I am thy servant; give me understanding,
That I may know thy testimonies (Psa 119.125).
When it comes to God’s Word, we must approach it in faith that we may understand it and do it. This is an inexorable law of the kingdom of our Almighty Sovereign with whom no one can trifle. Although unbelievers can have the Word preached to them just like believers, and while unbelievers may grasp intellectually just like believers much of the information the Bible contains, and unbelievers even can see, in common with believers, some of the practical implications of divine truth for everyday life, yet there is an intimacy of fellowship with God in his Word from which unbelievers are totally excluded, and which is the common, blessed experience in some degree of every real Christian.
That this spiritual fellowship with God is the portion of believers only is stated almost formally in Psalm 25.14, “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.” Matthew Henry commented (in loc.),
These promises (Psa 25.8-14) are sure to those who though they have been sinners, have gone astray, yet now keep God’s word. . . . God will admit them into the secret of communion with himself (v. 14). . . . Those that receive the truth in the love of it, and experience the power of it, best understand the mystery of it. They know the meaning of his providence, and what God is doing with them, better than others (emphasis mine).
Secrets are shared among trusted friends. All men are God’s enemies by nature; by grace some sinners have come to fear him, and these are his friends. With them alone he shares his secrets. Abraham believed God and was called the friend of God (Jas 2.23). “And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” (Gen 18.17-18), that is, “Seeing I have set my eternal love upon him, making him a believer predestined for salvation, and the progenitor of the Messiah?” In this narrative, we learn that God privileged Abraham with the knowledge of Sodom’s imminent destruction. Then two messengers of God went and revealed this secret to Lot and his family. Most of the Sodomites had no idea what was coming. Lot’s sons-in-law heard about it, but the secret was totally lost on them because they disbelieved God’s Word. They thought Lot was only joking (Gen 19.14). These two Sodomite fools are like people today who sit in churches, privileged with truly biblical sermons, and yet they remain ignorant of God’s secrets because they have no faith.
Admittedly Abraham and Lot were unique in redemptive history, but all the blessings they enjoyed came to them by the mediation of Jesus Christ, the very same grounds on which all real Christians know fellowship with the God of secrets.
THE TESTIMONY OF DEDICATION
“I am thy servant.” Addressed to the Lord, this prayer expresses the psalmist’s dedication to worship the true and living God and him alone. To “serve” God is tantamount to being redeemed by him (Neh 1.10), and fearing (Neh 1.11), trusting (Psa 34.23), loving (Psa 69.37), praising (Psa 113.1), and obeying him (Deut 10.12-13). It is to come under his special protection and promised deliverance (Isa 54.17; n.b., the righteousness of God’s servants is from him). David is often designated the Lord’s servant (e.g., 2 Sam 7.26; Psa 18 title; 36 title), and before him Moses was (Deut 34.5) and Joshua (Josh 24.29)—all prefiguring the supreme Servant of the Lord, even Jesus the Christ (Isa 42.1; cf. Matt 12.14 ff.). Any true servant of the Lord is a godly person ready to do whatever God requires. Actually, dedicated Christians are the only true Christians.
Further, only a believer can say truthfully to the Lord, “I am thy servant.” Committing yourself to Christ by faith is your responsibility, and prerequisite to experiencing the other two blessings mentioned in this verse. You must believe first in order to understand and grow in your conformity of heart and conduct to God’s law. Jesus stated it this way: “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7.17). With penetrating insight, D. A. Carson explains it well:
The point is not that a seeker must attain a certain God-approved level of ethical achievement before venturing an assessment as to whether or not Jesus’ teaching comes from God, but that a seeker must be fundamentally committed to doing God’s will. This is a faith commitment. God then fills the seeker’s horizon. God’s will is not simply to be thought about and assessed, as if God is the object we may politely examine, dissect and discuss, picking and choosing what we like of him. The faith commitment envisaged here, this moral choice, is properly basic, and renders impossible any attitude that sets us up as judges of God’s ways. This means that the truth is self-authenticating—not with vicious circularity, as if it has no meshing-points with the external, examinable world (Does not Jesus himself invite us to believe on the evidence of the signs, 10:38?), but in the sense that finite and fallen human beings cannot set themselves up on some sure ground outside the truth and thus gain the vantage from which they may assess it. Divine revelation can only be assessed, as it were, from the inside. From that perspective the person who chooses to do God’s will discovers that Jesus’ teaching articulates it, that Jesus does not speak on his own but as the Word of God (emphasis original).
You must come to God with the attitude of one who signs a blank paper contract. This is a document with the terms unstated, and a line beneath for your binding signature of commitment before you ever see the terms. The signatory makes himself completely vulnerable to the wishes of the other party with whom he is entering into covenantal obligations, and only after signing discovers the wishes of the covenant-maker.
As long as you are distrusting God and only want to learn his revealed will that you might consider whether to accept it, from your own evaluation of whether it seems reasonable and is something you might become inclined to do, you are already consigning yourself to being cut off from the Lord’s redeemed people! This is the fatal error of rationalism, where man’s mind is considered the test of truth and error, right and wrong. It is right to be rational, since God’s truth is perfectly consistent with true reason, but it is absolutely deadly to be rationalistic, to hold God’s revealed will at arm’s length until it satisfies your mind as reasonable. Only those with the heart of God’s Servant Jesus can possibly know the secret of the Lord.
THE PLEA FOR ILLUMINATION
“Give me understanding.” This prayer is a tacit admission that the spiritual understanding he seeks is not attainable by mere human inquiry and thought. It is a gift of God’s grace to his servants which comes through meditation on the written Scripture revelation coupled with believing prayer.
Now no one can possibly become a believer in the first place until God the Spirit in some measure dispels the darkness of that sinful heart by the glory of the Word of truth, that is, the preached gospel. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10.17). And after saving grace imparts evangelical faith to the new convert’s heart, he still remains utterly dependent, for each and every experience of more understanding and delight in God’s Word, upon the Holy Spirit’s gracious inner teaching. Believers “have an unction [anointing] from the Holy One, and . . . know all things” (1 John 2.27). Not mere men, but only the Spirit of God knows the things of the Spirit, and therefore it is his prerogative and pleasure to impart them to God’s servants (1 Cor 2.9-13). That is why discerning believers pray with the psalmist, “Give me understanding.” As the hymnwriter said,
We limit not the truth of God to our poor reach of mind–
By notions of our day and sect—crude, partial, and confined
No, let a new and better hope within our hearts be stirred
For God hath yet more light and truth to break forth from the Word.Who dares to bind to one’s own sense the oracles of heaven
For all the nations, tongues, and climes and all the ages given?
That universe, how much unknown! that ocean unexplored
For God hath yet more light and truth to break forth from the Word.Eternal God, Incarnate Word, Spirit of flame and dove,
Enlarge, expand all living souls to comprehend your love;
And help us all to seek your will with wiser powers conferred
O God, grant yet more light and truth to break forth from the Word!
THE HOPE OF PROGRESSION
The psalmist concludes this petition with the aim of increased spiritual understanding—progress as the Lord’s faithful servant, keeping his commandments: “That I may know thy testimonies.” The Hebrew grammatical form indicates purpose or result. God gives his servants greater insight that they may prove more faithful to his Word and more useful in his kingdom. Deuteronomy 30.11-14 is paradigmatic: “This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. . . . But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it” (emphasis mine).
Not to satisfy your curiosity, nor to elevate you above other Christians in Bible expertise, but to renew your mind and heart toward Christlikeness for greater usefulness—that is the benefit to you of increased understanding. Start with dedication. Plead for illumination. Hope for progression. Amen.
Notes:
1. Emphasis mine. “We Limit Not the Truth of God” by George Rawson (1807-1889), based on the last words of Pr. John Robinson to the Pilgrims before they journeyed to the New World.
2. NET Bible Notes.