Psalms 119:21-30

Psalms 119:21. Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.

Wherever there is pride in the heart, there is sure to be error in the life. A proud man is wrong, to begin with, and as long as he continues proud, he must be wrong. It is not possible for him to be right. God has rebuked him, and God has cursed him. How wise it would be of him to be humble. Remember we shall have either to be humble or to be humbled; and it is much better to be humble than to have to come under the humbling dispensations of God's hand.

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

O Lord, do not suffer men to believe lies and slanders against me, or if they do let my conscience sustain my courage by the consciousness that I have kept thy testimonies.

Psalms 119:23. Princes also did sit and speak against me:

Had they nothing else to do, but talk against God's servants? No; they sat down to do it with deliberation. «Princes also did sit and speak against me.»

Psalms 119:23. But thy servant did.

«Go to law with them?» No not so here. «But thy servant got in the face and defended himself?» No, no. Look, you will not read those words. But «Thy servant was broken-hearted about it to have the great men of the earth speaking against him?» No, it is not so either. «But thy servant did.»

Psalms 119:23. Meditate in thy statutes,

Is not that a very blessed and admirable way of enduring slander simply to take your Bible and read a little more than usual? You will cure it so.

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

Because I love them and delight in them. I submit my life to their guidance.

I go to thy Book to ask what I shall do. I consult it as the oracle of God. I take my doubts, and difficulties, and dilemmas there, and I find that they are all met. «Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors.»

Psalms 119:25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

Ah! there is a note of sadness here. The Psalmist complains of himself. He found himself very sorrowful, and he could not get out of the sorrow; or he found himself very full of business cares, and he could not get rid of them. «My soul cleaveth to the dust» as though it was stuck to the dust, and the duet to it, and could not rise. Then how sweet the prayer, «Quicken thou me.» «Didst thou not first make me of dust, and wilt thou not at the last quicken my mortal body out of the dust? Then, now, my Lord quicken thou me according to thy Word.» See, here is an evil complained of. He finds himself cleaving to the dust. Here is a remedy sought, «Quicken thou me.» And here is an argument pleaded with God «according to thy Word.» There is a promise for it. Lord, fulfill thy word.

Psalms 119:26. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.

A confession had been made: «I have declared my ways.» That confession had been accepted: «Thou heardest me.» Then a petition is offered: «Teach me thy statutes.» «Thou seest that I confess how wrong I was. Now give me grace that I may not go wrong again.» May that be our spirit always.

Psalms 119:27. 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.

«I am poured out like water,» says the Saviour. «My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels.» It is the greatness of pain, the greatness of fear, the greatness of sorrow, till he seems to melt away in the fire like wax. «For heaviness,» says he, «my soul melts. Then strengthen thou me.» Oh! it is so sweet to turn to God when your soul is burdened to look to him, and say not «deliver me.» Observe that, the child of God is not so anxious to get rid of trouble, as he is to know how to behave worthily under it. «Strengthen thou me, according to thy Word.» How he harps on that «according to thy Word.» The child of God does not expect God to do otherwise than he has promised to do, and he is quite content if the Lord will act according to his Word, for well does our poet put it:

«What more can he say than to you he hath said,

You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?»

In this book, dear brother, whatever your trouble, there is a promise to meet it. If you lose a key and you send for the whitesmith, as a general rule, somewhere in that bunch of keys he has a key that will fit your lock. And so here is a bunch of keys, and there is a key here that will exactly fit the lock of your trouble whatever it may be, for God foresaw the circumstances of all his people, and prepared a promise for every circumstance.

Psalms 119:29. Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.

«Take away the evil: give me the good.» «The way of lying.» Oh! it is a dreadful thing to get into that. There are some that have a way of doing it some that do it jocosely, some that do it by implication. Some think it shrewd to deceive. «Remove from me the way of lying.» If truth should be banished from all the world besides, it ought to find a shelter in the breasts of Christians. The Christian man is forbidden to take an oath, because there should never be any necessity for it. His word his, «Yea, yea» his «Nay, nay» should always, be sufficient. Thank God it is, where the grace of God is.

Psalms 119:30. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.

I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame. Here is, first, choice: «I have chosen the way of truth.» Here is his practically carrying it out: «Thy judgments have I laid before me.» Here is his perseverance in it: «I have stuck unto thy testimonies.» And then there is his prayer about it: «O Lord, put me not to shame.» And it is a prayer which is sure to be answered. «Truth may be blamed, but it cannot be shamed.» Truth is God's daughter, and he will take care of her. If you have chosen the way of truth, it is a way in which, though some may censure and slander, your righteousness shall come forth, in due time, as the noonday.

Psalms 119:32. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

«When I get liberty of heart, then will I take as my choice, thy ways.» The Christian is never so much at liberty as when he is under law to Christ. He knows the difference between licence and liberty. He has a liberty to do so he wills, because he wills to do as God wills him to do; and herein lies the only freedom which we desire.

This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 90:1 and Psalms 119:21.