... in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. Through the prayers of our
holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. Glory
to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King,
the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things,
Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us
from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy
Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).
Psalm 119, Part B
Let Your mercies come also to me, Lord, Your salvation, according to Your word. So shall I have wherewith to answer him who reproaches
me: for I trust in Your word. And take
not the word of truth utterly from my mouth: for I have hoped in Your
judgments. So I shall keep Your law
continually forever and ever. I will
walk at liberty: for I seek Your precepts.
I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, and will not be
ashamed. I will delight myself in Your
commandments, which I have loved. My
hands also will I lift up to Your commandments, which I have loved. I will meditate in Your statutes.
Remember the word to Your servant, on which
You have caused me to hope. This is my
comfort in my affliction: for Your word has made me alive. The proud have had me greatly in derision. I have not declined from Your law. I remembered Your judgments of old, Lord, and have comforted myself. Horror
has taken hold on me because of the wicked who forsake Your law. Your statutes have been my songs in the house
of my pilgrimage. I have remembered Your
name, Lord, in the night, and have kept Your law. This I had, because I kept Your precepts.
ח Cheth[3]
[You
are] my portion, Lord. I have said that I would keep Your words. I begged Your favor with [a] whole
heart. Be merciful to me according to Your
word. I thought on my ways, and turned
my feet to Your testimonies. I made
haste, and delayed not to keep Your commandments. The bands of the wicked have robbed me. I have not forgotten Your law. At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You,
because of Your righteous judgments. I [am] a companion of all who fear You, and
of those who keep Your precepts. The
earth, Lord, is full of Your mercy. Teach
me Your statutes.
You have dealt well with Your servant, Lord, according to Your word. Teach
me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed Your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray. But now I have kept Your word. You [are]
good, and do good. Teach me Your
statutes. The proud have forged a lie
against me. I will keep Your precepts
with a whole heart. Their heart is as
fat as grease. I delight in Your law. [It is]
good for me that I have been afflicted: so that I might learn Your statutes. The law of Your mouth [is] better to me than thousands of gold and silver.
Your hands have made me and fashioned me. Give me understanding, so that I may learn Your
commandments. Those who fear You will be
glad when they see me: because, I have hoped in Your word. I know, Lord, that Your
judgments [are] right. In faithfulness You have afflicted me. Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my
comfort, according to Your word to Your servant. Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I
may live: for Your law [is] my
delight. Let the proud be ashamed: for
they dealt perversely with me without a cause. I will meditate in Your precepts. Let those who fear You turn to me, those who
have known Your testimonies. Let my
heart be sound in Your statutes: so that I be not ashamed.
My soul faints for Your salvation. I hope in Your word. My eyes fail for Your word, saying, “When will
You comfort me:” for I am become like a bottle in the smoke? I forget not Your statutes. How many [are]
the days of Your servant? When will You
execute judgment on those who persecute me?
The proud have dug pits for me, which [are] not after Your law. All
Your commandments [are] faithful. They persecute me wrongfully. Help me.
They had almost consumed me on earth. I forsook not Your precepts. Make me alive after Your lovingkindness. So I shall keep the testimony of Your mouth.
________
If you have been
blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share
all of them.
[1]
Vav sees that the Law is the path of mercy and salvation: mercy, not merit;
salvation, not self-preservation. Now,
because the psalmist has such a relationship with God, through the gift of the
Law, and the gift of the Holy Ghost in making the Law alive in his life, the
psalmist also has an obligation. Because
the psalmist has answers, he must speak.
He hopes, he walks, he seeks, he speaks shamelessly, he delights, he
prays (lifts up hands), he meditates even more.
The observer of truth is not free to repose in silence; he has an obligation
to the worshiping community, to all of society, even pagan society, to all the
remainder of earthly creation, indeed, to the entire Universe. Make no mistake, the Law is a Cosmological
event: both star shaking and earth shattering.
The observer of truth has an obligation to witness, to testify about
what he has seen.
[2] Zain
continues the questions of life about relationships with the wicked proud, who
afflict deride, and horrify the psalmist.
Relationships with the wicked proud are anything but pleasant. How are they to be handled? They are handled by clinging to God’s Word of
Law, which have become the psalmist’s life songs. God’s Word of Law has developed a remembrance
of Yahweh’s name that comforts him in the night. Keeping the Law involves loving the Law more
than obeying the Law. Had the psalmist
attained perfect obedience to the Law through his own efforts, He would not be
asking God to remember it to him, he would not be praying the Law into his
life. He wouldn’t need to pray at all,
he would already be a perfect man. The key
idea is: when faced with affliction, remember the Law, which is repeated three
times here.
Why should the psalmist be horrified? Not for his own sake. All of us have watched the wicked lapse into
madness and tear themselves to shreds.
This is indeed horrifying to watch another human being self-destruct. At the core of such self-destruction lies the
active forsaking of the Law. The person
who forsakes the Law loses his anchor point, puts himself adrift, fails to
cope, and without peace, soon lapses into self-destructive madness. The Law, which is also a form of the Gospel,
provides the necessary anchor (Hebrews 6:19).
Believing in God’s Law and His fulfillment of that Law overthrows this
desperation and brings peace. The
psalmist, as a living witness, has an obligation to lift up the fallen world to
Yahweh: here, the psalmist is beginning to understand that obligation.
[3] Cheth
discusses the effects and reactions that affliction raises in the psalmist’s
life. First of all, the psalmist
realizes that he is also a sinner, with a self-destructive bent, and cries out
for Yahweh’s mercy. Yahweh is his source
(portion). He adds “feet to his prayers.” He vows “I would keep;” he thinks,
and repents (turns); he rushes to love (keep), and try to obey. Rubbing elbows with the self-destructive
wicked every day, robs something from the believers life. Robbery is an act of criminal violence. The psalmist again finds the answers he
needs: he does not forget the Law or his prayers, not even at midnight. He conclude with praise for the scope of
Yahweh’s mercy (the earth is full).
Therefore, he wants to be taught the Law, which would be unnecessary,
were he able to grasp it by his own power.
[4] Teth
shows that affliction and sin have deepened the psalmist’s desire and need to
be taught. His understanding about what
he needs to learn has multiplied. He
sees the Law more deeply. He sees the
necessity of learning the Law, and also the judgment and knowledge that flow
from it. He begins to see affliction as
a friend, rather than an enemy: he rushes to embrace it, to own it. He begins to see the wicked proud as
encumbered by a kind of spiritual obesity.
Affliction, coupled with love of the Law, provides the spiritual workout
that prohibits the development of spiritual obesity in his own life. Affliction is a good thing: he learned that
as one of his great lessons from the Law.
The Law, and the wisdom it teaches, is much more valuable than the world’s
gold and silver. Yet, what are we striving
to attain in life? How foolish we
sometimes are.
[5] In
Jod the psalmist suddenly realizes the profound relationship between Creation
and Law. Because the psalmist is a
creature, he needs understanding in order to learn (even more). This brings joy to the whole community of
believers: what is done in one, is done for all. This is right judgment. Affliction is Yahweh’s faithfulness. The psalmist sees his growing need for God’s
mercy at a whole new level. He prays that
wicked proud would experience personal shame, which is the starting place for
repentance and faith. He thinks on the
Law (precepts) and the Gospel it proclaims and prays for the gathering of The
Church (turn to me). The Law has power
to give the psalmist a sound heart, made free of shame by grace and mercy.
[6] Caph
reveals the full intensity of sin. When
faith begins the giant sins are seen, shame develops around these, repentance takes
place, and faith is born. As faith
grows, minuscule sins come into view, even the dust of sin is revealed and the
psalmist faints at the enormity of sin: it is clear that he must be saved from
these as well. He longs more and more
for this salvation: for, the dust of sin has made him like a smoke covered and
stained bottle, burned in the fire and blackened with the soot of sin. He sees death approaching rapidly, even
though he is still young. He begins to
understand life in terms of crucifixion, which is the judgment of the wicked
proud. He cries out, “Help
me,” which is prophetic of “eli, eli, lama sabachthani” (Matthew 27:46). Approaching death, he prays for resurrection,
“Make me alive.” In the resurrection,
the psalmist discovers the ability to keep the Law, “the testimony of Your
mouth.” Christ dies under the weight of
man’s sin. He conquers “death by death”
in the resurrection.
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