The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) announced that “God is dead,” by which he expressed his belief that the idea of God had been so generally rejected that it no longer remained relevant as the basis for morality [...]]]>

Thy faithfulness is unto all generations:
Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth (Psa 119.90).

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) announced that “God is dead,” by which he expressed his belief that the idea of God had been so generally rejected that it no longer remained relevant as the basis for morality or explaining the meaning of life. The “God is dead” concept was popularized in America during the 1960’s and taken a step further—that not only the idea of God, but God himself, had truly died. The fruit of this kind of intellectual perversity is nihilism, a philosophy that ethical values do not exist objectively but are falsely invented, and that life is utterly without meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.¹ Any right-thinking person shudders to consider the implications of all this for society. Indeed, this kind of atheism has already produced injustice and violence on a grand scale throughout the twentieth century.

Still, this “God is dead” notion is so deeply ingrained in Western culture that even Christians are adversely affected. God’s mighty acts of redemption recorded in his Word occurred so long ago that some today doubt that he is still at work or that his Word can still be trusted, even though this is completely irrational.

If the God of Scripture ever existed, he must ever continue to exist, because one inherent aspect of his revealed nature is aseity (from the Latin, meaning “from himself;” R. C. Sproul wrote, “I love this word and what it represents. Every time I see it, it sends chills up my spine”²), that is, having the grounds of his existence within himself, without dependence on anything else. The God of Scripture further states that he is truth itself (Deut 32.4; John 14.6), so that he could not ever prove false to his promises, no matter how much time passes.

Even more importantly, God himself testifies by his Word against all irreverent claims of skeptics. Psalm 119.90 is the psalmist’s exultation on account of God’s enduring faithfulness. He asserts it in the first line and illustrates it in the second.

GOD’S FAITHFULNESS ENDURES

This is one of the few verses of Psalm 119 that does not explicitly mention God’s Word (vv. 84, 90-91, 120, 122, 132, 149). Implicitly, the very concept of “faithfulness” includes Scripture because it refers here to God’s being dependable with respect to a standard,³ and in the biblical worldview that standard is God’s Word.

The ESV translates the first line, “Your faithfulness endures to all generations.” There is no one-to-one correspondence between the word “endures” and any particular word in the Hebrew original. A word-for-word translation is, “To all generations thy faithfulness” (YLT). Clearly then, the idea of endurance or permanence is implied. God always has, and always will, prove dependable with respect to the standard of Holy Scripture.

Now we must not imagine that God is in any way inferior to his Word, as we are. He unilaterally imposes upon us the terms of a covenant, and he holds us accountable to those terms. For example, in what theologians have called the covenant of works, if we believe him and keep his covenant, we will be blessed. If we prove faithless and disobedient, we must inevitably suffer the just punishments threatened in the covenant. But God is not accountable to anyone outside himself, and everything he does is good and wise and just. If he enters into covenantal relations with any of his creatures, that in itself is a great condescension on his part. Further, upon such condescension, God never relinquishes his absolute sovereignty to do whatsoever he pleases.

The reason for God’s enduring faithfulness to his Word is that it is the very expression of his perfect wisdom and purpose, a revelation of his own unchanging nature and eternal plan. He would not have promised anything in the first place if he did not already have the deliberate intention and power and goodness to make it good in the experience of his people. “The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man that he should repent” (1 Sam 15.29). “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (Hab 2.3). God cannot lie (Tit 1.2); it is actually impossible for God to lie (Heb 6.18), because it is not in his nature to do so. Therefore the prophet confidently affirms, “Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old” (Mic 7.20).

The greatest proof of God’s faithfulness to all generations so far is the first coming and ministry of Jesus Christ. So many of God’s ancient promises have already been fulfilled in this, and at such incomprehensibly stupendous cost! The precious Son of God came to lay down his life, in the humiliation and torture of the cross, to procure the certain redemption of all God’s chosen people.

The NT illustrates that godly hearts stagger at the very consideration of it. “For God so [a word conveying greatness of degree] loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3.16). “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8.32). As Robert Haldane wrote,

This is the most conclusive reasoning. If [God] has given us the greatest gift, he will not refuse the lesser. His Son is the greatest gift that could be given,— plainly, then, nothing will be withheld from those for whom he has given his Son.⁴

Of course God’s faithfulness endures to all generations! Even though the last inspired Word from the Lord was penned almost two millennia ago in the preserved NT canon, those biblical promises are no less reliable now than they ever were. Whoever believes on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall still be saved, and all the blessings assured to believers in the covenant of grace shall be made good in our actual experience. The second coming of Christ, with his consummation of the kingdom of glory, will comprehensively and minutely satisfy the ancient hope of all who have ever trusted in the Lord and his Word, and even the incorrigibly wicked will see the final glorious evidence of his enduring faithfulness when others enter the kingdom, and they are excluded forever.

LIKE THE EARTH ENDURES

The second line presents an illustration from the natural world of God’s enduring faithfulness. “Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth,” or, stands, remains, endures.⁵ The mention of earth in verse 90 complements the mention of heaven in verse 89, as Puritan Thomas Manton eloquently commented:

He had before said, “Thy word is settled in the heavens;” now he speaketh of it as manifested in the earth. There the constancy of God’s promises was set forth by the duration and equal motion of the heavenly bodies, now by the firmness and immovableness of the earth. God’s powerful word and providence reacheth to the whole [creation], this lower part here upon earth, as well as the upper part in heaven.”⁶

While the Bible is completely true as intended in all its parts, and its truth has implications for the investigation of the natural realm in a scientific way, yet its teaching respecting the created realm is intended to be primarily theological, to instruct us about God himself with his works and ways. To put it simply, the Bible is not a science textbook. It is a revelation and testimony to the glory of our great Creator. It is with this deeply reverent spirit, then, that we are to read and understand such passages as

Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever (Psa 104.5).

One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever (Eccl 1.4).

These assert the lasting stability of God’s works in contrast with man’s fleeting life and works.

Comparing Scripture with Scripture, we learn that this present earth is bound to continue until Jesus Christ returns from heaven. Then, “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet 3.10), and there will be a “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet 3.13). If we understand this as essentially a purgation by fire and renovation by God’s power of the existing creation,⁷ so that all the misery which came through the curse is removed (excepting the abode of the eternally cursed ones) while the matter of the original creation continues to exist albeit in a perfected state, then the earth quite literally will endure for eternity.

Therefore, the psalmist uses a beautifully fitting illustration of God’s enduring faithfulness.

Supremely and throughout eternity, his faithfulness will be on display in the new heavens and the new earth, and the church triumphant will engage in the eternal praises of her faithful Creator and Lord. God never died, and our Incarnate Savior who died has risen again, and lives forever as the covenant-keeper and blessedness of his people. Amen.

Notes:

1. Wikipedia articles on the death of God, Nietzsche, and nihilism.
2. Before the Face of God, Book I, I.18.
3. DBLBSD #575.
4. In loc.
5. TWOT #1637.
6. In loc.
7. I think this view is quite warranted. See Cornelius Venema, The Promise of the Future.

Foundational to living as Christian believers is a true knowledge of God and his Word. In this verse the psalmist tersely lays that foundation, the unshakeable basis for everything else. Whatever we think, feel, and choose ought to build upon this. If [...]]]>

For ever, O LORD,
Thy word is settled in heaven (Psa 119.89).

Foundational to living as Christian believers is a true knowledge of God and his Word. In this verse the psalmist tersely lays that foundation, the unshakeable basis for everything else. Whatever we think, feel, and choose ought to build upon this. If we are in our right mind, all our plans will count on it, both for time and eternity. As one expressed poetically the utter stability of Scripture,

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent Word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?¹

OUR SOVEREIGN LORD

The true nature of God himself determines the actual character of his Word, because it is a revelation of himself. Jesus said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6.45). The “treasure” is figurative for what is concealed within the man himself, and his character is revealed by his speech. No one can bring forth what is not there, and it is inevitable that what actually is there will come out. The same connection exists between God’s being and his Word. He, too, speaks from the abundance of his heart.

Therefore to assess the nature of God’s Word, we must know him as he really is. With good reason in this particular place the psalmist calls him, “LORD.” The Hebrew original is God’s unique name, the “tetragrammaton” (of four letters, YHWH or JHVH) and stresses his eternal self-existence (Exod 3.14), immutability (he is unchangeable; Mal 3.6), and absolute sovereignty (kingly rights and power) over all his creatures and all their actions. “The LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth” (Psa 47.2). God does not stand in need of help or approval from his creatures in any way. He is utterly transcendent, infinitely high above all the persons and things he has made. No one can restrain his hand or say to him, “What doest thou?” (Eccl 8.4; cf. Dan 4.34-35). He is accountable to no one except himself. Even his enemies unwittingly depend on his sustaining power for their continued existence, not to mention their unwarranted hostilities.

Further, God’s great name has connotations of his covenant faithfulness to his people, as in Deut 7.9, “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” It is no more possible for God to violate the terms of his own freely made covenant than it would be for him to cease to exist. Both are impossible, and this is a great comfort to God’s people.

So many of the faulty notions people generally have in theology may be traced back to defective ideas about the nature of God himself, or a failure to appreciate the organic unity of his nature and his works. All Christendom claims to have a high view of God, but perhaps the greatest distinctive of so-called Reformed theology is its consistency in relating every other doctrine back to the doctrine of God himself. God’s holiness, wisdom, love, sovereignty, etc., are evident in all he says and does. Here the psalmist explicitly links his great name with that Word which proceeds from him.

HIS ESTABLISHED WORD

It would be a crude conception and heresy to imagine from this verse that there has always been a physical Bible up in heaven which contained the exact same words as the Bible’s autographs (original manuscripts) when God moved men to write them in human history. This is exactly what the radical KJV-only advocate G. A. Riplinger seems to suggest by citing this verse after this comment, “The word of God was not only preserved after those pieces of fragile paper [the autographs] were destroyed, it precedes them.”² Of course God always knew what he would move the holy men of old to write in human history, but before creation absolutely nothing existed except God himself—not even a King James Bible!

The Hebrew of Psa 119.89 has been variously rendered, and the NET is helpful for grasping its nuances: “O LORD, your instructions endure; they stand secure in heaven.” The context of this psalm strongly suggests that “word” or “instructions” is a general reference to holy Scripture. Thus there is a twofold characterization of Scripture as enduring (AV-“for ever,” the Hebrew means pertaining to an unlimited duration of time, usually with a focus on the future³) and secure (AV-“settled,” the Hebrew means to stand firm⁴). The mention of heaven reinforces the same point because it is beyond the reach of earthly factors—rebellious mortals, change, decay, etc. No matter what happens here, and what man does or does not do, God’s Word will always remain eternally secure, the indestructible bedrock for faith in the sovereign Lord who has spoken.

John Gill, the great Baptist scholar of Hebrew and theology, explains and elaborates.

The decrees and purposes of God, what he has said in his heart that he will do, these are firm and sure; these counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. They are mountains of brass settled for ever, and more unalterable than the decrees of the Medes and Persians. The revealed will of God, his word of command, made known to angels in heaven, is regarded, hearkened to, and done by them. The word of the Gospel, published in the church . . . is the everlasting gospel, the Word of God, which lives and abides for ever; what remains and will remain, in spite of all the opposition of men and devils. The word of promise in the covenant made in heaven is sure to all the seed. Every one of the promises is yea and amen in Christ, and as stable as the heavens, and more so; “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matt 24.35). The firmness of God’s Word is seen in the upholding and continuing the heavens by the word of his power, by which they were first made; and the certainty of the divine promises is illustrated by the perpetuity of the ordinances of heaven; see Jer 31.35-36.

Most helpful also is the commentary of Keil and Delitzsch on this verse:

Eternal and imperishable in the constant verifying of itself is the vigorous and consolatory word of God, to which the poet will ever cling. It has heaven as its standing-place, and therefore it also has the qualities of heaven, and before all others, heaven-like stability.

Such a declaration of Scripture is surely intended to strengthen the confidence of tried believers in God’s Word. Remember whose word it is! “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Num 23.19). Whoever opposes you, whatever trials you suffer, however your circumstances change, and no matter how many times or how greatly you have fallen into sin, God’s Word is still intrinsically trustworthy, and to it you may—indeed you must—resort again and again, because God’s Word is as reliable as God himself. He who is the truth cannot lie. The Almighty cannot be thwarted in his purposes. The changeless One will not renege on anything he has promised.

Calvin aptly summarizes his interpretation of this verse in these words:

Our salvation, as if it had been said, being shut up in God’s Word, is not subject to change, as all earthly things are, but is anchored in a safe and peaceful haven. . . . the steadfastness of God’s Word far transcends the stability of the world.

Therefore, my dearly beloved brethren, repose yourselves and all your concerns, both temporal and eternal, on the solid rock of Scripture. Whatever God says in it, accept as fact. Whatever he promises in it, seize by faith. Whatever he commands you in it, do with earnestness. Whatever future blessings he guarantees in it, resolutely keep hoping for. In the Bible you have the trustworthy Word of our Sovereign!

May the Lord grant that we will apprehend better his revelation of himself, and that our faith in his Word will correspondingly increase. Amen.

Notes:

1. Trinity Hymnal #80
2. New Age Bible Versions, p. 509.
3. DBLSD #6409.
4. Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon #5324.

The assurance of salvation that God’s people enjoy amidst the persecutions we suffer is not founded upon our love and commitment to God, but rather upon his to us. The only true and living God, the God of [...]]]>

Quicken me after thy lovingkindness;
So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth (Psalm 119:88).

The assurance of salvation that God’s people enjoy amidst the persecutions we suffer is not founded upon our love and commitment to God, but rather upon his to us. The only true and living God, the God of the Bible, reveals himself to be full of love and faithfulness toward his chosen ones. Christian believers can know for sure that we cannot perish, and that we shall finally be delivered from all our sins and miseries into joyous freedom and inexpressible bliss because of the Lord’s wonderful character and redeeming work for us and in us.

Simply stated, this is the gospel of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone through grace alone. Not only initial forgiveness and justification come this way. We must continue to depend on God’s grace in Christ through faith for our spiritual safekeeping and for the strength to progress toward greater consistency and excellence in practical sanctification. We do not hope in ourselves but in God’s faithful love for every blessing.

This two-line psalm verse consists of a petition and an expected consequence when God answers. It reveals that the psalmist is concerned “to be found in the way of his duty. His constant desire and design are to keep the testimony of God’s mouth, to keep to it as his rule and to keep hold of it as his confidence and portion forever and ever” (Matthew Henry, in loc.). Conscious of his weakness and liability to sin, David gives himself to believing prayer and expresses his anticipation that God will grant the petitions desired of him.

I NEED LIFE IN KEEPING WITH GOD’S FAITHFUL LOVE

“Quicken me after thy lovingkindness.” Quicken means to make alive, and this is close to the sense of the original, “restore to life.”¹ Its form is imperative, not because it is a command but an urgent plea, “Give me life!” (ESV, without exclamation). It may include the thought of rescue from physical death, but the main idea is surely spiritual. It is, in effect, a heart-cry for personal revival. “Revive me” (NKJV).

Although we have a human and moral responsibility to love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves, the spiritual resources to do these things are grace gifts from God to people who have no inherent ability whatsoever to convert themselves, to prepare themselves for conversion, or even to live the Christian life after conversion. “The Christian life is not hard; it is impossible” (my former mentor, Pr. David Cornell), that is, impossible for carnal people. Regeneration and revival are both the effects of the Spirit in the sovereign exercise of his mercy, comparable to the wind (John 3.8). If we deny this, then we are not only at odds with Jesus’ plain teaching, but we are guilty of seizing credit for our own revival.

Startlingly, that false teacher of 19th century American revivalism, Charles Finney, effectively denied God’s sovereignty in revival. He even ridiculed the consensus judgment of the church at large on this matter:

It was common for the classes of persons just named to ask me, if I thought sinners could be Christians whenever they pleased, and whether I thought that any class of persons could repent, believe, and obey God without the strivings and new-creating power of the Holy Spirit (note well! –DSM). The church was almost universally settled down in the belief of a physical moral depravity, and, of course, in a belief in the necessity of a physical regeneration (?!, no, DSM), and also of course in the belief, that sinners must wait to be regenerated by divine power while they were passive. Professors also must wait to be revived, until God, in mysterious sovereignty, came and revived them. As to revivals of religion, they were settled down in the belief to a great extent, that man had no more agency in producing them than in producing showers of rain.²

This is a gross caricature of Jonathan Edwards and others being criticized, but it exposes Mr. Finney’s belief that revival can be had as readily as one might turn a spigot on the kitchen sink for a steady flow of water. I quote him because whether many realize it or not, much of contemporary evangelicalism is infested with this man-centered spirit and “instant revival” theology.

Friends, God is not our personal bellhop to snap into instant conformity with our commands whenever we feel like issuing them! He reveals himself otherwise, even as our heavenly Father who loves to be petitioned by his children for the Holy Spirit and promises that our pleas will not ultimately be ignored (Luke 11.13). But God answers this and every other noble prayer, both with regard to timing and degree, in keeping with his great wisdom and love, and to demonstrate his sovereign prerogative to give or withhold, so that when he answers, it is obvious that he deserves all the praise for the blessing. Of course we ought to pray for revival, but we should never imagine that we can force God’s hand in this or anything else. When we find ourselves yearning for revival, that is evidence that God is already at work in us, prompting us to seek the blessing he always intended to give us.

The AV translates part of the first line, “after thy lovingkindness,” and the preposition ought to be understood in the sense of “in accordance with.”³ The psalmist is saying to God, “I need the kind of great spiritual revival that is in accordance with your lovingkindness,” this latter word being one of the most wonderful in the entire OT. The best way to express the Hebrew original is by a compound like the AV uses. Other attempts include “faithful mercy, constant goodness,”⁴ and “unfailing love. . . .

[which] refer[s] to God’s constancy and fidelity in love, promised to his covenant people at Sinai. . . . The love of Yahweh is his commitment to those who love him to be unceasingly generous in his forgiveness, compassion, and blessings. His fidelity may also be expressed by the word [translated] faithfulness. There is no limit to his faithfulness. . . . The quality of God’s love guarantees the continual operation of all his benefits (perfections) toward his people, including righteousness, uprightness, justice, forgiveness, patience, and compassion.⁵

In other words, God has irrevocably covenanted with believers to lavish the benefits of his grace upon us, though we never, ever come to deserve them. Therefore, believers have a warrant to pray for the continuance and increase of the influences of God’s life-giving Spirit upon our souls because this blessing is absolutely guaranteed to us in the gospel promise itself! For example, Jesus urged his thirsty hearers to come to him and drink, for whoever would believe on Christ, “out of his [Christ’s, ?] belly shall flow rivers of living water,” and in saying this Jesus was speaking figuratively of the Holy Spirit (John 7.37-39).⁶ Spiritual revival belongs by right to all who are trusting in Jesus Christ. An important means by which we come to experience it more fully is by believing prayer to God for it. We ought to join with the psalmist’s divinely-prompted example and pray, “Lord, revive me in keeping with your faithful love!”

I WILL OBEY GOD AS A RESULT OF HIS FAITHFUL LOVE

The answer to this prayer will be seen by the saint’s perseverance and progress in obedience to God’s revealed will. “So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.” The first word of this second line in this context seems to have the sense of “so that; . . . a marker of a result.”⁷ “Lord, if you will revive me according with your faithful love, then as a result I will keep your Word.” The psalmist has a complete reliance, not on himself or even on prayer itself, but on the sovereign Lord to whom he prayed. We must realize that our sanctification as believers rests upon God’s keeping his rock-solid promises, and therefore, it cannot possibly fail to be accomplished.

God’s commandments are called “the testimony of [his] mouth” by an anthropomorphism.⁸ The written Scriptures are so closely associated with God as their Author that even though he used human instruments to write them, they are the same as if they were breathed out of his own mouth, if he had a mouth (cf. 2 Tim 3.16, “inspired” = “God-breathed”). Therefore keeping his commandments is part and parcel of deep personal communion with him. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2.3; cf. vv. 4-5). Obedience to God is also an evidence of his electing love toward his people. “The surest token of God’s good-will toward us is his good work in us” (Matthew Henry, in loc.).

These important biblical concepts are woven throughout the entire message of Scripture and have been nicknamed, “experimental⁹ Calvinism.” Augustine grasped them profoundly and wrote,

My whole hope is in your exceeding great mercy and that alone. Give what you command and command what you will.¹⁰ You command [self-control] from us, and when I knew, as it is said, that no one could be [self-controlled] unless God gave it to him, even this was a point of wisdom to know whose gift it was.¹¹

This perspective will prompt us to seek every virtue from God through prayer, and to know that we will finally have them all in perfect fullness through Christ.

Notes:

1. DBLSD #2649 piel stem.
2. Finney, Systematic Theology, p. 350 (1878).
3. MWCD, 11th edition; for the Heb. see DBLSD #3869.4, “a marker involving a similarity or correspondence.”
4. Gesenius’ Lexicon (1897 edition), p. 332.
5. EBC, Appendix to Psa 25 by Willem VanGemeren.
6. See D. A. Carson’s elaborate discussion of this complex interpretive issue, in loc.
7. DBLSD #2256.6.
8. A figure of speech that attributes human physical traits to God.
9. In the archaic sense of “experiential.”
10. “This sentence caught the attention of Pelagius [the heretic who perhaps most influenced Finney—DSM], a British monk living at Rome [who thought] the suggestion that God should be responsible for granting human beings the ability to perform his commands made nonsense of the idea of divine lawgiving. . . [but with] Saint Paul, . . . . [Augustine] held that human beings are powerless to obey God’s commands unless aided by God himself” (Confessions, Outler’s translation, footnote 6 on Book 10.
11. Ibid., 10.29.40.

All rights reserved.

If Satan the roaring lion (1 Pet 5.8) cannot destroy you with violence, then as a cunning serpent he will deceive you with temptation (Gen 3.1 ff.). Your only hope of peace and safety is steadfastly to obey God’s [...]]]>

They had almost consumed me upon earth;
But I forsook not thy precepts (Psa 119.87).

If Satan the roaring lion (1 Pet 5.8) cannot destroy you with violence, then as a cunning serpent he will deceive you with temptation (Gen 3.1 ff.). Your only hope of peace and safety is steadfastly to obey God’s law. Truly, there is more genuine and lasting danger in sin than in suffering. Christian martyrs are delivered from the devil once and for all, while the tried on earth remain vulnerable to at least a degree of apostasy through compromise, with its disastrous consequences. If you will keep to the straight and narrow way, though you must suffer persecution, you shall ultimately be saved.

John Bunyan preached this graphically in his famous extended allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress. Just before Christian came to Palace Beautiful, he saw two ferocious lions standing in his way, the same from which Timorous and Mistrust had fled. Since Christian did not see they were chained, he almost went back, but the Porter encouraged him with these words, “Is thy strength so small? Fear not the lions, for they are chained, and are placed there for trial of faith, where it is, and for discovery of those that have none.” In other words, Providence ordains hindrances to salvation as a test of whether we will really trust him. The Porter’s next words are full of profound wisdom: “Keep in the midst of the path, and no hurt shall come unto thee” (Part I Chapter 3). Sure enough, as Christian bravely went straight on between the lions, he passed by safely. Though afraid, the little girl jumps from the third story window of a burning building into her loving father’s arms because she trusts him implicitly.

We are too prone to think that radical and consistent obedience to God’s Word will lead to disaster, when the exact opposite is true. Wandering from God’s revealed will is what exposes us to the most significant and long-lasting trouble. Faith is trusting God enough to do things his way, though the prospects of happiness or success may seem tiny. When the Israelites passed down into the Red Sea between high standing walls of water on either side they must have felt vulnerable, but this was for their salvation. Without trusting and obeying the Lord at this point, they would have been slaughtered by the Egyptian army.

Likewise, when they dwelt in the wilderness, Balak the Moabite king could not buy Balaam the prophet’s curse upon them (Num 22-24), but when he taught Balak to entice Israel into idolatry and immorality (Rev 2.14), 24,000 of them died in the plague of God’s judgment (Num 25). The Midianites had “vexed [Israel] with their [the Midianites’] wiles . . . [and] beguiled” them (Num 25.18).

Another example comes to mind, namely, the man of God from Judah commissioned to reprove Jeroboam, ruler over the northern kingdom of Israel (1 Kgs 13). God strictly charged this Judean prophet to return straight home after delivering the divine message of condemnation by a different route than he came, without stopping to eat or drink anywhere. Then an old prophet falsely claimed that the Lord now commanded a hospitable break in travel, and while there, the disobedient prophet learned of his impending demise.

Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of thy fathers (1 Kgs 13.21-22).

Just after he departed for home, a lion met him and slew him in the way, leaving his donkey alone. This plain sign to all passers-by proved that this was not unlucky circumstances but a special divine judgment for disobedience. And this happened even to a faithful man of God who preached fearlessly to an evil king who could have ordered his execution!

With these examples in mind, the doctrine of Psalm 119.87 is better grasped.

THE TRIAL OF OBEDIENCE

“They had almost consumed me upon earth.” The context requires us to understand this of his human enemies. The definition of “consumed” which fits best here is “to destroy, to bring to utter ruin, to exterminate.”¹ The precise original sense comes out well in these renderings: “almost made an end of me on earth” (ESV) and “almost wiped me off the earth” (Tanakh). While there is evidence that OT prophets were conscious of life after death and even eternal blessedness for the righteous, their perspective was more typically earth-bound than that of NT prophets. Sometimes the former spoke as if this life were all there is. Pleading for the Lord to preserve his earthly life, the psalmist argued for it this way, “Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee?” (Psa 88.10). “The interrogations in these verses imply the strongest negations.”² This verse should not be taken as a flat denial of resurrection but rather as the psalmist’s temporary lack of hope while in the midst of much despair.

If we depend on mere human wisdom and the outward appearance of things, it can certainly seem to the most sorely persecuted that our demise is all but inevitable. The test of our faith can at times be so terribly difficult. In Psa 119.87a, this is what the psalmist confesses had happened to him in the past.

“At times their cruel plans seem to border on success. Let not the righteous be dismayed. Let the Word be remembered which can never fail” (Henry Law, in loc.). Matthew Poole may have been right to suggest that the psalmist, mentioning earth, consciously “implied that his immortal soul and eternal happiness in heaven, of which he speaks, Psa 16.11; 17.15, and elsewhere, was safe, and out of their reach,” but that may have been more obvious to him after the fact, when his temporal deliverance had come and prefigured a greater one.

THE TRIUMPH OF OBEDIENCE

Matthew Henry observes that “that which they [the psalmist’s enemies] aimed at was to frighten him from the ways of God, but they could not prevail; he would sooner forsake all that was dear to him in this world than forsake the word of God, would sooner lose his life than lose the comfort of doing his duty” (in loc.), and God delights to honor such principled and steadfast commitment to him.

The psalmist’s testimony of his experience throughout the trial was this, “but I forsook not [“did not abandon,” Tanakh] thy precepts.” There is such a close relation between God and his Word in the OT that to abandon his Word is the same as abandoning him. “Transgressors” and “sinners,” both terms with connotations of breaching God’s law, are the same as those who “forsake the Lord” in Isa 1.28. God speaks to an apostate when he mentions “the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me” (Deut 28.20). Unfaithfulness in one’s relationship to God manifests itself by flagrant sins of commission and omission. Only a fool imagines his heart is right with God while living in plain and habitual violations of his moral law.

Therefore this is the psalmist’s testimony of fidelity to God himself which was seen in treasuring his law and scrupulous adherence to it in real life. And having kept the faith while suffering intense pressure to sin, the psalmist had enjoyed answers to his prayers for the preservation and deliverance of his person, both soul and body.

Sometimes it does please God to grant the church’s enemies an apparent and temporary triumph over us so that we are led as sheep to the slaughter, but when that happens, we must remember two things.

First, this is the exception to the rule. Ours is a God of deliverances. He loves to bring us through the trial, proving our sincerity, strengthening our faith, and demonstrating his love and power toward us.

Second, the triumph of the wicked is only apparent and temporary. There really is an afterlife. The clouds obscuring this truth in the OT because of the progressive nature of God’s verbal revelation sometimes parted and the blazing sun of truth about this sometimes shone through. For example, Job prophesied with amazing knowledge of the future,

I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me (Job 19.25-27).

All mankind will finally be raised from the dead. Judgment Day is real, and the meek shall inherit the earth just as Jesus promised (Matt 5.5). All this will happen when God’s everlasting kingdom of glory is finally consummated at Christ’s second coming.

Until then, our calling as Christians is to love the Lord and keep his precepts. Don’t be intimidated by angry enemies. Despise the world’s attempts at spiritual seduction, because they imperil you. Giving in to please them, even a little bit, is hazardous. God who governs his moral universe keeps the lions chained so that you may safely walk between them. It may seem frightening to do the right thing, but as you trust and obey God’s perfect law, you will discover experientially that it was the only truly safe way to live. The righteous will see someday that all the transgressors have fallen into the evil pits they intended for us (Psa 119.85; cf. Prov 26.27).

May the Lord keep us loyal to him, giving us faith to trust his wisdom and to keep his precepts without compromise. Amen.

Notes:

1. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
2. The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, in loc.

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Heroism often appears in a crisis moment, but this is but its momentary manifestation. Its underpinnings are good character quietly growing largely unnoticed in spite of a thousand deterrents which effectively suppress the potential greatness of others. That daily, sustained, [...]]]>

All thy commandments are faithful:
They persecute me wrongfully; help thou me (Psa 119.86).

Heroism often appears in a crisis moment, but this is but its momentary manifestation. Its underpinnings are good character quietly growing largely unnoticed in spite of a thousand deterrents which effectively suppress the potential greatness of others. That daily, sustained, disciplined virtue which prepares one to shine in the convergence of opportunity and challenge deserves more admiration than it commonly receives.

It is said, “Sow a thought, and you reap an act; sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny,”¹ but the destiny gets all the attention.

Many illustrations come to mind, but one of the most famous and soul-stirring for Protestants is Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms, when all the hellish power of the medieval Roman Catholic Church was calling him to recant of his “errors,” including the gospel of justification by faith alone. Luther said,

“Unless I am refuted and convicted by testimonies of the Scriptures or by clear arguments (since I believe neither the Pope nor the Councils alone; it being evident that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am conquered by the Holy Scriptures quoted by me, and my conscience is bound in the Word of God: I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is unsafe and dangerous to do anything against the conscience. . . . Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me! Amen.”²

For years Luther’s soul had been nourished by God’s truth and strengthened by God’s grace, and this was but a glorious revelation of the victorious faith and courage already burning in his soul.

How do such faithful saints come to the point where they triumph spiritually over all their enemies? Our psalm text contains very important parts of the biblical answer.

WE STAND ON GOD’S WORD

A life of true faith begins when one strikes out upon a different course than is customary in this world; indeed, genuine faith requires us to walk in the direct opposition to our former friends. That is because a believer is drawing near to God, while others are running away. This nonconformist lifestyle is bound to provoke their ire and draw their criticism, at least, if not their violent opposition. Their verbal assaults are potentially perilous for us, because in those moments we are faced with a difficult decision. Will we relent from our singular life of righteousness for the sake of a truce with them, or will we continue in the highway of holiness, even quickening our pace? The outcome largely depends on the view we take of God’s Word.

Popular censure provokes introspection in sensitive souls. You begin to examine yourself and wonder, “Maybe I have done something seriously wrong. Why else would these people oppose me so strenuously?” Upon reflection, we discover we have inconsistencies with the faith we profess. That is why a measure of this self-distrust is healthy and may even yield much-needed course corrections in our lives, but the standard must always be Holy Scripture, not fallible human opinion. Ironically, God has even used his enemies to purify the church of her sins and errors.

Often, however, they hate us more for our biblical virtues than our inconsistencies. As we gaze into the mirror of God’s Word, we see a substantial measure of spiritual integrity. We have believed what is true and done what is right, and that can be the very point where our faith is most severely tested. The devil still whispers in our ears, “Yea, hath God said?,” as he did to our first parents while they were still walking in obedience to God (Gen 3.1). We can be tempted to wonder whether Scriptural standards are too strict and demanding, making unrealistic expectations of mere mortals, and whether the work of God might get along better if we would compromise a little bit here and there. Besides, must we be so different after all? Could we not wield more influence if we did not so readily alienate the very people we are trying to win? Satanic corruptions of faith and practice along these very lines characterize many churches and ministries today. This loosened grip on truth, or more accurately, this capitulation of it, is perhaps the fundamental problem with both church growth pragmatism and the “emergent churches.”

The psalmist, however, kept building upon the foundation of God’s unshakeable Word. “All thy commandments are faithful.” This is a comprehensive confession (“all”) of faith in heaven’s verbal revelation (“thy commandments”). The ESV renders the last word as “sure.” The original is rich and suggestive with the senses of “firmness, fidelity, and steadiness,”³ as well as “trustworthiness, honesty and truthfulness, security and safety, that which conforms to reality.”⁴ The psalmist was able to answer the devil, “Yes, God hath said! And I intend to trust and obey my sovereign Lord!” If we would stand strong amidst a crooked and perverse generation, we must appreciate the absolute truth and abiding justice, relevance, and safety of God’s Word in Scripture. We can never be wiser or more compassionate than God, nor can we improve on his truth and righteousness.

WE SIT IN JUDGMENT UPON OUR ENEMIES

Another part of the biblical basis for spiritual triumph over enemies is a realistic and unsparing condemnation of ungodliness, as the psalmist practiced. “They persecute me wrongfully.”

Pseudo-spirituality abounds in our culture, and one great symptom of it is a sickly sentimentalism without a moral spine. Nobody is bad, no idea is false, and no behavior is immoral. Judging others in any way is the new unpardonable sin. It doesn’t matter that these misguided notions are completely unworkable in the real world, and that they are inherently self-contradictory. I have noticed that no one is more judgmental than those who are always screaming about absolute tolerance!

The fact is that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3.12), and when that opposition comes, a reasonable person realizes that both parties cannot be simultaneously right about the same thing. Either I deserve the ill treatment I am receiving or I don’t, and if I don’t, then it is evil. If it actually is evil, it is not wrong to think it is evil, and even to say that it is evil.

When we suffer for our faith, it strengthens us to realize that it really is persecution, and to pass judgment on our enemies; otherwise our resolve to continue in conformity to God’s truth will be seriously weakened.

From the beginning, all the heroes of our faith have been candid about the errors and sins of their enemies, from the OT prophets to Jesus to the NT apostles and early Christians. Bold Isaiah called a spade a spade. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa 8.20). The blessed Lord Jesus said of his enemies, “They have hated both me and my Father” (John 15.24). Referring to the Judaizers, the apostle Paul wrote, “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh” (Phil 3.2). The last phrase is a disparaging allusion to their insistence on legalistic circumcision. If we will not censure our enemies, then we must censure ourselves, and nothing enfeebles us in the gospel cause like that.

WE LIE DOWN IN DEPENDENCE UPON GOD’S HELP

The psalmist knew he was in the right but he still acutely felt his need of strength from God to stand firm. We may gather this from his petition to the Lord, “Help thou me.”

It may seem counterintuitive to believe that when we are weak, then we are strong (2 Cor 12.10), but this is profound wisdom. Those who trust in themselves are bound to fall, while others who appreciate the objective reality of their weakness and depend on the mighty Lord will experience his power in their lives of service to him. Spiritual triumph is God’s gift to the humble, while he resists the proud and denies them the glory that belongs to him alone (Jas 4.6).

The familiar axiom, “God helps those who help themselves,” while containing some truth, namely, the legitimacy of human responsibility, must be rejected for its main sense. God helps those who know they are helpless except for his help. Only when we exchange self-confidence for faith in him do we begin to pray earnestly, and only then can we expect his favor with its blessed effects.

Luther’s first day before the Diet of Worms was April 17, 1521, and one account says that he was apparently overawed by the august assembly, nervously excited, unprepared for a summary condemnation without an examination, and spoke in a low, almost inaudible tone. Many thought that he was about to collapse.

When urged to recant, Luther pleaded for further time to consider the matter, and they granted a reprieve of one day. He apparently made good spiritual use of the overnight interim.

On Thursday, the 18th of April, Luther appeared a second and last time before the Diet. It was the greatest day in his life. He never appeared more heroic and sublime. He appeared more cheerful and confident than the day before. He had fortified himself by prayer and meditation, and was ready to risk life itself to his honest conviction of divine truth.

Luther triumphed because he stood on God’s Word, sat in judgment upon his enemies, and reposed upon God’s strength. May we develop these postures and become spiritual heroes, too. Amen.

Notes:

1. English novelist and playwright Charles Reade.
2. All Luther citations from Schaff, History of the Christian Church.
3. TWOT #116e.
4. DBLSD #575.

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We may pronounce everyone healthy but that doesn’t make them better or stop them from dying. Likewise the modern impulse to euphemize the ethical landscape is not only ineffective, but by masking the real problem, it keeps people from [...]]]>

The proud have digged pits for me,
Which are not after thy law (Psa 119.85).

We may pronounce everyone healthy but that doesn’t make them better or stop them from dying. Likewise the modern impulse to euphemize the ethical landscape is not only ineffective, but by masking the real problem, it keeps people from genuine salvation.

The naïve diagnosis is ubiquitous. No one is evil, only sick. We all mean well, but things just don’t turn out as we had hoped. There is no objective standard of right and wrong, so we must not sit in judgment of other people’s free choices.

Modern society is largely built on this sandy foundation, and it is the hidden reason our house is falling down. As soon as these deeply-held assumptions are exposed and criticized, our fellow homeowners keep assuring us that if only we restore the props and patch the walls everything will be alright—or if not, that’s the best we can do anyway. Meanwhile they attack Calvinists as most uncharitable in our bleak evaluation.

The psalmist did not candy-coat the poisonous malice of his enemies. Possessing divine wisdom, he clearly recognized their true character, hurtful intentions, and rebellion against God. Recognizing the hideous reality is not being mean. It is most loving to direct the hopeless away from depending on themselves to trusting the only true Savior.

Confronted by such evil, the psalmist engaged the enemy by the most effective means. His spiritual analysis and strategy would accomplish much to recover our generation from its insane blindness.

THEIR CONCEIT

David accurately designated his enemies as “the proud.” The original Hebrew uses an awful word which means the “arrogant, haughty, insolent, self-willed, and not humble as a moral defect.” It can mean one who is rebellious or disobedient. “Because the person is proud he asserts his own will to the point of rebelling against one in authority over him.” Of course the authority David had in mind was God, as the last line of this verse indicates.

Not just Israelites but all people are responsible to God our Creator. Having made us, he owns us and has governing rights over us and our lives from beginning to end. This applies to believers and idolaters—even atheists. Whether David had Jews or Gentiles in mind as his enemies, for he suffered opposition from both, it was all the same. The former had sinned against greater spiritual light, but even the pagans had a built-in conscience. In both cases the proud ones had exalted their own thoughts and wishes over almighty God, and there is no greater arrogance.

We recognize that being conceited is a thing most reprehensible, but we generally find the arrogance of others more obvious and repugnant than our own. David’s enemies probably did not think of themselves in these unflattering terms; nevertheless, they were proud.

The average person today is typically at a loss to account for the most horrific crimes. Would not a recognition of this cosmic anti-God pride go a long way toward our understanding? The proud can be expected to behave according to their nature. They think they are a law unto themselves, and so they do what they please, without love, faith, or much restraint of any kind.

THEIR CUNNING

David uses a graphic metaphor to describe their plots against him. He says they “have dug pits [or, pitfalls] for me.” We need not take this literally, as when Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit (Gen 37). Here, it is a richly visual analogy from the hunting world. One may effectively catch large animals by digging a larger and deep hole in the ground, covering it flimsily, and hiding it with appropriate camouflage. Then the unsuspecting one, by simply passing over the spot, will suddenly plummet to its demise (cf. Psa 9.15).

This metaphor suggests malice, preplanning, deceit, and possibly conspiracy. In the spiritual realm David has in mind nothing less than Satan working through men. When the original liar and murderer entered the garden, he was aptly disguised as a serpent, “more subtil [or, cunning, NKJV] than any beast of the field” (Gen 3.1). Succumbing to his solicitations, our first parents and all their posterity became enslaved to him and then we began to share his perverse nature.

There is some truth in the saying, “It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.” One important part of a realistic worldview is that some people are malicious liars who would destroy you, whether that is their conscious intent or not. The apostle Peter, having suffered himself, says that we must be sober and vigilant, because our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet 5.8). The unconverted are his unwitting agents. They are hateful and hating one another (Tit 3.3), and their hostility to the righteous is even greater (John 15.18-19).

Therefore, be assured that the arrogant are still digging pits for anyone who gets in the way of their own selfish gratification. Fallen human nature has not changed.

THEIR CRIMINALITY

Since David was a godly man, he saw all immoral behavior in its true light as transgression of God’s holy Word. “The proud have dug pits for me, which are not after [or, according to] thy law.” This is, if anything, an understatement. Not only were they failing to implement the righteousness the law commands, but they were flagrantly violating the express prohibitions of God’s moral law against any sort of malicious treatment, the spirit of which appears in Prov 3.29-30, “Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you. Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm” (ESV).

As any informed Christian knows, the essence of biblical righteousness is love—first, that we love God supremely and consequently that we love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt 22.35-40). Love to God and neighbor correspond to the first (commandments 1-4; Exod 20.3-11) and second (commandments 5-10) parts of the Decalogue (Exod 20.12-17). These twin duties are always found together, for each is impossible without the other. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4.20-21).

Therefore, all the loving acts you might perform toward anyone else are comprehended in what God’s written moral code has already required of you, and any spiteful words or deeds are cases of law-breaking. Commenting on Rom 13.8-10, John Murray perceptively wrote,

What our modern apostles of love really mean is the very opposite of this: they mean that love fulfills its own dictates, that love not only fulfills, but that it is also the law fulfilled, that love is as it were an autonomous, self–instructing and self–directing principle, that not only impels to the doing of the right but also tells us what the right is. This is certainly not what Paul meant when he said, “love is the fulfilling of the law.” He tells us not only that love fulfills, but also what the law is which it fulfills. . . . It is in the decalogue that Paul finds the epitome of moral law. And second, it is that law that love fulfills. The directing principle of love is objectively revealed statutory commandments, not at all the dictates which it might itself be presumed to excogitate [i.e., to devise].

So David’s is a profound observation, since it recognizes that God’s law is the law of love. Further, it suggests that failure to love is not merely anti-social, but a sin against God who requires us to love. Pride leads to malice, and malice, to actual transgressions of God’s moral law, and actual transgressions to personal guilt before God, and guilt to divine condemnation.

MY COUNTERACTION

While not returning evil for evil, the godly are not wholly passive victims either. One of the most important responses we can offer—one that is generally thought practically worthless—is prayer.

On the battlefield of spiritual warfare, praying against enemies is not just a reaction, but a counteraction. With God’s blessing, prayer actively strengthens the saints, while it opposes and vanquishes our spiritual enemies, either by their conversion or eventual overthrow.

This verse is essentially a prayerful appeal to God. David is not just complaining about how much he has suffered, but he is a plaintiff in the supreme court of justice. He knows that God is just and will ultimately punish all sin—even each and every sin. The Judge of all the earth will finally bring an end to all the villainous rampages against his church, and all this will be to the praise of his glory. Therefore, the suffering one comes boldly by grace into God’s presence, presents the case, and trusts in the Almighty to hear and deliver.

Filled with the Spirit of prophecy as this verse was written, David sets a godly example. Yes, the unconverted are our proud enemies. Yes, they oppose, frustrate, and persecute us. Yes, they practice lawlessness. Prayer to the Lord is our first and most effective recourse. Do not repay evil for evil, but pray. May we all have grace for this. Amen.

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Saul the Pharisee was a persecutor of the early Christians until he met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. Describing himself since that day of his conversion, Paul wrote to Timothy:

But thou hast [...]]]>

How many are the days of thy servant?
When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?

Saul the Pharisee was a persecutor of the early Christians until he met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. Describing himself since that day of his conversion, Paul wrote to Timothy:

But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

Lest any readers should assume such experiences were limited to Paul, or perhaps to apostles and preachers, he continued:

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

To guard against any expectation of immediate relief, Paul further explained,

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived (2 Tim 3.10-13).

Even though times would worsen, persecution has always been the lot of God’s people, ever since Cain slew Abel. Indeed, the psalmist testified of this unpleasant reality in his own day.

A SAINT’S MISERY

“Saint” means a sanctified one, and therefore it is an apt label for any true believer. This Old Testament saint was becoming weary of life because of the persecutions he endured.

“How many are the days of thy servant?” See how he characterized himself. He had become a devoted “servant of the Lord,” that is, a sincere worshiper of Jehovah alone. Those who are promised God’s blessing of salvation are described in Isa 56.6 as those “that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, . . . that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant.” This distinguishes them from most other people in the world. Once we take the Lord’s side alone against all other gods, we discover the idolaters are opposed to us for his sake. This polarization of all people, either for or against the Lord, is the inevitable and uncomfortable reality saints must face until the Lord returns.

Jesus is the ultimate “Servant of the Lord,” and real Christians are his disciples. He helpfully explained the reason we believers must suffer the world’s malice.

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me (John 15.18-21).

Given such a difficult calling, it is no wonder that even the best of men long for the end of their trial. This seems to be the sense of the psalmist’s melancholy question. He was not asking for specific information about how many more days he had to live in this world, but rather expressing his misery for having to live as long as he had already, and not knowing how much longer the misery would be extended.

As modern American Christians we can hardly relate to this kind of thinking. In God’s mercy we have been given a considerable reprieve from most of the persecution that Christians in almost all other times and places routinely suffer. However, if we are aware and sensitive to the horrific experiences of our brethren around the world, so that we truly and deeply sympathize with them, then we can begin to experience something of their earnest desire that these days of suffering would soon be over. “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body” (Heb 13.3). If we love them, their sufferings will become meaningful, even painful, to us.

An answer of wisdom to the first question is, “not many,” even though time seems to pass most slowly when we are subjected to ongoing pain. Paul kept an eternal perspective to help endure the sufferings of his life. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor 4.17). But for a moment! This life is like a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away (Jas 4.14). In the long view of things, the time is short, and we should realize that as Christians, all our bad experiences in this life will soon be over forever.

A SAINT’S PLEA

Given that “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14.22), it is no wonder that suffering ones send up petitions before God’s throne to throw down their adversaries. “When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?” This is nothing less than a desperate plea of the psalmist for God to come to his rescue, overthrow his enemies, and justify him as not
deserving such mistreatment.

Pop Christianity sports a pseudo-spirituality that condemns such prayers. It twists Jesus’ “turn the other cheek” exhortation into a disdain for the his holy vengeance, though it was never meant to oppose that at all.

The psalmist was a praying saint who refused to inflict personal revenge, even on those who were abusing him. Instead, he suffered with patient meekness and prayerfully committed his cause to the Lord. This kind of petition was one means by which he found the spiritual strength not to retaliate in kind, as they had hurt him. He knew he could trust the Lord, as the moral Governor of the universe, to make everything right in the end. The Lord is watching everyone. The Lord is evaluating every man’s heart and conduct. A day of ultimate reckoning will answer all the injustices we have experienced at the hands of the ungodly, both with respect to a gracious reward for saints and equitable punishment for the finally impenitent.

In the mean time, the sufferers find spiritual refuge in reverent complaints to God. Even saints in heaven, perfectly purified from all sin, utter the same prayers. John the apostle saw and heard the martyrs begging God for retributive justice upon those who had killed them.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? (Rev 6.9-10).

Of course this was not unspiritual at all!

Further, to show us the righteousness of such petitions, the book of Revelation’s first use of the word “Alleluia” (or, “hallelujah,” meaning, “praise the Lord!”) comes in the wake of these ancient and heavenly prayers being answered.

And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia (Rev 19.1-4).

It will be a very, very good thing when Jesus Christ returns from heaven in power and glory to punish his enemies and deliver the church universal from all our oppressors! It will demonstrate convincingly to all that he is, and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Heb 11.6). It will show the glory of his power and the equity of his justice. It will highlight his faithfulness to keep all his promises and his compassionate love toward all his servants. This great Judgment Day will be the beginning of the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, and the end of all malicious harassment of the church.

If it is a good thing for Christ to come back and punish his enemies, then it must also be a good thing to pray for his return and with it this desirable end of punishment. When John had
seen all these awful things coming to pass in prophetic vision, he responded this way: “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev 22.20), and so should we.

The Lord’s return will be the end of the days of suffering for his servants, and the occasion when Christ executes judgment on our persecutors. This is the day for which the psalmist was praying earnestly, even without the spiritual light of the New Testament. Weariness of persecution drove him, not to apostasy, but to yearn and pray for the day of complete redemption. May the Lord give us the same heartfelt desire and hasten his coming. Amen.

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Spurgeon calls this tenth section of Psalm 119 “the midnight of the psalm, and very dark and black it is,” for it testifies to the psalmist’s “lowest condition of anguish and depression.”1 This verse uses [...]]]>

For I am become like a bottle in the smoke;
Yet do I not forget thy statutes (Psa 119.83).

Spurgeon calls this tenth section of Psalm 119 “the midnight of the psalm, and very dark and black it is,” for it testifies to the psalmist’s “lowest condition of anguish and depression.”¹ This verse uses a metaphor unfamiliar to us, but when once understood, it leads us to realize that when we are as low as the psalmist, as believers we have the same spiritual resources and are also bound to be saved.

MY SORRY CONDITION

To modern readers, “bottle” seems to denote a glass or plastic container with a narrow neck for storing liquid, but the author had never seen one of those. Instead they used somewhat bottle-shaped animal skins (e.g., of kid, goat, cow, camel), tanned or untanned, for the same purpose. They were often called “wineskins” for their typical contents. Their bottles were practically unbreakable, lighter, and more easily carried than earthenware counterparts.² Even though “bottle” can still refer to such skins, most translations choose to use “wineskin” here.

Therefore a more familiar and equivalent construction for the first line would be, “For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke” (ESV). The psalmist speaks of coming through a process of suffering to his present condition, but still the metaphor is foreign to us.

As the bottles in the East were made of skin, it is evident that one of these hung up in the smoke must soon be parched, shriveled up, lose all its strength, and become unsightly and useless. Thus the psalmist appeared to himself to have become useless and despicable through the exhausted state of his body and mind and by long bodily afflictions and mental distress.³

Now that the illustration is clear, have you ever felt like that—tired, aching in your soul, and so sad you can hardly express it in words? “Like a wineskin in the smoke?” This figure is so expressive that it evokes the deepest sympathy from all who have known its pain.

Again, we are brought face to face with the undeniable reality of great suffering experienced even by the most godly people, as the psalmist was among them. This not only exposes “Christian Science’s” grossly false teaching that suffering is only due to unbelief, but also confronts our typical confusion as American Christians when facing extremely painful circumstances or experiencing anguish of soul. “Coming to Christ means more suffering, not less, in this world. We all will suffer; we all must suffer; and most American Christians are not prepared in mind or heart to believe or experience this” (John Piper).⁴

Some of the most comforting words in the entire Psalter are from Psalm 23: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me” (v. 4). People recite this from memory at funerals, as we mourn the loss of loved ones, but we must remember it was not originally given in that situational context. David testified of divine faithfulness even when he passed through the threatening, fearful, and depressing seasons of his life—fairly frequent experiences for any human being, and especially for the godly in their minority status as persecuted by the world of unbelievers. As renowned biblical counselor David Powlison reminds us,

Commendable, admirable faith can feel bad—as Job, Naomi, Hannah, many psalms, Jeremiah, and Jesus demonstrate. Many other saints have known dark days: Luther, Bunyan, Spurgeon. And you, too? Giant despair and the slough of despond beset many travelers along that slender path that will find life and joy in the city of God. There will be no more mourning, crying, or pain—someday. But all travelers who take the wide road will come, sooner or later, to a dead end in the swamps of endless melancholy.⁵

Using the word “for,” the psalmist links 119.83a with the preceding two verses, especially their first lines—“My soul fainteth for thy salvation” and “Mine eyes fail for thy word.” He was experiencing miseries from which he needed divine deliverance. He was going through circumstances that biblical promises assured him would be temporary, although they seemed to go on forever. His long continuance in suffering is why he was like a wineskin in the smoke. But his (and our) present melancholy need not last forever, as the psalmist knew.

MY HOPEFUL REMEMBRANCE

“Yet I do not forget thy statutes,” he prayed to the Lord, the ultimate Author of Holy Scripture. “I am exceedingly miserable, but I am also genuinely hopeful. I have not completely lost my faith.” That is what his testimony in prayer is meant to convey.

Forgetfulness is a theme that runs through Psalm 119. “I will not forget thy word” (v. 16). “I have not forgotten thy law” (v. 61). “I will never forget thy precepts” (v. 93). “Yet I do not forget thy law” (vv. 109, 153; “precepts,” v. 141; “commandments,” v. 176). “Mine enemies have forgotten thy words” (v. 139). The all-important object of remembrance, which the psalmist keeps in mind and the wicked disregard, is Scripture. Thus we see that one key difference between the righteous and the wicked, the believer and unbeliever, the saint who perseveres and the pagan who never knew God or apostate who falls away from him, is your relationship to God’s Word. If you cling to that, you will be saved; if you lack it or forget it, you are undone.

By this standard, many professing Christians today are exposed as mere hypocrites because they have indisputably forgotten God’s Word. They don’t read it. They don’t hear it preached. They don’t study it, memorize it, and ponder it. How unlike a person who is righteous in God’s eyes!

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper (Psa 1.1-3).

This is teaching not just that you should meditate in God’s law day and night, as a matter of holy obligation, but that you actually do, if you are one of those to whom God’s benediction belongs—i.e., a true Christian on his way to heaven. Without this obsession with Scripture, you have no warrant, notwithstanding any former decisions you made or religious rites you have undergone, to consider yourself as rightly belonging to the company of true Christians.

Even in his lowest times, the psalmist was still praying (an expression of faith; Rom 10.13-14), and he was still deliberately calling to mind passages of Scripture (another evidence of faith), both for his comfort. Depressed he might be, and full of anguish, too, but he was still a believer. “I do not forget thy statutes,” he wrote, and not, “I know I should not forget thy statues, but for now, I have forgotten them, and woe is me.”

Many now suffering will reject this counsel as simplistic and unworthy of serious consideration—even as insensitive to the depths of their pain—but does it not necessarily follow from our text? When you feel like giving up, give yourself to prayer and meditation on Scripture. “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray” (Jas 5.13). Meditation on God’s Word was guaranteed to Joshua as the path of divinely-granted conquest (note well Josh 1.8). This glorious word of promise was given him when he was between the wilderness at his back and walled cities inhabited by armed giants in the way before him, or, “between a rock and a hard place.”

Desperate people often seem to turn everywhere except to the Lord for help. They run to psychotherapists for comfort and guidance. They put their trust in medications to chase away their malaise. They indulge in all kinds of things, some illicit, in the hopes that these will make them feel better, while the sinful ones only exacerbate their problems. Or else desperate people do nothing, feeling totally helpless and almost unable to move, but a real Christian can hang on and get through by actively exercising his faith toward God and his Word. I am not promising an instant cure-all but a way to save your life for eternity. Not only while David prayed Psa 119.83, but for a while afterward, he was still in a low condition. Nevertheless he persevered.

After the Ziklag incident when the city was burned and all the wives and children of the Jewish soldiers under David’s command were captured by the enemy, he “was greatly distressed.” His men were so grieved over this turn of events that they discussed the possibility of stoning their leader. Surely none of us have ever felt worse than David at this point in his life, nor experienced such catastrophic circumstances. So it is very instructive to see what the man after God’s own heart did then. “David encouraged himself in the LORD his God” (1 Sam 30.6). He was not passive, nor worldly in his approach to the problem. He took hold of the means of grace, especially dialogue with God (Scripture: God speaks to us; prayer: we speak to God). We should do the same, and we will, if we have any true faith at all. We might be miserable, but we are miserably hopeful by the grace of God. Amen.

Notes:

1. Treasury of David, in loc.
2. ISBE Revised, “Bottle.”
3. The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, in loc.
4. “Counseling with Suffering People,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling, 21:2 (Winter 2003).
5. “The River of Life Flows Through the Slough of Despond,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling, 18:2 (Winter 2000).

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Triumphalism, that unrealistic expectation of enjoying in this life nearly all of the blessings, whether physical or spiritual, of the age to come, threatens the well-being of sensitive Christians because it only deepens their dejection. That crucible of unfulfilled desires, [...]]]>

Mine eyes fail for thy word,
Saying, When wilt thou comfort me? (Psa 119.82)

Triumphalism, that unrealistic expectation of enjoying in this life nearly all of the blessings, whether physical or spiritual, of the age to come, threatens the well-being of sensitive Christians because it only deepens their dejection. That crucible of unfulfilled desires, whether holy or natural, instead of being accepted as the normal lot of God’s beloved people, is interpreted rather by triumphalists as a sure sign of exclusion from his favor, and this only increases the miseries suffered by the poor Christian.

To be sure, the Scripture does teach that faithful believers enjoy, even now, a real spiritual victory not experienced by unbelievers. Infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul wrote exultingly, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place” (2 Cor 2.14). Paul is testifying that God was giving them the knowledge, resolve, and strength to persevere in an itinerant ministry of gospel preaching, and many were being saved and edified by this means. In this victory there really were grounds for joyful celebration!

But the apostle is completely misunderstood as teaching an escape from all suffering, depression, and disappointment in this life. From his calling into fellowship with Christ and ordination to the ministry, suffering was Paul’s lot (Acts 9.16). Though many regard him as the greatest Christian who has ever lived, at many times he could have easily sympathized with the sorrowful spirit of the psalmist in our text.

Both the Word of God and authentic Christian experience bear witness to the reality of this age being a time in many respects of the “not yet”—of waiting on the Lord to deliver us and pour out upon us many of the blessings of his promises yet unfulfilled. The “not yet” period must extend all the way until the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory, and then all our “not yet” experiences will be over forever. Even the memories of former heartaches will not chase us in the new heavens and the new earth. Does this not explain why the NT reverberates with a palpable expectancy founded upon the imminent return of Christ? He Himself is the embodiment and realization of every blessing, and when we have him in every sense, we can want no longer.

We would offer a few simple comments of interpretation upon our text and then a biblical illustration.

A CRY IN THE “NOT YET”

First consider his question in prayer, “When wilt thou [God] comfort me?” (line two). He was a man in need of comfort, and he was becoming weary from waiting for it. To ask “when” is to express an urgency of desire. He was suffering in a way that only God could relieve. Any kind of pain is uncomfortable by definition, but pain is greatly exacerbated when it is much prolonged. Practically equivalent and frequent in the Psalms is the question, “How long, O Lord?” (6.3; 13.1-2; 35.17; 74.10; 79.5; 80.4; 89.46; 90.13; 94.3-4). This is the pitiful wail of one in agony. It is like the stripped, wounded, and half-dead man on the side of the road waiting for the tender loving care that would bring him back to health, finally rendered by the good Samaritan (Luke 10.30 ff.).

We should note that even an eminent prophet of the Lord, which the psalmist was, is the author of this cry. And his was no sinful urge, but the inspired expression of his godly heart while under the powerful direction of the Holy Spirit. “When will you comfort me, God?” Dear brethren, when you feel like that, it is therefore no sign of being unconverted on your part, or much less of being unspiritual in any way. Times of soul-anguish are the lot of God’s people this side of glory. This is completely normal and to be expected.

A CONFESSION IN THE “NOT YET”

Now consider the first line, “Mine eyes fail [or, pine away] for thy word [or, promise¹]” (line one). God’s word or promise is like an announcement that help is on the way, and the psalmist is looking for that help. Instead of saying, “Mine eyes fail for thy help,” he substitutes the word for the help it promises, and the meaning is perfectly clear.

The psalmist speaks figuratively, using a metaphor of vision. He is looking, as it were, for help on the horizon, peering anxiously to that far off spot from whence the deliverance shall come. He continues looking for hours, days, weeks, months, perhaps even years, and he feels his vision is about to fail from the strain. Of course all this is intended to mean that his patience has been dwindling and dwindling, and now it is almost exhausted—but only almost, because a true believer perseveres as a believer by the preserving grace of God.

In a really dark night of the soul, it does not feel that way. We have known those with convincing marks of true faith profess to be in despair, and we have wept over their extremity, but they were not really in total despair. “The logical outcome of genuine despair would seem to be suicide. If a man is not prepared for that, he does not really despair, but only fancies so” (anonymous).² “Hopeless and lifeless go together” (William Gurnall).

Indeed, the psalmist is not suicidal but prayerful. “Mine eyes fail for thy word,” but evidently they do not fail completely, because he is still calling upon the Lord to do what he promised! Even when a believer comes to the point when his prayers cannot be put into words and are expressed as sighs and moans, they only show him to be the bruised reed the Lord will not break, and the smoking flax he will not quench (Isa 42.3). Oh, praise God for his tender mercies toward his precious children!

John Calvin was an unusually great student of Scripture and knew experientially what it was to suffer many and great trials, from chronic abdominal pain to persecutions. His wisdom is evident when he wrote, “There is no place for faith if we expect God to fulfill immediately what he promises.” The “not yet” is the time of sifting between those who will believe God’s Word, and those who will not, and the Judgment Day which introduces eternity will openly declare those who passed the test. “Patience is the fruit and proof of faith. “Where there is no patience, there is not even a spark of faith.” Calvin also said these things with plenty of biblical warrant.

There are many great biblical illustrations of faith, manifest in prayer, persevering in the “not yet,” but one comes to my mind as particularly striking. It is the case of Elijah on Mount Carmel after the prophets of Baal were slain. After a three and a half year drought sent as God’s discipline upon the idolatrous people of Israel, now penitent for their apostasy, this super-prophet of the OT confesses his faith and gives himself to prayer for rain.

And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain (1 Kgs 18.41-45).

Although Elijah’s time on his knees was no more than a few hours, does he not picture our posture as real Christians in the “not yet”? God has promised rain after our repentance and faith, and yet the rain has not come. What can we do? What should we do?

First, acknowledge the drought. “Lord, please hear me and know that I mean no irreverence, but my patience waiting for your blessings is nearly exhausted. I have been praying again and again for so long, ‘When will you hear my sorry begging and give me the relief I need? When, O Lord?” Praying like this is not wrong, whatever the triumphalists tell you. We have countless examples of it in the holiest people through the ages.

Then—and this is the hardest part—wait. The “not yet” days of your life and this age are passing swifter than a weaver’s beam or an email in cyberspace. “Patient waiting is often the highest way of doing God’s will” (Jeremy Collier). And after all, as the sweetest-writing Puritan Thomas Watson said, “Patience makes the Christian invincible.” Our triumph now is to wait for our inevitable triumph when our Savior comes. The Lord sustain us in the meantime. Amen.

Notes:

1. Both alternate renderings are from the Tanakh.
2. The Complete Gathered Gold, ed. John Blanchard; all other quotations from this source.

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A recent study shows that compared to 1975, today’s high school seniors consistently think they are doing very well and have bright prospects for the future, while their actual performance on objective tests of academic achievement is considerably lower. [...]]]>

Let my heart be sound in thy statutes;
That I be not ashamed (Psa 119.80).

A recent study shows that compared to 1975, today’s high school seniors consistently think they are doing very well and have bright prospects for the future, while their actual performance on objective tests of academic achievement is considerably lower. They are proud failures! This is comparable to being high on drugs and feeling very artistic while you cannot draw a straight line.

I am afraid that this divorce between self-respect and performance has carried over into the spiritual realm, and things are perhaps even worse than before. “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness” (Prov 30.12). They think they are Christians but they are mistaken. They may even judge themselves to be quite committed Christians, but they have not understood the ABC’s of biblical spirituality.

We often see this self-deceiver in the spiritual church, exhibiting a full and clean profession to his fellow-men; while himself—awful thought!—living at an infinite distance from God. He has got notions of the grand doctrines of the gospel and he finds it convenient to profess them. Salvation by free grace is his creed, and he will contend earnestly for its purest simplicity. He conceives himself to distinguish accurately between sound and unscriptural doctrine. He deems it legal to search for inward evidences, lest they should obscure the glorious freeness of the gospel. All this is a cover for his slumbering delusion.¹

Ours is a time of rampant antinomianism in the church. J. I. Packer’s summary analysis is superb:

Antinomianism, which means being “anti-law,” is a name for several views that have denied that God’s law in Scripture should directly control the Christian’s life.

It must be stressed that the moral law, as crystallized in the Decalogue and opened up in the ethical teaching of both Testaments, is one coherent law, given to be a code of practice for God’s people in every age. In addition, repentance means resolving henceforth to seek God’s help in keeping that law. The Spirit is given to empower law-keeping and make us more and more like Christ, the archetypal law-keeper. . . . Scripture holds out no hope of salvation for any who, whatever their profession of faith, do not seek to turn from sin to righteousness.²

Any kind of antinomianism is utterly foreign to the godly psalmist’s perspective. This text brings that out forcefully, for it links one’s relationship to God’s law with a consequent experience of either honor or humiliation.

CHRISTIAN INTEGRITY

“Let my heart be sound in thy statutes;” or, “may my heart be blameless in your statutes” (ESV).

First, note that this is a spiritual blessing sought by prayer to the Almighty and gracious God. No amount of human willpower or resolve can produce it. Genuine sanctification is one of heaven’s choicest gifts, while we remain responsible to possess it, since God offers it freely for the asking of any earnest seeker (Luke 11.13; cf. Ezek 18.31; Psa 51.10; Matt 23.26; Acts 3.19; Rom 12.2; Jas 4.8; etc.). We will really grow in sanctification through devotion to earnest and believing prayer for it.

Observe, second, that true godliness exists from the inside out; it is first a matter of the heart or soul, the inner self that directs all our actions. “Sound” means healthy or well; “blameless” refers to observable, consistent integrity, the same Hebrew word appearing in 119.1, “Blessed are the undefiled [mg., perfect, sincere] in the way, who walk [habitual course or manner of life] in the law of the LORD.” David is not at all unconcerned about deeds, but he centers his petition upon his secret, invisible part. True worship and service to God flows from a renewed and healthy soul. We affirm this without denying that we can engage in external actions which, with God’s blessing, become effectual means of grace to the soul. There is a symbiosis³ between godly deeds and a godly frame of heart.

Third, he prays for conformity of heart, and by implication of his entire life, to the written will of God in Scripture, his “statutes,” the Hebrew original meaning “what the divine Lawgiver has laid down.”⁴

It is evangelical righteousness, not legalism, for a Christian to maintain a strong desire for his comprehensive, consistent, whole-souled obedience to the entire biblical revelation of God’s moral law, 1) if aiming for God’s glory not his own, 2) with humble trust in God’s gracious justification of sinners in Christ, not his own obedience to Scripture as any part of the grounds of his acceptance with God, and 3) with reliance upon God’s strength not his own.

The first trait makes this struggle for biblical obedience itself an act of worship to God the Father; soli Deo gloria! We who profess faith bear his name before others, and our sanctification commends him to others. The second trait glorifies the God the Son who accomplished once-for-all redemption for his chosen people. The third magnifies the ministry of God the Holy Spirit as absolutely necessary for any subjective progress in conformity to his law.

CHRISTIAN HONOR

While a desire for God’s glory is to be supreme in all we do, a subordinate wish to avoid humiliation is completely legitimate as a motive to holiness.

The psalmist pleads for real sanctification in order “that I be not ashamed” or “put to shame” (ESV), that is, humiliated on account of the chasm between the faith I profess and the faith I actually possess and practice. The English word “integrity” comes from the Latin “integritat” meaning “entire;” it is literally, “the quality or state of being complete or undivided,” and relevant to our meaning here, “firm adherence to a code of moral values.”⁵ Because God cares about your whole person and holds his creatures to a righteous standard, only those will ultimately be honored who actually are righteous inside and out; i.e., they are not two-faced hypocrites. Only God’s obedient servants truly honor him, and he has said, “Them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed” (1 Sam 2.30).

When the day of grace is over, the Lord will make this announcement: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” And even now Christ proclaims, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” And woe to us if we do not sufficiently take into account the solemn benediction, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” of the New Jerusalem (from Rev 22.11-14).

Clearly, there is a divinely-ordained link between Christian integrity (internal and external obedience to God’s commandments) and Christian honor (commendation and salvation on Judgment Day). Knowing the connection prompted the psalmist to write, “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments” (119.5-6).

Grace is not God’s forgiving us freely and dispensing with any obligation that we should keep his law. Grace is God’s forgiving us freely and transforming us by his Spirit so that we can more and more fulfill our moral duty to love and walk in his commandments, a blessedness we never could have possessed apart from God’s election, Christ’s redemption, and the Spirit’s enabling. You must be a sincere follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to have any reasonable expectation that you will be saved, because the gospel produces Spirit-filled people obeying God’s moral law (Rom 8.3-4).

Thus, gospel grace is seen in that both Christian integrity and its consequent honor are gifts from Christ to his beloved people. May he grant them abundantly to us. Amen.

Notes:

1. Charles Bridges on Prov 30.12.
2. Excerpts from “Antinomianism” in Concise Theology.
3. Literally, a cooperative relationship between two living things.
4. ESV Study Bible, “Terms in Psalm 119 for God’s Covenant Revelation.”
5. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

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