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…
The psalmist was asking for God’s divine intervention in revealing God’s law to his heart, but not to just reveal it to him, but help him… even MAKE him to understand and comprehend it so that he could live as he should!
The psalmist then moves on to state what he is willing to do… God will move in our lives but we cannot expect God to move within our lives if we are not willing to act accordingly in obedience!
Let me give you an example… one I believe we all can relate to… Let’s say you are a student and you are in a History class. You have been told by your professor that a test will be given on the last day of class. Let’s say that you are a believer and you believe in clean living and prayer and Bible study…
You go thru the class and you get to the last day of the class and as you are walking in you realize that you have not studied, you have not put any effort into knowing the material… but you pray God give me the answers and help me to pass this test… What do you think God is going to do?
The psalmist understands that active participation in obedience to God’s law is imperative to God moving in our lives and God working in our lives. So the psalmist says that he will meditate on God’s law… God’s word.
The Hebrew word used here is ‘see-ahk’ which means to study, or to ponder with an intense focus with the strict intention of retaining knowledge for a purpose. He is seeking to impart God’s word into his heart for the purpose of living the life God desires of him.
And the psalmist understands that when he is obedient and willing to submit to God and God’s law that God will do things beyond what he believes can be done…
WONDROUS here is the Hebrew word for something extraordinary, beyond human ability and the psalmist is going to understand God’s word and then sit back in awe of what God is going to do… but we need to understand that before the psalmist witnesses God’s WONDEROUS feats… he is obedient to God’s intimate law in his life!
28My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!
The psalmist is fully aware of his sinful condition before a holy and righteous God. Here he uses the phrase ‘…melts away…’ which is a Hebrew phrase that references water dripping or seeping… it is hard or even impossible to control. Here the psalmist knows that he cannot control his sin… he cannot control his human desire… and this brings sorrow to his heart!
The sorrow he mentions here is a sorrow of great heaviness, a tremendous burden of despair, pain and hopelessness that he is facing on his own… so he cries out once again to God! This sorrow is another evidence of his desire to confess his sin and be forgiven… he began his confession back in v.23, and here he takes it one step further… he has seen his sin, and now he is experiencing great sorrow OVER his sinful heart…
So, he cries out for God to strengthen him. The word he uses here is a word that means to rise up, to stand up in defiance… He is crying out to God for God to help him to rise up out of the sorrow and despair in which he sees himself. He knows that God can and will do this because of God’s word to him…
29Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!
I believe this to be where the psalmist is in the act of completing his confession of sin and here he is asking God to forgive him, and help him to not sin anymore…
‘…false ways…’ is a phrase that implies that within this man’s life there is deception, but not only deception but a lifestyle of deception that he is wanting to be rid of… Not only does his lifestyle deceive others but here this word also refers to a self-deception… a self deception that would lead him to believe everything is alright… everything is fine… that he is ok, but he is not for God’s word has revealed his sin to him and he is deep in depression and here he cries out for God to remove these false ways from his heart!
He cries out for God to teach him which actually means that God is going to show favor or graciously grant something… that something is the knowledge of God’s law for those He loves! Let me KNOW it, let me live it, let me be obedient IN it… is the cry of the psalmist here! God’s word is the catalyst to his repentant heart, and to his knowledge of God’s character!
30I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.
Here is another act of willful obedience on the part of the psalmist, which reflects to us today, that this act of obedience is necessary for God to work in our lives. He is NOT going to bless or guide those who are not willing to step out on faith…
The psalmist reflects his willing choice to live a life of faithfulness… a life that trusts in God and leans on God for guidance. Faith is a gift FROM God, but it is only effective if it is accompanied by our willing obedience. This is what James was speaking about in James 2:17 where he wrote: “…so also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead…”
James was telling us that faith without obedience is non-existent faith… it is dead! God provides us with faith, but he calls for our obedience to put that faith in action by our obedient choices and living. Here the psalmist reflects his willing CHOICE to live out his faith… a life of faithfulness… a life of faith revealed through his obedient choices to God’s law!
The word he uses here for a life of ‘faithfulness’ is the Hebrew word ‘emm-ooo-nah’ which means a steadfast or steady thing… or in the context of this verse it means a consistent fidelity to a way of life… that way of life is a fidelity to God’s Law… God’s words… and He has made the choice to do just that…
31I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame!
Now that he has confessed his sin and prayed for God to remove that sin and he had declared his willing choice to follow in the way or life of faithful obedience… The psalmist then makes a bold statement about his willingness to follow God! I will CLING to your word, your law, your commandments… YOUR testimonies!
Here this word he uses for cling or cleave is the Hebrew word ‘daw-bak’ which means that he will stick close to, that he will hold to tightly the Word of God for his life… for the living of his life… and he is trusting that because he has placed his ENTIRE life in God’s hands… based his entire existence on faith in God’s leading… that God would NOT let him down… that God would not abandon him… that he would not experience shame by God leaving him alone!
When I read this I thought about the great prophet Elijah and his confrontation with the 400 prophets of Baal. Elijah was fully obedient and was fully clinging to God’s law and his Word… and he was NOT put to shame!
However, those 400 prophets of Baal, they were NOT obedient to God, but placed their trust in a false idol and in the end the were humiliated by God’s action against them… humiliated and ultimately judged by God for intentional and willful disobedience against His law… starting with the 1st commandment “You shall have NO other gods before Me…”
When we live out our faith and cling to His word… we place God where He is supposed to be! He is first, He is primary… and we willingly submit in obedience to His sovereign nature over us and serve Him as our Lord. And here the psalmist knows that IF he does this… God will NOT shame him, but there is an implication here that God will honor him…
32I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!
God will honor him by strengthening his resolve to serve… in v.32 the psalmist speaks of RUNNING in the way of God’s law! Notice this is a far step away from where he has started! He is now RUNNING, not walking, not crawling… but RUNNING in the way of God’s commands!
We have to crawl before we walk and we have to walk before we run, but the object is to move forward, to grow, to mature and to do this we have to be obedient and allow God’s faith within us to grow and mature!
And the psalmist knows that when he IS obedient, when he DOES sell out to God that God is GOING to bless him… God is GOING to enlarge his heart! Enlarge his life, enlarge his sphere of influence… He cannot do this on his own and it is reflected in his use of the Hebrew word ‘rah-havv’ which means to be widened or to be enlarged (on the action of an outside force)… God will grow us, if we are obedient!
When we confess our sinful nature to God, he will forgive us… this is His promise in Christ Jesus on the Cross of Calvary! We can know complete redemption in Christ Jesus, but the faith he gives us in that redemptive process can only be put into play by our actions of submissive obedience to Him… We cannot grow in Christ unless we are willing to confess sin, and become actively obedient to His law/commands on our life… where are you today? PRAY!!
