Sermon Central
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Resh - Psalm 119:153-160 Series
Contributed by Bobby Stults on Apr 4, 2012 (message contributor)
Summary: The psalmist knew God's word, loved God's word and it hurt his heart when he saw those who ignored God's Word. As believers today, we stand in the same path... we should know His word, we should love His world and it should hurt our heart when we see thos
Resh
April 4, 2012
Oak Park Baptist Church – Wed Bible Study Series
Psalm 119:153-160 (HCSB) – 20 of 22
Resh – 20th letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
Read/show ALL verses b4 verse by verse teaching…
[HCSB]
153Consider my affliction and rescue me, for I have not forgotten Your instruction.
154Defend my cause and redeem me; give me life as You promised.
155Salvation is far from the wicked because they do not seek Your statutes.
156Your compassions are many, LORD; give me life according to Your judgments.
157My persecutors and foes are many. I have not turned from Your decrees.
158I have seen the disloyal and feel disgust because they do not keep Your word.
159Consider how I love Your precepts; LORD, give me life according to Your faithful love.
160The entirety of Your word is truth, and all Your righteous judgments endure forever.
[HCSB]
153Consider my affliction and rescue me, for I have not forgotten Your instruction. 154Defend my cause and redeem me; give me life as You promised.
[NLT]
153Look upon my suffering and rescue me, for I have not forgotten your instructions. 154Argue my case; take my side! Protect my life as you promised.
The first thing we see in this verse is that the psalmist is crying out here for God’s attention… he wants to know that God acknowledges his plight. This is a normal human reaction to suffering…
When we suffer, we want others to know what we have been thru… however macabre it may sound, we want to tell someone OR we want to show someone just what we have been thru…
Spiritually it is the same with God; we want God to know our plight. Of course, we also know that this is what God wants us to do…
It is His desire for us to come to Him with all our cares and anxieties because He loves us and cares for us… but it is NOT like we are informing Him of something He is unaware of!
You see… when we go to God and share our heart and share our affliction, it is NOT for God’s sake we do this… but it is for our own! We are comforted when we go to Him… when we sense His presence and attention to our need. We seek His comfort and deliverance, but more than anything we seek His face and presence in our lives!
But let’s look at another part of this prayer by the psalmist, look with me at the end of v.153 and all of v.154 where the psalmist writes:
[NLT]
“…rescue me, for I have not forgotten your instructions 154Argue my case; take my side! Protect my life as you promised…”
When looking at this part of the prayer from the psalmist one could consider him to be presumptuous or even demanding in respect to God.
One could almost interpret this statement from him as the psalmist having the belief that he is ‘owed’ a blessing from God because of his obedience… that he had ‘earned’ God’s blessing.
This type of attitude was warned against as sinful in the Book of Job, and it is the WRONG way to approach the blessing/obedience situation.
However, one can also see what the psalmist is saying from an entirely OTHER perspective and that would be that the psalmist is NOT being presumptuous or demanding in respect to God’s blessing…
It could be that that he was NOT of the mindset that God actually ‘owed’ him anything, but RATHER that he had been fully compliant and submissive to God’s Law and that he had full faith that God would be pleased with that obedience and would bless those who honored Him in obedience…
So when we look at this verse I believe we must SEE that this is NOT the psalmist presuming anything upon God, but that it is his expression of full faith and trust in God to fulfill His promises… this is a leap of faith on his part!
We know this because we know God has promised in His word that He will bless those who submit and serve Him. But what we must understand is that this ‘blessing’ is NOT something that can ever be earned, but that it is simply that… a blessing bestowed by God upon us at HIS pleasure!
Today we know that Jesus is our ‘advocate’… the One who stands in defense of us in the spiritual courtroom! He is our defender and protector… this is His promise!
[HCSB] 155Salvation is far from the wicked because they do not seek Your statutes.
[NLT] 155The wicked are far from rescue, for they do not bother with your decrees.
Here is, 1. Here the psalmist gives us an accurate description of wicked men. NOT only do they not do God’s Law, but they are fully satisfied in life and they do not seek them either!
