TAU

The Psalmist’s Closing Prayer

Psalm 119:169-176

Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word.

Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.

My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.

Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.

Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

There is a great difference between this stanza and the previous one (and even much of the rest of the Psalm, for that matter). The previous one was all proclamation, while this one is all petition. The previous is all singing, while this one all sobbing. The previous is about what the Psalmist has, while this one is all about what he needs.

All humans have needs, of course, such as: food, clothing, shelter, protection, purpose, acceptance, belonging, and others. Philosophers have debated for centuries if one of man’s basic needs is a belief that there is some kind of God. It was the French skeptic Voltaire who made the now famous statement, “If there were no God it would be necessary to invent one.” The whole debate is rather silly, but that very need is obviously true, because every man has a god, whatever he makes it to be.

Well, in this closing stanza, David voices what his greatest needs are. While we hear many people today talk about their needs, which quite often are simply fleshly and self-centered, David writes about something much different. He says, I need the depth of God’s Word, deliverance from adversity, the discipline of God’s commands.

I. I Need the Depth of Your Word (vs. 169, 171-172)

Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word. . . .

My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.

If there is one thing I pray this series has impressed upon our hearts and minds, it is the fact of our deep, desperate, and definitive need for the Word of God. Realizing this for the uncounted time, this portion of David’s prayer involves three principles.

Pleading for Understanding (v. 169)

Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word.

We first saw the word understanding in verse 27, then in verse 34, 73, and elsewhere. Once again, the Hebrew (bîn) means “to discern, to perceive, to observe, to pay attention to, to be intelligent, to be discreet, to understand.” What should strike us here is that this is the first thing David prays for in this closing stanza. Compared to what we have today, David had very little Scripture at his disposal, so he cried for discernment. In sad contrast, we have the complete revelation but don’t even care about discernment.

Our English word discernment comes from the Latin discernere, which is comprised of dis, “apart,” and cernere, “to sift.” The Bible constantly, over and over again, emphasizes this principle, to separate and distinguish between in order to see and understand the difference. In perhaps the pivotal text on discernment in Scripture Paul writes in Ephesians 4:14:

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

A lack of discernment today, an almost total lack of sifting through what is taught, has lead to Christians being tolerant and even embracing all kinds false teaching. From mysticism, to prosperity teaching, to seeker-sensitive church ministry, to user-friendliness, it’s been this fad, that book, and this other movement, one after the other, year after year.

So what does discernment mean? There is only a single principle: what does the Word of God say? It doesn’t matter if some new idea or teaching “sounds good,” but whether or not it’s right according to Scripture. At the very heart of the Reformation was Sola Scriptura, that it, is “Scripture Alone,” that dictates all we believe and practice, not church tradition, human opinion, or anything else. The discerning of truth from error is a recurring theme throughout Scripture:

Give therefore thy servant [Solomon] an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? (I Kings 3:9).

Teach [God’s] people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean (Ezek. 44:23).

[The Bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11).

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12)

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world (I Jn. 4:1, emphasis added).

And the long list goes on (Isa. 8:20; Matt. 7:15-16; 24:23-26; Acts 20:28-31; I Cor. 2:15; II Cor. 11:3, 13-14; I Thes. 5:21-22; I Tim. 6:20-21; Phil. 3:2; Col. 2:8; II Pet. 2:1-2).[1]

Oh, that we would pray with David, give me understanding according to thy word.

Praise of Worship (v. 171)

My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

What is the automatic response to learning truth? We praise God for that truth. And what is an integral part of prayer? Praise. Oh, how thankful we should be for God’s Word! Many Christians today take it for granted. Many preachers do not make it central in their ministry. As David has made clear throughout this Psalm, there is nothing more precious, valuable, and sustaining than God’s Word.

Proclamation of Truth (v. 172)

My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.

Once we discern truth and then praise God for it, there is only one thing left to do: speak it, proclaim it as absolute truth.

Unlike our day, so central was the proclamation of the Word of God to John Calvin, for example, that he ordered that all altars (which for centuries had been the focal point of the mass, a clearly pagan practice) removed from the churches and that a pulpit with a Bible on it be placed in the center of the building.[2] Everything pointed to that alone. (We might also interject that all images and relics were removed from Reformation churches, unlike churches today that still want to hold on to certain pagan practices and the trappings of Rome.) The very center of worship is the preaching of the Word of God.

II. I Need Deliverance from Adversity (vs. 170, 173-175)

Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word. . . .

Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.

Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.

The second thing that David knew that he needed, and could not accomplish on his own, was God’s deliverance from adversity. We also see three emphases here.

The Need for Rescue (v. 170, 173)

Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word. . . .

Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

We have seen two other words that David uses for the idea of deliver. The one in verse 134 (pādâ) speaks of redeeming something by paying a ransom, while the one in verse 154 (gā’al) is more specific in speaking of redeeming a kinsman from difficulty or danger. He now uses still another (nāsal) that pictures the power of one entity overcoming the power of another, as when God “delivered [David] out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul (II Sam. 22:1) and when God said to Jeremiah, “Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD” (Jer. 1:8).

Not only is Satan, his minions, and ungodly men our adversaries, but most often we are our own worst adversary. This is what Paul meant when he wrote that “we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh” (Eph. 2:3a) and what he expounded earlier to the Romans:

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. . . . But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (Rom. 7:18-20, 23).

The flesh that Paul speaks of refers to man’s selfish propensity, his evil inclination, his tendency toward self‑gratification and self-satisfaction. What is the answer to such a dilemma? Where is the victory? Thankfully, Paul goes on to write:

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. . . . But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. . . . But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you (Rom. 8:5, 8-9, 11).

That is our rescue.

The Note of Reveling (vs. 174-175a)

I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.

Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee;

Our rescue through God’s salvation cannot help but bring reveling, so David once again uses the word delight, total pleasure in the Word of God.

I greatly appreciated an illustration offered by one commentator. Think of a popular game show where once a person has won something, they are given a choice to trade the valuable item they now have for another that is hidden behind the curtain. The host explains, “Now, the prize behind the curtain is extremely valuable. Some people have died to possess it, others would give all they have to possess it, and still others would rather die than live without it. What’s your choice?” The contest chooses what’s behind the curtain, only to discover that the prize is just a plain, unadorned Bible.[3] How do you think the contestant would react? More importantly, what if you were the contestant?

Do we truly delight in the Word of God and praise Him for it?

The Necessity of Reliability (v. 175b)

and let thy judgments help me.

Once again, the first two principles lead inevitably to a third. Our rescue and reveling challenge us with the demand for reliability. David pleads for help because he realizes the necessity that he remain faithful and reliable. This leads to one other major need.

III. I Need the Discipline of Your Commands (v. 176)

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

How could one end a Psalm like this one? What could possibly be said to close a psalm of this magnitude and depth? To be honest, when I came to this last verse, I thought it a little odd. At first it just didn’t appear to be an appropriate ending. It seems to be a let down. Such thoughts, however, demonstrate my own lack of perception. Let us note three closing principles.

David’s Profession (v. 176a)

David first admits, I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Flowing out of the need for help in the previous verse, David makes a truly solemn and honest confession, one of the very few, in fact, in the whole Psalm. It is in the very nature of a sheep to wander, and God calls us sheep (I Pet. 2:25). Because we lack discernment, we wander into false teaching and other error. Because we lack discipline, we wander into emotionalism and impetuousness. Because we lack dedication, we wander into selfishness and self-direction. We are, indeed, sheep.

David’s Plea (v. 176b)

Next, David writes, seek thy servant. Based on his profession, this plea is obvious. In essence, he prays, “Please don’t give up on me. I know I wander, but please come after me just as the loving shepherd leaves ‘the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh’ the one that ‘is gone astray’” (Matt. 18:12). Is that what we pray? And how do we come back to our Lord? By seeking His Word. While David didn’t have the completed Scripture, we do. Let us revere them and seek them alone.

David’s Promise (v. 176c)

Finally, David prays, I do not forget thy commandments. Through it all, David writes, even when I stray, I do not forget. That is the character of the true believer. One who can sin without conscience, conviction, or concern, is not a sheep but a ram outside the fold. It is the genuine believer who recognizes sin in his life because God’s commandments are always working there. As commentator Albert Barnes wonderfully puts it:

In all my wandering; with my consciousness of error; with my sense of guilt, I still do feel that I love thy law, thy service, thy commandments. They are the joy of my heart, and I desire to be recalled from all my wanderings, that I may find perfect happiness in thee and in thy service evermore. Such is the earnest wish of every regenerated heart. Far as such an one may have wandered from God, yet he is conscious of true attachment to him and his service; he desires and earnestly prays that he may be “sought out,” brought back, and kept from wandering anymore.

That is the prayer of the true believer.

While I didn’t want this study to end as I was preaching it, it was inevitable. I was actually profoundly struck by how this Psalm ends, however. After all his singing and soaring, it seems that David is now almost sinking into dreariness. But when we really look closely, we see that he simply brings us back down to where we live. Visiting the mountaintop and soaring with the eagle are exciting and useful for a time, but we live in the valley. It is there that the Word of God alone will meet every single need. It is there that the Word of God alone will feed, protect, and shelter. As the wandering sheep will not never find its way alone, we will never find ours without the Shepherd and His Word. As Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (Jn. 10:27). So where do we hear His voice? Not in visions. Not in experiences. Not in new revelations. We hear His voice in His Word.

We close by asking one more time: Dear Christian, do you love the Word of God?

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