As Psalm 119 draws to a close, the psalmist prays with increasingly greater urgency. Throughout this psalm, he maintains his confidence in God’s word to meet. Yet, as the psalm draws to a close, the writer’s difficult circumstances have not changed. In the opening of this stanza, he is still suffering affliction. And his experience both issues us a warning to heed and gives us an example to follow. Devotion to the Lord will not solve all your problems. It may produce new, big, and long problems.

The psalmist experienced great affliction. But he did not allow his chronic suffering to become an excuse for forsaking God. When things go wrong, you do not have to go with them. Keep trusting God. 

This is what we find in this section of Psalm 119. The psalmist continues to respond to his suffering with prayer. He prays with greater urgency. In verses 154, 156, and 159, the psalmist repeats the same request three times in this stanza: “Give me life.” The psalmist was at the point of death. He cries out to God to put him on his feet again. This is not the first time the psalmist has made this request. He asks the Lord to give him life throughout this psalm. This is the first stanza in which this petition is repeated three times. It is not vain repetition. It is the urgent cry of one whose life is on the line. 

John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Abundant life is not about health, wealth, fame, success, and happiness. Abundant life is about your relationship with God. Being right with God is life – real life, new life, abundant life, eternal life. Abundant life does not guarantee a problem-free existence. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” There will be times when your life is on the line. But God is able to revive you. 

What must I do for God to revive me when my life is on the line? 

A Godly Attitude Toward Self 

Do you know how a seesaw works?  

• When Jack is up, Jill is down. 
• When Jill is up, John is down. 

Theology works the same way. You can God cannot be exalted in your life at the same time. God will not revive you if you think you can make it on your own. 

Only God can deliver you. Verse 153 says, “Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.” There are two petitions here. First, he asks, “Look on my affliction.” He is not asking God to look and notice what he is going through. He is asking God to look on his situation with compassion. Faith assumes that for God to see is for God to do something about what he sees, which is explicitly stated in the second petition: “Deliver me.” 

In the second clause of the verse, the psalmist explains why the Lord should answer his prayer: “For I do not forget your law.” Here is a man who did not forget the law of God. Yet he was in affliction from which he needed deliverance. He asks the Lord to look upon his affliction and deliver him. 

• It is not an expression of human pride. 
• It is not an example of spiritual manipulation. 
• It is a statement of true faith. 

The psalmist was confident in the faithfulness of God to care for those who live by his word. Psalm 35:15 says, “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.” 

Only God can defend you. Verse 154 says, “Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise.” The psalmist was on trial. He could not defend himself. He needed someone to speak on his behalf. Convinced only the Lord could defend him, he prays…

• Plead my cause. 
• Speak on my behalf. 
• Be my advocate.  

Likewise, he prays, “Redeem me.” He asks God to release him from bondage and restore him to safety. Psalm 43:1 says, “Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust men deliver me!”

A Godly Attitude Toward Sin 

In 1973, Dr. Karl Menninger of the Menninger Clinic published a book entitled “Whatever Became of Sin?” As Menninger treated people with various mental and emotional problems, he noted a disturbing trend. People did not take responsibility for their actions. There was little sense of guilt and shame. Things have only grown worse. We have lost our sense of the sinfulness of sin – even in the church. We need a renewed sense of the sinfulness of sin. 

What does it mean to have a godly attitude toward sin? 

Embrace the nature of salvation. Verse 155 says, “Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.” This verse teaches two lessons about the nature of salvation. 

Salvation is far from the wicked. There are seasons of receptivity. If you are an unbeliever, repent of your sins and trust Jesus Christ for salvation today! Psalm 95:7-8 says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.”2 Corinthians 6:2 says, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Verse 155 does not say the wicked are far from salvation. It says salvation is far from the wicked. The issue is not that you can go so far that God cannot forgive you. The issue is that you can go so far that you will not want to repent.  

Salvation is found in the word. The psalmist does not render a blanket indictment of the wicked. He gives a specific reason why salvation is far from the wicked. Verse 155 says, “Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.” Salvation is far from the wicked because salvation is found in the word. The essence of wickedness is the refusal to hear, believe, and obey the word of God. Salvation is only found in the word of God. 2 Timothy 3:15 describes the word of God as “the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Embrace the mercy of God. Verse 156 says, “Give me your mercy, O Lord; give me life according to your rules.” Again, there are two prayer requests in this verse. First, the psalmist prays, “Give me your mercy, O Lord.” Mercy is when the Lord holds back the wrath, troubles, or punishment we deserve. This is what the psalmist asks. “Don’t give me what I deserve,” he prays. “Give me your pity, compassion, and tender mercies.” The psalmist acknowledges that God does not owe him any favors. He also acknowledges the goodness of God in which he delights to intervene on the behalf of those who trust him. 

Psalm 103:13 says, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.” This is our God. And this is one of the most wonderful things we can know about God. God is merciful. Exodus 34:6 says, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” Based on God’s mercy, the psalmist prays, “Give me life according to your rules.”

Embrace the walk of faithfulness. Verse 157 says, “Many are my persecutors and my adversaries.” The psalmist speaks of opposition throughout this psalm. In this verse, he describes the reality and severity of this opposition in more emphatic terms. 

• Persecutors pursue him like hunters relentlessly chasing prey. 
• Adversaries stand against him, determined to stop his spiritual progress. 

This is not an interpersonal disagreement with another person or social tension within a particular circle of relationships. This is a widespread conspiracy against the psalmist. Many persecutors and adversaries opposed the psalmist. He could not control what was happening. But he could determine his response.

Verse 157 says, “Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies.” He would not allow what his enemies said or did to get him off course. He refused to stop, turn around, or detour his path of trust and obedience W. Graham Scroggie puts it bluntly: “When we suffer, we should not swerve.”

Embrace the grief of sin. With the same tone as verse 155, the psalmist speaks a hard word against the wicked in verse 158. He calls them “the faithless,” which denotes they are people who have broken their covenant relationship with God. Thus, their words and actions were spiritually unreliable. The term even carries the idea of treachery. The psalmist says, “I look at the faithless with disgust.” 

Why? He says, “Because they do not keep your commands.” This statement demonstrates the godly character and holy zeal of the psalmist. He was grieved by the way the faithless lived. His concern was not about what they did to him. It was their rebellion against God. William MacDonald wrote: “It is a mark of spiritual maturity to grieve more over the insults to God than over wrongs to oneself.”

A Godly Attitude Toward Scripture

 This stanza of Psalm 119 highlights three reliable things. 

• There is the reliable psalmist, who did not forget God’s law or swerve from God’s testimonies. 
• There is the reliable God, who is faithful to deliver and to redeem by his mercy. 
• There is the reliable word that is always worthy of our love and trust. 

This is the message of the closing verses of this stanza. God revives the one who has a godly attitude toward scripture. 

Love the word of God. The psalmist declares his love for God’s word through this psalm. Verse 159 is different because it is a prayer request: “Consider how I love your precepts!” “Consider” is the Hebrew word translated “look” in verses 153 and 158. In verse 153, the psalmist asks God to look and consider his affliction. Now he asks God to look and consider his affection. Do you love the word of God? Reading, hearing, studying, memorizing, meditating, believing, and obeying God’s word is important. It is more important to love it. You can learn and live scripture without loving it. You cannot love scripture without learning and living it. 

 The psalmist prays, “Consider how I love your precepts!” Then he prays, for the third time in this stanza, “Give me life according to your steadfast love.” Psalm 119 celebrates the absolute and total sufficiency of scripture. But more than the word of God, you need the God of the word. The Bible is not a math book with formulas you must figure out to master life. It is a love story in which God is the Lover, and you are the beloved. 

John Phillips wrote: “A man might come to that sign and note its direction carefully to make sure he knows which way to go. He might even thoroughly investigate the signpost itself – measure it, photograph it, walk around it – and make no progress at all. It is only a sign. A man who became so infatuated with a signpost that he pitched a tent beneath it so as to be close to it instead of following the directions it gave would be a fool. The inspired word of God points us to the incarnate word of God. It is when we get to him that revival begins. The Bible is indispensable in pointing the way, but it is not itself the way. Jesus is the way.”

Trust the word of God. Verse 160 says, “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”This statement of faith exhorts us to trust two certainties.

The word of God is true. In verse 160a, the psalmist declares the word of God is true. He does not say the word contains truth. And he does not say the word is true. He says, “The sum of your word is truth.” His point is emphatic. The whole of scripture, in its totality, without exception, is true. Matthew 5:18 says, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

• Every precept is true. 
• Every principle is true. 
• Every prophecy is true. 
• Every proverb is true. 
• Every promise is true. 

The word of God is eternal. The closing clause of verse 160 declares: “Every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” This statement complements the previous affirmation. The reason we can trust scripture as objective truth is because of its eternal nature. Herbert Lockyer asks, “Is it not comforting to know that God has never had to regret or to retract, amend or reverse any word of his, and that every word bearing the imprint of his character will outlive the stars?” 

The word of God is true, and it does not change. The Bible is not the book of the week. It is not the book of the month. It is not the book of the year. It is the book of the ages. The righteous rules of God endure forever. Isaiah 40:8 declares: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”