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Psalm 119
Resh
153 Consider mine affliction, and deliver me:
for I do not forget thy law.
154 Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken
me according to thy word.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked: for they
seek not thy statutes.
156 Great are thy tender mercies, O LORD:
quicken me according to thy judgments.
157 Many are my persecutors and mine
enemies; yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
158 I beheld the transgressors, and was
grieved; because they kept not thy word.
159 Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken
me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness.
160 Thy word is true from the beginning:
and every one of thy righteous judgments
endureth for ever.
This is the twentieth section of Psalm 119. Having
covered a more detailed overview of the Psalm, it
is my intention to go more thoroughly through each
section. Briefly, each section is according to the letter of the
Hebrew alphabet. Each letter contains 8
verses that begin with that specific letter. Resh is
the twentieth letter, so each verse, in the Hebrew,
begins with a word starting with the letter Resh.
In Hebrew, unlike English, each letter was originally also a word.
We do not know the meaning of
every letter today, but we do know most. Resh
means, 'Head, beginning, chief; shake'. Since the
Psalmist built the Psalm based on the letters, it
is likely the meaning of each letter played in his
thoughts as he composed each section. In this
section, we do see the curious term for the word
of the letter, pop up in the end. It is used like a
final tieing off of a stitch of thread on the theme
of God's Word.
This Psalm is also based upon the usage of a host
of words that are 'legal' terms in the Hebrew. I
have gone into a more thorough definition of each
word, as it has been encountered, in the previous
sections. I would recommend going there to find
those expansions. I will cover additional words as
we come across them.
The Rightful Place of God's Word
153 Consider mine affliction, and deliver
me: for I do not forget thy law.
Coming near the end of our studies through
Psalm 119, we have seen many instances of the
suffering servant. There is a reason for that. If we
walk with the LORD, the enemy will always be attacking. It may not be outright, 'You're a Christian,
so I want to destroy you.' It will frequently be those
who are Satan's puppets that simply hate you for
some unknown reason. They will seek to create
mischief for you in whatever way comes within
their ability.
God didn't promise a suffering free life. He does
promise to carry us through as an overcomer, if we
abide in Him. It is this suffering that helps us to see
what needs to be done to grow stronger in the LORD
and live for His glory. That again, doesn't mean
what glorifies God is recognized as glorious in this
world. What does glorify God, is our overcoming
this world, despising its shame. We are made strong
in Him to walk through pathways our flesh would
simply be too weak to accomplish. THAT glorifies
God. The weak flesh is crucified and overcome so
that God's will is followed.
Though we have seen much affliction, part of
God's glory is in delivering us from it. That is why we
find these appropriate prayers for deliverance. He
delights to provide for the needs of His children.
Notice the Psalmist's words of 'I do not forget thy
law'. He could not utter such words unless the power
of remembering or forgetting was within our power. I
have seen people who made a 'Christian' confession
of faith, whose hearts grew cold towards God. It was
not long before their memories seemed to be that of
the most aged. You could tell them most anything, but
it would probably be forgotten before the day. Satan
will snatch the seed from the stony ground. When
the heart becomes stony towards God, the ability to
remember will be gone. It is the heart that determines
the ability to remember the things of God. Now there
is some natural mental decay due to age or some other
such causes, but I have seen an almost supernatural
inability to remember. That cause's source lay in the
heart, and is the blame of the person with the hard
heart. This Psalmist declares, such a diseased heart
condition is carefully guarded against.
154 Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken
me according to thy word.
'Plead my cause' is literally the same word twice.
It is like saying, 'fight my fight' or 'dispute my dispute'. 'Deliver me' is from the word for 'redeem'.
'Quicken me' is that 'give me life'.
The Psalmist is seeking the best lawyer there
is. He looks to God to stand up on his behalf. The
'redeem me' expounds upon this dependence. In
its concept of redeem, is included the kinsman
redeemer. In Mosaic law, if someone was so poor
and fell into debt, so as to become a slave, he could
be redeemed from slavery by a kinsman (relative).
Such a position denotes that the person asking for
help is in a totally helpless state. He was destitute
with no means of helping himself. With no natural
resources, he looked to God for that redemption.
His basis for hope comes from his good memory
of God's spoken words. He has read, meditated
upon and believes. Knowing God's Word, he prays
for God to give him life.
We will see the repeating theme of 'give me life'.
Each time the subject related to it is different and important to note. Here it is 'word'. Most likely spoken
'words', for it is plural. Christ is the living Word of
God. In typological speech, I believe the cry could be
read as, 'to the Lord Christ Jesus, give me life'.
Apart From God's Word
155 Salvation is far from the wicked: for
they seek not thy statutes.
Oh, doesn't this one say a lot! There are many who
claim to be saved Christians that this verse testifies
against. According to this, no one can be 'wicked'
and be saved. A person can forsake the wickedness,
in repentance, and turn to God for His unearned
grace of salvation. A person cannot continue as the
wicked, and be a partaker of salvation.
This also says more. It tells us the wicked are
easily identified in one particular characteristic.
They do not seek to know God's statutes. If a person says they are a Christian, but has no desire
to seek a knowledge of God's Word, that is the
telltale sign they are still the wicked. That is the
conclusion this verse must draw us to.
I know there are a number who will be very
agitated by this statement. Allow me another way
of illustrating this. Let's say we have a prime specimen of a 30 year old man. Consider how much
flour he eats in a week. If you took that volume
in straight grain, you would have a bag or two of
grain. Multiply that out for the total consumption
in a thirty year span. You would have a stunning
amount grain, filling quite a storage warehouse.
That is the natural need for the human body. Now
let's say we took the amount of grain he ate in a
month and spread it out for his complete food ration over the thirty years. What you have would
be a corpse, that would have died very young from
starvation.
Spiritually, God's Word is our food. If a man
claims to be a Christian of 30 years, but has only
consumed the spiritual food of a month, you can
know, he died of starvation years ago. By the time
he is spiritually thirty, the amount of God's Word
he has read should be more like that stunning
small warehouse filled with grain sacks. At such
an age, if he has read his Bible only once, you can
know he is spiritually dead.
Verse 155 tells us 'the wicked' does not seek to
know God's Word, and salvation is far from them
because of it! You say, 'Don't judge!'. I say, 'You
will know a tree by its fruit!'
The Spirit In The Word
156 Great are thy tender mercies, O LORD:
quicken me according to thy judgments.
Here we find the first, of two occasions of the
name Yahweh. It flows upon relation of the most
gracious gifts, from the God who brought out His
people from bondage. The 'tender mercies' are
the best kind. Mercy is one thing, and I certainly
need that, but tender mercy? Oh, how incredible
that He can be so gracious! HE CARES, FOLKS,
HE CARES!
'Quicken me' is that now familiar 'give me life'.
We will find this one more time. This time the subject related to this is 'judgments'. Judgments are
God's Words put into action to a specific situation.
This is a more detailed subject to cover, which I
have covered in a previous section more thoroughly. To the point, the 'mishpat' (judgments)
are a type of the Holy Spirit. Again, in typological
speech, I believe the cry could be read as, 'as Your
Holy Spirit, give me life'.
Staying The Course With The Word
157 Many are my persecutors and mine
enemies; yet do I not decline from thy
testimonies.
Something to consider here. Some have the view
that if you are a good Christian, you will be liked
by most everyone. You will have such a pleasant
attitude and be so loving, only the most surly could
find fault with you. Such is not the testimony of
this Psalmist. His experience is one of knowing
many who are working to oppress him. There are
many who not only try to get him out of sight, they
officially take the place of 'enemies'.
In the face of such opposition, he refuses to be
less entrenched in the Word of God, which tells
of God's character. Those particular laws called
'testimonies'. Funny, isn't it? Jesus is the literal
'testimony' of God in the flesh. When we see Jesus,
we see God's testimonies. When we live according
to those testimonies, there are those who say you're
not being very Christian. What a contradiction!
The reason is because the Jesus they are comparing the faithful to, is a Jesus of their
own imagination. Probably the one in the movies with long hair.
That is not the Jesus of the Bible.
One last observation on this verse. We have
considered how those who are not wicked will
seek God's statutes. Many excuse their not reading
God's Word with being too busy. This Psalmist
goes a step beyond. Not only will being busy not
keep him from God's Word, not even persecutors
and enemies will succeed in keeping him from
that precious treasure.
Abandoning God's Word
158 I beheld the transgressors, and was
grieved; because they kept not thy word.
The word for 'transgressors' means 'those who
act or deal treacherously'. The word for 'grieved'
meaning 'to loathe'. A literal rendering being,
'I saw those who act or deal treacherously and
was loathe, that Your words not they did keep
(observe).'
As we look around today, I must say these
words hold special meaning. Everywhere we look.
Whether it be to personal relationships, to business dealings, to authorities in local, national and
international governments, we see the treacherous. What's more, they are not ashamed, or even
put to shame. For the godly, we will look and it
will make us sick to our stomachs!
That most pivotal point at the heart of the
treacherous is they ignore God's words. If any
man or woman removes his or her foundation
from being in God's Word, he or she will end up
with the treacherous. There is no such thing as not
believing in the Bible and following it and walking
in a good path. The two are impossible!
Life In God's Word
159 Consider how I love thy precepts:
quicken me, O LORD, according to thy
lovingkindness.
Immediately following the stomach churning
sight of the treacherous, the Psalmist appeals to
Yahweh with the presentation of his loving God's
precepts. He beseeches God to behold him favorably, for he does have an ear to hear and a heart
that is true.
Here we find the second use of the name of
Yahweh.
This is the third, and last, 'quicken me'. Being
that now familiar 'give me life'. This time the
subject related to this is 'lovingkindness'. This
word is most often translated as straight 'mercy'.
A literal translation of this second half would read,
'Yahweh, as Your mercy give me life'. Though the
name Yahweh is a name that is inclusive of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, it is specifically
the Father who extended His mercy in giving His
Son to save us. Based upon this understanding, I
see these three 'give me life' choruses as displaying the triune godhead.
God's Word Providentially Preserved
160 Thy word is true from the beginning:
and every one of thy righteous judgments
endureth for ever.
Well, well, here at the ending we find the beginning. In the Hebrew, that word for 'beginning' is
the first word in this sentence, and it is the word
for the letter, pronounced a shade differently.
This is one of my favorite verses. It holds the
power of incredible authority. Just stop and think
about how far reaching these words are. It bears
witness that all of God's Word is true and accurate
from the very first word in the Bible. Which, by the
way, is 'In the beginning'. All the historical facts of
creation have been accurately recorded. Not only
that, they have been preserved in their accuracy
for us. It does not say, 'Your Word was true'.
Looking from the past, from the point in time
this verse was written, into the future, we have the
testimony that God is keeping all His righteous
judgments and dealings with mankind ('judgments' - mishpat) faithfully preserved.
Consider, if God has not preserved His Words,
the Bible is not truly presenting 'righteous' judgments. The twisted copy would have departed
from telling us the truth of how God has dealt with
mankind. Being a lie, it would not be righteous.
This verse tells us God does have His hand in preserving His Word, so that 'every one', that means
ALL His words, have God's decree for perpetual
preservation. Folks, we can know that God has
seen to it, from His Word, that He has taken care
for us to have a faithful copy of His word. He did
not leave the fate of the Bible in the hands of faithless textual critics, with corrupt agendas.
Since we saw that the treacherous dealers dealt
treacherously because they didn't keep God's Word,
then it goes that they would not be the ones to
blame if God's Word was not preserved for them to
read. How could they be held accountable to keep
His Word if it wasn't available? Such absence of
God's Word is not the case. It is available, so they
are without excuse. Do you see that even the verse
condemning the wicked acts, is testimony of God's
Word being providentially protected?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As we have progressed through Psalm 119, we
have seen the first principals laid out in the earliest
sections. After those sections, it progressed to a
view of greater maturity. From there, it has covered
assorted themes of the utmost importance. Issues,
such as we found in Resh, on the place of God's Word
and His hand of preservation. Such are critical issues
that ignorance of, has spelled havoc for the Church.
Satan has made great advances against Christians
through ignorance and deceit in regards to this issue. Beware the translators who do not tremble as
they touch God's Word. Such work is found in the
likes of The Living Bible, the NIV and the Revised
Standard Version. I must sadly even issue a warning
against the New King James Version.
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