Commentary - Psalm 119:145-152

Bird's-eye view

The nineteenth stanza of this great psalm, the section designated by the letter Qoph, is a prayer offered up from a position of great distress. The enemies are near, and they are wicked. In response, the psalmist does not turn inward to his own resources, nor does he look outward to the political solutions of men. He turns upward, and he does so with his whole heart. This is a portrait of desperate, round-the-clock, Word-saturated prayer. The central theme is a glorious antithesis. The wicked are near (v. 150), but Yahweh is nearer (v. 151). This is the confidence of the believer. Our God is not a distant deity, but a very present help in trouble. And His nearness is defined by the truth of His Word, which is established forever.

This entire section is a cry, a call for help. But notice that it is not a contentless cry. It is a cry that is everywhere informed by, grounded in, and aimed at the law, testimonies, statutes, and words of God. The psalmist's desperation drives him to the Word, and the Word gives shape and substance to his desperation. This is how a righteous man prays in the midnight hour. He prays Scripture back to the God who wrote it.

Outline

The Cry of Qoph

Psalm 119:145

I called with all my heart; answer me, O Yahweh! I will observe Your statutes.

The prayer begins with its essential quality: it is from the whole heart. This is not the mumbling of a formal prayer, the ticking of a spiritual box. This is the cry of a man whose entire being is engaged in this petition. When the Scriptures speak of the heart, they mean the seat of the will, the intellect, the affections, the conscience. All of it is summoned here. This is the first commandment in action, loving God with all the heart. And the plea is simple and direct: "answer me, O Yahweh!" He knows to whom he is speaking. But notice the immediate consequence of this whole-hearted cry. It is not a demand for an unconditional handout. It is a cry that is bound up with a vow of consecration: "I will observe Your statutes." This is not a bargain, as though the psalmist were trying to purchase God's favor with his obedience. Rather, this is the essential nature of true prayer. The heart that truly cries out to God for deliverance is the same heart that desires to walk in God's ways. Faith and obedience are inseparable sisters.

Psalm 119:146

I called to You; save me And I shall keep Your testimonies.

He repeats the thought, as is common in Hebrew poetry, but with a slight variation that intensifies it. The call is for salvation. "Save me." This is the fundamental prayer of every believer. Save me from my enemies, save me from my circumstances, and ultimately, save me from my sin. This is the gospel prayer. And what is the result of this great salvation? "And I shall keep Your testimonies." God does not save us so that we might be free to do whatever we want. He saves us from our bondage to sin so that we might become willing bondservants to righteousness. He saves us for holiness. The keeping of His testimonies is not the grounds of our salvation, but it is most certainly the goal of it. A man who cries for salvation but has no interest in obedience is a man who does not understand what he is asking for.

Psalm 119:147

I eagerly greet the dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.

The psalmist's devotion is not a lazy, convenient thing. He is up before the sun. The verb here means to come before, to anticipate. He gets the jump on the day in order to cry for help. The best part of the day is given to God before the rush and noise of the world can crowd Him out. This is a picture of disciplined, earnest piety. But this cry is not a shot in the dark. It is accompanied by a confident expectation: "I wait for Your words." The old King James says "I hope in thy word." Hope, in the Bible, is not wishful thinking. It is a confident expectation based on a sure promise. The psalmist cries for help, and then he waits, looking to the Scriptures for the answer, the comfort, the assurance, the promise that he needs. His hope is not in his feelings, but in the objective, written Word of God.

Psalm 119:148

My eyes eagerly greet the night watches, That I may muse on Your word.

From pre-dawn to the watches of the night. His devotion is relentless. Just as he anticipated the dawn, his eyes anticipate the changing of the guard in the middle of the night. Sleep is forsaken, not for worthless entertainment or anxious tossing and turning, but for a higher purpose: "That I may muse on Your word." The word here is meditation. This is not an emptying of the mind, as in Eastern mysticism. This is a filling of the mind. To meditate on Scripture is to chew on it, to turn it over and over, to talk to yourself about it, to ask questions of the text, to savor its truths. This is how the Word of Christ dwells in us richly. It requires time, and it requires silence. The psalmist carves out that time from his sleep, because he knows that fellowship with God in His Word is more necessary than sleep itself.

Psalm 119:149

Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; O Yahweh, revive me, according to Your judgments.

On what basis does he ask God to hear him? Not on the basis of his whole-hearted prayer, or his pre-dawn rising, or his midnight meditations. He appeals to the character of God. "Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness." The Hebrew word is hesed, that great covenant word that means steadfast love, mercy, and faithfulness. He is asking God to act consistently with His own covenant nature. And what is the content of his request? "Revive me." Give me life. Quicken me. This is a prayer for spiritual renewal and vitality. And what is the standard for this new life? "According to Your judgments." The life he wants is a life lived in accordance with God's revealed will. God's law is not a burden that crushes life, but rather the very framework that makes true life possible.

Psalm 119:150

Near are those who pursue wickedness; They are far from Your law.

Now the source of the trouble comes into sharp focus. The enemy is not a distant threat; they are "near." They are actively pursuing a course of "wickedness." And the psalmist provides the theological definition of that wickedness: "They are far from Your law." These two descriptions are two sides of the same coin. To be far from God's law is to be a pursuer of wickedness. To pursue wickedness is to be far from God's law. There is no middle ground, no neutral territory. The antithesis is absolute. This is a crucial diagnostic tool for us. When you see a culture, or an individual, that has contempt for the law of God, you know you are looking at a culture or individual that is pursuing wickedness, and they are near.

Psalm 119:151

Near are You, O Yahweh, And all Your commandments are truth.

This is the glorious pivot upon which the entire stanza turns. The enemy is near, yes. But God is nearer. "Near are You, O Yahweh." This is the great comfort and confidence of the saints. God is not an absentee landlord. He is Immanuel, God with us. He is closer than our troubles, closer than our enemies, closer than our own breath. And what is this near God like? He is not a sentimental fog. His nearness is the nearness of a specific character. "And all Your commandments are truth." His law is not a collection of arbitrary rules. It is a reflection of His own character, and it is therefore an expression of reality. His commandments are true, which means that any other way is a lie. The wicked in the previous verse are pursuing a lie because they are far from His law. The psalmist is clinging to the truth because he is clinging to the one who is near.

Psalm 119:152

Of old I have known from Your testimonies That You have founded them forever.

This confidence is not a recent discovery, a feeling he worked up in the night. This is a long-standing, settled conviction. "Of old I have known..." He learned this from the "testimonies" of God, from the Scriptures themselves. And what is this ancient truth? "That You have founded them forever." God's Word is not a temporary policy manual for ancient Israel. It is not a cultural artifact that we can admire from a distance. It is an eternal foundation. It is more permanent than the heavens and the earth. Jesus Himself said that heaven and earth would pass away, but His words would not pass away. The psalmist stands on this immovable rock. His enemies are near, but they are temporary. His God is nearer, and His Word is eternal. This is why he can pray with such confidence, even in the darkest night.

Application

The pattern for Christian piety in a hostile world is laid out for us here. First, our prayers must be whole-hearted. We must come to God with everything we are, holding nothing back. Lukewarm, distracted prayer will not do in a real fight.

Second, our prayers must be Word-centered. Our cries for help must be shaped by the promises of God, and our desire for salvation must be tied to a desire for sanctification. We must hope in His Word, meditate on His Word, and ground our requests in His Word.

Third, we must understand the antithesis. The world and its wicked systems are near. They pursue mischief. They hate God's law. We should not be surprised by this. But we must never forget the greater truth. Our God is nearer. He is with us. And His truth is an eternal, unshakable foundation. Therefore, we do not need to fear. We can rise before the dawn and stay up through the night, not in anxious terror, but in confident communion with our covenant God, who hears us according to His lovingkindness and will revive us according to His judgments.