Latest / Reformed Thinking / Open My Eyes to Behold Your Word (Psalm 119:17–24) | Charles Spurgeon

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Open My Eyes to Behold Your Word (Psalm 119:17–24) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis, there
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is this expectation of, well, absolute precision.
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Think about engineering or orthopedics.
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You fall off a ladder, you break your arm, you go to the hospital
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and the X-ray shows that jagged white line on the black
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background. Right, it is binary, yeah.
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The doctor just points at the screen and says there it is,
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that is the fracture. You look at the film and there
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is 0 ambiguity. It is very straightforward.
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Broken or not broken, it is clean.
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We can fix it because we can see it clearly.
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And you know, it is comforting. As humans, we like things to be
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visible. We like things to be categorized
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neatly in a file folder. Oh, for sure.
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It gives us a sense of control over the situation.
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But then you step into the world of human theology, you step into
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the condition of the soul, and suddenly that X-ray machine is
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broken. Completely useless.
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Right. The diagnostic landscape we are
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looking at is, well honestly it is completely murky to the
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natural eye. You cannot just point to a scan
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and say there's the spiritual fracture.
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It is the absolute definition of diagnostic Muddy Waters.
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Until you introduce a divine light without an outside source
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illuminating the problem, we are just guessing in the dark about
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what is actually wrong with us. Welcome to Reformed Thinking.
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Today we are initiating a massive, comprehensive deep dive
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into our source material. We are zeroing in on Charles
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Spurgeon's monumental work The Treasury of David.
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It is quite the undertaking. It really is.
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We're going to be covering a very specific slice of Psalm
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119, verses 17 through 24. For those keeping track of the
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Hebrew alphabet structure of this massive poem, this is the
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Gimel section. Yes, the third section.
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But before we even read the first word, we want to set the
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theological stage right out of the gate.
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Our discussion today is grounded firmly in Protestant
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Christianity and the Westminster Confession.
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Setting that framework is critical.
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If we misunderstand the baseline condition of human nature, the
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entirety of this text will be completely misread.
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How? So.
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Well it will look like a self help checklist for high
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achievers rather than a rescue operation for the spiritually
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dead. Let's expand on that for a
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second. When we talk about the
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Westminster Confession, we are talking about a theological
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document from the 1640s that maps out the core tenets of the
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faith. And one of those core tenets we
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were touching on today is total depravity.
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That is a heavy theological phrase.
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I want to make sure we translate that into plain English.
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Good idea. Total depravity does not mean
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every human being is as thoroughly evil as they could
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possibly be. It means that every part of our
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nature, our mind, our will, our emotions is infected by sin.
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We are spiritually unresponsive. Think of it like a medical
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condition. It is spiritual necrosis.
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Wow, Necrosis, Yeah, to put. It simply it is like walking
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around like a spiritual zombie. Your physical heart is beating.
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You are paying your taxes. You are going to the grocery
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store. Doing normal stuff.
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Right, but the part of you that is supposed to connect with the
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creator is dead tissue. It has no pulse.
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That is the baseline. Which brings me to a question
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for you, the listener. How do you currently view your
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daily reading of Scripture? That is the big question.
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When you open the text in the morning or whenever you do it,
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is it a chore? Is it just a box you check on
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your daily habit tracker so you can feel productive?
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Or is it a vital survival mechanism in a completely
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hostile world? Because as we go through this
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text today, we are going to see a progression that takes us from
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sheer spiritual desperation to absolute, unshakable security.
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The. Shift from viewing the law as a
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burdensome obligation to viewing it as a literal lifeline is the
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core transition of the believer's mind.
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It changes everything about how you interact with the world.
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It really does. Let's unpack this, starting with
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verse 17. We begin with a plea for bounty
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and the very purpose of life. The psalmist says, Deal
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bountifully with thy servant, that I may live and keep thy
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word. The phrasing here is so specific
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and intentional he asks for bounty.
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He does not ask for a fair wage, he does not ask for a strict
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legal transaction. The concept of bounty over legal
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wage is the bedrock of reformed thought regarding grace and
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merit. Let's look at it through a
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modern lens. OK, let's hear it In a strict
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legal framework, you approach your employer and request
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compensation equal to the labor you performed.
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You worked 40 hours. You expect 40 hours of pay.
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Makes sense. If the employer pays the exact
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wage, justice is satisfied. The transaction is clean.
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But the psalmist knows his own internal condition.
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He knows his own resume, right? If God deals with him according
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to strict justice, based on the merit of his own service, the
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resulting wage is catastrophic. The wage of sin is death.
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He knows he cannot survive an audit.
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Precisely so. He bypasses the courtroom of
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justice entirely. He appeals directly to the
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storehouse of divine liberality. He asks God to let the
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compensation be measured by the master's goodness, not the
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servant's merit. Yes, he is asking for a gift
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that is vastly disproportionate to what he actually deserves.
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I was reading John Stevens commentary on this verse and he
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adds such a fascinating historical layer to this
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request. He notes that we need to picture
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the psalmist placing himself mentally and physically within
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the Levitical ritual. Right, the Tabernacle context.
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We read these psalms in quiet, comfortable rooms, but we have
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to bring to mind the sensory reality of the author.
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He is surrounded by the Tabernacle system.
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Yes, the historical context is crucial here.
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The Tabernacle was not a quiet, sterile environment.
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Not at all. It was visceral.
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It smelled like burning wood and roasting meat.
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It smelled like blood. You heard the sounds of animals.
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You saw the smoke rising. It was a constant sensory
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demonstration of the cost of sin.
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The psalmist is standing there looking at the altar, looking at
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the sacrifices. He is anticipating the great
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atonement. He is not tossing a random
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hopeful wish into the sky. He is standing within a specific
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covenantal framework, right? He knows that God is just to
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condemn sin. The blood on the altar proves
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that. But because he sees the
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sacrifices which point forward to the perfect substitutionary
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atonement of Christ, he understands that God is also
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just to pardon through that atonement.
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So the grace is grounded in justice.
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Yes, he can ask for bounty because the penalty of the
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broken law is being addressed by the sacrifice.
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His plea for grace is resting entirely upon God's provision
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for reconciliation. Wait, I am struggling with
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attention here. I have to push back a bit on
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this sequence. Sure.
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What is the tension? Well, if we are entirely reliant
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on grace and our own merit brings absolutely nothing to the
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table, why is the psalmist so hyper focused on keeping the law
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in the second-half of the sentence?
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I see what you mean. He says Deal bountifully with
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thy servant, that I may live. Indy, keep thy word.
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It feels like a contradiction. If the obedience does not earn
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the bounty, why is he obsessing over rule keeping?
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That tension is a classic stumbling block.
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It trips up so many people. But the theological distinction
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is beautiful when you grasp the mechanics of it.
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Walk us through it. The obedience is not the payment
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to earn salvation. It is the inevitable fruit of
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it. Look closely at the sequence in
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his request. First, he asks to live.
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He acknowledges that without God sustaining grace, he cannot
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maintain natural or spiritual life.
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He is asking for the vital breath.
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He needs the spiritual necrosis to be reversed.
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Right then he states the purpose of that granted life to keep
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God's Word. We do not work to attain life.
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We are granted life so that we might work.
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Charles Spurgeon points out that life, while breaking the law, is
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but a name to live. It is a biological existence.
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You are breathing, you're consuming calories, but you are
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not fulfilling the design of your creation it.
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Makes me think of the analogy of the hired servants of the father
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in the prodigal son narrative. Think about the dynamics of that
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household. That is a great example.
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The hired servants have bred enough and to spare they get a
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wage. But a true servant of God is
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treated as a Prince of the blood.
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He receives royal provision. He gets the signet ring.
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He gets the robe. Right, his status changes.
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But a Prince is still expected to conduct himself according to
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the royal household standards. He does not act like a Prince to
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become royal. He acts like a Prince because he
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is royal. His behavior is a reflection of
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his granted status. That is a highly accurate way to
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frame it. The grace provides the status
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and the strength. The obedience is the
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demonstration of that new nature.
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So the working comes from the grace.
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Yes, we work for Him only because He is actively working
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in us. We cannot even breathe
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spiritually without His bounteous assistance.
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Our obedience is essentially us returning to Him the strength He
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just gave us. So to keep the word, to obey the
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standards of the royal household, one must first be
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able to comprehend the instructions.
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You cannot obey the command. You cannot read or understand.
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That's logically true. And this logical necessity
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drives the psalmist right into the next urgent request in verse
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18. Open thou mine eyes, that I may
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behold wondrous things out of thy law.
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This verse forces us to confront that doctrine of total depravity
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again, specifically regarding the human intellect.
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Right. The psalmist implies a conscious
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darkness, a severe dimness of spiritual vision.
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The assumption here is that humanity in its fallen state, is
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born spiritually blind. We do not just need better
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glasses, we need. Well said.
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The wonders are already present in the biblical text.
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The defect is not in the scriptures.
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The defect is entirely in our vision.
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I love how the commentators illustrate this.
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Henry Melville uses a brilliant analogy.
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He says the Holy Spirit does not put new things into the Bible,
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just as a telescope does not put new stars into the night sky.
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That is a fantastic mental image.
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Let's think about how a telescope actually works.
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You pointed at a patch of sky that looks completely empty.
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To the naked eye, it looks like pure black void.
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But the telescope gathers the faint light that is already
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blazing out there in the dark. It magnifies what exists.
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The stars were there the whole time, whether you had the
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instrument to see them or not. He also compares it to a
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microscope. A microscope does not create new
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creatures in a drop of pond water.
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It just reveals the bustling life that is already swimming
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around. The instrument reveals the
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existing reality. The Holy Spirit acts upon the
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human mind to remove the mists of carnal prejudice and the
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scales of pride. What does that carnal prejudice
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actually look like in practice? Let's look at the mechanism of
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it. How does it blind us?
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When a proud person reads a text that demands absolute
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submission, their ego acts like a neurological blind spot.
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Interesting. Their pride actively filters out
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the conviction. They read the words, but the
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meaning is deflected without divine intervention.
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The human judgement looks at truth through a completely
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distorted medium. Our misplaced affections blind
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our understanding. We cannot see what we refuse to
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love. There is an old Puritan writer,
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Henry Ward Beecher, who has another analogy for this that
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paints the tragedy of it perfectly.
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I think I know the one you mean. He describes a man who inherits
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a massive ancient baronial estate.
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This property is spectacular, but for whatever reason, this
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heir decides to live in a cramped, drafty, modern little
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house right on the edge of the property.
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Oh yeah, this one is great. He ignores the venerable mansion
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for years. He eats cold soup in his shack.
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He has no idea what is actually inside the main house.
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Then one day, he finally walks through the heavy oak doors.
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He steps inside and he is utterly astonished.
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The wealth was there all along. Right.
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The walls are lined with original Titians and Raphael's.
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There are marble statues. There is carved silver plate in
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the dining room. He owned it all along, but he
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lived in total impoverished ignorance of his own wealth.
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It is a striking picture of the modern person who owns a Bible
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but lacks the spiritual sight to perceive its value.
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The book sits on the shelf, gathering dust.
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It's just sitting there. It is a Wonderland, as Spurgeon
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calls it. It contains the very mind of the
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Creator. But what are colors to a blind
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man? You can describe the color red
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to someone without sight all day long, but until the optical
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nerve fires it is just noise. That makes me think of another
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way to visualize this. Attempting to comprehend the
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Scriptures without the eliminating work of the Holy
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Spirit is like a blind man wandering through the most
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breathtaking landscape on earth, say the Grand Canyon.
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That is a massive scale. Imagine standing on the rim.
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The majesty, the sheer drop offs, the brilliant red and
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orange strata of the rocks surround him on every side.
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He can feel the wind, he can smell the pine trees.
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He can hear the echo of a Canyon.
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Wren. He gets all the other sensory
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inputs. But to his visual senses, it
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remains a dark, impenetrable void.
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The beauty is objective. It is massive and real, but his
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subjective experience of that visual beauty is 0.
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Thomas Manton, another classic voice we are drawing from,
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addresses the specific mechanics of how this blindness is cured.
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He references the Apostle Paul's conversion on the road to
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Damascus, where literal scales fell from his eyes.
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What does Manton say about that? Manton argues there is a double
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work involved here. It is not just a single action.
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Break that down for us. What is the double work?
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First, there is a negative work that's taking away of the veil.
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This is the removal of our natural hostility and prejudice
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against God. It is clearing the obstruction.
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And the second part. Second, there is a positive
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work, the infusion of light. The natural faculties of the
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mind, your logic, your reading comprehension, are not replaced.
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God does not bypass your brain. Instead, those faculties are
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quickened and enlightened by a direct act of the Spirit.
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The light is turned on in the room.
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So once those scales fall and the positive light is infused,
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we finally see the majestic reality of God's Kingdom.
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We see the Raphael's in the mansion.
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We see the Grand Canyon. The vision is clear.
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But that sudden clarity creates a massive new problem.
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We look around at our current earthly environment, our daily
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life, and we realize something startling about our own status.
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We realize we are not home. That is a harsh awakening.
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This brings us to the emotional shift in verse 19.
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The psalmist says I am a stranger in the earth.
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Hide not thy commandments from me.
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The unblinding of the eyes inevitably leads to the shocking
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realization of exile. When you finally see the pure
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beauty of the heavenly Kingdom reflected in the law, you
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instantly recognize that you do not currently reside there.
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You feel out of place. You look at the corruption, the
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decay, the fleeting nature of this world, and you realize you
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are a Pilgrim, a sojourner. The world becomes foreign
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territory. And because the believer is
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walking through a completely foreign landscape, he
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desperately needs a reliable guide.
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I was looking at Alexander Raleigh's notes on this and he
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has this haunting phrase he calls the human soul the little
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stranger. That is very poetic.
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He says when a child is born it is a stranger from the
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immensities coming from the very presence of God into this
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physical realm. But as this person grows up,
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they start throwing out anchors. Let's examine what those anchors
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look like in real life. They are everything we spend our
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time on. We sign 30 year mortgages, we
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build businesses, we plant gardens, we obsess over our
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social status. We get very comfortable.
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We form intense attachments to our routines.
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We become heavily, heavily settled in the earth.
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We look entirely at the things which are seen, the tangible
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stuff we can touch and measure, completely forgetting that we
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are actually just passing through a temporary space.
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And Raleigh points out the tragic consequence of becoming
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too settled in a temporary space.
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Think about the entire life cycle of a person who has thrown
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out all those anchors. Birth, school, career building,
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retirement planning. The standard path.
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Right when the final hours of life approach, when the doctor
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gives the terminal diagnosis, there is absolute panic.
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The person has thrown out so many heavy chains into the dirt
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that the process of pulling them up is agonizing.
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That is a terrifying thought. They have no Pilgrim staff at
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hand. Their eyes are not trained to
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look at the ascending way. They made a massive catastrophic
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miscalculation by treating a temporary hotel room as a
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permanent estate. Wait, I need to stop and play
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devil's advocate here. Go ahead By viewing ourselves
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entirely as strangers and pilgrims.
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By refusing to get too settled, do we risk ignoring our actual
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practical responsibilities to the people and the society
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around us right now? I hear this question a lot.
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Does this mindset create a Christian who is so heavenly
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minded that they are of absolutely no earthly good?
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Do we just check out of politics, culture and community
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improvement? That is a very common critique,
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but it misreads the verse entirely.
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Recognizing our Pilgrim status does not negate earthly action.
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Look at the second-half of the verse.
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Hide not they commandments from me.
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OK, so the commandments are the key.
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The believer relies strictly on God's commandments to dictate
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how they live while in this foreign land.
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The map for the path is the law. So the law dictates the local
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behavior. Yes, the law tells the believer
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how to conduct business honestly.
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It tells them how to raise children with patience.
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It dictates how to treat neighbors with equity and
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justice. We draw our ethics from our true
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home to govern our behavior in the temporary one.
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We don't just abandoned the. Earth.
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We do not abandon the earth. We salt it with the ethics of
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heaven. We are ambassadors.
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An ambassador lives in a foreign country, respects the local
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customs, and works for the good of the city.
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But their ultimate allegiance and their behavioral code come
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from their home sovereign. That makes perfect sense.
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So the map for the path is the commandment.
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But recognizing that we are so far from our true home while
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simultaneously seeing the brilliant beauty of the law
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creates a physical and emotional reaction.
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It does. It is a severe homesickness.
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Once you realize you are in exile, living in a foreign land,
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a deep homesickness sets in. You cannot Unsee the beauty of
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your true home, and that friction creates an almost
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physical pain. It is a heavy burden to carry.
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That is what the writer is experiencing in the sheer
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intensity of verse 20. My soul breaketh for the longing
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that hath unto thy judgments at all times.
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The language here is intensely physical.
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The word breaketh implies a heavy friction, A crushing, or a
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chafing. Like metal grinding.
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Think of an engine running without oil.
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The metal grinds against metal until it fractures.
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The spirit is fretted with an unbearable yearning after the
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things God has spoken. True godliness, as the
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commentators note, lies very much in our desires.
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We want what we don't have yet. We are not yet what we shall be,
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and we are not what we would be. We see the standard, we see our
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own failure to meet it, and this creates a straining of the mind.
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It is a pulling that feels like it could snap the sole in half.
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If you are listening to this on your commute to work right now,
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or while you are folding laundry and you have this low level
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unshakable hum of dissatisfaction with your life
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even if you have the house, the car, the family, that friction
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might be precisely what this verse is talking about.
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It is a spiritual homesickness. What stands out to me in this
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verse is that phrase at all times.
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It is not a passing phase. Thomas Manton and Thomas Brooks
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both weigh in on this with a rather piercing observation.
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They note that even ungodly men have good moods.
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The good moods concept is fascinating.
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When faced with a severe affliction, A terrifying brush
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with death, or the sudden fear of judgement, an unregenerate
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person might cry out for grace. They might suddenly want to be
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righteous. We call that the foxhole prayer.
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You are under fire, so you promise God you will change your
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life if he gets you out of the trench.
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Yes, the foxhole prayer. But that desire is a temporary
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emotion born of sheer terror. It vanishes the very second the
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heat cools down. The distinguishing mark of the
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blessed man is that he hungers and thirsts after righteousness
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at all times. It doesn't fade.
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This constant longing is maintained in prosperity when he
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has money and health. The longing keeps him from
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pride, and it is maintained in adversity.
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When he is broke and sick, the longing keeps him from despair.
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His desire is not circumstantial.
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But think about the sheer exhaustion implied by a breaking
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soul, a soul constantly under the heavy friction of unmet
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desire. Is this state of constant,
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intense longing something a human being can realistically
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sustain? It is a fair question.
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It sounds incredibly tiring to constantly want something you
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cannot fully possess right now. It is what the Puritans called a
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bittersweet reality. It is wearying to the flesh.
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Certainly. It stems from catching a genuine
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glimpse of God's beauty and simultaneously realizing how
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much of that booty is still hidden from view due to our own
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limitations. But.
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So pain has a purpose. But here's the key.
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The desire itself is the greatest evidence of God's grace
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at work in the soul. A dead man feels no hunger.
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Right on the mark, A corks does not crave a meal.
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The agonizing desire for the judgments of God proves that the
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soul is alive, and God's judgments here refer to His
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infallible decisions on moral and spiritual questions.
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He wants God's rules. The believer longs for God to
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settle the chaotic disputes of the heart.
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They want God to rule their internal.
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World. This humble, aching desire for
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God's rule stands in absolute stark contrast to the attitude
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of those who reject his authority altogether.
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We pivot sharply in verse 21, from the breaking soul of the
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humble believer to the anatomy of the arrogant it.
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Is quite the contrast. The text says Thou hast rebuked
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the proud that are cursed, which do air from my commandments.
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Here we see the anatomy and the danger of pride.
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Pride is identified as the root of all sin and rebellion.
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If men were not arrogant, they would not be disobedient.
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It is the core issue. Only humble hearts are willing
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to yield to rule in government. The proud man's looks are too
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high to monitor his own feet and keep the Lord's way.
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He is looking at the stars while walking off a Cliff.
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There is an observation from Joseph Hall that completely
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flipped my view on pride. He calls it a close, skulking
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vice. Think about that phrasing.
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It hides right in our own bosom. Skulking is the perfect word it.
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Cleaves so fast to us that it is almost impossible to distinguish
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it from ourselves. It is not like the sin of anger
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which assaults us with hot fury, or the sins of the flair that
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correspond to natural biological appetites.
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Pride is stealthy. It looks like virtue.
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It looks like independence. Henry Smith makes a brilliant
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comparative observation regarding pride that expands on
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this. He points out that other sinners
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act primarily as enemies to themselves.
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How so? Let's look at the psychology of
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other sins. The covetous man harms himself
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by never enjoying what he has. The slothful man starves himself
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through inaction. The glutton degrades his own
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physical body. But the proud man does something
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entirely different. He sets himself directly against
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God. She acts the throne.
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Yes, he seeks to be equal with the Creator.
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The proud man says I will not obey, I will be my own
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sovereign. He attempts to pull honor
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directly from God's throne to place it on his own head.
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It is a cosmic coup attempt. I want to stop and look at how
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this ancient definition conflicts with our modern
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sensibilities. Today we hear constant praise
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for healthy self esteem. We are told to be proud of our
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work, proud of our identities, proud of our accomplishments.
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That is the cultural narrative. How does the text definition of
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cursed pride differ from a Craftsman taking joy in a
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beautifully made dining table or a person having healthy self
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respect? Are we supposed to hate
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ourselves? It is a critical distinction and
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we have to be careful not to conflate the two.
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The text defines cursed pride as arrogant rebellion.
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It is the creature refusing to acknowledge its utter dependence
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on the Creator. A Craftsman enjoying his work is
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rejoicing in the faculties God gave him.
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He is enjoying the reflection of the Creator's creativity in his
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own hands. But biblical pride is the
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creature attempting to take the ultimate glory that belongs
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strictly to God. So it is about who gets the
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credit. It is a refusal to yield to
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divine rule. The proud man does all things
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without God and craves no help from him.
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This is why the proud are explicitly called cursed in the
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text. God rebukes them because he sees
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in their pride the exact same seeds of absolute cosmic
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rebellion that caused the fall of angels.
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And when these proud, autonomous individuals encounter a humble
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believer, someone who openly relies on God's Word, someone
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who admits their own depravity and need for bounty, that
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arrogance frequently manifests as targeted hostility.
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They lash out. The proud cannot stand the
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humble, because the humble person's reliance on God is a
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silent judgment on the proud person's autonomy.
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This brings us to the suffering described in verse 22.
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Remove from me reproach and contempt, for I have kept thy
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testimonies. The burden of being libeled,
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lampooned and slandered is immensely heavy.
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Matthew Henry points out that while the old playground saying
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goes, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will
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never hurt me. That is a complete lie.
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It really is. Words are devastating.
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Hard words break no bones, but they are actually very grievous
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to a tender and ingenuous spirit.
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The psalmist is feeling the crushing weight of being made
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odious in the eyes of the public.
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He is being cancelled, to use a modern term.
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And his response is to plead his innocence to God.
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He says I've kept thy testimonies.
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He uses this as the basis for God to roll from upon him, this
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crushing weight of contempt. It is a plea for vindication.
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I love the analogy provided in the commentary for handling
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slander. It is so relatable.
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Trying to clear our own name in the court of public opinion is
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often like the boy who tried to remove a blot of dark ink from
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his pristine copy book. Oh, I know how this ends.
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He rubs it, he messes with it, he tries to scratch it out, and
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by trying to fix it himself, he only smears the ink across the
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whole page and makes it 10 times worse.
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Thomas Manton offers incredibly practical theological counsel
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here for anyone dealing with gossip or a ruined reputation.
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He argues that prayer is a far better vindication than an
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apology or a loud public defense.
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So we shouldn't fight back. When we are slandered, our
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immediate instinct is to fight back with our own words.
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We want to post a defense online.
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We want to call everyone and explain our side of the story.
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But Manton says we must take our damaged reputation to the
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highest court. We let the judge handle it.
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God is the great witness of our sincerity.
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Furthermore, God holds the hearts and the tongues of men in
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His hands. He has the sovereign capacity to
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either prevent the slanderer from speaking or prevent the
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hearer from believing the slander.
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If we trust His sovereignty, we can sit quietly while being
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accused. So we leave the defense to the
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judge of all the earth. We stay quiet and let the
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advocate plead the cause. But sometimes this slander is
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not just idle gossip over the backyard fence.
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It can escalate. Sometimes it is not just a
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misunderstanding among peers. Sometimes the attack comes from
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the highest levels of institutional and political
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authority, and that escalation is what we see in the final 2
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verses of our section versus 23 and 24.
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Yes, the opposition scales up dramatically.
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Listen to the text. Princess also did sit and speak
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against me, but thy servant did meditate in my statutes.
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Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.
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That is a major shift. The psalmist is no longer
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dealing with common detractors. He is facing a parliament of
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falsehood. The societal elites, the rulers,
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the people who hold the levers of influence are using their
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seats of justice to actively plot against him.
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He is high game and the great ones of the earth are hunting
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him. But look at his reaction.
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This introduces a concept we can call holy diversion.
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It is a brilliant strategy. When troubled, wicked men run to
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worldly escapes, they run to the Tavern.
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They distract themselves with games, they drown their anxiety
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and vice, or they gather a counter mob to fight back.
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But the believer turns to God's comforts.
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There is a striking visual contrast here between the two
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sittings. The contrast is visually
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brilliant. Pictures split screen.
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On one side you have the Princess sitting in a conclave
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in a boardroom. They are actively plotting.
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They are using their position and their wealth to slander and
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destroy one man. And the other side.
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On the other side of the screen you have the believer sitting
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quietly by a fire, meditating on the statutes of God.
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He answers his traducers by not answering them at all.
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He denies them his attention. He refuses to let the rabble of
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Princess rob him of his communion with God.
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There is a fantastic historical quote used to illustrate verse
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24. Alphonsus, the king of Aragon,
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was once asked who the best counselors were for a monarch.
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He answered the dead, which cannot flatter.
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He was referring to books. That is a great quote.
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The commentary applies this directly to God's testimonies
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acting as the believers Privy Council or Council of State.
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It is a solid application of the doctrine of the sufficiency of
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Scripture. Think about human Princess.
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They rely on a Privy Council of men who are often driven by
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ambition, partiality and the overwhelming desire to flatter
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the monarch to keep their jobs. Human advice is tainted by
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self-interest. But the Believer has a far
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superior council. The prophets and apostles,
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speaking by the Holy Ghost, form a Senate that cannot air.
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They will not flatter the believer in his sin, nor will
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they discourage him from doing what is right.
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Regardless of the hazard, they speak absolute truth.
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But practically speaking, I have to ask, how does a person
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actually find delight in ancient statutes when they are under
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active fire from powerful institutional enemies?
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It is easy to say read your Bible when you're stressed, but
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he does not just say he reads. Them.
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No, he says. They are his delight.
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Right, he is finding joy in the middle of a siege.
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The delight comes from the absolute security the Word
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provides. The Word offers both comfort and
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strategic direction. When the believer submits to the
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unerring, unflattering council of Scripture, he aligns himself
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with the sovereign will of God. And that changes the perspective
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on the enemies. And when you are aligned with
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the sovereign of the universe, the plots of earthly Princess
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become completely irrelevant. Their plotting is a mirage.
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The delight is the joy of knowing that your defense is
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handled by the King of Kings. The statutes tell him how to
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walk through the fire without being burned.
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He delights in the blueprints of his own survival.
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OK, let's trace the massive progression we have just walked
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through today. We started with a desperate plea
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for the sheer grace to even live, asking for bounty because
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our own merit leads to death. We move from there to the
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intellect. Right to the absolute necessity
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of having our blind eyes ripped open by the Holy Spirit so we
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can even see the truth. Once we could see, we instantly
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recognized our status as exiled pilgrims in a foreign land.
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That realization birthed in intense, almost physically
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painful longing for holiness. And we saw how that humble
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longing is the exact opposite of the arrogant rebellion of pride.
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And finally, we saw how that same word provides an unshakable
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fortress, a Privy Council, even when the highest authorities on
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Earth are actively plotting our ruin.
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It is a complete map of the internal life of the justified
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Sinner. It moves from absolute total
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dependence to joyful security, all mediated through the written
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word. It is a stunning psychological
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and theological progression. So to you listening right now,
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evaluate your own position. Take an honest look at your life
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today. Which verse are you living in
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right now? Are you throwing out too many
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heavy anchors into the temporary dirt of this world, forgetting
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you were just a stranger passing through?
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Or are you sitting quietly in the council Chamber of God's
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Word while the world shouts outside your window?
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The text demands that we locate ourselves within this
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progression. You cannot read it neutrally.
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I will leave you with this final thought to Mull over as you go
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about your day. What if the very slander, the
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intense opposition or the crushing affliction you are
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facing right now is not an accident?
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What if it is intentional? What if it is the precise
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sovereign mechanism God is utilizing to force you out of
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your comfortable earthly anchors, driving you directly
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into the quiet, unflattering council Chamber of His Word?
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Think about that. We will see you next time on our
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deep dive into the source material.