Teth
Psalm 119 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 7 viewsPart one of this message will explore themes of spiritual maturity: perspective on God, the absence of resentment, and an increased commitment to learn the Word of God.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction (Part 1):
Introduction (Part 1):
Believers are not perfect people.
If anyone should understand and be sympathetic toward the human, sinful condition, it should be people who know the Word of God.
We understand that God has loved us in spite of our sin.
We are not a superior species of human beings.
We should be humble and grateful.
Life is filled with all kinds of hardships and disappointments…again because we do not live in a perfect world.
This makes having a sound view of God imperative.
It also helps to provide perspective on the possibilities that hardship presents.
We can throw tantrums and become filled with bitterness and resentment.
We can see their spiritual value to move us toward maturity and greater commitment.
A question we reflect on: have you ever regretted bringing someone into your life? Have you ever regretted God being in your life?
Being Able to Say God Has Done Well
Being Able to Say God Has Done Well
This octad begins with a personal assessment of God.
“You did well with your slave, Yahweh, according to your word.”
The Psalmist has not lost sight of the proper relationship between himself and God.
He places himself, humbly, as God’s slave.
His main focus, however, is upon reflecting back to God his own understanding of how God has acted toward him.
Ps. 119:67, 71 bring his circumstances back into view.
By stating that God has done or acted well, the Psalmist, most likely, is acknowledging that God has acted properly or kindly toward him.
The Word of God is the standard by which he judges the actions of God.
We must be careful to resist the inclination to judge God by our standards instead of by the standards of his own word.
A hallmark of spiritual maturity is the ability to see God’s kindness and benevolence despite affliction.
Longing to Learn More
Longing to Learn More
The writer has expressed a desire to understand the scriptures in a clearer way.
Now, through the next two statements, we get insight into his longing for refinement and maturity.
Judgment = taste, as in the taste of food, but here it is used for discretion/judgment.
He does not understand his own “tastes” to be superior to those of God’s.
He understands that he needs “tastes” that are good, and those can only be acquired through divine instruction.
The same holds true for knowledge for it too is “good.”
This request for God to teach him is not based on whimsy.
He has a stated trust in commandments of God as the source of instruction for “good judgment and knowledge.”
The writer refers, now, to his affliction.
This word is difficult to define in this context, but it does appear that what he has in mind are those same afflictions we have discussed over the last six weeks (mol).
Being “humbled” as he now sees it has not become an occasion for resentment or bitterness.
It has become an opportunity for spiritual maturity/refinement.
Note the time marker: before I was humbled.
“Went astray” does mean to err, but this word usually carries with it the connotation of wandering off inadvertently.
Before he faced adversity, he apparently might not have taken learning and obedience as seriously as he now appreciates that he should.
Instead of resenting the Lord and his commandments, affliction has meant valuing the Word of God and wishing to know it with greater clarity so that he no longer commits sins of omission.
The Lord is Benevolent and Kind
The Lord is Benevolent and Kind
Introduction (Part 2):
Introduction (Part 2):
Sunday night, annual Lewisburg trip (July 21).
God has been acknowledged for his benevolence and kindness.
This sets up a contrast with the manner of human treatment.
How do people react to those who commit themselves to the Lord?
They do not use force alone to bring about conformity.
Maturity helps us to prepare for possibilities or eventualities.
The Behaviors of the Insolent:
The Behaviors of the Insolent:
For the first time since Ps. 119:51, the writer mentions “the insolent.”
These are individuals who rebel against God.
They are arrogant/haughty.
They are the opposite of the type of humble individual the writer of the Psalm has learned to become.
Behavior #1 = “they plaster/besmear me with falsehoods.”
His goal is both to recount how they have treated him and also to contrast his attitudes and behaviors with theirs.
They form polar opposites of possibilities.
In contrast to them, he “guards with fidelity” your word.
Their lies have not dissuaded him from fidelity to the Word of God.
Behavior #2 = Obdurance of Heart
The expression might be difficult to understand from our perspective.
More than likely it refers to a degree of impenetrability to the Word of God.
Rebelliousness, then, takes the form of extreme close-mindedness.
Exposure to the Word of God perhaps invokes the reaction like the crowd with Stephen in Acts 7.
This, however, refers to the behavior of people who simply refuse to listen to anything God might say.
This contrasts with someone who “delights in your law.”
See/survey previous references.
Two Behaviors of the Right-Thinking:
Two Behaviors of the Right-Thinking:
Values affliction because it leads to a focus on what is truly important.
The result is, for behavior #2, that he values the Word of God more than physical wealth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
Pr. 2:1-5.
Pr. 3:13-18.
