The Pilgrim's GPS: The Third Stanza Text: Psalm 119:17-24
Introduction: The Christian Contradiction
We live in an age that is allergic to authority, and positively anaphylactic when it comes to God's authority. The modern mind believes that freedom is found in the absence of restraint, in the casting off of all external commands. To be truly free, they say, is to be your own lawgiver. But this is a damnable lie, and the proof is all around us. A generation that has rejected God's law has not found liberty, but rather the most pathetic forms of bondage imaginable, chains of lust, addictions to distraction, and the tyranny of their own untethered emotions.
Into this chaos, Psalm 119 speaks with the force of a hurricane. This entire psalm is a magnificent, sprawling love song to the law of God. It is the definitive refutation of all antinomianism, whether it comes from the licentious world or from the sloppy-grace quarters of the church. The psalmist does not see God's law as a burden, a killjoy, or a set of arbitrary rules. He sees it as life, wisdom, delight, and his only hope in a hostile world. He is desperately in love with God's commandments.
This presents a contradiction that the world cannot understand. How can a slave find life in his master's rules? How can a pilgrim find his way by looking at an ancient map? How can a man facing contempt from powerful men find comfort in a book? This is the Christian contradiction. Our liberty is found in bondage to Christ. Our strength is found in our weakness. Our wisdom is found in the foolishness of the cross. And our life is found in total submission to God's Word.
In this third stanza of the psalm, the section called Gimel, the psalmist lays out a series of petitions and declarations that get to the heart of this glorious contradiction. He is a slave who asks for bounty, a blind man who asks for sight, a stranger who asks for directions, and a persecuted man who asks for deliverance. And in all of it, the law of God is not the problem he is trying to escape; it is the solution he is running toward.
The Text
Deal bountifully with Your slave, That I may live and keep Your word.
Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.
I am a sojourner in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.
My soul is crushed with longing For Your judgments at all times.
You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who stray from Your commandments.
Take away reproach and contempt from me, For I observe Your testimonies.
Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your slave muses on Your statutes.
Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.
(Psalm 119:17-24 LSB)
Grace for Obedience (v. 17)
The stanza begins with a petition that links God's goodness to the believer's obedience.
"Deal bountifully with Your slave, That I may live and keep Your word." (Psalm 119:17)
The psalmist identifies himself as God's slave. In our democratic, egalitarian age, this language makes us shuffle our feet. But the psalmist embraces it. He understands that he is not autonomous. He is owned. He belongs to another. But this is not the brutal, man-stealing slavery of the world; this is a willing, loving servitude to the King of Heaven. And notice his request. He does not ask for bounty so that he can retire to a life of ease. He asks for God's generous provision for one purpose: so that he might live, and in living, keep God's word.
This turns the world's logic on its head. The world says, "Give me resources so I can do what I want." The believer says, "Lord, give me life, breath, strength, and daily bread, so that I can do what You want." Grace is not given to us as a vacation from duty, but as fuel for duty. God's bounty is the enablement for our obedience. We cannot keep His word in our own strength. We need Him to deal bountifully with us, to give us life, every single moment, so that we can then offer that life back to Him in glad submission.
Supernatural Sight (v. 18)
The next request is for divine illumination. He has the law in front of him, but he knows that is not enough.
"Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law." (Psalm 119:18)
A man can read the Bible his entire life and see nothing but a collection of ancient stories, tedious genealogies, and baffling rules. The natural man does not see the glory of God's law because he is spiritually blind. The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers. Therefore, for the law to come alive, God Himself must perform an operation on our eyes. This is a prayer for the work of the Holy Spirit.
And what does he expect to see? "Wonderful things." The Hebrew word here means marvelous, extraordinary, beyond human comprehension. This is not a prayer to understand a few difficult passages. This is a prayer to be gobsmacked. It is a prayer to be stunned by the beauty, wisdom, and profound glory contained in the traffic laws of Leviticus and the case laws of Deuteronomy. He knows that God's law is not a dry legal textbook; it is a treasure map, and he is asking for the light to see the gold.
A Pilgrim's Plea (v. 19-20)
The psalmist then identifies his position in the world, which makes his need for God's Word all the more urgent.
"I am a sojourner in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me. My soul is crushed with longing For Your judgments at all times." (Psalm 119:19-20)
A sojourner is a resident alien, a pilgrim. This is not his true home. He is passing through. This world, with its corrupt value systems, its insane priorities, and its hostility to God, is a foreign country. And what does a traveler in a foreign land need more than anything? He needs a map. He needs a reliable guide. For the Christian sojourner, God's commandments are the GPS. To have God hide His commandments would be like trying to navigate a hostile wilderness in the dark without a compass. It would be terrifying.
This is why his desire is so intense. "My soul is crushed with longing." This is not a mild preference. This is a deep, gut-wrenching ache. He is lovesick for God's law. He craves God's judgments, His righteous rulings, at all times. Why? Because in a world that has gone mad, God's law is the only sanity. In a world of lies, it is the only truth. In a world of chaos, it is the only order. The true believer is not someone who merely tolerates God's law; he is someone who is desperate for it.
The Great Antithesis (v. 21-23)
The psalmist now draws a sharp contrast between himself and those who despise God's law. This is the great antithesis that runs through all of Scripture.
"You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who stray from Your commandments. Take away reproach and contempt from me, For I observe Your testimonies. Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your slave muses on Your statutes." (Psalm 119:21-23)
There are two kinds of people in the world: the humble who submit to God's law, and the arrogant who stray from it. Notice the description of the latter group: they are arrogant and cursed. Their arrogance is the root of their straying; they think they know better than God. And their straying is the reason they are cursed; to abandon the source of all blessing is to walk under a curse. God Himself rebukes them. His opposition to the proud is a fixed principle of the universe.
Because of this antithesis, the one who follows God's law will inevitably face "reproach and contempt" from those who hate it. The world despises the man who lives by a different standard. His obedience is a silent rebuke to their rebellion, and they will not stand for it. So they mock him. They heap contempt on him. And the psalmist prays for this to be taken away, not because he is thin-skinned, but because the reproach is ultimately aimed at the God he serves.
And this opposition can come from the highest levels. "Even though princes sit and talk against me." The rulers, the civil magistrates, the cultural elites, they gather together to strategize against the faithful man. They hold their committee meetings and their panel discussions, and the topic is how to deal with this troublesome fellow who insists on obeying God rather than men. And what is the believer's response? Does he panic? Does he form a counter-committee? No. "Your slave muses on Your statutes." While the princes are plotting, the slave is meditating. He is immersing himself in the very law that has made him a target. He knows that his safety and wisdom are not found in political maneuvering, but in the unchanging Word of his King.
Delightful Counselors (v. 24)
The stanza concludes by summarizing the believer's relationship to the Word.
"Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors." (Psalm 119:24)
This is the bottom line. In the face of internal blindness, earthly alienation, and external opposition from the highest authorities, God's testimonies are two things for the believer. First, they are his delight. Not his duty, not his burden, but his sheer joy. He would rather read God's law than go to the movies. He finds more pleasure in God's statutes than the world finds in its sin. This is the mark of a truly regenerate heart.
Second, they are his counselors. When the princes are talking against him, he does not listen to them. He listens to his counselors, the testimonies of God. God's Word is his cabinet, his board of advisors. It tells him what to think, what to say, and what to do. The world takes its counsel from talk shows, and university professors, and political pundits. The Christian takes his counsel from the Word of the living God. And that is why, in the end, the Christian will stand and the princes will fall.
Conclusion: The Well-Lit Path
This section of Psalm 119 is a manual for Christian living in a hostile world. It teaches us to depend on God's grace for the strength to obey. It teaches us to pray for the Spirit's illumination when we read the Word. It reminds us that we are strangers here, and that the Word is our only reliable map. And it prepares us for the contempt of the world, even from the highest places, and instructs us to find our delight and our strategy in the Scriptures.
The world thinks the Bible is a book of chains. But the man who has had his eyes opened sees that it is a book of wonders. The world thinks obedience is misery. The man who is a slave to Christ finds it to be his life. The world seeks counsel from the arrogant who are under a curse. The believer finds his counsel in the statutes that lead to blessing.
Therefore, when the princes of this world gather to talk against you, when your colleagues mock you for your faith, when you feel like a stranger in a strange land, do not despair. Do as the psalmist did. Ask God to deal bountifully with you. Ask Him to open your eyes. And then, with your eyes opened to the wonderful things in His law, let it be your delight and your counselor. This is the path of the pilgrim, and it is a well-lit path, for the Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, and it leads us all the way home.