Erling Thu

When discouraged and heavy thoughts creep into our soul.

Psalm 119,50 It is my comfort in my sufferings that your word gives me life.

Once again, we see how truthful David is when he talks about life. It's one of the things I like most when I read the Psalms. David and the other psalmists are so brutally real and honest in what they say. They do not hide their disappointments and difficulties. They depict bitter and bad feelings. They put words to dark and heavy thoughts. But they take us along to the jubilant high points in life when they celebrate God's salvation.

In this verse, David is in trouble and is having a hard time. From the context we understand that this misfortune is something his enemies have inflicted on him. His opponents have made life miserable for him. Problems pile up and he sees no visible solution. Everything is dark around him and he feels alone. He is in great distress. It is in such moments that discouragement and heavy thoughts creep into our souls. Then we need God's comfort, as David did.

David found comfort in God's word. The Word created faith and life. The Word gave him hope and refreshed him. I have experienced the same many times. When the pain has been great and the heavy thoughts have been painful to fight with, I have time and again found comfort and new courage in the Word. I do not live by bread alone, but every word from the mouth of God gives me life. God's Word is a source of life. In the middle of the darkness and the bad news, I find comfort in the fact that what he has promised has enabled me to live through the bad and come out on the other side, - alive in God's power and grace.

Prayer:

Lord, in all my trials and difficulties I find great comfort in your promises, because they keep me alive!

We build our hope on what God has promised.

The main theme of that section (Ps 119:49-56), which now takes up the Hebrew letter ZAYIN, is the comfort the psalmist finds in God's word when the culture he lives in mocks and persecutes those who believe in God's truths. He has full confidence that God will save him, because he rests in the Lord's law.

Psalm 119.49 Remember your word to your servant. Through it you have given me hope.

This section does not start unexpectedly with a prayer to the Lord. David has learned to pray. He knows that the Lord hears when he prays. In this stanza he reminds God of the promises he has received from the Lord: Remember the Word you have given your servant! Don't forget to do what you said! This is a very important lesson to learn.
Firstly, we must learn to absorb the Word so that it becomes personal to us. Or put another way, we must learn to hear God's voice when we read and base our thoughts on the words of the Bible. It is possible to read the Bible without hearing God's voice, without the Word speaking to us. We must avoid that at all costs.
I am completely convinced that the Bible is the word of God. Nevertheless, it can happen that I read my daily chapters without something coming alive for me, without something speaking to me. Then I have to stop. Then I must humbly ask the Lord for help to get hold of what he wants to tell me in what I have read. Then I read once more while praying that I notice something I can learn from what I read. As a rule, God hears that prayer and I see things I didn't notice the first time I read.
Many good promises in God's word have become my personal words from God. But of course I get words from the Lord in other ways also. It is the same how God's word comes to us, when we have received a promise from God, we must constantly remind God of what he has promised.
Note the next stanza: Through it you have given me hope! When God speaks to us, we gain hope. Through the Word we get something to hope for, something to look forward to. The promises of God create light in the dark. Words from God drive the dark and heavy thoughts away, because they create hope.
The good thing is that God is a faithful God. He keeps what he promises and does what he says he will do. It doesn't matter how difficult life can be, God will never leave us or let us go. When we remind God of what he has said, it also helps us. It helps us hold fast to the promises and to the hope. It helps us to fix our eyes on the faithful God who keeps what he promises. We build our hope on what God has promised.
Prayer:
Lord, don't forget the promises you have given me, because they are my hope and courage!

On Death and Resurrection in Christ

 

Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him.

Yesterday I died with Him; today I am made alive with Him.

Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him.

Yesterday I died with Him; today I am made alive with Him.

Yesterday I was buried with Him; today I am raised up with Him.

Let us offer to Him Who suffered and rose again for us . . . ourselves, the possession most precious to God and most proper.

Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us.

Let us become Divine for His sake, since for us He became Man.

He assumed the worse that He might give us the better.

He became poor that by His poverty we might become rich.

He accepted the form of a servant that we might win back our freedom.

He came down that we might be lifted up.

He was tempted that through Him we might conquer.

He was dishonored that He might glorify us.

He died that He might save us.

He ascended that He might draw to Himself us, who were thrown down through the fall of sin.

Let us give all, offer all, to Him who gave Himself a Ransom and Reconciliation for us.

We needed an incarnate God, a God put to death, that we might live.

We were put to death together with Him that we might be cleansed.

We rose again with Him because we were put to death with Him.

We were glorified with Him because we rose again with Him.

A few drops of Blood recreate the whole of creation!

—St Gregory the Theologian, Easter Orations

 

I want to lay hold on the word!

Psalm 119.48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.

It may be a little unclear as to David's intention to raise his hands towards God's commandments, but I think it's about raising his hands to grasp the word of God. He says he loves God and wants to reflect on God's precepts. That is why he wants to raise his hands to lay hold on the word of God and not let it go. He loves God and will meditate on the word to understand God's plan and will.

Passion and delight in the Word of God

Psalm 119.47 for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. 

I am so excited by the joy David finds in God's commandments. "I delight in your commandments." He finds joy and delight in God's law. In fact, it can be translated with: "I am entertaining me in your commands!" When many hear words like commandments, laws, rules, they respond negatively. Very many want to cast it in the sea and get rid of them, because they want to be free to follow their own sinful heart.

I will not be ashamed of the word of God or His good arrangements!

Psalm 119.46 I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, 

It is a bold David we meet in this words. But it is not wishful thinking he expresses. Before he was king, he was both bold and preached the word of God to King Ashish and Saul. After becoming king, he continued to speak to kings about God's testimony and law. He did not hide what he believed in and whom had his loyalty.

I want to live in complete freedom!

Psalm 119.45 and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.

When David has stated that he will always, at every moment, follow the law of God, he continues in this verse with a prayer to walk in an open landscape. I was born and raised in Jæren, at the south western coast of Norway, and I love open landscapes. At Jæren I can breathe freely. I am not created for trong fjords or valleys or deep forests. I have to have a view, preferably see water, to thrive. Tronge landscape depress me because I feel I'm trapped. For this reason, I have asked many times to get out into a wide and open place so that I can live and breathe freely.

I will keep your law continually

Psalm 119.44 I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, 

In trusting that God answers and shows his faithful love, David comes with a bold promise. "I will always keep your law!" These are strong words, but it is a attitude that the Lord reewards. David will forever live in accordance with the law of the Lord.

Courage to Say What God Says

Psalm 119:43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.

Here, David begs God not to take the word of truth out of his mouth. The Word of Truth is about God's faithful love and saving grace. If the Lord had not saved him, it would have meant that this word had been ripped out from his mouth, because it would no longer be true. The good thing is that God saves in accordance with His good and true word which is the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

I always want an answer to those who mock me!

Psalm 119,42 Then I can answer the scoffers, for I trust in your word.

This prayer is a close follow-up to what he asked for in the previous verse. There, David prayed that God's faithful love and his good salvation should come to him, as God had promised him. Now he tells God what he will do when he experiences God's mercy and works of grace.

May your gentle and faithful love overwhelm me

Waw is the Hebrew letter that the next eight verses start with. Very few Hebrew words start with this letter, but it is often used as a conjunction as "and". The theme of this section is trust in God.

ו

Psalm 119.41Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; 

Again David prays to Jehovah, the Lord, the Eternal I Am. He prays for two things, mercy and salvation. They are in some ways synonymous words in this context, because they are all about the same. When God shows mercy, we share in His salvation.

I long for your commandments!

 

Psalm 119,40 Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!

David has just talked about the scorn and disgrace he gets because he stuck to God's word. With that in mind, I think what he says is very strong: "I long for your precepts!" That is a powerful statement that we need to look more closely at.

Defend me against ridiculous and negative criticism!

Psalm 119.39 Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.

David prays for grace to be spared from the mockery and shame that comes from sticking to God's good laws. He is like us and obviously doesn't like to be looked down upon. He wants, as we all do, to be respected for who he is and for what he believes in. Unfortunately, he knows from bitter experience, that he is not always respected when he speaks the word of God.

Confirm your promises to me!

Psalm 119,38 Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.

This prayer shows us that David had learned to recdeive the Word of God. There was no longer any talk of commandments, laws or regulations. He has received the word to him into his heart. He has heard God through the Scriptures. He has read and meditated on God's Word in such a way that he has heard God's voice through what he has read and meditated on. We see that from what he says: "Your promise to your servant." God's word has become personal to him. This is one of the most important lessons we can learn, learning to hear from God as we read the Bible.

Turn my eyes away!

Psalm 119,37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. 

Our eyes are important. Our eyes are the door to the soul. What we see creates thoughts and can awaken all kinds of desires within us. We are strongly influenced by what we see. Unfortunately, we are not always as aware of this and look at things we should not have looked at. In our culture, we are bombarded with pictures of young and old that we could benefit being spared from. We are exposed to nudity and worse in many media. Pornography is easily accessible and captures many in its devastating web.

God, make me willing to obey!

Psalm 119.36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!

Again, David's prayer shows great insight into human nature. He knows himself so well that he asks for God's help. He knows that hearts and minds are a battle ground where strong forces fight for power. Therefore, he prays that God will stir the heart and bend it towards the word of God, that he may enjoy and delight to live after the testimonies of God. He prays, "God, make me willing to obey what you say! Make me want to stick to your law! ”

Lead me in the path of your commandments

Psalm 119,35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

In the previous verses, David prayed for insight and understanding. Now he asks for guidance. The words he uses in this prayer includes the meaning that God must guide him by bending his will. He prays that God must awaken his inner soul power to choose to do what God wants. This is somewhat similar to what Paul says: “For God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases him” (Phil. 2:13). We need to understand both the word of God and how to do what God wants. In order to do that, we depend on God working in us.

Understanding to observe the law

Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

I like the burning zeal David has to learn from God what man could not teach him. God has given all human beings a measure of intellectual capacity to think and learn, but here David teaches us that we can ask God to give us grace to use that ability to understand what tends to our peace. He asks to know how to keep God's law. He prays that the Lord must enlighten his mind to understand God's will.

We need wisdom and understanding to keep God's law. Therefore, we also find in the New Testament that the apostle Paul often prays that the Holy Spirit must give the believers enlightened eyes to understand and take possession of  our inheritance. He calls the Spirit the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. The Apostle John says: we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 5:20).

In this Psalm, David does not ask just for understanding to keep the word. He also prays for grace to observe God's law wholeheartedly. In Hebrew thinking, understanding and knowledge are not anything theoretical and intellectual, but are always linked to life. We only understand God's Word when we live it. If we do not live by the word of God, we have not understood it. If we truly understand who God is and what He says we should do, we would not dare or want to do something other than obey. When we have come to know God through Jesus Christ, we also have the urge to do His will.

There are some translations where this last sentence is not a prayer, but a promise: Truly, I shall observe it with my whole heart! There is no contradiction between its two ways of translating this sentence. Whenever we give a promise to God, we do it in prayer for grace to fulfil it. Whenever we commit ourselves to something for God, we do so in the belief that God will help us. Our prayer and promise go in the same direction. Both are turned to God. It is him we want to learn from. It is His will that we will do, and it is His grace that will help us. We pray wholeheartedly, and will gladly keep and observe His law of our whole heart.

"Give me an understanding heart, that I with burning zeal can know and obey your truth!"

Show me the meaning of your way

Psalm 119.33 marks a new section. All the next eight verses start with the Hebrew letter He. In these verses we find many prayers to understand God's path. These are prayers that God's people need to pray in our day.

Psalm 119.33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. 

"Lord, teach me!" This is how a disciple prays. Whoever is an apprentice says this to his master. "Teach me the profession. Teach me how to do it. Teach me to become a master who knows his subject, just like you! ” When David says, Lord teach me, it becomes too weak to compare it with the student asking his teacher for instruction. He had both priests, prophets, and wise counselors he could get help from, but he asked to be guided by God's counsel. For who is a teacher like him? (Job 36:22)

You make my heart great

Psalm 119, 32 I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart! 

With these words, David shows us his great zeal for the Lord. He is eager and full of fire. He has a burning desire to live according to God's commandments. "I hasten to obey your laws!" "I want to run in the way your commandments."

That's a fantastic attitude David is expressing here. May we all have the same willingness of heart and mind towards the Lord's commandments.

There is a wonderful reason for this prayer: "For you make my heart great!" Some thinks that this  it is about gaining more understanding in the word of God: "for you help me to understand the commandments right." If there is narrowness in our hearts and if we are restricted in our minds, we will not understand the word of God the right way. If we are one-sided and petty, the understanding of the Word will also be so. Then we become prisoners of the letter that kills and brings condemnation. Then we become legalistic and judgmental. Then we hang up in all sorts of details and small things, and tend to hit others in the head with strong opinions.