Tuesday prior to Proper 19

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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]-06 September, 2022

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[1] The image of Christ the Good Shepherd by Wm Dyce is found here: http://www.biblicalart.com/biblicalsubject.asp?id_biblicalsubject=789&pagenum1
[2] https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-119/
[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