A Daily Study of Psalm 119 (NKJV)
Meditations and Prayers Relating to the Law of God
“Psalms 119 is an acrostic to end all acrostics! There are twenty-two strophes (paragraphs), corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the strophes has eight lines (verses), and every one of the lines in each strophe begins with the appropriate Hebrew letter marking that stanza.” – Coffman(1)
Every paragraph contains these words pertaining to God’s Laws:
Law of the Lord or Your Word– Body of prophetic, legal and moral directives (Mosaic Law)
Testimonies – Witness (God never asks us to believe anything that He does not give us evidence (testimony) for.)
Precepts – Command or order respecting moral conduct
Statutes – Something prescribed, prescribed task
Commandments – order by authorities
Judgements – Act of deciding a case, ordinance
PSALM 119:121-128 W Ayin (hebrew letter)
“I have done justice and righteousness; Do not leave me to my oppressors. Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the proud oppress me. My eyes fail from seeking Your salvation And Your righteous word. Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy, And teach me Your statutes. I am Your servant; Give me understanding, That I may know Your testimonies. It is time for You to act, O LORD, For they have regarded Your law as void. Therefore I love Your commandments More than gold, yes, than fine gold! Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right; I hate every false way.”
In your own Bible:
Hi-lite the “Law” words from the list above.
Hi-lite (in another color) the “I” phrases:
- :119 “I have done justice and righteousness”
- :125 “I am Your servant”
- :127 “I love Your commandments”
- :128 “I hate every false way”
What does he ask of the Lord? Underline
- :121 “Do not leave me to my oppressors”
- :122 “Do not let the proud oppress me”
- :124 “Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy”
“According to Your mercy” indicates great humility. Begging for mercy takes a humble and contrite heart. We are prone to do it ourselves and be self-sufficient, but God wants us to lean on Him and without His mercy, we can never reach heaven.
- :125 “Give me understanding”
“The word “surety” in verse 122 means to mix or intermingle interests; to unite ourselves with others so that their interests come to be our own; and hence, to take one under our protection, to become answerable for, to be a surety for: as, when one endorses a note for another, he mingles his own interest, reputation, and means with his. So Christ becomes the security or surety of his people, (Heb. 7:22). The prayer here is, that God would, so to speak, mix or mingle his cause and that of the psalmist together, and that he would then protect the common cause as his own; or, that he would become a “pledge” or “surety” for the safety of the psalmist. This now, through the Mediator, we have a right to ask at the hand of God; and when God makes our cause his own, we must be safe.”
Barnes, Albert. “Commentary on Psalms 119”. “Barnes’ Notes on the Whole Bible”. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/psalms-119.html. 1870
Circle the connecting word “and” and Underline the two things that are connected.
- :123 “and” – salvation and righteous word
- :124 “and” – Deal with Your servant and teach me
Notice the word “therefore” (find out what it is there for) – Put a box around it in these passages. Both refer back to the phrase “they have regarded Your law as void” (connect these phrases)
- :127 “therefore”
- :128 “therefore”
The proud oppressors (vs 121 & 122) regard God’s law as void, but the psalmist says he regards it as “fine gold” (:127) and “right” (:128). Do you treasure God’s Word? Is it in your thoughts throughout the day? Have you made it a daily habit to listen to God through His word?