Desire to Keep Going (Psalm 119:17-24)
Desire (vv. 17-18)
Verse 17 indicates that the psalmist anticipated that his life was in danger. The peril may have come from the opponents he mentions later in the section or perhaps he was undergoing ill health. The striking aspect is that he did not allow his adverse circumstances to diminish his interest in God’s Word. In his difficulties, he turned to God in prayer, but we can see that his prayer is connected to the keeping of God’s Word.
The psalmist classifies himself as God’s servant. This title could indicate that the psalmist had a formal role in which he served God in a recognised capacity such as a priest, or as a Levite, or as a prophet, or as a teacher. Or maybe he was not a formal servant of God, but an Israelite who recognised that God was his master and he wanted to serve him.
We have lost the significance of masters and servants. Often, we only think about what was required of servants and forget to ask about the responsibilities of masters. A master had to look after his servants and provide for them. If a servant had a good master, he could anticipate receiving much from him. We could imagine a situation in which a good master said to his servant, ‘When you find yourself needing help, ask me for it.’ Such a relationship is a faint picture of the goodness of God towards those who serve him.
The psalmist is not presumptuous when he asks God to deal bountifully with him. Rather, his petition reveals that he understands the character of God. ‘Bountifully’ highlights the gracious character of the Lord. In what other way could he give bountifully apart from his grace? Even if the servant was very diligent, his diligence is not a reason for receiving bountifully. If he had said to God, ‘I have served you well for years, please help me now,’ that would be his assessment and may be marked by forgetfulness of times of failure. We can never say to God that we deserve his blessing, because we never can.
We should observe the reason why the servant wants God to deal bountifully with him. The reason is that he will be able to continue keeping God’s Word. What other way of life should a believer desire? If a professing believer wants deliverance merely to be free to pursue his own interests, it shows that he does not understand what it means to be a servant of God. The alternative to keeping God’s law is not to keep God’s law. There is not an in-between state. It is either serve God eagerly or not serve him.
The psalmist, although he is a believer, is conscious that he needs spiritual vision. The phrase ‘open my eyes’ reveals what he wanted when he asked God to deal bountifully with him. We can see that the author assumed that God’s Word contained amazing benefits, that no matter how many wonderful things he had seen previously, he knew that plenty more remained.
This is the case whether one is only beginning the Christian life or is a seasoned believer. The request in verse 18 would be as suitable on the lips of John Calvin as it would be on the lips of a person recently converted. Indeed, Calvin said about this line: ‘Admitting that God gives light to us by his word, the prophet here means that we are blind amid the clearest light, until he remove the veil from our eyes.’ So even if we discovered something wonderful yesterday, we need to repeat this prayer today. This should be the continual prayer of a believer, especially when he is reading the Bible.
What wonderful things would he expect to find? Many answers could be given to that question. Maybe he would come across a particular instruction that he had not noticed before, but which met his current needs exactly and gave him light on how to proceed in his actions. Perhaps he reads a promise that shines with greater power into his heart, giving to him a powerful sense of the Lord’s love for him. In the Bible we find the riches of the covenant of grace, we discover the things of Christ, we enter the treasury of the King, we enjoy the provision of the Master’s banqueting house.
Thomas Manton commented on this verse by observing that ‘the saints do not complain of the obscurity of the law, but of their own blindness.’ There are some matters in the Bible that are difficult, but they are not many in comparison to the matters that can be appreciated by us once we meditate upon them. Often, the problem is that we do not ask God for fresh light, for more discoveries from his Word, because he does give light to those who ask him for it.
Different (vv. 19-20)
The psalmist in this pair of verses describes himself in another way than servant when he says that he is a sojourner. Of course, the two go together. A sojourner is a temporary resident because he has left somewhere and has not yet reached his destination. The psalmist is not a literal sojourner in the sense that he wants to change his geographical location. Rather he is a spiritual sojourner. We can use the language of Bunyan in Pilgrim’s Progress, and say that the sojourner has left the City of Destruction but has not yet reached the Celestial City, although he is on the way.
We are familiar today with sojourners or refugees having a very difficult time. They have left their homeland with the aim of going somewhere but have become stuck in the country that they were travelling through. Their homeland does not want them back, their destination does not want them in, and their place of temporary residence does not want them to stay. Literally, they have nowhere to go. It is very different with God’s sojourners. He encouraged them to leave the City of Destruction and he will welcome them into the Celestial City. Moreover he will help them as they live temporarily where they now are.
It is important to note that, for the psalmist, the earth is the place of sojourning. There is nowhere on earth where a believer should feel that he has arrived at his desired destination. No doubt, there are places on earth that are not so difficult as other places, yet because all are on the earth, they are never the destination. In Psalm 120, the author complains that he dwells in Meshech and Kedar. It was not possible for him to dwell literally in both places because Meshech was in modern-day Turkey and Kedar was in modern-day Arabia. But the psalmist uses those geographical extremes, as it were, to illustrate that he was a sojourner on the earth. As the old spiritual said. ‘This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through.’
What does the sojourner travelling to heaven need? He needs instructions. Often literal refugees cannot understand the rules of the system, and to makes things worse they cannot find anyone to teach them. It is very different with travellers to heaven. They will find themselves in locations where they initially don’t know what to do. But they can ask their Lord to reveal to them his commandments. Following those instructions will enable them to continue their travels through whatever situations they find themselves in.
Sometimes the devil will tempt them with the suggestion that God will hide his will from them. This often occurs when they find themselves in difficult circumstances where everything seems against them. Yet they realise that God has not promised them an easy road or a straightforward one. Put it this way, they don’t travel to heaven on a fast and smooth motorway while sitting on a comfortable bus. Rather they find themselves on roads full of potholes with no clearly marked directions for how to proceed. They may find themselves on steep hills with blind summits. All they can do is ask their God to guide them by his Word, and the amazing thing is that he does. They actually discover that difficult roads with his guidance are much safer than a smooth motorway without his guidance.
A surprising effect takes place once they have gone a few miles along the sojourner’s road. They discover the value of God’s instructions and therefore long to have them continually. The word of God becomes their map and each step along the road becomes relevant because they anticipate that the Lord can help them. After a few tests of his competence they long for more of his wise instruction. They have discovered that God’s rules always work as they should. This intense longing pleases God.
Longing is an expression of spiritual strength. We can imagine a Scotsman away from his country longing for home – his desire is not an expression of his weakness but of his passion. In a much higher way, a longing for God’s Word is an expression of love that will lead the psalmist to obey what God requires because he wants to please God out of gratitude for his grace.
Deliverance (vv. 21-22)
The psalmist records the attitude of God towards those who refuse to pay attention to his commandments. He rebukes them, and he does so in his providence which works against them eventually. The sinners here are rebel Israelites, which is how they can be described as wandering away from God’s commandments. Their wandering was deliberate, but they would not have regarded themselves as wandering. But wandering is a suitable word for describing those who refuse God’s ways. Whatever direction they go in, they never reach a destination because there is not one on those roads. Life for such has no real meaning, although they once imagined that freedom could be found by ignoring God’s requirements. But life will bring bitter lessons because providence belongs to God.
It is difficult for a righteous person to live among such rebels against God. Inevitably, the righteous will face derision for their commitment to God’s ways. Usually the righteous are powerless to do anything about such contempt as far as the mockers are concerned. But they can and should pray to God and ask him to do something about it. That is far more effective than resorting to other means. In many countries there is a Supreme Court – the ultimate Supreme Court is in heaven. The psalmist reminds God, only as it were because God does not forget, that it is for his sake that the psalmist is enduring scorn. He knows that God can act in providence to turn around the circumstances his servant is enduring. The psalmist has placed his case into the hands of God.
Determination (vv. 23-24)
Among those who were opposed to the psalmist were some of the most powerful people in the country. Normally, they would expect their way of life to be admired. They must have had reasons for plotting against him, and the context suggests that it was connected to the psalmist refusing their counsel. He was not afraid of ignoring their opinions, even although they were powerful.
The psalmist chose another path to walk on. He knew where guidance for life would be found. The instruction was in God’s book, and the response of the psalmist was to meditate on what God had revealed. He was delighted with the wisdom that he found in God’s Word. In it he had found thousands of counsellors because he says that each of God’s testimonies was a counsellor to him.
Whoever wrote this psalm had discovered the faithfulness of God. But he also discovered the importance of faithfulness to God. Both go together. Therefore, the psalmist could pray for divine help and instruction.
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