Lord’s Day, Vol. 2 No. 35

(1) Blessedness of Growing in the LORD (Psalm 119:97-144)

The psalmist experienced the good hand of God in his life. The LORD delivered, comforted, loved, chastened moulded, helped and upheld him through life’s pathways. The LORD was very real in his life. He could not see the invisible God but he experienced His abiding presence. He drew close to God by meditating on His Word. He saw the value of God’s Word throughout his life’s journey.

(a) Growing to love His Word (v97-104)

The psalmist testified that God’s Word gave true wisdom (v98) and imparted moral courage for him to refrain from evil (v101). By embracing God’s Word, he was even wiser than his teachers (v99). God’s Word is like honey (v103). It energized and revitalized him. He loved God’s Word and meditated upon it all the day (v97).

(b) Growing to rejoice in His Word (v105-112)

God’s Word was the rejoicing of the psalmist’s heart (v111b) in the midst of afflictions (v107). God’s Word was like a lamp (v105) that showed him the way to go so that he could tread safely though the wicked have laid a snare for him (v110). God’s Word was the psalmist’s indispensible companion. It was what he would pass down to his posterity (v111a). The psalmist inclined his heart to perform God’s statutes, even to the end (v112). Indeed, God’s Word has the power to calm every troubled soul, to uplift every aching heart.

(c) Growing to hope in His Word (v113-120)

God is just. He is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His justice. The psalmist trembled for fear of his God and he was afraid to fall into the wrath of God (v120). He dared not depart from God’s laws. He saw how the LORD dealt with the wicked (v119). The psalmist’s hope was in God’s Word for the LORD was his hiding place and his shield (v114). 

(d) Growing to highly esteem His Word (v121-128)

The psalmist wrote “Therefore I love thy commandments above gold…Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right…” (v127-128). He experienced the trustworthiness of God’s Word. God meant what He said and has the power to bring to pass His promises. There shall not fall one of His promises but all shall be fulfilled. This is the confidence that the psalmist had in God’s Word based on his experience. The psalmist pleaded with the LORD not to leave him to his oppressors (v121). He testified that he has obeyed God’s Word (v121). He cried out to God for salvation. He cried out to God for mercy. Will God not show mercy to His people who cry out to him in agony? Certainly, He will. He will not fail to show mercy. This is one aspect of God’s character that the psalmist appealed to (v124). The psalmist asked the LORD to intervene – “it is time for thee, LORD, to work” (v126a). God’s law has been trampled and made void by ungodly men. But God will defend His own name.

(e) Growing to order my life in His Word (v129-136)

“Order my steps in thy word” (v133) was the heart cry of the psalmist. The entrance of God’s Word gives light (v130). Those who kept not God’s words had caused ‘rivers of waters’ to run down the psalmist’s eyes (v136). However, the psalmist had resolved to keep God’s precepts (v134b).

(f) Growing to delight in His Word (v137-144)

“Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights” (v143). It is during times of severe testing that we often realize that men fail us. We are at our wits’ end. That is when we learn the reality that God is very faithful (v138). God never fails us. When we bring our petitions to Him in prayer, He answers each and every cry. All else may fail but God’s righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and His law is the truth (v142). We can truly delight in God’s promises.

Yours lovingly in Christ,

Pr. Lek Aik Wee