Psalm 119 Waw
Posted on Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 10:38 AM by David Zavadil
Originally posted on Tuesday, April 11, 2006
41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise;
42 then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.
44 I will keep your law continually, forever and ever,
45 and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.
46 I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame,
47 for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.
48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.
I have to apologize to those of you who have been following this study. I have been substitute teaching, while seeking a call and have had little time to sit down and write. I had hoped to maybe make use of my palm, but have not yet found the software that would allow me to write a post and add it to my site. At any rate, let me do this today, let me begin on this section and rather than trying to cover the whole passage, I will work on part and finish in the next couple of days. Fair enough? I pray so.
41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise;
Love. I think that if there is one thing every human wants to experience it is love. Not necessarily erotic love, but the fullness of love that overwhelms the life of the recipient. The Psalmist prays for that type of love. Charles Bridges writes, " A prayer of deep anxiety-large deisre-simple faith!" That it is!
The word translated love in the ESV is rendered mercies in the KJV and "unfailing love" in the NIV. The Hebrew word is chesed and carries a meaning that emcompasses the fullness of God's mercy and love. To experience the chesed of God is to experience the fullness of the character of God and is seen in His loving mercy to us. It is bound in and with his salvation, promised to us beginning in Genesis 3:15 and repeated throughout Scripture. In fact, the true mercies of God can not be seen apart from the salvation of God. To think of God's mercy, His full love, without contemplating His salvation is impossible. Bridges put it this way, "Therefore general notions of mercy without a distinct apprehension of salvation have their origin in presumption, not in warrented faith." Lord, let your mercies come upon us!
This mercy/salvation relationship raises a question. Why are we in such a need of the fullness of love displayed in God's saving mercy? ( Ok, I know none of us really talk like this, but it sounds nicer than,"Why do I need that stuff?") We first need to be saved from the wrath and punishment of a Holy God. The sinful acts of our first parents, Adam and Eve, left us all condemned as sinners. At birth we are already marked with a death sentence. The merciful salvation of God, frees us from this death sentence.
Not only are we condemned from birth, we are also under bondage to sin. Sin wars against us all of our lives, but through the saving mercy of our God, it has no victory. However, it is not a foe to be taken lightly. William Bridge, not the same man I quoted earlier, said, "If the guilt of sin is so great that nothing can satisfy it but the blood of Jesus; and the filth of sin is so great that nothing can fetch out the stain thereof but the blood of Jesus, how great, how heinous, how sinful must the evil of sin be." Apart from the mercy of God found in the salvation brought us through Jesus Christ, we could never overcome the bondage of sin. In the merciful salvation of Jesus Christ, we are made righteous through the effective work of Christ, not anything we have done or will do.
We also need to be saved from ourselves. I don't know about you, but I do know myself. If I am in charge, I will make a mess of things. I will begin by taking the easy path and then seek the one that will make me feel the best, and give me the most in return. Left to myself, I not only won't but can not seek the way of God. The mercies/love of God found in His salvation frees me from this bondage to self. I am no longer bound to mess things up but freed to live in grace and mercy, resting in the righteousness of Christ.
Every day we should begin as the Psalmist begins this passage. 41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; Make this your prayer each day as you awake. We will next examine how this is carried out in our lives.
This completes my previous posts. I will begin next week with a new study from Psalm 119. I pray that this study will be edifying to all who read it.
Edited on: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 1:55 PMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Ministry (RSS), Psalm 119 (RSS)
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