalmist, they could never come between him and his God.  And He had the truth of God’s commandments to assure him of that.  When the Lord commands deliverances for Jacob, their enemies are powerless against them. 

Psalms 44:4  Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.

5  Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.

And so we find the author of Psalm 71 consoling himself that God had given commandment to save him.  And trusting the truth of that commandment of God he besought the Lord to be near him, or, as he expressed it, to be not far from him as the enemy approached him to take him.

Psalms 71:3  Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress....

10  For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,

11  Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.

12  O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.

Those who esteem all that God has commanded to be truth are those to whom He is near and whom He will defend when the wicked draw nigh unto them.  If you defend the Book, the Book will defend you!  Indeed, “his truth shall be thy shield and buckler” (Psalm 91:4).

Let it also be noted that all God’s commandments, plural, are truth, singular.  There is only one truth of God.  All the various commandments of God given in His word cohere together to form one body of truth.  Therefore, it is not correct to speak of the “truths” of the Bible.  There are not many truths.  There is only one truth and that it is the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in what Daniel 10:21 calls “the scripture of truth” (John 14:6; 5:39).

Psalm 119:150

We continue working our way through the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Koph and we find the psalmist being approached by those who are up to no good.

Psalms 119:150  They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law.

Let’s begin by defining mischief.

Mischief – Evil plight or condition.  Harm or evil considered as the work of an agent or due to a particular cause.

Those who follow after mischief strive to do evil.  For them evil is a goal to be attained.  The Scriptures call them “the wicked.”  Their pursuit of mischief is described in these passages:

Psalms 7:14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.

Psalms 36:4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

Proverbs 4:16  For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

17    For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

Proverbs 6:14 Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.

It is plain from these passages that the wicked bring forth mischief like women conceive and bring forth children.  They conceive the idea in their hearts and bring it forth in their actions.  They travail with it like a woman travails in pain until she can give birth.  They hurt until they can perform the evil they purpose.  They are continually plotting mischief, even on their beds at night.  They cannot rest unless they have done evil.  Mischief is their meat and drink.  These people live to do something wrong.  Indeed, they follow after mischief.  In fact, they follow after mischief so intently that their feet are “swift in running to mischief” (Proverbs 6:18).  And being thus, they are obviously far from God’s law, which ever only leads men to do good.  They stay as far away from the Bible as they can.  They want nothing to do with being either commanded or convicted by it.  And the more these kinds of people are in command of our institutions of government, industry, finance, education, media, and entertainment the more mischief we are going to see pouring out of those institutions. 

Now the mischief they do is not just aimed at other wicked people.  No, they draw nigh to those who love God and His word.  They want to do harm to anyone that reproves them for what they are and what they do.  They will try to tempt the godly person to do as they.  If the godly person resists, they will persecute him.  Hence, they drew nigh to our Lord to take Him and destroy Him.  They hounded the apostles of Christ as they went about preaching the gospel.  They have pursued the followers of truth from the time of Cain and Abel, and will do so until the trump of God shall sound and forever remove His children from their reach.  Nowadays with the internet, those who follow after mischief can easily draw nigh.  They are only a click away, a fact which calls for ever greater vigilance on our part.  But our next verse will show us that as the wicked draw nigh to us, they will encounter Someone else Who is near us.

Psalm 119:149

In today’s verse of Psalm 119 we encounter the fourth specific reference made by the psalmist in this octave to his prayers.

Psalms 119:149  Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment.

In this prayer the psalmist brings two requests before the Lord.  He asks the Lord to hear him and He asks the Lord to quicken him.

Let’s consider the first request:  Hear my voice.  Although we can pray in our hearts without uttering a sound, it is good to do as the psalmist and pray aloud with our voices.  This assists in focusing our thoughts on what we are praying.  If you are reading something and having trouble concentrating on it, you might try reading it aloud as this will help to capture your attention.  When I meditate, I often speak out loud what I am thinking.  I usually preach my sermons to myself before I preach them to the congregation.  A person might think me crazy for doing so, but it works for me.  At least I have Scripture for doing this when I pray.  If it works there, why not use this tool in meditation?

Now the psalmist pled with God to hear him according unto His lovingkindness.

Lovingkindness - Affectionate tenderness and consideration; kindness arising from a deep personal love, as the active love of God for his creatures.

If God’s hears us, it is because He deeply loves us.  And this love moved Him to action in that He gave His only begotten Son to take away our sins and iniquities. 

1 John 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Without this removal of our sins, the Lord would not hear our prayers at all.

Isaiah 59:1  Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

Therefore, it is because of the His lovingkindness shown in the forgiveness of our sins that God hears us when we pray.  This explains why David pled the lovingkindness of God when He begged God to forgive him for the sins he committed in his adulterous affair with Bathsheba.

Psalms 51:1  (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.) Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

When the Lord deals with us, we want Him to keep His lovingkindnesses in mind rather than our sins, especially the sins we committed in the folly and passion of youth which haunt us all.

Psalms 25:6  Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

7  Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD.

If the Lord will but remember His lovingkindnesses instead of our sins, then we shall have an audience with Him when we pray.  And, oh, how we need that audience!

Then comes the second request:  O LORD, quicken me.  We have come across this request before in this psalm.  That it is repeated by the psalmist indicates that he repeatedly needed to be revived and stirred up.  And is not that the case with us?  We too easily become lax and lethargic in our spiritual life.  Bible reading and prayer become matters of routine rather than real communion with God.  Perhaps our mind wanders a lot in church and we just don’t get that much from the sermon.  If such is the case, we need to be quickened. And the extent to which the psalmist sensed he needed quickening is reflected in the expression O.  As we have noted before, the interjection O expresses emotion.  Just be thankful you do not become so lax that you are not even concerned about it.  That is dangerous!

Note that the psalmist begged the Lord to quicken him according to His judgment.  He left it with the Lord to judge, to decide when and by what means He would quicken him.  Sometimes instead of pumping us up, the Lord presses us down.  “The LORD…bringeth low, and lifteth up” (1Samuel 2:7).  In the Lord’s mysterious ways sometimes the way up is down.  But that turn downward may be just what we need to quicken us.  Some of our most fervent prayers arise from our most desperate circumstances.  We draw close to the Lord in such times because there is nowhere else to go and no other than can deliver us.  That prolonged illness, that crash of an investment, that failure of a business, that loss of a loved one, that prodigal son, or whatever other adversity we could name might be just the thing whereby the Lord quickens us.  It exercises our faith and brings out the best in us to the glory of God, and the conversion and edification of others.  It is ours to ask.  It is God’s to decide how He will answer because He is the Judge.  And His judgment is always just.