Let me live so I can praise you,
and let your judgments help me.
This is an interesting expression, especially as we come to the end of this Psalm. The entire Psalm is giving praise for the order brought to human existence by God’s actions-instruction, law, judgment, precept, testimony, statute. These various expressions combine to give praise for who God provides order in the universe and also order in human lives.
The Psalm is anything but legalistic if you pay attention to it as a whole. If you base an accusation of legalism on the number of references made to the law, you are missing the poetic effect. The Psalmist praises God for all this and he also determines to keep all these laws, but then he’ll mention the fact that he knows he fails and ask God to be with him.
In this next to last verse, we have the expression of praise for a God who gives life. “Let me live,” is the cry of many. Even if you are feeling very self-sufficient, there will be moments of disease, or impending disaster, of simple awareness of all the things that could go wrong. At such moments, you will likely cry out, whether to God or into the void, “Let me live!”
The second line of the verse fills this out with another hope, that all of God’s judgments will be in our favor. This is again a common cry in scripture, because we know that we often slip up and need mercy. There is a famous “sinner’s prayer” which is a prayer for salvation. But there is an even better sinner’s prayer: “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
This is a theme that is woven all through scripture. We may fail, but God’s mercy does not.
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
Lamentations 3:22-23 (NRSV)
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
This is a very famous verse, constantly quoted, but it comes from a book justifiably titled “Lamentations.” Let’s look at a couple of verses just a bit before:
The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
Lamentations 3:19-21 (NRSV)
is wormwood and gall!
My soul ccocntinually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me,
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
What follows, of course, is the passage I quoted earlier.
When trouble comes, when you’re burdened by affliction, homelessness, or maybe just besetting doubt, remember this:
It is the LORD who gives you life, and the LORD’s judgment is going to favor you because you are God’s child.
