Psalm 119 Teth
Posted on Sunday, June 01, 2008 at 1:10 PM by David Zavadil
65 ¶ <TETH> You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word. 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. 67 ¶ Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. 68 ¶ You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. 69 ¶ The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; 70 their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. 71 ¶ It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. 72 ¶ The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
65 ¶ <TETH> You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word. 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. Have you ever considered how God has dealt with you? Have you received what you deserve from God? Has God been fair or unfair in your life? This passage begins with the Psalmist speaking to the way God deals with His people. “You have dealt well.” A more literal translation might be, “you have made things pleasant with your servant.”
In the previous passages we have seen the writer express that it is by the hand of God that he is kept from evil doers, by God he is protected from evil. Not wanting to take for granted the care and provision of the Lord, he writes that the Lord has done pleasant things for him. I wonder how many of us remember the good things God has done for us. What are some of the good things God has done for you?
Note that not only has God done pleasant things, but that He has done so with His servant. The writer is encouraging us, the people of God, not the unbeliever. It is also a reminder of our position in Christ. As a believer, I am never a man unto my own, I am a servant of the Most High God. In our society, our picture of slavery is one of pain and suffering. Our politically correct world does not want the loving and humane treatment of slaves to be portrayed, as if that will some how condone the slavery. Here we are reading of the proper treatment of servants. “You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD...” This treatment is done in accordance with the Word of God. God has promised to love and care for his people. Ex 19:5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; De 7:6 ‘‘For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Mal 3:17 ‘‘They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
When ever we are treated well, a certain amount of boldness enters the relationship. When we can trust someone to treat us right, we feel we can trust them to do other things. 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. How do we go about gaining knowledge and judgement? We read books, go to classes, watch videos and gain more knowledge. To gain both knowledge and judgement is hard without God's intervention. He has thanked God for dealing well with Him, now he builds on that. “ For what blessings can be more suitable to an ignorant sinner, than good judgment and knowledge; knowledge of ourselves, of our Saviour, of the way of obedience – and good judgement, to apply this knowledge to some valuable end?” (Bridges, Psalm 119) Bridges further writes, “These two parts of our intellectual furniture have a most important connexion and dependence upon each other. Knowledge is the speculative perception of general truth. Judgement is the practical application of it to the heart and conduct. No school, but the school of Christ – no teaching, but the teaching of the Spirit – can ever give this good judgement and knowledge.” The Puritan, Greenham was once asked to make judgment on a matter. He replied, “ Sir, neither am I able to speak, nor you to hear; for we have not prayed. I may, indeed, talk, and you may answer, as natural men: but we are not now prepared to confer as children of God.” (Greenham, Works) What better blessing can we ask of God than for knowledge and judgment?
67 ¶ Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. Knowledge and judgment will cause us to think of ourselves and our condition. When we have much we find it easy to stray much. Note that the writer says, before I was afflicted. We all are afflicted with sin, from birth. David writes, Ps 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. In those days, before our sin is revealed to us, those days before coming to Christ, we struggle and stray. I do not believe it would be right to say, “In those days before I was afflicted with Christ.” Before we understand the state of our affliction with sin, we go astray. A more contemporary way of stating this phrase may be, “ Before I came to Christ, I sinned, but now I keep your word.”
68 ¶ You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. We can never be reminded too often about the goodness of God. Even in those times when our sin is being shown to us like a movie on a big screen tv we should be reminded of the goodness of God. There is nothing good in us apart from Christ and apart for Christ we can do no good. Goodness is the summation of all of God's attributes. When life is getting us down, God's goodness leads us to His word.
69 ¶ The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; 70 their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. The proud and arrogant will always think they are better than God's people. The struggle we too often face is trying to please the “insolent.” We think if we can make them happy, they will just get off our backs. The psalmist writes that our lives are to be different. Even though we are smeared, we are not to bow down and behave as they wish, instead, we are to turn to His Word. The insolent have hearts like fat, gooey and sickening, nothing they say brings any nourishment. God's word, on the other hand, brings life. Too often we are concerned with what others are saying, this passage speaks of our keeping and delighting in the Word of God. Our only concern should be with what God is saying , not what man is saying.
71 ¶ It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. Earlier, the psalmist wrote that before he was afflicted he went astray. Here we read, that it was good. How can our affliction of sin be good? “None indeed but the Lord's scholars can know the benefit and this teaching.” (Bridges, Psalm 119) Often times, our best lessons are learned when we are our lowest. Some times it takes our failure to learn the right way to go. Some ask me how I learned to repair computers. My reply has been, “When you mess up enough computers, you learn what not to do.” Martin Luther once said, “ I never knew the meaning of God's word, until I came into affliction. I have always found it one of my best schoolmasters.” This verse calls us to daily examination. What are those areas in my life that have led to failure and sin? How can I overcome my sinfulness?
72 ¶ The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. This verse answers the previous questions. Where do we turn when in need of guidance and correction? The Word of God. Where do we run to find words of comfort and counsel? The Word of God. Where do we turn to find teaching about our Savior? The Word of God. There is nothing as great as God's Word properly applied. We can have a billion dollars, but it can not point us to eternity, it can not even purchase a moment of time. Only the Word of God can point to eternity. What can be of greater value than the truth of life in Christ?
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Psalm 119 (RSS)
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