Psalm 119:28

(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.)

 

“My soul weeps because of grief;

Strengthen me according to Your word."

 

Grief over what?  I believe the false way of Psalm 119:29 and its consequences.  It is a ‘deep weeping’ of the soul, and follows the cleaving of the soul to dust in Psalm 119:25.  I need strength to overcome the guilt and weakness, the natural consequence of sin, and that strength can only come from the food of Your word.  ‘Strengthen’ is the Hebrew קוּם, qûm: A verb meaning to arise, to stand, to stand up; to establish or strengthen (Psa 119:28).

 

‘There is one good point in this downcast state, for it is better to be melted with grief than to be hardened by impenitence.  [See Proverbs 28:14]… In that prayer let us plead nothing but the word of God; for there is no plea like a promise, no argument like a word from our covenant God…Note how David records his inner soul-life. In Psa 119:20 he says, “My soul breaketh;” in Psa 119:25, “My soul cleaveth to the dust;” and here, “My soul melteth.” Further on, in Psa 119:81, he cries, “My soul fainteth;” in Psa 119:109, “My soul is continually in my hand;” in Psa 119:167, “My soul hath kept thy testimonies”; and lastly, in Psa 119:175, “Let my soul live.” Some people do not even know that they have a soul, and here is David all soul. What a difference there is between the spiritually living and the spiritually dead.’[1]



[1] Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Treasury of David, on Psalm 119:28, e-Sword edition

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