KOPH. I have called with [my] whole heart; answer me, O Jehovah I will observe thy statutes.
Psalm 119:145 opens a section that runs to verse 152, and it opens with a man at full stretch. His whole heart is in the cry, and the same breath that asks God to answer also promises obedience. Why does a plea for help come tied to a promise to keep God's statutes?
The psalms keep coming back to this phrase: "with my whole heart." One commentator ties it to David, and to the day he danced before God while his wife Michal watched.
"David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod" (2 Samuel 6:14). This was not just natural excitement, but genuine delight in God. God was coming nearer to His servant. Michal might despise the way he showed his joy, but God valued it at its true worth. We surely owe whole-heartedness to such a God as ours! … This is how David loved to speak to his God. Lord, save us all from dead, respectable formality in the things of God; give us David's spirit.
The prayer does not stop at "answer me." A promise follows, and one writer reads the two halves as cause and effect.
The psalmist expresses his whole-hearted dependence upon the Lord. He is seeking the assurance that God hears his prayer. True dependence leads to obedience, so he adds, "I will keep your statutes." He wants more than a hearing. He wants God to answer his prayer with a complete deliverance, one that would set him free to obey the Lord's testimonies without hindrance.
In the next verse he asks God to save him, but never says from what. That silence teaches something.
The psalmist calls with his whole heart upon the LORD, earnestly declaring his purpose of obedience. Where this is found, it naturally and necessarily leads to serious exercise of heart over the Word: it is the foundation of it. The path is not so simple that we can find it without God; nor is it meant to be; but then we find Him our companion in it. The one praying needs salvation as well. He does not say from what; indeed, from how many things! These are the hindrances that keep coming up against obedience. But they are helps to faith, as everything is that throws us upon God.
Another writer reads that silence the same way.
He cries out for salvation, though he does not say from what. This seems to show that he is simply feeling his own helplessness, whether from personal problems or from troubles caused by others. This salvation would strengthen him to keep God's testimonies.
Crying out here is not weakness. One writer names what it is.
Dependence is the great resource in the evil day, and indeed always, with confidence in the LORD, but according to His word.
Commentators also read this section as the voice of the faithful in Israel in a coming time of trouble.
KOPH. Verses 145-152. The LORD's servant expresses the feelings of the godly remnant of Israel, crying to Him for an answer to their pleadings, and for His salvation. In the darkness of the night they hope in God's word, and count upon His loving kindness. If the enemy has drawn near, they are confident that the LORD is near, and that they can rely on His word at all times.
The verses that follow show what this cry costs in practice.
His dependence is not merely a passive admission that he owes everything to God. It is an active, whole-hearted dependence that calls upon God. It does so with a diligence that leads the believer to rise before dawn to cry to the Lord. And his dependence grows out of confidence, for he can say, "I hope in your words." Dependence, obedience, and confidence mark the godly man. Further, the Word in which his confidence rests becomes the meditation of his heart in the quiet of the night watches.
The opposite of a whole heart is a divided one. One writer traces unanswered prayer back to it.
If there is any question about a saint's honesty, James says, "Purify your hearts, you double-minded." He tells us that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. That man should not think he will get anything from the Lord in prayer. Why are our prayers not answered? … One reason is double-mindedness — the mind half on one thing and half on another. If my mind is half on the world and half on Christ, I may pray every day of my life and get no answer.
- Whole heart — We owe God a whole heart. The alternative is a divided mind that receives nothing.
- Whole cry — Dependence is the resource in the evil day. It is active: crying before dawn, meditating in the night.
- Whole obedience — True dependence produces obedience. "Answer me" and "I will keep your statutes" belong in one breath.
- Whole trust — He never names what he needs saving from. Every hindrance to obedience becomes a help to faith, because it throws him on God.
- Whole answer — He wants more than a hearing: a deliverance complete enough to leave him free to obey without hindrance.
I call upon thee; save me, and I will keep thy testimonies.
In this part of Psalm 119, a man under pressure calls out to God for rescue. He does not ask for an easier life. He asks to be free to hold on to what God has said. The verse links three things that are easy to separate: a cry, a rescue, and a life of obedience.
Dependence that stays silent is not real dependence. One writer presses the point: we know we need God, yet we often say nothing to Him.
Here the soul expresses, and expresses to God, the sense of its dependence. This is an important point. We are dependent, we know ourselves to be dependent, and we remain passively so. This shows a lack of interest in the very thing we need, and a failure to count on God's faithful love. If we did count on it, we would cry out... Here he cries with his whole heart, and declares his purpose of obedience to the Lord's commands.
He asks God to save him, but never says from what. Commentators read that silence in two ways. One takes the unnamed trouble as everything that gets in the way of obeying:
The one who prays needs salvation too. He does not say what from. Indeed, there are so many things — the hindrances that keep turning up in the way of obedience. Yet these are helps to faith, as everything is that throws us back on God.
Another reads it as the honest admission of a man at the end of his own strength:
He cries out for salvation, though he does not say from what. This seems to show that he is feeling his own helplessness, whether from personal problems or from those caused by others. This salvation would strengthen him to keep God's testimonies.
Notice the order in the verse: the rescue comes first, and the keeping follows it. The request is for a deliverance thorough enough that nothing is left standing between him and obedience.
The psalmist expresses his whole-hearted dependence on the Lord, seeking to know that God hears his prayer. True dependence leads to obedience, and so he adds, "I will keep your statutes." He wants more than to be heard. He wants God to answer his prayer with a complete deliverance that would set him free to obey the Lord's testimonies without hindrance.
Yet the word is not just a duty waiting on the far side of rescue. He already loves it.
Then he looks for deliverance so that, once he has it, he may keep them: no hindrance, and his heart set that way... Deliverance was certainly sought, but the word itself is loved. All this goes together necessarily in the soul.
Psalm 119 uses several different words for God's word, each with its own shade. "Testimony" is one of them, and the Hebrew behind it points to the idea of a witness.
(2) Testimony (Eduth)—witness, testimony.
That witness points two ways at once. It also asks something of us before we can keep it.
Remember what we said about this word "testimonies"? It testifies what God is, and it also shows me what I ought to be. Before we can "keep" His testimonies, we must first have received them, accepted them, and be willing to obey.
One writer reads this section (verses 145–152) as the voice of a faithful group in Israel. They call on God while the enemy closes in.
The Lord's servant expresses the feelings of the godly remnant of Israel. He cries to the Lord for an answer to their pleadings, and for His salvation. In the darkness of the night they hope in God's word, and count on His loving kindness. If the enemy has drawn near, there is confidence that the Lord is near, and that His word can be relied on at all times.
The whole section is read as a stretch of spiritual struggle rather than settled calm:
The next section is harder to characterise; but as a fifth it seems to speak of exercise — not, in the first part at least, so much from the difficulties and trials of the road, as over the word of God itself: that healthy exercise which one wishes we all knew more of.
- Cry. Knowing you need God and then saying nothing to Him shows you are not counting on His love. Here the whole heart calls out.
- Salvation. The danger is never named. Commentators read it either as the many hindrances to obedience or as plain helplessness.
- Freedom. He asks for a complete rescue — one that leaves him free to obey without hindrance.
- Keeping. Testimonies show what God is and what I ought to be. We must receive and accept them before we can keep them.
- Confidence. The enemy draws near, but so does the Lord — and His word holds good at all times.
I anticipate the morning-dawn and I cry I hope in thy word.
Psalm 119:147 sits in a section where enemies press in on the psalmist, and he turns that pressure into prayer. His day starts before the light does. He can call out into the dark because he has staked everything on what God has said.
Older English translations open the verse with "I prevented the dawning of the morning." That word has changed meaning since then. One writer lists it among the words that now mislead readers:
Some Old English words used to mean something different from what they mean now. The old word now misleads… So "prevent" (Ps. 21:3; Ps. 59:10; Ps. 79:8; Ps. 88:13; Ps. 119:147-148) means the same as our modern word "anticipate."
He is not stopping the dawn. He is getting ahead of it.
Rising early is not the point in itself. One commentator reads the early hour as a sign of how active the psalmist's dependence on God is:
His dependence is not just a passive admission that he owes everything to God. It is an active, whole-hearted dependence that calls on God. It comes with a diligence that makes the believer rise before dawn to cry to the Lord. And his dependence grows out of confidence, for he can say, "I hope in your words." So the godly man is marked by dependence, obedience, and confidence.
The crying and the hoping are not two separate moods. The Word he had been reading created the confidence he brings to the prayer:
Through all this the Word gets a large place with him, just as surely as God does. He is up before the dawn, crying out to God, yet with a hopeful expectancy that the Word had worked in him. More than that, he is awake before the night watches, thinking over God's sayings and testing what he knows. He keeps finding the drag of his own nature on him, and for that he has to turn to Jehovah's loving-kindness for life-giving energy.
An early riser could start to treat his own devotion as leverage with God. One commentator rules that out:
Still, his whole-hearted diligence is not the ground of his appeal to the Lord. The ground is the loving-kindness in the heart of the Lord. That is where he looks for the life-giving energy that will keep him going, even though his enemies draw near with mischief in their hearts.
The Gospels show the same pattern in Jesus. After a day crowded with need, He gets up long before daylight to pray:
He had been busy early and late with the sorrows of others. Yet here we find Him far ahead of the dawn, while it was still the dark of night, so that He could talk with His Father… And if He withdrew like this to be with God — Himself the Lord God — before He started the work of the day, can we wonder that we fail so much in outward work, when we fail even more in this inward closeness with our Father? Be sure of this: the secret of holy strength and endurance in service is found there alone.
The verse also has an edge for how we order our hours. One writer turns it into a question of what comes first:
When do we read the word of God?… People who have to get up early and have much to do often feel a strong pull to put off their private reading of the word of truth until later in the day. The result is that other things fill the mind. They either give up reading, or cannot settle down to study the word, and so they decline in soul. The best things in Israel were devoted to the Lord… The manna came down early, and they had to gather it before sunrise; and our Lord said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness."
- Anticipate. The old phrase "I prevented the dawning" means he got ahead of the morning. His prayer started before the day did.
- Dependence. The early hour is not the virtue. It is proof of a leaning on God that acts, not one that is only admitted.
- Word first. The Word he turned over in the night watches produced the hope he brings to the darkness.
- Loving-kindness. His diligence is never the ground of his appeal. He expects an answer because of God's heart, not his own record.
- Christ's pattern. Jesus rose long before day to be with His Father. That is where strength for the day's work comes from — and why we so often lack it.
Mine eyes anticipate the night-watches, that I may meditate in thy word.
In verse 147 the psalmist cries for help before dawn. Here he is awake through the night as well, with his mind at work on what God has said. Two questions follow: what did the older wording "prevent the night watches" mean, and why does this man give up sleep for Scripture?
Older translations say his eyes "prevent the night watches." Today that sounds as if he stopped them. One writer lists this among the words in the Psalms that have changed meaning:
To change Old English words whose meaning used to be different from what it is now. The old word now misleads. For instance, "leasing" (Ps. 4:2, Ps. 5:6) is not gleaning, but "lying"... So "prevent" (Ps. 21:3; Ps. 59:10; Ps. 79:8; Ps. 88:13; Ps. 119:147-148) is equivalent to our modern word "anticipate."
So his eyes get there first. The night ran in set watches, and he was awake ahead of them.
This verse sits in a group of eight (145–152) where enemies press the psalmist hard. One commentator reads verses 147 and 148 together as one picture of real reliance on God:
His dependence is not just a passive admission that he owes everything to God. It is an active, whole-hearted dependence that calls on God. He calls with such diligence that he rises before dawn to cry to the Lord. His dependence also comes out of confidence, for he can say, "I hope in your words." So the godly man is marked by dependence, obedience, and confidence. And the Word he trusts becomes what he meditates on in the quiet of the night watches.
The same devotion runs right through the psalm, and the writer keeps returning to it at both ends of the day:
He is ever at it. "Seven times a day" does he praise Jehovah (v. 164). Before the morning breaks he cried: "I hoped in Thy Word" (v. 14). At night he robs the night watches of slumber, as he says, "that I might meditate in Thy Word" (v. 148).
The word "meditate" now carries ideas the psalmist would not recognise. One writer marks the difference:
Meditation has got itself a bad name with Christians, because it is so often linked to Buddhism and eastern religions, where it means emptying the mind. The psalmist's meditation had nothing to do with that. His was a focused meditation — reflecting on God's word.
Why give the slow hours of the night to it instead of just reading more? Because reading and absorbing are not the same thing:
One reason things have so little hold over our hearts is that we meditate on them so little. If we are ever to make truth our own, we must sit down alone and quietly and think it over. I am sure God does meet His people in a wonderful way through a passing verse or line of Scripture. But that is not the same as meditation, and study will not make up for meditation either. It is meditation that forms the affections of the heart.
The wakefulness is not leisure. It comes out of trouble, and it turns towards God's character:
His soul was so deeply concerned that he rose from sleep before dawn to cry for help, for his hope was in God's Word (v. 147). In fact, through the night he lay awake with the same concern to meditate in the Word of God. Can there be any doubt that the Lord would hear and respond to the voice of his supplications? Not at all. He is a God of loving-kindness, and He would revive His troubled servant according to His justice, which is just as involved as His loving-kindness (v. 149).
Other writers hear in this section the voice of a faithful group in Israel under pressure from enemies:
In the darkness of the night they hope in God's word, and count on His loving-kindness. If the enemy has come near, they are sure that Jehovah is near, and that they can rely on His word at all times.
So what does a busy reader today do with a man who stayed awake to think about Scripture?
Most of us are very busy, with far too much to do. We read the word, we pray and then move on to something else... Here is a man choosing to stay awake at night to reflect on, think about, and chew over what God has written. Meditation was of enormous importance to the psalmist... All-night sessions may not be practical for many of us, but giving time for quiet reflection on what God has written should be a habit for each of us.
- Anticipate. "Prevent" means to get there first. His eyes open ahead of the night watches, so God's Word gets the first hour, not the leftover one.
- Pressure. Trouble is what wakes him. Surrounded by enemies, he lies awake with the Word instead of his fears.
- Focus. This meditation is not an emptying of the mind but a filling of it with what God has written.
- Formation. Study alone will not do the work. Turning truth over alone and quietly is what shapes the affections of the heart.
- Habit. All-night sessions may not suit everyone. But unhurried reflection on God's Word should be a regular habit, not an emergency measure.
Hear my voice according to thy loving-kindness O Jehovah, quicken me according to thy judgment.
Psalm 119:149 is a two-part cry, and both halves rest on something in God, not on the man praying. He asks God to hear him because God loves, and to give him life because God is just. He prays it early and late, with enemies closing in.
He has been praying hard. Yet his effort is not what he puts forward when he asks God to act.
His whole-hearted diligence is not the ground of his appeal to the Lord; instead, it is the loving-kindness in the heart of the Lord. To this he looks for the reviving strength of life to keep him going, though his enemies draw near with evil in their hearts.
The diligence is real, even if it earns nothing. One writer describes his nights, and what he found pulling the other way.
He is up before the dawn, crying out to God, yet with the hopeful expectancy which the Word had worked in him. Before the night watches he is awake, thinking over God's sayings and testing what he knows. All the while he feels the drag of nature on him. For that he has to turn to Jehovah's loving-kindness for reviving strength, so that he can tell what comes from Him, according to His unfailing judgment.
Older translations render the request "quicken me." The word behind it points to reviving, and the psalmist uses it again and again.
The Hebrew word chayah carries the force of "to revive, or give new life" in a moral sense in the Old Testament; so we read "quicken me again." In Psalm 119 the psalmist asked nine times to be quickened — according to God's word, or His righteousness, or His judgements.
If the psalmist has already said that God's word gave him life, the repeated request looks strange. One writer sets the answer against the fuller truth found in the New Testament.
The Psalmist says that God's Word has quickened him in verse 50, yet again and again he desires to be quickened. The word here carries more the sense of being revived, of being restored to stronger life. In Old Testament times man was still under test. Only when we come to the New Testament is that testing over, and man formally declared dead in trespasses and sins. So only in the New Testament does the full truth of quickening appear.
The second half of the verse names the standard for the renewal asked for. The ESV calls it God's justice; older translations read "your judgment" — God's own mind about what is right.
He looked to God, as we shall, with a true heart and in distress — and he looked according to the kindness of Jehovah. But he wanted God's power to work in him, to quicken him, to give him life according to the mind of God: that is, life whose nature and desires match God's judgment. He is not speaking as a dead man, but of moral quickening.
The verse is a request, but it carries no anxiety. Both halves rest on what God is, and that settles the outcome.
Can there be any doubt that the Lord would hear and answer the voice of his prayers? None at all; for He is a God of loving-kindness, and He would surely revive His troubled servant according to His justice, which is just as much involved as His loving-kindness.
- Cry. The prayer rises from a man surrounded by enemies. He has been awake before dawn and through the night watches, thinking over God's word.
- Ground. His diligence is not what he pleads; the appeal rests on the loving-kindness in God's own heart.
- Gift. "Quicken me" asks for reviving — being restored to stronger life. The psalmist repeats the plea through Psalm 119, even after saying God's word had already given him life.
- Standard. God's judgment sets the measure of the life he asks for. Its nature and desires must match God's own mind about what is right.
- Certainty. Because both halves of the request name what God is — steadfast love and justice — the answer is not in doubt.
They have drawn nigh that follow after mischief they are far from thy law.
Psalm 119 is one long song of a heart that loves God's word, written by someone who is not sheltered while he sings. Here he names the pressure he is under. People are closing in on him, and what marks them out is not their nearness but their distance from God's law. (Older translations say these enemies "follow after mischief"; the ESV has "persecute me with evil purpose.")
Verse 150 falls inside a block of eight verses that begins with a cry and ends with confidence. One summary of this section describes the whole movement in a sentence:
Verses 145-152. These verses give the feelings of the godly remnant of Israel. The Lord's servant cries to Him for an answer to their pleadings, and for His salvation. In the darkness of the night they hope in God's word, and count upon His loving-kindness. If the enemy has drawn near, there is confidence that the Lord is near, and that His word can be relied on at all times.
Another writer gives the same eight verses a single heading, and it puts the enemy and the trust side by side:
Whole-hearted dependence upon the Lord when surrounded by enemies bent on mischief.
One writer explains where this psalm sits, and why that matters:
Psalm 119 is in general the law written in the heart. This gives it an important place among the psalms. It is also clearly tied to Israel's sorrows in the last days, and to their earlier departure from God. Each division of the psalm shows, I think, a different stage of what the heart passes through as the law is written on it.
People are drawing near; God's law is nowhere in them. One writer says that gap shows what their approach really is:
Some drew near who follow after wickedness, but this is only hypocrisy, for in fact they are far from God's law and therefore from God (v. 150).
Their quarrel is not only with a man. It is with what he is busy with. They break in on the very thing the psalm keeps describing — a heart at work over God's word:
He is not allowed to do this undisturbed. The wicked are near, and threatening mischief; enemies in heart and will to that which occupies him. But the Lord too is near, the Rock on which all these waves break in vain.
Earlier in this section the psalmist is awake at night, hoping in God's word. Yet when danger closes in, he does not point to that record as his reason for being heard:
His whole-hearted diligence is not the ground of his appeal to the Lord; it is the loving-kindness in the heart of the Lord. He looks to this for the life-giving energy to sustain him, though his enemies draw near with mischief in their hearts.
The next verse answers this one: they are near, but so is God. One writer ties that to a day at Dothan, where the prophet Elisha and his servant were surrounded by enemy soldiers:
There were two hosts around Dothan that day. The servant saw the Syrians and was dismayed; the prophet saw the heavenly armies and was confident. It was the same with Jacob. When the angels of God met him, as recorded in Genesis 32:1, he called the place Mahanaim — "two hosts." As the psalmist puts it in Psalm 119:150-151, "They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose … (but) you are near." Danger may indeed be close, but God is nearer to us than all our foes. We may well ask ourselves, which host do we see today?
- Near. People are closing in with harm in mind. That is the plain trouble of the verse: they will not let him sit undisturbed over God's word.
- Far. What defines them is their distance from God's law. Drawing near while living far from His law is hypocrisy, and distance from the law means distance from God.
- Ground. His appeal does not rest on his own hard work or his nights spent over God's word. It rests on the loving-kindness in God's heart.
- Nearer. God answers their nearness with a greater nearness. He is the Rock on which all these waves break in vain.
- Sight. Two hosts surround the believer, as at Dothan; the question the verse leaves is which one you are looking at.
Thou, Jehovah, art near, and all thy commandments are truth.
Two lines stand side by side in this part of Psalm 119: those chasing after harm are close, and the LORD is close. The psalmist does not measure his enemies. He names who else is on the field, and he holds to a word that danger cannot change.
The verse before speaks of pursuers closing in; this verse answers with a second nearness. One writer sets the two side by side. He points to the morning when the prophet Elisha's servant woke to find the city of Dothan ringed by an enemy army.
There were two armies around Dothan that day. The servant saw the Syrians and lost heart; the prophet saw the heavenly armies and was confident. As the Psalmist puts it in Psalm 119:150-151, "They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose… (but) You are near." Danger may be close at hand, but God is nearer to us than all our foes. We may well ask ourselves which army we see today. Is it the crowd of those who hate us, or the company of "ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation" (Heb. 1:14)?
Knowing that God is near is not automatic. One writer traces where this discovery comes from.
Because he depends on the Lord with his whole heart, he makes a discovery. Though his enemies draw near to do him harm, the Lord is near to preserve. And His commandments are truth, firmly established for ever.
The word "near" cuts both ways in this psalm. The wicked draw near too. One writer explains why their nearness counts for nothing.
Some drew near who follow after wickedness, but this is only hypocrisy, because in fact they are far from God's law and therefore far from God (v. 150). But the Lord is near, for the sake of all those who draw near to Him in truth, who recognise His commandments as truth. For concerning His testimonies, every believer can agree that God has founded them for ever, whether he has known this for a long time or not.
The two halves of the verse belong together. One writer pictures what happens when the wicked come up against them.
He is not left undisturbed. The wicked are near, and threatening mischief; enemies in heart and will to what occupies him. But the LORD too is near, the Rock on which all these waves break in vain. The truth stands, and nothing can change it. That is what His commandments are. Yes, His testimonies have long been known as fixed for ever on His own unchangeable foundations.
It might seem needless to say that what God commands is true. One writer notes that the psalm says it anyway, and that the reason lies in where the word comes from.
This is obvious, given the source, but it is still emphasised here, so I will emphasise it. God's word is true.
Nearness to God does something inside a person too. One writer describes what a sense of His presence produces when an enemy is in view.
The sense of His presence gives joy, calmness, and courage in the presence of the enemy, and in the difficulties of the way we rest in Him. The presence of God, a true and real thing for the heart, keeps the conscience awake and the heart filled with quiet confidence.
- Near, and nearer. Two parties close in on the psalmist at once. The pursuers are near, but God is nearer than every foe. The question is which army you see.
- Near because dependent. Whole-hearted dependence on the Lord is what finds Him near to preserve.
- Near in truth. The wicked can come close and still be far from God's law and from God. Real nearness belongs to those who recognise His commandments as truth.
- Near and unmoved. God is the Rock, and the waves of the wicked break on Him in vain. His commandments are truth, and nothing can alter truth.
- Near and steadying. A felt sense of His presence gives calm and courage in front of the enemy, and keeps the heart in quiet confidence.
From thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.
Enemies press close in this part of the psalm. The psalmist answers them with something he learned long ago from God's testimonies: God founded them to last for ever.
Two things are near at once. Enemies threaten the psalmist, but his answer is not that the danger is small. God is nearer still, and what God has said stands on ground nobody can shift.
The wicked are near, and threatening mischief; enemies in heart and will to what occupies him. But the Lord is near too, the Rock on which all these waves break in vain. The truth abides: nothing can alter that; and this is what His commandments are. Yes, His testimonies have long been known as fixed for ever on His own unchangeable foundations.
One writer puts it in a single line:
In the depths, the confidence of faith is in the word known of old to be for ever.
To say God founded His testimonies for ever says two things at once. Nothing can change them, and nothing can stop them coming true. That second half matters, because these verses are a cry for rescue. The psalmist is not asking for any deliverance he can get; he is asking for the deliverance God's own word has already promised.
Faith knew the Lord was near and the path plain. All His commandments were the one true path of security and of God. The Lord's testimonies were founded for ever. They could not change; they will be made good. Only God must come in, and that was his cry and demand here. These verses are a cry for deliverance. But if the cry is true and of God, it must be according to His word. It must make good for ever the truth of that word, in its moral testimonies, and as the foundation of hope.
The psalmist has known this for a long time, and he learned it from the testimonies themselves. But the length of his knowing does not make it true. God founded them, so a new believer stands on the same ground as an old one.
Some drew near who follow after wickedness, but this is only hypocrisy, because in fact they are far from God's law and therefore from God (v. 150). But the Lord is near, for the sake of all those who draw near to Him in truth, who recognise His commandments as truth. For concerning His testimonies, every believer can agree that God has founded them forever, whether he has known this for a long time or not.
Such confidence shows itself in a life. The lines just before this one show a man who prays before dawn and turns God's word over at night.
His dependence is not merely a passive admission that he owes God everything in a general way. It is an active, whole-hearted dependence that calls on God. It does so with a diligence that leads the believer to rise before dawn to cry to the Lord. What is more, his dependence is the outcome of confidence, for he can say, "I hoped in Your word." So the godly man is marked by dependence, obedience, and confidence. Further, the Word he trusts becomes the meditation of his heart, in the quiet of the night watches.
The same psalm says elsewhere that God's word is settled in the heavens for ever. One writer ties that line to this verse.
The source of this word is God, and springing from its source is the truth that the word exists outside of time. "Settled in the heavens for ever." That is a great statement — it stresses that there are no doubts about God's word; we need not fear that He will change His mind. Its truths and its existence are eternal. What God says in time is eternally true… What God has promised in His word is decreed and settled. Everything we as Christians bank on, we rely on because God's word says it. And it is fine: those things are settled in the heavens for ever. There is no reason to let any doubt creep in. Verse 152 says something similar.
- Foundation. God founded His testimonies on His own unchangeable foundations. And the Lord Himself is near, the Rock on which every wave of opposition breaks in vain.
- Unchanging. Founded for ever, they cannot change. God's word is settled in the heavens, so we need not fear that He will change His mind.
- Fulfilled. God will also make them good. The psalmist's cry for rescue asks only for what God's word has already promised.
- Shared. God makes them permanent, not the years we have known them. Every believer stands on the same ground, old or new.
- Formed. Such confidence bears fruit: the believer rises before dawn to call on God and turns His word over at night. Dependence, obedience, and confidence go together.