Psalm 119:65-72 – The faithfulness of God and His Word in trials and testing

With “Teth”, the ninth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, the Psalmist starts Psalm 119:65-72.  To set the foundation right, we need to know that God is constantly dealing with us human, because we are undeniably His people. Two facts affirm this: firstly, it is because He has created each one of us. Our breath came from Him. Paul in his sermon on Mars Hill in Acts 17:27 said that, “(God) He Himself gives to all people life and breath.” And in verse 28, he said again that “…in Him (God) we live and move and exist….” He is the source of every life. Secondly, for us believers in Christ, we are His people because He had acquired us for Himself through Christ Jesus. Through Him we are transferred out of the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of His marvelous light. So it should come as no surprise to know that He deals with us all the time. For people who are not conscious that they are His, He will use the circumstances to lead them to Himself. For those of us who already know we belong to Him, He will use circumstances and events that happen to us to horn and shape our character, so that we will reflect Him clearer.     

In these verses of Psalm 119, the Psalmist saw himself as God’s servant. And these verses also become applicable to us His people, who have given ourselves over to Him to serve His purpose. Thus He is dealing with us all the time. And in fact He deals with us far better than we actually deserve. Without a doubt, His intention towards us is good and His action towards us is love. He deals with us according to His Word. There are many people who have knowledge but few have sound judgment. But when we possess both, we will be safeguarded against the snares of the devil and be equipped to serve Him better. So like the Psalmist, we should ask to be taught judgment and knowledge, and be instructed by His Word. Verse 67 suggests that the Psalmist went astray at one point until he recognized the purpose of his affliction. Wisely, he saw through the affliction and knew the intention of God and return to the right path taught by His Word. He repented from his past and stayed on course with His Word. Be reminded that repentance from our wrong should help us to get on to the right path to walk obediently according to His Word.

  

God is good and His actions toward us are always good.  He acts and deals with us based on His wonderful attributes. In saying that He is good, the Psalmist here acknowledges that God is faithful, compassionate, just and yet merciful. These attributes of God are appealing and creates the desires in us to want to learn how to walk in those instructions. And like the Psalmist, we may have to face untruth spread about us by our proud opponents, but we can refuse to be stumbled by them. We can choose to persist in the teachings of God with our whole heart. To say that the opponents’ hearts are covered with fat is to say that their hearts are so thickly insulated that no truth could penetrate to change them. In contrast to them, we with receptive hearts are able to delight in God’s Word.

Verses 71-72 reveal how we could be helped when we rightly appraise our affliction. Just like the Psalmist, we must learn to see God’s intention through our afflictions. Testing in life can make us better. It should never make us bitter. God has a purpose for us through them. Here we remember the words of Job 23:10: “When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” This tells us that through tough time God purifies us, and works to get us on track with Him and His Word. And we will soon realize how valuable His Word is. His teachings are truly more valuable than gold or silver. We must make them a delight in our life.