Sin/Shin

Introduction: Part 1

In the final messages, we have had occasion to reflect on the whole Psalm.

We need not forget to help people build a life.

We have seen the Psalmist rehearse that he is not embittered.

He may have lamented, but he neither resents God nor his fellow man.

What should those positive features of a truly spiritual life look like?

Life gives us many occasions to wallow in bitterness and resentment.

God has made it possible for us to live in a different way.

Galatians 5:22…?

Awe of God from His Word

The penultimate section of the Psalm starts with an unexpected contrast.

He says that rulers, leaders of some kind, persecute him (perhaps חִנָּם refers to something without purpose, for no good reason, unjustly).

The implication would be, the greater comparative fear, located in his heart, comes from Jehovah’s words.

The issue is reverence.

The reverence that he has for God, from His word, outweighs the unjust persecution he faces.

Transcendent reverence

Joy

I myself (am) one rejoicing upon your word like one who discovers much spoil.

The value he places upon the Word of God is being further developed by this statement.

Here he makes a positive comparison using something we find out of place, perhaps.

Spoil refers to the booty or spoils that warriors or raiders often obtained from victory.

Ex: 1 Sam. 30:16: An Amalekite raiding party rejoiced over the great spoil they had taken from among the Philistines and the land of Judah.

Ex: Isaiah 9:3.

Such delight is the opposite of resentment.

Note that God and His word are the source and object of joy.

Through the Word of God, he has written, he learns of God and His person. He delights in God (Phil. 4:4).

We can rejoice in God’s person and in His assurances even while the world may treat us terribly or our lives may be filled with hardship.

Love

The writer has expressed his dislike for those who reject God’s law and who refuse to live in it.

He now repeats that same sentiment.

Hate and abhor are used together here to emphasize, so it seems, the degree of the dislike for falsehood.

They also establish the contrast.

He loves the law of God.

Both falsehood and truth are available.

It requires spiritual maturity to learn to distinguish between the two and to love truth over lies.

Thou shalt not lie does not just prohibit telling falsehood. It also requires valuing the truth and living in truth.

Introduction: Part 2

In this section of the Psalm, we see an inordinate focus on “I.”

Only a few observational statements appear.

This might be because the Psalm has reached its crescendo.

Building something positive, being able to focus on the reason for joy is a challenge.

Our world needs to be reminded what the positives of serving Christ are.

Praise

It seems natural for the thoughts to flow from delight and love to the praise of God.

The writer has already taught that possession of God’s word points us toward God’s loving, caring person.

Now, the Word of God is a reason for the constant gratitude he has toward God.

To praise God is to show gratitude as well as to extol His person.

God must be known to be praised in a manner befitting His character.

Peace

Ps. 119:165 allows us to appreciate the peace on offer from God and His word.

“Great peace”: must point toward the hope that has been expressed in addition to the peaceful people those who love God’s word become.

In light of what follows, it must also refer to the peace that comes through the trustworthiness of God’s word.

Hence, there is nothing that trips up those who love God’s word.

Hope

The writer, in Ps. 119:116 shifts to his personal orientation in the world.

He anticipates the deliverance the Lord has promised.

The foundation of hope is the person of God, His trustworthiness.

He also exhibits the characteristic of those who hope in the word of the Lord, he does the Lord’s commands.

Doing the commands is not the cause of possessing the hope.

It is the result of having the hope, of knowing the character and nature of God.

As ever, to know His character is to be compelled to obey, to live in obedience to His commands.

Obedience

The writer does not take Jehovah’s word lightly. He obeys to his core.

We can see this is not mere ritual or play for him.

He takes God seriously, and this compels him to see God’s word as something valuable.

Consequently, we see him express, again, his love for God’s word.

Can we love God without loving His Word?

Yet, we see in the end that his obedience is also informed by a present reality with future implications.

Present reality: the omniscience of God.

Future implication: God will take account.