Psalm 119:161-168 - The Treasure of God's Word

Psalm 119:161-168
¹⁶¹ Princes persecute me without cause,
But my heart stands in awe of Your words.
¹⁶² I rejoice at Your word,
As one who finds great spoil.
¹⁶³ I hate and despise falsehood,
I love Your law.
¹⁶⁴ Seven times a day I praise You,
Because of Your righteous ordinances.
¹⁶⁵ Those who love Your law have great peace,
And nothing causes them to stumble.
¹⁶⁶ I hope for Your salvation, O Lord,
And do Your commandments.
¹⁶⁷ My soul keeps Your testimonies,
And I love them exceedingly.
¹⁶⁸ I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies,
For all my ways are before You.

Message:  The Treasure of God's Word

Time: Based upon authorship and subject matter, Psalms cover a range of centuries. David is mentioned 73 times, Solomon 2, Moses 1, and 50 designate no specific person. It is believed they were compiled around 537 BC. The psalms deal with such subjects as God and His creation, war, worship, wisdom, sin and evil, judgment, justice, and the coming of the Messiah.

What the Lord is Saying:
The Persecuted Man (v. 161)
Men can do harm to us for only so long. But those people are temporary. God's word is eternal. So my heart stands in awe of Your words. It is somewhat hard for me to write these words and really understand their meaning because attending church has always been lawful for me; to worship God has always been my choice; I live in comfort, in security and freedom to worship what I wish. I haven't been placed in a position where I've had to choose. I can only pray and hope that, given the choice, I would hold to the Word of God. 

But there are also little ways I can do this as well. There are conversations I could go along with, that don't glorify God. I do have opportunities to choose God and not the world. And I know there are times I've failed at this in order to keep the applause of men predominant in my life. 

The Praising Man and What He Discovered (v. 162)
How do I treat God's Word in my life. Is it more important than anything else? Do I count it as the highest treasure in my life? Would I trade all I have, the worldly wealth, my earnings, my possessions for it - if that was the choice that was presented to me that I had to take? Again, I hope I would. I hope that I would rejoice at Your Word as one who finds great spoil. I do know that I need to continue to look to it and study it.. I never graduate from the Word of God. I never reach a point in my life when I know it all, It remains a needed part of my day to return to it. 

The Praising Man and What He Detested (v. 163)
If I love God's word and set it on high, then inversely I detest what is not God's word. I hate and despise falsehood. What is the common phrase today: Coexist. It is the idea that all spiritual roads are equal, that they all lead to the same destination. What is important is something not nothing. But I am not to tolerate those beliefs that don't agree that Jesus is God and his sacrifice on the cross is the only way. And I also believe that I should not argue with those other denominations that agree in Jesus but practice in a different way. On that front, I need to stand with them. But, I need to be clear that what is good is not just doing something. The other day I met a person and he made the comment that as long as a person finds what he believes to be his faith then that is fine. It's as if, it doesn't matter what you believe, just as long as you believe in something. But, this is not what is meant here. 

I think the difficult is the world views hatred toward falsehood as hatred toward people that put forth the falsehood. And so they don't believe that the two can, coexist. But, as I learned years ago, hate the sin, love the sinner. I think I need to love people with the Gospel of Jesus and seek to always bring it before them. But, I also need to be clear that I hate sin and hate the culture of sin that I often live in. I am not to be a friend to the world. I need to be more careful of this because the ways of the world continue to seep more strongly into all of life. 

The Praising Man and What He Did (v. 164)
Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous ordinances. What an encouragement this is to pray like this each day. If I did this each day, wouldn't it change my perspective throughout the day. One of the things I think I struggle with each day is praise and thanking God for what He has done in my life. If I took the time to praise Him, maybe as I eat, wake up, morning, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, bed time - and that would be seven times. "Thank you Lord for this new day and for all I shall learn today of Thy wondrous love and care." 

The Peaceful Man (v. 165)
Those who love Your law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble. Everyone is looking for peace and here is a formula, per se, for peace in our life. We are to love the Law of God. Laws of this land, we often think, are there to constrain us and keep us from enjoyment. But they are to protect us and how good it is then to love the law. Do I love God's laws and commandments? Do I love the Gospel and seek to follow it carefully all of my days? 

The Patient Man (v. 166)
 I hope for Your salvation, O Lord, and do Your commandments. There is something sweet about doing the right thing and then stepping back and saying, "Yes, I did it." Last night I stayed at work later than normal, like 3 hours later, but it felt good. There wasn't much going on at home, but it sure felt good to get the weight of work just out of the way. I hate living a life of regrets and missing out. I want so much more to be able to do the right thing and then enjoy the peace of having done it. And so any time I do anything for the Lord, once again, there are no regrets. 

The Passionate Man (v. 167) 
My soul keeps Your testimonies, and I love them exceedingly. Keeping the law can often be done out of duty. But, this says that my soul keeps...and i love them. The innermost part of my being desires to keep the promises that God has extended to us, what he holds dear. Again, as I have seen, doing the will of God, when it is not out of guilt, yields peace. And in this phrase the Psalmist reminds me that that practice of doing it is out of not just love, but exceeding love. 

On this earth, I see this exceeding love with my wife. The joy of being with her yields a desire to do anything for her. I see this in my kids in my desire to want them to have the best yields a desire to do anything for them. Thus, acts of service seem easy, so why is it with me that giving at times seems hard. Maybe God it is because I am a pleaser, meaning I like to please people. And I get caught sometimes wanting to please my family and yet wanting to please those that need it as well, and often need it more. 

The Lord spoke to Moses to ask the children of Israel for funds in regards to building the tabernacle and he didn't just want givers, but wanted every man that giveth it willingly with his heart (KJV). Just like doing the work of the law exceedingly, I am to give willingly. 

The Perfect Man (v. 168) 
I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, for all my ways are before You. Nothing is not seen by Him. His ways are ever before Me. Lord, if I could continue to live life with no regrets, it would be a beautiful thing. And Lord, it seems to be that the hallmark of doing that, at least by this text, is begin a person that keep your precepts and your testimonies. In the previous verse the motivation was from the heart and now it is motivation from the head, from the logic that God already sees all that I do anyway, so I might as well do it right the first time. 

Promise: The Word of God is nothing more than a great treasure. And with its practice yields great peace. I ask the Holy Spirit to remind me of this continually, all my days. 

Prayer: Lord, I want to continually stand in awe of You and Your words, more than any other power in this present life. Lord, I want the Word of God to the highest and most valued treasure in my life today. I ask that as I love your word, I would make it clear that I stand in opposition to that which is not your word and is falsehood. I don't want to play both sides of the fence. Lord, I want to praise you and think of praising you more each day. Help me to take a moment to praise you 7 times a day. Lord, I need a smile on my face each moment of each day. I need to be happier in the moment and excited about what you have before me. Help me Lord to love your law. Lord, there is such great reward in doing the right thing. Help me Lord to do that each day, to choose the good. Lord, you have shown me how easy it is to love exceedingly and serve others and do things for others in service to  you, but I also want to be a cheerful giver. Teach me this Lord. Teach me to give in peace with no regrets. Remind me that you are watching anyway and I can always know that I will please you.