Pslam 119:17-24

Long for God’s Word

Psalm 119:17–24 “Deal generously with your servant so that I might live; then I will keep your word. Open my eyes so that I may contemplate wondrous things from your instruction. I am a resident alien on earth; do not hide your commands from me. I am continually overcome with longing for your judgments. You rebuke the arrogant, the ones under a curse, who wander from your commands. Take insult and contempt away from me, for I have kept your decrees. Though princes sit together speaking against me, your servant will think about your statutes; your decrees are my delight and my counselors.”

as stated before and the same as this one we see that these passages are divided up in you can look at 2 parts. Part one is the author is crying out to God asking Him to show favor and that he can follow all of God’s laws, and that because of him following God’s laws there are people who don’t like it and that even though this is happening that he ( the author) is still staying fast to God’s words.

Servant, This word is all over the New Testament and in the Epistles of Paul. Paul calls himself a bond servant or slave to Christ alot. Our bodies are not our own. They are a gift from God that we are to use to further His kingdom.

What is the ultimate payment for sin? Death

We all deserve death, we see that the author is saying for God to have mercy on him and that way he can keep God’s laws.

If God would and will find favor with the author then he would be able to keep all of God’s laws because we deserve death more than anything.

How many of us have time and time again messed up and cried out to God for Mercy? I know that I have many times.

God’s word is the only truth out there. On Monday at VBS we learned that some people say Truth can be different for different people, but God say that truth comes from me.

How do we learn and keep God’s truth is by constantly staying in Gods word.

In verse 18 we see that the author is begging God to open his eyes so that he can Contemplate or to look thoughfully at for a long time of the wondrous thing for God’s instructions. We need to not just look at the Bible as I have read that before and have the been there done that mentality. We need to be carefully digging in and see what God has to show us.

There are more than just surface level things in the Bible.

When we are looking at the text. What is the Law that they had in those days? Did they have all 66 books like we have, broken up into Old testemant and new? Did they just have the 39 books of the Old testament broken out into the different catagories MAjor and minor Prophets, Wisdom ( by the way if you did not know this Psalms is part of the Wisdoms section in the Old Testemant).

In these day the books of law they had are the Tora. Which is the first 5 books of the Old testemant.

So just like the Text is saying we need to be praying for God to open our eye to what He has intented for the text to tell us. When we do this then we will be better prepared to see the text for the way that God has ment for the Text we are reading.

We are to come to God’s word with a ne wblank slate everytime, and not try to put our own words into it.

The Bible like I stated earlier is showing us how to live our lives out like Pslam 119:105 says Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path

Moving on with the text in Verses 19 the author is telling us that this Earth this place here is not our home as Christians.

As I told some of my Bible students this past year. As Christians we are waiting and longing for the day that we can see Christ and hear Him say WELL DONE MY GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT. And then we get to enjoy the new heaven and earht that is to come!

We can see this through out the new testament We see this in Hebrews 11:13 “These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.”

The author is talking about all the spiritaul greats, and how they new this was not there home

1 Ch 29:15. For we are aliens and temporary residents in your presence as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope Same for this but as David writes

Then we see is repets its self and says not to hide His laws from him.

Then this flows in to 20 how he is longing ( empises this) for Gods laws.

We as Christians are to long for God’s words. Without them we are live a desert dry and empty with nothing to give out but rough sandy wind and heat.

This longing can be looked at as starving for wanting bad bad.

We are to never stop wanting to hear from God

the author states he is thinking on it day and night. We are always to have God’s words and think on the day and night, Hide your word in my heat that I may not sin agaist you.

So in this part we see that the author is between begging God for mercy then pleading with God for Him to show the laws and words to live by. And that the Author is ALWAYS thinking about them.

Next section is we see that people are all around messing with him. These are sinnful people.

This can bring us back to VBS Main verse of the week Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

Church it doesnt matter what the people around you is telling you, if it goes agains this( hold up bible) thenit is WRONG!

we see at the end of the text that keeping God’s laws should be a delight to us not some mundain check box we need to do to be a better Christian.

With out God’s word are are nothing but dust.