Psalm 119.113-120 (3)

Pray Psalm 119.115.
Depart from me, you evildoers,
For I will keep the commandments of my God!

Sing Psalm 119.113-115.
(Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
Lord, those who do not trust You with all their mind and heart,
shall soon receive their just due – let them from me depart!
My shelter and my shield, Lord, I hope in all Your Word!
To all Your Law I yield, Lord, to live in full accord.

Read Psalm 119.113-120; meditate on verse 115.

Preparation
1. To whom did the psalmist speak, and what did he say to them?

2. What did he commit to doing?

Meditation
Do you notice anything different about this verse? Exactly! It’s not a prayer. It’s more like an aside. I don’t think the psalmist was actually in the presence of wicked people when he blurted this out. And I don’t think he stopped his prayer to utter this command. Perhaps he was thinking about the day ahead, and nailing down the mindset and heartset that he would need to fulfill his vows to the Lord.

But by speaking as if the wicked were in his presence, and declaring that he wanted nothing to do with them, he was setting a direction for any choices he might have to face when wicked people actually were before him, scorning or seeking to entice him away from the Lord.

But such a firm declaration is not enough to make sure we won’t give in and be corrupted by some of the people we rub shoulders with during a day (1 Cor. 15.33). We need to keep company with those who fear the Lord (Ps. 119.63), and cling to His commandments, to keep them in all our ways.

Is there a lesson here about prayer? As we pray for the day ahead, we might be able to see where traps or snares leading to sin might lie. Or where we’ll need extra grace from the Lord. Or someone from whom we might need to seek forgiveness. Speaking directly to the situation or person, in the Presence of God in prayer, might be a useful way to make sure, when the moment arrives, you have the mind of Christ and the heart of God’s Spirit to do whatever God is leading you to do.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Therefore you shall keep My commandments, and perform them: I AM the LORD” (Lev. 22.31).

Those are words that you cannot misunderstand. They are not nuanced, and they are not told slant.

The psalmist believed those words wholeheartedly and set about to clear the decks of his life of everything that would be displeasing to God. He went about it in two ways:
1. He restrained his own feet from every evil way (Ps. 119.101).
2. He informed all the evildoers to leave him alone. “Scram. Depart. Get away from me.” (Ps. 119.115)

He covered all his bases for two more reasons:
1. I’m going to keep God’s word. (vs. 101)
2. I’m going to keep the commandments of my God! (vs. 115)

Jesus took the same straightforward approach against evil: “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORDyour God, and Him only you shall serve’” (Lk. 4.8).

Jesus also had some unnuanced words for the unfaithful: “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matt. 7.23)

We are practicing lawlessness any time we are entertaining evil—either mentally or physically. Contrary to popular opinion, practice doesn’t make perfect, it merely makes permanent.

There is an antidote to practicing lawlessness. James prescribed it: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” And as a lagniappe, he also added a cure for the hated condition of being double-minded: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (Jms. 4.7, 8).

David reminded us to, “Depart from evil, and do good…” (Ps. 37.27), and Peter reiterated the same thing when he wrote, “He who would love life…let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it” (1 Pet. 3.10, 11). And then Paul added his take on the topic of departing from evil. He had already written about the dangers of the love of money, and then he wrote about how to gain the victory over evil:
“But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you…keep this commandment without spot, blameless…” (1 Tim. 6.10-14).

With the power of the Holy Spirit, we will restrain ourselves from every evil way; and evildoers in our path will be told to “Depart”! Because who doesn’t want freedom from this trap?

We are impelled to do this because we long to keep God’s Word and His commandments. Because we love Him and want Him to know it.

Forever, to the very end.

For reflection
1. What evil or affliction will you bark at today and tell it to just “Go away!”?

2. Why is keeping God’s commandments the perfect antidote to sin and sinful tendencies?

3. Whom will you encourage in keeping the Word of God today?

As he saw how great a hindrance the ungodly are to us, he banishes them to a distance from him; or rather, he testifies that he will beware of entangling himself in their society. Nor has he said this so much for his own sake as to teach us by his example, that if we would hold on in the way of the Lord without stumbling, we must endeavor, above all things, to keep at the greatest possible distance from worldly and wicked men, not in regard to distance of place, but in respect of intercourse and conversation. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Psalm 119.115

Pray Psalm 119.118, 119.
Pray that God will protect you against wicked temptations and disobedient ways, and that, throughout this day, He will enable you to cling to His Word.

Sing Psalm 119.118, 119.
(Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
All those who from Your path stray, reject and bring to shame.
They mock Your chosen pathway, and scorn Your holy Name.
Like dross cast them away, Lord - the wicked of the earth!
Your Word will I obey, Lord, and praise Your holy worth.

T. M. and Susie Moore

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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.