Considering Psalm 119 #4

Here is the next stanza of Psalm 119 for consideration:

²⁵ I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word.  ²⁶ I recounted my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees.  ²⁷ Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.  ²⁸ My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.  ²⁹ Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law.  ³⁰ I have chosen the way of truth;  I have set my heart on your laws.  ³¹ I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame.  ³² I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.

Sin is the major threat to existence in this stanza of the Psalm.  Personal evil, disobedience, threatens to completely undo the Psalmist.  He is aware of this, are we?

Though he seems himself as laid low in the dust (to be humbled), he has hope.  This hope has a source far beyond a gut feeling.  He asks God to preserve his life according to his word- he looks to God’s promises of salvation to those who trust in him.  When you suffer the consequences of your disobedience, where do you turn?  We should turn, again, to the promises of salvation in Christ.  We ask God to keep his word (as found in places like 1 John 1:9) and to preserve us.

Though he recounted his ways, I suspect the Psalmist was not impressed by his faithfulness and obedience.  I don’t want to separate this from the verse before it, or the request in the second part of this.  He wants God to teach him His decrees.  He has recounted his sins, and God has answered by forgiving him (1 John 1:9 again).  But he thirsts for more than forgiveness (do we?), he wants God to teach him.  That was essentially my prayer at conversion (forgive me and teach me how to live ‘cos I’ve really messed this up so far).  In his humility, he sees he has not got it all together but rather has seriously fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).

He again asks for understanding.  Why?  So he can meditate on God’s wonders.  We are utterly dependent on God to understand His Word.  But as He gives us knowledge, we are to chew them over, getting “spiritual nutrician” from them that we might be sustained through life.

He was not just humbled, but weary with sorrow.  He doesn’t explain the source of his sorrow, but in this context it would be sin.  He experiences godly sorrow, and it has worn him down.  He is unable, apart from grace, to get up and move forward.  He needs strength.  He sees promises of strength in the Scriptures, and knows that the Spirit will grant that strength as he trusts those promises.   I know I need strength these days.  I am weary from a number of things- unfulfilled dreams, my sin, others’ sins against me, trying circumstances.  I need the strength that only the Spirit provides through the Scriptures (Romans 15:4-5, 13).  It only happens as I trust Him to keep His word.

Sin is deceitful.  And when I am tempted, I deceive myself.  When others tempt me, they seek to deceive me.  So great is the need for God to keep me from deceitful ways.  If I am to walk in righteousness and justice, I need to be kept from deceitful ways.  God keeps us from such ways, graciously, through His Word.  He exposes deception in all its forms through His Word.  Great is our need to return to the Word when we experience temptation so we won’t believe sin’s lies.  We need to see that its pleasures are fleeting and consequences great.  God must strip us of our delusions.

The Psalmist expresses his hopes.  He wants to obey, he’s clinging to God’s Word to keep him from self-deception.  But it is God alone who can fulfill His promises and keep him from shame or disapppointment.  Evil people mock those who believe.  Sometimes we should feel shame for we have trusted God to fulfill our agenda, and He will not be used in such a way.  But if He has made us a promise (and we must be careful to understand if a promise applies to us), then ultimately those who reject Christ will experience shame.  God will come through and we will be vindicated.

I love this last verse of the stanza.  I probably need to pray this one often.  He runs in the path of God’s commands.  They are a well-worn path that all who believe that have gone before him have tread- lead by Jesus.  Behind Jesus people like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Caleb, Joshua, David, Isaiah, Josiah, Peter, Paul, Barnabas, Augustine, Athanasius, Luther, Calvin, Owen, Spurgeon, etc have run that path.  How did they?  Why did they?  Because God set their hearts free in the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Messiah.  Hebrews 11-12 should be coming to mind right about now.  We run with freed hearts that consider Him who endured despite opposition from sinful that we might press on.  Free, I tell you, free!  We do not run from fear.  We do not run out of guilt or shame.  We run as those who have been justified and adopted in Christ, who are being sanctified in Christ and will be glorified in Christ.  We run out of love, sustained by the fountain of living waters placed within us.  Run, Forrest, run!