Lamedh
February 1, 2012
Oak Park Baptist Church – Wednesday Bible Study Series
Psalm 119:89-96 (ESV) – 12 of 22
Lamedh – 12th letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
89Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
The word used here by the psalmist for “Forever” is the Hebrew masculine noun Oh-lawm which means unending or perpetual or everlasting… in short the psalmist is saying that there is NO end to God’s Word… it is EVERLASTING…it is UNENDING…
But he goes further with that perspective… he says “…Your word is FIRMLY FIXED…” now here when he uses those 2 terms it is actually ONE term in the Hebrew. It is the Hebrew naw-tsab which means stationary, fixed or established with a sense of permanence… not any sense of movement!
“Your word is ESTABLISHED…FIXED… it’s un-moving & unchanging…” Basically the psalmist was saying that God’s Word was infallible and inerrant… unchanging and permanent!
Fundamentally the psalmist understood that in this life there are many things that will fail, fall and disappoint him… but he knew in his heart and he fully trusted that God’s word was NOT one of THOSE things! Rather he proclaims here that God’s word was fully trustworthy and permanently fixed within the heavens and so…it was trustworthy for ALL of eternity!
Where do YOU stand on God’s word? Is it merely something that you run to in the difficult times? Is it merely some book of stories that you can rely on to get advice from time to time… OR do you consider Scripture as the very word of God as the Psalmist does! Is it only something for the difficult times or some book of stories OR is it the Word of God in which we can all place our trust to live and find salvation through its message.
90Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
This verse is one of 2 or 3 verses in the entire chapter that does not give a reference to the Word of God… instead the psalmist switches gears and instead of proclaiming the WORD of God, he proclaims his faith and trust in the FAITHFULNESS of God! As we look at this verse we can see that he essentially says the same thing about God’s faithfulness that he had proclaimed in v.89 about God’s Word!
“Your faithfulness ENDURES…” The Hebrew word used here means the same as at the end of this verse where the psalmist says that God’s faithfulness STANDS… in other words it is established and will remain! God’s faithfulness is something we do NOT have to worry about… it is ALWAYS going to be there for us!
The psalmist also comforts those who are reading by ensuring that this faithfulness that is upon them… is a faithfulness that will endure the test of time… it is a faithfulness that ALL generations will be able to experience. God’s faithfulness is for those in the present, but likewise it is meant for those to come as well… it is everlasting to everlasting, knowing NO boundaries!
And because it is established by God for ALL generations it is going to stand firm through the course of time… it endures and stands fast and is established among the people.
How often do we find ourselves questioning the integrity of God and His faithfulness? I know I do… I am ashamed to admit it but there are times I don’t trust Him, but the reason for that is that I don’t have faith in Him… I simply cannot SEE what He is doing and because of my lack of spiritual sight, I cannot trust Him! But this tells us that God’s faithfulness will ENDURE for all generations… it will never fail us… it will always be there for us! So with this being known… why would we ever doubt him?
Here the psalmist also speaks to the sovereignty of God in the creation process as well. He states the God has established or fixed the earth and it stands. We have been given dominion over all the earth as per God’s instruction, but we have not been given the ability to determine Earth’s fate. God has set it in motion and it is only God whom can destroy it.
We may be able to make it a terrible place… sin does that! Sin leads to self centeredness and self centeredness leads to selfishness and selfishness leads to NOT caring about others or other things…
There are those in our world who are only concerned about making money and the do things that are harmful to this planet, and they should be taken to task for their selfishness, but there is NO way humanity can destroy what God has created… we dirty it and mangle it and it is NOT what God desires, but we can never destroy it!
God has established the earth and it STANDs is what the psalmist tells us… so don’t believe all the gloom and doom you hear on TV and radio and on the internet… we can never destroy what God has made!
91By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.
The psalmist speaks of God’s Word, God’s faithfulness and the earth all being set forth by God… ‘by His appointment then STAND…’ They are immovable by humanity… they are set and fixed by God! But notice what the psalmist says here…
“For all things are your servants” meaning that God has placed dominion of His creation in our hands and we must take that seriously. If God has blessed it, we must respect and honor it… we have been doing a terrible job on this…
God’s Word is fixed and unchangeable, but humanity has done its best to pervert and twist His word into something that fits their own agenda. But we do have faithful witnesses who have been diligent to keep God’s Word true and by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit they continue to do so…
God’s faithfulness is fixed, unmovable and everlasting… but humanity uses the faithfulness and graciousness of God as a license to do what they want to do… God’s faithfulness is now laughed at by much of the world because they have come to believe that it is THEM that accomplishes this or that… they have ceased to believe that God’s faithfulness is at work in this world.
Scripture reveals to us that the very particles of the universe are held together by the hand of God and so it is only because of God’s faithfulness that the universe holds together from day to day… but we have ruled God out of order and have elevated ourselves to the point of ruler of our own destiny!
But there is a remnant who believe in the faithfulness of God, and the psalmist was part of this remnant and today YOU are part of this remnant if you are willing to accept Christ as Savior and become submissive to His calling… God is faithful and will deliver on His promises.
92If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
Here the psalmist once again is proclaiming the faithfulness of God’s promise to His people. God gave His word for a guide to living and a guide to serving Him. The psalmist recognized God’s gift of His word as being THE guide for his life and that without God’s faithful leadership, SURELY he would have perished because of his own foolish decisions.
How often do we find ourselves turning to God in our prayer time and THANKING Him for getting us out of a jam? How often do we find ourselves IN a jam when we try to begin to do things our own way? God’s Word is a ‘roadmap’ of sorts for the Christian traveler who seeks to be more like God and be more obedient TO God.
This is why we find the psalmist making this brash statement in our next verse…
93I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.
“I will NEVER forget Your precepts!” That is a pretty bold statement on behalf of the psalmist. NEVER is a such a very long time and rarely can we live up to making a claim to NEVER or to ALWAYS do something or avoid something.
But here the psalmist is NOT relying on his own power for his faithfulness to God, but on the very Word of God itself… to sustain Him and keep him pointed TO the Word of God. This is because the psalmist knows that God’s word is the bringer and giver of life, and he wants others to know that as well…
94I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.
The phrase used here is a very dangerous phrase for one to make to God. To say to God, “I am Yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts…” When one tells God, “I AM YOURS” they give up sovereignty over their own lives and turn over the Lordship of their heart to God himself.
I am Yours… is a declarative statement by the psalmist relating the psalmists desire to be saved and delivered by God. The psalmist wanted to give some outward indication of his surrender to Christ and by proclaiming this in this manner, he would now be accountable for his actions. I am yours simply means … this life is NO longer mine but is now yours!
This phrase is NOT simply referring to salvation and the fact that He is our Savior… even though that would be a true statement, but it also infers the attitude about those who are being saved… are they also making Christ the Lord of their lives? “I am yours” is an effort to be closer to God and know Him more intimately than others. It is a statement of full and total surrender to God.
The psalmist relays his desire in this verse… SAVE ME… is what he seeks, but He also reveals the importance of God’s word about his salvation. The psalmist desires salvation and he has ventured to the place he knows salvation lies… to the Word of God.
In His day the psalmist would have known God’s Word as the Law and the rituals of God’s people. Today we can look to this verse for a slightly different perspective… we can find salvation by seeking God’s precepts in His Law!
The book of Romans says that salvation is NOT found in what we do, but it is found only in faith in Christ Jesus. Salvation only comes thru a personal relationship with Jesus Christ… no amount of keeping the law will save us! So seek His precepts and accept Christ as Savior.
95The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.
In Psalm 23 David writes, “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies” Just like the psalmist WE also have the wicked lying in wait for us… the Enemy seeks to destroy and kill us! This is a continual thing because we are living in a broken and fallen world. So, there are going to be people that want to hurt you… but I pray that we can be like the psalmist and consider the testimonies and promises of God toward you!
What are those testimonies? Well God has promised to never leave us NOR forsake us! God has promised that He would provide us with the power we need to make it through each day.
So we may have world coming to our door seeking our destruction but God is going to be there to protect and guide us thru difficulties. The psalmist considers what God has promised in His word, and does not fret over any part
96I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.
When we look at this particular verse we need to understand that the psalmist is speaking about the human perspective in the early portion of this verse. He says, “I have seen a limit to all perfection…” Well we all know that there is nothing perfect in this world, but there are many things we may FEEL like they are perfect…
Some of us look back to that 1st date with our spouse and it MAY have been the MOST perfect date ever… but in reality we know that is not true, even though we may feel that way about it…
Have you ever saw a piece of furniture… or a car… or a particular dress or shirt… and you thought “Oh that is perfect for what I need… that is perfect for what I want…” but before too long, what we believed to be perfect, is tossed onto the scrapheap of our lives and thrown aside or given away…
Perfection from a human perspective will always have severe limitations and the psalmist saw this… He saw things he cared for and desired and may have believed them to be perfect for his life, but he has come to the conclusion that there are severe limitations to humanity’s perfection.
On the other hand… the psalmist proclaims BUT GOD your word… your testimonies… your commandments are EXTREMELY BROAD. When looking at the Hebrew for this phrase… we can see it is the Hebrew word meh-ode which is used within Hebrew idioms to describe something so grand that it is impossible to fathom… it ‘exceeds’ anything we can imagine is what the psalmist is saying…
They are wider than we can ever imagine, they are deeper than we can imagine, they are higher than we can imagine, they are FAR MORE than we can EVER imagine! Our perfection has its limits but God’s Word is a perfection that is limitless…that knows NO bounds…
Where are we in our faith in God’s word… and how it can sustain us in all our life’s journey? The psalmist cast his lot with God and God’s word and knew that God would sustain and keep him! Let us cast our lot with God’s Word and know that God is going to be true to His promises! Let’s pray...
