Meditations on Psalm 119

This past Sunday at ValleyView Baptist our worship service followed a slightly different form than usual. Our pastor asked me and another deacon to each select and read two sections of Psalm 119 and to add a few thoughts, or meditations as it were. The sections I chose and my comments were as follows:  

DALETH. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.
I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.
I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. 
Psalm 119:25-32 (KJV)

The opening of this section relates the chasm between the despair of the unregenerate soul mired in the dust versus the soul that has been made alive by way of God’s word. As verse 25 puts it: quicken me according to thy word. In fact, this process of becoming aware of our desperate situation as a sinner before a most Holy God is something that we must all go through in becoming a Christian. Only when one has confessed their sinfulness and helplessness to God, will he be born again.  At that point, everything changes.  Suddenly the law of God is no longer a thing of dread, where once it was distasteful to us because it only condemned us continually. Now, being quickened by God’s word, we can, along with the Psalmist, honestly ask for understanding of God’s precepts and delight in telling of his wondrous works. 

ZAIN. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. 

This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.
I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself.
Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.
Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law.
This I had, because I kept thy precepts. 

Psalm 119:49-56 (KJV)

Here again we find the connection between being quickened, or given life, by the promises of God’s word.  This is where our hope, our eager expectation lies. And for the Christian, the one who has been born again by the Spirit of God working through the word of God, this also applies to how, in times of affliction, our spirit may be refreshed by God’s word, bringing us great comfort.  In verse 51 we read that though the proud hold the Psalmist in derision, he has not turned away from God’s law.  This is especially relevant today.  Every day I hear the voices grow louder not only with insults directed toward Bible believing Christians, but calls to exclude us and a Christian world view from society.  Verse 52 goes on to remind us that at such times we can take comfort in remembering God’s past judgements, but along with that comfort verse 53 also points out that one cannot help but be horrified by the wickedness of the ungodly.  Horrified, or to be "seized by hot indignation", as the ESV translates it, which is probably conveys the original meaning better in this day. In verse 54 the psalmist tells us this: “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.”  And just as songs can be an expression of worship and of joy and even of sound doctrine, so should the word of God be used by us as we travel through this life as pilgrims, awaiting our entrance into a heavenly country, our real home.

I pray that you might find this edifying. May God bless you and yours in this new year!