Psalm 119.17-24 (4)

Pray Psalm 119.20-22.
My soul breaks with longing
For Your judgments at all times.
You rebuke the proud—the cursed,
Who stray from Your commandments.
Remove from me reproach and contempt,
For I have kept Your testimonies..

Sing Psalm 119.20-22.
(Open My Eyes: Open My Eyes, That I May See)
My soul with longing breaks for You; all of Your judgments I would do.
For You rebuke the proud and the cursed, who from Your Law have strayed, and worse.
Take from me all contempt, O Lord, for I have kept Your holy Word.
Lift all reproach from me, O Lord - my soul renew!

Read Psalm 119.17-24; meditate on verse 20.

Preparation
1. What was happening in the psalmist’s soul?

2. When did he need the judgments of God?

Meditation
The sense of alienation broached in verse 19 is heightened here by the idea that the psalmist’s “soul breaks with longing”. The mood slides from uncertainty (“stranger”) to urgency (“longing”) as we feel the minor key of these verses coming to more complete expression.

Here, “judgments” stands for all the Law and Word of God – perhaps especially what the psalmist was wont to declare and discuss (v. 13). That the psalmist’s soul “breaks with longing” for God’s Word suggests a sense of separation or need, perhaps even desperation, which, as a stranger in the earth (v. 19) he would surely have known in various ways day by day, “at all times.”

What does it mean for one’s soul to long for the judgments of God? The desire of the heart intensifies. The mind strains to focus on the Word of God, and to block out all distractions. The conscience reverts to the Word, to earnestly engage the will in the pursuit of God. This is the “set of the soul” God intends for all of us, that we might long for His Word, to delight in it and to rejoice in Him.

We know that this world will always be foreign to us, and that our true happiness is in the Law and Word of God. Thus, as our sense of alienation to the world increases, our longing for God’s judgments rises to satisfy the desire of our soul. And especially as we see God’s judgments fulfilled in Jesus, our longing is more focused, and we rest in Him and His salvation.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“I long for Your instructions more than I can tell” (Ps. 119.20 TLB).
“My soul is consumed with longing for Your laws at all times” (Ps. 119.20 NIV).
“I am always overwhelmed with a desire for Your regulations” (Ps. 119.20 NLT).
“My soul is crushed with longing after Your ordinances at all times” (Ps. 119.20 NASB).
“What I want most and at all times is to honor Your laws” (Ps. 119.20 CEV).
“My soul breaks with longing for Your judgments at all times” (Ps. 119.20 NKJV).

Every translation bespeaks an extraordinary desire to know God and to have His Laws within us at all times.
It is a foretaste of what we will read later in the psalmist’s work: “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Ps. 119.97).

In the psalmist’s feelings of being a stranger in the earth, he needs to assure himself that all is well with his relationship to God. That there is a plan for him and there are things for him to do. Planet-foreigner, or not.

God says to him, and to us, “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is My law: Do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but My righteousness will be forever, and My salvation from generation to generation” (Is. 51.7, 8).

The work set before us is to make sure that when our soul longs, is consumed with, is overwhelmed, crushed, filled with want, and breaking, it is for the Lord God and His Law, and not for some earthly desire. “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2.12, 13). Desperate longing for God and His Law and Word is the way to jump start this work, and then we can “rest in Him and His salvation”.

I’m desperate for You, all I know to do
Is only to let go and fall at Your feet
So just as I am, with these empty hands
I give everything, all I have, all of me
I’m desperate for You
For only You, only You, only You, Jesus
My Healer, my Deliverer
My Savior, my Father
Protector…
(Smith/Espy/Jackson/Miller, 2021)

For reflection
1. What can you do to make sure your soul is longing for the Lord above all things?

2. Is it a good thing to be desperate for the Lord and His Word? Explain.

3. What makes the judgments of the Lord, and all His Word, so very important?

The clause, at all times, is meant to express his perseverance; for it may occasionally happen that a man may apply himself with great ardor to the study of the heavenly doctrine; but it is only temporary-his zeal soon vanishes away. Steadfastness is therefore necessary, lest, through weariness, we become faint in our minds. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Psalm 119.20

Pray Psalm 119.17-19.
Pray that the Lord will open your eyes to His love for You, revealed in His Word, and that you might know the Presence of Jesus throughout your sojourn today.

Sing Psalm 119.17-19.
(Open My Eyes: Open My Eyes, That I May See)
Open my eyes, Lord, let me see wonderful truths to transform me.
I am a stranger here in the earth; hide not from me Your glorious worth.
Deal with your servant graciously that I may live obediently.
Open my eyes, Lord, let me see glory divine!

T. M. and Susie Moore

You can listen to a summary of last week’s Scriptorium study by going to our website, www.ailbe.org, and clicking the Scriptorium tab for last Sunday. You can download any or all the studies in this series on Psalm 119 by clicking here.

What is the Law of God and how should we learn and obey it? Two books can help. The Law of God arranges the statutes and precepts of God’s Law under their appropriate number of the Ten Commandments. This book is an excellent tool for meditating on God’s Law and thinking about its application in our time. The Foundation for Christian Ethics, on the other hand, explains why the Law matters and how we are to use it. You can order free copes of each of these here and here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.