Psalms 119:129-143

Psalms 119:129. Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.

Every true believer admires God's Word; and, more than that, it amazes him: «Thy testimonies are wonderful.» View them from any point you may select, they are wonderful, wonderful in themselves, wonderful in their operation, wonderful in the way in which they endure all kinds of testing, and yet remain the same: «Thy testimonies are wonderful.» This wonder, however, in the true believer leads to godly practice, to holy living: «Therefore doth my soul keep them.» Our soul must be like a golden gasket in which we store the priceless jewels of the Word of the Lord. You cannot rightly keep God's Word anywhere but in your soul; to keep it merely in the memory, or in the intellect, is of no avail.

Psalms 119:130. The entrance of thy words giveth light;

The very first principles, the elements of God's Word, are full of light and no sooner does it come into the heart than there is light directly. How much more light does it give when it penetrates into the secret chambers of our being, and we begin to understand its deeper mysteries!

Psalms 119:130. It giveth understanding unto the simple.

God's Word gives understanding to those who feel that they have very little mental ability: «the simple.» They are only plain people, who must have the truth put very simply before them, or else they cannot comprehend it; but as soon as ever God's Word enters their heart, even such people get understanding. It is not the Word outside the heart that gives the blessing; it is the entrance of the Word that gives true life to the soul.

Psalms 119:131. I opened my mouth, and panted:

That was an admirable way of praying; no words were used by the psalmist, but his soul expressed itself by panting: «As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.»

Psalms 119:131. For I longed for thy commandments.

The very best kind of prayer is that inarticulate panting, in which there is a longing, a sighing, that cannot be expressed in words.

Psalms 119:132-19. Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. Order my step, in thy word:

«Lord, I have found the way into thy Word, that is the road I intend to travel; now I pray thee to guide my every step.» They say that «Order is heaven's first law,» and certainly a Christian should lead an orderly life. He should be a Methodist, he should have a method in all that he does; and he should pray for God to order his steps according to his Word.»

Psalms 119:133. And let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

A hypocrite says to himself, «I do not swear, I do not steal, and I do not lie, yet I allow other sins to have dominion over me;» but a true man of God will not have any master but the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not put his neck under the foot of even the most attractive sin: «Let not any iniquity have dominion over me.» That is the psalmist's prayer; here is the apostle's answer to it: «Sin shall not have dominion over you»

Psalms 119:134. Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.

He does not mean that he will not keep God's precepts if he is not delivered from man's oppression; but there are persons in such circumstances, Christian wives with wicked husbands, godly servants with ungodly masters, believers who are greatly oppressed by evil men, and they desire to be delivered from the oppression of man that they may be the better able to keep God's commandments.

Psalms 119:135. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant;

What a blessed prayer that is! Let each one here pray it tonight: «Make thy face to shine upon thy servant.» The Lord is our sun; he is the very sun of heaven; they need no sun there because they see his face.

Psalms 119:135. And teach me thy statutes.

The Lord's servant ought to know the law of his Lord's house. How can he be an obedient servant if he does not know his Master's will? So the psalmist prays, «Lord, I will take it as a favor if thou wilt teach me thy statutes, that I may not only know, but also do them!»

Psalms 119:136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.

Some think that the psalmist meant that his eyes wept because they, that is, his eyes did not keep God's law. You know how easily sin comes in through the eyes, and goes out through the eyes, too. Well may those eyes weep in sorrow that have lusted towards sin. But I think the psalmist alludes here to the ungodly. The sins of sinners are the sorrows of saints. «Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.» Perhaps David referred to his own children, or he may have meant his soldiers, those rough, rugged warriors who were led by Joab. He met with many in his own country who turned aside from God, and he wept over them. It is a blessed sign of grace when you can weep over other men's sins. Do not say, «So-and-so has gone wrong,» and treat the matter with indifference. If you can do so, you may question whether you have grace in your own heart, for a true Christian ought to be tender and compassionate at the thought of the sinful things around him. There are some who can look upon the error and false doctrine which abound everywhere, and say, «Oh! let it alone, do not trouble yourself about that; but he who walks with God is not of their mind, it is a constant grief and agony of spirit to him that men keep not God's law.

Psalms 119:137. Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.

It is always well to set God in contrast with wicked men. If others are unjust, he is not. If they forsake the truth, he does not.

Psalms 119:138. Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.

True to the letter, true always, true to the core.

Psalms 119:139. Thy zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

Yes, God's faithful servants become the more zealous when others grow cold. When they see that God's words are forgotten by others, they remember them all the more, and they grow exceedingly zealous for the law of the Lord.

Psalms 119:140. Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.

It is pure in the sense of being unadulterated, and it is pure in the sense of being holy. There is nothing in the Scripture that would lead us to sin, nor excuse it. It is a wonderful condemner of sin: «Thy word is very pure.» Notice the psalmist's use of the word «very.» In the one hundred and thirty-eighth verse, he says, «Thy testimonies are very faithful;» and now, in the one hundred and fortieth, «Thy word is very pure.» «Therefore thy servant loveth it.» When purity draws out our love, it proves that our heart itself loves that which is pure; and the heart that loveth purity is a pure heart.

Psalms 119:141. I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts.

He was poor but pious, little but loving, despised but devoted. It was the man who had but one talent who went and digged in the earth, and hid his Lord's money. David was not of that kind; he was small, but he knew he was not too small to sin; he was despised, but he did not on that account think that he might turn aside from the right path.

Psalms 119:142. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,

God's Word does not change, it is everlasting; and the righteousness which it reveals and which it proclaims to us is everlasting.

Psalms 119:142. And thy law is the truth.

God's Word is not only true, but it is «the truth.» The truth is God's law, and God's law is the truth.

Psalms 119:143. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me:

Just now he said that he was despised, and now he says he is unhappy. Trouble without, and anguish within, seemed to grip him as in a vice.

Psalms 119:143. Yet thy commandments are my delights.

A man of the world cannot understand how a Christian can be in trouble and yet be full of delight; but it is true. We can be cast down, but not destroyed; we can be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; we can be poor, yet make many rich. Here you have another holy paradox: «Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights,» not only his delight, but his delights; as if he had a whole host of them, a great company of joys, and a chorus of holy mirth.

Psalms 119:144. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding,

That is a great prayer, not only, «give me to understand,» but «give me understanding.» It is one thing to tell a man the truth, but quite another thing to make him understand it; and if you make him understand that particular truth, he may not understand another, but David asks for understanding with which he might be able to comprehend all the truth of God: «Give me understanding,»

Psalms 119:144. And I shall live.

God grant that this prayer may be offered by each one of us, and heard by the Lord, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.