Psalm 119:31

(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 cling to Your testimonies;

O LORD, do not put me to shame!"

 

‘Cling’ is the same Hebrew word as ‘cleaves’ in Psalm 119:25.  I awake in a battle as to what my soul would cling to.  I feel as though I am holding on for dear life.  Nothing else will do.  All else is disorder, destruction, and death.  I resonate with the words of Romans 6:21-23, ‘what benefit’?  Psalm 103:3, Psalm 116:12 - there is lasting benefit only in You.  Surely my soul clings to You (Psalm 63:8), the Source of all good (Romans 12:9, Mark 10:18).  I hold on for dear life as one being rescued, lost at sea, and find myself on the most glorious vessel imaginable.  Why would I then throw myself into the sea of chaos and death?

 

‘His choice was so heartily and deliberately made that he stuck to it for life, and could not be removed from it by the reproaches of those who despised the way of the Lord. What could he have gained by quitting the sacred testimony? Say rather, what would he not have lost if he had ceased to cleave to the divine word? It is pleasant to look back upon past perseverance and to expect grace to continue equally steadfast in the future. He who has enabled us to stick to him will surely stick to us…If we are not true to our profession we may be left to reap the fruit of our folly, and that will be the bitter thing called “shame.”.. A brave heart is more wounded by shame than by any weapon which a soldier's hand can wield.’[1]


[1] Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Treasury of David, on Psalm 119:31, e-Sword edition


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