Psalm 119 (Part 2)

Open your Bibles to Psalm chapter 119. We're midway through the longest chapter in the Bible. 176 total verses. Just a quick reminder that this chapter is made up of 22 stanzas of 8 verses each, and each one of those stanzas starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And then each verse in the stanza begins with that same letter of the alphabet to make up that total of 120, or excuse me, 176 verses. As we get started here, let me just say as we begin that most of the time the verses that we read in these stanzas will stand on their own. In other words, you can read a verse of one of these stanzas here in Psalm 119, and it's almost like the Proverbs. It stands on its own. You can just take it all on its own, but there are times when they are grouped together. And as we begin where we are tonight, which is in verse 89— I guess I hadn't told you that yet. We're at verse 89, which is the center point of the chapter. As we look at these first verses, the first three verses go together, and if you don't read them together, they're not going to make sense. It begins like this, verse 89:

(ESV) And that's the first subject that the writer wants to make mention of “your word.” Then he says in verse 90:

And so, God's faithfulness is the second subject. Now we go to verse 91:

In other words, they are unmoved; they are unchanged. And then the psalmist makes this interesting statement here at the end of that verse; he says: “for all things are your servants.” And what he means by that is that all things in life can be used by God to serve His purpose. That's a great reminder, you guys, because sometimes you and I are looking at situations in our own lives or in the lives of other people, and we're distressed by those circumstances or situations or occurrences or whatever. And it's really easy to get stressed out and think, oh man, now look what's happening. But this is a great reminder, all these things, anything that happens in life can serve the purpose of God; in other words, can work toward the purpose of Him accomplishing His will. Do you, guys, know that God's not weak in His ability to accomplish His will? He's not weak. He's not sitting around wringing His hands thinking, how in the world am I going to get this taken care of? He can use anything – and I mean anything to accomplish His purpose. So, I really love this reminder. It goes on in verse 92:

All right, next stanza, verse 97. It says:

99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the aged, (or your Bible may say more than the elders) for I keep your precepts.” And I want you to notice in verses 98, 99 and 100 that he uses three different references there to say, because I have meditated on Your Word I've grown in my understanding. Notice he says in verse 98, I've grown in understanding above my enemies. Then he says in 99, I've actually learned more than my teachers. And then in verse 100, he says, I even know more than the aged or the elders because— and he's not bragging; he's just simply saying—because I've meditated on Your Word; because I have taken it in, I have learned a great deal. And you know that those statements remind us of something that we also see in the New Testament when the apostle Paul wrote about Jesus. Let me show you this from Colossians chapter 2 on the screen. It says:

Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Man, that's such an important statement. In Christ, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. Fortunately, He's not hidden, and He is more than willing to share the treasures of wisdom and knowledge for those who come to Him and who seek His face and seek to know His will and so forth. Verse 101, he says: “I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. 102 I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. 103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” And that ends that second stanza that we're looking at tonight.

Now we get into verse 105— and this is really the theme of our study through this chapter, the longest chapter in the Bible, verse 105 of Psalm 119. This is it, and it says: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” And that's it, isn't it? That's the picture. The psalmist is painting a picture for you and I of what the Word of God does in our lives. I think so many people think of the Word of God as like the thing that rains on my parade. In other words, it's just God telling me, don't do that. It's full of all these don't do that. I understand how you can feel that way. I remember when my oldest son was a little boy, it seems like that's the only thing I ever said to him. I said, don't do that, he'd go to touch it. No, Aaron, don't do that. And then he got a little bit older—and you know how little boys get obnoxious; they're just always doing dumb things, making weird noises with their mouth or other body parts in public. And I'm saying, Aaron don't do that. I really felt like that was my whole relationship with my son for like a decade. All I ever said to the kid was, don't do that. I think there's a lot of people that look at God's Word in the same way. It's just there to prohibit what we're supposed to do. But I love the picture that the psalmist paints here of the Scripture. He says: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” In other words, the picture is the illuminating of the road that is before me. Do you know how difficult it is to figure out life without God? It is so incredibly— people are just, oh, they can't figure out things. And yet the Word of God illuminates the path in front of us. It shows us the works that God is doing. We can see so much of His will laid out for us in the Word of God. It gives us so much insight into why people are the way they are. The Bible gives us, frankly, the most credible explanations of the existence of evil, the existence of sin, the existence of so many things in this life that you really can't explain through evolutionary thought or other worldly sorts of understandings to life. It's like, why is this the way it is? All they can say is, well that’s just nature. That's all it is. But the Word of God gives us full explanations which help us to see ourselves and to see other people for who and what they are. I really believe that it's through the Scripture that we are enabled to understand people to the point where we can begin to express forgiveness and mercy and compassion for whatever's going on in their lives because the Word of God illuminates the path in front of us. It shows us where we're going, and significantly, it keeps us from stumbling. That's the whole point of being that light to my path, if you will. In other words, what the psalmist is saying is that life is full of opportunities to stumble. It's full of pits. It's full of potholes. And without the Word of God to illuminate your path in front of you, you're going to either fall into those pits or you're going to stumble because of the potholes. The Word of God illuminates these things for me. Verse 106:

And that completes that stanza. Verse 113 takes up the next one. He says:

The double-minded speaks of people who can't make up their mind between wanting to walk with God or wanting to walk with the world. They see the benefit of walking with the Lord, but they really don't want to do it. And so, they're double-minded in their lives, and we're told in the Scripture that a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. In other words, instability reverberates through his life or her life. He says in verse 114, and I love this:

That statement, “you are my hiding place,” reminds us of an earlier passage from the Psalms. Let me put it up on the screen for you from Psalm 32, verse 7. Remember this? The psalmist said:

Here, however, in verse 114 of the Psalm we're looking at— the psalmist says that God is his shield. You're my hiding place and my shield. In other words, I get behind you and I'm shielded from the things of this life. He says, God, you are my shield. I have to ask sometimes, people, do you feel like God is your shield? Or do you feel like God is something else to you? Like, for example, your taskmaster. It's amazing that from time to time I get notes from people or I talk to people for whom God is their taskmaster and not their shield. And that's really sad. Really. It's amazing to me how many people see God more as a slave driver than as a shield, a protector. And if not a slave driver, at the very least a harsh disciplinarian. I had a note just this last week from a woman who basically said to me, I know God is patient and merciful, but, she said, I'm filled with apprehension. I'm constantly filled with apprehension that I'm going to misbehave too much and then God's going to come down hard on me. It's interesting, isn't it, that we say with our mouth, I know that God is patient and merciful, and then we say, but. But do you know what that but means? It means I know in my head that God says this is the way He is, but in my heart, I live in constant fear of the sword dropping at any time, waiting for the guillotine just to drop down. That's a terrible way to live. That's an awful way to live. I wouldn't want to live that way, but many people do. Many people do. And it is sad.

It's interesting we're going to see here tonight that there's a balance. We are supposed to fear God. Let's not overshadow the reality of that. We are to fear God from the standpoint of that reverential sort of respect and awe and fear, but not to the point where you're living in apprehension, hour by hour or day by day in your life, and where you're afraid of God from the standpoint that you're too afraid to go talk to Him, or too afraid to bring your needs to Him or your prayer requests, because well, I don't want to bother God, I don't want to get on His nerves sort of a thing. There are people living in that sort of a mentality even though it sounds weird to hear it come out of my mouth. And they probably would never say those kinds of words exactly, but they feel it. They feel it very intensely, and it hinders their relationship with God. They listen to people, like you telling about things you've prayed about, and they think to themselves privately, man, I wish I could pray to God like that. I wish I could trust Him for stuff like that, but I'm afraid to pray because I'm afraid He might answer me in some harsh and hurtful sort of a way, painful sort of a way. There's a lot— you'd be surprised how many Christians— I'm not talking about unbelievers—how many Christians who are living in that sort of a perpetual fear of God, fear that He is going to bring something painful, hurtful and even potentially harmful into their lives to teach them a lesson. And that's what I hear. I'm afraid God's going to do something or take something away from me to teach me a lesson. And I have to go back and say, listen, if God is going to teach you any lessons at all, it's because it's for your best. It's to save you, not to hurt you. The things that God allows into our lives—and yes, sometimes those things are painful, aren't they? Very painful, but they're not meant to destroy you. They're meant to build you up, and they are meant to be used by God to form you further into the image of His son, Jesus Christ. That's why God is allowing those things in your life. The Bible says He's working those things together for your good according to His purpose. So, we'll see some of these things as we move on here. Look at verse 115:

And then look at verse 120:

Now I want to reiterate here, again, that it's one thing to tremble before the Lord and it's another thing to live in constant dread or constant apprehension concerning what God might do or what God might allow in your life. You'll notice that at the same time that the psalmist is saying, “my flesh trembles for fear of you,” he's bringing all of his needs to the Lord and he's trusting God with his needs, which tells you that there's a balance that has been obtained here in the heart of the psalmist, as it relates to fearing the Lord from the standpoint of that awe and reverential respect and trusting the Lord. And that's the deal. That's the point to know God. Here's the balance right here. You ready? To know God is to fear God, but to know God is also to trust God. Okay? And if you get one of those out of balance, if you come over here and say, well, I trust, but there's really not that reverential fear, or if there's fear without the trust, you're going to be out of balance. You're either going to live a life where it's God's job to forgive you and you really don't care about how you're living, or you're going to live in that state of constant dread and apprehension and you're going to be afraid to even bring your needs to God because You don't really trust Him. I fear God. Yeah, but do you trust Him? Right. Do you fear God and do you trust Him? That's really the question we should be asking. Next stanza, verse 121:

Notice what the psalmist is doing: looking to the Lord to fulfill His promise. And by the way, guys, that's a hallmark of what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a follower of Christ. It's looking for to Him to fulfill His promises. He's made all kinds of promises and you can look to Him to fulfill them. I've made promises that you can't look to me to fulfill because I'm a human being. Being a human being and not in complete control, I'm not a sovereign individual. I don't have total control of my circumstances, or really anything for that matter. And so, if I make a promise to you, there's a good chance I might not be able to keep it. But God, being sovereign and under no one else's jurisdiction, no one else's control, He's completely in control of His promises. He's faithful to keep His Word. And the psalmist makes it very clear here that my eyes are longing for the fulfillment of the promises that you have made. Verse 124. He says:

And again, that cry of the psalmist for knowledge and insight into the Word.

Next stanza begins in verse 129 and it says:

And I like that, by the way. That word there is very good. Here in the ESV, in verse 130, did you notice he says that “the unfolding of your words gives light;…?” I like that word, unfolding, because it's not just hearing the Word of God, necessarily. It's the unfolding of the Word, which is what happens to us when you and I get into study the Word of God. Maybe you do a word study. Have you ever done a word study and you found a word in the Bible and you thought, I want to do a study on that word. Maybe it's the word righteousness or justice or loving kindness or something like that. And I'm going to check out all the uses of this word throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament and see how the context is given. And the more study you do, the more you unfold the meaning, and you grow in your understanding of what those words really mean. I love how the psalmist makes mention of that. He says, “the unfolding of your words gives light.” In other words, it brings light into my understanding. It's like somebody turning the light on. Oh, I get it now. I get it because you've unfolded the meaning. And that can happen through meditation too. By meditating on the Scriptures, taking a verse, maybe one single verse, and meditating on it throughout the day. As you're working, as you're driving or whatever, there's an unfolding process that takes place as the Holy Spirit imparts understanding and light and truth. And it's very cool. In verse 131, he says:

Okay. All right. Here's the balance for that earlier sort of a thing about fearing God's judgments we were talking about that here just a moment ago. I want you to notice in verse 132 that the psalmist acknowledges that being gracious is God's way, right? It's His way for those who love Him. And notice he says, “turn to me and be gracious to me as is your way.” Do you believe that? See now, if you put that in context with what it means to fear God, so, you fear God, you revere him, there's a reverent awe for God, and yet at the same time, you know that it is His way to be gracious. You put those things together and you got balance, right?

So, he says in verse 133: “Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.” I love that verse, too, because the psalmist here cries out saying, Lord, don't let any sin dominate my life. And that's usually the case. We call those besetting sins, and the reason we call them that is because they're usually something that dominates us. So, the psalmist is saying, Lord, don't let that happen in my life. Don't let any sin dominate my life – whether it's anger or jealousy or greed or perversion, unfaithfulness, whatever it may be. Lord, don't let that sin dominate me. I want to be dominated by God. Not my sin, my flesh. Verse 134:

Next stanza, beginning in verse 137 – and you're going to find out that this stanza of verses focuses very much on righteousness. He says:

And then the next stanza, he says:

The focus here in this particular stanza is really amazing. There's such an attitude of a commitment to God's Word. It's a commitment that you and I sometimes can read and we really can't relate. This is a commitment that the psalmist expresses regardless of the opposition that he is facing and regardless of the cost that it may cost him to stand in the Word of God. The psalmist expresses in that stanza that his only real comfort is gained from meditating on God's promises. Now in the next stanza, you're going to notice how many times the psalmist cries to God, saying, “give me life.” Verse 153, he says:

Notice again how many times the psalmist says, Lord, give me life. And remember, only God is the giver of life. Anything else that people run after in this world is just a shadow. Only God gives true life. Verse 161:

I love this. He says, I rejoice in the same way someone would if they find buried treasure. I'm rejoicing in the same way with your Word. He says:

Did you notice in Psalm 167, the psalmist speaks of loving God's Word? He says, I love your testimonies exceedingly. This is to love the Word of God. His desire is to walk in obedience to the Word of God based on love. How many times do I hear of people wanting—or, yeah, I guess wanting is a good word—wanting to obey God, but only because they feel it's their duty or their obligation? Pastor, how can you help me to be more obedient in my walk with God? Well, let me ask you a question. Why do you want to be obedient? I mean, not that I'm questioning that you should be, but why do you want to be obedient? Well, it's what we're told to do, and it becomes this duty. I'll be honest with you. If your relationship with God is just pure duty, it's going to get really old; it's going to get really dry; and it's going to become rote and mechanical. The thing that I love about how the psalmist expresses his heart here is he says, my soul keeps Your Word and I love Your Word exceedingly. I love it. My soul keeps it because I love it. I love Your Word. So, rather than just an external list of dos and don'ts—and by the way, this is what the Holy Spirit does with the Word when we come to Him in faith: He takes the Word, which a lot of people look at as just dos and don'ts, rules and regulations, and He writes it upon our heart. He puts it literally on our hearts so that it's not just these external laws that are completely separated and out there. It's in here now. And then finally, verses 169— we're on the, wow, the last stanza here: “Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word!” Oh, I love this. Oh man, there's so many things that people struggle with to understand from our perspective. It's just we sometimes feel like we're really in the dark, don't we? I mean, we look at life, we look at our situation and we think, wow, how in the world? What's going on here? Yeah, and yet, I believe that the Lord desires to give us perspective. He may not always give us every piece of information that we're looking for, but God will give us perspective. And that is huge. But I want you to notice that the psalmist cries out to God for understanding there; and notice how he says, “according to your word” – that means according to Your promise. I'm coming to You, Lord, for understanding, according to Your promise. You made a promise. And we have one of those promises in the New Testament, too. Do you need wisdom? Do you need knowledge? Do you need understanding about your situation, about life, about your family, about what's going on in your ministry or whatever the case may be? Do you need that kind of understanding? Are you going through a—do you have some difficult decisions coming up? What do you—I don't even know what to do. I got this going on. I think if I go into this college, this person wants to date me, I don't know, is this the person God has for me? And there's all these things going on. Is this the job I should take or whatever the situation? And you need wisdom. You need to know what the Lord has. How can I know the will of God? Probably one of the most popular questions I get. Pastor Paul, how can I know the will of God? And then the corollary to that is, how can I know His will apart from just my own desires? That's the biggie. That's the secondary question. How do I know that it's God's will and not just my desire? Let me show you this wonderful promise out of the NIV from James chapter 1, verse 5.

If any of you lacks wisdom, (Oh, wow, look at this:) he should ask God (What a thought! He should ask God. Look what it goes on to say:) who gives generously (lavishly) to all without finding fault, (In other words, He's not going to go, what are you dumb? I think He already knows the answer to that question anyway, right? But he says:) and it will be given to him. That’s a wonderful promise. I love that promise. Do you lack wisdom? Do you need wisdom? Do you need direction? Ask. It also says: You don't receive because you don't ask. So, ask, but ask in faith; ask believing. Right? When you ask, ask believing – but ask. We've got the same— we can say the same thing that the psalmist is saying in this verse. Lord, Give me understanding according to your promise. Give me insight, Lord, according to your promise. Have you ever done that with the Lord? Have you ever held Him to His promises? Have you ever just read a verse and said, all right, here's the deal, You said this, I didn't. Okay. I'm going to hold You to it. Now that might make me nervous. If I made a promise to you and you come to me and you say, hey, Pastor Paul, I'm going to hold you to your promise, I might squirm a little bit in my shoes. But God is never going to do that. In fact, I believe it delights Him when His children hold Him to His promises. God, You made a promise; I'm holding You to it. And He's just like, that's wonderful. You got it. He's looking for people to put their faith in His promises. And the reason we can put our faith in His promises is because of the one who made the promise, right? So, Lord, give me understanding according to the promise of Your Word. Verse 170:

I love this. And we've learned in our study of Luke on Sunday morning that God does go looking for His lost sheep, doesn't He? He'll even leave the rest of them behind, and go looking for the one that wandered off. And I love how the psalmist is willing to admit here, I've wandered off. I do. I wander off from time to time, so just come looking for me. Will You come get me? If You have to grab me by the scruff of the neck to drag me back, fine, but You don't ever leave me. Don't ever let me go. And we know that the Lord won't. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Psalm chapter 119. Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful that You've given us this beautiful chapter in the Psalms. How much exhortation and insight and wisdom is contained in these verses. Lord, help us to meditate on these things, to think on these things, and to ponder Your many promises. Lord, we're so thankful. We're so thankful for Your goodness. We're so thankful Lord for Your mercy. We're so thankful that You've taken Your Word and You've preserved it so that we can study it and grow in understanding and wisdom. Lord, Your Word, truly, is a light to our path, a lamp to our feet. Show us the way, Lord. Teach us through Your Word. Strengthen us, Lord, to understand more, and open our eyes, open our ears that we might gain a heart of understanding. We look to You, Lord, and not to any man. We look to you in Jesus’ precious name, we pray, amen.