Psalm 119:73-80

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GOOD MORNING! The tenth section of Psalm 119 is a prayer, "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments. They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word. I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight. Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts. Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed."[1]

It is wise and spiritually profitable that we should remember where we came from. "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me." In Psalm 139, the writer declares, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:"[2] A New Testament passage states: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." [3]

Both in our natural birth and in our spiritual birth, God has made us and fashioned us. This truth calls for our reverence, and gratitude, and affection; for we are creatures from the hand of God! The original statement of Holy Scripture is: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a living soul."[4]

And here is an arresting thought, spoken by God's statesman to the king of Babylon: "…the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified, … Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting."[5] O my soul, consider this truth! Made by God, answerable to God, the very breath of life in God's hand, and yet not reverencing, not acknowledging God!

The missionary apostle, addressing people very like ourselves, said to them, "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live and move and have our being."[6] And he went on, instructed by the Holy Spirit to say: "God … now commandeth all men every where to repent."[7]

Because our Creator and Sustainer and Saviour takes such a personal interest in every one of us; because He "commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"; [8] because the living God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,"[9] ought we not, one and all, to "Humble [ourselves] therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt [us] in due time:" [10]?

The personal invitation of our God is, "Come now, and let us reason together,… though your sins be as scarlet; they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." [11]

In the prayer of the Psalm, the writer is asking: "Let…thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, … Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: … Let the proud be ashamed; … but I will meditate in thy precepts. … Let those that fear thee turn unto me,"

Indeed, the communion of saints is a very precious privilege ordained by our LORD.

It was a dark hour, much like our day, when the word of the LORD was written: "Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD harkened, and heard it."[12]

The final petition in this section of the Psalm is: "Let my heart be sound in thy statutes;" When the heart is truly committed to the word of God, the prospects of life are full and spiritually prosperous. This word "sound" carries the meaning of "healthy." "Let my heart (have a healthy interest) in thy statutes."

I am thine, O Lord. I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith,
And be closer drawn to thee.[13]
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."[14]

AMEN.

[1] Psalm 119:73-80
[2] Psalm 139:14
[3] Ephesians 2:10
[4] Genesis 2:7
[5] Daniel 5:23,27
[6] Acts 17:27-28
[7] Acts 17:30
[8] Romans 5:8
[9] 1 Peter 3:9
[10] 1 Peter 5:6
[11] Isaiah 1:18
[12] Malachi 3:16
[13] from "I Am Thine, O Lord" by Fanny J. Crosby
[14] Matthew 5:6

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