Psalm 119:169-176
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Introduction
Introduction
Scriptures
Scriptures
169 Let my cry come before You, O Lord; Give me understanding according to Your word.
What do you think the psalmist means when he prays, “Let my cry come before You” or “Let my cry come near before You”?
[ILLUS] Charlotte, Emmett and the baby monitor; The baby monitor brings Emmett’s cry near to his Mama. And Mama will tend to her crying baby.
In the same way, God will tend to our prayers when they come near to Him. Thanks be to God that Jesus has opened the way for our prayers to come near to God and that Jesus Himself prays for us! Our cries always come near to God as Jesus intercedes for us!
In the second half of this verse, what do you think the psalmist needs help understanding according to God’s Word?
Everything related to the trial he’s in.
Why the trial has come.
What God is doing with it.
How he should act in it.
When it might be over.
When we face trials, why might we be reluctant to turn to God’s Word for understanding and instead turn to a helpful friend or a helpful book, website, podcast, etc?
Our lazy flesh hates the Word of God.
Reading the Word takes effort.
Understanding the Word takes more effort.
Praying the Word take tremendous spiritual effort.
Applying the Word to our trial takes the most effort of all.
It’s just easier for someone to tell us what to do than it is for us to go to the Bible and discern for ourselves what we ought to do.
170 Let my supplication come before You; Deliver me according to Your word.
How is ‘Let my supplication come before You’ different from ‘Let my cry come before You’?
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In v. 169, the psalmist prays, “Give me understanding according to Your word,” but here in v. 170 he prays, “Deliver me according to Your Word.” If he prays, “Deliver me according to Your Word,” what does he already understand about God’s Word?
That it promises deliverance. When the psalmist writes, “according to Your Word,” he’s is saying, “as Your Word promises.”
In God’s Word, are there promises of deliverance, courage, or sustaining grace that you repeatedly turn to when you are experiencing trials?
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Why remind yourself of God’s promises when you are facing a trial?
Because there often seems to be no hope in the trial, but there is always hope in the faithful promises of God.
171 Let my lips utter praise, For You teach me Your statutes.
What are some reasons to praise God?
God has created us. He sustains us. He has saved us by sending His Son to die and rise for us. There are many reasons to praise God.
But what specific reason does the psalmist give in v. 171 for praising God?
“Let my lips utter praise, because You teach me Your statutes.”
[ILLUS] A high school student receiving an acceptance letter to the university she desires to attend; sometimes students are excited to attend the university, but sometimes they are excited to learn from a professor.
In the same way, the psalmist is not just excited to learn God’s statutes but he is excited to that God is teaching Him His statutes. Through the Word of God, God teaches us all! This is reason to praise God!
But what could prevent us from learning from God?
If we don’t show up to class, we won’t learn anything from God. We must get into His Word if we are going to learn His statutes.
172 Let my tongue sing of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness.
The psalmist desires to sing of God’s Word. What are some hymns or songs of praise that we sing that sing of God’s Word?
Ancient Words
Word of God Speak
What specific reason does the the psalmist give for singing of God’s Word?
That God’s commandments are righteous .
Finish this sentence: Because God’s commandments are righteous, they are…
…worth singing about.
…worth studying.
…necessary to obey.
…for God’s glory.
…for our good.
…trustworthy.
…dependable. They won’t let us down. We will not regret trusting them. We will not regret obeying them.
173 Let Your hand be ready to help me, For I have chosen Your precepts.
We all must make our choice. Joshua said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” In the home of Mary and Martha, Martha was busy playing hostess while Mary chose the better portion, to sit at Jesus’s feet. Here in v. 173, the psalmist says that he has made his choice—he had chosen God’s precepts, i.e., he has chosen to obey God’s Laws. When is it easy to chose obedience to God’s Word and when is it more difficult?
It is easy on a Sunday morning or Wednesday evening in church when, perhaps, there are few temptations and the trials seem ‘out there’ rather than ‘in here.’
But its more difficult when we are facing the temptation or suffering in the midst of the trial. It is certainly more difficult to choose His precepts then.
But the psalmist in the midst of trial chooses to obey God’s precepts and asks that the Lord be ready to help him as a result. In the Mosaic Covenant the blessings of God were conditional. If God’s people obey, God would bless. If they disobeyed, however, God’s people would experience the covenant curses. The psalmist is saying, “I choose to obey, so please me with some help.” What kind of help do you think the psalmist has in mind?
He surely wants the trial to end and for his enemies to be revealed as the lowlifes that they are.
But who knows best the kind of help the psalmist needs?
God!
The psalmist chooses to obey and expects God to help, and God will help. But it is God who knows best the kind of help the psalmist needs most. The psalmist has to not only trust God for help. He also has to trust God to provide the right kind of help.
We can thank God that He is a Father that only gives good gifts—including the right kind of help at the right time—to His children.
174 I long for Your salvation, O Lord, And Your law is my delight.
The psalmists longs for salvation because of the trial he faces. We too likely long for salvation when our circumstances aren’t great, but when might we not long for salvation?
The trials we face may make us long for the salvation of the Lord. If we are not longing for the Lord’s salvation something is wrong. Perhaps our circumstances are so comfortable that they’ve become idolatrous. But even if our circumstances aren’t delightful, we can still delight in God’s Law.
In the midst of tough circumstances, what do you think the psalmist finds particularly delightful about God’s Word?
It’s certain hope.
It’s steadiness. It never changes.
It’s truth, especially when so many lies surround.
175 Let my soul live that it may praise You, And let Your ordinances help me.
The soul exists to praise God.it finds its life to the full when it praises God. What does the soul experience when it isn’t praising God as it should?
The soul withers when it doesn’t worship God. Like a plant withers for want of water so the soul withers for lack of praise.
What can we do when our soul isn’t praising God like it should?
Examine ourselves.
Are we repenting of sin?
Are we praying intimately?
Preach to ourselves.
5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Rest ourselves.
Don’t dismiss the body-soul connection. Sometimes out soul is downcast because our body is tired.
Be patient with ourselves.
Sometimes God allows us to experience a “dark night of the soul” for reasons we don’t yet understand.
As we experience these times of soul despondency, where should we look for help according to v. 175?
In the ordinances of God. In His Word.
God helps us according to His Word.
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, For I do not forget Your commandments.
How do we see the grace of God in the first part of this prayer, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant”?
We may think that if a sheep wandered off, it can wander back, but God goes seeking His wandering sheep because He is gracious and He knows sheep don’t wander back.
[ILLUS] In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables about lost things—a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son.
Now, we know that a lost coin will not find itself, so it doesn’t surprise us that in that parable, the woman who lost it only found it after searching diligently for it.
But the lost sheep doesn’t find itself either. The shepherd leaves the 99 to go looking for the one lost sheep.
But what about the lost son? After sinfully insulting his father and squandering his inheritance, the lost son does return home, but as he comes up the way, his father runs out to meet him. The father had been watching and waiting, searching the road for the return of his son.
And then there’s the older son who is disgusted by his father’s grace toward his younger brother. At the welcome home party for the younger brother, the older son storms out, but the father goes searching for him too.
In all of this, I’m just pointing out that when we’ve gone astray, it is God who comes seeking after us, so the psalmist prays, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant...”
Now, how do you think the first line of v. 176 relates to the second? How does “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant” relate to “For I do not forget Your commandments”?
Well, for one, how would the psalmist know that he had gone astray if not for God’s commandments. The commandments reveal how the psalmist has gone astray.
Still today the Word tells us when we’ve strayed.
For another thing, when the psalmist says, “I don’t forget your commandments,” he is saying that he is abiding by the covenant God made with His people. As a member of the covenant community, the psalmist expects for God to seek after he strays.
Still today, as member of the New Covenant community in Christ’s blood, we can expect God to seek us when we’ve strayed.
And for another thing, God will seek the straying psalmist through His commandments. The commandments point the way back to God. Obey those and be in right relationship with God once again.
We are always in right relationship with God through the perfect work of Jesus, but even so God still seeks us through His Word. It prompts to repent when we need to repent, to put on the good that what we need to put on in Christ Jesus; it points the way back to renewed intimacy with God.
Conclusion
Conclusion