This is The Way – Devo Day 21

Zayin – PSALM 119:49-56

49 Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.
51 The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.
52 When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O LORD.
53 Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake your law.
54 Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.
55 I remember your name in the night, O LORD, and keep your law.
56 This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts.

Psalm 119:49–56 (ESV)

Comfort Found in God’s Word

The psalmist in today’s passage takes his reliance on God’s Word past instruction and encouragement to comfort in the midst of trial. He understands that God is true to His Word and will not forget His promises but it even goes beyond His faithfulness. Think about the fact that God doesn’t owe us anything. He doesn’t need to promise us anything UNLESS He is trying to give us comfort and hope. His faithfulness and trustworthiness is not what is in question. It is whether we, like the psalmist, will think and function from our confidence in His promises.

49 Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

Psalm 119:49–50 (ESV)

The psalmist takes no credit for the hope and comfort that is rising in him. He knows full well that it is the Spirit of God working in him to take comfort from and place hope in God’s promises. It is also important to see that this comfort and hope is not in the absence or resolution of his affliction but rather in the middle of it.

51 The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.
52 When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O LORD.
53 Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake your law.

Psalm 119:51–53 (ESV)

V51 It’s clear that some of the psalmist’s affliction is the ridicule he is experiencing because of his reliance on and love of God’s Word. There is almost a defiant tone that regardless of what the mocking politically correct say the psalmist will not be swayed. The approval of God is more important to him than the approval of man and to be culturally correct.

V52 The psalmist says that remembering God’s faithfulness to His promises and the fulfillment of His prophetic Word brings him comfort. We too can draw comfort from how God has related to man and dealt with circumstances in the past knowing what we can expect from Him as well. Seeing God move, seeing Him interact with humans, and seeing Him at work in His redemptive mission gives us confidence, hope, and comfort whether we see Him with our own eyes or in the stories of His Word.

V53 By the time the psalmist gets here he is not just unintimidated he is “hot”, steaming mad, at the thought of the wicked who disregard and mock God’s Word. He loves God’s Word so much that he’s ready to not just defend His God but to go on the offensive.

54 Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.
55 I remember your name in the night, O LORD, and keep your law.
56 This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts.

Psalm 119:54–56 (ESV)

V54 The psalmist continues saying that not only does God’s Word bring him comfort and stir up in him a passionate loyalty but The Word also fills him with singing, joyful worship. These songs are his companions on the journey of his life.

V55 It is in the dark of the night when doubt, fear, and anxieties often attack. The psalmist says that in those times he found comfort in the name of the Lord and God’s Word.

V56 Then here at the end, the psalmist says that in spite of what he is facing in life (people and circumstances) he considers it joy and a blessing because God’s Word has been faithful. The constant recollection of the Lord and all that He has revealed of himself is the most powerful motivation for obedience. Whatever advantages others may have had, which the psalmist did not enjoy, this supreme privilege has been his – the keeping of God’s precepts.
– This is The Way

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

1. What comfort, hope, or confidence has come to you from God’s Word and the revealing work of the Holy Spirit?
2. Have you ever had to defend God or His Word? What was that like? What happened? Was anything different in you afterward?
3. How do you feel about your obedience to God’s Word? When has it given you cause to celebrate or worship?

IF YOU ARE JUST STARTING AND WANT TO GO BACK AND READ THE PREVIOUS POSTS IN THIS SERIES