Psalm 119:41-48

Psalm 119:41-48

Know Him – Show Him

I.                    To truly know God’s love is to show God’s love, so we must trust faithfully in God’s love and promises (Vv. 41-43)

a.       As the psalmist looks at his life, his circumstances, and the challenges he faces, and seeks to discover and understand what he needs to in order to live a full life, he is continually led to the conclusion that what he needs to truly live a full and meaningful life is beyond his capabilities and strength. However, the psalmist proclaims that he knows where and how to find what he needs for life both eternal and daily, and it’s found in God’s Word. He needs God’s love and God’s salvation, both of which he comes to know and understand only through God’s Word, or His promises. God’s Word isn’t just a source of knowledge, it’s the source of relational understanding of who God is. All that the psalmist needs for life, all that we need for life, and all that all of humanity needs for life both eternally and daily is found, not in knowing about God, but in God revealing Himself to us in His Word so that we come to know Him, His love for us, and His promises. God proves His love for us through His promises of salvation. It is only through God opening our minds to discover who He is, and our faithful trust in who He is and the complete certainty and sufficiency of His promises which are all ultimately revealed in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, that we are brought from death to life eternally and given the tools to equip us to live effectively on a daily basis in our sin broken world. Even though our eternal salvation ultimately delivers us from sin and into the perfection of God, we will all still experience the consequences of sin on our world and in our lives. Just as surely as God speaks into our lives through His Word, the enemy will also speak through the oppression, difficulty, lies, and temptations of this world. Even the lives lived the most fully for God in this world will suffer reproach. But whether we suffer reproach in this life for living for God, or struggle through the difficulties of the consequences of our own sin, it’s the same love and promises which reveal who God is in His Word, and our trust in Him, which equips us daily for abundant life in this world. When we grow to trust faithfully and lean on God’s love and promises by seeking Him faithfully in His Word, He implants His Word in our hearts, prepares us, and equips us for the daily battle of life. The psalmist prayed for God’s Word to be constantly on his mind and heart, so that he could wait for God’s Word to show him the way and encourage him in His great love and promises. (Vv. 41-43; Ps. 33:11; Hab. 2:4; Matt. 4:1-11; 5:10-12; 10:28-31; John 3:16; 5:37-40; 6:28-29; 8:42-44; 10:10; 14:25-27; 15:3-5, 18-21; 16:33; Acts 4:23-31; Rom. 1:16-17; 5:6-11; 8:28-39; 2 Cor. 1:20; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 1:7-14; 3:14-21; 6:10-18; Heb. 1:1-3; 10:35-39; Jas. 1:13-21; 1 Pet. 3:13-17)

II.                 To truly know God’s love is to show God’s love, so our lives must show the results of faithfully trusting in God’s love and promises (Vv. 44-48)

a.   God uses the revelation of His love, salvation, and promises in His Word to open our hearts and minds to truly know Him and trust in Him for all we need for life eternally and daily, and both we and others can know that we truly know and trust God by evaluating how we live. In the last half of this stanza, the psalmist reveals the natural outcome of truly knowing God. Since he truly knows God, he will live obediently according to God’s commands now and forever. He’ll live a truly free life because God’s mercy, love, and grace free him from slavery to sin and the temptations of the world, and free him to know, love, and obey God. So his life and His words will testify to God’s holiness, righteousness, justice, mercy, grace, love, and goodness unashamedly before all people. He’ll continue to deliberately delight in God’s Word and praise God for who He is and His amazing promises, not out of duty or fearful obligation, but because He loves God and His Word which gave him life and set him free. And he’ll continue to dwell on God’s Word, seek God in His Word, submit to His will, surrender to His sovereign purposes, and grow to trust and love God continually more as He faithfully loves the psalmist. Are we truly growing to know God intimately by seeking Him through His Word? Do we desperately desire to treasure God’s Word in our hearts, so we come to know Him more fully, love Him more deeply, and live for Him more completely? The more we seek to know God through His Word, the more God faithfully reveals Himself to us, the more deeply we love Him, and the more effectively He equips us for an abundant, fulfilling, and purposeful life which glorifies Him and testifies to His goodness in the world. (Vv. 44-48; Ps. 18:19; 63:1-5; Matt. 5:13-16; 10:32-42; Mark 8:38; John 8:30-36; 14:15-23; 15:10-17; Rom. 6:12-23; 1 Cor. 3:13; Phil. 1:19-20; 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 1:12; 2:15; 1 John 5:1-5; 1 Pet. 4:19)