Psalm 119 :81-88
Psalm 119:81 Kaph】
My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word.
82 My eyes fail, looking for your promise; I say, "When will you comfort me?"
83 Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees.
84 How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors? 85 The arrogant dig pits to trap me, contrary to your law.
86 All your commands are trustworthy
; help me, for I am being persecuted without cause.
87 They almost wiped me from the earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.
88 In your unfailing love preserve my life, that I may obey the statutes of your mouth.
Life has many problems doesn't it? We have seen a lot of them this last year. Never in our lives have we seen the likes of what the year has presented.
What kind of problems have you seen? Have you lost a loved one? Have you been attacked by an enemy? Have you suffered illness? Has someone moved away and left a hole in your heart? Have you been discouraged by something that seems impossible to overcome? What has been bothering you recently?
When Jesus came to save the world he suffered troubles too. He was under constant attack by the people who should have loved him. The religious leaders were filled with jealousy and hatred. They did everything to end his life. And it seemed that they had succeeded when he was nailed to the cross.
The cross was his goal and our gain. He suffered for us. But do we have to suffer for him?
Jesus once told his men that, if the world has treated me badly then you need to expect the same treatment. Because the learner is not above his master.
We love to see Bible examples of victory and good times. There are however many examples of those who did good and suffered for that.
David is one of those examples. David had a normal life until he was anointed to be king by the prophet Samuel. Saul had been a bad choice made by the people. God allowed Saul to become king to punish the people. During his reign Saul came to a battle situation that scared him. When he called for the prophet Samuel to make a sacrifice to God for his blessing, Samuel delayed his coming. So Saul took matters into his own hands and made the sacrifice. He then allowed his men to bring captives from the battle. They brought king Agag.
This disobedience tore the kingdom from Saul's hands and placed it into David's hands. Though it took several years before David actually took the throne.
During those years David was constantly on the run for his life. Jealous Saul wanted him dead. Even though David was Saul's son-in-law, in Saul's eyes he was an enemy that needed to be eliminated.
So as we look at Psalm 119:81-88 let's bring the persecution of his earliest days into these eight verses. We don't know that these lines were written then but they definitely relate to the feelings he is expressing.
81 Kaph】
My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word.
Have you ever been here? The situation is grim and there is no way out of what seems hopeless. You've tried to get help from all of your friends and family members. To no avail. It's hopeless. You need a saviour but there is no one. It seems like you lose sleep and can't breathe because of the pressure of the moment.
That is when a strong foundation in the word of God is critical.
A friend's son called me this week asking for help for his father. His dad is desperate, he feels abandoned, he has no friends and he's even considered suicide.
When I asked the son what he thought his dad's problem was, you know what he said? My dad never reads his Bible and he seldom prays. He is weak spiritually.
This dad has not learned what David knew to be essential. That being that an an intimate understanding of the word of God is our greatest need. When we don't spend time in the word we don't know God and we say to him that we do not need him. Thus often when trouble comes it is simply God allowing us to pass through the deep water to get our attention.
82 My eyes fail, looking for your promise; I say, "When will you comfort me?"
David was in the word looking for God's help. He had searched for answers in the best place possible, God's law. However, he was now discovering that even though he looked and searched for answers in the word he couldn't discover the promises he needed for every situation. They are there but sometimes it seems that they are invisible.
So he realized that his only recourse was to cry out to God for comfort. This is ok too because when we cry out to God we are admitting that we need him. We haven come to the end of ourselves and need his strength and help.
83 Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees.
This seems like a strange comparison doesn't it? What is a wineskin? Back in the day they would use sheepskin or goatskin to store their wine. Those were also used to dispense the same. When a skin was empty it often dried out in the smoke of the cooking fire in their houses. Some of you might be able to relate to smoke in the house and even old and dried out skin.
David here compares his body, dry and withered by worry and fright of his enemies, to a withered and useless wineskin. Once the wineskin became dried it was no longer any good because it would crack and spill its content. Jesus even used this example of putting the new wine of his doctrine into the old wineskins of the Old Testament. He said that it wouldn't work.
David, even though he felt old and worthless like a dried wineskin realized that he needed to depend on the word of God rather than his feelings.
Though we may feel that we have no strength to help our situation and we feel useless, we need to look to the word. It can renew our strength. Isaiah wrote these words in Isaiah 40:31, but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
When we trust us we'll often feel useless, when we look for strength in God's word we will find it. Because it is in the word that we know God better.
84 How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors?
Isn't this just like us? We want to see God's justice meted out on our enemies. We want them to be punished right now. We don't want to wait for them to get what they deserve.
However, we are glad when God doesn't punish us right away for our injustices. Aren't we glad for God's mercy and grace? Don't we want another chance to do the right thing? Yes! We are so happy that our God is long-suffering.
God is just. He cannot be fooled or misled. He will judge righteously. Paul, in Galatians 6:7 said, Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Sin will be punished. We can depend on this truth. It may not be in our timetable or when we think it should come. But God will punish sin. If you are a believer, then your sin has been punished in Jesus' sacrifice. However, Paul said that some of the Corinthians had died because of their sin. So, a believers sin can be punished by an early death.
Notice the first phrase in this line, "How long must your servant wait?"
David, though he was king and a man who was chosen and anointed by God, saw himself as a servant. He in reality was just like all of us who have been chosen by God. We are God's servants. We must never lose that understanding. We deserve nothing from God and if he gives us nothing then we are getting what we deserve. However, we also know that God delights in blessing his servants whom he calls sons and daughters.
85 The arrogant dig pits to trap me, contrary to your law.
This so reflects what happened to Jesus. The arrogant scorned him, they were laughed at him, they accused him and were always questioning everything that he did. One example is found in Matthew 12:1, 2 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
These arrogant fools were always trying to catch Jesus doing something wrong. Do you know how hard it would have been to see what the disciples were doing? It wasn't like they had hired some heavy equipment to do this harvesting. They simply picked a few heads of grain and Luke 6:1 adds that they were debulhando-as com as mãos.
These Pharisees had gone to the extreme to find fault with Jesus. The same thing happened to David. It was as if they had gone to the extreme of digging a pit to trap him. Have you ever dug a pit big enough for a man to fall into? It would take a massive effort.
Sometimes enemies will go to great lengths to trap us. They want to see us fall. They are even become arrogant in their expectations of how we will fall. They even brake the rule (or law) to get at us. So, what is our recourse? Verses 86 and 87 tell us the answer.
86 All your commands are trustworthy; help me, for I am being persecuted without cause.
87 They almost wiped me from the earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.
We start with the understanding that all of God's word is trustworthy. We can look to it with confidence. We don't have to wonder if God can help us. Because he can. He will meet our every need in his timing and for his glory. All things are truly working together for good as Paul tells us in Romans 8.28.
Next we need to do what David did. He cried for help. Simply cried for help. He, like Peter, who began to sink as he took his eyes off the Master, cried HELP!
When we cry for help, we are again recognizing our dependence on the only one who can help, God.
As he cried David also described his situation. He was being persecuted without cause. Marcos 4:22 Pois nada está oculto, senão para ser manifesto; e nada se faz escondido, senão para ser revelado. 23 Se alguém tem ouvidos para ouvir, ouça.
There is coming a pay day and all unjust attacks will be judged by his righteous judgment. Not only in the distant future but even now, God delights in helping his children.
A few years ago a good friend of mine was falsely accused of storing flammable liquid in his building. He was sued by the local fire department and police force. What had happened was that my friend, a painter, had stored some of his special paint thinner in the building. All of which was registered with the department. And none of which was illegal. However, during the night something happened that cause the building to catch fire. When the fire department arrived, they began to pour water into the building and unknowingly made the fire worse because the thinner wasn't supposed to be extinguished by water but by foam.
My friend was falsely accused of storing illegal thinner in his building. John cried out to God and fought his case for several years. However, in the end God helped him win the case because of a Facebook photo that he had taken and posted.
Not always are we vindicated and exonerated. But we can always cry for help and expect God's presence in our trial. David acknowledged this fact when he says that he had almost been wiped from the earth. He was almost gone. He couldn't have gone much longer. But look how he ended the estrofe,
88 In your unfailing love preserve my life, that I may obey the statutes of your mouth.
God's love is unfailing. Do you know what that means? There is never a time when he takes a break from loving. It is unfailing. That love preserves it keeps it, saves it guards and it is eternal. All of benefits have one purpose, they bring us to a place of wondrous obedience. Where we desire to obey our father in all that we do.
Are you afflicted, beaten, humiliated, sad, angry at your enemies? Jesus said that we must love our enemies and bless those who persecute us. How is that possible? It comes as we find our foundation in the word of God. We are planted by that river of his word that nourishes and strengthens us. We depend on it for direction and help every day. We understand that the Holy Spirit as author of the word dwells in us and we know that he will instruct us and teach us as we spend time in the word daily. Are you doing that?
Comments
Post a Comment