Exposition of Psalm
119
?
Caph
God’s
Word Brings Comfort In Time of Need
Psalm
119:81-88
My
soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy
word.
Mine
eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort
me?
For
I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not
forget thy statutes.
How
many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute
judgment on them that persecute
me?
The
proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy
law.
All
thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me
wrongfully; help thou me.
They
had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy
precepts.
Quicken
me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the
testimony of thy mouth.
As one reads this stanza,
it is easy to see that the writer is at his lowest
point, at the very rock bottom of his existence. He is
beleaguered, besieged, and battered by the enemy.
Perhaps Spurgeon says it best: “This octave is the
midnight of the Psalm, and very dark and black it is.”
Just as obvious,
however, is the fact that the writer doesn’t stay
in the dark, as human nature tends to tempt us to be. He
did not take the attitude of the old expression, “While
I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, I realized it
was the light of an oncoming train.” It is one thing to
be discouraged, but it is quite another to be
despondent; it is one thing to be hindered
but quite another to be hopeless. And in both cases, David was the former but not
the latter. As Spurgeon goes on to say: “Stars, however,
shine out, and the last verse gives promise of the
dawn.”
Many people quote the old
adage, “knocked down but not knocked out,” but few
recognize that it is a principle lifted from the pages
of Scripture. The Apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians:
We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in
despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but
not destroyed (II Cor.
4:8-9).
We see this same attitude
in the verses before us. We see here three principles
that truly bring comfort in time of need. The Psalmist
was distressed but hoping, perplexed but expectant, and
thereby revived and faithful.
I.
Distressed but Hoping (vs. 81-83)
My
soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy
word.
Mine
eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort
me?
For
I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not
forget thy statutes.
We read here that the
Psalmist needed two things: renewal and
renovation.
He Needed
Renewal (vs. 81-82)
My
soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy
word.
Mine
eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort
me?
The Hebrew behind
fainteth
(kalah) is an interesting word. It primarily means to
consummate or to bring to completion. While it sometimes
is used in a positive way, such as when God “finished”
and “ended” His work of creation (Gen. 2:1-2), it is
more often used in a negative way. It’s used, for
example, in God consuming the heathen (Num. 16:21).
In our text, then,
David feels consumed, exhausted, and spent. As Spurgeon
put it, “He grew weary with waiting, faint with
watching, sick with urgent need.” He, therefore, sought
salvation,
that is, deliverance, victory, and safety, as the Hebrew
teshuw'ah
indicates. This word was typically used in the context
of military conflict, and that is exactly what the
Christian life is, a war. Those who think that the
Christian life is easy are not living it. Why? Because
it is a war “not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places.” It is for that reason that we are to
put on “the whole armour of God, that [we] may be able
to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand” (Eph. 6:12-13). It’s also significant that as the
teshuw'ah usually was not obtained through human means
(Ps. 33:17; Ps. 108:12; Ps. 146:3; Prov. 21:31), neither
do we win the victory in ourselves. Victory comes only
through God’s armor.
This is all the more
emphasized by the words, I hope in thy
word. This is the fourth time we have seen
this word hope (or
“hoped”) in this Psalm (cf. vs. 43, 49, 74), and we’ll
see it four more times (vs. 114, 116, 147, 166). As
noted before, the Hebrew is yahal, which means “confident expectation, trust, and
patient waiting.”
Oh, that we would
see this truth in our day! The only place we will ever
find hope is in
God’s Word. It is the only certainty for growth,
development, depth, and victory in Christian living. If
it is not the central emphasis of ministry in our church
we simply do not have a valid church.
Commenting on I Peter
1:3-4—which speaks of our “lively hope by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you”—commentator
Robert Leighton writes:
A
living hope—living
in death itself! The world dares say no more for its
device, than Dum spiro spero—While I
breathe I hope—but the children of God can add by virtue
of this living hope, Dum expiro spero—While I
breathe my last, I hope.[i]
What a blessing it is to
have that wondrous assurance! That does, indeed, bring
renewal to a troubled soul
The Psalmist goes on
to say, Mine
eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort
me? The word fail
translates the same Hebrew word as fainteth
in verse 81. The idea, then, is that his eyes became
weary in his constant reading of the Word of God. He
read, and read, and read some more. Why? Because that is
the only place where he found comfort. Yes, it might take awhile. Sometimes it will
seem like the comfort will never come. But just keep
reading and keep trusting, for the answer is always
there.
This leads to something
else the Psalmist needed.
He Needed
Renovation (v. 83)
For
I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not
forget thy statutes.
Here is one of the
oddities of the Bible. What in the world does David mean
by this statement? Here is a fascinating picture that
only knowledge of history explains. As also pictured in
Jesus’ analogy of putting new wine in old bottles (Matt.
9:17), bottles in ancient times were made of animal
skins. Various customs have been cited by commentators.
Some, for example, point out that the skins were
sometimes hung up in the smoke to dry before the wine
was actually put in them. If not done properly, however,
such as hanging them in a tent where the smoke could not
easily escape, they would be tainted. Others say that
such bottles, when empty, were hung in the owner’s tent
and could be spoiled by the smoke.
Whatever the custom, the
application is the same.[ii] The skins would now
be useless. They would reek with smoke and would become
black, sooty, wrinkled, and shriveled.
That is how David felt. One
commentator paints an accurate picture for
us:
David . . . was
in the throes of despondency. Everything had gone
against him. He was in the thick of the battle. There
was a haze about him, like smoke rising from a
smouldering fire. He could not see or think clearly. He
appeared to be in the midst of the conflict, so that he
considered that he was hanging above the fire, and
likened himself unto a bottle in the smoke. His face was
lined, his skin was wrinkled and shriveled, his
countenance was blackened by the soot; he had about
reached the place of despair.[iii]
Thankfully, however,
he then adds, yet do I not forget
thy statutes. We might be
as low as is possible for a person to be, but it’s
always the Word of God that delivers us from
despondency, despair, and depression. Yes, we will know
distress and difficulties in faithful Christian living,
but our hope is always in God and His
Word.
II.
Perplexed but Expectant (vs. 84-87)
How
many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute
judgment on them that persecute
me?
The
proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy
law.
All
thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me
wrongfully; help thou me.
They
had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy
precepts.
These four verses are the
heart of the stanza and demonstrate the desperate
straits in which the Psalmist found himself. He faced
three perplexing realties.
God’s
Seeming Indifference (v. 84)
How
many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute
judgment on them that persecute
me?
The Psalmist here voices
that ago old perplexity of why God’s people suffer while
the wicked seem to triumph and prosper. “It just seems
like God doesn’t care,” we sometimes think. “Doesn’t He
see what’s go on? Why doesn’t He judge these wicked
people who are persecuting me?”
The answer to such
questions, however, is really not as perplexing as it
seems. First, if we may be so blunt, it is none of our
business what God is doing and why. God is sovereign and
does what He does because He is Who He is. Does
Ephesians 1:11 read, “He worketh all things after the
counsel of what pleases us? Or, “He worketh all things
after the counsel of our understanding?” Or, “He worketh
all things after the counsel of what makes us feel
good?” No, it reads, He “worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will” (Eph. 1:11). Second, and this
is the comfort He gives us, He will eventually, in His
time and purpose, execute judgment on
those who have rebelled
against Him and persecuted His people. Just as the
tribulation saints will pray, “How long, O Lord, holy
and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on
them that dwell on the earth? (Rev. 6:10),” God will
answer that prayer in His time a few years
later:
And [John] heard a great voice
out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your
ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon
the earth. . . . For they have shed the blood of saints
and prophets. (16:6).
Men’s
Seditious Attacks (v. 85)
The
proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy
law.
The Psalmist is
again graphic here, saying that his enemies had dug
pits
for him. Just as a hunter would dig pits to
entrap animals so they could kill them, so will those
who hate God and His law try to destroy the followers of
Christ.
I read a story that
perfectly illustrates David’s perplexity. A certain
Christian young man graduated from a large secular
university. Because of the joy of His faith, he wanted
to share that fact with other students at his alma
mater. He wrote to the administration and asked if
he might be allowed to come and share Christ and His
word with the student body. The reply he received
shocked him, partly for its content but also because it
came from a man he thought was a friend. The reply was
that that would not be a good idea because even if the
school were to invite a conservative to speak, it would
certainly not invite an ignoramus. In his perplexity,
the young man asked a preacher friend why his alma
mater would treat him that way.
The wise preacher replied, “I’m not surprise, and you
may just as well adjust yourself now to the inevitable,
for our Lord said [in Jn. 15:18-19], ‘If the world hate
you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye
were of the world, the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world, therefore the world hateth
you.’”[iv]
Indeed, if we find
ourselves being loved by the people of this world and
find ourselves being accepted as “just one of the guys,”
we had better take another look at the life we are
living. When we stand for truth, we will be hated for
it. And it gets worse.
Our Serious
Persecution (vs. 86-87)
All
thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me
wrongfully; help thou me.
They
had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy
precepts.
I enjoy Shakespeare,
and my favorite play, as with many other readers, is
Hamlet. In Act III, Scene 1,
is probably the most famous line in all literature: “To
be, or not to be.” But what does it mean? What is that
Prince of Denmark talking about? Hamlet is obviously
thinking of whether it’s better to live in all the
misery of life or just kill himself and be done with it.
Part of his soliloquy is:
To be, or not to be: that is the
question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind
to suffer
The slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of
troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die:
to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we
end
The heart-ache and the thousand
natural shocks
That flesh is heir to . .
.
Oh, what
despondency! As beautiful as that Elizabethan English
is, David summed up the matter with one word: HELP! How
many characters do we see in Scripture, however, who
experienced “the slings and arrows” that the enemies of
God shot at them, but who, far from contemplating
suicide, claimed the victory because of God’s power?
Satan himself tried to destroy Job. On one occasion
Potiphar’s wife tried to destroy Daniel, and on another
so did Darius. Nebuchadnezzar tried to destroy Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. On numerous occasions the
religious leaders tried to destroy Paul. But in each
case, as David then adds, while the slings and arrows of
the enemy almost consumed
them, not one of them forsook
(or abandoned) God’s precepts. It is that thought that leads to David’s final
prayer and promise in this stanza.
III. Revived
and Faithful (vs. 88)
Quicken
me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the
testimony of thy mouth.
The Hebrew behind
quicken is
the same as in verse 25 (hayâ) and means
to live, be alive, and to sustain life. It also speaks
of reviving someone, as in reviving them from sickness
or discouragement. Reviving will not come from
self-determination, will power, or some psychological
cliché or technique. It will come only from God’s Word
working in our heart and
mind.
It is that very
reality that produces the faithfulness demonstrated in
the words so
shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. The
image of God’s mouth
reminds us immediately of the pivotal doctrine of
verbal inspiration, a doctrine that has been
under attack for over 100 years; and if we may add, if
we allow this doctrine to be successfully destroyed, the
game is up. Paul clearly speaks of this doctrine when he
writes, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God”
(II Tim. 3:16). “Inspiration” translates the Greek
theopneustos, a compound
comprised of theos, “God,” and pneo, “to
breath hard, to forcefully and consciously blow air.”
Inspiration, then, is the forceful and conscious
exhaling of God into the Scripture writers. It is the
“expiration” (not “inspiration,” which
comes from the inferior Latin
Vulgate—divinitus inspirata), of God, that
is, with all His energy He “blew” His very words into
the writers of Scripture, while still allowing for the
writer’s personality and style. That is the miracle of
verbal inspiration. And that is why, as Paul goes on to
say in verse 17, it is the only thing in the universe
that “is profitable [useful, beneficial] for doctrine
[teaching], for reproof [exposing false teaching and
rebuking sin], for correction [setting things right],
for instruction in righteousness [training in every
area].”
With that in mind,
the Hebrew for keep
(nasar), as noted back in verse 33, means to
guard, observe, and preserve. It’s used, for example,
for a watchman over his vineyard (Job 27:18; Prov.
27:18). Here, then, we are challenged to guard God’s
testimonies (‘edah), that is,
those sober and serious expressions of His standards for
human behavior. No matter what men do to us, we will
stand faithfully on the principles of His Word. Why?
Because it is the only place we will find comfort in
time of need.
[i] Robert Leighton,
A Practical Commentary upon the First Epistle of
Peter.
[ii] Another commentator
(Rosenmuller in Biblical Illustrator) says: “For it was a custom of the ancients to
hang wineskins in the smoke of a fire for very much the
same reason that we sometimes stand a claret bottle on
the hearth, in order to mellow the wine by a gradual and
moderate warmth, and to bring it to an earlier
perfection. In that custom the psalmist finds an
illustration of the meaning, and of the mercy of the
afflictions to which he has been exposed. They have been
sent to act on him like the warm smoke on the wine, to
refine, mellow, and ripen his character; and because,
under them all, he has refused to part with his faith in
God and duty, because he has been true to God and God’s
statutes, they have had their intended and proper effect
upon him.” This doesn’t seem to fit the context,
however, as Keil and Delitzsch
agree.
[iv] Cited in Olson, p.
851-852.
