TAU. Let my cry come near before thee, Jehovah give me understanding according to thy word.
Psalm 119 ends not with a shout of victory but with a plea. The writer asks that his cry reach God. He asks that God give him understanding measured by His own word. This is a man in trouble. He asks for a mind shaped by Scripture before he asks for anything else.
Why does the psalm end this way? One commentator explains, and shows who these words speak for:
It may seem strange that in this last section of the psalm the psalmist is crying out for God to step into his troubles. We might expect him instead to end with the triumphant joy of blessing already received. But this is the language of Israel. They are suffering, just before the gracious deliverance God will give them at the time of the end. So it holds instruction that should appeal to Israel in a time of suffering. It also helps believers now who have not found the full knowledge of deliverance from the power of indwelling sin.
What does he want his cry to bring him? Light — and light from one source only:
Their cry goes up to Jehovah for light to break out from His word for them: there could be no true knowledge except through the Word, which also gives them life so that they can have it.
One commentator sums up both verses in one line:
(Verses 169-170) The prayer of the godly man for a mind formed by the Word of God, and for the Lord's deliverance from his trials.
The phrase "according to your word" carries weight. It names the measure of the understanding he wants. It also sets an order — cries first, praise afterwards:
When men have gone astray, cries and pleas come first, praises and testimony after. Still the cry and the plea is a godly one, though it comes out of need. He seeks understanding, intelligence — not exactly of the word, but according to it. It is that wisdom in discernment which those taught in God's word have. They see clearly in what is before them. No doubt it is God's mind and will they discern; but they discern in circumstances. They walk not as fools, but as wise. The word has formed their judgment.
If understanding could be earned by study alone, the verse would be unnecessary. One writer locates the real bottleneck elsewhere:
This is the secret of true intelligence: people do not understand the word by having brighter minds than others, but by a more obedient heart. It is the single-eyed desire to do the will of God that ensures intelligence of His word. And it is the Spirit of God who produces both the one and the other. It is our own will that darkens the understanding. Where the Spirit of God gives a soul the desire to please the Lord, the obstacle in the way of His word disappears. When by grace we want to do His will, the light of God is not withheld.
Will such a prayer be heard? The same commentator points to the psalmist's repeated word "let":
Four times the word "let" is used to ask God to step in, for the psalmist knows that only what God allows will be effective. Of course, God would fully allow his cry to come before Him, and He is glad to give His saints understanding according to His Word.
The verse is meant to be used. One writer ties it to how we handle Scripture, and to whom we should not trust:
This shows how vital it is to use Scripture prayerfully, as we may read in Luke 10:39 — 11:4 and Acts 6:4. "Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word!" This is as necessary to glorify Him in our souls as in our service of His name. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Zeal and energy without it expose us to constant danger. As men of God, we ought to trust neither our own hearts nor the direction of others. We ought to obey God rather than men.
- Cry first. Pleading comes before praise. A cry born out of need is still a godly cry, and the psalm ends with such cries.
- Understanding, not information. He asks for understanding according to the word — a judgment so formed by Scripture that he sees his own circumstances clearly.
- Obedience unlocks it. A more obedient heart understands the word, not a brighter mind. The Spirit produces both the desire and the discernment.
- God is willing. The psalmist prays "let," because only what God allows will work. And God is glad to give His people understanding according to His Word.
- Then the mouth opens. Prayer leads to praise, and praise to speaking to others. That order — cry, understanding, praise, testimony — is the pattern of the whole section.
Let my supplication come before thee deliver me according to thy word.
Psalm 119 ends with a section where the writer is still in trouble and still asking. Verse 170 is the second of two requests. First he asks that his cry reach God at all. Then he asks for rescue — rescue measured by what God has already said.
Verse 169 asks that a cry come near. Verse 170 asks with more force. Older translations call it a "supplication" where the ESV has "plea." One writer notes the rise in intensity, then points to the phrase that makes the prayer impossible to ignore:
In verse 170 the cry rises to supplication — and he asks for deliverance, also according to God's Word. How could God ever ignore a prayer like this one, made "according to His Word"? For God's Word will stand when all else fails.
Verse 170 asks with the word "let," and so do the verses around it. That is not weak praying. It is how a person prays who knows the outcome rests with God, not with the force of his own asking.
Four times he uses the word "let" as he longs for God to step in, for the psalmist knows that only what God allows will be effective. Of course, God would fully allow his cry to come before Him, and He is glad to give His saints understanding according to His Word.
The words "according to your word" ask for nothing beyond what God has already promised. One writer points to what happens when you pray with a Bible promise in hand:
You will find it the very strength of your soul to go before God with a verse from Scripture and say: "This is written in Your word. Because You cannot lie, I know that I have got that thing."
The same two requests run through the whole closing section — light from God's word, and the deliverance His word promises:
Their cry goes up to Jehovah, asking that light break out from His word for them. There could be no true knowledge except through the Word, and the Word also gives them life so that they may have that knowledge. They plead the promise of deliverance too. When He has delivered them and taught them His statutes, their lips will pour out praise.
Verse 170 asks; praise and public witness only come in the verses after it. That order holds a lesson about where our speaking to others should come from:
When men have gone astray, cries and supplications go first, praises and testimony after. Still the cry and supplication is a godly one, though it arises from need… Then the soul looks to be heard and delivered. Still its delight is in God's revealed will. The soul will praise when God has truly taught it — thankfulness comes first — because His will is our own portion first of all, and it comes from God. Then we are free to speak of it to others.
Another writer finds the same movement in the shape of the whole psalm.
The psalm opens with prayer, continues in praise, leading to testimony. This is ever the divine order.
The person praying verse 170 has not yet been rescued. Commentators read this closing section as the voice of a faithful group within Israel in a time of trial — still waiting, still asking:
Verses 169-176. Cries and supplication to Jehovah mark this closing section, because deliverance has not come yet. The remnant long for deliverance, divine help and salvation, and for the time when they shall praise God's righteousness, as taught of Him. In the middle of the trials there is delight in the law of the Lord, along with the confession of having gone astray and so needing God to seek them.
- Cry. The plea in verse 170 is stronger than the one before it. Need presses the words out, and need does not make a prayer less godly.
- Let. The asking stays open-handed. Only what God permits will take effect, and He gladly gives what His word has already offered.
- Word. "According to your word" is both the measure and the guarantee of the rescue. God will not ignore a prayer that asks for nothing beyond His promise, for that promise stands when all else fails.
- Order. Prayer comes first, praise follows deliverance, and testimony to others follows praise. We speak to people out of what we have first received from God.
- Waiting. This prayer comes in the dark, before any answer shows. Delight in God's word and honest confession of having wandered belong to that waiting, not only to the rescue.