Week 8: For the Season of Searching (Psalm 119:9-16) Memory Verse Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105 [9] How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. [10] With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! [11] I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. [12] Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! [13] With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. [14] In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. [15] I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. [16] I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. 94
Sermon Notes 95
Monday Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. Knowing that helps us appreciate the skill it took to write it. This massive tribute to God s word is structured in 22 stanzas with each successive stanza following the letters of the Hebrew alphabet (e.g. Stanza 1 begins with the first letter, Aleph. Stanza 2 begins with the second letter, Beth and so on.) English Bibles actually put the letter s names at the top of each stanza. What they are unable to convey is that every verse within that stanza begins with that stanza s Hebrew letter! So for the Aleph stanza all 8 verses begin with Aleph. Every verse of the Beth stanza begins with Beth. If that were not enough complexity almost every verse mentions God s word!! What is the point of all the painstaking work to hold that structure over 176 verses? The word of God is sufficient for all of life from A to Z. Let today s passage join the ministry efforts of Psalm 119 in your life and convince you all over again that God s written word is sufficient! 2 Timothy 3:16-17 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 96
Notes & Prayers Rejoice - How does the text lead you to thank God? Repent How does the text lead you back to God? Request How does the text lead you to ask for God s help? 97
Tuesday The author of Psalm 119 delights in scripture like he would if he had all riches. He treasures God s word. Peter conveys this same idea when he says, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word (1 Peter 2:2, KJV). A hungry baby in his daddy s arms will all but jump out of them to get to his mother. He treasures his milk. Further, the cognitive, physical, social and psychological development of a baby s first year outpaces any other year hands down. What fuels all that growth? Milk. Other things too, of course. But fundamentally it is simply milk. As we turn to today s reading we could say, let s eat! 1 Peter 1:22-2:3 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation 98
Notes & Prayers Rejoice - How does the text lead you to thank God? Repent How does the text lead you back to God? Request How does the text lead you to ask for God s help? 99
Wednesday What is it about God s word stored up in someone s heart that would keep them from sin (Psalm 119:11)? The Author of Hebrews knew the answer. His word is alive and we don t simply read it. It reads us. God s word reads us. As John Calvin said, as it is God s office to search the heart, so he performs this examination by his word. To fully embrace the way God s word does this we first have to remember something. He sends His word on both a search and rescue mission. He does not expose us to leave us naked and ashamed. Rather, He does so to rescue us from sin s deadly effects. As you read today s passage remember that Jesus our High Priest can handle anything that comes to light in our hearts. Hebrews 4:11-13 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two- edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 100
Notes & Prayers Rejoice - How does the text lead you to thank God? Repent How does the text lead you back to God? Request How does the text lead you to ask for God s help? 101
Thursday Psalm 119 has its own fair share of I will statements. You could read it and come away feeling like you just need to follow the Psalmist s example and do these same things. But look closer. Verse 12 reads, Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! Underneath the Psalmists efforts to know and follow God s word is the reality of God s work in Him. In this case, that God Himself would be the Psalmist s teacher. In this verse and also in verse 10 the Psalmist throws himself on God for help. This is no exercise in self- sufficient rule keeping. God s work of grace is the assumed and active ingredient behind the writer s humble pursuit of knowing and doing God s word. May today s reading give you encouragement and hope. God s saving grace is also grace that changes us from the inside out. Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self- controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. 102
Notes & Prayers Rejoice - How does the text lead you to thank God? Repent How does the text lead you back to God? Request How does the text lead you to ask for God s help? 103
Friday We don t know who wrote Psalm 119. However, the Old Testament scribe Ezra is sometimes mentioned as a candidate. To be clear, we don t know. Nevertheless, listen to this description of Ezra from Ezra 7:10: Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. That sounds like someone who could have written Psalm 119. The other person it sounds like is Jesus. After the Sermon on the Mount, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes (Matt. 7:28-29). Jesus understood and communicated God s word in a way that far surpassed all of His contemporaries. This is no surprise when we consider today s reading. Do you want to grow as someone who understands, does and teaches God s word? The first step is to draw near to Jesus, the Word of God. John 1:1-5, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 104
Notes & Prayers Rejoice - How does the text lead you to thank God? Repent How does the text lead you back to God? Request How does the text lead you to ask for God s help? 105