Psalm 119:17

(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.)

 

"Gimel. Deal bountifully with Your servant,

That I may live and keep Your word." 

 

I look to the Source of life to live.  What is the purpose of life?  To know You, which is life itself (Jeremiah 9:23-24, John 17:3).  To keep Your word is the only way to truly live!  I think of Your generosity, which is beyond belief (Romans 8:32).  It would be enough that You do not destroy us in Your righteous anger (Psalm 78:38), but You do so much more than this, lavishing us with Your presence (Psalm 16:11, Psalm 36:7-9), Your grace (Ephesians 1:7), Your joy (1 Peter 1:8-9).  ‘Bountifully’ is the Hebrew גָּמַל, gāmal: A verb meaning to recompense another, to bring to completion, to do good…At times this word is best translated to do good or to deal bountifully (Psa 119:17; Pro 11:17; Isa 63:7).’  See also Psalm 13:6, Psalm 116:7.  So the idea here is completion, satisfaction.  I see it as an elaboration on the bliss of ‘blessed’ in vv.1-3.  May I ever be satisfied with Your likeness (Psalm 17:15)! 

 

‘He takes pleasure in acknowledging his duty to God, and he considers it the joy of his heart to be in the service of his God… The psalmist is asking God to let his wage be according to God’s goodness and not according to his own merit. Reward me according to the largeness of your generosity, and not according to the meagerness of my service… Only the Lord can keep us alive, and it is mighty grace which preserves the life that we have forfeited by our sin… Spiritual life, without which this natural life is nothing more than existence, is also to be sought from the Lord’s bounty, for it is the noblest work of divine grace, and through which the abundance of God is gloriously displayed… We may not want to live and sin, but we can pray to live and keep God’s Word. Being is a poor thing if it is not well-being. Life is only worth keeping while we can keep God’s Word… If we serve God, it is because He gives us grace. We work for Him because He works in us.’[1]


[1] Spurgeon, Charles Haddon . The Golden Alphabet (Updated, Annotated): An Exposition of Psalm 119 (pp. 40-41). Aneko Press. Kindle Edition


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