In this lesson, Mark Twombly reviews some background information for Psalm 119 and then walks through the psalm.
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Well, good morning.
We’re going to continue today in Psalm 119 on this crisp Sunday morning. Good to see you all this morning. So, if you would turn in your Bibles to Psalm or your device, whatever you have, uh, to Psalm 119. Uh, let me pray for us as we get started. Father God, we’re so thankful for your goodness to us, how you speak to us so powerfully, so personally, and so beautifully in our in your word. I pray that you would give us receptive hearts as we listen this morning um and meditate or muse on your word as it says, Father, that we would delight in it. That we would be revived in it and we’d be blessed by it. Father, we pray as your word says that you would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you. That you would give us an expansive view of who you are and the treasure you have placed before us in your word. Help us to receive your word today and every day as coming to us personally from a loving and great God. And would you sharpen our minds, captivate our hearts, and inflame our affections to love you, to hate sin, and to walk in all the freedom and power you intend in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Amen.
Well, good. We’re going to review a little bit. This is part two of what we started last week. And we we focused on three key words. blessed, delight, and revive. And we’re going to hit a fourth one today. Meditate. I’m just going to give you a brief review. Psalm 119 1-2. How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of Yahweh. How blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart. And the I the idea behind blessed is a state of bliss. It’s something deeper than simply happiness, which is what we talk about a lot in America. Um, bliss is to be justly satisfied in the soul, not lustfully satiated in one’s flesh. It has a depth and a permanence about it. It’s resilient in all circumstances. So, we see blessed throughout the Psalms and really throughout scripture. So, when you when you read that, think of that.
Next, Psalm 119:24, “Your testimonies also are my delight.
They are my counselors.” Think about that. How often do we go through life and we struggle with knowing what to do?
We need a good counselor, right? For those of us who know Christ, we have holy the Holy Spirit within us. We have his word. And the psalmist said here that his words were his constant counselors. Right? Um in James it says if anyone lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives generously. And this is the way one of the ways that God answers that prayer by giving the counsel of his word. So as we read, meditate and even memorize his word. I find that God is faithful to bring those words back to our remembrance uh and to guide us and to counsel us through many situations.
The next word we discussed was revive.
Psalm 19:37, “Cause my eyes to turn away from looking at worthlessness and revive me in your ways.” We see this word cause show up a few times in Psalm 19. And we’re asking God to make something happen in our hearts.
We recognize that we don’t have the desires that we should. And so, we’re asking God to change our desires. And we see that here. Cause my eyes to turn away from looking at worthlessness.
really to see things as they are, to see him and to see things as with the value that they actually have and revive me in your ways. And revive, that word really means to be alive, to keep alive, right?
Uh it’s it’s really a resurrection kind of word. And so for those of us who are in Christ, we have been raised together with Christ to new life. And that’s really what this is referring to. So that’s revive.
We’re going to look here at meditate a little bit. Psalm 19:15 and 48. I will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways, and I shall lift up my hands to your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.
Interesting. Last week, we talked about this idea of do we worship the Bible?
And it’s an it’s it’s hard to answer directly because the Bible and God aren’t separate, right? It’s God’s word.
We worship God. And this this verse in particular verse 48 has worship language. Isn’t that interesting about God’s word? I lift up my hands to your commandments. Is essentially saying I lift up my hands to you, oh Lord, because your commandments come from you.
So this word meditate, you may see it translated in the uh in the Legacy Standard Bible as muse. It’s kind of what we what we kind of think about and just just process in our mind. You ever just stop and just we live in an age that’s very distracted. So maybe we we don’t do this as often as we should, but just stopping and thinking about something, musing over the same thought or the same idea over and over is the idea here. So in the scriptures, it’s uh it’s the Hebrew word siya, a a verb meaning to ponder, to converse, to utter, even to complain, to meditate, to pray, or to speak. It has a a multiaceted meaning. So the primary sense of it is to ponder, to carefully consider what God has said. So when we read God’s word, the idea is that that we not read it quickly and brush over it, but we spend time thinking about the words and studying it. It’s interesting. We note the the interactive nature of meditate, right? God speaks to us and converse.
God speaks to us in his word and we converse back to him in prayer. Um and so that’s interesting. The the the idea of meditate, we see that here is to to utter, to complain, to think. It’s it’s it’s interactive with God, right? And that’s really the idea. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but Psalm 119 is a long prayer, right? And but he’s he’s thinking out loud. He’s conversing with God. He’s processing these things. That’s the idea behind meditate. And it’s interesting.
Um some of you may have seen this illustration before. Um it’s the hand illustration um from the navigators. And and I love the way it kind of gives us a a sense of the different ways that we ingest or receive scripture, right?
There’s hear, read, study, memorize, and meditate. The scripture speaks to all of those things. But we notice that meditate is the thumb. And if I could be a little bit corny, if you will, that’s how we get a grip on God’s word.
Meditation is the key to all of it. And when we look at the scriptures, it’s meditation that promises the greatest blessing to us in our lives and the greatest fruitfulness. It’s the meditating on God’s word. Now, I get I think one of the the best ways to think about this, I think we touched on this last week. When you don’t think about anything else, what do you think about, right? What is your go-to or your default? Right? Sometimes those things aren’t very good. Philippians 4:8 talks about the things that we need to think about, right? Whatever. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, honorable, right, just, lovely, gracious, honorable, worthy of praise, right? Think about these things, dwell on these things. And the very best way to do that is to have God’s word in our hearts and to be thinking about about him. So, um, last week we said that what we think about most is kind of a diagnostic of where our hearts are. And so Psalm 119 really helps us with this.
So last week, I think it was Steve Ko who’s not here this morning. Hopefully he can he can see this later. Um mentioned the various words that are used for the scriptures. And we looked a little bit we had uh you may remember last week I ended early so we had a lot of time of interaction. And we look at Psalm 19. These same words show up in Psalm 119. And these are the various aspects of God’s word that are described. Um, and if you look right at the Psalm 119, you can see these right there. I’ve given you the verses, right? We have the law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, and finally the overarching word, right? The law, those really refers to the Old Testament laws given to Moses. Um, testimonies, that’s God’s permanent witness, right? We said last week that what God says about things is true. His testimony is true.
Precepts. These are the collective mandates of God. How God wants things ordered. How he prescribes things. We see this in great detail particularly in the uh in the Old Testament building of the temple. Very very specific. Right?
Statutes are regulations, laws, ordinances, decrees, or customs.
Commandments, that’s very straightforward. Direct commands, do this or don’t do this. The ten commandments, very clear, those are commands. And then judgments, um, uh, that’s a judgment, a legal decision, a legal case, or a claim. Again, what how God determines something to be, right, is how it is. And then word is simply speech, which kind of encomp encompasses them all. Um, if you would look with me, I said to go to Psalm 119. Just look at Psalm 19 by way of review. And I I love how this sharpens our focus on what God’s word is and does. And it uses all of these words as as does the beginning of Psalm 119. Psalm 19 7-10. We’ll just walk through it. The law of the Lord, the law of Yahweh is perfect. restoring the soul. So he said his his Torah, that’s the Hebrew word Torah, the Old Testament laws, they are perfect. What do they do? They restore our souls. The testimony of the Lord, right, God’s permanent witness. The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts, right, that’s the collective mandates of Yahweh, how he wants things ordered. They are right and they rejoice the heart. The commandment of of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes. These these are the things that God’s word does for us. The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of Yahweh are true. They are righteous altogether.
They are more desirable than gold, even more than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. You know, in my study this past week, I actually came across a a quote um Abraham Lincoln actually quoted um verse 9, which is interesting because um it’s not clear at all in history that uh Abraham Lincoln was a religious man per se or even a Christian, although he did refer to the scriptures with some regularity. But he see he in reflecting on the civil war, he reflected that God’s judgments are true and righteous that that the nation might be under God’s judgment and that might be something to really think about in terms of how it how it conducted itself.
So wonderful for us to think about and and we also said last week that um when we think about law, those words, right?
Law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, sometimes we in our flesh, we think of those things as restrictive, right? Things that will suck the life out of us, if you will, that will that will um uh not necessarily sources of joy for us.
But when we look at what this says about the scripture, they they are our only source of joy. They are a source of true freedom. And so that’s amazing to look at that how how opposite that is from the way we would naturally think. So I just really encourage you to remember that when you’re looking at God’s word, that’s what it is and that’s what it does.
Okay. So in preparing for this week, I I took some of the interaction that we had and one of the things that we talked about was human authorship. not necessarily going to solve it for you this morning, but I’m going to just give you a few things to consider. So, as I look through a number of sources um and I I noticed that commentators are largely silent uh on the on the human authorship of Psalm 119 because unlike other Psalms, it’s not clearly stated.
And we see this in the New Testament, don’t we? In the book of Hebrews, there’s various theories about who wrote it, but it doesn’t say. And so, we can’t really say that with confidence. Um and we talked about three potential authors.
We talked about David. We talked about Daniel and we talked about Ezra. So in support of David, we see the similarities with Psalm 19 and some other Hebrew acrostic psalms. And those are Psalms 9:25, 34, 37, and 145. By the acrostic psalms, I mean it it follows the pattern of the Hebrew alphabet through. If you have a a Bible that notes it, you might see Alf, Beth, Gimmel, Daleith, the it goes through the Hebrew alphabet. And there’s and there’s 22 Hebrew letters. There’s 22 sections of Psalm 19 and it and it just goes right through. But that’s not the only place where that happens. Most Bibles show that pretty much only in Psalm 119, but if you have an LSB, it shows it in other places. I think Lamentations 3 as well. There’s a passage or two in Jeremiah. There’s a number of them where the authors use this pattern um of the Hebrew across. And so that’s one similarity with some Psalms of David. um in support of Ezra and Daniel. Uh the psalmist knows firsthand the oppression of evil experienced by the Hebrew exiles. And so some commentators think that because of that and and the evil that’s referred to that was experienced that it fits best with um the exelic period which would be in support of Ezra and Daniel. So not going to solve it, but just some things for you to consider. But what’s interesting about it is what’s common with all of those human authors. And we we shared this verse last week. Ecclesiastes 12:11.
The words of wise men are like goats and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails. They are given by one shepherd. What we see here is both the words and the teachers are given by God.
You notice that in the passage, right?
The words of wise men are like goats.
And the masters of these collections, that’s the teachers are like well-driven nails. They are given by one shepherd.
So God has given us the authors of scripture.
They are from him. So surely this is true of David, Ezra and Daniel. We talk about the positive examples that they set that God’s word wasn’t just something that they spoke but it clearly had had a strong impact on their lives.
They are given by God as examples for us. We see the word masters, right?
They’re masters of these collection. not just knowing but living the word of God.
And this this theme um continues in the New Testament as we think about our pastors and those that God has given us, right? It says, “Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” Right? And so God has given not only people who are skilled in teaching God’s word, praise God we have them, but skilled and modeling it as well. And I praise the Lord for that for Pastor Joe and Pastor Dave and our elders. So, praise the Lord. Those those are all gifts to us from God.
I’ve got a quote here for you. This this commentary um studies in the book of Psalms by uh William Swan Plumemer is a treasure. Um if you if you buy the um the paper the paper version of it, it’s it’s it’s a couple volumes. I think it’s it’s it’s or maybe just one very large volume, but you can get it and it’s pretty expensive, but you can get it on Kindle for I think less than $10, which I think is a little bit crazy. Uh, but it’s a wonderful commentary on the Psalms. It says this, quoting um quoting Bridges says, “This psalm may be considered as the journal of one who has deep who was deeply taught in the things of God, long practiced in the life and walk of faith. It contains the anatomy of experimental religion, the interior the interior linements of the family of God. It is given for the use of believers in all ages as an excellent touchstone of vital godliness. And so I I think this is true of all of the authors that we’ve discussed of Ezra, of David, of Ezra, and of Daniel.
And they’re models for us as as we receive God’s word. uh let’s receive it in a way that we live it out and are examples of it to people who interact with us.
Jonathan Edwards said this uh about Psalm 119. I know of no other part of the holy scriptures where the nature and evidences of true and sincere sincere godliness are so fully and largely insisted on and delineated.
Certainly we see that that’s true.
So with that, um, I was thinking we would just kind of journey through the entire Psalm 119.
But before we do that, um, I want to invite any interaction, any questions or comments that you may have.
There were a lot last week.
Yes.
What’s the word mean?
Go. Yes. Good question. A go is something that u shepherds or people working with animals would use to push them along to go where they might not otherwise go. And so that what that tells us that is that we we need that in our spiritual lives. We need to be pushed and prodded in ways that we would not naturally want to go because God loves us. Um I’ll go down this this path a little bit. Um if if you ever study shepherds or shephering um there’s a classic book came out a number of years ago called The Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. There’s also another one um called Shepherds After My Own Heart by Tim Laniac which really explores they actually studied Middle Eastern shepherds and that whole concept and and it kind of unfolds. So it kind of um gives us a picture when we read these things of what that looked like. One of the things you see about sheep that the sheep are stupid. Um, one of the things that I read in in that second book that I that really stands out to me is that he said, “It’s amazing how many ways sheep can find to kill themselves.
They’ll eat the wrong thing. They’ll walk over a cliff, right? They’ll drown.
They literally need constant guidance, right? And that’s us spiritually. All of we like sheep.” It says in Isaiah 53:6, all of us like sheep have gone astray.
Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. So the idea behind goats is yeah, we need constant shephering right from God’s word. That’s the idea. Great question, Glenda.
Sheep always need a leader. Yes.
The sheep. We must have a leader in front of us. Yes.
Yeah. the island.
Yeah.
Interesting. Yeah. Maybe we can talk about this a little more. So, what else?
What else do the scripture say about who who is our shepherd? Who’s the great shepherd? Jesus. the great shepherd of the sheep. And what does it say about him and his his shephering of us? What are some some thoughts that you can think of from scripture?
Judy, I’m sorry.
He lays down his life for the sheep.
Yeah. Yes.
Um his sheep hear his voice.
That’s big with what we’re talking about here in John 10. Let’s look at that real quickly. I think that that might help us today. John chapter 10.
Let me just read a little bit here and uh we’ll reflect on it together.
John 10 starting at verse one. Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he brings all his own out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
A stranger they will never follow, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers. goes on to say that Jesus is the door of the sheep.
Let me key on that one concept about hearing the voice of our shepherd.
That’s what we’re talking about when we read God’s word. And you notice that a stranger, they will never follow.
Right? This is why we need to know and very be very familiar with the scriptures so we can discern who is speaking to us falsely and from their own ideas and not those of scripture.
We’ve talked a number of times here about false teaching. Right? There are wolves right in sheep’s clothing. There are people, right, pastors so-called that disguise themselves and as the scriptures say and of course because even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So really being in God’s word helps us to have an appetite for it, a recognition of it, and to diagnose if someone is speaking outside of God’s word. So I’m glad you brought I wasn’t expecting to to talk about that, but thank you for bringing that up. Yeah.
knowing and hearing, listening to, heeding the voice of our shepherd is absolutely critical for us. It’s our lives depend on it, do they not?
Spiritually, they really do. And there’s a lot more here that we could say that uh he knows them all by name. Certainly, God knows that. Physical shepherds actually do. It’s amazing. When I was reading this book and he was unfolding all the things that shepherds do, we think of them as rather primitive, maybe not the smartest people, but the things that they have to know and be able to do to care for their sheep and the personal knowledge they need to have about all their sheep is incredible. I had no idea, right? And it and it is a lifetime commitment, right? And that’s that’s the picture that we have for God’s shephering of us.
All right, maybe one more if anybody has anything else. Glenda.
Yeah.
Interesting. Yeah. If one sheep goes astray, all go. Huh.
Tony.
Yeah. He is the vine.
Yeah.
Yeah. And in that I want to I think I think this will be a little bit later in the lesson, but John 15:7 I think is really key for us about how we interact with God’s word. Remember we talked about meditating being not only listening but interacting with God, uttering our complaint to him, praying as we read. John 15:7 says this. If you abide Jesus said, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you.” That’s that’s an amazing thing. That’s God’s word infusing our thoughts so that when we ask, we’re asking according to his will. But there’s this interactive nature of our relationship with God. All right. With that, we are going to walk through Psalm 119. Um I have um given each section of Psalm 119 a title uh that I’ll share with you. And so we’ll start with the first one. Uh in some of your Bibles you might see it’s alf.
And I’ve referred to this section as as how blessed or how blessed. How blessed are those whose way is blameless who walk in the law of Yahweh. How blessed are those who observe his testimonies.
They seek him with all their heart. They also do not work unrighteousness. They walk in his ways. You have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently. Oh, that my ways may be established, to keep your statutes. Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all your commandments. I shall give thanks to you with uprightness of heart. When I learn your righteous judgments, I shall keep your statutes. Do not forsake me utterly.
Here we see that the psalmist sets a tone of heart obedience which only grows in the course of this psalm.
And we notice the word the way of right.
We see this in verse um we see this uh the way whose way is blameless. We see that right in verse one. And we see this word way come up throughout Psalm 119.
And it’s in verses 14, 27, and 32 and 33. He doesn’t just want his mind transformed. He wants to walk in the way of it, right? He wants it to land in his walk in his talk. So when we talk about his whose way is blameless, right? It’s more than just our thoughts and our knowledge. It’s how we live. Right? And as I look at this, we are to rejoice in, understand, observe, and run in the way of God’s word. And I think we really can can see this. This is really the great commission. I think in the Old Testament, you recall Jesus before he was ascended says, “Go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to what?
observe or obey all that I’ve commanded you. Not simply to know it, but to observe it. As Jesus said several times, if you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. That’s where the real benefit is. And that’s what Psalm 119 is advocating for us. So, this is no mere instruction, right? This is uh the full surrender of disciplehip. We see that throughout Psalm 119. Okay.
Beth or bet. Starting in verse nine. How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it. Okay, this section I’ve called this bountiful counselors.
And I get that from verses 17 and 24.
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By I’m sorry, I’m in the wrong one. Pure delight. I’m in the wrong section.
Verses 9-6. How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to your word. With all my heart I have sought you. Do not let me stray from your commandments. We see that shephering language again, right? Our proness to stray. Do not let me stray.
Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you. Blessed are you, oh Yahweh. Teach me your statutes. With my lips I have recounted all the judgments of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. I will muse upon your precepts and look upon your ways. I shall delight in your statutes.
I shall not forget your word.
Amazing. We talked about verse 14 a little bit last week. Isn’t that amazing to think about?
Do you rejoice in the way of God’s testimonies as much as in all riches?
We talk about having enough, planning for retirement, being set for life.
Brothers and sisters, if you are a believer in Christ and you have his word, you are set for life. You are set for beyond life, right? Because you can walk in his ways. Psalm verse 56 says, “This has become mine that I observe your precepts.” That’s a precious possession to us. Just the mere ability to obey actually comes from him.
Amazing.
All right, feel free to ask any questions. I’m inviting interruptions as we go because I think we’ll have plenty of time.
Any any thoughts or questions on that section.
Okay.
Now it’s now it’s uh gimmel. Bountiful counselors is what I’ve and I get that from verses 17 and 24. Deal bountifully with your slave that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from your law.
It’s a wonderful thing to pray as we enter into our time in the scriptures.
Right. Lord, open my eyes. I am a sojourer in the earth. Do not hide your commandments from me. My soul is crushed with longing for your judgments at all times. You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, who stray from your commandments.
Take away reproach and contempt from me, for I observe your testimonies. Even though princes sit and talk against me, your slave muses on your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight, they are my counselors.
I think we’re beginning to see here the trials of life that the psalmist was experiencing, right? And how he needed to go back to God’s word to sustain him, right? You’re starting to see it internal and external struggles. I mean, look at verse 20. My soul is crushed with longing for your judgments at all time. How many of us have had those times where we’re just terribly convicted about some sin, right? Lord, save me. Yes. Yes. Help me. I long for your precepts to land in my heart to change me. Yeah.
And then the opposition, right? Even though princes sit and talk against me, your slave muses or meditates on your statutes. We’ll see this throughout the Psalms. People are saying to me things that aren’t true. You in my heart are saying to me things that are true and they need to dominate and help me to fight that.
So praise the Lord for that. Any thoughts or comments on this section.
Okay.
Daleith revived to run verses 25 through 32. And here we see kind of a resurrection if you will. Notice how the psalmist words and attitudes change.
He’s being in a sense resurrected, given new life, new energy. My soul clings to the dust. Revive me according to your word. I have recounted my ways and you have answered me. Teach me your statutes. Make me understand the way of your precepts so I will muse on your wondrous deeds. My soul weeps because of grief. Raise me up according to your word.
Remove the false way from me and graciously grant me your law. I’ve chosen the faithful way.
I have placed your judgments before me.
I cling to your testimonies, oh Yahweh.
Do not put me to shame. I shall run the way of your commandments, for you will enlarge my heart. Notice what’s just happened in that section. Notice how it began, right? Um, my soul clings to the dust. revive me. And it ends with him running, running in the way of his commandments. And so I’ve entitled this section, revived to run. How many of you can relate to those words, right? Our soul clinging to the dust, right? I’ve recounted my ways. I’ve confessed. Really, I think that’s repentance language and confession language. Teach me your statutes. Make me understand your ways. Right? Verse 28. My soul weeps because of grief presumably over sin. Right? Grant me your law. He’s asking God to change him.
So I’m trusting that the Lord by his spirit is is causing these words to resonate with you. And I really recommend these as prayers for you. I take one section every day and I pray this and I ask God to do something.
Any uh any questions or thoughts on that section, Glenda?
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. David, a man after God’s own heart. So, you’re presuming that he wrote this, but that’s that’s okay because well, what’s this is the beauty of God’s word, right? We see these things reflected in other psalms that that desire for God in particular are written by two psalms that David did write. I think I have this right. Psalm 42 and Psalm 63. You see this? My my my my soul pants for God as a deer pants for the waterbrooks, right? Uh I need it like a desert land where there is no water. My heart is a desert and I need you to fill it. Right? Um and so we see that kind of language here, but it’s all it’s all from God. So it’s going to be consistent. Right? That’s wonderful. And I and and I think you can see the transformation that happens and the transformation that we can expect by being in his word. Okay.
Hey Lord, change me. Verses 33 through 40. Notice the strength of this language. Pastor Bobby and I were just talking about this beforehand. What what the psalmist is asking God to do. Really pleading for God to do. Instruct me, oh Yahweh, in the way of your statutes, that I may observe it to the end. Cause me to understand that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart. Cause me to walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Cause my heart to incline to your testimonies and not to dishonest gain. Cause my eyes to turn away from looking at worthlessness and revive me in your ways. Cause your word to be established for your slave as that which produces fear for you. Cause my reproach which I dread to pass away. For your judgments are good. Behold, I long for your precepts. Revive me in your righteousness.
This is one of the things I love about the Legacy Standard Bible. It’s get it gets this language really true and consistent. You don’t necessarily see that cause happen in other translations, but I remember studying this before we had the LSP and reflecting on the Psalmist is asking God to do something.
He’s not simply saying, “Lord, enable me to do this the ways that we often pray.” No, Lord, you need to do it. You need to perform something in me. I need you to do that. My desires aren’t what they should be. Lord, change them. I I can’t walk in your ways. Cause me to do it.
Right? I hope you see the desperation there. This might be my second favorite portion of Psalm 119.
And so this is something that you can pray. We talked last week about experiencing seasons of dryness, right, in our times of the Lord. And and you can you can sense that here, right? I want I want that fruitfulness to come back. Any thoughts or comments on that section, Danny?
how desperate we are. Yes.
Yeah.
Total dependence on the Lord. Yes. Yes.
Yeah. As as Tony mentioned uh John 15 um f John 15 verse5 without apart from me Jesus said you could do nothing. That’s really emphatic.
Nothing means nothing. Right? Especially when we reflect on even even unbelievers their very their very their very being their very their very life is being sustained by God and God is restraining his judgment even on people who don’t know him. Right? God is we are we are much more dependent on God than we realize.
And I so I think a psalm like this helps to remind us of that to humble ourselves to repent and to rejoice rejoice in that. Amen. All right.
Next section is VAV which I’ve entitled unintimidated or free worship.
May your loving kindness may your loving kindnesses also come to me oh Yahweh your salvation according to your word.
So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me for I trust in your word.
And do not take the word of truth utterly from my mouth for I wait for your judgments. So I will keep your law forever and ever and I will walk in a wide place or I will walk at liberty.
Freedom is the other translation. I will walk in a wide place for I seek your precepts. I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and I shall not be ashamed. I shall delight in your commandments which I love and I shall lift up my hands to your commandments which I love and I will muse on your statutes.
we see the confidence, the boldness that God is building, right? Um verses 45 and 46 uh in particular, right? Um walking in a wide place or in freedom.
We talked we’ve talked a little bit about how we think about law as being restrictive. No, no, it is the place of freedom for us because we’re walking in the way that God God our creator knows what is best for us. walking in his ways is the path to true life and true freedom. And then that boldness speaking of your testimonies before kings and I shall not be ashamed. Boy, don’t we see this at times with the prophets in the Old Testament? We see it with the apostles in the New Testament. You know, as as they are being uh oppressed and as they are being threatened with death, what do they say? They say things like whether it is right in the sight of of God to obey you rather than men, you be the judge. But we cannot help but speak of what we have seen and heard. It’s because they’d heard God’s word and they’d heard from Jesus. They could speak against earthly powers with boldness. They were unintimidated. And I think you see that that concept here.
Questions or comments on this section.
Okay. We will go to Zion verses 49- 56.
I refer to this as remembrance to revival. Remember the word to your slave in which you have made me wait. This is my comfort in my affliction that your word has revived me. The arrogant utterly scoff at me. Yet I do not turn aside from your law. I have remembered your judgments from of old, oh Yahweh, and comfort myself.
Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked who forsake your law. Your statutes have become my songs in the house of my sojourning. I remember in the night your name, oh Yahweh, so I keep your law. This has become mine that I observe your precepts.
Verse 55 is particularly precious to me.
Anybody struggle with insomnia here from time to time?
Yeah. I’ll get up and um I get frustrated, right? Why can’t I sleep?
Well, I just I just take it as a gift from the Lord and and I and I think about this verse.
So, I keep your law. Lord, what what is it that you want me to reflect on from your word that I that I need to hear right now? Um later on in the psalm, the psalmist would say, “I anticipate the night watches that I might meditate on your word.” He would deliberately deliberately get up at night to refresh himself in the word of God. Um Psalm 127 and others talk about um our minds instructing us in the night with God’s word. I see I think we see that reflected here.
Any any questions or comments on this section? Any Yeah. So many outside sources come to condemn people of the faith. Yeah. and we we re reassure ourselves in who God is.
We recognize that um the fearlessness with which we can approach life.
I think it’s in Isaiah and this is one that I should memorize where it talks about all of the nations of the earth are accounted as less than nothing. John and I were talking about this the other day. Um LSP says utterly formless.
Right? Think about that. All of the powers that be combined are as nothing to God. Amazing. Amazing to think about.
Um Psalm 27, I’m going to go down this road a little bit with you anyhow. Psalm 27, my favorite psalm, uh talks a little bit about this, about how cultivating this inner life with God, uh gives us this boldness. And I’ll just read verses 1-4.
Yahweh is my light and my salvation.
Whom shall I fear?
Yahweh is the strong defense of my life.
Whom shall I dread? When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear. Though war arise against me, in this I trust. Whereas in NASB says, in spite of this, I shall be confident. And why? Verse four gives us the answer. One thing I have asked from the Yahweh that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Yahweh and to inquire in his temple.
Because David had cultivated such an inner life with the Lord, he could rejoice and worship in spite of anybody been in this situation, right? Surrounded by enemies like this. I don’t know that any any of us have experienced that, but David did and rejoiced in the beauty of the Lord. And I’ll say one other thing about this. One thing it says in verse four, one thing I have asked of the Lord. Do we do we see that phrase one thing any place else in scripture?
Anybody Anybody recognize that?
Glenda, you have it.
Is there another place of scripture that uses that phrase one thing? There’s a few of them. There’s one in particular I’m thinking of in Luke in Luke 10. I’ll give it away.
Jesus with Mary and Martha, right? Um, and Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to his word, and Martha was busy with all the preparations, complaining why Mary wasn’t helping her.
Do you remember what Jesus said?
Yeah. Few things are necessary. Really, only one. And Mary has chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to his word is the one thing that our Lord tells us that should never be compromised in our lives. And when our Lord says one thing, let’s pay attention. Yeah, that was for free. It’s not in my notes. God is good.
Um, next is treasure in affliction. I’m sorry. Am I in the right place? Oh, no.
Ask, seek, knock, and go. Verses 57 through 64. Let me get back there.
Yahweh is my portion. I have promised to keep your words. I have sought to please your face with all my heart. Be gracious to me according to your word. I thought upon my ways, and I turned my feet to your testimonies. I hastened and did not delay to keep your commandments. The courts of the wicked have encircled me, but I have not forgotten your law. At midnight, I shall rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous judgments.
I am a companion of all those who fear you and of those who keep your precepts.
The earth, oh Yahweh, is full of your love, loving kindness. Teach me your statutes.
Look at the diligence of obedience there, particularly in verses 59- 60.
I thought upon my ways, and I turned my feet to your testimonies. I hastened and did not delay to keep your commandments.
Not only are God’s commands not optional, as we discussed last week, they are to be obeyed immediately.
I hastened and did not delay. We see this in the Gospels, particularly in the Gospel of Mark, this kind of urgency.
Immediately they did this, immediately they they did that.
For those of us who are parents, what do we say about delayed obedience about our kids? Delayed obedience is disobedience.
Right. Right. And I might come from here. Might come from here. All right.
Any other questions or comments on this section.
Okay.
Next. And I think this really um hits to something that you brought up any as well is treasure in affliction. Let’s enjoy this together. You have dealt well with your slave, oh Yahweh, according to your word. Teach me good discernment and knowledge for I believe in your commandments. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word.
You are good and do good. Teach me your statutes. The arrogant have smeared me with lying. With all my heart I will observe your precepts. Their heart is covered with fat, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted that I may learn your statutes.
The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Again, we think back to verse 14, right? I rejoice in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches.
May the Lord open our eyes to how rich we are, how overflowing with riches we are, but also how unintimidated we should be.
We we notice how we have the contrast here between man’s words and God’s words, which we must always go back to to combat them.
So that’s treasure in affliction. In the interest of time, I’m going to keep going, but if you really want to interrupt, you can do Danny. Go ahead.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We don’t think of his affliction as good. And I’m I’m actually going to end with some thoughts on that. If you look at verses 67, 71, and 75, they all bring about this theme about how good affliction is for us and how God comes to us in it. We’re going to camp on that a little bit right at the end. Okay. All right. So, that’s treasure and affliction. Next is godly comfort and companionship verses 73 through 80. Your your hands made me and established me.
Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. May those who fear you see me and be glad because I wait for your word. I know, oh Yahweh, that your judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Oh, may your loving kindness comfort me according to your word to your slave.
May your compassions your compassion come to me that I may live for your law is my delight.
May the arrogant be ashamed for they wrong me with lying but I shall muse on your precepts. May those who fear you turn to me and those who know your testimonies. May my heart be blameless in your statutes so that I may not be ashamed.
Next is calf rescued from the pit. My soul fails with longing for your salvation. I wait for your word. My eyes fail with longing for your word, saying, “When will you comfort me? For I am like a wine skin in the smoke, but I do not forget your statutes. How many are the days of your slave? When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me? The arrogant have dug pits for me, men who are not in accord with your law.
All your commandments are faithful. They have persecuted me with a lie, with lying. Help me. They almost made an end of me on the earth, but as for me, I did not forsake your precepts. Revive me according to your loving kindness so that I may keep the testimony of your mouth.
Next is lament, a found I call this a foundation of perfection.
Forever, oh Yahweh, your word stands firm in heaven. Your faithfulness endures from generation to generation.
You established the earth and it stands.
They stand this day according to your judgments. For all things are your slaves. If your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have revived me. I’m yours. Save me, for I have sought your precepts. The wicked hope for me to destroy me. I shall perceive your testimonies. I’ve seen a limit to all perfection. Your commandment is exceedingly broad. We can’t even imagine conceive the the great perfection of God’s word. I’m going to pick it up a little bit here. This next section, I think, is really the heart of Psalm 119.
Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are mine forever.
Guys, I gave the wrong title to this.
That’s my bad. Let me just take a quick look at this.
This is called Pure Gold. I’m going to I’ll I’ll correct the slides when I send this out to you. My apologies. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are mine forever. I have more insight than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I perceive more than the aged because I’ve observed your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep your word. I have not turned aside from your judgments. For you yourself have taught me. How sweet is your word to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. From your precepts I get understanding. I get perception. Therefore, I hate every false way.
Wonderful.
I’m just going to do the next one. And in the interest of time, I’m going to skip ahead. I thought we would get through the whole thing, but you can finish that at home, and I’ll send out the slides.
Another famous verse that you might have heard, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn and I have confirmed to keep your righteous judgments. I am exceedingly afflicted.
Oh Yahweh, revive me according to your word. Oh, be pleased with the free will offerings of my mouth, oh Yahweh, and teach me your judgments. My soul is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget your law.
The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I have not wandered from your precepts.
I have inherited your testimonies forever. Again, that wealth language, right? I’ve inherited your testimonies forever, for they are enjoyed in my heart. I have inclined my heart to do your statutes forever to the end.
I’m going to just give the titles of the remaining of the sections and then I want to go back to what Danny had mentioned about affliction.
So this is incline to your inheritance is what is 105 through 112 singular focus really interesting right?
uh those who are double-minded. I hate those who are double-minded, but I love your law. See, you see how you have to put evil aside and double-mindedness and evil people aside to focus on God’s law.
I am an act of God talks about God acting.
Justice will come. Justice will come.
Pay is filled. The unfolding of your words gives light, gives understanding to the simple. I opened my mouth wide and panted for I longed for your commandments.
One of the things I love to pray for is that God would increase my capacity to absorb his word. It’s it’s an it’s an ocean that we’re just swimming in, right? So is God’s word. Exceeding faithfulness.
You’ve commanded your testimonies in righteousness.
Exceeding faithfulness. Incredible.
cough. I cried with all my heart. Answer me, oh Yahweh. I will observe your statutes. I call to you. Save me and I shall keep your testimonies. I hope you sense the deep need that as as as Pastor Bobby mentioned, the deep need that we have and how that’s reflected in Psalm 119.
Nearness and affliction, right? See my affliction and rescue me for I do not forget your law. Plead my cause and redeem me. Revive me according to your word.
peace. This is a big one for me that I think about a lot. Those who love your law have much peace and nothing causes them to stumble. If I may say a personal word about this, um, I’ve been known throughout my life as someone who loves God’s work, but I’ve not been known as someone who is overflowing with peace.
It’s kind of a problem, right?
this this this diagnosis my heart say maybe I don’t love God’s word as I should if I’ve got inner turmoil and I don’t have the peace that he promises those who love your law have much peace and then the last one to let my soul live that it may praise you and let your judgments help me and we get the shephering language once again right I have wandered off like a lost sheep search for your slave or as it says in the New American Standard seek your servant for I have not forgotten your commandments.
All right, let me end with um what I’m calling keys to spiritual growth and and um I was very impacted by Martin Luther’s observation of Psalm 119 in particular verses 67. If you turn back there, couple verses kind of right in the same area. verses 67 71 and 75.
Martin Luther said this. I want you to know how how to study theology in the right way. I have practiced this method myself. Here you will find three rules.
They are frequently proposed throughout Psalm 119. And they run thus oration meditatio tentatio which means prayer, meditation, and trial. I’ll unpack that a little bit. What he’s saying is, and I think what the psalmist is saying to us is that there are three things necessary for us to grow.
Prayer, meditation on God’s word, and trials necessary for us to grow if we read the scriptures properly.
And we see that here uh verse uh well, I’ll just read this and then we’ll get into the verses. um Martin Luther called aenfungan if I can pronounce that right the touchstone to teach you not only to know and understand but also to experience how right how true how sweet how lovely how mighty how comforting god’s word is it is wisdom supreme and so what is that word anfung tungan it’s a it’s a German word that has no English equivalent and Roland Baiton in his biography of Martin Luther describes it this way. It is all the doubt, turmoil, pang, tremor, panic, despair, desolation, and desperation which invade the spirit of man.
Anybody experienced those things?
Yeah, I think I mentioned last week that that’s been really my personal battle most of my life is struggling with depression and anxiety. It’s something I fight every day.
And I think it’s a and you think to yourself, well, when is this going to end? When am I just not going to struggle with this? And there’s a time when I’m not going to struggle with it.
It’s it’s called glory. It’s called heaven. In the meantime, and I’m not minimizing what sinful anxiety is because the scriptures do talk about anxiety as being the opposite of faith and being sinful. So, I’m not minimizing that. What I’m talking about is the struggle and engaging the struggle and and that being there for our growth and really of the Lord. And so think about this verse uh verse 67 reads this. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word.
And there are various ways that we can be afflicted with outward circumstances, with inward anxieties, right?
Our sin nature is such that if we’re too comfortable, we’re probably not going to be very righteous. Am I wrong about that? Right. That’s our natural tendency. And so these are the goats that you asked about, right? God puts things in our lives to get our attention, right? So that we draw close to him. Psalm 16 and others talk about the nearness of God is my good. I have no good besides thee. So, anything that comes into my life that causes me to draw near to God, how can that be a bad thing, right? But if I’m going to stray, that’s a terrible thing. If God’s nearness is my good, then what is his distance? Right? Yeah. Verse 71. It was good for me that I was afflicted that I may learn your statutes. I think God puts things in our lives to say, “Do I have your attention?” Right?
you need to seek me more fervently. And then verse 75, we’ll end with this and then I’ll pray.
This is God personally active in our circumstances.
I know, Yahweh, that your judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
Regardless of the secondary source, its primary source, its effective source is God because he loves us and he’s faithful and he wants to be close to us and make us like his son.
Let me pray for us. Father God, we’re so awed by your generosity.
We are convicted that the things in our lives that we would complain about and even reject and and do anything to get away from are sheer gifts from you for our growth and our good.
May we receive them as such. May we dive deep into your word and may we love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Amen. Amen. Thank you.