PSALM 119:73-80 JADE JUST JUDGMENTS

JADE JUST JUDGMENTS

PSALM 119:73-80

י (Yud)

Psalm 119:73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.

Susie: God formed every part of me, including my brain, my mind, my intellect. It would only make sense to ask my Designer to enable my mind to understand His word. The one who programs the computer knows how to communicate with it to maximize its effectiveness. God is the Master Programmer who formed the complex synapses that bring the ability to reason to the human brain. The psalmist may not have understood all the science behind it (neither do I), but he knew to turn to the Lord for understanding.

Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV) For you created my inmost being;  you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 119:74 They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.

Susan: Believers, those who trust in God, are elated when they see someone come to trust in God for their salvation, grow in faith, and experience the blessings of the Lord. When we see a person living out their faith in their daily walk as a testimony to God’s faithfulness, we are encouraged.

Psalm 34:2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

The Pulpit Commentary at http://biblehub.com/psalms/119-74.htm

I shall be a fresh proof to them that God does not forsake his servants.

Psalm 119:75 I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

Susie: God is always just. Since He sees the total picture, He alone truly knows what is best for His child. We do not always understand the ways that the Lord is working behind the scenes of our lives because we see only a small portion of the fabric of our lives. We see only one quilt square while the Lord sees the entire, beautiful, perfect pattern He is laying out for us.

Psalm 19:9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Susan: When God disciplines His children by way of difficulties, it is always a corrective measure to bring them back in line with His perfect plan for their lives. He is our loving, Heavenly Father, and every trial in our lives is filtered through His loving hand. God’s desire is to bring our relationship with Him to full fruition, to enable us to live joyfully for His glory.

Psalm 119:75 (VOICE) I know, O Eternal One, Your rulings are right,    and when You humbled me, You did so out of faithfulness.

Proverbs 27:6a (VOICE) Wounds inflicted by the correction of a friend prove he is faithful;

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Psalm 119:76 Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness²⁶¹⁷ be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.

The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

2617 – cheçed – loving-kindness, mercy, merciful kindness, pity

Susan: The first use of cheçed is in Genesis 19:19 when Lot used the word to describe God’s hand in delivering him from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Genesis 19:19a Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life

Susan: God used the word cheçed twice in the description of Himself to Moses, a portion of scripture the psalmist may have been alluding to:

Exodus 34:6-7 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness²⁷¹⁶ and truth, Keeping mercy²⁷¹⁶ for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Susan: For a word study on cheçed, go to http://pastorseansblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/word-study-of-checed-or-hesed-h2617.html

Susie: God’s kindness is much more than a nice gesture to a stranger, a “random act of kindness.” It is mercifully saving another’s life, literally (as in the case of Lot), or spiritually as in Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross.

Susan: The greatest expression of cheçed is Christ’s self-sacrificing death on the cross to pay the debt of my sin.

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Psalm 119:77 Let thy tender mercies⁷³⁵⁶ come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.

Susie: The psalmist employs a different word for mercies in this verse. The sense is the compassion protection of being in the mother’s womb. God is our Father, but He is also likened to a hen protecting her young under her wings.

The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

7356 – racham – compassion by extension, the womb (as cherishing the fetus) — bowels, compassion, damsel, tender love, (great, tender) mercy, pity, womb

Psalm 91:4 (NASB) He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!

Susan: It is the psalmist’s joy to internalize and build his life on the Bible, God’s instruction manual for righteous living.

Susie: Therefore, he has confidence in God’s fatherly protection and direction.

Psalm 119:78 Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.

Susie: When others make baseless accusations against the psalmist, he is determined to not let it move him from following the course God has laid out for him. He continues to focus his mind consistently on the instructions, laws, and precepts found in the word of God.

1 Peter 2:20 (MSG) There’s no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.

Psalm 119:79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.

Susie: Some of God’s people may have turned away from the psalmist when he was afflicted, thinking God was judging him rather than molding him.

Susan: His hope was that they would return to his side when they saw how the Lord had restored him. He may have also been desiring the fellowship of others who were seeking to follow God wholeheartedly, that they could understand God’s word more thoroughly together.

Psalm 119:80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.

Susan: To me to be “sound” is to be fit.

Susie: In order to be physically fit we eat well, exercise, and get enough rest.

Susan: Spiritual fitness is developed by feeding on God’s word and exerting energy in the pursuit of His ways. Just as the body-builder does not improve his physique by haphazardly going to the gym, we do not become spiritual “heavy weights” by seeing how fast we can get through our one-year devotional.

Susie: We do not develop well spiritually by studying the word on Sundays only. We must have a daily workout in the word of God.

Susan: We cannot depend on the pastor or church leadership to study and then spoon-feed us.

Susie: When we have feasted on God’s word and exercised faith to apply it, then we are able to completely, confidently rest in His promises and the hope we have in Christ. We will have no need to be ashamed because we will be living as God intended us to live.

Psalm 25:2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

Colossians 2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Ephesians 3:16-20 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Points to Ponder:

·     God made us and enables us to understand His ways

·     God chastises us as our loving Father

·     God’s kindness to us was fully expressed by Jesus on the cross

·     God protects like a hen protects her chicks

·     When we are wrongfully accused, we must remain faithful to God’s word

·     In order to be spiritually sound, we need to study God’s word daily

Reflection Question: Have you ever felt like God was dealing harshly with you? Have you ever had the experience of being wounded to the core when you realized the depth of your sin? God’s assessment of us is always accurate and just, and sometimes He allows affliction, trials, in order to correct us. Remember that everything God allows into the believer’s life is filtered through His mercy and love.