Psalm 119: Do We Trust in God's Word?

JOSHUA ALEXANDER

The 119th Psalm is organized in sections through the Hebrew Alphabet. Throughout this wonderful section of scripture, the psalmists expresses his love and adoration for God and His word. The first letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Aleph, and this section gives us the correct attitude and application for the word of God.

The ones who are Blessed (1-3)

The word blessed is a Hebrew word meaning “happy.” The world searches to the ends of the earth to find lasting happiness, but to no avail. True happiness and fulfillment are only found in the creator of the universe. The one who is blessed in verse one is also described as undefiled (1). The word undefiled means “he who walks with integrity, truth, and without blemish (Accordance Software). A popular song sung in our assemblies beutifuly illistrates this point about walking undefiled in the steps of our saviour; “Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior, Trying to follow our Savior and King; Shaping our lives by His blessed example, Happy, how happy, the songs that we bring”.

The ones who are Commanded (4-5, 8)

What is the command? We are to keep His precepts. This command is not a selective thing where we pick and choose which precepts we would like to keep, but these precepts include all His precepts. There is a very important adverb in this passage. We are commanded to keep His precepts and to do so diligently. If a father told his son that he wanted him to clean out the garage diligently, what would that mean? Does this mean the father is not looking for effort? Of course not. We understand that it takes effort and concentration to do something diligently. We are commanded to be diligent about keeping the commands of God. It should be noted that it is not simply a robotic keeping of God’s commands out of fear. Why would the son obey his father in the given scenario? Is there some level of fear? Sure, but also there should be love and respect for the one in charge.

The ones who are not Ashamed (6)

Who would put the Psalmist to shame? In this context, it seems that they would not be ashamed to stand before God if they kept his commandments. Everyone will one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10). Are we going to be ashamed to stand before God on the day of judgment? It is as if the father in the scenario given before found out his child had disobeyed him, and you can see the child just looking down to the ground, not wanting to look their father in the eye. The child who has done well has no reason to hide his face from his father. On the day of judgment, will we be able to look our father in the face, or will we be hanging our heads in shame? We do not want to be the kind of sheep who make our shepherds ashamed. 

The ones who Praise the LORD (7)

This verse gives insight into the heart of the Psalmist. We have heard people say for many years, “Why do I have to obey God, he has all these rules that I have to follow, and he just wants to take away my fun”. Let's examine the Psalmist's mindset when receiving the law of God. When he received the law of God, he did not get angry with God or rebel against God, but he praised God. Let's think about the assembly of the Saints. How do we view our opportunities to serve God, learn more about His word, and worship him? Do we see it as a chore, or do we praise God for the commandment? We serve a God who loves us enough to reveal himself to us in His word and instruct us on how to live and serve Him. All of these attributes point to one common theme, they all are blessed when they have the right attitude toward God’s word. In a world full of thought that is heavily influenced by the postmodern mindset, which tells us that there is no absolute truth, is it not reassuring to know that we have a uniform standard in God’s word?

Who are the ones who are blessed? The ones who trust in God’s word (1-3).

Who are the ones who are commanded? The ones who trust in God’s word (4-5, 8).

Who are the ones who are not ashamed? The ones who trust in God’s word (6).

Who are the ones who Praise the LORD? The ones who trust in God’s word (7).