Twentieth Strophe—Psalm 119:153-160
153 Look upon my suffering and deliver me, for I have not forgotten your law. 154 Defend my cause and redeem me; preserve my life according to your promise. 155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek out your decrees. 156 Your compassion is great, O Lord; preserve my life according to your laws. 157 Many are the foes who persecute me, but I have not turned from your statutes. 158 I look on the faithless with loathing, for they do not obey your word. 159 See how I love your precepts; preserve my life, O Lord, according to your love. 160 All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.
Ever been desperate? We don’t want to be desperate. We hate the feeling. If we had our way, we would happily rid our lives of all desperate moments.
It may surprise you, but sometimes God wants us to be desperate. If we’re never desperate, we have a tendency to forget God and His Word. We don’t recognize our need for “salvation” until we get desperate. We don’t seek God unless we’re desperate—no atheists in foxholes, right?! Desperation can be God’s way of leading us to where we need to be.
The psalmist was desperate. Three times in this short strophe of eight verses, he asked God to “preserve” his life (vs. 154, 156, 159). He was pleading for his life! “Let me live, God!” He felt his life was literally in danger. He was desperate. So he went to God and made his request on the basis of—”according to”—God’s “promise,” God’s “laws,” and God’s “love”. That’s the first basis. The second is his own obedience: “I have not forgotten your law (v.153)…I have not turned from your statutes (v.157)…I love your precepts” (v.159). God is not obligated to hear and answer our prayers because of our obedience, but this shows an understanding of God’s ways. God allows desperation in our lives to lead us where we need to be. The psalmist was making the case that he didn’t need God’s discipline. He was obeying God.
I think the Psalmist has Deuteronomy in mind. God spoke through Moses to the Israelites just before they entered the promised land saying: “15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.” (Deuteronomy 30:15-18)
The Psalmist is saying, “God, You always keep your promises and since my life is in danger right now, I appeal to this one here in Deuteronomy. I love You, I walk in Your ways and I keep Your commands, decrees and laws just as you have asked. I chose life, and because You are compassionate and loving and faithful I ask you to preserve me.”
The questions you have to ask yourself are:
1) Could I say to God that, “I have not forgotten Your law…I have not turned from Your statutes…I love Your precepts”? Or, am I in a desperate situation because God is trying to get my attention? Is He trying to correct me and get me headed in the right direction?
2) What do I do when I’m desperate? Where do I go? How do I react? Will I—like the psalmist—pray and pour out my desperation before God, trusting in His promises, His laws and His love?
