Today we’re going to look at Psalm 119:17-24.
Open your Bible and let’s pray:
“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

Verse 17
“Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.” 
The psalmist begins this section by asking for a generous outpouring of blessing from God. Sometimes we forget that we are invited to “approach the throne of grace with boldness” (Heb. 4:13). But there’s more to it than marching up to God and demanding what we want. David asked with humility. He acknowledged that he was the servant, so he made his request with respect and reverence. Also, he wasn’t after a blessing so he could kick back and relax by the pool. He asked for God’s bounty so that he could live a long life of obedience that glorified the Lord.

Verse 18
“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” 
This is a verse that should be on our lips whenever we open the Bible to study. Here is the result of God’s bounty — eyes to see wonders in the Word. The word “wondrous” means “great” or “difficult”. Raise your hand if you think there are some difficult passages in the Bible. (*Raising my hand high.) “The reason we do not understand the Bible is not primarily that we lack the necessary intelligence. The reason is that we are sinners, and we need God to open our eyes.” (Christopher Ash) Instead of saying, “Why didn’t God make things clearer in the Bible?” we should pray, “Open my eyes so I can see it clearly.” There are wonders in there and the Holy Spirit will illuminate them if we ask. 

Isn’t it interesting that David thought of the law as “wondrous”? The only scripture he had was the Torah — the first five books of the Bible. We’re talking Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy here, folks. Genesis and Exodus have some exciting accounts, but still — what if that was the only Bible you had? Imagine a Bible without “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…” (Prov. 3:5), or “His mercies are new every morning…” (Lam.3:23), or “soar on wings like eagles…” (Isa. 40:31). The Psalms hadn’t been completed or compiled yet and the New Testament was centuries away from being written. “David felt sure that there were glorious things in the law; he had not half the Bible we do, but he prized it more than some men prize the whole.” (Spurgeon)

Verse 19
“I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!”
Do you ever feel like you don’t fit in? Good! Earth is our temporary home — we’re not supposed to act like this is all there is. Even David, with his palaces and power and prosperity knew he was just passing through, which was another reason to store up eternal truth.

Verse 20
“My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.”
Is your soul ever consumed with longing? Do you ever feel like you’re wasting away with desire? For rules? At all times? David certainly had an emotional connection with God’s Word. We (okay, I) tend to approach the Bible studiously by looking up definitions, original language and commentaries. If I’m not careful, I can easily slide into an academic exercise that results in head knowledge. After spending time in study, it’s important for me to look over what I’ve learned and pray it back to God. As I put the facts into my own words and talk them over with God, they make their way into my heart.

Verse 21
“You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments.”
So far, this psalm has had two leading characters: the psalmist and God. Now we’re introduced to another group: adversaries who disregarded God and made David’s life miserable. This crowd defied God’s commands and they were proud of it. Instead of entering into a debate or calling them out publicly, David left the rebuking to God. He understood that his antagonists wandered far from God’s truth, so he didn’t expect them to act like believers.

Verse 22
“Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies.”
Things were bad enough that David asked for relief from the public rancor directed at him. Even three thousand years ago, people in positions of leadership had to deal with disrespect and derision. Again, David didn’t go on the offensive and shoot back a vitriol response to his opponents. He went to the Lord with his complaint: “Here I am, doing my best to obey your laws and still, I’m being attacked. What is up? It’s not fair!” (To which I say, “The fair comes to town once a year and the rest of the year it’s just not fair.”)

Verse 23
“Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.”
Other prominent leaders were dragging David’s name through the mud with lies and false accusations. How did David respond? By keeping his mouth shut and keeping his mind on God’s truth. The pressure he felt on the outside made him press in closer to God, even though his request did not get him an immediate answer.

“The best way to deal with slander is to pray about it: God will either remove it or remove the sting from it. When we suffer from a libel it is better to pray about it than go to law over it, or even to demand an apology from the inventor. O ye who are reproached, take your matters before the highest court, and leave them with the Judge of all the earth.” (Spurgeon)

Verse 24
“Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.”
In the midst of that kind of turmoil, David still found pleasure in the Torah. He promised to delight in the Lord’s statutes back in verse 16, and now he’s making good on that promise. The words of God helped him emotionally (my delight) and practically (my counselors).

Things I know for sure from this passage:

• There is no end to the wondrous treasure that is in the Bible. When we think we know all there is to know about a passage, there’s still more to uncover.
• We don’t need God to give us more benefits as much as we need eyes to see what He has already given.
• Going through times of trouble can serve to draw us closer to the Lord.
• Instead of rescuing us from all our troubles, God often gives us a new perspective.
• This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through.

Next: Gimel

Today we’re going to dive into Psalm 119:9-16. Go get your Bible!

Some scholars believe that David wrote this long psalm bit by bit, over the course of his lifetime. In the first section, he saw that there was blessing for those who walked in the ways of the Lord. Perhaps he was looking up to older men who modeled a walk with God. He stated his willingness to learn and his desire to be steadfast. In the second installment, David started by asking a really good question.

Verse 9
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.”
“How can a young man keep his way pure?” Kudos to David for even asking this question. Not many young people contemplate purity. It seems he knew the answer to his own question: “By guarding it according to your word.” David understood that he had to guard his way and his only hope of succeeding was to live by the Word. The word “guard” means “to hedge about, to surround, to protect or be careful about”.
So, there are things we need to keep guarded, like our thoughts and emotions. And there are things we need to guard against, like worldly influence and temptation. The Word has the power to do both. But it takes intention. “The narrow way was never hit upon by chance.” (Spurgeon)

Verse 10
“With my whole heart I seek you, let me not wander from your commandments!”
Sometimes we believers get mixed up about what to seek. We attempt to try to live according to a checklist of virtuous behaviors. We set out to be good, seeking some kind of perfection through self-righteousness. David knew he had to set his whole heart on seeking God, not just obedience to His laws, because half-heartedness would result in straying from the Lord. David made it his priority to seek God in the place where He could be found — in the Word.
How do we wander? 1) By neglecting prayer, Bible reading, and corporate worship; 2) By chasing after frivolous entertainment; 3) By indulging in careless thoughts and temptations. The shocking reality is, if we’re not actively seeking God, then we’re wandering from God. We don’t have time to be wanderers.

Verse 11
“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
David may have been young, but he had been taught well. Young Jewish boys memorized large portions of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), so he had a rich storehouse from which to draw. Notice David didn’t say “I should store up” or “Someday I’ll try to store up”. Nope, he already did, and that was going to help him keep his way pure.

Verse 12
“Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!”
Even though he had stored up the words, David needed instruction to be able to understand and follow through on the commands. Simply knowing the law wasn’t enough. He had to learn to love it and live by it.
Ten more times in this long song David asked God to teach him, indicating that he never felt like he knew it all, even as he got older. He stayed teachable.

Verse 13
“With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.”
You don’t have to ask me twice to tell you about my grandchildren. Get me started and I will bubble over with delight as I talk about them. We tend to talk the most about the things that are most important to us. For David, that topic was God’s law. It wasn’t something he just thought about — he talked about it. Out loud. With his lips. Our love for God and His Word should be spoken of in a way that attracts others. You’ve probably heard the quote, “Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.” Well, I’m sorry folks, but words are necessary. If the Lord is important to us, we won’t be embarrassed to talk about Him.

Verse 14
“In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.”
The Bible wasn’t boring to David. It was something he enjoyed with great pleasure. He thought of it as hidden treasure just waiting to be dug up. David wouldn’t trade the richness of God’s Word for a whole pile of money.
Jewish rabbis call Psalm 119 “a love song to Torah” and they actually kiss the scrolls of scripture before and after each reading in the synagogue. “When a human being kisses a leather bound sheaf of paper, the loving essence of the gesture penetrates into the realm of the non-material. The kiss reaches deep, beyond paper and ink, into the meaning of the words in the Torah… The Torah is, so to speak, the lips of God.” (Dr.Michael Chighel)

Verse 15
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.”
David concluded this stanza with another set of “I will” statements. Biblical meditation is nothing like the eastern religion type that sits in silence, empties the brain and hums “om”. The word “meditate” means “to converse with yourself out loud; to murmur or mumble to oneself.” If memorizing scripture is like eating it, then meditating is like digesting it, with the goal of internalizing it and letting it transform us from the inside out. “Our hearts are naturally cold, but meditation makes them hot, causing them to boil with love for God and His word.” (J. Stephen Yuille) Meditation increases the pleasure of reading and studying God’s Word and helps us keep our eyes fixed on His ways.

Verse 16
“I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”
Some versions say, “I will not neglect your word.” Ouch. Neglect: to pay no attention or too little attention to; disregard or slight through indifference or carelessness. Let’s commit, along with the psalmist, to give the Word our full attention instead of being haphazard, hit-or-miss, or slipshod.
“Men do not readily forget that which they have treasured up (v. 11), that which they have meditated on (v. 15), and that which they have often spoken of (v. 13).” (Spurgeon)

What do we know for sure from this passage?

• What we store up in our hearts is going to make its way to our lips.
• If we don’t take seriously the need to guard our way, we might wander away.
• There is power in the spoken Word, whether it’s to others or ourselves.
• God and His Word are delightful.
• We’re never too old to learn to walk in His ways, but there’s a great advantage in starting young.

What do you think?

Next: Bet