#DailyDevotion The LORD Is Righteous & His Word Is Life
Psalm 119 137You are righteous, O LORD, and right when You judge (misphat). 138When You gave Your truth (edah), it was fair and completely dependable. 139My zeal consumes me because my enemies forget Your word (dabar). 140Your word (imrah) is very pure, and Your servant loves it. 141I am unimportant and despised, but I don’t forget how You want me to live (piqqud). 142Your righteousness is everlasting, and Your word (torah) is the truth. 143I have suffered trouble and anguish, but I delight in Your commandments (mitsvah). 144The truths (edah) You wrote are always right; make me understand them that I might live.
Our translation makes a verb out of misphat. A more literal translation would be, “Your judgments are right.” Make of that what you will. The first two verses set up the LORD as the righteous One who does what is right in all His ways. We often think the LORD is unfair in how He treats us. We don’t understand what He is working on in our lives. Here it is good to remember He is righteous and everything He does is righteous. When He gives His truth, that truth is fair and dependable. He does it in all faithfulness. It would be good for us to submit to that. As our trust is in Him, He is working all things for our good, this includes all our suffering.
His enemies who forget the LORD’s word, the words He has spoken cause the psalmist zeal to consume him. These enemies must be fellow Israelites who know the word of the LORD. We probably can probably relate to fellow Christians not living up to the standard the LORD has given us and it probably angers us. Of course, some other Christians may be looking at us and thinking the same thing. Nevertheless, our zeal is still for the word of the LORD even if we ourselves are not perfect in performing it. Dabar is word as a whole and imrah has more of a connotation of a spoken word. What Jesus has spoken to us is certainly tried and true. We love when we hear His teachings in the Gospels in particular. Some may go too far with this and become “red letter Christians.” These are people who put an over emphasis on the spoken words of Jesus in the Gospels over and against His word through the prophets and the Apostles. We don’t want to do that. We love all His word to us.
We have a little humility here as he confesses he is unimportant and despised. That state of being will not keep us from forgetting how the LORD wants us to live. Everyone seems to make their own choices in whatever state they are in. Whether good or bad times, it would be best for us not to forget His teachings and to do them.
Verse 142 revives the righteousness theme from the earlier verses. Our translation had been using teaching for torah earlier but now it turns it to word. Either is still probably better than law which is much narrower. The LORD’s righteousness is eternal and related to that His word/teaching is true. A righteous God has true teachings. We would do well to listen, believe and do them. Despite the humble situation above, now we deal with troubles and anguish. What choice are we going to make? Turn from God’s commandments or shall we turn to them as our delight. We will have a better mindset to take delight in them when we are not feeling well.
We continue with the righteousness theme (Hebrew zedek, like Zedekiah). His truths are righteous forever. They do not change with the times. True, some of the Torah, the Law of Moses, were only for the Israelites as a nation in their territory. The truth behind those stipulations is still true for us and we see them fulfilled in Christ Jesus. We should look to see how we may best fulfill them under the Gospel in our day and time. For this, like the psalmist, we pray for understanding that we might live. Jesus tells us in John 5, “24I tell you the truth, if you listen to what I say and believe Him Who sent Me, you have everlasting life, and you will not be judged, but you have come from death to life.”
Heavenly Father, give us a right understanding of Your righteous Word, so we may delight in it, believe it and have eternal life in it. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.