121 I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors.
122 Give your servant a pledge of good; let not the insolent oppress me.
123 My eyes long for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.
124 Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.
125 I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!
126 It is time for the LORD to act, for your law has been broken.
127 Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.
128 Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way.
Psalm 119:121-128
This passage shows us the Psalmist pleading with God to act. The Psalmist starts by making bold statements about his own life and asking God to not leave him to his oppressors and the insolent. Now we are not completely sure that David wrote these passages in this Psalm but for our arguments sake we are assuming maybe he did. We know that there were times in David’s life that he was revered as King of Israel and there were times in his life that he had many oppressors. But we also know about David that he loved and served God. Not perfectly but he is known as a man after God’s heart so we know that he did serve and love God with his heart and it was his desire to do justly and rightly. Can’t that be said about many of us? It is in my heart to serve God and to do what is just and right, but I know that if not careful, I can fall quickly. I say things I wish I hadn’t, I do things I wish I didn’t but in my heart of hearts it is my desire to do what is just and right. I want to be a servant to the Lord. In this passage, the Psalmist mentions being a servant three times, he wants to be and wants to be seen as a servant of the Lord.
The Psalmist is also pleading with God to deliver him from his oppressors. You get the feeling that maybe he has been praying for deliverance for a while now and he wants to say the right thing to turn things around.
“My eyes long for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.” (v. 123)
Haven’t we all been there before? I know I have. When I felt my prayers were just hitting the ceiling so to speak and I wanted just the right formula, just the right prayer for God to act on my behalf and fulfill his righteous promise to me. In verse 126 the Psalmist states his plea another way.
“It is time for the LORD to act, for your law has been broken.” (v126)
Unfortunately, there is no magic formula to pray to get the Lord to act. But haven’t we all felt that way before? And you can also see in this Psalm that the Psalmist is also asking for understanding and to be dealt with according to God’s steadfast love. That shows us the faith of the Psalmist. Yes he is begging and pleading with the LORD to act but he also knows that just having an understanding of God’s word and His testimonies will sustain him through until the Lord acts.
The last two verses testify to that.
“Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold. Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate ever false way.” (vv 127-128)
The therefore is there to put a marker down that he will keep the faith. If David did write this Psalm, he could have written it after being anointed king, but while he was on the run from Saul. That would have been fitting. Don’t you know that in the 15 or so years that he was on the run from Saul while waiting to take the throne he had to think a time or two “it is time for the Lord to act”? I know I have had things that I prayed for years for before I saw the Lord act on my behalf. But in the end, I could look back and I could see His hand sustaining me through that time. Sometimes we just have to put a marker down in our faith. I think it’s ok to cry out to the Lord, when we are tired and we are begging Him to act. There have been many mornings that my prayer journal is tear stained when I walk away from it, because I have begged the Lord to go ahead and act. And most of the time, He didn’t act in the way or the timing I wanted. But I can honestly say that pouring my heart out to Him restored my faith to keep walking it out. I can also say that when He does act it is typically not the way I thought it would play out in my mind, But it is so much better than I could ask or think.
Restore 