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Psalm 119:17-24 - Gimel · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in Psalm 119 once
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  again. We are in verses 17 through 24,
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  verses 17 through 24. We mentioned as we began Psalm
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  119 that Psalm 119 is made-up of 22 sections, and in each of
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  those sections there are several verses, and all of the verses
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  within that section start with the same Hebrew letter.
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  So it goes all the way, if you will think A-Z through the
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  Hebrew alphabet and all of the different sections.
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  We have, you know, 27 letters in our alphabet.
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  The Hebrew people had 22 letters in their alphabet.
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  And all of the sections talk about the Word of God and
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  different ways in which the psalmist thinks about the Word
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  of God, what the Word of God does for them, their passion
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  about people that don't follow the Word of God.
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  All of that is included in this. So we're going to be learning
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  more about Scripture today as we look at verses 17 through 24
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  that all start with the Hebrew letter gamel.
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  So this is one section of Psalm 119 that especially focuses on
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  encountering difficulties with the Word of God in mind.
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  So I think this will be helpful probably for me, definitely for
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  me, even if it's not helpful for anyone else.
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  But I hope that it's a blessing to you as well.
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  Let's begin reading. Deal generously with your
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  servant so that I might live. Then I will keep your word.
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  Open my eyes so that I may contemplate wondrous things from
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  your instruction. I am a resident alien on Earth.
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  Do not hide your commands from me.
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  I'm continually overcome with longing for your judgements.
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  You rebuke the arrogant, the ones under a curse who wander
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  from your commands. Take insult and contempt away
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  from me, for I have kept your decrees.
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  Though Princess, sit together speaking against me.
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  Your servant will think about your statutes.
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  Your decrees are my delight and my counselors.
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  So here, as I've mentioned, each time there's some different
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  words that are used to describe God's word.
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  So in verse 17 you have your word or verse 18 your
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  instruction, verse 19, your commands, verse 20, your
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  judgments, verse 21, your commands again, verse 22 your
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  decrees, verse 23 your statutes, and then verse 24 your decrees
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  once again. And so here it's different ways
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  to think about the word of God. It is what He speaks.
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  It's His message to us. It is His instructions for how
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  we ought to live our lives. It's His judgement as the judge
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  of all the earth and the one who will do what is right and the
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  one who calls us to do what is right.
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  He is the one that commands us, that instructs us to go in the
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  correct way. It's the statutes, It's the
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  things that are pillars of how we are to behave as people, as
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  those living on God's green earth, so to speak.
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  So let's begin in verse #17 He says, deal generously with your
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  servant so that I might live, then I will keep your word.
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  He says God let's let's make a deal.
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  You have me live because right now I'm encountering difficulty
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  with people and I am fearing for my life.
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  But God, as you keep me alive, if I'm alive, then I am going to
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  be keeping your word. God, I will do what you say for
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  as long as I am alive. As I think about maybe the way
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  that people often try and reason with God, like God, if you have
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  me get married in this next year, like I find my spouse in
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  this next year, well then I'll give my life to you or God.
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  If you have me win the lottery, then I'll, you know, be generous
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  or something to you. Here the psalmist just says,
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  God, keep me alive and I will keep your word as long as I am
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  living. And I don't know, that seems
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  like a pretty great deal that might be there.
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  And what a joy that it is God that keeps us alive moment by
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  moment. He gives the breath in our
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  lungs. He allows our heart to keep on
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  beating. He gives us the nutrition that
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  we need. He gives us shelter.
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  He gives us clothing and I think of so many people in our world
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  right now that do not have some of those amenities, some of
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  those necessities to life. And so I want to encourage you
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  as the Lord prospers you, if you've got, you know, 17 coats,
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  you can probably do without 5 or 10 of those coats maybe.
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  And so you might be able to give to someone else that is in need
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  as God deals generously with you, deal generously with
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  others. You can be the hands and feet of
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  Jesus providing for people's needs that they can say, yeah,
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  God gave me this jacket through one of his hands.
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  He gave me this jacket through one of his servants.
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  Verse #18 This solemist that is endangered and just wants to say
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  like God, keep me alive and as long as I'm alive, I am keeping
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  your word. He says, open my eyes so that I
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  may contemplate wondrous things from your instruction.
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  There's so many great words and pictures even just within this
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  one verse. He says, open my eyes.
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  There's a great old song. Open the eyes of my heart.
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  Lord, I want to see you, to see you high and lifted up, shining
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  in the light of your glory. Pour out your power and love as
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  we sing, holy, holy, holy. And so this is the cry that the
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  psalmist here has. He says, God, I don't see things
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  from your word or I don't see things in this world in the way
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  that I should be. I am not seeing how incredible
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  and wondrous your word is or what life with you is like, what
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  following and obeying you, what that results in.
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  So God, would you open my eyes? I can think of the story of
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  Elisha and his servant, as the king of Syria was incredibly mad
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  at Elisha, as God had told Elisha a couple different times
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  about the battle plans that Syria had, and so Israel had
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  thwarted Syrian battle plans against them.
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  And so finally, the king of Syria came with an army and
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  surrounded the town where Elisha and his servant were in.
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  And as the servant looked out, he was incredibly scared.
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  But Elisha looked out and he was not scared.
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  And he prayed that God would open the eyes of his servant.
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  And as God opened, if you will, the spiritual blinders off of
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  the servant's eyes, he saw that there was an even larger army of
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  angels surrounding the king of Syria and all of his forces that
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  were surrounding the city. And so as he could see
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  spiritually what was happening that God was protecting that God
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  was the one that he has more might, he is stronger, he's got
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  a bigger army that there could be confidence placed in the
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  Lord. And so this is what I pray God,
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  would you open my eyes so that I can see how incredible you are
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  that when I'm reading through Psalm 119 and these verses 17
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  through 24, then I'll start with the letter Gamel that I'm not
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  just doing it so that I can, you know, satisfy like an OCD thing.
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  I've got to finish all of book 5 of of Psalms.
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  I don't want it to just be that I I don't want to be doing this
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  just because it's a habit. I want to be in the word of God
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  and contemplate, think about over and over again and go.
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  I never thought about this aspect of it before this thing
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  before. I want to contemplate wondrous
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  things from the instruction of God.
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  Would you pray each and every time that you are reading the
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  word of God, listening to the word of God, maybe sitting under
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  preaching that you would say, God open my eyes so that I can
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  contemplate wondrous things from your instruction.
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  Verse #19 He says I'm a resident alien on earth.
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  Do not hide your commands from me.
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  One could definitely picture David writing this in his
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  wilderness wanderings as he was running from Saul who was king
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  over Israel. And there were many people that
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  wanted David dead and they were pursuing him.
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  The Philistines wanted David dead and they were pursuing him.
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  And he could echo with here the psalmist, or if he was the one
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  that wrote this particular Psalm, he would say, I don't
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  have a home here. I'm just a resident alien.
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  And everywhere I go, it's not really the place that I'm going
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  to be putting down roots and raising generations of my family
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  on. And so he says, God, I don't
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  have a home here on earth. I want a home in your word that
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  when I hear from you, I go, yes, this is what I was made for.
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  I can rest here. I can find my identity and my
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  purpose and my joy. Not in a country or nation, but
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  in the word of God. So he says don't hide your
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  commands from me. He says I don't know where I'm
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  living. I don't know where I'm staying
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  forever, but I do want to know what you have for me.
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  God. Do you want to know what the
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  commands of God are for you? Sometimes people want to know
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  the things that God has not made known and like will not make
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  known to you. Emphatically, you have a 15 year
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  old that they're like, God, show me who my spouse is going to be.
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  Or you might have someone that is getting out of college and
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  they're like, God, show me the company that I'm going to be
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  working for. And certainly it's not a problem
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  to ask God for that. But we ask God questions about
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  the unknown, but we don't always ask God.
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  God, would you remind me? Would you if you will strike my
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  heart when I am sinning against you, when I am not treating
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  others well, when I'm being unkind, when I am being maybe
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  unfaithful in idolatry against you, that I love something else
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  more than I love you? Would we ask that God not hide
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  his commands from us? That we say, God, I want to know
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  what you want me to do and I will obey whatever it is that
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  you have for me. Verse #20 He says, I'm
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  continually overcome with longing for your judgments.
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  That he goes, man, I, I really wish I knew what God wanted me
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  to do. He says I want to hear from God.
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  The times in my life where I have maybe through sickness or I
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  don't really know that it's ever happened during the time of
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  travel for me. But when I haven't been able to
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  be at church for a while, when I haven't been able to join with
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  God's people. Here's some preaching, here's
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  some teaching from the word of God.
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  Man, by the end of that time, like right before I'm actually
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  able to get back into the swing of things and I'm like, man, I
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  really, really miss hearing about the Lord.
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  I miss hearing the encouragement and the testimonies from other
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  people about who God is, what he's doing for them.
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  I really want to hear about God. And this is the heart of this
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  psalmist that he says, I'm continually overcome with
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  longing for your judgments. Do you miss the word of God when
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  you're when you're not reading it?
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  Or is it like, Oh, yeah, I guess it's been like four or five
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  days. Yeah, I guess I should, I should
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  get back to it. Or do you have a continual
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  overcoming longing for the word of God?
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  Verse #21 Here the psalmist talks to the Lord and he says
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  you rebuke the arrogant, the ones under a curse.
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  A person that is proud is a person that is not walking in
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  the grace and humility and empowerment and gifting of God.
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  A person that is proud is living under a curse.
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  You can think about James chapter 4.
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  For God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
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  And if you're not under grace, then you are under a curse.
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  And so may we eschew pride in our life.
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  We are nothing special. The Lord is someone special, and
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  so may we value God, may we value his people, that we are
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  not better than any other person on this planet.
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  It doesn't matter what their difficulties, what their foibles
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  are so mean. We walk in humility, not in
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  arrogance. I want to walk in the blessing
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  of God, even if it means that I have to eat some humble pie.
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  I'd much rather do that and be under the blessing of God's
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  grace than be under the curse of being.
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  Scripture would say, you know these six things the Lord hates?
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  Yes, seven are detestable to him.
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  They're an abomination to him. And the very first one is a
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  proud look. And so may we not have arrogance
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  and pride. Instead, may we like, well, kind
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  of reverse of what the arrogant ones are doing in this verse.
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  He says, who wander from your commands instead of wandering
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  away from the commands of God. This isn't this word wander.
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  It's not even like an intentional, I'm going to choose
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  to say no to God. It's unintentionally.
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  I'm just wandering away from the commands of God.
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  May we say no, I have to pursue the commands of God.
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  That's my mission each and every day because I don't have the
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  know how. I don't have the wisdom to go
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  through this life in the way that I should.
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  The only one who knows how I should live my life is the Lord.
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  And so I'm going to seek after His commands.
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  Don't wander away from the commands of God.
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  Pursue the commands of God that I want to know it.
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  And I've got that longing that is there for God's commands.
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  Verse #22 he says, take insult and contempt away from me, for I
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  have kept your decrees here. Insult and contempt.
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  This is the solemus. Enemies is just heaping up
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  insults against this person in ways in which they despise him,
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  that they have contempt for him. As a pastor I get this all the
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  time. I was telling one of my friends
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  the other day they were like, hey, you know, like how?
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  How often there there was something that had come up and
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  they were like, oh, I, I didn't know you, you knew about that.
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  And I was like, oh, to be honest with you, about every two weeks
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  I, I hear about something that someone's unhappy with me or
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  said something that was kind of slanderous about me.
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  And this verse is an encouragement for me.
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  The answer to the attacks of mankind is not like, OK, let's
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  return it back on their head. No, it's God.
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  Would you help me to keep your decrees?
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  And then God, as I'm following you, you know who I am.
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  And so you deal with these people.
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  If there's something that I really do need to change, then
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  wonderful. Like that goes back to humility.
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  Let me walk closer with Jesus because he's my aim.
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  But if there is undeserved insults and contempt that I
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  haven't earned, then God would you take it away?
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  You are the just one. And so God may you, if you will
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  let God be the God of vengeance. I'm just going to focus on my
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  relationship with the Lord. Verse 23 though princes sit
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  together speaking against me. And certainly here one could
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  think of Saul as he is considering speaking against
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  David and not the king of Gath, but some of the other Philistine
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  kings right before Saul dies. And then David becomes king over
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  Judah. Right before that, the king of
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  Gath says, oh, yeah, David is super great.
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  And he's like gone on all of these missions for me.
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  He didn't know that David was actually like secretly fighting
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  for Israel and against the king of Gath.
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  But the king of Gath didn't know that because David didn't leave
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  like he had. He had total battlefield
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  victory. And so there was no one to come
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  back and like tattle to the king of Gath to say, oh, no, like
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  David did this or that for Israel and not for us.
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  And the other Philistine kings, as the king of Gath said, hey,
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  let's bring David and his men to fight against Saul and the
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  children of Israel. The other Philistine kings were
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  like, there's no way we are not bringing David.
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  Like, do you remember the songs that they used to sing?
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  Saul is slain as thousands, but David his 10s of thousands,
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  we're not bringing David. And so here I can think of David
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  riding this, these Princess, these kings of the Philistines
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  sitting together speaking against David.
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  He says, your servant will think about your statutes.
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  I've heard the phrase before, and this is probably, this isn't
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  exactly what verse 23 is saying, though it's similar in some
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  respects. So small people talk about
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  people, big people talk about ideas.
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  And the thought there is when you blame an individual for
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  stuff versus hey, here's a better way to think about
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  something, here's a better process versus Oh, well, so and
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  so is just that way or so and so really dropped the ball on this
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  or man, I just really hate so and so versus people that have a
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  better outlook on life. They're talking through ways of
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  improvement and better processes and leadership, things that
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  they're learning. That's a better way to live your
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  life rather than complaining about people.
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  And here I can kind of see a little bit of where some of the
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  truth of that statement could even come from.
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  That is, Princess, speak against David or whoever the psalmist
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  is. The psalmist says, I'm not going
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  to bother thinking about them. I'm going to think about your
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  statutes. Your attention is always better
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  served by focusing on the word and way of God rather than on
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  people that you don't like. Always 100% of the time, I
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  promise you. Then verse 24, this portion of
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  the Psalm ends. Your decrees are my delight and
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  my counselors says God, what you say I am super happy with.
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  As I think about your worship, as I think about following you,
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  as I think about being faithful to my spouse, as I think about
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  honoring my parents, as I think about speaking the truth to
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  other people, as I think about respecting other people's
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  property, as I think about respecting life, that it belongs
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  to others. And as God is the one that has
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  given life, God is the one that should take life.
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  It doesn't belong to me. And so I don't harbor hatred or
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  a desire for other people to be gone from the world or from my
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  life. If instead I am operating
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  according to God's decrees as I delight in the decrees of God,
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  he says, your decrees are my delight and my counselors.
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  When I need to know what to do, I'm not turning just to other
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  humans. I'm turning to the perfect word
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  of God. And the word of God tells me how
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  I should behave, how I should act, what I should think even.
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  And so as I do that, the Word of God shapes the way that I
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  experience difficulty even with other people in life.
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  If I'm scared for my life, if people are insulting me as
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  others dislike me, as I don't feel like I have a settled
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  place, I can find a settled. Place in the word of God and
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  when I don't have human counselors, I have the word of
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  God to counsel me. And I can have a great longing
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  for the judgments of God and not focus on how great I am and puff
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  myself up with arrogance and be under a curse as a result.
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  Instead, I can experience grace as I listen to scripture.
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  I hope that this portion of Scripture was an encouragement
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  to you. Next episode we're going to be
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  in verses 25 through 32 and looking forward to that time
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  together. Thank you for tuning in.