Daleth - Psalm 119:25-32 Series

Daleth

November 2, 2011

Oak Park Baptist Church – Wednesday Bible Study Series

Psalm 119:25-32 (ESV) – 4 of 22

25My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!

Our life is destined for death, our mortality is on our minds and we find our very soul clinging to or being pressed hard from all angles by death… and it can lead us into a great depression and a life of depression… God lift me out of this depressed state THRU your word!

The psalmist is depressed and down and this is a complaint, but what is he complaining over when he says ‘My soul clings to the dust…’? When we look at this we can see 2 possibilities…

First, is it his soul clings that which is sinful… is he lamenting his sinful nature and baser desires in light of God’s word and God’s law? Is he realizing his hopelessness in doing right? OR

Second, is he down and out about his situation, about those who oppress him, about his affliction in life, about how life presses down from all angles and it seems as if the weight of the world is on his shoulders driving him INTO the dust of the earth…

Either approach is valid, and it could even be that some of both of these aspects are present here in the psalmists heart as he cries out to God. But what we find is that he is NOT dwelling in these thoughts, but understands where he needs to go for deliverance! Look what he says in the final part of this verse!

“Give me life according to YOUR word!” The psalmist cries out to God for deliverance from this despair and anxiety in his heart. He calls on God to lift him out of this depression. The psalmist knows and understands that the Word of God can and will quicken our spirit and lift us up as it is powerful unto deliverance!

Likewise, for us… when we feel as if we have stumbled and fell and that we are UNWORTHY and the enemy has us convinced that we are of NO worth to God and that we are hopeless… we can find ourselves in a deep depression and great despair, but God’s word can and will deliver us from that place…

When we are in that state of despair, our heart and mind wants to focus on the despair and depression, but God’s word brings our focus BACK to where it needs to be… BACK on Him and His calling on our lives!

26When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!

The phrase ‘…when I told of my ways…’ is a Hebrew phrase that speaks to a revelation and in this case it was a self-revelation. The word ‘told’ here is the Hebrew word ‘saw-fahr’ meaning to RECOUNT or to take account of… in other words the psalmist is saying when I sit and take count of my life, when I sit and think about how I have lived…

This is the first part of confession, taking a look at one’s life and how one lives their life. In any recovery program the one with the addiction or problem will NEVER turn around and start living right until they FIRST take account of who they are and what they have done…

Here the psalmist takes account of WHO he was, and then he shares a little further when he says, ‘…when I told of my ways, YOU ANSWERED ME…’ So the psalmist was saying, “when I was taking account of my life, God you came and spoke to me…”

How did God speak to the psalmist here? When we look at the context of this verse and of this entire chapter… I do not believe God spoke verbally to the psalmist… He did not answer him with an oral response BUT it was THRU HIS WORD that the psalmist heard God.

It is thru God’s Law that the psalmist’s sin is revealed and it is thru God’s Law that God speaks to his heart… Knowing this the psalmist wants MORE and MORE of God’s law within him, because the implication here is that he wants to serve God, so he cries out TEACH ME YOUR STATUTES!

The Hebrew word used here for teach is ‘law-mad’ and it represents an expert who trains others… The psalmist recognizes God’s holiness and God’s sovereignty in removing sin and he cries out for God to impart His law… instill within his heart a knowledge of that law so that he can know God more intimately.

27Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

‘Teach me your statutes! Make me understand the way of your precepts…’ Here the psalmist is crying out for God to teach him and he asks for God’s divine wisdom to be given him when he asks for God to ‘…make me understand…’ Please teach me and then MAKE me to understand it… the term for understand here is the Hebrew word ‘bene’ which means to fully comprehend and absorb… to perceive a thing from all aspects…