119 - Pt. 3
I. Introduction
It is long. It is lengthy. It is passed over by those who prefer brevity. It is neglected by those who prefer short and sweet. It is shunned by the Reader's Digest crowd. However, in its great length is also has great depth. Multifaceted. It is rich. It is worth the time it takes to explore. It is the 119. It is the longest chapter in the entire Bible. And before we dig into it, it is important to understand some background. It is comprised of 22 stanzas each being 8 verses long and each verse is two lines long. Each stanza sequentially begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So there was structure to David's verbosity. He wasn't just shooting off at the mouth. This is thought out and developed. In fact, there is a tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church that King David used this psalm to teach his son Solomon both the Hebrew alphabet and the “alphabet of the spiritual life.”
When we started I mentioned that the 119 has at least 3 major themes that run throughout its landscape. The first that we dug into was David's emphasis on the Word. He teaches us that without the Word you can't walk, weather, or war. The Word is absolutely essential and if you have a deficiency of Word you will stumble, surrender and find yourself surrounded. Then last week we dealt with David's instructions on prayer. So I am praying that you have been praying the 3 prayers he said to pray. Teach me! Has He taught you anything this week? Bless me! I don't need to ask you if prayed that because we all have no problem praying that. Protect me! I need God to watch over me and protect me from me and my enemy! I don't want to squander my blessing so I need knowledge and protection!
Just as pervasive as God's Word and prayer is in 119 there is one final theme that I can see so clearly. This shouldn't surprise us since we know who the author is. However, just because he is known for this teaching doesn't diminish the incredible insight and instruction he is able to give us. If anything the fact that he is known for this teaching should cause us to sit up and listen closer. The 3rd major theme that the Psalmist . . . the worshipper . . . the singer/song writer/harpist dealt with was praise! David can't help himself if he is in fact teaching his son what is important in life, then he has to deal with praise!
Let's dive in and see what David says about praise. I must warn you that although we normally like what David has to say about praise . . . with my whole heart, I sing your praise, with my lips, etc. . . in the 119 his teaching on praise is hard to handle and have an edge to them that may hurt a little before they help!
In the 119 David deals directly with:
A. The "when" of our praise!
Psalms 119:61-62
Though the wicked bind me with ropes, I will not forget your law. At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws.
The wicked hemmed me in—there was no way out—but not for a minute did I forget your plan for me.
David is saying I am bound with ropes, I am surrounded by midnight but I know that deep praise comes from and is perfected/purified by deep pain. Praise in spite of requires a deep understanding that my praise and His worthiness is not and cannot be based on my physical, current, natural surroundings.
Midnight is the darkest time; it is in the middle of the night. Midnight is PM and AM all at the same time. In other words he says he is intentionally praising right in the middle of things . . . in between bad and good . . . in between the moment when the sun set and when it will rise again. I praise you if my sun is setting. I praise you if I see light coming. Some of us are waiting to praise until we see change. Some of us quit praising when we see the sun going down. We see a job coming to an end and we pout rather than praise. We see a relationship crumbling and we allow hands that were raised begin to wring in worry.
David was like forget that! In between. I can't tell if it is the end of a thing or the beginning of a thing. I can't tell if we have changed from night to day but I am going to choose to praise. We can watch some of you and tell that you think the sun is setting! You used to worship when we worshipped but now you facebook. You used to dance while everyone else stood and stared. We can watch others of you and tell that you are seeing light. Cause you used to be the one facebooking and staring but now you are shouting and spinning! I get it but David is trying to teach us that that is surface level praise. That is immature praise. I want us to be a group of people who praise regardless of what season we may be in. I am looking for us to be a church of "in between" praisers. You can't tell if my world is falling apart or if everything I touch is turning to gold because my praise really isn't about me it is about HIM! I am not telling you to fake it . . . I am just saying that we have to put the focus where it belongs and darkness doesn't diminish His light. And good days don't cause me to overlook or take for granted His goodness! Do I have anybody that can praise Him in the middle of the night? We want to hold onto our praise until we experience freedom. We want to withhold our praise until we see daybreak! We want to praise once things change . . . but what are you going to do if you are just in the middle of things? David says praise!
Then David continues to address the "when" of our praise when he says in Psalm 119:164 - Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws.
I would submit to you that our ratio is so out of whack that our lives end up following suit. David's ratio was 7 to 1. I will praise you 7 times every day. My daily life is broken into praise breaks. Time set apart and aside for worshipping you and thinking on your goodness. David was 7 to 1 and we have altered the ratio to 1 to 7. Every 7 days we stop to acknowledge Him and then only because there is someone designated to lead us into His presence. David preached worship as a lifestyle and we practice worship as an event on our schedule and even that is optional at best!
b. The "Why" of our praise.
Psalms 119:171, 175
171 - May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees.
175 - Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me.
David deals with the why of our worship! Why do we worship? It is an overflow of my life. I don't worship because I am told to worship, led in worship, it is an overflow of who I am. In fact, I am alive to worship!
Overflow ... Results from bring full of praise. Praise will never overflow if your mouth is never filling up with praise. It isn't an addition it must become full of praise. Otherwise other stuff overflows. You will live life from the overflow. What is in you will come out of you. You can't help it.
Let me live that I may praise you . . . we sing “To worship you I live!” but we live like praise is an afterthought. My mouth must continually be filled with praise. What do you live for? Honestly. To praise? If so, why does that come last for most of us? If you are living for something it consumes you. Let me live so I can succeed. Let me live so I can excel, accumulate, be happy. No! David says let me live so I can praise. If our only reason to be alive is to praise that means that if we are not praising we are forfeiting the very reason to live or settling for existence or for something else that cannot bring fulfillment and purpose!
We praise because we were created to worship. You will worship something and if you don't fill your life to overflow with worship for God you will worship His creation. You will worship things. You will worship a car. You will worship a hobby.
c. The "How" of our praise.
Psalms 119:108
108 - Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws.
Willing praise, not worked up, not half hearted. It shouldn't be like pulling eye teeth. I marvel at the Herculean effort our worship team has to give week after week to get some of us to worship. Well they are too loud, they haven't sung my song, and they take too long. What does that have to do with your praise and His worthiness? David said willing praise! But it is like we have to remind you of everything He has done, every attribute He has (faithful, gracious, generous, steadfast, kind, merciful) and then about 4 attributes in you get going! David is saying be a willing praiser. Truth is a willing praiser would be going before we get in here so that when the first note is struck, like the note struck or not, we willingly praise.
We have made praise about preference instead of reference or reverence. If praise was based on reference we would be willing praisers because our reference is His worthiness. If our praise was based on reverence then we would understand that when two or three are gathered God is in our midst and so knowing He is here we wouldn't dare go through the motions, distract or be distracted, mark time or anything else we would worship. But we have gone from willing worshippers to fleshly worshippers so if our preference isn't met we are unwilling to praise. Not my style . . . unwilling. Not my speed . . . unwilling. Not my song . . . unwilling. Not my length . . . unwilling. Not my leader . . . unwilling! Had a bad day . . . well we already dealt with the when and the why so we can't make that argument anymore! It shouldn't matter how we feel we should praise constantly and consistently and we are created to do this so I am willing!
David says we are to offer up the willing praise. Not coerced or forced. Not emotional game . . . willing. Don't you dare make our worship team work so hard. Don't you dare let them worship as a substitute or stand in for you. No! May we learn to walk in here and live our life as willing praisers. I am praying the day is coming when you begin to scare our worship team a little bit. You begin to lead them in worship. They begin to question if they are even needed! Willing worshipers. Are you willing this morning?
