Monthly Archives April 2015

Vs. 120 — My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments.

William Cowper:

Familiarity with men breeds contempt; familiarity with God, not so: none reverence the Lord more than they who know him best and are most familiar with him.

Matthew Henry:

Instead of exulting over those who fell under God’s displeasure he humbleth himself. What we read and hear of judgments of God upon wicked people should make us (1) To reverence his terrible majesty, and to stand in awe of him. Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? 1 Sam. 6:20. (2) To fear lest we offend him, and become obnoxious to his wrath. Good men have need to be restrained from sin by the terrors of the Lord; especially when judgment begins at the house of God, and hypocrites are discovered, and put away as dross.

Prayer:

My flesh trembles for fear of You, and I am afraid of Your judgments. Do not, I pray, let me lose sight that You are the great and awesome God–the Eternal One, the One and All Sovereign God. Though You have made me a son, it is only by Your grace … nothing more. If it were not for Your abundant mercy and grace through Christ Jesus, I would under Your righteous and violent judgment. Praise to the Savior. He has delivered me! In Him I boast!

Vs. 119 — You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross; Therefore I love Your testimonies.

Prayer:

You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross; therefore I love Your testimonies.  The wicked deserve justice, yet as one of the wicked who rebelled, mocked, and blasphemed Your name abundant mercy was shown me. You have shown me that I have nothing to boast of in piety or righteousness, but I have only to boast in the cross. It is there that this sinner, wretched and weary, was cleansed. It is there that You took my sin’s judgment and clothed me with a holiness that is not mine. A divine holiness. How can I wear such a robe other than in humble awe and reverence? The testimony of the cross, be it my boast; be it my banner; be it my redemption; be it my love!

Vs. 118 — You reject all those who stray from Your statutes, For their deceit is falsehood.

William Henry Alexander:

“For their deceit is falsehood.” This seems a mere truism. The more correct rendering is, Their deceit, or cunning, is vain; i.e., does not answer their purpose, or attain its object.
(Alexander, W. H. (1867). The Book of Praises: Being the Book of Psalms, according to the Authorized Version, with Notes Original and Selected (p. 410). London: Jackson, Walford, and Hodder.)

Prayer:

O’ Lord, You reject all those who stray from Your statutes. Those who despise Your ways are deceiving themselves and others, and such deception is in vain. My own eyes and heart were once self-deceived and deluded by others. Yet in Your perfect time and way, You opened my heart to truth and the Gospel of Jesus Christ exploded in my heart and You delivered me from that darkness and vanity. Continue to open the eyes of Your chosen. Do not let us walk in the vain lies of this world. Thank You, Lord, Thank You.

Vs. 117 — Hold me up, and I shall be safe, And I shall observe Your statutes continually.

Charles H. Spurgeon:

“Hold thou me up”: as a nurse holds up a little child. “And I shall be safe,” and not else; for unless thou hold me up I shall be falling about like an infant that is weak upon its knees. We are saved by past grace, but we are not safe unless we receive present grace. (Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). The treasury of David: Psalms 111-119 (Vol. 5, p. 357). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

Prayer:

O’ God, hold me up, and I shall be safe, and I shall observe Your statutes continually. I know that my soul is hidden in Christ. I now ask for daily bread to hold me up in this life, day-to-day. I need Your grace for each breath and each step. Thank You, Father, for Your sufficient grace. Amen.

Vs. 116 — Uphold me according to Your word, that I may live; And do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

Charles H. Spurgeon:

It was so necessary that the Lord should hold up his servant, that he could not even live without it. Our soul would die if the Lord did not continually sustain it, and every grace which makes spiritual life to be truly life would decay if he withdrew his upholding hand. It is a sweet comfort that this great necessity of upholding is provided for in the word, and we have not to ask for it as for an uncovenanted mercy, but simply to plead for the fulfilment of a promise, saying, “Uphold me according to thy word.” He who has given us eternal life hath in that gift secured to us all that is essential thereto, and as gracious upholding is one of the necessary things we may be sure that we shall have it.

A man would be ashamed of his hope if it turned out that it was not based upon a sure foundation; but this will never happen in our case. We may be ashamed of our thoughts, and our words, and our deeds, for they spring from ourselves; but we never shall be ashamed of our hope, for that springs from the Lord our God. Such is the frailty of our nature that unless we are continually upheld by grace, we shall fall so foully as to be ashamed of ourselves, and ashamed of all those glorious hopes which are now the crown and glory of our life. (Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). The treasury of David: Psalms 111-119 (Vol. 5, p. 356). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

Prayer:

Uphold me, Father, according to Your word, that I may live; and do not let me be ashamed of my hope. You have shown me that hope in the temporal is a mere wish or dream. No guarantees apart from You–Who holds and controls all things. But when my hope is the person of Jesus Christ and what You, Jesus, did for me at the cross and the grave, it is secured eternally.  I trust the promise in Scriptures that I am sealed and secure in Christ and nothing can separate me from You. I will not be ashamed of such glorious, eternal hope. Amen