For the past two posts – starting in the beginning of October and going into November, I was working on in Psalm 119. When I first read the Psalm, I thought it would be take one long sermon, or maybe two shorter sermons to get done. The poem that is Psalm 119 is constructed with 22 stanzas, one for each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and each stanza is 8 verses long. That’s 176 verses in this chapter, which is actually the longest chapter in the Bible. But I thought it would be quick because there is a consistent theme, and it’s repetitive. The general theme of the poem has been and will continue to be the praise and the adoration of the word of God. The Psalmist keeps using the phrases God’s commands, God’s precepts, God’s Laws, God’s promises, God’s decrees. Psalm 119 is in some ways very repetitive, the psalmist keeps asking for guidance from God, and repeating how much he loves God’s decrees, his commandments, how I long to obey your precepts, how I medidate on your promises but if you read it closely, the psalmist has said some very deep things about God’s character and His nature, about communion and fellowship of God’s people, about how people of God are strangers on Earth. He’s talked about how he longs to obey God’s commands and be blessed, and how he wishes to be saved or rescued from the curses of disobedience. He has spoken about seeing the face of God, instead of being forsaken. He talked about affliction, and how he experienced affliction, but closeness to God and an understanding of God’s commands was the result of his affliction. He said his affliction was good, and God was faithful to afflict him. Last post, we ended in verse 96, where he said there was a limit to perfection, which is odd because from the perspective of a human, God’s perfection seems limitless and infinite. But God can’t get any more good, or improve on anything. His perfection is limited because it can’t increase. He said Perfection has a limit but God’s word and his commands are boundless because they work on the hearts of imperfect humans. God’s commands can always teach us something because our imperfection is infinitely far from God, no matter how good we think we are. That’s why Christ’s perfection is necessary for us to be justified. But it is also how God’s word can be described as Boundless. Let’s keep reading.

מ Mem

• 97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
• 98 Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies.
• 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
• 100 I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
• 101 I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.
• 102 I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.
• 103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
• 104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

If you love God, you should love God’s law, because it is the way we know who God is. God’s law is worth meditating on. God’s word is worth memorizing and having always with you. Wisdom comes from God, he uses His word to teach us. It doesn’t matter if you are young, old, experienced or inexperienced. God’s Word gives insight. The Psalmist says he has more understanding than the elders, he has more insight than his teachers. This isn’t bragging. He is not saying his brain is smarter than the teachers and his experience is greater than the elders. He is saying he has God’s word, and if you have God’s word you have more insight than teachers, you have more understanding than elders, you have more wisdom than your enemies, because you have God’s instruction. Vs 102 says God himself has taught the psalmist. In Verse 101 the Psalmist says he has kept his feet from every evil path, so that he might obey God’s Word. Keeping your feet from evil paths is kind of the definition of obeying God’s word. It seems kind of like a tautology, but obedience is a virtuous cycle. I kept my feet from the evil path. I obeyed, so that I might continue to obey. The opposite is also true, The more you stray, the harder it is to obey. Knowing and Obeying the word of God is compared to riches, more valuable, bringing more joy than gold or silver. In vs 103, the Word of God is sweet to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. If you love the path of God and the word of God, you will begin to hate the wrong path, you will hate sin, you will hate the disobedience that you see. You don’t just hate seeing wrong paths being followed by others, you hate the idea of yourself to start following the wrong path.

נ Nun

• 105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
• 106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.
• 107 I have suffered much; preserve my life, Lord, according to your word.
• 108 Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws.
• 109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law.
• 110 The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts.
• 111 Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.
• 112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.[d]

The psalmist compared his life to a journey or a walk where God’s word directs his path, and following God is following the safe correct path. Following God avoids the path of danger. Following God’s path leads to a destination where we are in the presence of God. The word of God illuminates our lives, shows what the terrain looks like in relation to our feet and directs our path. The Psalmist makes oaths and promises, declares intentions to follow God’s righteous laws. We can’t make any hair on our head white or black, we don’t have control or the capability to keep our oaths. But the Bible does show us examples of people making a declaration and an intention to follow God. Joshua 24:15 But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The psalmist doesn’t presume the praise of his mouth is good enough, he asks God to accept his praise as something heartfelt and willingly given. And his understanding of the commandments is always in a place where he prays to God to continue to teach him, never satisfied in his current understanding. In the face of wickedness, he does not stray from the path of God’s commandments.

He says God’s statutes are my heritage! What is heritage? Heritage is something you inherit, it’s your inherited portion. Heritage is the history and those things passed down throughout the ages. Heritage has has an air of tradition and just , “this is how we do things”. In the Spring, one of the pastors in our church preached a lot about how we want our worship and our doctrine to follow Scripture and God’s Law, not human tradition. Which is totally on point, especially when human tradition over time Is known to degrade and eventually goes against God’s statutes and God’s law. But the Psalmist here says our human tradition – our heritage should BE God’s statutes. And God’s law should be the joy of our heart; and out of joy, our hearts are set on keeping God’s decrees until the end.

ס Samekh

• 113 I hate double-minded people, but I love your law.
• 114 You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.
• 115 Away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commands of my God!
• 116 Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed.
• 117 Uphold me, and I will be delivered; I will always have regard for your decrees.
• 118 You reject all who stray from your decrees, for their delusions come to nothing.
• 119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross; therefore I love your statutes.
• 120 My flesh trembles in fear of you; I stand in awe of your laws.

Vs 113 the psalmist says he hates double minded people. Some Spanish translations say hypocrites. Double minded people are everywhere. There is hypocrisy in words people speak versus the actions that they do. Human beings are all inconsistent and wavering. For double minded people, there is no guarantee that the thing they say or agree with, or the plan they commit to, will actually end up being what they end up doing later. Since we aren’t sovereign we can’t keep our promises; nobody can, and our sinful nature always makes everybody a hypocrite in some sense of the word. We can never live the perfection we try to preach to ourselves; we can never live up to the standard that the Bible requires. We always fall short of who we want to be, who God tells us to be through His Word. But double minded people are even worse because it’s not just Hypocrisy, they think two different things; they say something and do something else and pretend they never said that thing to begin with. James 1:8 mentions double minded people. But the context in James 1 was that double minded people ask something of God, but ask with doubts, or without faith. They are double minded in that instance. The discrepancy is in their mind, in their beliefs. As Christians, we can remain consistent and our mind and our preferences, our dogma, our values, and our goals can persist, even if circumstances change; even if our behavior falls short. But that requires us to admit we were wrong, or repent, when we realize our conduct has been inconsistent with the Bible. And the most effective way to keep consistent is to keep our hope and our thoughts and our efforts on God’s unchanging word. In vs 114, The Psalmist calls God his refuge and shield. This imagery is like Psalm 91, which I posted a few months back, where God is compared to a refuge and fortress, a protective bird to cover us and comfort us with his feathers. Vs 118-119 People who reject God will be rejected by him, people who discard God’s commands will be discarded. The psalmist says get “away from me, evildoers”, to those types of people because the wrong people can distract us from obeying God’s word. Wicked and double-minded people are living a delusion, and the psalmist says in verse 118 that their delusions come to nothing. But God and God’s laws are truth; they are worthy of our fear and awe. God’s laws are worth our time and consideration. The Psalmist says uphold me and I will be delivered, Sustain me and I will Live. Our relationship to God should be one of awe and fear, but we should also be a praying people to ask God to provide for our needs; to sustain us. Without God sustaining us, we don’t live.

ע Ayin

• 121 I have done what is righteous and just; do not leave me to my oppressors.
• 122 Ensure your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.
• 123 My eyes fail, looking for your salvation, looking for your righteous promise.
• 124 Deal with your servant according to your love and teach me your decrees.
• 125 I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.
• 126 It is time for you to act, Lord; your law is being broken.
• 127 Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold,
• 128 and because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.

The psalmist prays not to be left to his oppressors, to those arrogant people who continue to oppress him. He reviews his own conduct and says he’s acted righteously and just, and he trusts in God to ensure his well being. He keeps saying that he is straining, his eyes fail as he looks for God’s salvation, he watches and searches for God to fulfill the righteous promises that were made. His prayers declare that he is God’s servant and asks for God to deal with him according to his Love. God deals with humans differently, there are those who discard him and His word, and in turn God discards them like dross according to vs 119. Others he deals according to His Love. He deals with His servants in Mercy, patiently teaching them, and blessing them with understanding and discernment. As the Psalmist continues to walk the path of God, he realizes the error and deception of disobedience, and he begins to hate every wrong path. Vs 126 When he sees God’s law being broken he responds in outrage, and says it’s time for God to act. I read it first and thought the Psalmist was sounding impatient. “It’s time for you to act, Lord.” When I tell someone it’s time for them to act, I am urging them to do something and pushing them, influencing them. But we have to consider our place as humans, and God’s attributes. Praying that way to a sovereign and all powerful God is a bit different because we humans can’t force or pressure God to do something. The Psalmist is saying the time seems right for God to act. Impatience would look more like the Psalmist lacking the faith in God’s plan, taking matters into his own hands, acting out against the disobedient breakers of God’s laws, and maybe praying for forgiveness later. But the psalmist’s words are waiting for God to act, trusting in the timing and sovereignty and will of God to act when appropriate. He’s said this before in the psalm, but he repeats this. He treasures God’s word the same way that people treasure gold, and he says he treasures God’s commands more so than pure gold. When he sees God’s commands being broken and God’s word being disobeyed, it pains him. God’s Word is beautiful, His commands and statutes are perfect, his precepts are right. God’s word is something effective for teaching and instruction rebuking and correcting us when we are on the wrong path. I said this the first time when I wrote on the first part of Psalm 119. The psalmist doesn’t just love the 10 commandments and sit there thinking, “wow, honor your mother and father. Sweet. I am gonna think about that one all day long” The torah, the Old Testament, the word of God is not just the 10 instructions or the regulations for ceremonies, but it is Divine righteousness described to us. It is an unattainable perfection for sinful humans, It is the only way we can see God and hear his voice on this side of Heaven. It is the way we understand and know Love and the only way we can desire and find Forgiveness. God’s word teaches us what is right and wrong, and shows us that we need to be saved, we need redemption and deliverance from our sin and disobedience. Like the Psalmist, we should share the attitude that we need God to teach us discernment, understanding, knowledge, wisdom. There should be a significant place in our hearts, in our schedules, in our minds for God’s Word to take root, to develop, to mature, and to boundlessly, continually incline us towards God. If we don’t feel like we’ve placed God’s word where it belongs, or we have failed in this regard and have not been impacted regularly by God’s word, then we should pray for God (like the Psalmist) to continue to teach us, keep asking, keep straining, keep praying for God to bless us with his Spirit to treasure the word of God. Failure to treasure God’s word is a bad thing, but if you realize that, then you are blessed with discernment and understanding that leads to a repentance and allows for God to continue to work in you. Those who are dead in their sin, those whose hearts are stone, those who are arrogant or mockers towards God, those people who are double minded, they will never realize that God’s Word occupies the wrong place or priority in their hearts. They will never understand the glory and righteousness that is found in the word of God. They can never treasure this wisdom, and will trample on God’s scripture, like a swine trampling a string of pearls. When we realize we are missing something, it’s God’s spirit inclining our hearts, and it is a miracle. We should keep straining, keep crying out to God to help us, keep asking for instruction, it doesn’t matter if it seems repetitive or you feel like you’re going nowhere; you are changing and growing. The Psalmist keeps repeating the same things over and over. It seems like the Psalmist clearly loves God’s commands, but he keeps asking and pleading for discernment, instruction, direction.