PSALM 119: 81- 88 CAPH
The Word of God gives hope verse 81
My soul faints for YOUR salvation
but I hope in YOUR word
The Word of God gives comfort verse 82
Mine eyes fail for YOUR word saying
When will YOU comfort me?
The Word of God brings persecution verse 83- 85
For I am become like a bottle in the smoke
yet I do not forget YOUR statutes
How many are the days of YOUR servant?
When will YOU execute judgment on them
that persecute me?
The proud have dug pits for me
which are not after YOUR law
The Word of God brings security verse 86- 87
All YOUR commandments are faithful
they persecute me wrongfully
help YOU me
they had almost consumed me upon earth
BUT I forsook not YOUR precepts
The Word of God is living and brings life verse 88
Quicken me after YOUR loving-kindness
so shall I keep the testimony of YOUR mouth
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 81 My soul faints for YOUR salvation: but I hope in YOUR word. (3176 “hope” [yachal] means to wait, to be patient, stay, tarry, or trust.)
DEVOTION: This is the eleventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Have you ever been at the end of your rope? Have you ever felt that you couldn’t take it anymore? Have you ever wished that your present trial was over? All of us have experienced these feelings. The Psalmist was feeling this way in this part of his psalm.
He does ask the LORD questions regarding HIS timing. He would like the present trials to be over. He asks the LORD “how long?” The LORD wants us to be honest in our prayers to HIM. HE wants us to express our felt need. HE wants us to ask HIM questions. We have to think through our present trials to see if we can see the lessons the LORD has for us. We know nothing happening in our life that the LORD doesn’t allow for our personal growth. Each growing experience is helpful to others that are going to come into our world.
He trusts in the Word of God. He knows it is God’s word to HIS people. He is trying to obey HIS word. There are enemies that are giving him a hard time. He wants the LORD to help him. He wants comfort from the LORD. He wants the LORD to restore fresh energy into his life.
It seems that God takes a long time to answer our prayer requests for help. It sometimes seems that HE doesn’t care. Our responsibility is to go to HIM with our requests and then wait for HIS answers. It is hard on us.
The psalmist found it to be hard also. We are a people of action. We want it to happen yesterday. God knows the perfect timing, in which, to answer us. HE wants us to sing the song “Stayed upon Jehovah.” He wants us to sing the song “My hope is built…”
Are we singing while we wait for HIS answers? Should we be? We truly are the only ones in our world who have the ability to trust in SOMEONE other than ourselves. The world doesn’t have this trust. The world doesn’t have this hope.
I love the word “quicken” which means “to be revived.” The Psalmist has a deep desire to be alive in the loving-kindness of the LORD.
CHALLENGE: In the midst of trials we need to show others that we have hope. Once they see hope in us they can show hope to others. Christianity is a faith of hope.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 82 Mine eyes fail for YOUR word, saying, When will YOU comfort me? (5162 “comfort” [nacham] means to be sorry, to console, to alleviate sorrow or distress, give emotional strength to, or express one’s condolence by a messenger)
DEVOTION: Can you feel the Psalmist pain? Have you ever wanted the LORD to alleviate your sorrow or distress in your life?
I think all of us have had a time period in our life when we want the LORD to send someone or something our way to alleviate our present circumstances. It seemed like we were serving the LORD but then HE allows something bad to happen in our life that we didn’t understand but we knew that it was for our good but we still wanted the LORD to work a miracle.
Too often we think that once we become a genuine believer in the LORD things would go smoother for us. That is not true. Look at what Jesus went through while HE was on this earth.
We know that HE was supposed to suffer for our sins but HE went through so much more as HE lived HIS life to please the Father. It was their plan but HE had to go through it all. HE had to live on this earth for thirty years and face the world of sinners who did nothing but put HIM down and cause HIM pain.
We are only experiencing a LITTLE pain while HE experienced a lot of pain on the cross for us. Too often we think what we are going through is more than we can take but the LORD promises that HE will not give us more than we can take.
Each day we would like the alleviation of any pain in our life but that is not what HE has called us to. HE has called us to be HIS servants no matter what. HE has promised to be with us through those times of suffering but HE had not said that there would be NO suffering for HIM.
CHALLENGE: We need to turn our suffering over to HIM and allow HIM to comfort us during those times. HE has promised to NEVER leave us for FORSAKE us!
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: 84 How many are the days of YOUR servant? When will YOU execute judgment on them that persecute me? (6213 “execute” [‘asah] means make, deal, commit, prepare, perform, to put something into effect entirely or thoroughly, or produce by labor.)
DEVOTION: Here is a servant of the LORD going through a hard time with those who are on his case all the time to the point that he can’t stand it anymore. He wants the LORD to deal with the people who are giving him a hard time.
Notice that he expects the LORD to deal with the individual and he was not going to deal with it himself. He turned them over to the LORD and expected HIM to do what is right for the sake of one of HIS servants.
Too often we want to take things in our own hands and deal with the problem in our own way and it causes all kinds of problems when we try to handle something that we should wait on the LORD to handle.
There have been many occasions in my life when I have turned things over to the LORD and HE has taken way too long to deal with them from my perspective but HE has HIS reasons and it is always for my good. Patience is something that I think it takes a lifetime to learn.
As I continue to learn from the LORD that HE has a plan for my life and HE is working the plan according to HIS timetable. I ask the same question the Psalmist asks. I inform the LORD that I am not going to live forever on this earth and I would like to see my enemies dealt with NOW!! That is our human thinking. God wants us to think HIS thoughts, which means that HIS timing is always perfect.
CHALLENGE: Waiting on the LORD to deal with those who hurt us is never easy but it is Biblical!!!
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 85 The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after YOU law. (2086 “proud” [zed] means presumptuous, arrogant, insolent, a wicked person characterized by being presumptuous, inflated, haughty, self-willed and not humble to the LORD.)
DEVOTION: This group is made up of people who are genuine believers. We usually find these people outside the church but they were found both within and without the children of Israel.
There were many who were part of the children of Israel who were not genuine believers. They sometimes went through the motions of worshiping the LORD but as we see in the New Testament there were groups of Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians who said they were followers of the LORD but HE told them that they were not followers of HIM because they were just going to the motions rather than having the LORD in their hearts.
Even today in the churches of the world that say they worship the LORD in spirit and in truth we find that they are not really worshiping the LORD. They are going through the motions but their heart has not been turned over to the LORD wholly.
Only those who are not presumptuous and arrogant are genuine believers. Those who have the traits of the groups mentioned above are not genuine believers but are religious but not on their way to heaven.
We have to be able to discern who are the genuine believers by the Holy Spirit. We have to make sure that we are not following those who really don’t love the LORD but are acting like they do.
CHALLENGE: We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and in HIS Word daily to be able to discern those who are just going through the motions and those who are genuine followers of the LORD.
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:88 “Revive me according to YOUR loving-kindness, So that I may keep the testimony of YOUR mouth.” The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).Testimony – 5715 עֵדוּת [ʿeduwth /ay·dooth/] n f. From 5707; TWOT 1576f; GK 6343; 59 occurrences; AV translates as “testimony” 55 times, and “witness” four times. 1 testimony. James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2001).
DEVOTION: Our lives tell a story to those around us! The activities we are involved in, the people we associate with and the language we speak all say things about us. If we claim to be believers and live in ways that contradict the teachings of the Lord then are we looked upon as fake or hypocritical. As well, the Lord’s name is blackened and smeared and his word is questioned. God’s word has endured for centuries even though many have tried to disprove it, His revealed truth has consistently proven to be accurate. So why do people not rely upon this available wealth of knowledge? It is because some of His people, his messengers are not good testimonies of what they say they believe! The psalmist desired to be a testimony before people by keeping God’s commandments and having his life revived. May we experience the reality of Christ through His word today and be revived.
CHALLENGE: Spend some time meditating on the love of Christ and the life He wants us to demonstrate to those around us. (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Prayer for comfort and help verse 81- 88
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Word verse 81, 82
Statutes verse 83
Judgments verse 84
Law verse 85
Commandments verse 86
Precepts verse 87
Testimony verse 88
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
Execute judgment verse 84
Commandments are faithful verse 86
Loving-kindness verse 88
Testimony of YOUR mouth verse 88
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Soul verse 81
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Persecuting believers verse 84, 86
Proud verse 85
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Salvation verse 81
Hope verse 81
Comfort verse 82
Study the statutes verse 83
Servant verse 84
Help verse 86
Not forsake God’s Word verse 87
Quicken verse 88
Loving-kindness verse 88
Testimony verse 88
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
Questioning but waiting (vv. 84–85). “How long?” he asked in verse 84, and “When” in verses 82 and 84. These questions have often been asked by suffering saints (see on 6:3), even by the martyrs in heaven (Rev. 6:9–11), because they are the natural response of people who are suffering. (See Jer. 12:3–4; 15:15; and 20:11–12.) It is difficult for most people to wait for the things they can see—a traffic jam to end, a checkout line to speed up, an important letter or e-mail to arrive—and it is even more difficult to wait for our unseen Lord to work out His will. It is through “faith and patience” that we inherit what God has appointed for us (Heb. 6:12; see Rom. 15:4). Our trials will produce patience if we trust in the Lord (James 1:3–4). The enemy may be digging pits, but the Lord will see to it that they fall into them first (9:15; Prov. 26:27). (Wiersbe, W. W. (2004). Be exultant (1st ed., pp. 122–123). Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries.)
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119:81–88. The psalmist admitted that his soul almost fainted while waiting for God’s Word (vv. 81–82). He was weakened much as a wineskin in the smoke becomes shriveled. So he asked how long (cf. comments on 6:3) it would be until he was vindicated (119:83–86). He asserted that though his enemies almost consumed him, he had not forsaken God’s Law (vv. 87–88). (Ross, A. P. (1985). Psalms. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 881). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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Ver. 84. How many are the days of thy servant? &c.] If this is to be understood of the days of his life, they were very few, as the days of every man be; and if of his days of joy and comfort, peace and prosperity, they were fewer still; but if of days of adversity and affliction, which seems to be the sense, they were many indeed. When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? good men have their persecutors; there is a judgment that will be executed on them, if not here, yet hereafter; it is a righteous thing with God to do it; it is often deferred when the saints, through zeal for the glory of God, and the honour of his justice, as well as for their own deliverance and comfort, are at times somewhat impatient for it, and earnestly solicit it, as the psalmist here; see Rev. 6:9. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 4, p. 224). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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84. How many are the days of thy servant? When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?—85. The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law
Though a steady confidence in severe and protracted exercise may enable us “not to forget the statutes;” yet we shall hasten to carry our complaint before him, “How many are the days of thy servant?”—my days of affliction under the “fury of the oppressor.” To complain of God is dishonorable unbelief. To complain to God is the mark of his “elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bears long with them.” Christian! study this instructive pattern; and, when exposed to the lawless devices of “the proud,” forget not your hiding-place. God in Christ is your strong hold, “whereunto you may continually resort.” He “hath given commandment to save you.” Your trial has done its appointed work, when it has brought you to him; and inclined you, after your blessed Master’s example, instead of taking the vengeance into your own hands, to commit yourself and your cause “to him that judgeth righteously.”7 ‘And this,’ as Archbishop Leighton excellently observes, ‘is the true method of Christian patience—that which quiets the mind, and keeps it from the boiling tumultuous thoughts of revenge; to turn the whole matter into God’s hands; to resign it over to him, to prosecute when and as He thinks good. Not as the most, who had rather, if they had power, do for themselves, and be their own avengers; and, because they have not power, do offer up such bitter curses and prayers for revenge unto God, as are most hateful to him, and are far from this calm and holy way of committing matters to his judgment. The common way of referring things to God is indeed impious and dishonorable to him, being really no other than calling him to be a servant and executioner of our passion. We ordinarily mistake his justice, and judge of it according to our own precipitate and distempered minds. If wicked men be not crossed in their designs, and their wickedness evidently crushed, just when we would have it, we are ready to give up the matter as desperate; or at least to abate of those confident and reverent thoughts of Divine justice which we owe Him. However things go, this ought to be fixed in our hearts that He that sits in heaven judgeth righteously, and executes that his righteous judgment in the fittest season.’
Usually the Psalmist is expressing his love for the law. Here he is complaining against his enemies; yet still implying the same spirit, that the pits, which the proud dug for him, were not after God’s law. The martyrs’ cry under the altar shows the acceptance of this complaint;2 “seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble” his people, “and to them that are troubled rest.” Some of us indeed have known but little of “cruel mockings”4 and bitter persecutions. Let such be thankful for the merciful exemption from this “hardness:” but let us gird on their armor for the conflict. Let none of us, in the determination to “live godly in Christ Jesus,” expect to escape “persecution.”6 Let us “count the cost” of suffering for Christ, whether we shall be able to abide it. For the mere spiritless notions, or for the unenlivened forms of religion, of which we have never felt the power, nor tasted the sweetness, it would be little worth our while to expose ourselves to inconvenience. But if we understand the grand substantials of the Gospel—if we are clearly assured of their reality, practically acknowledge their influence, and experimentally realize their enjoyment, we shall dare the persecuting malice of “the proud” in defence of a treasure dearer to us than life itself. Should we, however, be too rich to part with all for Christ, or too high in the estimation of the world to confess his despised followers, it will be no marvel, or rather a marvel of mercy, if he should sweep away our riches, and suffer “the proud to dig pits for us.” To make this world “a wilderness or a land of darkness” to us, may be his wisely-ordained means to turn us back to himself as our portion, to his word as our support, to his people as our choice companions, and to heaven as our eternal rest. (Bridges, C. (1861). Exposition of Psalm 119: As Illustrative of the Character and Exercises of Christian Experience (Seventeenth Edition., pp. 139–140). New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.)
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84. How many are the days of thy servant? I cannot hope to live long. I am sinking under my burdens. If I am, therefore, to see the accomplishment of my desires—my deliverance from my enemies and my troubles—it must be soon. This is not a desire to be told how long he was to live, as if it were an object of desire to know this, but it is a method of saying that he could not live long under these circumstances, and therefore he offered this earnest prayer that God would interpose and save him soon.
When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me! How long shall this be delayed? I look for this; I expect it; I rely on thy promise that it shall be done; but if done so that I shall see it, it must soon be done, for I shall soon sink into the grave. It is a prayer that God would come and do quickly what he felt assured he would do, in delivering him from his foes. (Barnes, A. (1870–1872). Notes on the Old Testament: Psalms (Vol. 3, pp. 202–203). London: Blackie & Son.)
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84. “How many are the days of thy servant?” I cannot hope to live long in such a condition, thou must come speedily to my rescue or I shall die. Shall all my short life be consumed in such destroying sorrows? The brevity of life is a good argument against the length of an affliction. Perhaps the Psalmist means that his days seemed too many when they were spent in such distress. He half wished that they were ended, and therefore he asked in trouble, “How many are the days of thy servant?” Like a hired servant, he had a certain term to serve, and he would not complain; but still the time seemed long because his griefs were so heavy. No one knows the appointed number of our days except the Lord, and therefore to him the appeal is made that he would not prolong them beyond his servant’s strength. It cannot be the Lord’s mind that his own servant should always be treated so unjustly; there must be an end to it; when would it be?
“When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?” He had placed his case in the Lord’s hands, and he prayed that sentence might be given and put into execution. He desired nothing but justice, that his character might be cleared and his persecutors silenced. He knew that God would certainly avenge his own elect, but the day of rescue tarried, the hours dragged heavily along, and the persecuted one cried day and night for deliverance. (Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). The treasury of David: Psalms 111-119 (Vol. 5, pp. 305–306). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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Felix vacates his office without resolving Paul’s status.
INSIGHT
How strangely God fulfills His own word: “So you must also bear witness at Rome” (Acts 23:11). Paul knows he will have to go to Rome, but he doesn’t expect to go under Roman guard and at Rome’s expense. After two years the Jews still thirst for his blood! Had he been transferred to Jerusalem, his life would have been imperiled. However, God had called him to preach the Gospel in Rome. Through these circumstances, Paul is transferred.
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And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness [or, in the wicked one]. 1 John 5:19
The New Testament teaches that however much the world may change on the surface, it is always under the control of evil and of sin. This admits that the powers of evil can be mollified a great deal, and they have been mollified during the passing of the centuries. There have been periods when the world has been getting better, but these have been followed by a terrible declension, and the teaching of the New Testament is that the whole time the world has been lying “in the wicked one.”
Now that is where, it seems to me, we have been so steadily fooled for the last hundred years; and when I say “we,” I mean the Christian as well as the non-Christian. How confident people were toward the end of the nineteenth century that the world was being Christianized! But we must not be deluded by all these changes that are merely superficial. The world, says John to these people, is under the dominion of Satan and sin. It is in the grip of evil; it always has been, and it always will be.
According to the New Testament (and here we get the realism), the world will always be the world; it will never get better. I do not know the future. There may be another period of apparent reform and improvement, but the world will still be lying “in the wicked one,” and indeed the New Testament tells us it may “wax worse and worse” (2 Timothy 3:13). Indeed the evil of the world is so essentially a part of it and its life that its final outlook will be judgment and destruction. You will find this teaching everywhere. The evil in the world cannot be taken out; it is to be destroyed. There is to be an ultimate climax, and there will be a terrible end.
A Thought to Ponder: The teaching of the New Testament is that the whole time the world has been lying “in the wicked one.” (From Fellowship with God, pp. 17-18, by
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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The Pragmatic Life
“And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.” (Luke 19:13)
This “parable of the pounds” indicated to His disciples that they should not wait idly for the second coming of Christ, thinking “that the kingdom of God should immediately appear” (Luke 19:11), but that they should stay busy, using whatever abilities and opportunities they had in the Lord’s service until His return. The word “occupy” is an unusual word, the Greek pragmatenomai, from which we derive our modern word “pragmatic,” meaning “practical,” and it only occurs this one time in the New Testament.
There is another related word, however, also occurring only one time, in2 Timothy 2:4: “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” Here the word “affairs” is the Greek pragmateia, and Paul is cautioning those who would be “good soldiers of Jesus Christ” against becoming involved in the pragmatic affairs of civilian or business life, if they would really be pleasing to their commanding officer.
At first, there seems to be a contradiction. Jesus says to stay busy with the practical affairs of life until He returns. Paul says not to get involved with pragmatic things.
There is no real contradiction, of course, if motivation is considered. Whatever may be our vocation in life, as led by the Lord, we are to perform that job and all the other daily responsibilities of life diligently and faithfully, for His sake.
If we allow these things to become an end in themselves, however, or use them for other purposes than for His glory, then we have, indeed, become tangled up in the affairs of this life, and this displeases Him. He desires that we be diligent in whatever He has called us to do until He comes, but to be sure it is for Him, not for ourselves. (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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