Psalm 119:73

Now that I have my three trips out of town behind me, I am ready to resume these meditations from Psalm 119.  We now begin the octave entitled Jod.  Recall that each octave is entitled by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  This letter Jod is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet (י) and was referenced by our Lord when He said: 

Matthew 5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Our Lord pronounced the letter jod as jot.  The tittle of which our Lord spoke is the smallest mark used in the Hebrew alphabet to distinguish one letter from another.  Now let’s consider the first verse of this octave.

Psalms 119:73  ¶JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.

Thy hands have made me and fashioned me.  This verse is a prayer to God.  It is God Who “hath made us, and not we ourselves (Psalm 100:3).  We do well to acknowledge this from time to time as we address our heavenly Father in prayer.  But God has not only made us, He has also fashioned us.   

Fashion – To give fashion or shape to; to form, mould, shape (either a material or immaterial object).

God not only makes us so as to give us an existence, but He also forms and shapes us so as to give us the kind of existence we have, an existence that distinguishes us from every other creature He has made.  Man stands apart and above every other creature in that he was formed in the image of God.  And each man is uniquely fashioned so as to be distinguished from every other man  What would our world be if we could not tell one person from another?  If someone introduced himself to you, how would you be sure it was he as opposed to some other man if we all looked and sounded alike?  It boggles the mind to think of the teeming billions of mankind all looking different one from another. Indeed, our God is a designer of inexhaustible skill.

The Lord made and fashioned the first man Adam out of the dust of the ground.  But it is equally true that the Lord makes and fashions every other man.  Since we are made out of the flesh of our parents and since all men are dust (Psalm 103:14), it follows that God continues to make and fashion men out of the dust of the ground.  When you were conceived in your mother’s womb and began to develop, God was making and fashioning you.

Psalms 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

15  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Note that the mother’s womb is called “the lowest parts of the earth.”  You like Adam were made out of the earth.

Now the psalmist moves from the thought that God has made and fashioned him to this request:  give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.  But!  Although God has made and fashioned all men, their nature is corrupted through the fall.  Therefore, men do not by nature desire to understand and learn God’s commandments.  The following passages demonstrate this.

Romans 3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

Romans 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

But thanks be to God for His amazing grace, God makes and fashions His elect anew so that there is in them that desire to understand and learn His commandments.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Colossians 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

The newly created man delights to understand and learn God’s commandments.

Romans 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man….

Therefore, the prayer we are considering in today’s meditation is the prayer of one who has been recreated and refashioned after God’s image, a new creature in Christ Jesus.

Notice throughout this psalm how the psalmist fetches various reasons to bring before the Almighty as reasons why He should teach him His word.  Here he cites the fact that God created him as a reason for God to teach him.  It reminds me of a child that can find so many reasons why he should be allowed to have what he wants.  The psalmist really wants to know and understand his Bible and so he reasons with his God from several different angles.  How important is it to you to know that Book?

Observe that in order to learn God’s commandments, you need understanding.  You cannot very well learn something you don’t understand.  So what is understanding?

Understanding - Power or ability to understand (to comprehend; to apprehend the meaning or import of; to grasp the idea of). 

The psalmist is praying for God to give him the ability to comprehend the meaning of what he reads, to make sense of it.  Some people think the Bible makes no sense.  If they read it, they don’t get it.  And, to be sure, the Bible was written in such a way that if you don’t approach it on God’s terms you won’t get it.  But if you truly want to understand, if you humbly ask God to help you understand, and if you seek to understand by searching the Scriptures, you will understand and you will learn God’s commandments. 

Proverbs 2:3  Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

4  If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

5  Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

6  For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

It all hinges on just how much you really want to understand the Bible and what you are willing to do about it. 

Of course, when you learn a commandment of God, it is important that you keep that commandment if you are to learn more.  God is not going to give more understanding to someone who has no intention of doing what he learns. 

Psalm 119:72

We now come to the last verse in this octave of Psalm 119 entitled Teth.  This verse speaks clearly to an issue we are confronted with daily, and that is the issue of the economy.

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

From the earliest times gold and silver have served as money.  Money is a medium of exchange, something we trade for goods and services.  There should be a corresponding value between the money we exchange and what we receive.  In our society we have fiat-money or currency that carries no intrinsic value.  Look at the dictionary definition of fiat-money. 

Fiat-money – U.S. money (such as an inconvertible paper currency) which is made legal tender by a ‘fiat’ (decree) of the government, without having an intrinsic or promissory value equal to it nominal value.

In other words, $100.00 does not really equal 100 of anything substantial.  Imagine that!  100 does not equal 100.  We conduct business with a currency that consists of paper, computer entries, and coins made of base metals.  These work as a medium of exchange so long as the people are willing to use them.  But should this currency be revoked for whatever reason, it will become worthless as a medium of exchange since it has no intrinsic value.  On the other hand, gold and silver retain their value for much longer because they are substantial.  For example, a silver coin that is no longer used as a currency in the country where it was minted still has value.  Being substantial, gold and silver can be weighed.  Consider the transaction executed by Abraham when he purchased the field of Ephron for a burial place.

Genesis 23:13  And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.

14  And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,

15  My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.

16  ¶And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.

Observe that the four hundred shekels was weighed.  These four hundred shekels were current money with the merchant.  Currency is that which is current.  Hence, since silver was the current money, it was the currency.  And this is what was used by the merchant, the person who buys and sells.  It was the medium of exchange for transacting business. 

Now it is the nature of all fiat-currencies to be inflationary.  When gold and silver are the current money, the money supply is limited to the amount of gold and silver that is available.  But when there is a fiat-currency, there is no limit to how much paper can be printed or computer entries generated.  As the currency is inflated it loses purchasing power.  It takes more and more dollars to buy the same goods and services.  That is why prices are always going up.  And as the fiat- currency is inflated, more people tend to turn to gold and silver as a store of wealth.  They realize the intrinsic worthlessness of the inflated currency and hence look for substantial wealth, which has traditionally been gold and silver.  And as the currency inflates, the price of gold and silver rises.  So to possess thousands of gold and silver is to possess considerable wealth far surpassing the possession of thousands of dollars.     

But the psalmist possessed a treasure that to him exceeded thousands of gold and silver and that was the law of God’s mouth.  First, the law is the law of God’s mouth.  This is the law spoken by God Himself.  And since God cannot lie, that law can always be relied upon.  When God makes a promise in His law, you can count on its fulfillment.  Now consider this promise from the mouth of God:

Philippians 4:19  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.     

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can rest in that promise.  It will be fulfilled in your life even if you have not a single piece of gold or silver to your name.  Hence, this promise from the mouth of God is better than gold and silver.

As we noted earlier, gold and silver tend to retain their value.  But they cannot retain their value forever.  Like all created things, they eventually perish.  The Lord pronounces the following judgment upon the rich who heap up gold and silver for the last days.

James 5:1  Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

2  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

3  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

These words need to be remembered, especially nowadays as there are so many financial gurus telling people to buy gold and silver as a defence against evil times ahead.  Believer, hear me well, never never look to gold and silver as your ultimate defence.  I am not saying it is wrong to own it.  But never put your trust in it.  To trust in gold and silver is as much idolatry as sun worship.  Hear the words of Job.

Job 31:24  If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

25  If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;

26  If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

27  And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:

28  This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

To make gold and silver your defence is to deny God above.  God only is our defence.

Psalms 62:6  He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.

In contrast to gold and silver, which will eventually perish, the law of God abides forever and is, therefore, better than gold and silver. 

Isaiah 40:8  …the word of our God shall stand for ever.

It is better to keep the law of God than to keep gold and silver.  The return you get on the time you invest in the law of God by learning it and obeying it far exceeds the return you get on an investment in gold and silver.  The law of God is wisdom (Deuteronomy 4:6) and wisdom says this about herself:

Proverbs 8:19  My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.

The psalmist wrote:  “thy law is unto me better than thousands of gold and silver.”  Referencing this verse back to the one that precedes it, Matthew Henry wrote:  “God’s law, which he got acquaintance with by his affliction, was better to him than all the gold and silver which he lost by his affliction.”  It says a lot about a person when he would value his afflictions above his material wealth, if by those afflictions he learns God’s law.  Now I ask all of you who have a store of gold and silver, do you share the same value system as the psalmist?  Is the law of God, your Bible, better unto you than your gold and silver?

This meditation has been a bit longer than some of the others.  It has a lot of food for thought and you would do well not to rush through it, but rather to read it thoughtfully and perhaps repeatedly so as to digest its contents.  We need this information in these times of economic upheaval.  I hope it blesses you.  I have three trips to make in the next five weeks so there may be a delay in taking up the next octave.  In concluding this octave, I cite the words of Charles Spurgeon:

“See how this portion of the psalm is flavoured with goodness.  God’s dealings are good (65), holy judgment is good (66), affliction is good (67, 71), God is good (68), and here the law is not only good, but better than the best of treasure.  Lord, make us good, through thy good word.  Amen.”

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Psalm 119:71

In our last meditation we considered the proud, whose hearts are so gorged with the pleasures and possessions of this world that they are “as fat as grease.”  In contrast to the proud, today’s verse from Psalm 119 finds the psalmist in affliction.  But even though he is in affliction, he is better off than the proud.

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

As a rule, we need affliction to learn how to live the right way, which is to live according to God’s statutes.  Pastor Larry Lilly wrote the following recently.  This lines up perfectly with the thought expressed in today’s verse.

“C.S. Lewis likened God’s use of adversity to walking a dog.  If the dog gets its leash wrapped around a pole and tries to continue forward, he will only tighten the leash more.   Both the dog and the owner are after the same end, forward motion, but the owner must resist the dog by pulling him opposite the direction he wants to go.  The master, sharing the same intention but understanding better than the dog where he really wants to go, takes an action precisely opposite to that of the dog’s will.  It is in this way that God uses adversity.”

There are some statutes of God that we can learn no other way than by suffering affliction.  For example, God’s word teaches us to have patience. 

Hebrews 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Hebrews 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us….

But look at the definition of patience.

Patience - The suffering or enduring (of pain, trouble, or evil) with calmness and composure; the quality or capacity of so suffering or enduring.

If we never suffered affliction, how would we ever know we had patience since patience by definition involves the suffering of affliction?  Paul teaches that it is tribulation that “worketh patience” (ROM 5:3).  Therefore, it is only as we are afflicted that we can learn God’s statute of patience.

Or, we are commanded to be forbearing and forgiving toward our brethren.

Colossians 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

But how would we ever really learn this statute if our brethren never annoyed us or sinned against us?  To be sure, the annoyances and offences of our brethren can be a great source of affliction.  But it is through that affliction that we can learn the statute of Colossians 3:13. 

In a previous verse of Psalm 119 we noted that in the absence of affliction we tend to go astray.

Psalms 119:67  Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

Our loving heavenly Father does us good when He does not leave us to our waywardness, but rather chastens us with affliction, when we go astray.  God teaches us His statutes in the school of chastening and we are blessed if we are enrolled in this school. 

Psalms 94:12  Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

If would be a fearful thing if God did not teach us through chastening.

Hebrews 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

When we learn God’s statutes, we are learning the greatest lessons that can be learned in life.  But those lessons are learned in affliction.  I can personally attest that some of the best lessons I have learned have been in the school of affliction.  Indeed, it is good for me that I have been afflicted.  When you know the good that can come out of affliction, instead of complaining about it, you can rather find joy in it.

James 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

I close with the insightful words of Charles Spurgeon as he commented on today’s verse: 

“It was not good to the proud to be prosperous, for their hearts grew sensual and insensible; but affliction was good for the Psalmist.  Our worst is better for us than the sinner’s best.”

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

Psalm 119:70

Today’s verse from Psalm 119 refers back to the preceding verse that deals with the proud.  The verse we consider today describes the heart of the proud.

Psalms 119:70  Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.

When someone’s heart is as fat as grease, then it is really fat because grease is pure fat.

Grease – The fat part of the body of an animal; also, corpulence, fatness.  The melted or rendered fat of animals, esp.when it is in a soft state.

Although the word fat is sometimes used in a favourable sense in the Bible, in this verse it is used in an unfavourable sense.  If we compare this verse with other verses that use the word fat in an unfavourable sense, we will understand what it means to have a heart as fat as grease. 

The following passages describe those who grow fat through the indulgence of their fleshly and worldly appetites.

Deuteronomy 32:15  But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

This verse refers to Israel as Jeshurun, which is a name meaning upright.  When Israel waxed fat, they abandoned God and considered Him of little worth.  They became proud through the abundance of their worldly possessions.  They became too high and mighty for the Lord.  They did not sense a great need for Him and His salvation.  Then consider this passage:

Psalms 17:8  Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

9  From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about

10  They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly….

13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

14  From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

In this passage the psalmist David prays to be delivered from the wicked.  These wicked “have their portion in this life.”  They indulge themselves to the full in the things of this world.  Hence, they are said to be “inclosed in their own fat.”  And notice that they are described as proud:  “they speak proudly.”  The next passage brings the same thought before us. 

Psalms 73:3  For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4  For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.

5  They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

6  Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.

7  Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

Here again we meet with the proud who have an abundance of this world’s goods to the point of fatness, having “more than heart could wish.”  They are described by James as those who “have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter” (James 5:5).  They are fed to the full.  Their hearts are fat.  Commenting on such persons Charles Spurgeon wrote:

“In this condition men have no heart except for luxury, their very being seems to swim and stew in the fat of cookery and banqueting.  Living on the fat of the land, their nature is subdued to that which they have fed upon; the muscle of their nature has gone to softness and grease.”

In the increase of fleshly delights we need to be careful lest our hearts grow fat and we become proud, overconfident, and careless with regard to spiritual things.  Our Lord warned us against this very thing.

Luke 21:34  And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

A heart “overcharged with surfeiting” is a heart that indulges the things of this world to excess.  It is overweight with the cares and pleasures of this life.  

This next passage shows that those whose hearts are as fat as grease are insensitive to the word of God.

Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 

One who is overweight physically can become physically sluggish.  He becomes indisposed to physical exercise.  Fat people also have problems with attacks of sleepiness at inappropriate times.  So it is with a heart that is fat.  Such people become sluggish, sleepy, and insensitive to God’s word.  They hear it preached.  They see the words on the page.  But it does not make the impression that it ought.  Their heart sleeps through the message and, therefore, they don’t get it.  This is indeed the case with a proud person.  Their pride blinds them to the warnings and convictions of Scripture.  They do not perceive their sin and neediness.  And one thing that can majorly contribute to pride is the consumption and possession of too much of this world’s goods.  That is why Paul wrote these words to Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:17  Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy….

Matthew Henry’s comments on today's verse sum it up quite well:

“The proud are at ease (Ps. 123.4); they are full of the world, and the wealth and pleasures of it; and this makes them, (1.) Senseless, secure, and stupid; they are past feeling:  thus the phrase is used, Isa. 6.10.  Make the heart of this people fat.  They are not sensible of the touch of the word of God or his rod.  (2.) Sensual and voluptuous:  Their eyes stand out with fatness (Ps. 73.7); they roll themselves in the pleasures of sense, and take up with them as their chief good......”  

Now in contrast to the proud whose heart is as fat as grease, the psalmist writes:  but I delight in thy word.  Let the proud fatten their hearts with this world to the point of becoming indifferent and insensitive to God’s word, the psalmist will find his delight in God’s law.  He will fill his heart with the Scriptures rather than the world.  He will relish his Bible above all else this world has to offer to fill the hearts of men.  His sentiments are echoed in these verses:

Job 23:12  …I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Psalms 19:9  …the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether

10  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Jeremiah 15:16  Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart….

Psalm 119:69

I would normally wait until the end of this week to submit this blog.  But since I plan to be out of town at the end of the week, Lord willing, I will go ahead and submit it now.  Read it at your leisure.  May God bless it to your souls.

When we considered verse 51 of Psalm 119, we found the psalmist met with opposition from the proud in that they had him greatly in derision.  In the verse we take up today we again find the proud lining up against this man of God.

Psalms 119:69  The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.

God’s children and the devil’s children are called different names to distinguish them.  They are called the righteous and the wicked, the good and the evil, the just and the unjust.  They are also distinguished as the humble, or lowly, and the proud.

Proverbs 16:19  Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

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

In Psalm 119:21 the proud are described as those “which do err from thy commandments.”  When a sinner chooses to do his own will rather than the will of God, he is pitting his finite, puny, limited knowledge against the infinite knowledge of Almighty God.  That sinner thinks he knows better than God what is best for his life and, therefore, he chooses to go his own way rather than submit to the commandments of God.  Now a man that does that is proud.  That is why stubborn, impenitent sinners are called the proud. 

Not only do the proud demonstrate their pride in their defiance of God’s commandments, but they demonstrate their pride in opposing those who do keep God’s commandments.  They want to discredit anyone and anything that exposes their rebellion.  Hence, we read in today’s verse:  the proud have forged a lie against me.

It is interesting to focus on the fact that the proud have forged a lie. 

Forge – To make, fashion, frame, or construct (any material thing).  To fabricate, frame, invent (a false or imaginary story, lie, etc); to devise (evil).

To forge something is to fabricate or invent it.  If the proud cannot get anything on the righteous with which to reproach them, then they will just invent something.  They will forge a lie.  Nowhere was this more the case than with our Lord Jesus Christ.  The following passage taken from Psalm 35 is a prophecy of our Lord, which He cited in John 15:25 when stating that His enemies hated Him “without a cause.”

Psalms 35:19  Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.

20  For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.   

Christ’s enemies devised deceitful matters against Him, that is, they forged a lie.  When Christ was brought before Pontius Pilate, His proud enemies accused Him of “perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar” (Luke 23:1-2).  This was absolutely not true.  It was a fabrication, a forged lie.  And as they did to our Lord, so will they do to His followers.

Matthew 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

But observe that the psalmist was not intimidated by the lie forged against him.  He persevered in keeping God’s precepts with his whole heart.  The lie did not weaken his resolve or cause him to lose heart.  No matter what lies were forged against him, the psalmist would just keep doing what God told Him to do.  He would not return lie for lie or evil for evil.  He would not rail on his opponents in a mad rage.  He would just quietly, with patience, stay the course of obedience submitting the matter to God.  And as long as a God-fearing, righteous man is heartily keeping the Lord’s precepts he is on the winning side, and he will at last prevail as the following verse assures us:

Isaiah 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.