Psalm 119 - Nun
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Psalm 119:105-112
The Psalmist has emphasized the importance of God’s Word throughout this Psalm.
The Psalmist has been attacked, and is hungry for the Lord’s help during this trial.
This 14th section of this great Psalm is no exception.
The truth is, we need help from the Lord to live this life the way we ought to live.
We can see three indispensable prayers that we can pray to keep our hearts in tune with God.
The Psalmist was going through the trial of his life!
He needed him more than ever.
But even when we are not going through a trial, we need God’s help and power more than we ever know!
We ought to continually pray these prayers realizing that we never know when we are going to need Him.
First indispensable prayer that we need to pray is...
I. Show Me
I. Show Me
Who better to show me about this life living than the author and finisher of the race I am running!
Rather than blindly going along this trail, we need to ask the Lord to Show me...
A. The Way to Go
A. The Way to Go
105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.
The Word of God contains everything we need for this life!
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
It is our instruction manual.
It’s not written with a table of contents, like an instruction manual mostly, I believe, because God knows for it to be effective we must study it!
Just like when we use a flashlight to light our path in a dark forest, we want to see what we are stepping on next, and what is ahead of us, which way to turn.
We need the Word of God to help us know which step to take next, and which path to take down the way.
We need help in knowing which way to go, but also what we ought to do when we get there, so we need to pray to show me...
B. The Works to Do
B. The Works to Do
106 I have sworn, and I will perform it, That I will keep thy righteous judgments.
The psalmist has over an over again declared that He will keep God’s Word.
Psalm 119:8 (KJV)
8 I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.
Psalm 119:32 (KJV)
32 I will run the way of thy commandments, When thou shalt enlarge my heart.
Psalm 119:33 (KJV)
33 HE. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; And I shall keep it unto the end.
Psalm 119:57 (KJV)
57 CHETH. Thou art my portion, O Lord: I have said that I would keep thy words.
Psalm 119:88 (KJV)
88 Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
And more, the psalmist has committed—sworn to perform God’s Word.
Our prayer ought to be not only where should I go next, but “What would you have me to do next?”
Cleaning a room with children can be challenge, you have to tell them each step to take and what specifically to do.
We are no more than God’s children, however we are often too prideful to admit we need His direction.
The psalmist said, I will perform it, I will keep thy righteous judgments.
May we have that tenacity to follow through that which we ought to do!
As the the Psalmist in essence prayed, so ought we to pray that God would Show Me...
But I don’t know about you, but many times once I have seen what God wants me to do next, it feels far too difficult for me to manage!
So the Second indispensible prayer we can pray is...
II. Enable Me
II. Enable Me
107 I am afflicted very much: Quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word.
108 Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, And teach me thy judgments.
109 My soul is continually in my hand: Yet do I not forget thy law.
Many of the things God calls us to do, we just are not able to do without His enablement!
There are many more specific things that we need God’s enablement to do, but I see three specific things in this Psalm.
They are signaled by three things the Psalmist asks God to do:
Quicken, Accept and Teach
The first one, the psalmist is asking God to enable him...
A. To Live in Affliction
A. To Live in Affliction
107 I am afflicted very much: Quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word.
WE have seen how the Psalmist is afflicted very much.
People have viciously attacked him, even though he is doing right.
Even his leaders have attacked him.
He has been pressured to bend away from God’s Word.
He has been physically assaulted
He has been in so much stress he felt he was dying.
So he realizes if He is going to do what he wants God to Show him…He needs God to enable Him.
He first asks him to quicken him.
He feels dead to being able to do what God has asked.
And he is asking God to make Him alive again.
Have you ever felt that?
I have just this last week.
I love Christmas, I love everything about Christmas!
I love the nativity sets, I love the nativity story, I love the giving of gifts, I love the traditions of the Christmas tree, the stockings, the gifts under the tree.
But this year something has sapped by Christmas spirit!
I don’t know what it is, but I just have had absolutely no desire to decorate, sing Christmas carols, or celebrate in any way.
When I realized I was acting this way I began to ask the Lord to help me.
I don’t want to be Ebeneezer Scrooge!
So rather than the Spirits of Christmas, I have asked the Holy Spirit to quicken me.
And I’ll say that I’m better…not there yet, but I’m getting better.
It may not be the Christmas spirit we need help with it may be the Christian spirit we need enabling in our hearts.
Have we lost the drive to read God’s Word, to spend devoted time in prayer, to sacrifice in fasting to hear from the Lord, to attend church faithfully with an open heart to hear from the Lord.
Oh what a difference an open heart ready to hear makes!
You have a limited pastor, I have been under some limited men as well!
I have also been under incredible preaches!
And Either way, what I receive is what I have prepared myself to receive!
Yes we are in an inflicting world!
Are spirits are attacked daily, but we need to ask God to enable us to truly live during these times.
Then secondly, and perhaps very connected to what we have been discussing…we need to pray that God will enable us...
B. To Offer Acceptable Prayer and Praise
B. To Offer Acceptable Prayer and Praise
108 Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, ...
To Accept- Raw tsaw - means to take pleasure in, to treat favorably.
When I saw this verse I thought of the little chorus
I love you Lord and I lift my voice
to worship you, oh my soul rejoice.
Take joy my king in what you hear,
let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.
Truth be told we need help praising God and praying to him the way we ought!
The psalmist calls his freewill offering of his mouth.
What a great picture!
It is of our own freewill we praise Him, we are not robots, we must choose to do it.
But we need His enablement to do Him justice!
Especially if he is going to accept - take pleasure in it!
But I believe that we need His enablement to pray - to ask of Him as well!
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
We need His help and enablement to live the way we ought, we need his enablement to praise and pray to Him as we ought, and then we need His enablement thirdly...
C. To Use His Word as Protection
C. To Use His Word as Protection
108b And teach me thy judgments
109 My soul is continually in my hand: Yet do I not forget thy law.
At the end of verse 108 he has this phrase “And teach me thy judgments”.
And it is truly connected to the prayer for accepting our prayers and praise.
But I also see a clear connection to verse 109, where he is requesting God’s protection.
The psalmist says his “soul is continually in my hand”, in other words he feels that his life is continually in danger.
Yet where he goes for protection is God’s Word!
We would do well to go to God’s Word for our protection as well.
Jesus used God’s Word to fight the enemy, and we ought to use it as well...
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged 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.
God’s Word can cut through to the source of the problems we face.
We need to ask God for His enabling power to use His Word.
So we have looked at the need to pray for God to Show Us - where to go, and what to do...
We have looked at the need to pray for God to Enable Us - to Live, To Praise and Pray, and to Use God’s Word.
Next, the third indispensible prayer we need to pray is...
III. Keep Me
III. Keep Me
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me: Yet I erred not from thy precepts.
111 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: For they are the rejoicing of my heart.
112 I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes Alway, even unto the end.
The Psalmist in essence prays for God to Keep him in three areas.
First, Keep Me...
A. Safe from Traps
A. Safe from Traps
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me: Yet I erred not from thy precepts.
WE see snares or traps set by all of our enemies!
The World - set’s traps of anger, of drunkenness, of pornography, of countless traps that this world system sets for us.
They want to prove that God’s people are powerless and no better than anyone else.
We need to pray that God will help us and keep us safe from these Traps.
The Flesh sets traps for us all the time.
We see something that leads our sinful nature down the wrong path, we need to pray that God will keep us safe from these traps.
The Devils is seeking whom he may devour, like a roaring lion.
We need to pray and ask God to keep us safe from his claws and teeth.
Determine, like the Psalmist, to not err from God’s precepts.
Remember precepts means instructions!
Follow the directions!
We like to think we can do it on our own, but we can’t!
We will just end up falling right into the traps, that so many before us have fallen in!
So pray for God to Keep You Safe from Traps, then the Psalmist says …
111 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: For they are the rejoicing of my heart.
Here we see our need to pray for God to Keep me...
B. Rejoicing in My Inheritance
B. Rejoicing in My Inheritance
The Israelites inheritance, their heritage, was the Promised Land.
To say that a heritage is any thing but this emphasized the seriousness of the statement.
To the psalmist, the heritage of the Land was not as important as the heritage of God’s Word.
He realized that His rejoicing in the land only took him so far, it only helped him so much.
But to rejoice in the true heritage the testimonies of God brought true rejoicing to his heart!
We have something that all the saints of the past do not have.
We have the complete revelation of God in our hands!
Jesus said, “unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required”
When we have been given the great and precious gift of the Word of God, we are required by it to live by it!
The only way we can keep rejoicing in our inheritance in this way is for us to ask the Lord to keep us...
C. Leaning on Your Word
C. Leaning on Your Word
112 I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes Alway, even unto the end.
The Psalmist said he inclined his heart to perform the Word of God.
To incline means to stretch forth, to pay attention to...
It is figurative and descriptive way of saying, “I am focusing my heart on this...”
But we need God’s help to keep us there!
There are far too many distractions!
When I first started studying for this sermon I began by reading through this section 10-12 times.
But to do that I ended up starting the section about 20-25 times.
I would get part way through and realize I was thinking or even doing something else.
I had to email someone, I had to look something up, I had to order something, I had to do this or that.
I kept going back to the verses and trying again.
I felt like I was stretching my brain to pull it over the Bible like a cover to keep myself focused on this.
I kind if think I’m not the only one who finds themselves reading the same passage over and over because they realize part way through their mind has wandered.
I prayed God help me concentrate!
Help me to hear from you, so that your people can hear from you too!
O How we need God’s help!
We need to Ask God to
Show Me the way to God
and the Words to do!
We need to Ask God to
Enable Me to truly Live in this Affliction
Enable me to Offer acceptable Prayer and Praise to Him
Enable me to Use His Word as Protection.
We need to Ask God to
Keep us safe from traps
To Keep us rejoicing in our Inheritance
To Keep us leaning on His Word!