Psalm 119: An Introduction

Media Gratiae

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Welcome to the

00:12

Whole Council Podcast. I'm Jon Snyder and it's just me today and for a few weeks. I want us to start a new theme, but I need to kind of transition from our last week.

00:24

If you follow the podcast weekly, we looked last week at a number of practical suggestions for everyday struggles in the

00:32

Christian life, particularly dealing with questions regarding sanctification. And when we were together last time, we looked at six basic road signs or principles that will kind of help keep us on the general path, even if at times a very specific answer is hard to arrive at.

00:53

And we thought about doing a follow -up episode to that where we looked at some specific questions, but I think we covered enough of that in the general principles that we're going to go on to a new topic, one that's related to that, but not exactly.

01:07

And that is the issue of being the best possible listeners.

01:14

When you think about being a Christian, I wonder if you consider the extraordinary privilege of belonging to a

01:22

God that has ears and a mouth, that hears us, and that's wonderful, but also that speaks.

01:29

Here is an old copy of Tozer's The Pursuit of God, and about halfway through his book, he has a chapter called

01:38

The Speaking Voice. And it's a really great chapter. It just talks about the fact that Christians belong to a unique God.

01:46

If you think about it, having a God who is able to communicate to us is something that humanity has desired from the very beginning.

01:56

If you could just consider how many hundreds of thousands of idols have been fashioned.

02:05

And you imagine the hundreds of thousands of idol -makers throughout all the generations in every culture, from very fine, impressive works of art kind of idols to very crude idols.

02:19

But I think we would find that the great majority of them, the idol -maker would have spent time carving a mouth.

02:27

But they all have one thing in common. Whether it's a mouth carved in stone or wood, silver, brass, gold, it doesn't matter.

02:36

Those mouths have never once spoken. The Christian belongs to the one

02:42

God that we didn't make. And that God has a mouth that speaks.

02:48

And because that's true, we have the unique privilege of being the one people on planet earth that God speaks to, through His Word of course, but He speaks.

03:02

And we then want to be uniquely good at listening since we have the unique God who speaks.

03:12

A number of months ago, I was talking with my adult sons.

03:18

My wife and I, we have four adult children. And so I was talking with the sons, and occasionally we'll read a book together.

03:26

And I thought that it was one of those times where it would do us all good. And so I said, why don't we do a study together?

03:32

And we will just create a little text group, we'll text each other once a day, five days a week.

03:38

Let's go through the first few verses of Psalm 119.

03:44

And so we did. We used a book by a man named Charles Bridges, 19th century

03:49

Anglican, one of the best books on Psalm 119. And we would read one verse a day together, and we would then text back and forth.

03:59

And then at the end of the week, we would get together and discuss what we found most beneficial. And you know, each day we would say, this was help.

04:07

So we did that, and I really was so helped that even though I've been a

04:14

Christian for 32 years, I feel like the Lord used that couple of months that we went through the first 40 verses of Psalm 119.

04:23

I feel like He used that to open my eyes to Scripture in a way I had never seen before.

04:29

So we made it available to a number of people in the church, and about 50 people were invited. It wasn't a church -wide meeting.

04:35

It was supposed to be very small, but it ended up we had multiple smaller groups. So we actually just finished working through six weeks of it, and I have found it to be consistently beneficial.

04:48

So I thought that we might do this in our podcast for a while. Now, what

04:53

I hope to do after this introductory one is I want us to just look at small, bite -size pictures of the believer and their

05:03

God with an open Bible in front of them. And these would be, you know, maybe 12 -minute podcasts where they're more portable, things that are easy to take with you throughout the day.

05:14

So before we jump into Psalm 119, I want us to look at some overview things.

05:21

I want us to look at some introductory principles or facts about the psalm that will help us to approach it in the most beneficial way.

05:27

And that's all we'll be able to do today. So first, Psalm 119 really is so unique.

05:35

Andrew Bonnard said it is a psalm about a pilgrim and stranger guided day and night by the law of the

05:44

Lord till he reaches that great city. A more modern author said it this way, this is the most prolonged, powerful expression of delight and joy in God's Word.

05:57

So how do we approach it so as to benefit from it? I have read this psalm many times as a

06:02

Christian and kind of skimmed through it, and maybe you've had the same problem I've had in the past, going too quickly.

06:10

I really didn't get much. It didn't change me. I tended to look at all the different descriptions of the

06:17

Word of God from these different approaches and kind of wondered what I was supposed to do with it.

06:23

So I want us to look at some preliminary things. First, the arrangement of this psalm is unlike a

06:33

Pauline epistle where there's a logical progression and each verse clearly is built on the verse that preceded it and leads to the verse that follows it.

06:41

It's much more like a kaleidoscope. If you remember being a kid with a kaleidoscope and so you hold this telescope -like thing up and as you turn it the small pieces of colored glass or plastic flip into different shapes and different images.

06:57

It's like we're holding up the Word of God and there are 176 verses where God turns

07:04

His Word in front of our eyes 176 times and we see a different aspect of it.

07:10

But it's not always in a way where we see a clear connection between each verse.

07:17

Second, while the psalm is the most wonderful description of the

07:22

Word of God, it is not primarily focused on the Word of God.

07:28

So while it is about the Word of God, it is not focused on the Word of God but focuses through the

07:35

Word of God on the person of God. Here's what I mean. Of the 176 verses, only four verses, only four verses talk about the

07:47

Bible kind of from a distance. 172 verses we find the psalmist talking directly to God.

07:55

So four verses, general observations, 172 verses, a conversation carried on with God but the

08:05

Bible is there open in front of the believer. So really the focus is a believer's interaction with the speaking

08:11

God through the book. The four verses are verse 1, 2, and 3 which form the introduction which we'll talk about in a minute and then verse 115.

08:23

Other than those four verses, you find the pronouns shift and instead of talking about God's paths and people that follow them, suddenly it becomes very personal and the psalmist is speaking to God.

08:39

A third thing, this does give us the most complete picture of God's Word but it does it in a couple of ways.

08:47

First of all, it paints a picture of God's Word using multiple synonyms.

08:53

A recent author, Brian Borgman, has written on this psalm and he mentions eight different descriptions of the

09:01

Word of God and these each have their own flavor but in a sense I think as you come to the book, there is a sense in which they're interchangeable.

09:11

We're talking about the same book, the same revelation of God and particularly the revelation of God and His perfection and His character and His gracious ways that this is seen in the law, the commands of God, the path of Christ.

09:29

Here's the words, the word law, that's used 25 times. The word word is used 24 times, testimonies 23 times, the commands or commandments of God show up 23 times.

09:43

The Word of God is called His judgments 22 times, His decrees 21 times, precepts 21 times and promises 19 times.

09:53

So again, 176 verses about a believer, the living God and the book and the book is turned and you have eight different descriptions of God's Word.

10:05

But another way that we see a really full picture of the Word of God is in how it impacts the believer and really

10:13

I think that's so helpful because if we're not careful we think that just owning a Bible will do it but really it's as we respond to this book that we find these things becoming ours.

10:25

It's not a magical book but it does through the work of God bring so many benefits.

10:32

For example, there's an enviable happiness or a blessedness that comes to the person that walks by this book.

10:39

It produces holiness or separation unto God, fear of God, spiritual renewal and refreshment and reviving, strength and comfort during great sorrows.

10:50

It gives us counsel and guidance from God. It gives us true reasons for hope.

10:57

It softens the heart. It makes it sensitive to God. It makes us sensitive to the fact that God is being dishonored.

11:05

It unites and integrates all areas of life. It guarantees the sweet nearness of the

11:10

Lord as we respond to it enjoying His fellowship and friendship. It reveals hidden sins and heals them.

11:19

So as you read through the 176 verses you just get this wonderful picture of what the Word of God does when the believer opens that book and turns the heart toward God Himself.

11:31

Now let me say another thing about this. The author of Psalm 119 and the situation in which it was written is not known.

11:40

Now most of the old writers, so Spurgeon, Bridges, Puritans, they're pretty clear that they think it's

11:48

David. Modern writers, not so clear. There have been some other options offered but really the truth is we're not exactly sure who wrote it and we're not exactly therefore sure of the situation from which it was written and that is really helpful.

12:05

Sometimes it's great to know who wrote it and the particular situation but how can it be helpful if we don't know?

12:11

Well I think we can say this. Every believer can read Psalm 119, all 176 verses.

12:21

They all fit every believer and they fit every aspect of the believer's life.

12:27

There's no aspect of the Christian's experiences in this world that Psalm 119 doesn't speak to.

12:36

So every Christian, every circumstance. Now that leads me to another. What's the date of the writing?

12:44

Well again we don't know but we have a general idea. Let me give you something that sounds like a no -brainer but there's a theological reason for pointing it out.

12:53

This was written after the fall of man. This is not for the Garden of Eden. This is post -Garden of Eden.

13:01

Now think of what that means. The king guides the hand and the thoughts of a man to write 176 verse song or prayer and to have it reserved and preserved for us in this book thousands of years.

13:20

When the king, who is the lawmaker, writes a chapter on his law and the happiness of living by that law and that chapter is written to one kind of person, law breakers, how would you expect

13:39

God would open that chapter? I mean you might think that it would be valid for God to open it up by saying that He has ultimate rights.

13:47

That as the law giver we have to respond to Him, the law giver, in a way that recognizes those rights.

13:55

You might think He would open it up by maybe giving warnings of what happens when people neglect

14:00

His law. Why doesn't Psalm 119 open with a statement of judgment? Why not about holiness and how pure He is?

14:08

The one that gives us this law is infinitely pure without stain and therefore we ought to pay attention to what

14:14

He says. But amazingly this song written for law breakers from the lawmaker all about His broken law opens with three verses that speak of our happiness.

14:30

It is a gracious gift to the church that the most complete description of God's Word begins by stating that it is for our happiness.

14:44

Now I think that does something that helps us. First of all it clearly dispels the lie from the enemy that a life of careful obedience is a way that we bribe

14:57

God to get Him to love us or pay Him back or keep ourselves from misery or if we walk this path it's almost as if obeying

15:08

God is a way of there to be kind of a bargain. So God does some things for us and then we have to do some things for Him and we would admit that what

15:16

He gives us is much greater than what we give back but it is a bargain. And so we tend to think of obedience as not being a gracious thing but a payment thing.

15:29

Psalm 119 demonstrates that God doesn't need us. The path of obedience has nothing to do with us benefiting

15:37

God. The path of obedience is a gracious gift. It is for our happiness and we walk this path of course unto

15:47

His glory to be a reflection of His purity but it is the kindest gift.

15:53

It is the purest form of a gift. It is gracious. Notice where those verses describing happiness come.

16:02

Well they come at the very beginning. In other words they are the doorway through which you come to any of the other 173 verses.

16:10

If you skip those and jump right to another verse then you will have a warped perspective. You might get the verse right and you might be able to understand what it means and explain it, teach it.

16:22

You might be able to try to put it into practice but you will never have the right view of that verse. God, by laying the psalm out the way

16:31

He does, God requires that we pass through this door of amazement at His kindness.

16:38

The lawmaker gives me a chapter on His law. I'm the lawbreaker and He starts by talking to me about my happiness.

16:47

So a very gracious chapter and you have to see that every time as you start the chapter.

16:55

Well a final thing and then we're done for this week and that is this psalm also describes quite a few responses from the reader.

17:05

So the psalmist is opening a Bible, he's turning his heart toward his God and there are a lot of pleas for God to do things and there are a lot of expectations that God through His word would impact our lives in very particular ways.

17:19

But then if you read through the psalm you could also make a list of all the responses of the psalmist, all the determinations.

17:27

I will trust God, I plead with God, I will walk this path.

17:33

My feet, my hands, my eyes, my mouth, my ears, my heart, my memory will all be responsive to this self -revelation from God.

17:43

So the whole of me responding to this speaking God through this book.

17:51

And that's important as I mentioned because it's easy to think that if we say we believe the book and we go to a church that preaches a lot from the book, you know we go through books in the

18:01

Bible, expository preaching. If we can quote the book it is easy to think that we automatically have all the benefits of the book and that is not true.

18:10

If we want the happiness that's described in Psalm 119, the believer must wake up and by the mighty grace of God continuing to work outward what

18:23

He's placed within us, that wonderful life of Christ, every area of the life becomes more and more responsive.

18:33

Let me close with a Spurgeon quote. This is what Spurgeon said. Oh to have the word of Christ always dwelling inside of us, in the memory never forgotten, in the heart always loved, in the understanding really truly grasped, with all the powers and passions of the mind fully submitted to its control.

19:02

I want to recommend two books to you. If you are going to take up the challenge of looking at Psalm 119 and maybe the podcast will be helpful, two books

19:13

I could really recommend. One is a smaller book by Charles Spurgeon called The Golden Alphabet where he just deals with this

19:19

Psalm. It also shows up in his bigger treatment of all the Psalms in a three volume, depending how you get it, set called

19:27

The Treasury of David. Spurgeon is always just wonderful but his comments are about,

19:33

I would say about a half page per verse in Psalm 119 and you can find that online if you don't want to buy it.

19:41

But also there's another book and this is out of print right now. Boehner of Truth has published it but it's not in print and it's very hard to find even in used copies but it's by a man named

19:52

Charles Bridges which I mentioned earlier and it's just called Psalm 119.

19:58

That also is available online. You can see, you can read it at different Christian places.

20:03

I put it on there and Teddy will put it in our show notes so you can find a link to it if you can't find a hard copy.

20:09

Those two books but if I could only pick one, I would definitely pick Bridges and that's saying something since Spurgeon is so good.

20:16

Bridges gives about two full pages to each verse. Now that's enough to really flesh it out but still short enough that you can handle that each day and keep a notebook, write down key thoughts, ask the