Do You Weep over Sin?

Do You Weep over Sin?

Psalm 119:129-136

Main Idea: Pursue a passionate, grace-dependent, Word-centered desire to see God’s will accomplished.

Many things in our broken world can bring us to tears. Serious issues like divorce, miscarriages, wayward children, and death make us weep. Even less serious events like romantic breakups, songs, and movies can grip our hearts and cause tears. You may be thinking right now of something or someone who brought you to tears. But have you ever asked yourself, “When was the last time I wept over sin? When was the last time tears streamed down my face because my God was being dishonored and disrespected?” Our answers to these questions are important because they help reveal our passions—what we value and love. Many things in this world vie for our love, but the seventeenth stanza of Psalm 119 shows us what God says Christians should be most passionate about. It does this by prompting us to ask ourselves three questions.

Do You Have a Passion for the Word of God?

Psalm 119:129-131

Psalm 119 is the “Word of God” psalm. Its twenty-two stanzas and 176 verses exalt the beauty, truth, value, and wonder of this magnificent gift from our God. Our God is not silent. He is a talking God, and he talks to us in and through his Word so that we might know him and love him. Our God longs to have a relationship with us. Do we desire to have a relationship with him? If we do, we will make three confessions concerning his Word.

God’s Word Is Wonderful (119:129)

The psalmist begins stanza Pe (?) by declaring to God, “Your decrees are wondrous.” They are extraordinary and magnificent. Nothing is like his Word. It is a wonder to behold, cherish, and possess. This supernatural, “out of this world” (Motyer, Psalms, 356) Word demands a clear response: “Therefore I [Hb nephesh] obey them.” Something this wonderful must be loved and obeyed, valued, and honored. Jesus is the “Wonderful Counselor” (Isa 9:6). We find his wonderful counsel in his Word.

God’s Word Gives Light (119:130)

One of the reasons God’s Word is wonderful is that it “brings light.” Its unfolding illuminates our soul and “gives understanding to the inexperienced [“simple” ESV].” Willem VanGemeren says that when the door is opened to God’s Word, “even those inexperienced in the realities of life (‘the simple’; cf. 116:6; Prov 1:4; 14:15) may gain wisdom (‘understanding’: cf. 19:7)” (Psalms, 883). Open the door of God’s Word, and light will shine into our lives to guide us to think and to live wisely.

God’s Word Leaves You Insatiable (119:131)

Insatiable is not a word we use often. However, it is the right word to capture the thrust of verse 131. It refers to a desire that is impossible to fully satisfy. This constant hunger is exactly what the songwriter had for the Word of God. He opens his mouth and pants. He wants more and more. He cannot get enough. His appetite for the Holy Scriptures cannot be satisfied. Psalm 42:1-2 complements the psalmist’s longing in this verse: “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?” Because he pants for the living God, he pants and longs for his Word, his commands. Martin Luther says the psalmist opens his mouth “to be taught rather than to teach,” so Luther paraphrases the verse, “I have opened my mouth, that I might not want to offer what is mine, but desire to receive what is Yours” (Psalm 76–126, 500). We do not long to hear our voices; we long to hear the Lord’s.

Do You Seek God’s Favor so that You May Honor Him?

Psalm 119:132-135

Motives are important in life. Why we do what we do is especially important for those who serve King Jesus. When it comes to seeking his favor, his blessings, are you motivated by a desire for your recognition or his? Does your glory or his glory drive you? The psalmist is the Lord’s servant (v. 135). His Master’s reputation is what matters most. It is from this reality that five prayer requests or petitions emerge in verses 132-135.

Ask God to Be Gracious to You (119:132)

Having received in verses 129-131 the wonderful, illuminating Word that he can never get enough of, the psalmist asks the Lord, “Turn to me and be gracious to me.” He knows he can make this request for grace from God because this “is your practice toward those who love your name.” He loves who the Lord is and what he does. He values his name, his honor, his reputation. So he is confident in asking for the Lord’s attention and grace. Spurgeon says, “If God looks and sees us panting [for him], he will not fail to be merciful to us” (Treasury, 379).

Ask God to Protect You from Sin (119:133)

Verse 133 is specific in one of the ways God is gracious to his children. It is expressed in a twofold request. First, the psalmist asks, “Make my steps steady through your promise.” The idea is that “God should make his life safe and secure . . . fixed and firm” (Ross, Psalms, 568–69). Second, and closely related, he says to the Lord, “Don’t let any sin dominate me.” Sin will try to gain control of us and get us walking down the wrong path. But we must long to honor the Lord. We ask him to protect us from any and all sin so that we may succeed.

Ask God to Deliver You from Your Enemies (119:134)

Once more the oppressors appear (cf. vv. 121-122). Being the Lord’s servant does not come without opposition and persecution. The psalmist asks for the Lord’s deliverance. He asks God to set him free from those who would take him down and cause him to dishonor the name of his Lord. He asks God to set him free to obey and then says, “I will keep your precepts.” Sin and sinners want to defeat us. We need a redeemer to rescue us from them and, as the grand redemptive story teaches, from ourselves.

Ask God to Bless You with His Presence (119:135a)

James Boice comments that the first part of verse 135 “is a conscious echo of the Old Testament benediction, known as the Aaronic blessing” (Living, 132). We read in Numbers 6:24-26,

May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.

Like Moses, the psalmist asks to see the face of God in his life, to experience his presence and enjoy his favor. He is the Lord’s servant. The Lord is his Master. He longs only for the presence and blessing of this one and no other.

Ask God to Be Your Teacher (119:135b)

The Lord is our Master. And because he is our Master, he is also our Teacher. Although God blesses his people with spiritually gifted teachers (Rom 12:7), he is the master Teacher who instructs us concerning his decrees, his words, his commands, his promises, his precepts, his statutes, his judgments, and his instruction. Alec Motyer beautifully ties the two truths of verse 135 together: “The shining face is the teaching of truth. Yahweh’s face shines (with delight and favor) as he teaches his truth” (Psalms, 357).

Do You Grieve When People Disobey Our Lord’s Word?

Psalm 119:136

The psalmist knows the world he lives in well—its brokenness, its pain, its sorrow, and its sin. One would have to be blind not to see it. And it breaks his heart. The final verse of stanza Pe reveals the songwriter’s reaction to this world, a world that is beaten down and battered. It also reveals why our world groans and hurts so much: sin.

There Is a Reaction: Tears of Grief (119:136a)

The psalmist uses a beautiful word picture to describe his grief. “My eyes pour out streams of tears,” he cries. Rivers of water run down his eyes when he sees people, human beings who bear the divine image, disregard the Lord’s Word and pay God no mind. Alec Motyer writes, “The context is that Yahweh’s revealed truth is so ‘wonderful’ [v. 129] that it is heart-breaking that anyone should fail to keep it” (Psalms, 357). Yet people do not keep God’s Word. They prefer the false way rather than the true way (v. 128). They choose to let sin, instead of God’s Word, rule their lives (v. 133). The situation is tragic. The child of God should break down and weep.

There Is a Reason: Disregard of the Word of God (119:136b)

The precise cause for the tears is given as this stanza comes to an end: “People do not follow your instruction.” The teachings of our Lord that are found in his Word are disobeyed and rejected. They are not valued, so they are discarded as worthless. God gives us his divinely inspired Word, and humanity responds, “We couldn’t care less.” This is not how those who love God respond. As Spurgeon says, “Spiritual men feel a holy fear of the Lord himself, and most of all lament when they see dishonour cast upon his holy name” (Treasury, 380).

Conclusion

Just as sin and the sorrows of this world brought tears to the psalmist, they brought tears to the eyes of the Lord Jesus. John 11:35 reminds us that “Jesus wept.” He wept over the death of his dear friend Lazarus. He wept over the sin, sickness, and sorrow of this fallen world. So much grief, so much chaos, so much pain and hurt, so much unbelief. In Luke 19:41 we see our Lord weeping over the city of Jerusalem because of her sin and unbelief. Sin breaks the heart of God. Sin brings tears to the eyes of God. Is the same true for you? Tears over sin demand that we do something. It moved Jesus to go to the cross so that he could turn tears of sorrow into tears of joy.

Reflect and Discuss

1. Why should someone be passionate about God’s Word?
2. Can you obey God’s Word without being passionate about God’s Word? Why or why not?
3. What type of understanding does God’s Word give? Describe a time when God’s Word gave you understanding to make a decision.
4. What is the psalmist asking for when he asks God to be gracious toward him?
5. Is asking God to protect you from sin a regular pattern in your life? Why or why not? How could this request help you?
6. How does God bless you with his presence if he does not appear physically?
7. What part does God’s presence have in the grand redemptive story of the Bible?
8. What does it mean for God to be your Teacher?
9. Why should the sin of others cause you tears? What does the sin of others most commonly cause you to feel?
10. What should Christians desire God to do to those who do not follow his instructions?