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“You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.”– Psalm 119:65-72
Principle: There will always be some “thing” (in this fallen world) that seeks to invade or seeks to unnerve or seeks to weaken us in our faith and it will (from time to time)… if we don’t stay focused on God’s Word.
Psalm 119 is a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness to us through His Word…a faithfulness that we need to constantly be praising Him for. “You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word.” This passage reminds us that we need to praise God for His grace to us…for even on our worst days we are treated better than we deserve. God has kept His Word…His promise…His covenant and as such He works all things out “according to His Word”. Just a reminder, this phrase “according to your promise…your word”…is always a reference to the standard God uses and is to be the only standard we use for it is the only reliable source of faith and practice.
He also never stops working on us AND we never want Him to stop working on us, teaching us, loving us. “Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.” Teach me good judgment…is an excellent thing for us to pray for each day. And He can teach us good judgment because as believers we have access to not only His Word but also the understanding of His Word through the work of the Spirit (I Cor. 2:15-17). Interesting word fact here: “good judgment” can also be translated “good taste”. Of course, this deals with us asking God for the ability to discern correctly according to His Word. With our taste buds we discern the pleasant or unpleasant taste of things and we are educated in our likes and dislikes along the way. And God’s people are to have good taste, in that, the things we choose are to bring God glory realizing that this decision to bring God glory with what we choose will often stand in opposition to the world around us.
Next David confesses sin and restoration to us, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.” Sin is always with us…going astray is what we too often do (it is like a default for us)…and we too often are also comfortable with going astray. David admits this to God and to the congregation in this psalm.
BUT GOD is not, was not and will not be content to keep His people in our sinfulness so David acknowledges that God sent Him affliction to get him back on track. Affliction is often God’s method of correction/discipline and He only disciplines those He truly loves. David also acknowledges that God is good and does good in all that He does even in bringing the affliction. It is this goodness, seen in and through this affliction that God has brought on Him, that enables him to WANT to keep His Word and WANT to be taught even more so that he can hold up under the constant threats of his own sin and the sins of those around him.
It is in keeping God’s precepts with his whole heart that he can stand when others hurl insults and lies at him because He knows His God is with Him…what can man really do to Him? “The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law.” So he say it was good that he was afflicted…that God afflicted Him for His own good… otherwise he would not have stood…otherwise he might not have learned God’s statutes as he did.
Lastly, David knows gold and silver…he is the king and there is an abundance of both so he acknowledges; “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” He knows what is of greater use to him than any riches in the world….the Words of God. They are more precious than anything man considers precious…for they are the very Words of God. Nothing in the entire world compares because this treasure came directly from God to His people.
So let us now pray through this as if you were the person who wrote it. It is okay…God gave them to King David to give to us to use and to give away to others as I am doing here. Pray for recognition of how God has dealt with you…how God has and is teaching you good judgment and knowledge…how God has used and maybe is using current affliction to strengthen you/prepare you for what lies ahead and for teaching you things you would not otherwise have learned. Pray for conviction that God is Good and that He always does GOOD…and pray for a commitment to the fact that God’s Word is better than any “thing” we can acquire from this world! Praise His Holy Name!
God Bless y’all today.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
