Psalm
119: 73-75 antiphon, Psalm 119:76—In
the Introit for Sunday, we pray, Let Your steadfast love comfort me
according to Your promises to Your servant. Christ will comfort us even in the
midst of great testing and affliction. The Hebrew term for unfailing or
steadfast love denotes befriending. It is an appeal to God’s unfailing love,
His kindness and mercy which was demonstrated by our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
Psalm
119:73-76 Confidence in the Creator and His Word.
The Hebrew letter yod
stanza represents the small Hebrew
letter Jesus referred to as a “jot” in Matthew 5:18: ‘till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means
pass from the law till all is fulfilled.’
(73)
Surrendering to the word of the Creator.
Your hands
have made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your
commandments.
Here the psalmist proclaimed God as Creator, and
understood certain obligations to God because he was fashioned by the hands of
God.
The modern age, with its widespread denial of a
Creator God, has a much lower sense of obligation to God as Creator. Despite
the deeply seated rejection of God as Creator, man’s obligation to his Maker
remains. The psalmist understood what many today forget or deny.
To say that God is our Creator is to recognize:
· That we respect Him as One who is greater and smarter than we are.
· That He, as our designer, knows what is best for us.
· That since our beginning is connected to the invisible world, so our end will be also.
(74) The
common gladness of those who fear God.
Those who
fear You will be glad when they see me, Because I have hoped in Your word.
The psalmist considered that his righteous life would
be an encouragement to others who also feared God. This was an additional
reason to hear and obey God.
(75-76)
Comfort from God’s word in a time of affliction.
I know, O
LORD, that Your judgments are right, And that in faithfulness You have
afflicted me. Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, According
to Your word to Your servant.
His attention
upon God’s word has given the psalmist a wise and godly perspective even in
seasons of suffering. He can proclaim the rightness of God’s judgments even
when he is afflicted.
It is one thing to say, “God has the right to do with me as He pleases.” It is a greater
thing to say that His judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have
afflicted me.
This was the place Job eventually came to through his
long and desperate struggle through the Book of Job. He came to know that the
judgments of the LORD were right, and even understood God’s faithfulness in
affliction. Eli, David, and the Shunammite mother had similar moments of
understanding.
· Eli could say in his affliction, It is the LORD. Let Him do what seems good to Him (1 Samuel 3:18).
· David could say in his affliction, Let him alone, and let him curse, for so the LORD has ordered him (2 Samuel 16:11).
· The Shunammite mother could say in her affliction, It is well (2 Kings 4:26).
The psalmist prayed on solid ground, asking on the
basis of promises made in God’s word. With such promises, he asked for merciful
kindness in his affliction. [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]
The lessons for this coming Sunday give us a picture
of people in luxury, affluence, and leisure but without concern for the less
fortunate. In the Gospel (Luke 16:9-31), the rich man (known to many as “Dives”) has no concern for the
hungry man at his palace gates; the dogs have more compassion for Lazarus than
he does. The Old Testament lesson (Amos 6:1-7) shows us a people enjoying the height of prosperity
but who have no concern for the future of the nation. In the Epistle lesson (1Timothy
6:6-19,) we are admonished not to be
concerned about worldly possessions but about the attainment of spiritual
values. This is driven home in the words of the hymn to the day “Lord, Thee I love with all my heart.”
The theme of this day speaks to our American culture a
people with more wealth comforts and leisure than any other nation in world
history. Yet are many in our country still looking for contentment?
[1] The rich man and Lazarus, Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcuts © WELS permission granted for personal and congregational use
[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 Monday of the week of Pentecost 15
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