By your ruling they stand firm today, For all things are your servants.
I’m using “ruling” for the Hebrew word mishpat which I usually render “judgment” because I believe what is in view here is the determination, the result of the judgment, not the process of judgment. God faithfulness/truth and God’s word stand firm because that is God’s will.
Law here is a reflection of God’s character, who God is. Psalm 119 is not just a long ode to law and order, as it is sometimes seen, but rather it is a song of praise to God’s self-revelation in law, in creation, and in care for God’s people.
Often we try to absolve God of the problems that we observe in the universe. One of our key methods for doing this is free will. “God wouldn’t have wanted that, but what can God do? Free will!” I’m a believer in free will. But to whatever extent we do have free will, that freedom is also a gift, a ruling if you will, of God. If you make a decision, God sovereignly decided to let you do it.
I form light and create darkness. I make wholeness (shalom) and create evil. I, YHWH do all these things.
Isaiah 45:7 (my translation)
Now there are a variety of translations, particularly of the second line. Shalom can rightfully be translated in a number of ways, but in general we should see it as reflecting God’s ideal, and that which is not. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls reads tov here, generally translated “good.” That would match the tree from which Adam and Eve are not to eat, the tree of the knowledge of good (tov) and evil (ra).
It seems clear to me that God is taking responsibility for everything in the created universe, as the one who created it. Everything is God’s servant, whether it wants to be or not.
Within all that, we are still called to choose. Knowing that God is sovereign does not excuse us from action. We are to do good and resist evil.
Your faithfulness extends from generation to generation. You established the earth and it will stand firm.
Why can you trust God? Because gravity works.
God’s authority as lawgiver, and his ability to offer grace and salvation is based directly on God’s creative power. This verse parallels God’s faithfulness to those who trust in God’s power, and it bases that on God’s creation.
This is a common theme in scripture, but it is one we often ignore. We think of creation as something in the past. Yes, God did it, and we believe it, because we’re supposed to. But do we apply it to current reality?
Psalm 104 expresses the present nature of God’s creation:
These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
Psalm 51 alludes to this creative power in verse ten, when the psalmist asks God to create in him a clean heart. It’s reflected in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.”
When we doubt what God can do in our lives, we are denying God’s creative power. On my own, I can do no good thing. But I am not alone. God can work things through me that I can’t even imagine.
A friend of mine signs every email “Practice Resurrection!” It’s a good idea. How about “Practice creation!” That’s good too.
When discouragement threatens, try to remember that God’s creative power is at work in you. God created galaxies. Perhaps God has enough power for your life.
Forever, LORD, your Word is established in heaven.
This is an important verse to start the next section (Lamedh), and also the second half of the psalm.
Too often we diminish the idea of God’s Word by making it the equivalent of the written words that we have. This is sometimes presented as great respect for those written words, making them more important, but I believe the effect is the opposite.
In scripture (that written word), we have a much broader, deeper, and higher idea of what God’s word actually is. I have been seeing in various verses in this Psalm the idea that the law, as understood in this psalm is a presentation to us of who God really is. The word/words we have here are derived from that heavenly word. The instructions God gives through story, poetry, and yes, laws, are derived from who God is.
If we extend this to points made more directly in other psalms, that the Word is all-encompassing. Psalm 33:6-9 tells us that the worlds were made by God’s Word.
Psalm 119 can be seen as a celebration of the creator of the universe, expressed in the form of God’s various ways of relating to us in that universe. In ancient near eastern thought, one of the key elements of creation was bring order to chaos, making things work in a way that would allow life, even good life. Chaos was the product of God’s enemies.
In Genesis 1, this order is produced by God speaking. That symbolism is important. God’s simple command brought order. God’s authority is presented as the result of God’s creative power, and after that from God’s redemptive power, which is also an aspect of God’s creative power.
Try meditating today on the fact that each thing you have is a gift. Be grateful!
In your lovingkindness grant me life that I may keep your testimony.
This verse opens windows onto many other concepts. And, for what it’s worth, this verse is halfway through the Psalm’s 176 verses.
First, it again sets the order of events. God is the initiator. God is the creator. Whatever you do with your life, that life is a gift of God. You could not create yourself. Often we get tense about the idea of salvation by grace through faith, because we think that somewhere, somehow there must be some works we can contribute. But how do you contribute to the one who gives you the ability to contribute?
“In your lovingkindness” means that God loved us before we had the capability of loving God. God doesn’t need our contribution to God, but God asks our contribution. In the end, that contribution turns out to be truly to ourselves and to one another in the community. Blessing is poured out so that it can pour out again, just as God gives us life so that we can bring forth new life.
In Genesis 12:2 God says to Abram: “I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Our blessing of anyone else is the result of God blessing us. Blessing overflows and builds up others.
When we talk about church, what are we there for? Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14, repeatedly uses the word “edify” (archaic) or “build up.” We are meeting together to be a blessing to one another. We can be a blessing, because God has blessed each one of us. Worship, acknowledging this, is not some kind of ego stroking that God requires. Rather, it is the simple and grateful acknowledgment of how things work.
God has a purpose for you. What blessing is God pouring out on you that God wants you to let flow on to those you meet?
They almost finished my time on earth, but I did not abandon your precepts.
Mitchell Dahood again provides a good translation:
They nearly exterminated me from the earth, but I did not forsake your precepts.
Mitchell Dahood, Psalms 100-150, Anchor Bible, p. 166
Dahood continues on page 183 with a discussion of the text, dealing the final phrase “in the earth” or “from the earth.” For some time there was a suggested emendation (textual correction not reflected in any manuscript reading) change “in” to “from.” That emendation then received support from a Dead Sea Scrolls fragment, but Dahood maintains that there is good linguistic evidence for translating the Hebrew prefix for “in” as “from” in many cases.
There! A dose of language study, however superficially written and documented!
The claim that one is doing right while bad things are happening is not a rare one in scripture. It is, in fact, the big issue in Job. While Samuel-Kings repeats a refrain about evil bringing bad results and good behavior bringing good results, Job discusses the contrary situation: Job is declared righteous in the text by God, yet he suffers. Job’s friends thought he was obstinate and arrogant for maintaining his innocence. God doesn’t challenge Job’s innocence, but rather simply challenges Job with presence and power.
One of the problems of living together with other people is that our suffering, if attributed to human action, is not always attributed to our own action. Bad actors make many people suffer, irrespective of their behavior.
When faced with a bad situation, it’s not the time to be forgetting good actions. If I’m walking along a mountain trail and find myself in danger because someone else has damaged the safety rail, or damaged the trail itself, it’s not the time to forget rules of safety. In fact, I need to be more carefully because someone else was either less careful or actively destructive.
“Everybody else was after me and almost got me, but I stuck to your rules.” It’s a good loose interpretation of our verse today, but it’s generally good practice as well.
When I was younger, I would try the excuse that all the other kids were doing something. It didn’t go far with my parents. But in society as a whole I see this as a justification for bad behavior all the time. The other folks are doing it, so why not me? Or perhaps the other folks are doing it, so I have to do it or I’ll lose.
Rather than seeing this as some kind of boast, perhaps we ought to see it as an example for ourselves. When other people do it wrong, we should stay on the right track, right to the end. I suspect no good is accomplished by ignoring God’s principles and rules, no matter how many other people we see doing it.
Reflect: Can you say that you haven’t taken up the approach of the other guys?
How long must your servant wait? When will you execute judgment on my persecutors?
“How long?’ is a frequent refrain in scripture. Come to think of it, it’s a frequent refrain all our lives. Just start a long trip with children in the car and you’ll soon be hearing this question in one form or another. Are we there yet?
In the Bible we have frequent examples of this sort of question. Abraham wondered how long, and even informed God that it was a bit late for the promise of a child. The Israelites in Egypt cried out in their slavery, and I suspect “how long” was part of that cry. During the 40 years of wandering about in the desert, that question no doubt came up a few times. At the time of the exile, again the question was asked, “How long is this going to last? When will God’s promises be fulfilled?”
In Revelation 6:8, the souls under the altar cry out “How long, sovereign Lord, holy and true, must it be before you will vindicate us and avenge our death on the inhabitants of the earth?” (REB). It’s still going on. And on, and on, and on. How long?
Revelation 10:6 gives us an answer, of sorts. Here God declares, “There shall be no more delay!”
Which leaves open the question of why there is delay in the first place. I think there’s a hint in Revelation, and once we see that hint, we can turn back to Hebrew scripture and see that this answer isn’t new. I’m not going to give specific verses, because to see this, you need to read at least Revelation 6-16. If you do, you will see three sequences of seven. There are seven seals opened, seven trumpets sounded, and seven bowls poured out.
In the case of the seals, six are broken and then there’s a delay, during which God is gathering His people. Then we resume with six trumpets sounded, but the seventh is delayed. The verse I quoted earlier comes from the time between the sixth and seventh trumpet, during which God promises more delay. Finally, come the bowls. With them there is no delay. All seven are poured out in succession and this is followed by the very last scenes of the battle between God and the Dragon, between good and evil.
Perhaps a text from Hebrew scripture will provide the key, stated explicitly:
But you, Lord are God, compassionate and gracious, long-suffering, ever faithful and true.
Psalm 86:15 (REB)
The problem for us is that God is not just compassionate toward us. God is also compassionate toward those other guys. You know, the ones we want God to judge. God loves them too. So God provides warnings and opportunities, and is slow to become angry.
Jonah gets to learn a bit about this when God asks him, “… should I not be sorry about the great city of Nineveh, with its hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from the left?” (Jonah 4:11).
It is useful to remember that Israel had good reason not to like the Assyrian Empire. I had the opportunity to read various royal records of Assyria, and it was disastrous to be conquered by them, especially if you had rebelled before. Jonah had reason to regard the Assyrians as his enemies.
But God cared about them. Let’s remember that. God cared about them.
We often treat “caring” and “compassion” as limited commodities, “economic goods” economists call them, ones that are in limited supply and thus will have a price. If you buy more of this, you have less money to buy that.
We treat compassion in this way. I can only have compassion on some people. But God’s compassion, love, and grace extend to all. God’s grace is amazing, and it is not limited.
So when God is failing to judge your enemies, it is likely that God is giving them the opportunity of redemption. Like Jonah, you and I may not like it when they accept, but God will. There will be rejoicing in heaven.
The desire for justice is not wrong. The desire for God to take action against your enemies is not wrong. But it’s limited. God is inviting you to be more godlike and learn to love more people more deeply.
When you hear about an enemy, or the member of a group you don’t like, can you pray for God’s compassion and mercy on them for their redemption?
For I am like a wineskin in smoke, yet I do not forget your statutes.
It’s not entirely clear what’s happening to the wineskin here (REB translates “though I shrivel like a wineskin in the smoke), I think this continues this series of verses on being out on a limb, out of options, and wondering what’s going to happen next.
Mitchell Dahood states (correctly) that there really isn’t a satisfactory explanation for the “wineskin in the smoke” simile. We can think of ways to understand it, as I did in the previous paragraph, but it’s hard to be really convincing. Dahood proposes the translation “For I have become like one weeping from smoke.” Yet his linguistic explanation leaves me thinking, “Nice, but still just a suggestion.”
Sometimes in translating the Bible, especially in Hebrew scriptures, we find passages like this. It’s truly difficult to determine precisely what the meaning is. So I’m stopping a moment to discuss uncertainty in reading scripture.
We’re generally unhappy with any possibility of doubt as to the meaning of a particular verse. Surely God’s Word should give us a precise understanding! There are those complain about notes in their English (or Spanish) translations because these notes might give people doubts about the accuracy of their Bibles.
But however much you may try to avoid it, the evidence is there. There are textual variations. There are verses where we are uncertainty of the translation of particular words. Or, as in this case, the definitions seem pretty clear but we don’t get the simile, or perhaps it’s a euphemism. We don’t know absolutely.
We need to get used to this sort of variation simply because God has chosen to provide scripture in that form. It comes written by humans, copied by humans, and interpreted by humans. And guess what! Humans make mistakes. Even if none of these variations existed, you and I, as readers, would still be fallible.
Now the fact is that the vast majority of the text of scripture is not in any real doubt. It’s only a small portion of the words that make us stop and scratch our heads. But if we take a broad look at scripture, and don’t just depend on a single verse, we’ll be able to figure things out.
Sometimes doubt about meaning makes us feel like that “bottle in the smoke,” whatever that experience means. But if we listen for the story, and the message in the story, we’ll find that while we are not capable of certainty, we are capable of hearing God speak through these passages. It’s not that God can’t provide an accurate message. It’s that we, with our limited minds, can only understand in our limited way.
That makes it a good idea to listen closely, and read more of scripture so we have a broader understanding. But mostly it means continuing to realize our dependence on God.
My soul is wiped out with longing for your salvation. I put my hope in your word.
As I read this I was reminded of the time our son James had just had surgery and was in the intensive care unit. I had a commitment to teach the next session in a series on prophecy two and a half hours drive away. The pastor who was my host told me he would understand if I couldn’t make it, but he wasn’t going to uninvite me. It was James who gave the final word, calling me over to whisper, “Go!”
That was a hard drive. I played one song multiple times, very loud: “Singing with the Saints. I had a recording by a Hungarian group from the area where Jody and I had led mission trips a few years before. Between listening to that song, I thought of another that goes, “I’m homesick for heaven, seems I cannot wait.” It had always been just a song to me, and not a very important one. I didn’t connect with it.
Suddenly I did. The longing was so strong it was painful. But it was also hopeful.
But this verse is not just talking about the next world, as important as that is. It’s focused on God coming to us here and now. I feel this longing from day to day when I see my wife or my sister in pain, and hear about other friends who are ill, grieving, suffering. I long for the touch of God for each and every one. And frequently, I see things happen.
But there’s another longing for God’s salvation, and that’s for coming into relationship with God and allowing God’s grace to work in my life, and in the lives of those I meet.
Let my heart be steadfast in your statutes so I will not be put to shame.
If you immerse yourself in this Psalm, you’ll lose any sense of boastfulness and self-sufficiency. There are claims before God to being a commandment keeper, but they are well-balanced by those passages that ask the Lord to accomplish this work. There is praise of God’s self-revelation in his instructions (Torah). There is gratefulness for God’s work. There is also reliance on God for everything.
A verse-by-verse meditation, such as I am doing, has its own hazards. It is very easy, and not entirely contrary to my purpose, to discuss things that are far from the particular verse, yet my mind was started in that direction.
As I read this I can think of any number of doctrinal discussions that one might launch from right here. But I think this verse expresses the heart of the psalmist quite well.
I have noted before that using the word “law” as a translation of the Hebrew torah is misleading. We think of “law” as a collection of commands. But as indicated by the name, torah is much more than law. Yes, there is a focus on the laws contained there, but there is also the story of God’s action with regards to God’s people. We hear about call,, choice, and going back further, creation.
It’s easy for people who have an adversarial view of rules to misread this focus on law as automatically legalism, dry legalism, even. It’s possible for someone to separate the legal portion, statutes, from the rest and use them unhelpfully. This is not a mistake our psalmist makes. In the broad story of torah we have the God who creates, who chooses, who calls, who protects and guides, who rescues, who instructs, and yes, who makes rules.
The rules are the innermost part of this structure. They’re a burden taken out of their natural environment. They’re a burden when asked to accomplish something they are not designed to do. But torah seen properly is the message of that creator, guide, protector, savior, teacher, and lawgiver.
I’m not rejecting the teaching in Christianity that the law cannot save. The law does not make you holy. In soteriology, the law functions to tell you you’re not making it. But when in Christ, when inside those important protective layers, the law becomes different.
I hear the psalmist saying that he would like to be identified by a wholehearted pursuit of God’s statutes. That is his prayer. That is his hope. That is the way he can avoid shame. His identity is God’s person, whom God is making anew. One might recall the words of Psalm 51:12, “Create in me a clean heart …” That’s the creator doing in you what he has done everywhere.
What is your identity? Whose are you?
(Featured image was generated by Jetpack AI and slightly enhanced with Photoshop.)
Let those who fear you turn to me, so they may understand your testimonies.
Sometimes we’re afraid to point to ourselves. It seems arrogant or proud to ask someone else to follow your example, or even to turn to you to learn. The rule of teacher or mentor is demanding.
But there are many times when we need to be willing to put ourselves on the line as examples, teachers, and mentors. We’re called on to make disciples. Other people are bound to ask how we are doing as disciples.
Now none of this means that we are to present ourselves as perfect or even as better than everyone else. There’s also no reason to claim that we are doing all this on our own. If one bathes in this Psalm a bit, one cannot imagine the Psalmist as presenting himself as faultless. Over and over he asks God to get him on the path and keep him on the path.
But having asked God to do so, he believes God will do that. As such, he can ask God to send others to him personally precisely because all of those prayers have been answered. His desire is to keep God’s law, and God is working in him, so others can learn from him.
Look around you. Is there someone that God could send your way to learn about God’s testimonies? Watch for them and let God work through you for them.
