Psalm 119:146

Vs. 146 — I cry out to You; Save me, and I will keep Your testimonies.

Matthew Henry:

“Save me.” From my sins, my corruptions, my temptations, all the hindrances that lie in my way, that I may “keep thy testimonies.” We must cry for salvation, not that we may have the ease and comfort of it, but that we may have the opportunity of serving God the more cheerfully.

Charles H. Spurgeon:

Again he mentions that his prayer was unto God alone. The sentence imports that he prayed vehemently, and very often; and that it had become one of the greatest facts of his life that he cried unto God. “Save me.” This was his prayer; very short, but very full. He needed saving, none but the Lord could save him, to him he cried, “Save me” from the dangers which surround me, from the enemies that pursue me, from the temptations which beset me, from the sins which accuse me. He did not multiply words, and men never do so when they are in downright earnest. He did not multiply objects, and men seldom do so when they are intent upon the one thing needful: “save me” was his one and only prayer. (Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). The treasury of David: Psalms 111-119 (Vol. 5, p. 402). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

Prayer:

Hear my cry, O’ God, my Savior. I cry out to You; save me, and I will keep Your testimonies. You have created me, formed me, redeemed me, and You call me by my name. I am Yours. Deliver me from my corruptions and temptations, and all the hindrances that lie in my way from keeping Your testimonies. I want to live as the trophy of Christ that You have made me to be. Work this out of me by Thy Spirit. There is no other way. Honor the name of the One who died for me in and through my life. To Him be the glory. Amen.


Psalm 119:145

Vs. 145 — I cry out with my whole heart; Hear me, O Lord! I will keep Your statutes.

Prayer:

To my God I cry out with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord! I will keep Your statutes. Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, for to You I will pray. You I seek. You I need. You I desire. Cause my heart to thirst for Your statutes and my whole being to embrace Your word. Then and there I find peace and in no other place. For it is there that I can always find You, and hear You speaking words of grace to me.


Psalm 119:144

Vs. 144 — The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; Give me understanding, and I shall live.

Charles H. Spurgeon:

First he had said that God’s testimonies were righteous, then that they were everlasting, and now that their righteousness is everlasting. Thus he gives us a larger and more detailed account of the word of God the longer he is engaged in writing upon it. The more we say in praise of holy writ, the more we may say and the more we can say. God’s testimonies to man cannot be assailed, they are righteous from beginning to end; and though ungodly men have opposed the divine justice, especially in the plan of salvation, they have always failed to establish any charge against the Most High. Long as the earth shall stand long as there shall be a single intelligent creature in the universe it will be confessed that God’s plans of mercy are in all respects marvellous proofs of his love of justice: even that he may be gracious Jehovah will not be unjust. “Give me understanding and I shall live.” This is a prayer which he is constantly praying, that God would give him understanding. Here he evidently considers that such a gift is essential to his living. To live without understanding is not to live the life of a man, but to be dead while we live. Only as we know and apprehend the things of God can we be said to enter into life. The more the Lord teaches us to admire the eternal rightness of his word, and the more he quickens us to the love of such rightness, the happier and the better we shall be. (Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). The treasury of David: Psalms 111-119 (Vol. 5, p. 392). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

John Calvin:

Under the term life, however, as I have elsewhere said, the Prophet denotes the utmost he could wish. Lord, as if he had said, although I am already dead, yet if thou art pleased to illumine my mind with the knowledge of heavenly truth, this grace alone will be sufficient to revive me. (Calvin, J., & Anderson, J. (2010). Commentary on the Book of Psalms (Vol. 5, p. 23). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

Prayer:

Father,the righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; give me understanding, and I shall live. How dependent we are in Your giving of understanding and wisdom. Open our eyes to see righteousness in Your word. Help us never to define or consider truth, perfection, righteousness, or life outside of Your word. Let Your word frame our world and very path in which we travel through this shadowland.

 

 


Psalm 119:143

Vs. 143 — Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, Yet Your commandments are my delights.

Charles H. Spurgeon:

He had double trouble: trouble without and anguish within, as the apostle Paul put it, “without were fightings and within were fears.” “Yet thy commandments are my delights.” Thus he became a riddle; troubled, and yet delighted; in anguish, and yet in pleasure. The child of God can understand this enigma, for well he knows that while he is cast down on account of what he sees within himself he is all the more lifted up by what he sees in the word. He is delighted with the commandments, although he is troubled because he cannot perfectly obey them. He finds abundant light in the commandments, and by the influence of that light he discovers and mourns over his own darkness. Only the man who is acquainted with the struggles of the spiritual life will understand the expression before us. Let the reader herein find a balance in which to weigh himself. Does he find even when he is begirt with sorrow that it is a delightful thing to do the will of the Lord? Does he find more joy in being sanctified than sorrow in being chastised? Then the spot of God’s children is upon him. (Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). The treasury of David: Psalms 111-119 (Vol. 5, pp. 391–392). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

Prayer:

Father, grant us grace to be faithful in our turmoil; grace in our anguish; grace in our repentance; and grace to see the delight of Your word and Your ways. It is there–in the center of grace, like in the eye of a hurricane, that we find peace and rest.


Psalm 119:142

Vs. 142 — Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth.

B.C.B:

“ ‘Men,’ as Bishop Horne observes, ‘may decree wickedness by a law, or they may change their decrees, and with them what is right to-day may be wrong to-morrow; but the law of God is righteousness, and it is truth to-day and for ever.’ ” (Alexander, W. H. (1867). The Book of Praises: Being the Book of Psalms, according to the Authorized Version, with Notes Original and Selected (p. 412). London: Jackson, Walford, and Hodder.)

John Calvin:

Here the law of God is honoured by the additional encomium, that it is everlasting righteousness and truth; as if it had been said, that all other rules of life, with whatever attractions they may appear to be recommended, are but a shadow, which quickly vanishes away. The Psalmist, no doubt, indirectly contrasts the doctrine of the law with all the human precepts which were ever delivered, that he may bring all the faithful in subjection to it, since it is the school of perfect wisdom. There may be more of plausibility in the refined and subtile disquisitions of men; but there is in them nothing firm or solid at bottom, as there is in God’s law. (Calvin, J., & Anderson, J. (2010). Commentary on the Book of Psalms (Vol. 5, p. 21). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

Prayer:

I profess with my whole heart, O’ Lord, that Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth. Therefore I will delight in it. Enabled by the Spirit of God, I will cling to it, embracing it as with every heart beat within my chest.