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.
Likewise, true spirituality in our relationship with God is very verbal. One who is close to God listens carefully to what he says and talks to him, and in his prayers asks for the grace to hear God better in the future, with more faith and obedience than before, and to address him in ever more perfect conformity to his praiseworthy will. This is how we draw near to God, and it is what this drawing near looks like. When the Lord and his saint are both perfectly responsive to the slightest whisper of the other, our communion is complete. This is the blessed reality we long for and expect in our consummated redemption. This is the enjoyment of marriage with God for which we should strive in our earthly pilgrimage.
The psalmist’s conception of this heavenly dialogue was not nebulous or mystical, but rational and knowable. God speaks in his Word, the Holy Scriptures. The psalmist speaks to God in prayer. These are the channels by which two-way communication takes place. Likewise, we listen to God’s Word, and God listens to our prayers—at least, when all is well. And the more sensitive and believing and obedient we are to his every word, the more pleased he is, and the more confident we can be that he is hearing us when we pray.
Verses 145 and 146 are essentially parallel in keeping with the familiar pattern of Hebrew poetry. If we separate the parts and rearrange them for comparison, then we have this:
I cried with my whole heart; (145a)
I cried unto thee; (146a)
——————
Hear me, O Lord: (145b)
save me, (146b)
——————
I will keep thy statutes. (145c)
and I shall keep thy testimonies. (146c)
So then, the three leading ideas are, 1) a testimony of real prayer, 2) a plea for spiritual deliverance, and 3) a hope for renewed obedience.
A TESTIMONY OF REAL PRAYER
Not all prayer is real prayer, and real prayer is the only kind that ought to be offered to God. “When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words, than thy words without a heart.”1 In his parable, Jesus cast aspersions upon the Pharisee by saying he “stood and prayed thus with himself” (emphasis mine, Luke 18.11). Many who say prayers never really pray.
Not so the psalmist. As a solemn testimony uttered in the presence of God who knows everyone inside and out, David said, “I cried unto thee with my whole heart.” His was no mere religious lip service to a form of prayer, but was truly inward and spiritual. He mortified wandering thoughts and crucified divided affections so that his whole soul was completely engaged in the spiritual service. The same verb (in English and Hebrew) is used twice, “cried,” meaning a call for help with considerable volume. David was deeply conscious of his need for God’s grace, and he was desperate to receive it. No wise man mumbles trivialities in a king’s court.
Further, David cried unto the God of Israel, their covenant Lord of enduring mercy, “Yahweh.” The worshipers of Baal on Mount Carmel were also insistent when they danced and shouted, “O Baal, hear us!,” but theirs was a fool’s errand, since actually there was no such god as Baal. The inspired historian wryly comments, “But there was no voice, nor any that answered” (1 Kgs 18.26). Of course not. Sooner might one expect aid from the Tooth Fairy! But “the eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry” (Psa 34.15). And this mighty Lord is a Father to his dear children who cannot remain unmoved by petitions in our distress.
A PLEA FOR SPIRITUAL DELIVERANCE
The phrases for the second basic idea are “hear me” and “save me.” While he was a man of true faith and heir of God’s gracious promises, David was a humble suppliant at God’s throne, and not at all presumptuous, setting an example for all who would find acceptance there.
“Hear” in this context is no attempt to compensate for divine deafness, nor does it imply that without this the Lord was not aware of the prayers being offered. The original Hebrew basically signifies a response.2 That is why some newer translations render it, “answer me,” but this has the disadvantage of sounding as if David is making a demand upon God, whereas the true sense is surely just that the needy saint is intent to have this blessing from the Lord.
The second plea states the specific blessing sought: “save me.” The whole drift of these verses, and Psalm 119 itself, suggest that the great end in view is spiritual salvation to the glory of God. David is determined that nothing shall come between his soul and the Savior. David’s “fidelity to God’s word, and deliverance according to His promise, is the purport of his unceasing prayer” (K-D). To have this salvation is to be profoundly and eternally blessed; to miss it is to descend into abject misery and ruin.
But is not David already saved? Too many Christians think of salvation in one-dimensional terms, and associate it only with their conversion experience. Clearly, there is some aspect of salvation which David knew he did not yet fully possess, and which is yet future for God’s beloved ones in this life. Hence the earnest request for it.
This prayer emerges from everything that is not yet as it should be in the worshiper’s body and soul, and craves a full and final deliverance from all sin and its miseries. And because we must suffer these realities in a fallen world all our days in it, the petition is perennially relevant to us, and should remain our importunate plea to heaven until we die.
A HOPE FOR RENEWED OBEDIENCE
The last two lines seem not so much a vow as a hope, and this is captured in the Tanakh translation,
I call with all my heart;
answer me, O Lord,
that I may observe your laws.
I call upon You; save me,
that I may keep Your decrees.
The prophet anticipates with delight that when the Lord has heard and answered these pleas for deliverance from sin, the substance of the blessing will be sufficient grace for perfect conformity to his commands in heart and conduct.
The standard in view is God’s written word, especially his moral law (statutes, testimonies; or, laws, decrees). This yearning to keep the divinely-given rules of righteousness is not a kind of spirituality limited to God’s Old Covenant expectations of his people. Jesus stressed to his disciples that obedience to God’s Word is a mark of true love and spirituality. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus praised those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt 5.6), and spoke specifically of the Ten Commandments (e.g., the sixth in v. 21, and the seventh in v. 27). He said, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (v. 19). Further, Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14.15).
John, “the apostle of love,” as he has been called, showed the same emphasis in the counsel of his first epistle. How can we who claim to be Christians really know if we know Christ, that is, love and have fellowship with him? “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him” (1 John 2.3-5). How can we know for sure that we have that indispensable mark of Jesus’ true disciples, even love of fellow Christians (John 13.35)? John answers, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments” (1 John 5.2). True law-keeping is not legalistic, but one way to characterize genuine spirituality. Our Savior is the Messiah foretold in the Psalms with this very devotion. “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psa 40.8). We are called to follow in his steps. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2.6).
Toward that end, we must pray and keep on praying, just as the Psalmist does here. God help us to persevere in the pursuit of scriptural holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Heb 12.14). Amen.
Notes:
1. Mr. John Bunyan’s Dying Sayings
2. TWOT