The Nearness of God and His Law Text: Psalm 119:145-152
Introduction: A World of Distances
We live in a world that is obsessed with distances, both great and small. We measure the distance to the stars in light years, and we measure the distance between our faces and our phone screens in inches. But the most important distances are not physical; they are spiritual. There is the distance between a man and his God, created by sin. There is the distance between a man and his neighbor, created by selfishness. And as we see in this psalm, there is the distance between the righteous and the wicked, created by their respective relationships to the law of God.
The modern world, in its rebellion, seeks to collapse these distances in all the wrong ways. It wants to pretend there is no distance between man and God, making man his own god. It wants to erase the distance between right and wrong, calling evil good and good evil. It wants to close the distance between the righteous and the wicked, not by calling the wicked to repentance, but by telling the righteous to stop being so judgmental. But this is like trying to solve the problem of a house fire by disabling the smoke detectors.
The psalmist here, in the nineteenth stanza of this great alphabetic celebration of God's Word, understands the true spiritual geography. He is a man beset by troubles, pursued by wicked men. But he does not measure his safety by his distance from his enemies. He measures it by his nearness to his God. And the instrument he uses for this measurement, the divine GPS for the soul, is the Word of God. This passage is a cry from the heart, a prayer that is not casual or intermittent, but constant, wholehearted, and rooted in the eternal reality of God's law.
He is in a tight spot. The wicked are near to him, and they are far from God's law. But the psalmist has a greater reality on his side. God is near to him, and all His commandments are truth. This is a lesson in spiritual physics. The nearness of an infinite God is infinitely more significant than the nearness of finite enemies. This is the confidence that anchors the believer's soul in the midst of the storm.
The Text
I called with all my heart; answer me, O Yahweh! I will observe Your statutes.
I called to You; save me And I shall keep Your testimonies.
I eagerly greet the dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.
My eyes eagerly greet the night watches, That I may muse on Your word.
Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; O Yahweh, revive me, according to Your judgments.
Near are those who pursue wickedness; They are far from Your law.
Near are You, O Yahweh, And all Your commandments are truth.
Of old I have known from Your testimonies That You have founded them forever.
(Psalm 119:145-152 LSB)
Wholehearted and Purposeful Prayer (vv. 145-146)
We begin with the nature of the psalmist's cry.
"I called with all my heart; answer me, O Yahweh! I will observe Your statutes. I called to You; save me And I shall keep Your testimonies." (Psalm 119:145-146)
This is not a half-hearted, distracted mumble. This is a cry with the "whole heart." The Bible has no room for divided affections or compartmentalized faith. God wants all of you. When you pray, you are to bring your whole self. This is the first and great commandment in action: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Prayer is not a religious duty to be checked off a list; it is the desperate, total engagement of a creature with his Creator.
And notice the purpose attached to his plea. He doesn't just say "Answer me!" or "Save me!" He says, "Answer me, O Yahweh! I will observe Your statutes." And "Save me, and I shall keep Your testimonies." This is crucial. He is not asking for deliverance so that he can go live a comfortable, self-indulgent life. He is asking for deliverance so that he can better obey God. His ultimate goal is not his own comfort, but God's glory, expressed through a life of faithful obedience. This is the mark of true conversion. A man is not saved from his sin so that he can be free to do whatever he wants. A man is saved from his sin so that he can be free to do what God wants. Salvation is liberation into service. The psalmist understands that God's statutes and testimonies are not burdensome restrictions but are the very framework of a liberated life.
Constant, Hopeful Prayer (vv. 147-148)
Next, the psalmist describes the relentless rhythm of his prayer life.
"I eagerly greet the dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words. My eyes eagerly greet the night watches, That I may muse on Your word." (Psalm 119:147-148)
His prayer is not confined to a convenient time slot. He gets up before the sun to cry out to God. The word "eagerly greet" could be translated "I anticipate" or "I come before." He is not waiting for the day to overwhelm him with its troubles before he turns to God. He gets ahead of the day, consecrating it to God with his cry for help. And what does he do as he cries out? He waits for God's words. He hopes in them. This is not a passive, empty waiting. It is an active, expectant hope, grounded in the reliability of God's promises. He knows that God has spoken, and so he waits for God to act in accordance with what He has spoken.
But his devotion is not limited to the morning. His eyes are awake through the "night watches." The night was divided into watches, and the psalmist is using them not for anxious tossing and turning, but for meditation. He is awake in the night, not because his problems are keeping him up, but because God's Word is keeping him up. He is musing, meditating, chewing on the promises and precepts of God. This is the picture of a man whose mind is saturated with Scripture. Day and night, his first and last thoughts are oriented toward God and His revelation. This is what it means to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It doesn't happen by accident. It happens when you deliberately fill your mind with God's Word before dawn and in the dead of night.
The Basis of the Plea (v. 149)
On what basis does he make such bold requests?
"Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; O Yahweh, revive me, according to Your judgments." (Genesis 119:149)
The psalmist knows he cannot appeal to God on the basis of his own merit. He doesn't say, "Hear me because I get up early," or "Revive me because I pray so hard." He appeals to the character of God. First, he appeals to God's "lovingkindness." This is the great Hebrew word hesed. It speaks of God's covenant loyalty, His steadfast, unrelenting, faithful love. It is a love that is not based on the loveliness of the object, but on the faithfulness of the one who loves. The psalmist is saying, "Hear me because of who You are, a covenant-keeping God whose love never fails."
Second, he asks for revival "according to Your judgments." This refers to God's ordinances or rulings. He is asking God to give him life in a way that is consistent with God's own revealed will. He wants a life that is governed by and aligned with the righteous standards of God. He is not asking for some vague spiritual buzz. He is asking for a life animated and quickened by the very structure of God's truth. This is a prayer for sanctification. "Make me alive, and make my life conform to Your book."
The Spiritual Battlefield (vv. 150-151)
Here the psalmist lays out the central conflict, the issue of nearness.
"Near are those who pursue wickedness; They are far from Your law. Near are You, O Yahweh, And all Your commandments are truth." (Psalm 119:150-151)
This is a stark and powerful contrast. First, the threat: "Near are those who pursue wickedness." His enemies are not a distant, abstract problem. They are close. They are breathing down his neck. And their character is defined by their relationship to God's law: "They are far from Your law." This is the essence of wickedness. It is not just breaking a rule here or there. It is a settled state of being distant from, and hostile to, the revealed will of God. They live in a different reality, one that is unhinged from the truth.
But then comes the greater reality, the triumphant declaration: "Near are You, O Yahweh." This is the game-changer. The wicked are near, but God is nearer. Their nearness is a threat; God's nearness is salvation. And what is the nature of this near God? "And all Your commandments are truth." God's nearness is not a sentimental, fuzzy feeling. It is the nearness of absolute, objective, unshakeable truth. The wicked operate on lies. They are far from the law, which is truth. The believer stands with God, who is near, and whose law is truth. In a contest between the nearness of liars and the nearness of the God of truth, the outcome is not in doubt. The Christian life is about learning to live in the reality of God's nearness, even when the enemy's hot breath is on your neck.
The Unshakeable Foundation (v. 152)
The stanza concludes with the foundation upon which all this confidence rests.
"Of old I have known from Your testimonies That You have founded them forever." (Psalm 119:152)
This is not a new discovery for the psalmist. This is a long-settled conviction. "Of old I have known." He has a history with God's Word. He has learned from God's testimonies, His covenant stipulations, that they are not temporary suggestions. God has "founded them forever." They are established, permanent, and eternal. They are more stable than the mountains, more fixed than the stars. Culture may shift, empires may rise and fall, and enemies may draw near, but the Word of God is settled in heaven.
This is the ultimate presupposition. The believer's life is not built on the shifting sands of human opinion or personal experience, but on the bedrock of God's eternally founded Word. Because God's testimonies are forever, his hope is not a whim. Because God's commandments are truth, his confidence is not misplaced. Because God is near, his salvation is secure.
Conclusion: Nearer, My God, to Thee
This passage teaches us how to pray in the midst of trouble. We are to pray with our whole heart. We are to pray for the purpose of obedience. We are to pray constantly, day and night, marinating our minds in the Word of God.
But most of all, it teaches us where to find our security. Our world is full of those who are near in their wickedness and far from God's law. They are in our government, in our schools, and on our television screens, and they are pursuing a course of malicious mischief. It is easy to become overwhelmed by their apparent nearness and power.
But we must learn to see with the psalmist's eyes. God is nearer still. He is not a distant deity, but an immanent and present help in trouble. His nearness is the nearness of truth, and His Word is the very foundation of reality. The wicked are near, but they are standing on a trap door. We are to stand on the eternal rock of God's Word.
Therefore, when you feel the pressure of the world, when the wicked seem to be closing in, do not measure your position relative to them. Measure your position relative to God. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you. Cry out to Him with your whole heart. Fill your mind with His eternal Word. And you will find, as the psalmist did, that the nearness of the God of truth is an unbreachable fortress for your soul.