Psalm 119 - Ayin: An Active God

"Ayin. I have done justice and righteousness;

Do not leave me to my oppressors.

[122] Be surety for Your servant for good;

Do not let the arrogant oppress me.

[123] My eyes fail with longing for Your salvation

And for Your righteous word.

[124] Deal with Your servant according to Your lovingkindness

And teach me Your statutes.

[125] I am Your servant; give me understanding,

That I may know Your testimonies.

[126] It is time for the LORD to act,

For they have broken Your law.

[127] Therefore I love Your commandments

Above gold, yes, above fine gold.

[128] Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything,

I hate every false way." 

(Psalm 119:121-128)

 

Our doing is all of Your doing through Your word (see also Isaiah 26:12, 1 Corinthians 1:30, James 1:18).  The Psalmist has done righteousness and justice, seeking Your protection, knowing that Your enemies are his enemies (vv. 121-122).  He knows that he has no righteousness or understanding of His own, so he seeks Your salvation, Your lovingkindness, Your righteousness, Your knowledge (vv. 123-125, see also Psalm 71:16).  Because You have acted for him miraculously, the Psalmist is convinced that You will act against Your (and his) enemies, not because they stand against him, but against You (v. 126, see also Psalm 2).  Because of this assurance, namely, that Yours are not empty but supremely active words, he treasures them above all earthly treasure (v. 127) and recognized their supreme value, all of them in everything (v. 128)!  Any lesser ways are false and worthy of our contempt.

 

‘In this octave, the psalmist first entreats the Lord to intervene on his behalf. He asks for judgment from the great King, just like David had dealt out justice to his own people. He then declares his genuine and unreserved satisfaction with all the Lord’s commands and precepts and begs Him to defend His own law. He writes from the standpoint of his official experience. In our public as well as our private position, the Word is precious.’[1]


[1]  Spurgeon, Charles Haddon . The Golden Alphabet (Updated, Annotated): An Exposition of Psalm 119 (pp. 199-200). Aneko Press. Kindle Edition.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 119:75

(This is an entry from a devotional commentary I am working on from Psalm 119 entitled ‘God and His Word’.   The introduction can be found here , successive entries have covered the 22 sections of the Psalm, and following entries verse by verse.)   "I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me."   In this section, Yodh, the Psalmist seeks comfort (v. 76) and compassion (v. 77) because of Your affliction (v.75) and the subversion of the arrogant (v. 78).   We had just seen in v. 67 and v.71 the good that comes from affliction, and now we see here that this affliction is from You and an expression of Your faithfulness.   Of course this is true, since all good comes from You.   This is part of the ‘exceeding faithfulness’ of Your word (v. 138).   Through affliction we truly seek You (Psalm 78:34, Hosea 5:15).   Through affliction comes praise and satisfac...
Read more

God and His Wisdom: An Introduction to Proverbs

“The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To  know  wisdom and discipline, To  understand  the sayings of understanding, To  receive  discipline that leads to insight, Righteousness, justice, and equity, To  give  prudence to the simple, To the youth knowledge and discretion; Let the wise man  hear  and  increase  in learning, And a man of understanding will  acquire  guidance, To  understand  a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:1-7 LSB, with emphasis)   “My son, if you will  receive  my words And  treasure  my commandments within you, To  make your ear pay attention  to wisdom, Incline your heart  to discernment; For if you  call out  for understanding, Give your voice  for discernment; If you  ...
Read more

Psalm 119:76

(This is an entry from a devotional commentary I am working on from Psalm 119 entitled ‘God and His Word’.   The introduction can be found here , successive entries have covered the 22 sections of the Psalm, and following entries verse by verse.)   "O may Your lovingkindness comfort me, According to Your word to Your servant."   ‘O may Your lovingkindness comfort me’, yet how often I have refused to be comforted (Psalm 77:2).    Why is that?   ‘According to Your word’ is, in my pride, the last thing I want.   I want to be comforted on my terms, not on Yours Lord!   That is not true comfort, yet my flesh deceives me.   As I learned in my early counseling sessions, I had to come to grips with the reality that I just wanted relief, I didn’t want You.   I wanted temporary relief then to go on running my own life.   Your lovingkindness is such that You won’t allow that.   You know that onl...
Read more