Heth - Psalm 119:57-64 Series

HETH

December 07, 2011

Oak Park Baptist Church – Wednesday Bible Study Series

Psalm 119:57-64 (ESV) – 8 of 22

As we read these eight verses I want us to see an underlying current in the attitude and mindset of the psalmist. Now understand that this theme or undercurrent does not simply appear in these 8 verses, but it has been constant throughout the chapter… I am simply pointing it out once again to you…

Look at the END of each of these 8 verses… let’s read what it says:

57 - …promise to keep YOUR WORDS – Hebrew – Dabar - utterances

58 - …according to YOUR PROMISE – Hebrew – Im-rah’ – Word of God

59 - …to YOUR TESTIMONIES – Hebrew – Eh-dah’ – God’s divine law

60 - …keep YOUR COMMANDMENTS – Hebrew – Mitz-vah – general command from God

61 - …not forget YOUR LAW – Hebrew – Tor-ah – Divine instruction

62 - …because of YOUR RIGHTEOUS RULES – Hebrew – Divine procedure

63 - …keep YOUR PRECEPTS – Hebrew – Pick-ood – God’s statutes/Law

64 - …teach me YOUR STATUTES – Hebrew ¬– khoke’ – prescribed by God

In everyone of these verses the psalmist prefaces the law or commandment or instruction with an owner… the owner and administrator of this law or instruction is described with the personal pronoun of YOUR… with every word that describes these prescriptions for the people, the originator is God.

This reveals to us two very important basics when reading this chapter…

The psalmist understood from WHOM the Law comes… the originator of the Law he revered was the Creator God of the Universe.

The psalmist reveals in his understanding of this law that he held a personal relationship with the creator of these laws… who is the Creator of all things… this was personal for the psalmist!

How can this affect us today? How does this apply to our lives? Well we too must understand that the Law of God… now found through Christ Jesus is a direct Law from the Creator of the Universe… it comes from God.

John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” Jesus Christ was God’s gift to the world… and we must realize that Jesus Christ was, and still is, the Word incarnate! Jesus was and is God’s WORD… to His creation!

Also we must realize and accept that Jesus Christ is our PERSONAL Lord and Savior. We all must come to Christ in a personal manner… no one else can be obedient for us… no one else can take our place in surrendering to Christ! We must do this on our own… and Jesus has promised to be a personal Savior!

This does not mean that our lives and Christianity is lived out in a personal and private manner… it is designed to be lived out and expressed in the community of faith…

Scripture tells us that ‘iron sharpens iron’ which gives us the basic premise that we are here FOR each other and to help each other in our spiritual maturity… we are NOT an island!

So the psalmist understood that God was the author of this law and that God’s law was something that was PERSONAL to him… Now with that premise locked in our heads, let’s look at our passage to see what he is saying in these 8 verses.

57The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep Your words.

Here we see the personal nature of the psalmist’s understanding put forth… he says, “…the Lord is MY portion…” this does not lay claim to God as ONLY his… but that God is personal to him, and gives the implication that God is personal with whomever will trust in Him.

With his understanding the God was personal to him, the psalmist then takes a step of personal responsibility on his part when he makes the statement, “…I promise to keep Your words…” Here he is obligating himself to obedience to the God whom has personally taken him under His wing and has given him the Law to guide his life.

The Hebrew word for portion here is khay-lek which can mean a share of, or owning territory within… in other words what the psalmist is sharing here is that he has a portion in God’s kingdom…

God has included him and has given him this portion. He goes onto to then issue a promise based on that portion he has been granted… that promise is to be obedient and to follow the law of God.

How does this apply to us… it should be obvious to the believer… we have portion in the kingdom of Heaven because of Jesus Christ… In Him we have forgiveness of sin, redemption from the fall, and eternal life…