... 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).
Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the
beginning, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Psalm 119, Part D
Righteous [are] You, Lord. Upright [are]
Your judgments. Your testimonies You have
commanded [are] righteous and very
faithful. My zeal has consumed me,
because my enemies have forgotten Your words.
Your word [is] very pure. Therefore Your servant loves it. I [am]
small and despised. I forget not Your
precepts. Your righteousness [is] an everlasting righteousness. Your law [is]
the truth. Trouble and anguish have
taken hold of me. Your commandments [are] my delight. The righteousness of Your testimonies [is] everlasting. Give me understanding, and I shall live.
I cried with [my] whole heart. Hear me, Lord. I will keep Your statutes. I cried to You. Save me. I shall keep Your testimonies. I confronted the dawning of the morning. [I] cried.
I hoped in Your word. My eyes confront the [night] watches, so that I might meditate in Your word. Hear my voice according to Your
lovingkindness. Lord, make me alive according to Your judgment. They draw near that follow after mischief. They are far from Your law. You [are]
near, Lord. All Your commandments [are] truth. Concerning Your testimonies, I have known of
old that You have founded them forever.
Consider my affliction. Deliver me: for I forget not Your law. Plead my cause. Deliver me. Make me alive according to Your word. Salvation [is] far from the wicked: for they seek not Your statutes. Great [are]
Your tender mercies, Lord. Make me alive according to Your judgments. Many [are]
my persecutors and my enemies. I decline
not from Your testimonies. I beheld the
transgressors, and was grieved: because, they kept not Your word. Consider how I love Your precepts. Make me alive, Lord, according
to Your lovingkindness. Your word [is] true [from] the beginning. Every
one of Your righteous judgments [is] eternal.
Princes have persecuted me without a cause.
My heart stands in awe of Your word. I rejoice at Your word, as one who finds
great spoil. 163 I hate and
abhor lying. Your law I love. Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your
righteous judgments. Great peace have
they who love Your law. Nothing shall
offend them. Lord, I have hoped for Your salvation, and done Your commandments. My soul has kept Your testimonies. I love them exceedingly. I have kept Your precepts, Your testimonies:
for all my ways [are] before You.
Let my cry come near before You, Lord. Give me understanding
according to Your word. Let my
supplication come before You. Deliver me
according to Your word. My lips shall
utter praise, when You have taught me Your statutes. My tongue shall speak of Your word: for all Your
commandments [are] righteousness. Let Your hand help me: for I have chosen Your
precepts. I have longed for Your
salvation, Lord. Your law [is] my delight. Let my soul live. It shall praise You. Let Your judgments help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek Your servant: for I forget not Your
commandments.
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blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share
any of them as you wish.
[1] Tzaddi discloses more of the agonies, and pains of old age (trouble
and anguish). The psalmist’s life has
been consumed by zeal. He sees himself
with greater reality of perspective; because God looms larger, he sees himself
as being smaller (small and despised). The
human flesh thinks of itself as growing greater as life continues. This is not the common experiences of
believers, who see God as greater, and greater: in the end human life is
minuscule, its only merit is the crown we will throw at Jesus feet. All our value rests in becoming perfect man
in Christ. Yahweh’s righteousness,
uprightness, faithfulness, purity, and truth as seen through the lense of the
law have become the psalmist’s love and delight. As death approaches he cries out, “Give me
understanding, and I shall live.”
[2] Koph reveals the desire to pray more, which increases with age. The psalmist is awake for Orthros, before dawn
to pray; he is alert for the Vespers, Compline, and Midnight prayers. He keeps Yahweh’s statutes, but not by his own
righteousness. His prayers are filled with
cries for salvation, hope, lovingkindness, and resurrection (make me alive). He begs for God to hear him, not because he
thinks God is deaf, but because he takes nothing for granted, everything hangs
on God’s nearness, truth, and stability (You have founded them forever). The eternality of God and His Law is now a
great comfort, a growing realization, which, upon reflection, has been around
for many years (I have known of old) in the psalmist’s life.
[3] Resh gives increased attention to the aggravating things of
life. The behavior of the wicked, the
psalmist’s persecutors, the transgressors becomes a growing source of
grief. It is hard to understand how
people could think so little of salvation and be so far from it. How is it possible for people to refuse to
seek the Law, to hate the life giving Word?
Lifting up the pagan world to God is becoming more and more difficult,
but the psalmist finds life and strength in Yahweh’s tender mercies,
lovingkindness, and eternality. The
psalmist cries out twice for resurrection: “Make me alive…. Make me alive….” Yahweh’s Word of Law is equated to His
lovingkindness. “Deliver me…. Deliver me….”
The repetition intensifies the prayer.
“eli, eli, lama sabachthani” (Matthew 27:46).
[4] Schin evaluates human help and support: even princes are of no
value. God’s Word of Law is like
discovered treasure. It surprises and
captivates, even when one is not looking for it: even at this stage of life,
the psalmist has not seen everything, there is fresh spoil uncovered every
day. The psalmist is led to prayer more
frequently; now he is praying the hours (every three hours, eight times a day,
save one for rest). His sense of peacefulness
is growing. The Law protects him from
offenses. Nothing is assumed. His life is open and naked before God: “for
all my ways [are] before You.”
[5] Tav closes with cries that the psalmist’s prayers be heard. The psalmist is still in need of greater
understanding, deliverance, teaching, and help.
It is the psalmist’s neediness that assures us that the Law is obeyed,
and built upon, only in the perfect obedience of Christ. Even when he is lost, the psalmist remembers to
pray for help. “I have gone astray like
a lost sheep. Seek Your servant: for I
forget not Your commandments.” (Matthew
10:6; 15:24; 18:10-14; Luke 15:1-7; John 10:1-30) This closing comment, “I have gone astray
like a lost sheep,” more than any other, pulls us up short, and forces us to
face the profundity of the Law and this Psalm.
The obedience to the Law is all about being a rescued lost sheep. Obedience depends on the faithfulness of the Shepherd,
not on the efforts of the sheep. The
most significant thing that the sheep was able to accomplish in life was get
lost. Here is the heart of the Law. For all the Psalmist’s diligence in learning
the Law, in toiling at it, in sweating (blood) in prayer, the psalmist still
sees himself as a lost sheep. Jesus,
bearing the sins of the whole world, comes to the Father, as if He were also a
lost sheep: he bears our sheep like nature on the cross.
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