Scriptural Delight 21 - Psalm 119:145-152

QOPH

¹⁴⁵ I call with all my heart; answer me, O LORD, and I will obey your decrees. ¹⁴⁶ I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes. ¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word. ¹⁴⁸ My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises. ¹⁴⁹ Hear my voice in accordance with your love; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your laws. ¹⁵⁰ Those who devise wicked schemes are near, but they are far from your law. ¹⁵¹ Yet you are near, O LORD, and all your commands are true. ¹⁵² Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever.

Here the Psalmist starts this section with two impassioned calls or loud cries!  These are not necessarily loud audible cries but rather the inner desires of the heart and a bending of the will calling out to God.  The first time is for God to hear him! His whole begin - body, mind and soul - are crying out go God, pleading with Him with full mental, emotional and spiritual energy.  These are impassioned pleas.  And the Psalmists knows that God will hear him, particularly if he is listening out for the Lord to speak, hence the being obedient to the decrees of Almighty God!  Our Psalmist, David, is determined to live a life that is pleasing to God.  To life a life that is worthy of being called God's servant.

Not only was it impassioned prayer, but also it was prayer borne out of determination.  He knows his need to be rescued, so he cries out to the one who can save him - Almighty God.  As a result of being saved by God, the Psalmist pledges to be obedient to God the rescuer.  The Psalmist promises to follow God's instructions and statutes in full obedience. Now for the third time, the Psalmist mentions that he has cried, pleaded, begged passionately for God.  The Psalmist's prayers are frequent, intense and strong. So strong are his desires are that the moment he awakes, he is in prayer.  A key element of his prayers is hope.  Here the Psalmist David has put his hope in God and God's word.  God is faithful, as the Psalmist has said throughout, and God's words are also faithful and true - they can be relied upon to encourage and give hope.  So intense is his prayer life, that not only is he up early in the morning, but late at night he can be found to be mediating on the promises that God has made!  The Psalmist's prayers were all day long! From before dawn till after dusk!  He prayed to and worshipped His God all day and with great fervour and eagerness! He knows God will hear his voice, his pleadings as he maintains an attitude of hope, worship and adoration.

And to reaffirm that, he knows that God is a great God of love and a God of great love!  Here in verse 149, it's an audible prayer, not through any merit of his own, but of the merits of God! This God is loving, kind and preserver! This God fulfils the promises He makes! He gives strength in order to overcome the burdens faced by the Psalmist! When the Psalmist is faced with death, the God he serves, gives more life! WOW!  The Psalmist doesn't concentrate on himself or his own voice, but rather on this God and His voice, particularly His voice as seen in the laws.

He will be rescued before his enemies can kill him.  These wicked people are the opposite of the Psalmist. Where the Psalmist is close to God, listening to God with open obedience and hoping in God's promises, the scheming enemies are far away from God, from God's laws even though they are near to the Psalmist. His enemies are only after mischief and troublemaking, not for the things of God!

Yet as near as his enemies are, the Psalmist knows that God is even closer! His God is watching over him, to preserve, love and watch over.  God's commandments are true, worthy of obedience and trustworthy. God is near, He is true and the Psalmist is safe. This loving and living God sees His servants under oppression and burdened and draws even closer to them to give them aid, assistance, comfort and encouragement.  No wonder the Psalmist is keen to be obedient to his Worthy God!

In verse 152, we get the idea that the Psalmist, David, is now an old man when writing this.  Long ago in his youth, he learnt God's word and the stories, commandments, testimonies of God and those who followed God.  The Psalmist built upon this rock, this established base and is seeking earnestly to live a life of utter obedience to this living God - a living God who does not and cannot change! WOW!!

This is an encouragement to us! How is our prayer life? Is it only on Sundays during church that we seek to connect with God?  This God we pray to, seek to worship and obey, is worthy of our attention all day, every day!  Are you burdened with something and feeling weighed down? Then ask and implore your God to take your burden, give you extra strength and vitality! He is true! He has promised! He will do it, if you allow Him to.  Pray in the morning and the evening! Worship Him with a life of obedience to Him!  Pray with your Bible open and let Him speak to you through it.  The Bible is trustworthy and so is the God who gave it!

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