THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

CXIX: Appreciating And Applying Scripture For Every Spiritual Need, Psalm 119

C. Gimel - The Use Of Scripture In Facing Verbal Attacks

(Psalm 119:17-24)

I. Introduction

A. Psalm 119 is all about the profitable use of God's written Scriptures, with the psalm being formed as an acrostic where each section contains a Hebrew letter that begins each of the eight verses in that section.

B. Section (Gimel) in Psalm 119:17-24 reveals the great value and use of Scripture in facing verbal attacks, so we view the section for insight and edification in this matter (as follows):

II. The Use Of Scripture In Facing Verbal Attacks, Psalm 119:17-24.

A. The verse numbering system in the Hebrew text matches that of the English Bible (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1080), so we stay with the English Bible's numbering system for this lesson.

B. We thus translate Psalm 119:17-24 (as follows):

1. "Grant unto Your servant that I may live, and I will keep Your Word," Psalm 119:17.

2. "Uncover my eyes and I will see extraordinary things in Your Law," Psalm 119:18.

3. "I myself (emph. pron.) am a sojourner on earth; do not conceal Your commands from me," Psalm 119:19.

4. "My life principle is consumed with longing for Your applied ruling of the Word all of the time!" v. 20.

5. "You have rebuked the arrogant, who are cursed, who wander away from Your commandments," v. 21.

6. "Roll off from me scorn and contempt, because I observe Your statutes," Psalm 110:22.

7. "Yea, though princes convene and speak among themselves [to confront] me scornfully, Your servant muses in Your decrees [opposite their effort]," Psalm 119:23.

8. "Yea, Your testimonies are my objects of delight, the men of my counsel! [in opposition to the opposing counselors]," Psalm 119:24.

C. We consider significant observations regarding this psalm (as follows):

1. In Psalm 119:17-20, the psalmist expresses his great need for the Word of God: (a) he is very focused on keeping God's Word (v. 17), (b) so as God uncovers his spiritual dullness, he learns extraordinary things from His Word (v. 18), things the psalmist needs since he feels insecure and alone like a sojourner without them (v. 19) so that his entire inner man, emotions, spirit and mind, need that Word (v. 20).

2. The reason for the psalmist's intense need of Scripture is his challenge of facing strong verbal attacks, and he explains how Scripture equips him to handle them in Psalm 119:21-24: (a) the psalmist has come under concerted verbal attack by powerful foes (v. 23a) where (i) princes have convened in an official council to harm him, (ii) unitedly and thus formidably opposing the psalmist with scorn and slander, v. 23b. (b) Yet, the Scripture has been joyfully shown to be sufficient in countering the attack, v. 21-22, 23b-24: (i) in the attack itself, the psalmist muses on the Scripture passages that counter the verbal attack, v. 23b. (ii) The Scriptures have then countered the attack and neutralized its effect as follows: (+) Scripture has caused the verbal abuse to roll off the psalmist without penetrating his inner man so as to hurt him emotionally, spiritually and mentally, v. 22. (+) Scripture has also rebuked his attackers, revealing they have wandered away from God's Word to turn to evil, v. 21. (iii) Consequently, the psalmist has come to view Scripture as the object of his delight (v. 24), for God's Word in this severe trial has become the psalmist's own group of counsellors that offest the evil counsellors who had convened against him verbally to attack him! (v. 24)

Lesson: Through using Scripture in the trial of formidable verbal attacks by powerful, evil foes who had convened to take counsel to oppose him, the psalmist learned to focus on Scripture's clarifications of reality that countered his foes' destructive verbal assaults and their effects as if Scripture itself was a group of supportive counsellors. The psalmist thus delighted in staying focused on Scripture for his good. [Incidentally, Christ is the Supernatural Counselor of Isaiah 9:6 and the Word of God personified in Revelation 19:11-16, so as we immerse our minds in Scripture, He supplies His supernatural counsel that no party, single or group of any size or status, can counter.

Application: (1) May we make getting to know Scripture a chief goal in life that we might offset evil, abusive verbal attacks. (2) May we ask God to uncover priceless truths in His Word that we might see extraordinary things there that are immeasurably valuable toward protecting us from harmful verbal assaults. (3) May we value Scripture's advice as if it was a host of valuable counselors that we might thrive in the inner man amid serious verbal attacks!