Psalm 119:42

(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.)

 

"So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me,

For I trust in Your word."

 

Continuing the thought from Psalm 119:39, how shall we deal with those who reproach?  I lean upon Your lovingkindness and not my efforts, the holiness of Christ and not my credentials.  Any answer comes not from my own cleverness, but from Your word.  The Psalmist had experienced, not simply concepts of truth, but an experience of it, filled personally with Your lovingkindness and truth.  Surely ‘By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, And by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil.’ (Proverbs 16:6).  In wisdom we answer fools (Proverbs 26:4-5), and Father, may I be so filled with Your truth in the innermost being (Psalm 51:6) that evil men will not be able to withstand (Acts 6:10. 1 Corinthians 2:4), from a life that is not vacuous but credible (1 Corinthians 4:19-20, Proverbs 21:29).  In these days extra-biblical and often non-biblical standards are being used by some professing Christians to judge Christians.  May I discern from Your word, speak from Your word, and desire the fruitful impact of Your word in their lives.  Proverbs 26:23-28 and James 3:13-18 are particularly apt; may I rightly discern root and fruit for Your glory.  The response may not be positive, but I trust in You and Your word, You who will bring all things to light (1 Corinthians 4:5, Hebrews 4:12-13).  Surely a right regard for Your word is the best antidote to fear.  Psalm 56:4.

 

‘This is an unanswerable answer. When God, by granting us salvation, gives to our prayers an answer of peace, we are ready at once to answer the objections of the infidel, the quibbles of the sceptical, and the sneers of the contemptuous. It is most desirable that revilers should be answered, and hence we may expect the Lord to save his people in order that a weapon may be put into their hands with which to rout his adversaries. When those who reproach us are also reproaching God, we may ask him to help us to silence them by sure proofs of his mercy and faithfulness… God hath more respect to a man's trust than to all else that is in him; for the Lord hath chosen faith to be the hand into which he will place his mercies and his salvation. If any reproach us for trusting in God, we reply to them with arguments the most conclusive when we show that God has kept his promises, heard our prayers, and supplied our needs. Even the most sceptical are forced to bow before the logic of facts.’[1]  See also Psalm 71:7.


[1] Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Treasury of David, on Psalm 119:42, e-Sword edition


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