Our God Is the Giver of Life

Our God Is the Giver of Life

Psalm 119:153-160

Main Idea: Salvation and life come from God, who gives his promises, mercy, and love to those who seek and honor him.

An honest assessment of the Christian life recognizes that there are good days and bad days. There are hills and there are valleys. But we cannot experience the mountaintops without walking through the valleys. And getting to the mountaintop always involves first climbing the mountain. The psalmist has walked many times through the valley of “affliction.” He has climbed mountains called “persecutors,” “adversaries,” and the “faithless” (vv. 157-158 ESV). But along the way he discovered the life that only God can give. He discovered that the Lord faithfully gives life and revives according to his promises, his Word, and his faithful love.

Stanza Resh (?) comprises verses 153-160. Three times we see the prayer, “Give me life according to . . .” (vv. 154,156,159 ESV). The psalmist believes God will plead his cause and redeem his life. Our God is the giver of life, and he is always ready to hear our cries!

Ask the Lord for Life according to His Promise

Psalm 119:153-155

This world can be cruel and difficult. Sometimes the weight of opposition is almost crushing. If God does not rescue us, we will not make it. The psalmist is desperate for divine help. Five imperatives in the first two verses of the stanza convey his desperation. He says, “consider,” “rescue,” “champion,” “redeem,” and “give me life.” Desperate times demand desperate actions. The laments and petitions of the psalmist are passionate and strong. He is certain that God is on his side and that God will hear his prayer.

Do Not Forget that the Lord Is Your Advocate (119:153-154)

The psalmist asks God to “consider my affliction.” He asks the Lord to see his affliction with the hope that God will “rescue me.” He needs divine intervention. Further, he needs a divine advocate who will argue on his behalf (cf. 1 John 2:1-2). Using language from the courts and from lawsuits, the psalmist pleads for Yahweh to champion his cause (Ross, Psalms, 581). He is confident that God will not only plead his case but also that the Lord will redeem him from his affliction. The Lord will rescue him and, in the process, give him life as the Lord promised (v. 154). God has repeatedly promised in his Word to defend and protect his people if they honor him. The psalmist has not forgotten the instructions of the Lord (v. 153). He has obeyed. In fact, he loves the Word of God (v. 159). He is confident God will deliver and revive his soul just as he has promised.

Do Not Forget that the Wicked Are Doomed (119:155)

Verse 155 contrasts with verses 153-154. The psalmist knows the salvation of the Lord. He knows the Lord’s concern, advocacy, redemption, and life. Sadly, “salvation is far from the wicked”; it is nowhere in sight. The actions of the wicked expose their character: “They do not study your statutes.” They have no desire for the things of God. The life he offers does not interest them. They disregard his Word. What matters to God does not matter to them. Unlike the psalmist, they forget God’s instruction and do not try to learn his statutes. This hardness is the way of the wicked. If they stay on this path, they will never find salvation. If they stay on this path, a terrifying judgment and an eternal hell are their destiny. Those who know the salvation found only in Christ must look to him to save them, “snatching them from the fire” before it is too late (Jude 23).

Ask the Lord for Life according to His Judgments

Psalm 119:156-158

The psalmist has asked the Lord for life, for the Lord to “revive” (NASB) him according to his promise (v. 154). Now he asks the Lord for life and reviving “according to your judgments” or “rules” (ESV). There are positive and negative reasons for his request. He knows that the Lord’s “compassions are many” (v. 156). He also knows that his own “persecutors and foes are many” (v. 157). Opposition will not overwhelm him because he knows, “the one who is in [me] is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

The Lord’s Mercy Is Great (119:156)

The Lord’s “compassions are many” (“Great is your mercy” ESV). Spurgeon beautifully comments, “Here the psalmist pleads the largeness of God’s mercy, the immensity of his tender love . . . mercies many, mercies tender, mercies great” (Treasury, 414). Because God is compassionate and looks with favor and kindness on those who are his, the psalmist can boldly ask, “Give me life according to your judgments.” The psalmist appeals to God’s compassion and character. He knows the Lord’s compassions are many, and he knows the Lord’s judgments are trustworthy. Why? Because “the entirety of your word is truth” (v. 160).

The Number of Our Enemies Is Many (119:157-158)

Those who love God and seek to obey him need his many mercies. Why? Because the “persecutors and foes” of verse 157 and the “disloyal” (“faithless” ESV) of verse 158 “are many.” Opposition is great; it is relentless. Those who do not seek God (v. 155) will never applaud us. They will despise us, mock us, and ridicule us. In the face of such opposition, we must have the resolve of the psalmist in verse 157: “I have not turned from your decrees.” The faithless who ignore God and reject his truth should give rise to “disgust” in us (v. 158). Their agenda and goals are not ours. Our love and loyalty to our Lord must be our anchor and must guide our path. Compromise cannot be an option when it comes to our obedience to our God. As Ross eloquently says, “Nothing these people can say or do will make me abandon the path of righteousness laid down in God’s Word” (Psalms, 583). This obedience is not legalism. It is loyalty to our Lord.

Ask the Lord for Life according to His Faithful Love

Psalm 119:159-160

The Hebrew word chesed is one of the most precious and theologically rich words in the Bible. Its many translations in English reflect this richness: “steadfast love,” “faithful love,” “covenant love,” “loyal love,” “mercy,” and “lovingkindness.” The word describes “the faithful and loving care of the covenant God for his people and their faithful love in return to him and other covenant members” (Ross, Psalms, 569). It occurs almost 250 times in the Old Testament, and it provides the basis for the psalmist’s third plea for life and reviving (vv. 154,156,159). Again, the psalmist asks the Lord to “consider.” In verse 153 he asks the Lord to look at his afflictions and difficulties. Now, in verse 159, he asks the Lord to look at his love.

God’s Word Should Be Loved (119:159)

The psalmist loves the Word of God. It is his “consuming passion” (Boice, Living, 156). And he loves the Word of God because he knows he is loved by the God of the Word. He has experienced the personal love of the covenant-keeping, covenant-loving God. He is loved by God, and he loves God and his Word. With confidence, he asks a third time, “Lord, give me life” (NASB, “Revive me, O Lord”). To love God is to love his Word. It is impossible to do one without the other.

God’s Word Is True (119:160a)

When the psalmist writes, “The entirety of your word is truth,” he powerfully describes Scripture’s complete and total truthfulness. It is difficult to imagine how the psalmist could have said it any stronger. The Message paraphrases this verse as, “Your words all add up to the sum total: Truth.” Ross says, “The chief characteristic of God’s Word is truth. Everything God has said is reliable, because he himself is the truth (see John 14:6)” (Psalms, 584). The words inerrant and infallible capture the psalmist’s conviction about the truthfulness of Holy Scripture. God’s Word is true and without error in what it teaches.

God’s Word Will Endure Forever (119:160b)

Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.” The prophet and the psalmist were of one mind when it came to the enduring nature of the infallible and inerrant Word of God. Not just some—not even merely most—of it is true and enduring. No, “the entirety of your word is truth, each of [the Lord’s] righteous judgments endures forever.” God is forever. His word is truth. Therefore, God’s Word is truth forever. Few things last forever. Most things eventually fail. Praise God that that is not the case with his Word!

Conclusion

Spurgeon says, “The Scriptures are as true in Genesis as in Revelation, and the five books of Moses are as inspired as the four Gospels” (Treasury, 416). What is true of the written Word is equally true of the living Word. The incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). God gives life, eternal life, to all who come to him. He has made a promise! He loves you with a steadfast and faithful love! Salvation may be far from those who love wickedness; however, it

is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. . . . If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10:8-9)

Reflect and Discuss

1. Where does the psalmist gain this confidence to pray during difficulty?
2. How will you react to difficult circumstances if you forget the Lord is your advocate?
3. How does remembering that “salvation is far from the wicked” influence the way the psalmist understands and reacts to his circumstances?
4. What are some of the many ways the Lord has been compassionate to you?
5. What circumstances in your life in addition to “persecutors and foes” could tempt you to turn from God or disregard his Word?
6. Can good circumstances cause you to disregard God and his Word? If so, how?
7. Reread how this commentary describes the word chesed. Why must God’s people have faithful love with one another in addition to faithful love for him?
8. This stanza argues, “To love God is to love his Word.” Why is it impossible to love God without loving his Word?
9. What comparisons and contrasts do you see the psalmist making in these verses? How does this help the psalmist communicate his message?
10. Why does it matter that God’s Word “endures forever”?