Psalm 119 is written as a mnemonic that captures central truths:
a. God sees, hears, and knows me personally;
b. There is an enemy of souls that stands in opposition to God and any who believe in Him;
c. Our Creator God is Sovereign over all creation and Supreme Victor over all our foes;
d. When we are in the midst of the reality of human sorrow, sin, and suffering, when we don’t see God’s active work in our circumstances and feel abandoned by God, we can stand upon God’s promises by faith, and this faith sustains us;
e. God is victorious over sin, and yes, even death, and those who rest their faith in Him will reign with God forever;
f. We have everlasting joy and fellowship with God as we stand in faith–both now and forevermore.
An enconium on the Word of God. Psalm 119 is really a lengthy enconium on the Word of God. The Word of God is active and dynamic. It is effective when it is studied, believed, and applied in faith. How many times has Lamentations 3:21 rescued me, personally, from danger!
“…yet this I call to mind, and therefore have hope…”
The author Jeremiah, God’s own ordained minister to a very confused world, was in an excruciatingly dark place very few of us will ever be called upon to experience (3:1-20). He expresses himself in a lament. God connects with us through the agony. God sees our pain. He saw Jeremiah’s and God did not shut him up! Jeremiah’s lament is here for us to read. Stop now and read Lamentations 3.
Jeremiah purposely turned his mind to his knowledge of God’s work in the past. Right in the middle of his darkest hour when he wished for death, he calmly asserts: “This I remember…and have hope…”.
God is good. He knows, he hears, he sees, and God responds! There is purpose in what is transpiring, and there is good ahead if I do not wilt away and give up prematurely (Isaiah 40).
We now have more than Jeremiah had then. We have the Deliverer, Jesus Christ–the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).We have the whole New Testament to show that Jeremiah’s hopes were not in vain. God answered his deepest prayers in a way he could never have even imagined–both then, and even more now! Jeremiah’s faith is exemplified in Psalm 119.
My goal is to walk in the same faith. By writing out the prayers, I have a proven path to praying rightly before God in all circumstances. Psalm 119 takes me out of my emotion, out of my heart-influenced reasoning, out of my pressing circumstances, and into the Truth that surpasses all. It lifts me high above the millieux of life and lets me down in the safety of God’s mighty, Sovereign and eternal arms of love. I can do all things…because He is with me.
See Part III for the close of this introductory post.
© 2018 by http://www.readpsalm119.com; last updated January 25, 2019.
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