WWUTT 1214 My Soul Longs for Your Salvation? (Psalm 119:73-96)

In this world we will go through afflictions, but God will not let us be destroyed by those afflictions, He will deliver us. Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled, but be comforted by the Word of God.

When we understand the text.

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Psalm 119:73-80 — Affliction, Discipline, and Hope in God’s Word

Thank you, Becky. We return to our study of Psalm 119, and we're looking at the section that begins with the letter Yod. This is verse 73, and I'll read through verse 80. Your hands have made and fashioned me.

Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice because I have hoped in your word. I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant. Let your mercy come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. Let the insolent be put to shame because they have wronged me with falsehood.

As for me, I will meditate on your precepts. Let those who fear you turn to me that they may know your testimonies. May my heart be blameless in your statutes that I may not be put to shame. Of course, we've got some repeating themes that we've seen in Psalm 119, particularly related to keeping God's commandments, but we also have this reference to being afflicted.

It's there in verse 75. I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Back in the previous section, we saw that word afflicted come up twice. There was verse 71.

It is good for me that I was afflicted. And even before that, in verse 67, before I was afflicted, I went astray. So we have the psalmist again praising the Lord for the discipline that he gives, and he disciplines us because he loves us so that we may walk in his statutes, not go the way of unrighteousness, but love the path of righteousness.

Now, the way that we start here in verse 73 is very similar to something that we'll see in Psalm 139. It sounds a lot like that, a psalm that we haven't made it to yet. But it's in Psalm 139 that's famous for this passage beginning in verse 13.

For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. That's kind of an expounding upon what we have here in verse 73.

Your hands have made and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. Again, as we've seen this over and over in Psalm 119, it is by the gift of God that we can understand the word of God.

Anybody can read God's word, but not understand God's word unless his spirit has made us to understand it. These things are spiritually discerned. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, the naturally minded man cannot understand spiritual things for they are spiritually discerned.

We need the spirit of God to understand them. Even in the Old Testament, it is prayed that God would give us understanding to learn your commandments and keep them. Even as we have in Psalm 139 about being fearfully and wonderfully made, now we get to verse 74 where we have a reference to being in the fear of the Lord.

Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice because I have hoped in your word. My testimony means something to those who likewise fear God. And here when we're talking about fearing God, we're not talking about the man who fears the judgment of God coming upon him.

We're talking about that reverent fear of the Lord that we are to have. See, the sinful and wicked man does not fear God. That's exactly why they walk in sinfulness and wickedness. They do not think that the judgment of God is going to come upon them or that somehow they may escape the judgment of God and they suppress the truth with their unrighteousness.

But those who fear God see those who are of God and they rejoice in the testimony of how the law has led us rightly because I have hoped in your word. And this is a praise to all of us. We see our brothers and sisters walking in the faith.

Think of the letters of John. John's three epistles, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, all three of them express to some degree a rejoicing to hear that the children of God are walking in faith. Compare that with the book of Jude, which is right after 1, 2, and 3 John.

And Jude begins by saying, I would like to have rejoiced with you in our common faith, but I find it necessary to write to you to warn you about those who are going astray and leading astray. So you have an interesting contrast there between John's letters and Jude's letter.

But here we understand that those who fear God rejoice in others who fear God because of our hope in the word of God. Praise belongs to him. I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

When we experience the discipline of the Lord, it's not because he's punishing us. It may not always be because he's punishing us. Maybe he is because we need to have a right understanding. We need to be brought back to a path of righteousness.

Maybe that's the reason. But there's always some sort of fleshly tendency in us that sanctification is working out. And so when God afflicts us, afflicts our circumstance, brings us hardship and trial, it is so we may cling to God.

And so many times when we've talked about this, I've referenced to 2 Corinthians 1, where the apostle Paul says that we went through these things so that we may rely not on ourselves but on God. We may rely all the more on God who raises the dead.

That's 2 Corinthians 1 .9. And so we put our faith in God who has faithfully afflicted us because we are his children, because he's faithful to us. He has not cast us off. He has not thrown us into judgment.

But he has afflicted us so we would cling to God. Verse 76, let your steadfast love comfort me. As we've just read about God's faithfulness, in your faithfulness you have afflicted me. So let your steadfast love, let me recognize your love for me in this.

And let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant. Where do we find the promise of God? Where do we come to cling to the promise of God? It's when we read his word. Because I have hoped in your word, as he said earlier.

So verse 77, let your mercy come to me that I may live for your law is my delight. If we continue in trial and tribulation and punishment with no hope for deliverance, well, then we would utterly perish.

So by the mercy of God may we be delivered from our plight. For your law is my delight. I wasn't trying to rhyme there, it just came that way. It's also in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, as Paul opens that letter, he gives praise to the father of mercies and the God of all comforts.

And so here we have that pleading for God to show mercy to us that we may be delivered. Verse 78, let the insolent be put to shame because they have wronged me with falsehood. As for me, I will meditate on your precepts.

Let the insolent be put to shame. So I've been preaching through the Sermon on the Mount and it's in Matthew chapter 5, at the end of Matthew 5, where Jesus talks about not taking vengeance out on your enemies, but vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

It is not for us to retaliate against our enemies or even hate our enemies, but that we would love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. So let the insolent be put to shame by the judgment of God, not because we retaliated, but because the Lord will be vindicated because they've wronged me with falsehood.

As for me, I will meditate on your precepts. This has been something that I've had to grow up in as I've matured as a Christian, not retaliating against those who have done me wrong and have even attempted to smear my name by spreading falsehoods about me, but rather meditating on God's precepts, trusting in His ways, and He will accomplish His will.

Verse 79, Let those who fear you turn to me that they may know your testimonies. Again, those who fear God with a reverent fear, they turn to me, hear of the testimony of God that has been done in my life and the word that I have known, so that I may guide another according to what you have accomplished in me according to your word.

This is not just, look at all the great things that I have done, look at what I've accomplished, and here's my testimony. This is how the word of God has guided me and brought me to this place, has delivered me from darkness, has rescued me from my affliction, has shown me mercy, all of this according to the word of God.

May my heart be blameless in your statutes that I may not be put to shame. Let's go on to the next section of Psalm 119. This is Kaph, and we begin here in verse 81. My soul longs for your salvation. I hope in your word.

My eyes long for your promise. I ask, when will you comfort me? For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes. How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me?

The insolent have dug pitfalls for me. They do not live according to your law. All your commandments are sure. They persecute me with falsehood. Help me. They have almost made an end of me on earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.

In your steadfast love, give me life that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth. Again, my soul... Sorry, my soul, verse 81, longs for your salvation. I hope in your word. Now, you are a follower of Jesus, just taking for granted that pretty much everybody who would be listening to me read the Bible day after day is a follower of the Lord.

So you follow God. You are saved by the blood, the precious blood that was spilled for us on the cross for our sins. And by faith, you have been justified and received the righteousness of Christ. So you're saved, right?

You believe in Jesus. You've repented of sin. You're a follower of Christ. You are saved. And yet, you still long for salvation. That salvation is not the same as justification, but the salvation context here would be sanctification.

We have been saved, and we're even continually being saved. And we're looking forward to a future glory in which we are saved out of this world into the glory of God. So there are several contexts in which we understand this word salvation.

It is not wrong for the psalmist here to say, my soul longs for your salvation when the soul that is longing is already saved. We're looking for greater salvation. Remember the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1, saying to the Philippians, to work out your salvation with fear and with trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

We're working out our salvation as we grow in sanctification, and yet it is God who is working in us according to his will and for his pleasure. So my soul longs for the salvation that only God can give, that only God is working out in us, that only God will deliver us into.

I hope in your word, for it's in the word of God that we find these promises. My eyes long for your promise. I ask, when will you comfort me? My eyes long for your promise. That could have a couple of different meanings.

It could mean that reading the word of God, we desire to see the promises of God and what it is that we read. That goes back to the previous section where the psalmist prayed, give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.

So even here, my eyes long for your promise. As I'm looking upon your word, I want to see the promises of God for me. I ask, when will you comfort me? And this is fairly similar to many psalms that we've read up to this point.

But in particular, I think of Psalm 13, which says, how long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

Consider and answer me, O Lord, my God. Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. That's a few more verses than what we read here in this very simple question, when will you comfort me? It's not that God doesn't comfort, and it's not that God has forgotten, but when will I be comforted in my affliction?

This affliction that I am enduring, when will I be delivered from it? When will I enter into your promise? For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes. It's an unused wineskin that is hanging.

It's still kind of going through that process of tightening, of being made a usable wineskin. Well, if it's left too long, where the wineskins are drying out, then it becomes shriveled up by the smoke.

And this is as though the psalmist is saying, I've been hanging out for a long time, kind of waiting to be delivered here, to experience the mercy of God in the midst of my affliction. So I've become like a wineskin in the smoke.

I've become all dried up. And if I'm not taken down soon, then I could become completely unusable. But I have not forgotten your statutes. And that's like Psalm 13 as well, where David prays there, I have trusted in your steadfast love.

My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. So even here, the psalmist, I'm feeling dried up, but I've not forgotten your statutes. I still cling to the Lord.

How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me? So once again, we don't take vengeance into our own hands, but God will be vindicated. It may feel like a long time that we endure the persecution of those who hate us.

But yet the Lord will deliver. Verse 85, the insolent have dug pitfalls for me, and they do not live according to your law. All your commandments are sure. They persecute me with falsehood. Help me. I believe in the truth.

They're believing in and propagating lies. Help me and punish them. That's kind of what the psalmist is asking for here. But ultimately, this is not a selfish request. It's that the righteousness of God would be seen.

And in God's righteousness, those who love righteousness are delivered, and those who hate righteousness are destroyed. Verse 87, they have almost made an end of me on earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.

In your steadfast love, give me life that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth. We go on to this next section here, and I'll conclude with this one. This is Lamed, starting in verse 89. Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.

Your faithfulness endures to all generations. You have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment, they stand this day, for all things are your servants. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. I am yours. Save me, for I have sought your precepts. The wicked lie and wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies. I have seen a limit to all perfection.

But your commandment is exceedingly broad. Forever, O Lord, your word, this is verse 89 again, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Consider the word of Christ in Mark 13 31, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away.

It is the word of God that had been spoken that brought all things into existence. It's the word of God that has been spoken to us that brings us to salvation. It is the word of God that will be spoken and by the breath of his mouth, all evil will be destroyed and the righteous will be delivered.

And it's the word of God that we will exalt and praise forever and ever in glory. God's word is firmly fixed in the heavens. What he has decreed will happen. What he has said will remain and it will not be moved.

His promises are sure and we are comforted by that, knowing that what God has promised for us, he will give to us and we have no reason to despair, no reason to go astray, no reason to fall into hopelessness, which is more of what the psalmist prays here in this section as he did in the last.

Your faithfulness endures to all generations. You have established the earth and it stands fast. By your appointment, they stand to this day. It's in Colossians chapter one, where the apostle Paul says that by the hand of Christ, all things hold together.

He is before all things. Everything is as it is. It's not flying apart. It's not coming to utter destruction and chaos because God is holding it together. By his decree, it came to be and by his decree, it is as it is.

For your appointment, by your appointment, they stand this day. For all things are your servants. Everything that exists is existing under the command of God. Nothing flees from the command of God. Everything will happen and come to pass exactly as God has ordained it.

Verse 92, If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction because there would have been no hope. There would have been no purpose to affliction unless it had been caused by God.

Take that with any terrible circumstance that happens in the world. Now, there are those who go through those things and the difficulty that they endure is ultimately meaningless because whether they are delivered from it or they aren't, whether this suffering that they are in ends or whether it ultimately takes their life, there's no meaning or purpose in the suffering.

Suffering is utterly meaningless, which is why philosophers for ages past have been searching for pleasure as the meaning of life because there's no meaning and purpose in suffering. But for us who are Christians, there is meaning in suffering.

In fact, we share in the sufferings of Christ that it may make us more like Him. And we experience this suffering so that the glory and deliverance is that much sweeter on the day that we join the Lord in glory.

We live in a fallen world. There's going to be trouble around us all the way. But it's in John 14, 1 where Jesus said, Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

It would have been utterly meaningless to me. But I know the meaning and purpose of all things to God's glory because of what I find in God's word. I will never forget your precepts for by them you have given me life.

It's by the word of God that all things hold together and it is by God's word that we are sustained through hardship. I am yours. Save me. For I have sought your precepts. The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.

The wicked want to destroy me. God is going to deliver me. So it is by His word that I will trust and I will be delivered. Verse 96, I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.

Those things that we on earth would consider to be perfect and right and good, there's a limit to that. But the commandment of God is without limit. It is exceedingly broad. It is the righteousness of God revealed in His law.

So let us not take that for granted, but love God for having given us His precepts that we may walk in them and rejoice in Him for His commandments. Let's conclude with prayer. Lord, thank you for sustaining us and doing so by your word and by your law.

We rejoice to keep it this day and help us to show to another the deliverance and forgiveness of God that is by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. For everyone who believes in Him will be saved. Thank you for this salvation you have given to us and continue to work out our salvation by your will and good pleasure.

And it's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen. You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals, and other resources online at www .tt .com. Thanks for listening!