Psalm 119: 137- 144

Psalm 119 is called the Alphabet of Divine Love, the Paradise of all Doctrines, the Storehouse of the Holy Spirit and the School of Truth.

The Theme of Psalm 119

is

The Word of God

137.  Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments.

138.  Your testimonies which You have commanded, are righteous and very

         faithful.

139.  My zeal has consumed me, because my enemies have forgotten Your

         Words.

140.  Your Word is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it.

141.  I am small and despised, yet I do not forget Your precepts.

142.  Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.

143.  Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet Your commandments are my

         delight.

144.  The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; give me

         understanding and I shall live.


137-144.  This passage deals with the perfect righteousness of Jehovah and His Word.  It expresses the struggles of a holy soul in reference to that righteousness.  The initial letter that begins every verse sounds like the Hebrew word for righteousness.  Our keynote is righteousness.

137.  Righteous are You, O LORD.  The psalmist rarely used Jehovah's name in this vast composition.  The psalm shows that he was deeply religious and  thoroughly familiar with the things of God.  People like this never use God's holy name carelessly, and they do not use it frequently in comparison with the use of it by the thoughtless and the ungodly.  In this case, familiarity breeds reference; he uses the sacred name in worship. David praises God by ascribing perfect righteousness to Him.  God is always right, He is always actively right, and He is righteous.  This quality is tied to our idea of God.  We cannot imagine an unrighteous God.

And upright are Your judgments.  David extols God's Word, or recorded judgments, as being right, even as their Author is righteous.  What comes from the righteous God is righteous itself.  Jehovah both says and does what is right, and that  alone.  This is a great support to the soul in times of trouble.  When we are sorely afflicted and cannot see the reason for the affliction, we may fall back on this sure and certain fact; God is righteous and His dealings with us are righteous.  It should be our glory to sing this great confession when all things around us appear to suggest the contrary.  This is the richest adoration, this which rises from the lips of faith when carnal reason complains about undue severity.

138.  Your testimonies, which You have commanded, are righteous and very faithful.  All that God has testified in His Word is right and true.  It is righteous and it may be relied on for the present; it is faithful, and it may be trusted for the future.  In every portion of the inspired testimonies, there is divine authority.  It is issued and published by God's command, and it bears the royal style that carries omnipotence.  Not only the precepts but also the promises and teachings of Scripture are commanded by the Lord.  It is not our choice whether we will accept them; they are issued by royal command and are not to be questioned.  Their characteristic is that they are like the Lord who has proclaimed them; they are the essence of justice and the soul of truth.  God's Word is righteous and cannot be impeached; it is faithful and cannot be questioned; it is true from the beginning and will be true to the end.

139.  In the last two verses David spoke about God and His Law. Here, he speaks of himself.  My zeal has consumed me, because my enemies have forgotten Your words.  This was caused because the psalmist had a clear sense of the admirable character of God's Word.  His zeal was a fire burning in his soul.  Man's forgetfulness of God acted as a fierce blast to build the fire to a more fervent flame, and it blazed until it was ready to consume him.  David could not bear that people should forget God's Word.  The ungodly were David's enemies because they hated him for his godliness and because he abhorred them for their ungodliness.  They had gone so far in iniquity that they not only violated and neglected God's commands but also appeared to have forgotten them.  This put David into a great heat; he burned with indignation.  How dare they trample sacred things!  How could they utterly ignore God's commands?  He was astonished and filled with holy anger.

My zeal has consumed me.  Zeal is a high degree of love, and when the object of that love is ill treated, it vents itself in a mixture of grief and indignation sufficient to wear out and consume the heart.  This is the case where people rightly conceive of the dishonor that is continually done to God by creatures whom He has redeemed.  But never could the verse be spoken with such fullness of truth and propriety as by the Son of God.  Jesus had a far greater sense of His Father's glory and of human sin than any other person.  When His zeal had exerted itself in purging the temple, John tells us, "Then his disciples tell us it was written, 'Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up' (John 2:17).  The place where this is written is Psalm 69:9.  This passage parallels it.  (George Horne, 1730-1792)

140.  Your Word is very pure.  It is truth distilled, holiness in its quintessence.  In the Word of God there is no error or sin.  It is pure in its sense, pure in its language, pure in its spirit, and pure in its influence, and all this to the highest degree:  very pure. 

Therefore Your servant loves it.  This is proof that David was pure in heart.  Only those who are pure love God's Word because of its purity.  His heart was knit to the Word because of its holiness and truth.  He admired it, delighted in it, sought to practice it, and longed to come under its purifying power.

Your Word is very pure.  In the original it is "tried, refined, and purified like gold in the furnace."  Absolutely perfect, without the dross of worthlessness and deception that runs through human writings.  The more we test the promises, the surer we will find them.  Boerhaave informs us that pure gold is so fixed that an ounce of it set in the eye of a glass furnace for two months will not lose a single grain. (George Horne, 1730-1792)

141.  I am small and despised, yet I do not forget Your precepts.  The forgetfulness that he condemned in others (v.139) could not be charged to him. His enemies made him of no account, considered him without power or ability, and looked down on him.  He appears to accept the situation and humbly takes the lowest room, but he carries God's Word with Him. How many have been driven to reply to the contempt of their enemies? To make themselves conspicuous, they have either replied or acted in a manner they could not justify.  The beauty of the psalmist's holiness was that it was calm and balanced.  David was not carried away by flattery, so he was not overcome with shame.  If small, he would more jealously attend to the smaller duties.  If despised, he would more earnestly keep the despised commandment of God.

Yet I do not forget Your precepts.  God observes what we do in trouble;  "If we had forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, would not God search this out?  For He knows the secrets of the heart" (Psalm 44:20,21).  If we slacken our service to God, the judge of hearts knows all.  God knows whether we want depraved and corrupted doctrine, worship and ordinances, or if we want to faithfully adhere to Him, His Word, and His worship, whatever the cost.

In our poor and despicable condition, we see more cause to love the Word than we did before, because we have experienced support and comfort from it.  "We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:4).  "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ" (2 Corinthians 1:5).  God has special comfort for His afflicted and despised people.  He makes their consolation from Christ run parallel with, and keep pace with, their suffering for Christ.   (Thomas Manton, 1620-1677)

142.  Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.  Having ascribed righteousness to God (v.137), he now declares that righteousness is unchanging and everlasting.  This is the joy and glory of the saints; what God is, He always will be, and His procedure toward the sons of men is immutable.  Having kept His promise and dealt out justice among His people, He will do so world without end.  Both the righteousness and the unrighteousness of men come to an end, but the righteousness of God is without end.

And Your law is truth.  As God is love, so His law is the truth.  It is the essence of truth, truth applied to ethics, truth in action, and truth on the judgment seat.  We hear great disputes about, "What is truth?"  The holy Scriptures are the only answer to that question.  They are not only true but truth itself.  We may not say they contain the truth but that they are the truth, Your law is truth.  There is nothing false about the law or the precepts of Scripture.  Those who are obedient will find that they are walking consistent with fact, while those who act contrary are walking in a vain show.

143.  Trouble and anguish have overtaken me.  This affliction may have arisen from circumstances, or from the cruelty of enemies, or from internal conflicts.  But it is certain that he was the subject of great distress, a distress that apprehended him and took him captive to its power.  Grief, like fierce dogs, had taken hold on him; he felt their teeth.  He had double trouble, trouble without and anguish within.  The apostle Paul put it this way, "Outside were conflicts, inside were fears" (2 Corinthians 7:5).

Your commandments are my delights.  David was a riddle; he was troubled, yet delighted, in anguish, yet in pleasure.  The child of God can understand this enigma, for he well knows that while he is cast down because of what others see in him, he is all the more lifted by what he sees in the Word.  He is delighted with the commandments, although he is troubled because he cannot perfectly obey them.  He finds abundant light in the commandments, and by the influence of that light, he discovers and mourns his own darkness.  Only the person acquainted with the struggles of the spiritual life will understand this expression.  Let the reader herein find a scale to weigh himself.  Does he find that when he is surrounded by sorrow he still delights in doing the Lord's will?  Does he find more joy in being sanctified than he finds sorrow in being chastised?  Then the spot of God's children is on him.

144.  The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting.  First he said that God's testimonies were righteous and then everlasting, and now he says, the righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting.  David gives a larger and more detailed account of the Word of God the longer he is engaged in writing.  The more we say in praise of Scripture, the more we may say and the more we can say.  God's testimonies cannot be assailed.  They are righteous from beginning to end.  The ungodly have opposed divine justice, especially in the plan of salvation, and, yet, hey have always failed to establish any charge against the Most High.  As long as the earth stands, as long as there is a single intelligent creature in the universe, it will be confessed that God's plans of mercy are in all respects marvelous proof of His love of justice.  Just a He is gracious, Jehovah will be just.

Give me understanding,  and I shall live.  He prayed this continually, give me understanding, and I shall live.   He evidently considers this gift essential to living.  To live without understanding is not to live but to be dead while we live.  Only as we apprehend the things of God can we enter life.  The more the Lord teaches us to admire the eternal rightness of His Word, and the more He revives us to love such rightness, the happier and the better we will be.  As we love life and seek many days, that we may see good, it behooves us to seek immortality "through the Word of God which lives and abides forever"  (1 Peter 1:23).  And it behooves us to seek good in the renewal of our entire nature, which begins with the enlightenment of the understanding and passes to the regeneration of the entire person.  Here is our need of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, and the guide of all the revived ones.  He will lead us into all truth.

The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting.   Your moral law was not made for one people or for one particular time.  It is as imperishable as Your nature and of endless obligation.  It is that law by which all the children of Adam will be judged. Give me understanding  to know and to practice it.  And I shall live.  I shall glorify You and live eternally, not for the merit of having done it, but because You fulfilled the work of the law in my heart, having saved me from condemnation by it. (Adam Clarke, 1760-1832)

Commentary is by Charles Spurgeon, taken from the Treasury of David.

143.  Your commandments are my delights. David was a riddle; he was troubled, yet delighted, in anguish, yet in pleasure. The child of God can understand this enigma, for he well knows that while he is cast down because of what others see in him, he is all the more lifted by what he sees in the Word. He is delighted with the commandments, although he is troubled because he cannot perfectly obey them. He finds abundant light in the commandments, and by the influence of that light, he discovers and mourns his own darkness. Only the person acquainted with the struggles of the spiritual life will understand this expression. Let the reader herein find a scale to weigh himself. Does he find that when he is surrounded by sorrow he still delights in doing the Lord's will? Does he find more joy in being sanctified than he finds sorrow in being chastised? Then the spot of God's children is on him.

My thoughts on verse 143...

143. Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet Your commandments are my

delight.  Whatever we are experiencing in life, anxiety, fear, frustration, anger, heartache, grief, sleeplessness, troubled sleep, physical pain, emotional pain, concern about another, we find that when we turn to the Word of God and prayer, His Spirit gives us hope and renews our spirit within us.  When troubles beset us, we tend to see things from a dim, or even dark perspective.  We sometimes tend to think of the worse outcome before we get to God's perspective on it. 

What does the Bible say about these kinds of troubles?  What is the purpose of them?  Why do they come to us? 

If we are God's child and we are back sliding, God will discipline us as a parent disciplines their child, for our own good, that we may share in His holiness.  (Heb.12:10)

The testing of our faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work that you may become mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)

In Galatians 4:13,  Paul tells the church at Galatians that it was because of his "illness" that he first had the opportunity to preach the Gospel message to them.

I have learned to be content in any and every situation whether well fed or hungry...because I can do all things through Christ Jesus. (Php.4:12,13)

For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ, our comfort overflows.  If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. (2Cor 1:5,6)

We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.  But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.  He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us.  On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us as you help us by your prayers. (2Cor 1:8-11)

We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry (witness) will not be discredited.  Rather, as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way:  in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beating, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness;  in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, through bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as imposters; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (2Cor. 6:3-10)

We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces, perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us. (Romans 5:3-5)

You may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These has come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:6,7)

Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though some strange thing were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.  ( 1 Peter 4:12,13)

Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12)

I consider our present sufferings not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)

We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  (2 Cor. 4:7-11)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  (2 Cor.4:16-18)


~Annie~

Psalm 119: 129- 136

Psalm 119 is called the Alphabet of Divine Love, the Paradise of all Doctrine, the Storehouse of the Holy Spirit, and the School of Truth.

The Theme of Psalm 119

is

The Word of God

129.  Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.

130.  The entrance of Your Words give light; It gives understanding to the

         simple.

131.  I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for Your commandments.

132.  Look upon me and be merciful to me, as Your custom is toward those who

         love Your name.

133.  Direct my steps by Your Word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.

134.  Redeem me from the oppression of man, that I may keep Your precepts.

135.  Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.

136.  Rivers of water run down my eyes, because men do not keep Your law.

129.  Your testimonies are wonderful.  They are full of wonderful revelations, commands, and promises. They are wonderful in their nature, free from all error, and bear over-whelming evidence of their truth.  They are wonderful in their effects, instructing, elevating, strengthening, and comforting the soul.  Jesus, the eternal Word is called Wonderful (Isaiah 9:6), and all God's Words are wonderful in their degree. Those who know them the best, wonder at them the most. It is wonderful that God brought testimony to sinful people and still more wonderful that His testimony should be clear, so full, so gracious, and so mighty.


Therefore my soul keeps them.  Their wonderful character so impressed itself on David's mind that he kept them in his memory. Their wonderful excellence so charmed his heart that he kept them in his life.  Some wonder at the Words of God and use them for their speculation. But David was always practical, the more he wondered, the more he obeyed.  David's religion was soul work.  Not with head and hand alone did he keep the testimonies; his soul, his truest and most real self, held fast to them.


130.  The entrance of Your Words give light.  No sooner do the words gain admission into the soul than they enlighten it.  What light may be expected from their prolonged indwelling!  Their entrance floods the mind with instruction, for they are so full, so clear.  Yet there must be an entrance, or there will be no illumination.  The mere hearing of the Word with the external ear is of little value by itself, but when Words of God enter the chambers of the heart, light is scattered on all sides. The Word finds no entrance in some minds because they are blocked with self-conceit, prejudice, or indifference. But where due attention is given, divine illumination must surely follow upon knowledge of he mind of God.  May Your Words enter the window of my understanding like sunbeams and dispel the darkness of my mind!


It gives understanding to the simple.  The sincere and candid are the true disciples of the Word, for, to these, it gives not only knowledge, but also understanding.  These simple-hearted ones are frequently despised, and their simplicity is ridiculed.  But what does it matter?  Those who the world dubs as fools are the truly wise, if they are taught by God! 


The entrance of Your Words gives light.   A profane shop worker crams into his pocket a page of a Bible after reading Daniel's last words, "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days" (Dan. 12:13), and he begins to think what his own lot will be when his days are ended.  A Gottingen professor opens a large printed Bible to see if he has eyesight enough to read, and his eyes fall on the passage, "I will bring the blind by a way they did not know" (Isaiah 42:16), and in reading this, the eyes of his understanding are enlightened.  One of Cromwell's soldiers opens his Bible to see how far the musket ball has pierced, and he finds it stopped at the verse, "Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment"  (Eccl.11:19).  And, in frolic, a Kentish soldier opens the Bible that his brokenhearted mother had sent him.  The first sentence that shows up is a familiar text.  "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matt 11:28), and the weary sinner flees to Jesus Christ for rest.
(James Hamilton, 1617-1679)

131.  I opened my mouth and panted.  Like a deer that has been hunted, hard pressed in the chase, panting for breath, the psalmist panted for the entrance of God's Word into his soul.  Nothing else would satisfy.


For I longed for Your commandments.  He longed to know them, longed to obey them, longed to be conformed to their spirit, and longed to teach them to others. David was a learner in the school of grace, and his eager spirit longed to be taught by the Lord.  This is a desire that God will satisfy.  "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it" (Psalm 81:10).


132.  Look upon me.  A godly person can not live without prayer. During the previous verses David had been expressing love for God's Word, but here, he is again on his knees.  This prayer is especially short but exceedingly energetic.  Look upon me.  while he stood with open mouth panting for the commandments, he asked the Lord to look upon him.  David let his condition and his unexpressed longings plead for him. He wants to be known by God and observed by Him daily.


As Your custom is toward those who love Your name.  Look on me as You look on those who love You. Be merciful to me as You are to those who truly serve You.  There is a customary way that God observes toward those who love Him, and David craved that he might experience it.  He would not have the Lord deal better or worse with him than with His other saints.  In effect, he prays, "I am Your servant, so treat me as You treat Your servant.   I am Your child, so deal with me as a son."  It is obvious from the context that David wanted an entrance of the Word and the clear understanding that God gives according to the promise, "All your children shall be taught by the LORD" (Isaiah 54:13). 

133.  Direct my steps by Your Word.  This is one of the Lord's customary mercies to His chosen, "He will guard the feet of His saints" (1 Sam 2:9).  His grace enables us to put each foot step by step in the place that His Word ordains.  This prayer seeks a choice favor, namely, that every distinct act, every step might be arranged and governed by God's will.  This does not stop short of perfect holiness, and the believer's desires will not be satisfied with anything less.


Let no iniquity have dominion over me.  This is the negative side of the blessing.  We ask to do all that is right and not to fall under the power of anything that is wrong.  God is our Sovereign, and we would have every thought in subjection to His sway.  Believers have no special darling sins to which they willingly bow. They pant for perfect liberty from the power of evil, and conscious that they cannot obtain it by themselves, they cry to God.


134.  Redeem me from the oppression of man.  David had tasted all t he bitterness of this great evil.  It made him an exile from his country and banished him from the Lord's sanctuary.  Thus, he pleads to be saved from it.  It is said that oppression makes the wise mad, and, no doubt, it has made many righteous.  Oppression is wicked and drives many to wickedness.  We little know how much of our virtue is due to our liberty. Had we been in bonds under haughty tyrants, we might have yielded, and, instead of being confessors, we might have been apostates.  He who taught us to pray, "Do not lead us into temptation" (Matt 6:13), will sanction this prayer, since to be oppressed, is to be tempted.

That I may keep Your precepts.  When the stress of oppression was taken off, he would go his own way, and that way would be the way of the Lord.  Although we should not yield to people's threats, many do.  A wife is sometimes compelled by her husband's oppression to act against her conscience. Children, employees, and even nations have been brought into the same difficulty.  Their sins will be largely laid at the oppressor's door, and it uses pleases God before long to overthrow those powers and dominions that compel people to do evil.  the worse is that some people, when the pressure is taken off, follow unrighteousness of their own accord.  These people give evidence of being sinners in nature.  As for the righteous, it happens to them as it did to the apostles, "Being let go, they went to their own companions" (Acts4:23). When saints are freed from their tyrants they joyfully pay homage to their King.

135.  Make Your face shine upon Your servant.  Oppressors frown, but You smile. They darken my life, but if Your face shines on me, all will be bright.  The psalmist again declares that he is God's servant. He seeks no favor from others, but only from His Lord and Master.


And teach me Your statutes.  This the the favor that he considers the shining of God's face on him.  If the Lord will be exceedingly gracious he will ask no higher blessing than to be taught the royal statutes.  David craves holiness, which is the choicest of all gems.  We say that a good education is a good fortune, but to be taught by the Lord is a special grace.  The most favored believers need teaching. Even when they walk in the light of God's countenance, they still have to be taught the divine statutes, or they will transgress.

 
136.  Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do no keep Your law.  He wept in sympathy with God to see the holy law despised and broken.  He wept in pity for the people who drew down God's fiery wrath.  His grief was such that he could scarcely vent it; his tears were not drops of sorrow but torrents of woe.  In this, he became like the Lord Jesus, who wept over the city (Luke 19:41), and like Jehovah, who has "no pleasure in the death of the  one who dies.  Therefore, turn and live" (Ezekiel 18:32).  The experience of this verse shows a great advance; the psalm and the psalmist are both growing.  That person is a ripe believer who sorrows because of the sins of others.  The spiritual feel a holy fear of the Lord and lament when they see dishonor cast on His holy name:


Lord, let me weep for nought but sin,
And after none but thee,
And then I would, O that I might!
A constant weeper be.
Comments are by Charles Spurgeon, taken from the Treasury of David.

My thoughts on verse 136...

There is more than one verse I would like to put my thoughts to, but the post is already long, so I will choose this one because of the signs of the times.   Today we are finding out that the publishers of history textbooks for grades six to twelve have revised the facts of 9/11/2001.  Even though most of us remember, children under fourteen aren't likely to.  When we are gone and the younger generation is grown the truth of 911 will be gone. 

This young generation is pretty much all connected...connected to their ipods, cell phones, facebook, twitter, videos online, and to much vulgar language and deflamation of God's character and goodness in the comments sections of videos and news stories.  They spend much time playing video games, even little pre-schoolers!  There is online gambling which targets the young generation, and also porn.  Even television and movies are full of instant sex and violence and no respect for elders or anyone.   Schools are teaching things that are immoral as being natural and good. Pro-Life demonstrators are being labeled as "terrorists" while the killing of babies is promoted and supported by government.   Think about the percentage of time kids spend at school, with their friends on video games, face book, twitter, television, movies, and on their cell phones or ipods, all added up.  How much time, or what percentage of the time is left for parent/child interaction and conversation?   What healthy, nourishing food are you feeding their souls to counteract against the junk food of the day?  What about ourselves? 

There are exceptions to this, as some families have seen this danger and have pretty much avoided it.

What will the future be like for this generation?  It is so sad to see this evil that lurks everywhere wanting to have the children.  There are traps/snares  set everywhere for them and people inviting/seducing them to walk into them.  No one is really seeing these traps because most people live in denial of the harm these things can cause as they get a grip on the hearts of the young.

Maybe life is too fast and busy for the older generation to catch what is happening to the young?  Please stop. Look. Listen. What are your children learning while they are at school, online?  What are their views on what they have learned at school, online?  What are their views on God, Jesus?   Do we know what is going on in their minds after feeding on all the junkfood and poison they encounter daily?  Maybe it's time we should investigate.  Take the time to speak to, and listen to your young ones.  Ask God what changes need to be made, for your children's sake.

Are we feeding on God's Word daily? Are we praying for our children daily? Are we praying for their teachers and all those they regularly connect with? If you are like me, you intend to, but are not totally consistent with it. We all need to realize the importance and ask God to help us be more consistent in our own time alone with God and His Word, so we can pour out what we have taken in.


~Annie~

Psalm 119: 121-128

Psalm 119 is called the Alphabet of Divine Love, the Paradise of all Doctrines, the Storehouse of the Holy Spirit, and the School of Truth.

The Theme of Psalm 119

is

The Word of God 

121.  I have done justice and righteousness; Do not leave me to my

         oppressors.

122.  Be surety for Your servant for good; do not let the proud oppress me.

123.  My eyes fail from seeking Your salvation and Your righteous Word.

124.  Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy, and teach me Your

         statutes.

125.  I am Your servant; give me understanding, that I may know Your

         testimonies.

126.  It is time for You to act, Oh Lord, for they have regarded Your law as void.

127.  Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, yes, than fine gold!

128.  Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right;  I

         hate every false way.

121.  I have done justice and righteousness.  This was a great thing for an eastern ruler to say.  Most of these despots cared more for gain than for justice. Some neglected their duty giving neither justice nor judgment, others gave judgment without justice. Many sold their judgments to the highest bidder. But David gave judgment and justice; he saw that his sentences were carried out He could claim before the Lord that he had dealt out even-handed justice and was still doing so.  On this fact, he founded a plea with which he backed the prayer.

Do not leave me to my oppressors.  He who has been doing right, as far as his power goes, may hope to be delivered when attempts are made to do him wrong.  If I will not oppress others, I may hopefully pray that others may not oppress me.

122.  Be surety for Your servant for good.  Answer for me. Do not leave Your poor servant to die by the hand of our enemy. Take my interests, weave them with Yours, and stand for me.  As my Master, undertake the cause of Your servant and represent me before the faces of haughty people, until they see what an august ally I have in the Lord my God.

Do not let the proud oppress me.  Your intervention will answer the purpose of my rescue.  When the proud see that You are my advocate, they will hide their heads. We would have been crushed beneath our proud adversary, the devil, if our Lord Jesus had not stood between us and the accuser and became our surety.  It is by His surety that we escape like a bird from the snare of the Fowler.  What a blessing to leave matters in the hands of our surety, knowing that all will be well, since He has an answer for every accuser and a rebuke for every reviler.  Good people dread oppression, for it makes even the wise insane, and so they send up cries to heaven for deliverance.  And they will not cry in vain, for the Lord will undertake the cause of His servants and fight their battles against the proud.

123.   My eyes fail from seeking Your salvation.  David wept, waited, and watched for God's saving hand.  He looked to God alone.  He looked eagerly, he looked long, and he looked until his eyes ached.  The Lord will not test you beyond what we are able to bear... with His help. I Corinthians 10:13).

And Your righteous Word.  A word that would silence his oppressors' unrighteous words. David's eyes and ears waited for the Lord's Word.  David left his reputation entirely in the Lord's hand; he as eager to be cleared by the Word of the Judge rather than by his own defense.  He knew he had done right, and he begged for the sentence that would work out for his deliverance.

124.  Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy.  Before men, David was so innocent that he could challenge the word of righteousness.  Yet, before the Lord, as His servant, he felt that he must appeal for mercy.  The title of servant covers a plea; a master should clear the character of his servant if he is falsely accused; he should rescue him from those who would oppress.  Moreover, a master should show mercy to a servant even if he deals severely with strangers.  The Lord condescendingly communicates with His servants.  He does not spurn them but fellowships with them in a tender and merciful way;

In any other form of dealing we would be crushed into the dust.

And teach me Your statutes.  This is one way of dealing with us in mercy.  We may expect a master to teach his servant the meaning of his orders.  Yet, since our ignorance arises from sinful stupidity, it is great mercy on God's part that He condescends to instruct us in His commands.  For our ruler to become our teacher is an act of great grace, and we cannot be too grateful. Among our mercies, this is one of the choicest.  Like the atmosphere that surrounds the earth and supports life, God's benevolence surrounds all His creatures, "for in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

125.  I am Your servant.  This is the third time David has repeated this title in this section.  We who rejoice that we are the children of God are delighted to be His servants.  Did not the firstborn Son assume the form of a bond servant (Philippians 2:7)? 

Give me understanding,  that I may know Your testimonies.  In the previous verse David sought teaching.  Here he craves understanding.  We must plead for understanding and teaching and our divine Tutor will furnish us with it.  We confess ourselves fools, and then our Lord makes us wise and gives us knowledge.  The best understanding is that which enables us to give prefect obedience and to exhibit intelligent faith.  This is what David wanted.

Understanding that I may know Your testimonies.  Some would rather not know these things.  They prefer to be at ease in the dark rather than to possess the light that leads to repentance and diligence.  God's servant longs to know, in an understanding manner, all that the Lord reveals. He wished to be instructed so that he may apprehend and comprehend what is taught.  A servant should not be ignorant concerning his master or his master's business.  He should study the mind, will, purpose, and aim of him whom he serves, for only then, can he complete his service.  No one knows these things as well as the master, so the servant should often go to him for instructions, lest his zeal makes him the greater blunderer.

It is remarkable that the psalmist does not pray for understanding through acquiring knowledge, but that he first begs the Lord for the gracious gift of understanding and then that he may obtain the desired instruction. All that we know before we have understanding is abt to spoil us and breed vanity.  But if there is first an understanding heart, then the stores of knowledge enrich the soul and bring neither sin nor sorrow.  In addition, this gift of understanding also aids in discernment; thus, we will know what is or is not the Lord's testimony.  We will see what is false  and dangerous.

126.  It is time for You to act, O Lord, for they have regarded Your law as void.  David, the servant of God, was oppressed by ungodly behaviour, he feels that His Master's hand is needed, and so appeals to Him to work against evil.  People void God's Law by denying it to be His Law, by promulgating commands and doctrines in opposition to it, by setting up tradition in its place, or by utterly disregarding or scorning the authority of the Lawgiver. Sin becomes fashionable, a holy walk is considered contemptible puritanism, vice is styled as pleasure, and vanity rings the bell. Then the saints sigh for God's presence and power.

They have regarded Your Law as void, as if they would not only sin against the law but also sin away the Law, not only withdraw themselves from obedience to it but also drive it out of the world.  They would void and repeal God's holy acts, that their wicked acts might not be questioned.  Lest the law should have a power to punish them, they will deny it a power to rule them. This is the force of the simple rule applied here, as to the highest transgressing against the Law of God.     (Joseph Caryl, 1602-1673)

This sounds like what has been, and is more and more happening, in our time.

127.  Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, yes, then fine gold!  As it was God's time to work, it was David's time to love.  Far from being swayed by evil people, to join them in slighting the Scriptures, David was led into a more fervent love of them.  As he saw the commandments slighted by the ungodly, his heart was in sympathy with God; he felt a burning affection for His holy precepts.  It is the mark of a true believer that they do not depend on others for religion, but get their bread and water from the Word of God and the well of the Spirit.  David, amid a general depreciation of the Law, felt his esteem of the commandments rising so high that gold and silver sank in comparison.  God's laws are more enriching and bring more comfort than all the choicest treasures.  David could not boast that he always kept the commands, but he could declare that he loved them.  David was perfect in heart and wanted to be perfect in life.

128.  Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right.  Because the ungodly found fault with God's precepts, David was certain that the precepts were right.  The censure of the wicked is a certificate of merit.  what they sanction, we may justly suspect; what they abhor, we may ardently admire.  The delight of the good man in the law of God is unreserved.  He believes in all God's precepts in all things.

I hate every false way.  Love of truth breeds hatred of falsehoods. The godly man was not indifferent to anything; what he did not love he hated.  David was not a waverer, he knew what he felt, and he expressed it.  He was no Gallio, caring for nothing. The psalmist's detestation was as unreserved as his affection.  He did not always have a good word for any practice that could not stand the light of truth.  He was determined to avoid every form of  error and sin.  May the Holy Spirit so rule in our hearts that our affections toward the precepts of the Word will be the same as David's.

Commentary taken from the Treasury of David - by Charles Spurgeon

My thoughts on this passage...

Today, we see books to do with "A loving God would not send anyone to hell."   They state God is love, and a loving God cannot send anyone to hell because that would go against who He is by nature.  They ignore what Jesus says about hell in the Bible. 

The Bible does say God is love.  Love permeates His whole being.  It is the essence of who He is.  God is also holy, just, righteous, and many other good things.  The thing is, God isn't part holy, part just, part righteous and so on, covered by a blanket of love.  He is completely holy, completely just, completely righteous, and completely love. He is not part anything, but wholly everything good. 

This is why because of His holiness, He cannot look upon sin; because of His justice, sin must be punished; because of His love, Jesus paid the penalty for our sin, died in our place, and imputed His perfect righteous life to all those who would put their faith in His shed blood, and His substitutionary act on our behalf.   

We believe He died, was buried, rose on the third day, and was witnessed by over 500 people,  plus the disciples. When he ascended back to heaven 40 days later in a flesh and bone body, He promised to return.  In the meantime, He would send the Holy Spirit to be with all those who belonged to Him.
(The resurrection: 1 Cor.15:3-8; 20-23; Lk 24:13-45; the first four chapters of Acts).

According to Jesus, (according to Scripture) there is a hell, and all those whose names are not written in the Book of Life will have their part in it, along with Satan and his apostate angels.  Being in denial of it does not make it untrue.  It will not save you.  There will be no sin in heaven.  The only way into heaven is by recognizing we are a sinner in need of a Savior,  and putting our faith in Christ Jesus' substitutionary atonement on the cross, and believing that He died and rose again from the dead.   He will one day return, not as Savior, but as Judge against all those who have rejected Him.  Revelation 19:11-16;  Rev.20:11-15; Rev.21:6-8).  If He is not your Savior and Lord yet, please seek Him.  He says that if you will seek Him with all your heart and mind you will find Him.  He is able to forgive all your sins, regenerate your heart to love Him, and give the Holy Spirit to bring God's Word to life for you so you can grow spiritually, progressively taking on His character and love, for Him and others.

We all know others, family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, that may still be believing the lies of Satan and have not yet recognized they are sinners in need of a Saviour.  We must not give up praying for them to come to a saving faith in Christ Jesus and ask God to work in their hearts and lives to draw them to His Son, whatever it takes.  We want them regenerated and in heaven with us!

~Annie~

Psalm 119: 113-120

Psalm 119 is called the Alphabet of Divine Love, the Paradise of all Doctrines, the Storehouse of the Holy Spirit, and the School of Truth.

 

The Theme of Psalm 119
is
The Word of God

113.  I hate the double-minded, but I love Your law.

114.  Your are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your Word.

115.  Depart from me, you evildoers, for I will keep the commandments of my

         God!

116.  Uphold me according to Your Word, that I may live; and do not let me be

         ashamed of my hope.

117.  Hold me up, and I shall be safe, and I shall observe Your statutes

         continually.

118.  You reject all those who stray from Your statutes, for their deceit is

         falsehood.

119.  You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross; therefore I love Your

         testimonies.

120.  My flesh trembles for fear of You, and I am afraid of Your judgments.

113-120.  God is twice implored to uphold His servant (vv. 116,117).  The destruction of those who make light of God's law or encourage skepticism regarding it may be compared to the fate of the Philistine lords, on whom Samson brought down the temple where they were celebrating, by overthrowing the pillars that supported it (Judges 16 25-30). 
(James Neale and R.F. Littledale, 1879)

113.  In this paragraph the psalmist deals with thoughts and things and persons that are the opposite of God's holy thoughts and ways.  Evidently, he is in great fear of the power of darkness.  But his soul is stirred to stand against them with determined opposition.  Just as he began and earlier octave, "Oh, how I love Your Law!" (v.97), he begins this section with a declaration of hatred against what breaks the Law.  The opposite of the fixed and infallible Law of God is the wavering, changing opinion of people.  David had total contempt and abhorrence for the double-minded.  All his reverence and regard went to the sure Word of testimony.  In proportion to his love for the Law, was his hate of people's inventions.  Human thoughts are worthless, but God's thoughts are true.  We hear much about "people of thought," "thoughtful preachers," and "modern, or post modern thought."  What is this but the old pride of the human heart?  Vain man wants to be wise.  The psalmist did not glory in his own thoughts.

Too many of our thoughts are double-minded and worthless in the sense of being sinful, evil, and foolish.  The psalmist is not indifferent to evil thoughts.  He looks on them with a hate as true as the love with which he clung to God's pure thoughts.

The previous octave was practical; this octave is thoughtful. There, the man of God watched his feet; here, he watches his heart.  The emotions of the soul are as important as the actions of life, for they are the fountain and spring from which the actions proceed.  When we love the law it becomes a law of love, and we cling to it with all our hearts.

I hate the double-minded.  Vain thoughts come as unwelcomed guests, which, as soon as they are discovered, are turned out of door.              (Thomas Watson, 1600)

114.  You are my hiding place and my shield.  David ran to God for shelter from the double-minded.  There, he hid from their tormenting intrusions and solemn silence of soul, he found God to be his hiding place.  When called into the world, if David could not be alone with God as his hiding place, he knew that the Lord would be with him as his shield, to ward of the attacks of the wicked suggestions.  This is an experiential verse; it testifies to the writer's personal knowledge.  He could not fight his own thoughts, or escape them, until he flew to God, and then he found deliverance.  David ascribes that hiding place and shield to God.

I hope in Your Word.  And well he might, since he had tried and proven it.  David looked for protection from all danger and for preservation from all temptation to Him who had been the tower of his defense.  It is easier to exercise hope where we have previously received help.  God's Word always gives objects of hope and reasons for hope.  His Word becomes the sphere and support of hope, and gloomy or tiresome thoughts are overcome.  Hope of heaven is an effective rest amid fret and worry.

Hope is the sweetest balm that soothes our sorrows, the brightest beam that gilds our pleasures.  Without hope no one can truly be happy.

(William Grant, 1814-1876)

115.  Depart from me, you evil doers.  Those who make a conscience of their thoughts are not likely to tolerate evil company.  If we fly to God from vain thoughts, much more will we avoid vain persons.  Kings are all too apt to be surrounded by people who flatter them and break God's laws. David purged his palace of such parasites. He would not harbour them under his roof.  The king sent them packing with the words, "Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:23).


For I will keep the commandments of my God!  Since David found it hard to keep the commandments in the company of the ungodly, he gave them their marching orders.  He must keep the commandments, but he did not need to keep their company.    Because Jehovah is our God, we resolve to obey Him and chase from sight those who would hinder us in His service.  It is a grand thing for the mind to come to a point and be steadfastly fixed in holy determination.


116.  Uphold me according to Your Word that I may live.  It was so necessary for the Lord to uphold His servant that David could not live without it. Our souls would die is the Lord did not continually sustain them.  Every grace that makes spiritual life true life would decay if He withdrew His upholding hand.  It is a sweet comfort that this great necessity of upholding is provided in the Word.  We do not have to ask for it as for an uncovenanted mercy; we simply need to plead for the fulfillment of the promise, uphold me according to Your Word.  He who has given us eternal life has in that gift secured for us all that is essential.  And since gracious upholding is one of the necessary things, we may be sure that we have it.


And do not let me be ashamed.  David spoke of his hope as founded on the Word (v.114).  Now he begs for the fulfillment of the Word to justify his hope in the sight of all.  We would be ashamed of our hope if it were not based on a sure foundation, but this will never happen in our case.  We may be ashamed of our words, thoughts, and deeds, for they spring from us, but we never will be ashamed of our hope, for that springs from the Lord our God.  This is the frailty of our nature.  Unless we are continuously held up by grace, we will fall so badly as to be ashamed of ourselves and ashamed of the glorious hopes that are the crown and glory of our life.  Even though the man of God had spoken the most positive resolutions, he still felt that he could not trust his solemn determination. Hence his prayers.  It is not wrong to make resolutions but it will be useless unless we season them well with believing cries to God.  David meant to keep the law of the Lord, but he first needed the Lord of the law to keep him.


The life of God's children is the death of sin; where sin is alive, that part is dead to God.  When God's children find themselves dull or slow to good things, or when they can not rejoice in the promises of God or find their souls delighted with God's law, they consider themselves to be dead.                            (Richard Greenham, 1537-1591).


117.  Hold me up and I shall be safe.  Unless You hold me up I will fall.  We are saved by past grace, but we are not safe unless we receive present grace.  The psalmist vowed to keep the Lords commands, but here he pleads with the Lord to keep him---a sensible course of procedure.  We need this blessing, for in every way our adversaries seek to cast us down.  To be safe is a happy condition and that door is through Jesus, and held open by God, Himself to the least of us. 


And I shall observe Your statutes continually.  In obedience is safety, and in being held up is obedience.  No one will outwardly keep the Lord's statutes for long, unless they have an inward reverence and respect for them, and this will never happen unless the Lord's hand perpetually upholds the heart in holy love.  Perseverance to the end (continuous obedience) comes only through the divine power of he Holy Spirit.  We veer off like a faulty bow unless we are kept right by Him who first gave us grace.  Happy are they who realize this verse in life.  Upheld through life in a course of unswerving integrity, they become safe and trusted as they maintain a sacred delicacy of conscience unknown to others.  They feel a tender respect and reverence for the Lord's statutes, which keep them clear of the inconsistencies and conformities to the world that are so common in others. Thus, they are pillars in the house of the Lord.


Hold me up and I shall  be safe.  Conscious of my weakness and the danger of the slippery path before me, I am reminded that the safety of every moment depends on the upholding power of the Holy Spirit...my God.  The ways of temptation are many and imperceptible---their unspeakable---that I can do nothing but go my way, praying at every step, hold me up and I shall be safe.
(Charles Bridges, 1794-1869)


118.  You reject all those who stray from Your statutes.  There is no holding up for them.  They are thrown down and trodden underfoot because they choose to wander in the way of sin.  Sooner or later, God will set His foot on those who turn their foot from His commands; this has always been and will always be until the end.  "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is the good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."  (Matt.5:13).  God puts the wicked away like dross.  They are fit only to be thrown out, as road metal is to be walked on.


For their deceit is falsehood.  They call it far-seeing policy, but it is an absolute falsehood, and it shall be treated as such.  People call it clever diplomacy, but the man of God calls a spade a spade and declares it to be nothing less then a falsehood.  He knows that their deceit is a falsehood in the sight of God.  People who stray from the right road invent pretty excuses to deceive themselves and thereby quiet their consciences and maintain their credits.  But their mask of falsehood is too transparent.  God rejects falsehoods, which are only fit to be crushed into the dust by His feet.


119.  You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross.  God does not trifle with the wicked or handle them with kid gloves.  He judges them to be the scum of the earth and puts the wicked away from His church, away from their honors, away from the earth, and away from Himself.  He says, "Depart from me, you cursed" (Matt. 25:41).  If a good person feels forced to put away evil doers, how much more will the thrice holy God put away the wicked?  They looked like precious metal, they were intimately mixed with it, and they were laid up in the same pile.  But the Lord is a refiner and everyday He removes some of the wicked from among His people, either by making a shameful discovery of their hypocrisy or by consuming them from the earth.  They are put away as dross never to be recalled.  As metal is improved by losing its alloy, the church is better for having the wicked removed. 


The wicked of the earth.  The wicked ones have no right to be with those who are not of the world.  The Lord perceives them to be out of place and harmful.  He puts them away, all of them, leaving none of them to deteriorate His church. The process will one day be perfect, no dross will be spared, no gold will be left impure. Where will we be when that great work is finished? 


Therefore I love Your testimonies.  Even the Lord's severity stimulates His people's love.  If God allowed us to sin with impunity, He would not fully be the object of our love of our admiration.  God is glorious in holiness because He rids his kingdom of rebels that defile it.  In the evil days, when God's punishment of sinners has become the butt of skeptical contentions, the mark of a true saint is that he loves the Lord a great deal more because of His merited judgment of the ungodly.


120.  My flesh trembles for fear of You and I am afraid of Your judgments.  God's words of judgment are solemn, and His deeds of judgment are terrible; they may well make us afraid.  At the thought of the Judge of all, His piercing eye, His books of record, His day of court, and the operations of His justice, we may well cry for cleansed thoughts, hearts, and ways, lest His judgments fall on us.  When we see the great Refiner separating the precious from the vile, we may well feel a godly fear, lest we be put away by Him and ground under His feet. 


Love in the previous verse is consistent with fear in this verse.  "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18).  Fear with torment is cast out, but affectionate fear leads to reverence and obedience.

Commentary taken from Treasury of David...Charles Spurgeon

113. In this paragraph the psalmist deals with thoughts and things and persons that are the opposite of God's holy thoughts and ways. Evidently, he is in great fear of the power of darkness. But his soul is stirred to stand against them with determined opposition. Just as he began and earlier octave, "Oh, how I love Your Law!" (v.97), he begins this section with a declaration of hatred against what breaks the Law. The opposite of the fixed and infallible Law of God is the wavering, changing opinion of people. David had total contempt and abhorrence for the double-minded. All his reverence and regard went to the sure Word of testimony. In proportion to his love for the Law, was his hate of people's inventions. Human thoughts are worthless, but God's thoughts are true. We hear much about "people of thought," "thoughtful preachers," and "modern, or post modern thought." What is this but the old pride of the human heart? Vain man wants to be wise. The psalmist did not glory in his own thoughts.

My thoughts on verse 113...


Today we have so many different religions, so many different versions of the gospel which according to Paul are no gospel at all..and should be accursed (Gal. 1:6-9).  We have theologians who want to remove parts of the Bible which have to do with the Gospel message. They want to remove the story of Adam and Eve.  Without the first Adam in Genesis, they remove all Adam's imputed sin to us.  Without the first Adam, how would the last Adam fit in Romans? You know, the One who paid the penalty for Adam's imputed sin to us, and our own sin, and imputed His righteousness to us in its place, by shedding His blood on a cruel cross.  I heard they want to remove the resurrection of Jesus, as well.  Without the resurrection, we have no hope.  If Jesus didn't rise again, we will all die in our sins.  How many souls are being deceived by these blinded religious leaders? All people need to get familiar with their Bibles so they don't fall for this deception that is in the works. 

We not only have the new emergents, we also have the "Let's all be united" Chrislam, and all religions united together.  It seems to me, God was against His people having alliances with, and worshipping with other religions.  This does not mean we don't love the people who are caught up in them, as everyone else, and pray for their souls, it just means we do not worship as they do, or who they do. We do not mix Christianity with "any" other religion.  The Bible says what has light to do with darkness?  When Jesus prayed that we might be one in unity, He was praying for all the born-again Christians,  not for mixing of all religions.  How are so many theologians blind to that???

~Annie~