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Psalm
119:169-176 —In the psalm
for the day, David uses the Hebrew letter “Taw” to explain that it is the Lord
who will direct and save His people. No one else can defend or save. As Psalm
119 is drawing to a close, prayers for deliverance now become dominant. Drawing
the analogy of a shepherd rescuing the flock the Psalmist directs us to repent
“I have strayed like a lost sheep Seek your servant, for I have not
forgotten Your commands.” (v. 176)
Tau ת: Sought by God and His Word.
“The psalmist is approaching the end of the Psalm, and
his petitions gather force and fervency; he seems to break into the inner
circle of divine fellowship, and to come even to the feet of the great God
whose help he is imploring. This nearness creates the lowliest view of himself,
and leads him to close the Psalm upon his face in deepest self-humiliation,
begging to be sought out like a lost sheep.”
1. (169-170)
Deliverance according to God’s word.
Let
my cry come before You, O LORD;
Give
me understanding according to Your word.
Let
my supplication come before You;
Deliver
me according to Your word.
Let my cry come before You…give me understanding according to Your word: The cry of the psalmist is an expression of prayer, a plea to gain understanding according to Your word. He wanted his thoughts to be transformed according to the word of God.
This is very
much the same kind of thought the Apostle Paul expressed in Romans 12:2: And do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
God. The psalmist wanted his understanding of life and the world shaped –
transformed – by the word of God.
Come before
You: “The verb q-r-b in the
Hiphil is a technical term for the act of presenting an offering…. He has
nothing left to present but a ‘cry.’”
Let my
supplication come before You: This is
another reference to prayer by the psalmist, this time a prayer for deliverance
according to Your word. He wanted deliverance, but wanted it only as it was
consistent with God’s revealed word and will. He did not want an unrighteous or
unwise deliverance.
He also asked for this deliverance according to the
promises of God’s word. “It is beautiful to observe the oil of the Psalmist’s
faith feeding the flame of his supplication. Every petition is urged upon the
warrant of a promise – according to thy word.”
2. (171-172)
Praising God and speaking of His word.
My
lips shall utter praise,
For
You teach me Your statutes.
My
tongue shall speak of Your word,
For
all Your commandments are righteousness.
My lips shall
utter praise…. My tongue shall speak of Your word: The psalmist wanted his words (lips…. tongue) to both
praise God and to speak of His word. He knew that often words are either wicked
or vain or both. He was determined that others would hear him praise God, and
speak of His word.
My lips shall
utter praise, for You teach me Your statutes: His lips could praise God because they had been taught His word. The
psalmist’s lips did not praise God by nature; he had to be taught God’s truth,
and taught from God Himself. Also, the word of God informed his praise; it was
intelligent.
For all Your commandments are righteous: Knowing the purity and inerrancy of
God’s word made the psalmist want to speak of it to others. He was confident in
his convictions.
3. (173-174)
Longing for salvation and loving God’s word.
Let
Your hand become my help,
For
I have chosen Your precepts.
I
long for Your salvation, O LORD,
And
Your law is my delight.
Let Your hand
become my help, for I have chosen Your precepts: The
psalmist felt he could boldly ask for God’s help, because he had chosen to love
and keep the word of God.
The prayer reminds us of Peter walking on the sea and
beginning to sink; he, too, cried, ‘Lord, help me,’ and the hand of his Master
was stretched out for his rescue.
I long for
Your salvation…Your law is my delight: These
two expressions go together. Because God’s salvation is from and according to
His word (1 Peter 1:23), it was natural for him to delight in God’s word as he
longed for God’s salvation.
4. (175-176)
Depending on the word of the God who seeks us.
Let
my soul live, and it shall praise You;
And
let Your judgments help me.
I
have gone astray like a lost sheep;
Seek
Your servant,
For
I do not forget Your commandments.
Let my soul
live, and it shall praise You; and let Your judgments help me: The psalmist recognized that his soul needed both life
from God and guidance from God’s word. With this combination of life and
guidance, he would build a healthy relationship with God.
The ending section of this great psalm emphasizes the
psalmist’s great need for God and his dependence upon Him. His love for and
dedication to the word of God has not made him more spiritually independent,
but more spiritually dependent upon God. What did the psalmist need?
· Understanding (verse 169).
· Deliverance (verse 170).
· Ability to worship God rightly (verses
171-172).
· Power to live an upright life (verses
173-174).
· Strength to persevere (verse 175).
I have gone
astray like a lost sheep: This great psalm ends on a touching note. The
psalmist remembered his own frailty and sinful tendencies (astray like a lost
sheep), and therefore asked God to seek him.
“This verse is
extremely emotional and full of tears, for truly we are all thus going astray,
so that we must pray to be visited, sought, and carried over by the most godly
Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God blessed forever. Amen.”
(Luther)
Seek Your
servant, for I do not forget Your commandments: We
can surmise that God sought His servant in His word. God does seek after us in
His word. His word tests us; it encourages us; it strengthens us; it rebukes
us; it helps us; it teaches us; it gives us understanding; it protects us.
Seek Your
servant: “A poor, lost, weak, sinful
– yes, even unprofitable – servant (see Luke 17:10), but still a servant of
God.”
The psalmist describes a Romans 7:21 kind of
experience: I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills
to do good. “And the Psalmist had the same remedy at the early period, as had
the apostle in the later times; for God’s salvation is one. The psalmist’s
remedy was, ‘Seek thy servant;’ the apostle’s, ‘O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord.’”
“The note of urgent need on which the psalm ends is
proof enough that the love of Scripture, which has motivated the scribes of
every age, need not harden into academic pride. This man would have taken his
stance not with the self-congratulating Pharisee of the parable, but with the
publican who stood afar off, but went home justified.”
The psalm ends on the reminder that the power and
greatness of God’s word does not rest only in its literary brilliance. Its
greatness and glory is in the fact that God comes to us and seeks us in and
through His word.
“As far as I have been able, as far as I have been
aided by the Lord, I have treated throughout, and expounded, this great Psalm.
A task which more able and learned expositors have performed, or will perform
better; nevertheless, my services were not to be withheld from it on that
account.” (Augustine,)[2]
Collect for
Psalm 119: Lord, You are
just and Your commandments are eternal. Teach us to love You with all our
hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves, for the sake of Jesus our Lord.[3]
Collect for Tuesday of the week of Pentecost 13: Grant us lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen [4]
[1] The image of Christ the Good Shepherd by Wm Dyce is
found here: http://www.biblicalart.com/biblicalsubject.asp?id_biblicalsubject=789&pagenum1
[3]
Collect for Psalm 119, For All the Saints, A Prayer Book For and by the Church,
Vol. II © 1995 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
[4]
Ibid, Collect for Tuesday of the week of Pentecost 13
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