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Psalm 119 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 6 viewsIn Part One, we will consider the importance of the creation, the physical world we inhabit, for the contemplation of God.
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Part One: Seeing God, Not Ourselves
Part One: Seeing God, Not Ourselves
Introduction:
Introduction:
When you think about nature, the world you inhabit, what do you see?
Do you see tasks?
Do you see disappointments?
Do you see beauty?
We insult God, by missing the point, in so many ways.
We want to feel his presence instead of accepting the evidence of knowing it is true.
Absent our unreliable feelings, we conclude God does not care, and many modern people conclude He is not there.
In Paul’s words, ancient people, and it should be said many today, worship the creation more than the creator.
Contemporary psychology emphasizes a hyper-focus on the self at all times:
What am I feeling.
Do other people feel about me the way I think they should.
Constant attention to the self leads to depression.
We are not the essential being in the universe, not even in our own.
Today, we will look at the importance of Genesis to the writer of the Psalm, but more than that, we will consider how the creation points us to God’s character, to knowing Him.
God’s Word: Fixed in the Heavens
God’s Word: Fixed in the Heavens
This octad opens with a declaration of the fixed nature of God’s word.
One of two semantic possibilities seems feasible here.
Either the Psalmist wishes to emphasize the reliability of the word of God, ie, he does not say one thing and then later decide to do something else (the opposite), or it refers to the soundness, the wholeness, of God’s word.
Because the next stanza returns to the theme of God’s faithfulness, the first option seems most likely.
Through the contemplation of the heavens, the authority and reliability of God’s person, his nature can be seen.
Two things are going on here:
The writer is contemplating the faithfulness of God in light of the creation.
He also is building toward nature’s obedience to God’s authority, to His Word.
Note heavens in Ps. 119:89 followed by earth in the next stanza (Ps. 119:90).
We are naturally to think of Genesis 1:1 here.
God’s Faithfulness: From Generation to Generation
God’s Faithfulness: From Generation to Generation
Having established the reliability of God’s word in the heavens, the Psalmist moves to make a more obvious point.
God is trustworthy, dependable, reliable from generation to generation.
Remember: this can be learned from natural observation, thought, alone.
What he cites as evidence is:
“You made firm the earth.”
ie: God brought it into existence.
It stands.
God’s Rightful Place: Master of All Things
God’s Rightful Place: Master of All Things
The writer will now introduce a term associated with the Torah, namely judgments.
The heavens and the earth “stand today” by your judgments.
God’s own decisions, issued in the form of verbal commands (Gen. 1) are responsible for the existence of the physical creation.
He implies, but does not state directly, that the heavens and the earth are all the servants of God.
They came into existence in obedience to His commands.
They continue from generation to generation, and they exist, in obedience to His person by following His laws/judgments.
Final Thoughts:
Final Thoughts:
Ps. 119:89-90 could be understood to stress the fixed nature of life on earth as evidence of the faithfulness and reliability of God’s own nature (and by extension his word). There is beauty in these words. The physical creation recognizes the authority of God. It differs from sinful humans because it obeys the laws of its maker.
Many people are overawed, so they claim, by the sight of a waterfall, a sunset, or a landscape. But, that takes for granted the most remarkable thing of all: the reliable, continued existence of the physical creation that supports generation after generation of human beings. It is so commonplace, so assumed, that we take it for granted.
Ps. 19, Ecc. 3, Ro. 1 all remind us that creation points us to God’s personal characteristics, His nature/identity.
How do you use life? Contemplating Him, or focused on yourself?
Introduction: Part 2
Introduction: Part 2
The first section of the Psalm ended with a profound admission: “all things (are) your servants.”
God’s judgments are obeyed by the physical creation.
The writer will now position himself alongside the creation.
One of the consequences of the fall is that one part of God’s creation does not incline to honoring the authority of His person and live within the boundaries of His judgments.
He is one of the minority (already mentioned) who does.
The right relationship between Creator and created is the latter lives in obedience to the former.
His Relationship with God’s Word:
His Relationship with God’s Word:
This is now the 8th time the writer refers to the law as his “delight.”
The “Torah” served as his transcendent source of joy.
Perhaps “perished” here does not refer to actual death, although that is a possibility, but to the failing of his resolve, commitment, or spiritual strength in the face of his affliction.
Ps. 119:93 appears to confirm this viewpoint.
It echoes the opening of the Psalm in its first word which in English (ESV) is translated as “never.”
Thus far, the Psalmist has written similar words about life, but he has referred to life in two ways.
Future restoration of physical life, which based upon a prior promise from God, he is sure he will have once again.
Life in the sense of strength, course, or boldness to endure. The opposite of losing his resolve to remain loyal to the Lord.
Colossians 1:9-12.
1 Corinthians 15:58.
Two Types of People:
Two Types of People:
He has yielded himself to the Lord positioning himself in relationship to God like the creation.
“For you/Unto you (am) I myself.”
He admits that he belongs to the Lord.
He requests, once again, for the Lord to save him in light of the value that he places on the Lord’s precepts.
He is one who belongs to the Lord as evidenced by his careful inquiry, that is investigation, of the Lord’s precepts.
Facing those who anticipate his destruction has not deterred him from his commitment to the Lord.
Instead, he understands (as a result of careful consideration) the witness to the Lord’s person provided in God’s Law.
There may be a limit to fallen man’s capacity for maturity.
The Lord’s commandment, however, is limitless in the opportunity for us to consider and understand God, truth, and reality.
