PSALMS LESSON 129

     We will continue with the verse by verse study of the 119th
Psalm in Psalms 119:121 "{AIN.} I have done judgment and justice:
leave me not to mine oppressors."

     I have mentioned before in these verses from the 119th Psalm that
I believe David to be the penman. Saul had been the first of the kings
of Israel, and he had done things very displeasing unto God in the
last of his reign. I Samuel 28:7  "Then said Saul unto his servants,
Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and
inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, [there is] a
woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor." You see, instead of
consulting with God, he had turned to a witch for advice. Saul was
evil in the sight of God. David was the opposite of Saul. David had no
counselors except God. David was a good king and judged the people
with God's kind of justice. David's only sins against God was taking
Bathsheba when she was another man's wife, and having her husband,
Uriah, killed, so that he could marry her. In David's whole lifetime,
his heart was stayed upon God. He had done good to the people he
reigned over and had tried to live exactly the way God would have him
to live.  Here, David has come to the only place there had ever been
help for him. He came to God for help. David always upheld God's Word,
and he knew God had never let him down, either.

     Psalms 119:122 "Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the
proud oppress me."

     He is asking God to be his security, here. You could have no
better security than God. That is just what the Lord Jesus did for all
the believers. The proud are not just the enemy of David, but they
rejected God, and they are is His enemy, as well. You stand good for
me, is another way to say what David is asking here.

     Psalms 119:123 "Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the
word of thy righteousness."

     His eyes fail means that he has been looking so intently waiting
to see his salvation that he can barely hold his eyes open any longer.
David wants to hear the righteous Word of God speak up for him against
his oppressors. You could, also, look at this prophetically, and say
that we, too, get to the point that it seems we are about to go under.
We cry out for salvation. Sometimes we look and look, before we see
the salvation in our life.

     Psalms 119:124 "Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy,
and teach me thy statutes."

     Notice David calls himself, thy servant. He has made his
commitment to God, and he will not go back on it. He asks for God's
mercy. He says, after you have forgiven me by your mercy, teach me thy
statutes.

     Psalms 119:125 "I [am] thy servant; give me understanding, that I
may know thy testimonies."

     I hear many people say that they have read the Bible, and still
do not know what it is saying. The Holy Spirit of God reveals the
meaning to those who diligently seek out the Word. We must pray and
ask God to open our understanding, as David is asking here. David's
desire is to serve God. He wants the Spirit of God to be his Teacher
that he might understand more fully.

     Psalms 119:126 "[It is] time for [thee], LORD, to work: [for]
they have made void thy law."

     When David asks the LORD to work here, he is saying, intervene on
my behalf. David has done all he can do to make things better with
these people, and all the things he has done have been to no avail.
Now he says, Do it for me LORD. They have not only been opposed to
David, but were trying to do away with the law of God, as well.

     Psalms 119:127 "Therefore I love thy commandments above gold;
yea, above fine gold."

     Gold was the most expensive metal at this time and David knew
just how valuable it was, because he had so much of it. All of the
gold stacked up had not been able to free him from this problem. David
knew that the commandments of God were not to be compared with earthly
things like gold. David would have given all the gold in his
possession, if necessary, for the commandments. David did give a
tremendous fortune of gold and silver for the use in building the
temple in Jerusalem.

     Psalms 119:128 "Therefore I esteem all [thy] precepts
[concerning] all [things to be] right; [and] I hate every false way."

     Since these ungodly people around David tried to destroy the law
of God in a previous verse, we see David upholding it even more. David
put the laws of God above everything, except God Himself. David knew
that God and His law were absolute truth. David learned well the
teaching of God, and he knew that anything false was from the devil
himself. David's hate for the false way was really a righteous hate.

     Psalms 119:129 {PE.} "Thy testimonies [are] wonderful: therefore
doth my soul keep them."

     Testimonies, in the verse above, has to do with witness. The
wonderful witness of the Word {Jesus Christ} turned the believing
world upside down. David is saying, that the Word is so wonderful,
is why he keeps them. We can say with David, that the Bible is so
wonderful. You can read the same Scripture a thousand times and find
something brand new every time you read it. The Word of God is alive.
The same Word that ministered to people a thousand years ago is still
current today. The Bible is more current than your daily newspaper. I
could go on and on , but that is wonderful enough for me to desire to
live by it.

     Psalms 119:130 "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth
understanding unto the simple."

     When you read and study the Word of God {Bible}, it is like an
electric light bulb of understanding goes off in your mind. The Word
sheds Light on every aspect of life. It is so strange, to me, that
people who never went beyond the second grade in school are the very
people who understand the meaning of the Scriptures better than some
college graduates. The understanding is a gift from God. This
understanding is not accumulated learning in school. Jesus taught a
simple message of salvation. One of the problems today is that we
complicate it with big words, thinking that makes us look intelligent.

     Psalms 119:131 "I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for
thy commandments."

     This Scripture reminds me of the Scripture that speaks of
hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Matthew 5:6 "Blessed
[are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they
shall be filled." David is so diligently seeking the teachings of God,
that it is as if he is out of breath for the search.

     Psalms 119:132 "Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as
thou usest to do unto those that love thy name."

     Those that love the name of God and His teachings, can get
audience with God at any time. David is asking for the mercy, he has
been reading about, to be available to him. This is like saying, may I
have your attention for a moment. David does not want God to turn away
from him.

     Psalms 119:133 "Order my steps in thy word: and let not any
iniquity have dominion over me."

     Show me, in your Word, what you would have me to do. David is
asking God to protect him from temptations. Let me study your Word,
and let it direct me away from temptation, would be another way of
saying this.

     Psalms 119:134 "Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I
keep thy precepts."

     It is a fact that some men who attack us so bitterly, sometimes
cause us to sin, when we get angry with them. Moses is a very good
example of that, when the people had so angered him, that he disobeyed
God and struck the Rock instead of speaking to it. David is saying,
here, that if God would remove the oppression from these men, he could
better keep God's precepts. He would not be feeling so much anger
toward them, which might cause him to sin.

     Psalms 119:135 "Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and
teach me thy statutes."

     If God looks upon him, not with gloom and a solemn face, then he
says, He made His face to shine upon me. David is speaking as if this
shining down upon him will open his knowledge to the statutes of God.
Perhaps, the following Scripture can say it better than I can.
II Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."  David is
saying, shine your Light in my heart, and let Your Spirit open up my
knowledge of the glory of God.

     Psalms 119:136 "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they
keep not thy law."

     David is weeping so much over the lost people around him that his
tears are like a river. David is not only weeping for the lost people,
but he is, also, weeping for God's law, which has been taken so
lightly. So many times, I have cried out myself, why do they not
understand and keep your law, God?  I suppose this is what is called a
pastor's heart. David, and those who really are concerned about the
lost people of the world around them, have a loving and caring heart.
Many a mother has cried and prayed to God for her lost children. Don't
you know it breaks God's heart to see His creation taking the Word of
God so lightly?
































                             Questions 129

1.  I have done _______ and _________ : leave me not to mine
    oppressors.
2.  Who does the author believe to be the penman here?
3.  What evil council did Saul seek?
4.  Who was David's only counselor?
5.  What was the blemish in David's walk with God?
6.  David always upheld God's _____.
7.  What is David saying, when he asks God to be surety for him?
8.  Who are the proud the enemy of?
9.  What is meant by, mine eyes fail for thy salvation?
10. How does David want God to deal with him?
11. What did David call himself in verse 124?
12. What did David want understanding for?
13. What reveals the meaning of the Scriptures to one seeking to know
    the meaning?
14. What is David saying, when he asks God to work in verse 126?
15. He said he loved what above gold?
16. What was the most expensive metal in David's time?
17. Anything false is of the ______.
18. Thy testimonies are ___________.
19. Who turned the believing world upside down?
20. What does the author believe is wonderful about reading the Word?
21. The entrance of thy _____ giveth light.
22. Strangely enough, who seems to understand the meaning of
    Scriptures better than the college graduates?
23. Why is this so?
24. Quote Matthew chapter 5 verse 6.
25. David is so diligently seeking the teachings of God, that it seems
    like he is doing what?
26. Who can get audience with God any time?
27. Order my steps in thy _______.
28. Deliver me from the __________ of man.
29. Make thy ______ to shine upon thy servant.
30. Quote 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6.
31. What are 2 reasons David is weeping a river of tears?