Psalms 119:55 NIVUK
[55] In the night, Lord, I remember your name, that I may keep your law. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.119.55.NIVUK
Earlier this year, we were in Canada. We paid a visit to the very scenic Lynn Canyon, above North Vancouver. It was pretty warm in the city. We thought it would be a good place to cool off a bit and relax in the quiet of nature.
As we were leaving the rainforest canyon, one man seemed determined to disturb our quiet.
He was carrying a large portable speaker and booming Taylor Swift songs out from his phone, while his two young daughters stayed close behind.
At first, it rather annoyed me. I like nature. Taylor Swift I can either take or leave (sorry, Swifties!). But any music boomed over the sound of the wind rustling in the trees or the rush of the river seemed to me to be completely out of place.
But suddenly I realised what he was doing. At the entrance of the park, there were signs warning us that there were bears in the area. Bears hate loud noise. So as well as giving his girls some music to listen to, he was doing them – and everyone else around him – a huge favour: he was scaring off the bears.
In life, there are always ‘wild bear’ fears that we all have to face. Like bears in the wild, running from them is a bad idea: they will always catch up with us in the end.
But how we face them makes a huge difference.
Some lose themselves in music.
Others in alcohol or drugs.
Others in sex.
Others in games.
Others in yoga or meditation or pilgrimage.
Others in obsessive fandom.
But the psalmist who wrote Psalm 119 – the longest chapter in the whole Bible – had a very different idea.
He faced the ‘wild bears’ of fear with the Word of God.
I have watched as relatives and friends have faced the vagaries of a fallen existence and used various coping strategies. I have tried some of them myself.
But I can tell you that in my almost half century of existence, only one works all the time: the Word of God.
So if today you pop a pill or down a glass or imbibe some substance to ‘take the edge off’ life, or you throw yourself into binge-watching a TV show, or even if you travel or go for a drive, I want to show you from this Psalm that only God’s Word works.
Nothing else.
In fact, this post and my next two posts are taken from this Psalm – a Psalm with twenty-two stanzas, each of which begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, designed to aid with memorisation. This is an ancient acrostic poem.
Commentators differ over the author. Some say it was David. But the Bible doesn’t say, so we can safely conclude that it isn’t relevant to know who wrote it.
Commentators differ over when it was written. Some say it was during David’s lifetime; others say during the Exile. But the Bible doesn’t say, so we can safely conclude that it isn’t relevant to know when it was written.
What is important is what it says, and how it says it.
The commentator David Guzik shares an amusing anecdote about this Psalm:
‘George Wishart was the Bishop of Edinburgh in the 17th century. Wishart was condemned to death for his faith. But when he was on the scaffold, he made use of a custom that allowed the condemned person to choose one psalm to be sung, and he chose Psalm 119. Before two-thirds of the psalm had been sung, his pardon arrived and his life was spared.’
My hope and prayer is they by meditating on this Psalm, we will find ourselves escaping the gallows built for us by the enemy and will find salvation from the worries and fears that often beset us.
We are looking at verses 49-56 in this meditation: verses that begin with the Hebrew letter ‘zayin’, which is the eighth letter of their alphabet and the eighth section of this Psalm. The Hebrew word ‘zayin’ also means ‘weapon’, and the thoughts of this stanza are indeed a useful weapon against worry and despair.
Let’s start by first looking at what is going wrong for the Psalmist, and examine The Night.
I occasionally suffer from back pain. It isn’t too bad – one dose of Ibuprofen usually does the trick. Ibuprofen is anti-inflammatory. It brings down swelling and reduces fever. My back pain is normally caused by a swollen disk. I take the anti-inflammatory. It brings down the swelling. After an hour, I’m right as rain.
But I use Ibuprofen for a bunch of other things too. It works well for headaches – especially migraines. It works well for colds. It takes down fever. And, of course, if I have swelling elsewhere, it works on it too. It is a generally useful medicine.
This Psalm has the same effect.
No-one really knows why it was written. The Psalmist mentions that he is suffering:
Psalms 119:49-50 NIVUK
[49] Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. [50] My comfort in my suffering is this: your promise preserves my life.
But we don’t know what that suffering is. It’s never described in detail.
And I think that’s a good thing.
Let me take you back to Ibuprofen for a second. If someone wrote on its box that it was good for back pain, would you use it to shift a cold? I doubt it. You would think that it worked well for muscle and joint issues, but it would never cross your mind that it could also help cure a cold. So you wouldn’t take it. And you would miss out on feeling better.
It’s the same in this Psalm. If it said that it had been written about bereavement or loss in battle or getting old, you would pigeon-hole this Psalm and not use it for anything else.
But this Psalm is generally useful to all suffering. That’s why it helps.
He is, however, not just suffering. He was also enduring mockery:
Psalms 119:51 NIVUK
[51] The arrogant mock me unmercifully, but I do not turn from your law. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.119.51.NIVUK
This is a lot more than just those who make fun of things because they don’t understand them, or because they understand them but think they are ridiculous.
No, this is more like this:
Job 30:1, 9-11 NIVUK
[1] ‘But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
[9] ‘And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. [10] They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. [11] Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence. https://bible.com/bible/113/job.30.1-11.NIVUK
Psalms 69:10-12 NIVUK
[10] When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn; [11] when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me. [12] Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.69.10-12.NIVUK
Lamentations 3:61-63 NIVUK
[61] Lord, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me – [62] what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long. [63] Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs.
This is those who are not just making fun of someone for sport – which is bad enough – but are mocking someone who is already suffering instead of showing them care and compassion.
The ultimate expression of this hard-hearted callousness is here:
Matthew 27:39-44 NIVUK
[39] Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads [40] and saying, ‘You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!’ [41] In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. [42] ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. [43] He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, “I am the Son of God.” ’ [44] In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
This is, quite frankly, awful.
Anyone who has experienced bullying in life will know exactly what this feels like. It is horrible.
But this Psalm offers a huge encouragement to those who string from the salt-in-the-wound of this horrible depiction of the hardness of the human heart:
You are not alone.
The Psalmist felt it too.
And even more importantly, so did Jesus.
And He will not allow it to go unpunished:
Matthew 25:40 NIVUK
[40] ‘The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
There is also a third aspect to this darkness, which is hinted at rather than clearly stated: the Psalmist is travelling:
Psalms 119:54 NIVUK
[54] Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.119.54.NIVUK
Whether this is part of his suffering or an effect of it, what we see is that the Psalmist is on the road, often tired and constantly on the move. If he was using the traveller’s inns, these were not exactly comfortable four of five star hotels. These would be filled with all kinds of dubious characters, and their animals. They would be dangerous.
So this Psalmist is absolutely experiencing the darkness of human experience. Of that there is no doubt.
But there us one thing that brings him through it all: The Recall.
Psalms 119:52 NIVUK
[52] I remember, Lord, your ancient laws, and I find comfort in them. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.119.52.NIVUK
Now, we might find this a little unusual.
After all, if we were settling down our children at bed time, which of us would use a story book, and which would use the latest edition of Hansard, or a copy of our country's Penal Code?
Right?
Yet the Psalmist finds comfort in the law.
How is that?
Well, we need to understand that at the time when most of the Psalms were written, all that existed of the Bible we now have was the Pentateuch – the five books of the Law. To these the books of the Prophets and the Wisdom books, which apply the law to contemporary situations, and History, which show clearly what happens to those who obey or disobey the Law, were later added. It’s quite possible that many of the promises we hold dear had not yet even been recorded by the time this Psalm was written.
Secondly, we have to understand that the books of the Law don’t just contain the law. They also include the context in which the law was given and the story of how Israel was created as a nation. So there you have Adam and Eve, the Patriarchs, the Exodus, among many other foundational events, and how God showed Himself through them.
Thirdly, it is in these books that the nation of Israel receives its identity as the race chosen by God – a status that afforded them great dignity and self-respect, even if it wasn’t something they received because they deserved it.
And fourthly – a reason often neglected nowadays – the law brought comfort because it was like a fence that kept God’s people safe from the temptations and traumas around them. Obey it, and they would find comfort and peace. Disobey it, and they would find discomfort and restlessness.
So actually, we can now understand why remembering the Law would bring comfort in the midst of trouble. It reminded the Psalmist of his roots, his identity, his God and His character.
We now have much more Scripture than the Psalmist had. We have the Prophets, and, more importantly, the New Testament.
But do we take the time to find comfort in them?
What will this do for us?
The Psalmist moves on from the night and the recall to The Morning. Here we see four interesting effects of recalling the Word of God in hard times:
Psalms 119:52-56 NIVUK
[52] I remember, Lord, your ancient laws, and I find comfort in them. [53] Indignation grips me because of the wicked, who have forsaken your law. [54] Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge. [55] In the night, Lord, I remember your name, that I may keep your law. [56] This has been my practice: I obey your precepts. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.119.52-56.NIVUK
The first of these is comfort, as we saw earlier. Interestingly, the Hebrew word is also rooted in repentance – in having sin exposed by the law and turning from it. This brings comfort by resolving issues in our relationship with God and easing the pangs of our guilty conscience.
I once watched a farming documentary where the farmer had bought some goats and needed them to get used to a new enclosure. To stop them from escaping, he installed an electric fence. Goats are great escape artists, so each of these young goats took their chances and tried to escape through the fence. Every budding escapee received a mild electric shock, which gave them a fright. Eventually they learned that the fence was not their friend and settled in the middle of the enclosure, any plans of escape in tatters.
Repentance brings us comfort in the same way. We receive the shock of realising that we are headed in a wrong direction, we turn away, and eventually find comfort and safety in obedience to God's law.
The second is indignation. This is a righteous rage towards the breaking of God’s law. The Psalmist doesn’t explain what it is that brings about this rage. Most likely it is because of the effect this sin has on God’s Name and His glory on earth. It could also be the effect it has on encouraging others to break God’s law, as Jesus said:
Luke 17:1-2 NIVUK
[1] Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. [2] It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.
There are some similarities to the rage Jesus felt when He overturned the tables in the Temple (John 2:13-17).
As well as comfort and indignation, we also see singing. Now, in our culture, this might seem a little odd. After all, when was the last time someone had a hit song in the charts that was drawn from our nation's Penal Code?
However, in a culture where many people were not well educated and could not read, oral methods of communication dominated. Songs were – and still are – a very effective musical aid that enabled people to learn and remember right from wrong.
So it isn’t a surprise that this man, in the middle of his problems, is reminding himself of the God’s law in song.
The last of these four effects is obedience.
During the night, when life is threatening and oppressive, the psalmist remembers who God is – His identity – and uses this as an impetus and a prompt to obedience.
Here we see the exact polar opposite to where our culture is right now. We are utterly obsessed with identity – to the point where people are prepared to destroy parts of their body to fit what they feel emotionally is their identity.
And then we wonder why we have a growing number of broken people who have made terrible, life-altering decisions while they were young and find no way to reverse them.
Maybe if we instead obsessed over God’s identity – who He is – and found ourselves in Him, then we would be much safer and better off.
It’s as if we have set our compass to find the north pole, but find ourselves confused and driven off course by the magnetic pull of a wholly hostile culture.
We need to set our course by the North Star of who God is. Then we will not lose ourselves.
This is what has caused the psalmist to make obedience to God his constant habit.
John Stott tells the amusing, but at the same time, sad – tale of a preacher who had no regard for the Old Testament, but also a habit of twisting verses to say what he wanted them to say.
This man set out to preach on a verse where Jesus tells the people of the importance of loving God and our neighbours, which, in the King James version of the Bible, reads as follows:
Matthew 22:40 KJV
[40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.22.40.KJV
This preacher decided only to preach on part of the verse – ‘hang all the law and the prophets’.
What a terrible waste!
The reality is that we can find great strength and resilience from the stories in the Old Testament, and specifically the Law. The moral teaching of the whole Bible, interpreted into our modern world, can help us stay safe and keep us from danger. It is an act of sheer folly to set them aside as if they aren’t relevant anymore.
That’s why Paul teaches:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIVUK
[16] All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, [17] so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
That doesn’t just mean the Promises of God that we can pluck at random on a piece of paper from a jar, or from memories from Sunday School. It means what it says – ‘all Scripture’.
Our job is not to set the difficult and inconvenient parts of the Bible aside and jump to the nice bits. No, our job is to read the Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom on how to apply it to our lives.
This Psalm presented the psalmist as being in an unknown darkness – and it would be wrong to speculate on what that darkness was, since the Bible doesn’t tell us. The Psalmist recalls God’s Laws from the Bible, particularly in song, and this leads him towards the dawn when his darkness will disappear.
We would do very well to follow his example.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, forgive me for setting aside the parts of You Word that I find difficult. Help me to realise that are God-breathed. Guide me to where I can find guidance and strength in them to make it through my dark night of the soul. Amen.
Questions
1. Why is it a good thing that we don’t know what it was that caused the psalmist to suffer?
2. Why might the part of the Bible that he recalled be surprising to us?
3. What benefits does this part of the Bible bring to us?
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