Psalm 119
Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet
NOTE: This psalm is an acrostic poem of twenty-two stanzas, following the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; within a stanza, each verse begins with the same Hebrew letter.
אָשַׁר –
from the root: אָשַׁר – a verb meaning to go straight, walk, go on, advance, make progress
Each stanza posted last week is available. Please read & COMMENT on ANY.
A brief review:
Aleph
119 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
Beth
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
Gimel
17 Deal bountifully with your servant,
that I may live and keep your word.
Daleth
25 My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
He
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes;
and I will keep it to the end.
Waw (Vau)
41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord,
your salvation according to your promise
Again, your comments are welcome and encouraged. We now continue in the next six stanzas this week:
Zayin (Zain)
49 Remember your word to your servant,
in which you have made me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
that your promise gives me life.
Who is without affliction – sickness of mind or body or soul?
Poverty of mind, body or soul – even misery of these, if you prefer. Is God not the giver of all good things? Therefore our prayer to Almighty God bows down our miserable moment to the Lord and Father of all hope.
Remember your promises to me, O Lord, in which You have given me hope. Think now of me, dear Father. See the misery of my days and renew your hope in me; for I am your servant, dependent on You.
The KJV in verse 50 states: “… for thy word hath quickened me.”
Let the word of God in scripture and the God’s Word, who IS Christ Jesus, give me life!
51 The insolent utterly deride me,
but I do not turn away from your law.
52 When I think of your rules from of old,
I take comfort, O Lord.
53 Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,
who forsake your law.
Again, in the KJV, verse 53 states our woe even more pointedly:
Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.
Who forsakes the God’s law and that which is right? From this we take our word, apostate,’ 0ne who turns from the salvation of God to do what is right in their own eyes. Do we not suffer at the hands of those who have done such wickedness? In fact, ‘wicked‘ is a description that no longer carries the weight of hell to which the punishment of the wicked without Christ Jesus will receive. Turning from God is a most serious offense. Christians true to the Law and the love of God our Father will suffer at the hands of the wicked, who are unto their own lawless ways.
54 Your statutes have been my songs
in the house of my sojourning.
55 I remember your name in the night, O Lord,
and keep your law.
What is the house of our sojourning? It is this dying flesh and bones, decaying back to dust and ashes without the quickening and life of the Spirit of God.
“I have remembered your name, O LORD…” It is the same remembrance of our petition to God which begins the stanza. Remember God and have blessing.
56 This blessing has fallen to me,
that I have kept your precepts.
