Yahweh's Incomparable Word

Title:  YAHWEH’S INCOMPARABLE WORD

Text:  Select Chapters in Psalms

Introduction:

            Most of all, I love my Lord.  And next to Him, I love His Word.  Long ago I dedicated my life to serving Him.  I love to study the Word and teach it.  It is precious because in it my Lord is revealed.  His dealings with mankind are a love story throughout.  The Bible is a window of hope through which we can view eternity. 

            A.W. Tozer said, “Approach the Bible not only as a book which is now speaking...God's speaking is in the continuous present.”

            Reading the Bible is reading God's mind.  The Bible is a personal letter from God to you.  It reveals his deepest thoughts and feelings about you.  The Scriptures tell us not just what God did, but how God does things.  Not everywhere though, does it tell us why He does as He does.  The Scriptures are the primary means of hearing His voice and discovering His will.

Ps. 19:7  The law of Yahweh—His special revelation through His word—is more glorious than the heavenly witness. That word revelation is “perfect,” i.e., flawless, without defect or error; a guide which can neither mislead nor fail.  Like food for the hungry, the law can refresh and restore the soul. The law is a “testimony” to God’s will and our duty to follow it. It is “sure,” i.e., not variable or uncertain. The “simple” are those who have not closed their heart to instruction.  In verses 7-9 David described the nature of the Law of the Lord. The Law was the dominant element in God’s specific revelation in the Old Testament.

The perfect Law of God can change people. It revives the soul and the Law’s statutes can be trusted to make one wise.

Ps. 19:8  The “precepts” of the Lord are special instructions in which man is obligated to follow. These “make glad the heart” with the joy of moral satisfaction. To David, the law was not a burdensome restriction of liberty, but a gracious reflection of the holiness of God, designed to lead man in the way of life and peace.  Joy and guidance fill the soul if we meditate on and follow God’s commands. 

19:9 The “fear of Yahweh” is another synonym for the law.  It is the aim of the law to implant reverence for God in the hearts of men. It is “clean” or “pure” in contrast to the immoralities of those without God. 

19:10-11 The law in all its parts is a treasure to be coveted, a sweet treat to be savored.  David next disclosed his personal reaction to God’s perfect Law.  He found the statutes desirable and enjoyable.  In praising their value to him, he compared them to gold and honey—they are more precious than gold, the most valuable commodity in the ancient Near East, and sweeter than honey, the sweetest substance known in the ancient Near East.  The Law is not a burden to believers who are trying to please God with their lives.  For David, keeping God’s statutes, which warned him of the dangers of sin, brought reward.

19:12–13 As David thought about the law, it lead him to express his personal need of help and guidance. For sins committed and for offenses the law provided an atonement; but for sins committed with a spirit of proud defiance he asks to be restrained.

19:14 Finally, David equates his prayers to a spiritual sacrifice. David asks that this sacrifice be accepted. Yahweh is our “rock” and “redeemer,” the One who delivers us from the tyranny of enemies and the bondage of sin.

Psalm 119  This psalm, in praise of the Law, is an acrostic poem. It consists of twenty-two stanzas of eight lines each. Each stanza in the Hebrew has the same Hebrew letter at the beginning of every one of its eight lines, going in succession, from alef, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, to taw, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  Predominately, there are 8 words used as synonyms for the Word of God.  They are listed in verses 33-40.  This Psalm teaches ethical and moral conduct in keeping with the Law of God.  The dominant theme running through this long psalm is that of joy.  Nowhere does the psalmist complain about having to obey God’s Law. He never finds the Law restrictive or negative; it is always a source of life, wisdom, comfort, and hope.  But, as he constantly emphasizes, the Law is the expression of the divine will.  It is not the Law, in particular that he loves; he loves the Law because it tells of God’s will. 

What benefits or insights do you see about God’s Word according to these verses? 

Psalm 119:1-2, 9-11, 18, 20, 42-43, 50, 67, 71, 105-106, 113, 130, 165

Psalm 12:6