Psalm 119:25-48

Discussion Questions

• How have you seen God revealed to you or others?
• What things in our lives that do not finally matter (are worthless) are allowed to take up our time? What are the things we should be focusing on instead?
• Are there things in your life that you are trusting to God? In what situations may you be depending upon God? How can prayer work in these situations?
• Who in your sphere of influence needs to hear the gospel? Have you shared the gospel with others, and how was it received? How did you feel sharing your testimony?

Transcript

We study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel. We’ll be doing that today. Raise your hand if you’d like a paper copy to follow along with, and someone will deliver it to you. And if you’re swiping instead of turning the page, as always, our info’s up on the screen to enable you to do just that. And every Sunday, we love to welcome in our friends that join us online. In the past week, we’ve been joined by folks from Plano, Texas; from Dasmariñas, Cavite, Philippines; from Dallas, Oregon, USA; little surprise there, and Hilo, Hawaii. Thanks for worshiping with us, friends. We’re glad you’ve joined us. Well, today, we’re continuing in our 6-week study of Psalm 119. Remember, we’re going to do 3 weeks, then take a break for advent, and then we’ll do the final 3 weeks after that and then start into Acts in January. The last Sunday, Pastor Jim taught us through the first 24 verses, and today, we’ll study verses 25 to 48. Last week, we called our study Delighting in God’s Word, and today, we’re calling it Growing in God’s Word.

As finite, limited beings, in order to understand something or someone larger than us, someone or something beyond us, outside of us, we need revelation. We need information that is revealed to us, because we cannot grasp it on our own. And aren’t we fortunate that God does reveal Himself to us? He reveals Himself to us through the created order. You know, every morning when we get up, we bump into God and we come face to face with His existence. All of creation is a signpost that points directly to God, pointing to His glory. Creation gives us an overwhelming testimony of God’s existence. But because of the fall and our broken relationship with God, we need more than just this general knowledge revealed to us in creation. We need a deeper knowledge of Him, a deeper knowledge of ourselves, an understanding of what it means to be human, what the purpose of life is. We need an awareness of sin and the fallenness of the world and an awareness of God’s plan to rescue us and reconcile us back to Him. And so, He gave this amazing gift to us, His Word, and we cannot overestimate and overstate the importance of the Word that God has given us. Because if there’s no absolute truth as is revealed by Scripture, then we’re left on our own to decide what is true. Without a unified standard of belief and behavior, without Scripture, we would not know right from wrong except for what our predilections are. We’d be confused about who we are, what the purpose of life is, what it means to be human.

Because of the fall, our understanding itself is limited, so much so that we’re unaware of how limited our understanding is. And so, we need help, don’t we? Paul Tripp puts it this way in his book, Do You Believe? He says, “So God, in the beauty of His grace, did not turn His back on our foolishness and walk away. God looked on foolish humanity with a heart of compassion and not only sent His Son to rescue fools from themselves, but also to gave us the wonderful gift of His Word so that fools would not only recognize their foolishness, but would also have a tool by which they could progressively become wise.” And thanks be to God for the gift of His Word. Through His Word, God reveals Himself to us. He reveals Himself as the God who is there, the God who sees, the God who speaks. So, we come to Psalm 119, which is an absolute celebration of God’s Word, the Word of this God who is there, who sees, who speaks. And as Pastor Jim said last week, except for the first 3 verses, the entire psalm is a prayer by the psalmist. This psalm has 176 verses in it. It’s the longest chapter in the Bible. It has 22 stanzas of 8 verses each, and those 22 stanzas correspond to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. There are 8 shared synonyms in this psalm, which all describe, in various facets and ways, the Word of God. And we’ll see most of those synonyms in our passage today. They’re law and instruction, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, word, and promises.

So, let’s pray friends, and then let’s dive into this amazing text: Lord, You are good and we are grateful; grateful for who You are, grateful for Your Word and how you reveal Yourself to us in creation, in Your word, and in Your son, Jesus. Holy Spirit, I pray that You would speak to all of us this morning, and I pray that You would speak to each of us, that You would meet each one of us at our point of need and illuminate Your Word. And so, to that end, we pray show us Your ways, O Lord, teach us Your paths, guide us in Your truth, and teach us. For you are God, our Savior, and our hope is in You all day long, and we lift this up in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Alrighty, so we are starting in verse 25. In this first stanza, the name is Daleth, and in this first section, this first stanza, you get a sense this psalmist is in a really rough spot. His life is in the dirt. But by the end of the stanza, there’s such a beautiful healing response that enables him to move forward. So, let’s read first 4 verses of this: “My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word! When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes! Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!” So, in these first 4 verses, do you get this picture of the psalmist and his life, how it’s just a wreck? And his response is, “Give me life according to your word,” and then he repeats that again in a bookend in verse 28, “My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.” I love what he says in verse 26, “When I told of my ways, you answered me,” and he’s pouring out his heart to God here, telling his story.

And friends, we all have stories to tell. The whole Bible is our story and God’s story woven together. It’s the story of how we were created, of how we wanted to go our own way, be our own god, and in doing so, how sin broke and wrecked the original good creation into pieces. And then the rest of the Bible is the beautiful story of God’s relentless grace pursuing us, of how He would not let us go. Our story is wrapped up in the Bible. We had a staff renewal retreat on Thursday, and it was just the most delightful day of being together, of digging into the Word, of worshiping, and also sharing stories. In the morning, each of us recounted how the Lord brought us to The Village Chapel. And one of the most amazing, amazing things to see as each person told their story was how there were these invisible threads that God was pulling on and weaving together in all of our lives through the years, working behind the scenes before we even knew each other. It was just amazing. And so, we knew each other first as just members of the congregation and then He called us to be on staff. Well, after lunch in the afternoon, Chris Parker led us in this great exercise. We all brought a little something for show and tell, something from growing up, from our past, and we all got to tell our stories. Some of the stories were funny, some were poignant, some were really emotional, but in them, we heard each other’s stories.

We as humans are eager to share our stories, and obviously we see that on social media. We want to be seen, we want to be known, we want to be loved, and we are made this way. And so, I love that about verse 26. The, the psalmist here is pouring out his heart to the Lord. “When I told of my ways, you answered me.” One of our greatest joys here as a staff is to get to know you in the congregation and to hear your stories, and to get to know you. We just love that. Well, in this first stanza, there’s 2 sets of bookends, if you will. One is the one I just mentioned, verse 25 and 28. “My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!” And then 28, “My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!” So, there’s a little mini bookend within the first half of that stanza. Let’s keep going. Verse 29, “Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me. I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame! I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!” “Put false ways from me…” verse 29. “Graciously teach me your law.” Not with a heavy hand, not with a tyrannical hand, but with a gracious hand, “…teach me your law.”

And what is the psalmist’s response to that? He says, “I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.” Friends, are we choosing the way of faithfulness? Not the way of perfection, God’s not asking that, but the way of faithfulness. And then in verse 31, here’s the next bookend. You know verse 25 started out with, “My soul clings to the dust.” Another word is cleave, which means sticking to, and he uses that same word again in verse 31. He says, “I cling [I cleave] to your testimonies, O Lord.” How beautiful to go from cleaving to the dust to cleaving to the testimonies of God! And then the ultimate result is redemption, of running in the way of the Lord. Well, in the next stanza, which is called “He,” you’re going to see the response of the psalmist. And this little passage here, these 8 verses, it’s a series of asks. But what is he seeking? What is he asking for? Some of the same things that he asked for in the first stanza. Teach me, give me, lead me, incline my heart. So, this is a series of asks, but it’s not, “Give me a new car.” It’s not, “Make me successful.” But what is he asking for? “Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will keep it to the end.” Let me read these verses: “Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.” Delight in the path of your commandments. “Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain.” Well, God’s not looking for perfection. He wants our hearts, and I love that. “Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.” That’s not, give me understanding so I can boast in myself, but rather, give me understanding so that I can keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. And what a beautiful prayer that is, friends!

Father, give us understanding of Your ways so that we can walk in your ways, so that we can observe them with our whole hearts. Verse 36 says, “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain.” As Pastor Jim has often said, “Our ‘wanters’ are broken.” And I think one of the most honest prayers that we can ever pray is, “Lord, I don’t even know if I want to do this, but I know that I want to want to.” You know, there’s times where I can honestly say, “I don’t want to pursue the path of righteousness. But Lord, I want to want to follow the righteous path.” I need the help of the Holy Spirit to incline my heart towards righteousness and not towards my own path. And then to me, verse 37, this is the hinge verse of these 3 little stanzas. “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.” What do you think of just now when I said that? “Turn, Lord, turn my eyes from looking at worthless things. Is there anything prompted in your heart? I know it’s easy to think, “Okay, he’s just talking about low-hanging fruit, the obvious sins.” Yeah, okay, that’s part of it, but what else in our lives? What are we focusing on that is worthless?

In his book, Faithful Leaders and the Things That Matter Most, Rico Tice says, “Failure is succeeding at things that don’t finally matter at all.” Being successful at the wrong things. So, let’s dig into that for just a second. What are things in our lives that are capturing our attention because we’re spending time thinking about them, watching them, listening to them, doing them? What’s worthless or pointless that we spend our lives on? When we get to the end of our lives, what will we wish that we had spent more time on? Tim Keller said, “You know, nobody on their deathbed is going to say, ‘I wish I’d spent more time at the office.'” That’s just not what we’re going to be thinking about at the end. But you could just fill in the blank. It could be spending time at the office or this or that or doom-scrolling on social media. There’s just so many things in our lives that we spend our time, our energy, and focus on that are not the main things. And I’m not saying that we need to live an austere life with no joy. Not saying that at all, but it’s like a food pyramid for our souls. What do we eat? Do we eat whole foods, fruit, vegetables, good protein? Or do we eat way too many snacks, fried things and salty things? You know, is the bulk of our diet healthy, nutritious food that, to feed our bodies and to give them strength to be fully alive? Or are we just self-medicating on M&M’s and Pringles? Think I heard this week that there’s a new salt and vinegar Pringle coming out, which I’ve gotta say sounds pretty good, ’cause I do like a salt and vinegar chip.

But I’m not saying don’t enjoy a good show or a good book or some social media. I’m asking, what is the foundation of our diet, spiritually? What’s the foundation that our lives are built on? Let’s keep going, verse 38: “Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness, give me life!” Where do we find life? We find life in His righteousness. And this section is just beautiful because it’s an honest assessment of our need for God’s help in creating in us a heart that longs to follow Christ and not getting distracted by all the pretty, shiny things that have no lasting value. And it’s in that righteousness and goodness of God that we find our life. Well, let’s move on to the last stanza, “Waw.” And it’s like a response hymn, if you will. Our first stanza, remember, was the psalmist being so honest in his plight when his life was in the dirt. And then the second stanza was the psalmist asking the Lord to work in his life, to teach him, to lead him, to incline his heart, to follow the word. And then this last stanza, it’s the response or the resolve, if you will.

So, let’s start at verse 41. “Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules. I will keep your law continually forever and ever.” Well, we have literal and figurative taunters in our lives, don’t we? You know who accuses us? Who taunts us? There’s an enemy of our souls who loves to taunt us, who loves to accuse us, and he loves to accuse God in front of us, which he did in the garden when he first asked Eve, “Did God really say?” He was accusing God in front of Eve. Well, frankly, we accuse ourselves plenty too, don’t we? I know I do. I have an ongoing, fairly negative dialogue or monologue going in my brain accusing myself. Sometimes we have other people in our lives, family members, friends, neighbors who taunt us. Sometimes we’re ridiculed for our faith, for our brokenness, for our weaknesses, for our failures. And you know the one person who does not taunt us, does not accuse us, does not lie to us? This would be a rhetorical question, wouldn’t it? Because it’s God that does not taunt us.

God may convict us of sin, but He does not taunt us. He does not shame us. He points out the reality of our sin in order to draw us to Him. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. In verse 44, the psalmist says, “I will keep your law continually forever and ever.” And what a beautiful resolve by the psalmist. Again, as I’ve said several times, we’re not talking perfection. This is a statement of the heart and intent, and we know that it is impossible for any of us, save Jesus, to live a perfect human life. God’s not asking for perfection. He’s asking for our hearts. In verse 45, “I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.” Picture yourself on one of those trail rides on the back of a burro, a donkey, going down one of those steep, narrow trails in the Grand Canyon. And you know that your mount gets spooked by a rattlesnake or stumbles on a loose rock that there’s a pretty good chance you’re going over the side. And you have to pay for the ride. But compare that to running free in a wide open field of grass where we can run with freedom in the safety of having no worries about going over the edge, the freedom of living following God’s laws and precepts and commandments. And the lie of the world is this: sin promises freedom but delivers bondage and slavery. The Word of God seems to constrain us, and yet what the word of God delivers is wild and glorious freedom.

The last 2 verses up, sum up this passage. Lord, help us live this way. I’m going to read from 45 through 48. “I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts. I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame.” Why? “For I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. I will lift up my hands towards your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.” So, when we find our delight in the Lord, friends, we find that in following Him, our choices move beyond duty, beyond discipline, to delight, to life, to loving His commandments. Because when we’re talking about the Word of God, the laws, the testimonies of God, what we’re really talking about is God Himself, because all of His laws, His testimonies, they’re all based on who God is and His character. We’re not talking about following a set of rules. We’re talking about, rather, following a living and holy God. Well, how do we apply this passage to our lives today? How do we pay attention to what the author intended? How do we pay attention to what God wanted to reveal Himself through the passage? What are some results to be gained from growing in God’s Word?

Well, the first is when we grow in God’s Word, we grow in the knowledge of who God is. When we grow in God’s Word, we grow in the knowledge of who He is because God’s Word always reveals who God is. It reveals His character because His Word is based on His character. So, when we grow in God’s Word, we grow in the knowledge of who God is, but it’s more personal than just knowing about God. It becomes personally knowing God. Tim Keller puts it like this, he says, “To understand the Scripture is not simply to get information about God. If attended to with trust and faith, the Bible is the way to actually hear God speaking and also to meet God Himself.” Since God’s Word is one of the primary ways He reveals Himself to us, the more we grow in His Word, the more we grow in knowing Him. We also grow in understanding how He wants us to live our lives. As our creator, God has a way that He wants our lives to go, and as our creator, He has a say in how we live our lives. And the more time we spend in God’s Word, the more we grow in it, the more we understand how He wants us to live our lives. And then we begin to resemble God the same way we resemble and take on the habits and mannerisms of any person that we spend a lot of time with. We’re invited into a relationship with God through a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh.

Well, another result from growing in God’s Word is that when we grow in God’s Word, we grow in trusting God’s ways. Because of our human experience, our chronological time that we live in, we’re used to traveling in a linear, straight line, right? Because of that, our vision is limited. We can see pretty well behind us in the rear-view mirror, and we can see pretty well around us and right in front of us, but we can’t know what lies ahead. We’re unable to see around the bend. But we know God, and we know that God knows what lies ahead. He can see around the bend and nothing that lies ahead for us comes as a surprise to God. The more we grow in God’s Word, the more we know about God, who He is, His character, His faithfulness, how dependable He is, we know that we can trust Him. We can trust what He is doing in our lives, and what we can’t see around the bend, we can trust Him with. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.” With the more time we spend with God and in His word, the more we experience that perfect peace that comes with trusting Him.

C.S. Lewis talks about the need to trust God and, and what He is doing in our lives in Mere Christianity, and he says, “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently, He starts knocking the house about in a way that does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He’s building quite a different house from the one you thought of — throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage, but He’s building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” We can trust God’s ways when we cannot see around the bend. Well, as we grow in God’s Word, we also grow in dependence, not independence, in dependence on Him.

And it’s such a curious thing that happens as we grow in God’s Word. As we grow in our knowledge of God, in our confidence and trust in God, we rely on ourselves less and less. You might think we would become more self-confident as we grow more confident in God, but we actually rely on ourselves less and less and rely on God more and more because we realize that our peace and our strength, they’re derived in who God is and not in who we are or what we do. The Apostle Paul describes this very thing in second Corinthians, “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me… For when I am weak, then I am strong.” That is just some good stuff. With growth in the Word, it gives us an awareness of our need to rely on God instead of ourselves. Prayer is the vehicle that moves us towards that and maintains that awareness. John Piper says this, he says, “Prayer is God’s way of keeping us in close, conscious, personal dependence on Him.” The more time we spend in the Word and spend in prayer, the more we become aware of the fact that we can depend on God and rely on Him and not on ourselves.

Well, lastly, when we grow in God’s Word, we are eager to share the Gospel. Like the psalmist in the third stance of our passage today, that confidence and reliance on God, the trust in His Word, it fuels our desire to share the Gospel with others, to speak of His testimonies of the hope we find in Christ, to share the good news and the new life that we found in Jesus. Spurgeon put it this way, “It is the whole business of the whole Church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world.” We have work to do, friends. I know we use this analogy often, but if we had the cure for cancer, wouldn’t we want to share it with everyone we know? And if we truly love our neighbor, how can we do anything but pray for a Holy Spirit-directed opportunity to share this really, really good news with them? Pray for those opportunities, friends.

Well, in addition to being the God who is there, the God who sees, and the God who speaks, He is also the God who knows, the God who knows us and wants to be known by us, actually wants to be in relationship with you and with me. The God who is there is the God who wants to be here, right? The best part of God’s Word, the story of God’s covenantal love for us that continues to unfold is that through His Son, Jesus Christ, God has made it possible for us to be in relationship with Him. He knows us and He wants to be known by us. So, I’ll close with this from J.I. Packer, “What matters supremely is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it — the fact that He knows me. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him because He first knew me and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me, and there is not a moment when His eye is off me or His attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters.” Amen. That is really good news.

Well, as the worship team comes up, I’d like to invite you to pray. We have a prayer team that meets in the back, and if there’s anything that you’ve come in struggling with, anything that’s on your mind or your heart, or if anything from our word today has prompted you, go back and meet them and pray with them. They would love to pray with and for you. So let me pray for us: Heavenly Father, we are grateful for Your Word. Your ways are glorious, Lord. Thank you for revealing yourself to us. Thank you for drawing us to you and leading us in the way everlasting. Thank You for inclining our hearts to You and to Your ways. Thank You for drawing us to You. Thank You for providing a way to get to You through Jesus. Holy Spirit, we ask that You would continue to work in our lives and to bring to mind Your promises and Your invitation. We lift this up in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“Come Christians Join To Sing“ by Christian Henry Bateman
“Anchor Of Hope“ by Brown Bannister and Ellie Holcomb
“O Great God“ by Bob Kauflin
“Take My Life And Let It Be“ by Frances Ridley Havergal
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois
All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #2003690

Call To Worship: How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place

(Excerpts from Psalm 84, 72, 73, and Ezekiel 15)
LEADER: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
PEOPLE: Our souls long, yes faint for the courts of the Lord; Our hearts and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

LEADER: Who is like you, O Lord, Majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
PEOPLE: It is good to be near God; Make the Lord God our refuge and tell of all His works.

LEADER: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
ALL: Blessed be His glorious name forever; May the whole earth be filled with His Glory! Amen and Amen!

Classic Prayer: Basil the Great

O Lord our God, teach us, we beseech Thee, to ask Thee aright for the right blessings. Steer Thou the vessel of our life toward Thyself, Thou tranquil Haven of all storm-tossed souls. Show us the course wherein we should go. Renew a willing spirit within us. Let Thy Spirit curb our wayward senses, and guide and enable us unto that which is our true good, to keep Thy laws, and in all our works evermore to rejoice in Thy glorious and gladdening Presence. For Thine is the glory and praise from all Thy saints forever and ever.

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