The Righteousness of Reality Text: Psalm 119:137-144
Introduction: The Unwavering Standard
We live in an age that despises straight lines. Our culture is infatuated with moral ambiguity, with blurred distinctions, with the notion that every man can manufacture his own truth in the privacy of his own heart. The modern project is an attempt to build a world on the shifting sands of human subjectivity. The result is not the promised utopia of personal freedom, but rather the incoherent chaos of a society that has lost its dictionary. When you declare that there is no standard, you do not get liberty for all; you get tyranny for the many at the hands of the few who are strong enough to impose their particular brand of chaos.
Into this gelatinous mess, the Word of God speaks with the force of granite. It establishes a standard that is not dependent on our feelings, our votes, or our cultural moment. That standard is the very character of God Himself. Psalm 119 is a long and glorious meditation on the beauty, perfection, and sufficiency of God's revelation. And in this particular stanza, the psalmist grounds his love for the law in the unshakeable reality of God's own righteousness. He is not celebrating a set of arbitrary rules; he is celebrating a law that is a perfect reflection of its Lawgiver. He is showing us that the universe has a moral grain, an objective reality, because it was made by a righteous God. To rebel against His law is not to break free, but to splinter yourself against the very nature of things.
The psalmist here is not a grim-faced legalist, ticking off boxes to earn his salvation. That is a caricature painted by antinomians. No, this is a man who has been overwhelmed by the goodness of God, and who sees that goodness expressed in the very words God has spoken. He sees that in a world of lies, God's law is truth. In a world of affliction, God's commandments are a delight. In a world that despises the faithful, God's precepts are an anchor. This is not the song of a slave groaning under a burden, but the song of a son rejoicing in his Father's perfect wisdom.
The Text
Righteous are You, O Yahweh, And upright are Your judgments.
In righteousness, You have commanded Your testimonies And in exceeding faithfulness.
My zeal has consumed me, Because my adversaries have forgotten Your words.
Your word is exceedingly refined, Therefore Your slave loves it.
I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts.
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth.
Trouble and anguish have found me, Yet Your commandments are my delight.
Righteous are Your testimonies forever; Give me understanding that I may live.
(Psalm 119:137-144 LSB)
The Righteous Foundation (v. 137-138)
The psalmist begins not with himself, nor with the law, but with God. This is always the correct starting point.
"Righteous are You, O Yahweh, And upright are Your judgments." (Psalm 119:137)
Everything flows from this. God's righteousness is not a quality He possesses, as though He conforms to some external standard of righteousness. He is the standard. Righteousness is what God is. Consequently, His judgments, His decisions, His verdicts, are necessarily "upright." They are straight. They are not crooked, they are not bent to favor the powerful, they are not swayed by emotion. They are a perfect expression of His character. This is the bedrock of the universe. If God were not righteous, then all of reality would be a cosmic sham, a universe run by a capricious tyrant. But because He is righteous, we can know that justice is not a phantom and morality is not a preference.
This leads directly to the nature of His revelation in verse 138.
"In righteousness, You have commanded Your testimonies And in exceeding faithfulness." (Psalm 119:138)
Because God is righteous, the laws He gives are righteous. They are not arbitrary hoops for us to jump through. They are good for us because they reflect the character of our good Creator. He commands what He commands "in righteousness." Furthermore, He does so in "exceeding faithfulness." God is not a fair-weather father. His covenant promises and His covenant demands are steadfast. He does not change His mind. His standards do not fluctuate with the times. This is a profound comfort. We do not serve a God who is making it up as He goes along. The rules are fixed because His character is fixed.
The Zealous Response (v. 139-140)
Seeing who God is and what His law is produces a passionate, visceral reaction in the believer.
"My zeal has consumed me, Because my adversaries have forgotten Your words." (Psalm 119:139)
Zeal is not a popular virtue in our lukewarm age. It is often confused with fanaticism. But biblical zeal is a hot love for God's honor. The psalmist is not just mildly annoyed that his enemies disregard God's law; he is undone by it. It consumes him. Why? Because to forget God's words is to insult God Himself. It is to treat the righteous, faithful, covenant Lord as though He were irrelevant. This is the same zeal that burned in Christ when He cleansed the temple. It was not a loss of temper; it was a righteous passion for His Father's house. Indifference to God's law is not a sign of sophistication; it is a sign of a dead heart. If you love God, you will be jealous for His reputation.
And this love for God's honor is tied to a love for the purity of His Word.
"Your word is exceedingly refined, Therefore Your slave loves it." (Psalm 119:140)
The image here is of metal smelted in a furnace, with all the dross, all the impurities, burned away. God's Word has been tested and tried, and it is pure. It is without error, without corruption, without falsehood. In a world full of propaganda, spin, and deceit, the child of God finds refuge in a Word that is utterly trustworthy. And notice the conclusion: "Therefore Your slave loves it." The purity of the Word is the reason for his love. He is not a slave in the sense of one who is crushed by a tyrant. He is a "slave" who has joyfully given his allegiance to a worthy and glorious master. He loves the King, and therefore he loves the King's decrees.
Humility and Adherence (v. 141-142)
The psalmist's high view of God and His law does not lead to arrogance, but to a profound sense of his own humble position.
"I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts." (Psalm 119:141)
The world's value system is inverted. It honors the proud, the powerful, the popular. The one who cleaves to God's law in a rebellious age will often be considered "small and despised." He will be mocked as simple-minded, out of touch, a fool. The psalmist acknowledges this. He does not pretend to be a big shot. But his identity and his worth are not determined by the opinion polls of the wicked. His anchor is not in his social standing, but in the unchanging Word of God. "Yet I do not forget Your precepts." This is the quiet, stubborn faithfulness of the true believer. The world may call him a nobody, but he remembers the somebody who made him and redeemed him.
His personal insignificance is contrasted with the eternal significance of God's righteousness.
"Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth." (Psalm 119:142)
Human opinions are fleeting. Empires rise and fall. Cultural fashions come and go. But God's righteousness is everlasting. It will never be amended, updated, or repealed. And because His law is an expression of that righteousness, His "law is truth." Not "a" truth, not "his" truth, but truth. It is the objective, factual description of reality from the mind of the one who created reality. To live in accordance with God's law is to live in accordance with the way things actually are. To live contrary to it is to live in a fantasy, a delusion that must eventually collide with the hard pavement of God's universe.
Delight in Affliction (v. 143-144)
This brings the psalmist to a glorious paradox: finding joy in God's commands in the very midst of suffering.
"Trouble and anguish have found me, Yet Your commandments are my delight." (Psalm 119:143)
Notice he does not say that trouble and anguish are his delight. The Bible is not stoic; it does not pretend that pain is not painful. He says that trouble and anguish have "found" him, as though they were predators that have hunted him down. Life in a fallen world is hard. But in the midst of that very real pain, he has a source of delight that the world cannot touch. His commandments are his delight. Why? Because they are his connection to the righteous, faithful, everlasting God. They are the map that shows him the way through the dark valley. They are the Father's voice of instruction and comfort when all other voices are screaming lies. This is the mark of a mature believer. It is easy to delight in God's law when everything is going well. The true test is whether you cling to it as your treasure when everything else is being stripped away.
He concludes the stanza with a final affirmation and a desperate, life-giving plea.
"Righteous are Your testimonies forever; Give me understanding that I may live." (Psalm 119:144)
He circles back to his foundational theme. God's testimonies, His covenant stipulations, are righteous forever. Their goodness does not expire. And on the basis of this unchanging reality, he prays for understanding. This is not a prayer for mere intellectual data. The Hebrew concept of understanding involves the ability to skillfully apply knowledge to life. He is asking God to illuminate his mind and heart so that he can see how this eternally righteous Word applies to his current trouble and anguish. And the stakes could not be higher: "that I may live." True life, abundant life, eternal life, is found in knowing the righteous God and walking in the truth of His righteous law. To abandon the law is to choose death.
The Gospel of Righteousness
As we read this, we have to ask ourselves how any fallen sinner can speak this way. How can we, who are unrighteous by nature, delight in a law that exposes our sin? The answer is that we cannot, not on our own. This psalm is ultimately fulfilled by and points us to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one who perfectly loved the law, who was consumed with a zeal for His Father's house, and who, though despised and rejected, never forgot the precepts of God.
And what did He do? He took our unrighteousness upon Himself on the cross. He, the righteous one, was judged for our crookedness. And in exchange, He gives us His "everlasting righteousness" as a free gift (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the great exchange of the gospel. When we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ by faith, the law is no longer our accuser. It is no longer a standard that condemns us. Rather, it becomes our family code, our Father's wise instruction for how to live out the new life we have been given.
Because of the gospel, we can now genuinely pray this psalm. God's Spirit writes the law on our hearts, giving us a new desire to obey. He gives us understanding to see its beauty. He enables us to find, in the midst of our own trouble and anguish, a profound and sustaining delight in the commandments of our God. The righteousness of God, which once terrified us, has now become our everlasting hope, because it was perfectly satisfied for us by His Son.