Salvation is far from the wicked:
For they seek not thy statutes (Psa 119.155).
People blame God for hell. Some who do this then rationalize their hostility for God. Others twist the Scriptures and deny there is any eternal, conscious physical and spiritual torment of sinners in the afterlife, even though this has been the mainstream view of the historic Christian faith from the beginning, as our venerable confession testifies:
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Plead my cause, and deliver me:
Quicken me according to thy word (Psa 119.154).
Evidently the Lord knows that we need to concentrate upon the great fundamentals of true religion, the very basics of revealed truth, because he keeps bringing us back to them again and again in his wise Word.
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Consider mine affliction, and deliver me:
For I do not forget thy law (Psa 119.153).
English is a dynamic language. Useful words sometimes become corrupted by popular usage. When biblical terms are at stake, we should be jealous for their proper sense and clarify their meaning to our hearers.
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Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old
That thou hast founded them forever (Psa 119.152).
How do we know that the Bible is God’s Word? Because God, in his Word, tells us that it is.
Some allege this is circular reasoning and therefore logically fallacious. They argue, for example, that many books may claim to be God’s word, but their mere claim does not prove their divine inspiration. False prophets lie.
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They draw nigh that follow after mischief:
They are far from thy law.
Thou art near, O LORD;
And all thy commandments are truth (Psa 119.150-51).
Each afternoon during my first year of elementary school, I had to walk a couple of blocks home. While I cannot recall the specifics, some older boys began to bully me between the school and my house. I felt traumatized to some degree until my friend Kenny, older and stronger than the bullies, began to accompany me each day on that walk. Nothing bad ever happened when Kenny was with me. And so even though I knew the bullies were never far away, as long as I had Kenny right by my side, my heart was at peace.
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Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness:
O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment (Psa 119.149).
It should sober us to realize that God rejects much of the so-called prayer going on in the world today. Jesus implied that by saying of the “vain repetitions” of the heathen, for example, “They think that they shall be heard for their much speaking,” clearly intimating that they shall not be heard by God, despite their expectation (Matt 6.7). Even religious people with a knowledge of Scripture sometimes pray in vain, as the Pharisee who “prayed thus with himself,” boasting of his supposed righteousness, and then went down to his house unjustified before God, without saving grace and forgiveness, though he knew it not (Luke 18.9-14).
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I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried:
I hoped in thy word.
Mine eyes prevent the night watches,
That I might meditate in thy word.
Laziness is deadly. The Bible’s wisdom literature ridicules this sin with a pathetic caricature of a man so lazy that he lacks the energy and will to pick up the food on his plate! “A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again” (Prov 19.24). Now, we realize that this is an exaggeration in the physical realm for the purpose of shaming us in our sinful laziness, but let us go with it for a moment. Since like everyone else this sluggard must eat to live, a couple things naturally follow. First, he is extremely lazy if even an empty belly will not motivate him to eat. Second, he who stops eating has taken the course that leads to death.
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I cried with my whole heart;
Hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes.
I cried unto thee;
Save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies (Psa 119.145-146).
Communion is communication. A silent marriage is in trouble. Better stressful conversations than the smoldering mutual contempt that lets the ticking clock become the loudest thing in the house.
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The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting:
Give me understanding, and I shall live (Psa 119.144).
These simple statements rest on a vastly deep appreciation for profound spiritual realities. When we consider the larger biblical context of doctrine along these lines, that becomes more apparent.
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Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me:
Yet thy commandments are my delights.
Everyone suffers in this world, even those nearest to God. At first this seems an amazing thing since all suffering is the outworking of Providence. We might think that the Lord would give his people an easier path on the way to heaven. But more stunning still is the truth that those nearest to God do especially suffer, more than the unconverted, at least in some respects.
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