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 only in surrender to You there is true and lasting peace.  ""Yield now and be at peace with Him; Thereby good will come to you."  (Job 22:21)

 

‘Having confessed the righteousness of the Lord, he now appeals to his mercy, and while he does not ask that the rod may be removed, he earnestly begs for comfort under it. Righteousness and faithfulness afford us no consolation if we cannot also taste of mercy, and, blessed be God, this is promised us in the word, and therefore we may expect it… Blessed be his name, notwithstanding our faults we are still his servants, and we serve a compassionate Master… That phrase, “according to thy word,” is a very favourite one; it shows the motive for mercy and the manner of mercy. Our prayers are according to the mind of God when they are according to the word of God.’[1]


[1] Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Treasury of David, on Psalm 119:76, e-Sword edition


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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  seek  her as silver And  search  for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of Yahweh And find the knowledge of God
Read more

Friendship with the World

"The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' ( - Jesus, Luke 7:34 NASB) 'You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.' (James 4:4 NASB) 'It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.' ( - the Apostle Paul, 1 Timothy 1:15 NASB) Was Jesus, in fact, a friend of sinners? What is to be the nature of our relationships as believers with unbelievers? As believers, should we refer to ourselves as ‘sinners’? As I've reflected on much of the teaching I've heard in recent times, as well as many conversations I've had, it seems to me much confusion abounds regarding these questions.  I hear the term 'contextualization'
Read more

The Cost of Christlikeness

Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. (Psalm 119:67, 71, 75 NASB) In my previous blog entry I spoke from Romans 8:28-30 on how God works all things for His children to become like Jesus in their character. As I thought about this, it seems to me that two questions or issues immediately arise from this assertion: What about those who do not ‘love God’ and are not ‘called according to His purpose’? (from Romans 8:28) What will it cost me to fully participate in God’s purpose for my life? In short, I believe the common answer for both is joyfully submitting to God’s Lordship in their lives, that is, His absolute control over all things. Let me explain: For the unbeliever, we see God’s goodness to all people in creation (Acts 14:17), and that He has orchestrated all things so that people would
Read more