Psalms 119:17-28

Psalms 119:17. Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

O Lord, I am thy servant; yet, I pray thee, do not pay me wages according to my deserts, but according to the greatness of thy mercy, «deal bountifully with thy servant.» Little mercy will not be enough for such great sins and such great needs as mine. Deal very generously with thy poor servant who is so full of necessities, «that I may live;» for, if thou wilt only let me live, it will be of thy bounty, since I deserve not even that boon. Only to have my life still spared, shall be regarded by me as a great favor from thee. I want not to live to please myself, for that would not be living at all, but «that I may live, and keep thy word.» A holy life is the only true life, the only life that is really worth having; and he that hath it hath been dealt bountifully with by his God. I commend this verse to each servant of the Lord as a prayer that may he continually presented to him.

Psalms 119:18. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

This is one of the first parts of God's bountiful dealings with us. There is no mercy that is so great as mercy to one's own person, to one's own eyes, for instance, which are such essential parts of ourselves. Lord, when thou art dealing bountifully with me, I do not ask for riches, but I do ask that my eyes may be opened. I do not ask thee to give me more than thou hast given in thy Word, but I do ask for opened eyes with which I may perceive what thou hast put there, else the beauties of thy Word may be useless to me by reason of my blindness. This blessed Book teems with marvels; it is a world of wonders. It records many miracles, but every page of it is itself a miracle, and a mass of miracles; yet we must have them revealed to us, or we shall not discover them. Revelation itself must he revealed to every man individually by the Spirit of God, or else he will never see it.

Psalms 119:19. I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me,

Humane men deal kindly with exiles; God has commanded us to be generous to strangers, and he will certainly be so himself. Lord, because of thy love, I find myself like an exile among the sons of men; but be not thou thyself strange to me. What should I do, in this world, without thee, and without thy Word? «Hide not thy commandments from me.»

Psalms 119:20. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times. Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.

God cannot bear the proud; it is very seldom that they can bear one another; and if proud men loathe pride as they see it in others, you may rest assured that the good and great God will not endure it. How sternly he rebuked it in the angels that kept not their first estate How he rebuked it in Pharaoh! All through history, it may be seen how God has been continually abasing the proud, and giving grace to the humble.

Psalms 119:22. Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.

He had lived honestly and uprightly, and yet men slandered him. Was there ever a man upon earth, who was good and true, who was not slandered? God himself was slandered in paradise by the old serpent, and the Lord Jesus was constantly being slandered by wicked men, so can any of us hope to escape the envenomed tongue of the slanderer? Yet it is very painful, and we may well pray to be delivered from it, especially if we can add, with the psalmist, «for I have kept thy testimonies.»

Psalms 119:23. Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

Sometimes, men can bear what the commonalty say; but to have the great ones of the earth speaking against them, is thought by some to be very hard. The psalmist says, «Princes also did sit and speak against me.» What did he do under such circumstances? Did he rise up in anger, and answer them? Or did he sit down, and consider how he could defend himself against them? Far from it: «Thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.» He seems to say, «I did not think it was worth my while to leave the Scriptures, even for a moment, so as to speak to them; but I went on studying thy Word, and left them to say what they pleased.» We shall be wise if we do likewise.

Psalms 119:24. Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.

While these princes were taking counsel against the psalmist, he also went and took Counsel's advice against them; but that Counsel's advice was the advice of the Word of God. He stuck to the Scriptures. Little as he had of them, yet that little he greatly prized. The Pentateuch furnished him with five inspired Counselors to whom he resorted in his time of need. Let us imitate his example, especially as we have the complete Canon of revelation to advise and counsel us.

Psalms 119:25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works. My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

The Word of the Lord is available for quickening, teaching, and strengthening. As Paul wrote to Timothy, «All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.» May that gracious Spirit, who inspired it, ever teach us its inner meaning!