Opening Your Heart to Receive God's Word - Psalm 119:129-136 (Psalms 119:129-136)

1:32We have a created need to hear from our Creator. We need His words. The life of the believer is one of constant fellowship and union with God. And that union and that fellowship comes through the words of God. And so we need to hear from God. That's the life-giving, the life-sustaining power that comes to believers. That's the interaction. We need to hear from Him. That's what gives us life. That's what gave the psalmist life. And the question is: why did the psalmist write this poem? This is one lengthy poem. Why did he write it?

2:24Did he write it simply to express himself to God? Well, I certainly think he wrote this to express himself to God for sure. Wanted to get his thoughts, his prayers, and everything out on the paper. He was probably a journaler, one who liked to journal and write. But there's more to that. The way the poem is structured in its A, B, C pattern, that's the acrostic pattern. He wanted it to be read. He wanted it to express himself not only to God, but to others.

3:01So, what did he want to accomplish in his readers? Well, I believe he wanted, when it all boils down to it, what's all left, I believe he wanted them to open their hearts to the Word of God as he had done. I think that's the purpose for the poem. He writes it out and he agonizes, he takes them through many journeys, and he comes with the purpose of bringing it and leaving a legacy to say, Here, the Word of God is supremely valuable, it is life-giving, it is reviving, it makes the simple wise, it has incredible benefits, it is a joy, it is life to my soul, and I want you to open your heart to receive it as I have done.

3:55And that's his, I believe, his primary purpose. He writes to educate about the Word of God, and he writes to esteem the priority of God's Word in the life of the believer. We've heard a lot about, if you've been around theological circles, you hear a lot about the sufficiency of Scripture and that it is what God has written is sufficient for us. You've heard probably the inerrancy of Scripture, that what God has given us comes to us complete without any mercy. Mixture of error.

4:33I think this psalmist here esteems the priority of God's Word. Desire God's Word in your life more than any other thing. Don't let anything take priority. Don't let any force on the outside or any force on the inside compete with the priority of God's Word. Well, he wants his readers to open their hearts to God's Word as He had done. And that's what I want us to do this morning as we look through these eight verses. I want you to open your hearts to receive God's Word. I want you to open your hearts to receive God's Word. And this is really the question of the Psalm after we've walked through this, after we've spent the months going through this. It comes down to this question: are you going to long for the Word of God like this psalmist?

5:32A very simple outline. This psalm breaks, these eight verses break down very nicely. First, I want you to see a picture of a person open to God's Word. Second, I want you to see reasons to open your heart to receive God's Word. Third, I want to explain how to receive God's Word. And fourth, I want to give you a test to measure your receptivity of God's Word. So first, start with a picture of somebody who really longs to see God's Word. Second, give you reasons why you should open your heart to receive God's Word. And then it's practically, what does that look like, how to receive God's Word, and then give you a test to see how well you've done. Very simple. First, I want you to see a picture of a person open to God's Word. And this actually comes in verse 131. Look at verse 131. It paints a picture of a person who is very open to God's word. I opened my mouth wide and panted, for I longed for your commandments. Word, I opened my mouth. Literally, my mouth I opened wide. That's the expression. And in Job 29, 23, it's a reference to people who were soaking up Job's words in his heyday. And they soaked up his words like the ground soaked up the spring rain, the dry ground soaking in the spring rain. And that's the idea. I opened my mouth and panted. That is, I desired intensely to take in.

7:17Think of a runner. One of the best parts of the Olympics and the track and field is watching how wide these mouths. Can open up right after they finish the line, right? After they've run an intense race and they've sprinted to the end, and that they're just about to fall over. And just how wide some of these guys can open up their mouths, right? Or ladies, you know. Have you ever finished a race and just been really your body's been deprived of oxygen and you're just panting to take it in?

7:56Because your body needs oxygen, so you open your mouth to take it in. Well, that's the expression here. I opened my mouth wide to internalize, to take this in, to take why? Because he longed for his commandments. I long for your commandments. I desire to take them in. Your commandments, your authoritative orders for my life, your will for my life. That's the nuance of the word for commandments. I wanted, I long for your will. And this is what a pure servant does. A pure servant exists to carry out the will of his or her master. That's what a servant does.

8:46A servant has no end, has no aim, no objective, but to do the will of God. Does that describe you? Can we honestly come to a point in our lives where we say, you know what, when all is said and done, my And my life is boiled down to its very essence. I want to do God's will. No end, no aim, no objective, but to carry out the desires of my master. That's what a servant does. But in order to carry out God's will, we must take in God's commandments, right? And that's what the psalmist is saying. I want to do God's will more than I am his servant. I'm ready to go where you go, do what you do, be what you think the way you want me to think. But in order to do so, I need to take in and internalize your commandments. If they're not there, I have nothing to act upon. So there's a picture of a person open to receive God's Word. Next, I want you to see reasons why you should open your heart to receive God's Word. Actually, two of them. Two reasons to open your heart to God's Word. And this looks back at verse 129 and verse 130. First reason you should open your heart to God's Word is because it is wonderful. It is wonderful. That's where he, that's where our psalmist begins this stanza. Look in verse 129. Your testimonies are wonderful, therefore my soul observes them. Your testimonies. Again, he uses another word for the word here. That is your direct claims, your self-witness, your self-witness. Sworn testimony about yourself and your creation. That's the idea of testimony. Your sworn testimony. When we pick up God's Word, we have His sworn testimony about Himself, about the world, about us. This is God's authoritative and sworn statement or testimony about the world, and it is wonderful, wonderful.

11:01It's funny, one manuscript actually translated it streams of honey. Instead of using the word wonderful, one manuscript said, streams of honey. Your testimonies are streams of honey. Maybe it was trying to be a contemporary version with its day. And think about that. And think if we adopted that today, right? Now, how are you doing today? Streams of honey. You know, we have somebody around here, I won't mention names. We say, how are you doing? Oh, Peachy King, right? What if we said, how are you doing? Oh, streams of honey. Streams of honey. How'd you do on your test today? Streams of honey.

11:42I guess that's a picture of something wonderful, streams of honey in the culture of the day. But it's the idea of being awesome. Wonderful in an awe-inspiring sense. You remember in Exodus 15, 11, in the Song of Moses, after the entire army of Pharaoh was drowned in the sea. Moses says, This who is like you among the gods, O Lord? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders? You are a God of wonders. And also speaks of delight, wonders and delight. Wonderful. It's also, it's an interesting word, it's not used all that much, but it's applied to the child in Isaiah 9:6. For unto us, for unto us, a child will be born, a son will be given, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called wonderful. Same word, counselor, mighty God, eternal Father, Prince of Peace, a wonderful counselor. Be awed by the wisdom of his counsel. So this word, wonderful, applies to both the written word and the living word.

13:14Therefore, my soul observes them. Your testimonies are wonderful, and therefore my soul. Notice how he takes them into the internal part of his being. That's how wonderful my soul. Takes them in and observes them. And that is, it keeps them, keeps watch over them, like that guard hut watching the gate. My soul watches over everything that comes in and out of my life because your testimonies are wonderful. They are wonderful, and therefore I keep them. Proverbs 6, Solomon exhorts his son to obedience, and this is what obedience looks like. My son, observe the commandment of your father, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you. And when you awake, they will talk to you. For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light.

14:31So the psalmist observes them. He has taken them in so that they will guide him, watch over him, and talk to him. They are wonderful, therefore I keep them. And if you look back at verse 120, you notice that fear is the motivation for obedience, and that's a real good motivation to obey out of a holy reverence of God. Verse 127, love is a motivation for obedience, and that is a good motivation. We love God, and therefore we want to obey Him and keep Him. But here in verse 129, awe is a motivation for obedience. Your words are wonderful, and simply because they are wonderful, I will obey them.

15:28God's words are wonderful. They are. They are wonderful because they come from our Creator. That's what makes them wonderful. They are wonderful for their truth content. They are wonderful because they warn of danger. They are wonderful, as a psalmist has already experienced, for their reviving power. That's what keeps us going. That's what awakens, quickens, energizes God's people. God's words are wonderful for the wisdom that they impart, for the skill in life, the skill in living that they impart.

16:18They are wonderful. They're wonderful, and they are so wonderful that they are the things that are to go into the very internal part of our being, to the deepest part. What about you? Do you think God's words are wonderful? Are you inspired? Do you come to His words with His sworn testimony of the universe himself disclosing himself, revealing yourself to you? Do you come away with a sense of awe? I think one of the biggest problems in our society today is not so much in society but in the church. And I don't tend to beat up the church because I love the church. And I know the church is comprised of a lot of people that have come out of the world and are just trying to figure out what's right and what's left.

17:24But I think one of the biggest problems today in our society is in the professing church. Because I think in the professing church, we have lost an awe of God's word. Look, if we're not going to stand in awe of God's word, how do we expect our society to walk in cadence with his word? It's frightfully convicting. How many of us simply disregard his word? Say that to shame anyone in here. You wouldn't, if I didn't think you were part of the solution, you wouldn't be here.

18:09But I can tell you, I think our biggest, one of our biggest problems in the church or in our society is with a church that has lost its awe of God's words. So I'll ask you again: do you hold God's Word in awe simply because it is wonderful? Are you delighting in it to obey it? They should be simply kept. They should be kept simply. They should be simply kept simply because they are wonderful. And until we can say with the psalmist, Your Word is wonderful, we have a long way to go, don't we?

18:52We can ask God to give us that awe-inspiring understanding of His Word, because only He can give it. And that's where the psalmist goes. So, first reason you should open your heart to receive God's Word is because they are wonderful. If nothing else, they are wonderful. They so transcend the words of men. But there's a second reason you should open your heart to receive God's Word, and that is because God's Word is valuable. Not only is it wonderful, it is valuable. Look at verse 130. The unfolding. Of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. The unfolding of your word gives light. The unfolding, that is the opening up, the disclosure, or the revealing. That's the idea, the unfolding. As the word is systematically just unfolded before you, it gives light.

19:54It's like unfolding a picture. This past week, I was called upon to lead the Bible study in my home, my kids' home Bible study, at the beginning of the day. And we have this little game. My kids come in, and I ask them, well, what do you want to read from? And they say, well, and they try to pick a text that is as far away from Psalm 119 as they can. And then they like to hear how I make a connection back to Psalm 119 because that's what I'm studying. So we go all over the map. And I think this week it was, well, let's go to Romans. Well, you know, Romans, God spoke the word, and it was important to understand the word. And Paul, and you know what? If you go to Psalm 119, you'll see another guy who really loved the word. So let's go to Psalm 119, verse 130, and talk about the unfolding of the words. So I drew a picture and folded it up to the kids. And I said, okay, what is this? I opened it up a little bit, and I heard this, it's a dog's ear. No, no, no. It up again. It's the ark. No, no, it's not the ark. Open it up, unfold it again. It's the twin towers. No, no. By the time I opened it up, it was just a smiley face that was having a bad hair day.

21:17But that's the idea: unfolding, giving light. That's the word of God, and it gives light. There's a Greek equivalent word when they translated the Hebrew into Greek. There's an equivalent Greek word that is picked up in Luke. And let me read it to you. This is on the road to Emmaus, verse 32 and chapter 24. They said to one another, were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road, while he was explaining the scriptures to us. That's the word, explaining, unfolding. A Greek equivalent, explaining the scriptures. And were not our hearts burning within us? And that's what the word does: the unfolding of God's word. It gives light. It gives light. It causes light. It's like pulling back the curtains or lifting up a blind or opening the only door into a dark room. It opens up. It gives light.

22:24You saw some of the improvements we were doing over at Steep Hollow this past week. We put in some skylights. And there was a dark attic, and if you had to get up there with lights to see, but then when you put these skylights in, all of a sudden, wow, shadows were removed, and darkness was removed, and you could see. Well, that's what the explaining of God's word does. It causes light to enter into the soul of man.

22:54And Jonathan, you remember Jonathan in 1 Samuel 14:27, he had not heard the command of Saul, his dad, not to eat anything for the day until the mission was accomplished. And Jonathan saw some honey, put his staff down in there, and he picked up the honey, and he touched it on his mouth. And all of a sudden, Scripture says his eyes brightened. Same word. And that's the idea. When the light comes in, it brightens the soul. And how does it brighten the soul?

23:32Look back at verse 130. It gives understanding to the simple. Literally, it causes understanding. It gives discernment. It gives discernment. That's the light. It gives understanding. And that understanding is what enlivens and quickens the soul of man. Look back at verse 125. I am your servant. Give me understanding. That's his request. Give me understanding. And now he's saying that it's through the unfolding of your words that understanding is given to the simple. And the word for simple, now that's an interesting word. Simple, or it's for the word naive. And it's a person who believes everything that's told to him. It's the idea with that, it's that idea of that person with an open door on the forefront of his mind that just lets anything come in and anything go out. That's the idea. That's what an open mind is, according to the scripture, is something that just comes in and out, in and out. The naive can't seem to make distinctions and know when to close it. But just that's the idea. In Psalm 14:15, the naive believes everything, but the sensible man considers his steps. So the word of God is valuable in that it makes one wise. It gives one understanding to make distinctions, to be able to see what is good and what is bad, what is preferable and what is to be shunned. That is what the word of God gives understanding to one who simply believes everything and has no framework for making distinctions. That's what the word of God does. That is why we. Teach the Word. That is why we want our children to be brought up, studying God's Word, because it gives the simple understanding. Well, if there's no unfolding of the Word, there is no illumination of the Word, and if there's no illumination of the Word, there is no understanding of the Word.

25:53And this is the value of the Word. And this is why we're committed to go through the Scriptures and unfold them verse by verse. But isn't this exactly what man wanted in the garden? Wisdom, right? You remember they went after wisdom. Genesis 3:6, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave to her husband, and he ate.

26:24Desirable to make one wise. Well, here we have the Word of God itself telling us that true wisdom is in understanding God's Word, not what seems right to man in a fallen world. So we looked at two reasons, two reasons why you should open your heart to God's Word. First, the Word is wonderful. Second, the Word is valuable. And that's what leads him to this graphic picture. I opened my mouth wide because your word is wonderful, because your word is valuable, and I panted, I longed. To take in your word. So we've looked at a picture of a person open to receive God's Word. We looked at reasons why you should open your heart to receive God's Word. And now I want to talk to you simply about how to receive God's Word. How to receive God's Word. And there is in the next several verses an interplay between God's role and man's responsibility, God's sovereignty and man's responsibility in receiving God's Word. And six imperatives tell the story. You can look there and circle them as I give them to you, and then we'll go back through them. Six imperatives in verse 132, turn to me. Again, be gracious to me. In verse 133, establish, establish my footsteps. Verse 134, redeem me, redeem me. Verse 135, make your face, make your face shine upon me. Make, and finally, in verse 135, teach me, teach me. Those are the imperatives that tell the story about how you are to receive the word of God. I'm going to boil it down to four things you need to do. Four things you need to do. First of all, you need to recognize your need for grace and then ask for it. First of all, recognize Your need of grace and then ask for it and know that God is going to give it. Look at verse 132. Turn to me and be gracious to me after your manner with those who love your name. Turn to me. That's that imperative plea. Turn your attention to me. Observe me. Whatever you're doing, turn and look at me. That's the idea. Turn and take notice of me and be gracious to me. Show favor to me. Deal with me according to your loving kindness. As he's already said in verse 134, deal with your servant according to your loving kindness. Be gracious to me. Show favor. Turn to me, showing favor. It's the same term. You remember when Joseph is down in Egypt and his brothers come to see him? And they bring Benjamin. And Joseph lays his eyes on Benjamin for the first time in a long, long time. And he sees them. And Benjamin and Joseph, so happy to see him. And he said, May God be gracious to you, my son. Just think of the countenance on Joseph's face as he saw Benjamin. It was very different than as he saw the other brothers, though it was kind and it was good. But when he saw Benjamin, there was a special favor, a special look. In fact, and that's why a couple of Verses later, everyone's eating their food, and Benjamin's over there got five times as much food as everybody else. It's like, what's going on? Well, that's the idea. Be gracious to me. Look upon me after the manner with those who love your name. Take notice of me. Turn to me in favor as those who love you. Look at me as such.

30:29It's interesting how he says, turn to me in favor. He's not saying, turn to me in strict justice. Right? He's saying, turn to me in favor. I fear for those who think they are good enough to go to heaven. Hear me on this. I really fear for you if you're sitting in here today. If someone was to come up to you and ask you, why should, if you were to die tonight, why should you be allowed into heaven? And if your answer is, well, you know what? I've lived a pretty good life.

31:03I'm pretty good. And you know what? That is most, that's the answer I get the most when it comes, when I ask that question. Well, I'm pretty good. I mean, if God were to ask you, why should I let you into heaven right now? I mean, what would your answer be? I have a feeling that there are some probably in this room that would answer the question, let me think of it. I've been pretty good. I've done X, I've done Y, for the most part, I've been pretty good. The problem with this view is that you challenge God's justice. And what you're doing is you go to God and you say, God, I'm good enough for your heaven. Now turn to look upon my ways in strict justice and make a determination whether I deserve your heaven or not.

31:57That's a very big difference. Then, God, turn to me with favor. Be gracious according to your loving kindness, not on the merits of my deeds. Because if you think that you are good enough for heaven, then what you're saying to God is, turn to me with strict justice in view. And if that's your view, you're not going to make it. You're not going to make it. No one will make it. But look at how the psalmist says, Deal with me as someone who loves you. I love your name. Deal with me accordingly. Very different. So, how to receive the word? First of all, you need to recognize your need of grace, your need for God to turn to you and to be gracious to you, and then ask Him for it, knowing that He will turn and He will be gracious. That's what He does.

33:01Second thing, second, how you receive the word. Second, you need to recognize your need for God to establish you in his way. You need to recognize your need for God to establish you in his way, and then you need to ask him to do it, knowing that he will. Look at verse 133: Establish my footsteps in your word, and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. Establish. That is, cause my footsteps to be firm. The emphasis upon each footstep. You can think of a rugged terrain, a guy crossing a rugged terrain with all the dangers on the left, and the slipping and falling, and vertical drops and everything. It's important that his feet be established, that every single footstep be established in God's word. You can also think of this as a cadence through life. Even think of a military cadence, maybe in cadence, moving.

34:09And think about this as a cadence through life. Saying, God, cause the cadence of my march through this life to be swift, to be beautiful, but to be solid upon your word. And you need that. God. You need God to establish every footstep. And this is a bold prayer. I mean, well, he's saying, let every distinct thought, every distinct action, be set by the will of God. And then look at the second part of that. And do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. Do not let any form of iniquity have dominion over me. Do not let any be master over me. It's an interesting word.

35:03The word really is an Aramaic term or related. It's an Aramaic term, which would make sense if it was written in Persia. But so where do we get sultan from? Do not let any form of iniquity have dominion. Do not let anything be a sultan over me. That's the idea. Do whatever it needs, do whatever needs to be done to make sure that I never fall under the sway of doing wrong. Whether that be internally from a sultan on the inside or externally from sultans on the outside.

35:46So you need to recognize your need for God to establish you in his way and then ask him to do it, knowing that he will. Third thing, third thing you need to do to receive God's word. Number three, recognize your need of redemption and then ask God to redeem you. Look at verse 134. Redeem me from the oppression of man that I may keep your statutes. Word for redeem, bail me out. It's the idea of pay the necessary price to get me out of here. Do whatever you have to do to deliver me from the oppression of man. That's a pretty strong term.

36:35Do whatever you need to do to redeem me from the oppression of man. I remember the word for oppression, he's already used this in verse 122 if you look back, but oppression is a person who uses his authority to subject another person to undue pressures. Redeem me from the oppression of man, of Adam, literally Adam. Redeem me from the oppression of Adam. See, man without God is oppressive. In fact, we can talk about examples of such oppressors. You know, I think Adolf Hitler probably isn't such an anomaly in the world as we might think. Of course, he's the big, bad, evil tyrant that we all kind of universally agree upon, except for a late. I guess that's kind of changing a little bit, but for the most Party still, still that great villain of the centuries. But Adolf Hitler was a combination of pride, power, and opportune circumstances. And I think in the judgment, we're going to learn that Adolf Hitler wasn't as uncommon as you might think.

37:49I think there's a lot of us who, because of our pride and whatever power God gives us, we use, we may use wrongly. The difference between many of those who misuse the power that God has given is just because of opportune circumstances. They didn't have the opportunity to do what Hitler did. But there are a lot of examples of oppressors. We can think of a husband making a wife sin. We can think of the tyrant wife. We can think of parents causing their children to sin. We can think of teachers or professors who abuse their authority. We can think of employers who abuse their authority over their employees. And boy, there's laws against that, right?

38:37We can think of older brothers, older sisters, friends. Are you just physically stronger than others? I mean, there's go through, think of political leaders. Do you take advantage? This is the question. Do you take advantage of the power that God has given you, the superior rank that He has given you over others? Well, his kingdom, the greatest, is going to be the one who serves. Well, the first Adam offers a perfect oppression. The second Adam offers a perfect liberty. But notice the reason why the psalmist cries out for deliverance, that I may keep your precepts. Verse 134, that I may keep. He wants to keep God's precepts, so he's saying, Redeem me from every form of oppression, whether internally or externally, so that I may keep your precepts. You see, it doesn't do any good for God just to overthrow one sultan and replace it with another sultan, right? He's saying, Redeem me so that I may keep your precepts. I think many times we pray for changed circumstances, right?

39:55But oftentimes, and then we run right into other circumstances because we haven't learned anything. But what's important is that we learn, like this psalmist, that sometimes God uses difficult circumstances to bring about the good desire that he wants in his people. But knowing this, we must be redeemed from the oppression of Adam so that we can keep his precepts. God removes the old oppressor, and he gives us and installs his perfect king. So there's a fourth thing you need to do to receive God's word. And that's fourth, recognize your need to be taught and then allow God to teach you. Verse 135, make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your statutes.

40:51Your face is in the place of instrument. Make your face shine. May it smile upon me. May it be light. May you smile upon me. Now look back and look at this particular manifestation of God's smile that he wants. And teach me your statutes. Make your face shine upon me. Be kind to me. Be favorable to me. Smile upon me. And teach me your statutes. Teach me. And the psalmist, it's interesting what he says here. He shifts the verb here, but what he's saying here, he's not saying, help me learn, but he's saying, you do a good job teaching me. He's putting all the responsibility of God, teach me. So not just help me learn, but teach me. In fact, he's saying, put me into a state of understanding, your statutes. Put me, you put me into a state of understanding.

41:57Your statutes, your written Prescriptions for humanity and for me. You know what the royal blessing is? As the psalmist has uncovered for us, the royal blessing is to be taught in the finest school of them all. Right? We talked a little bit about this last week. A good education is good value. We pay a lot to get a good education and to get into the choicest school. But the greatest education is the greatest value. And all who are admitted into God's school of discipleship are the most blessed. That is the greatest blessing to be taught. This life doesn't really matter. It's going to soon be over. What matters is, as you're going through this life, to learn His statutes.

42:56That's what's important. And this is an incredible request. Teach me, cause me to learn. And this is an incredible request. If you've been following and tracking with the Psalmist all this time, you've recognized that the psalmist already knows that it takes a lot to be taught, right? That sometimes God uses oppression and sometimes He uses affliction to bring about the trust and deliverance to be able to reveal. Who God is, and to trust in Him. Sometimes affliction is necessary.

43:40And He knows that God is teaching him godly character. You know, I remember growing up, there were certain kids who were able to do whatever they wanted to do, and there was a certain kind of envy to, well, I wish I lived over there in their house because they get to pretty much do whatever, and their parents aren't really engaged. But you know what? This psalmist is not like that at all, is he? He's saying, I want to live under God's, I want to live as a child of God, not only under the blessing of God, but under the discipline of God. It all goes together, doesn't it? He wants to be a child, not just for the inheritance, but for the discipline.

44:30You know, I've noticed one thing about a baby, a newborn baby, they are the most helpless creatures in the world. You look at them, one of the strong arguments that evolution isn't possible, just take a newborn and just see how helpless they are. They can't do much. And what this psalmist is saying is: manifest your smile upon me by doing whatever it takes to make me understand your wonderful ways. Let's move on. We looked at a picture. Of a person open to receive God's word. Look at reasons to open your hearts to receive God's Word, and now, and we've looked at how to receive God's Word. Now, I want to give you a simple test, a simple test to measure your receptivity of God's Word.

45:16Look at verse 136. My eyes shed streams of water because they do not keep your law. What's your view of those who break your law? Here's this psalmist. He's streaming. Streams of water are flowing down his face. The only other time that these two words are connected together is in Lamentations 3:48, when Jeremiah's eyes are crying because of the destruction of Jerusalem. And here is this psalmist who knows God's Word, who has taken it in, who values it, who treasures it. And what breaks his heart is over those who are oppressing him, at the fact that they have broken God's law.

46:10Look at my eyes shed streams of water because they do not keep your law. Those about me, those of Adam, they disregard. It's interesting, it's not over the oppression, but the loss of regard. For God's law. That's what breaks him up. It's interesting because remember in verse 113, where does he say, I hate double-mindedness. And now he's saying, and yet I weep for those who have broken your law. It's all the same quality in Jesus, right? O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her. How long I wanted to gather your children together just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you would not have it. Well, there is reason to lament for those who reject God's law. To lament over the loss of truth, the loss of light, loss of stability, the loss of beauty, the loss of wisdom, reason to lament to see that which is wonderful and valuable cheapened and trampled. Reason to lament over the injury caused to others, the victims, the innocent victims of those who do not regard God's word. Reason to lament at the destruction at the end of the road. I think we've all seen what happens to a seaco or a shoreline when an oil tanker spills. And how black oil can really just make a shoreline. Line, horrible looking. Well, I think that's the same idea here.

48:08So, how do you open God's words, or just a test, a test to measure the degree to which you have received God's word? How do you feel about God's law being broken? How do you feel about those who break God's law? So, I want to wrap this up. Opening your heart to receive God's Word. There's a picture we've looked at. There are reasons to open your heart to God's Word. We've talked about how to receive God's Word, and we've looked at a test to measure your receptivity to God's Word. We still come back to this question as we go through this. Am I going to imitate this psalmist? When we finish this study, the lingering question right now is, are you going to imitate this psalmist?

49:07His purpose for the poem is to encourage us to open our hearts to receive God's word. And it really comes down to: I put a little prayer card, this is something unusual that we don't typically do, but put a prayer card in there for you to look at. This was in the bulletin. If not, there's some there. And it simply brings you to this point. And I ask, if you are bold enough to imitate this psalmist, that you make this prayer, you sign your name, maybe keep it as a bookmark, but listen to this prayer. Heavenly Father, I ask you to do whatever it takes to make me understand and love your wonderful ways. I ask you to do whatever it takes to make me understand and love your wonderful ways. That's a bold prayer. And if you've been with us in the psalmist, this is exactly what he's been praying. He said, this is more important to me than all the creature comforts, than all the gold and silver and freedom from my oppressors. This is more important than it all.

50:22And that's what we're called to do. And that's where this psalmist takes us and the challenge before us. Let's pray, and then we'll be dismissed. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this word. I thank you for how you've blessed us. Father, I just pray that you would awaken in us a desire to learn and understand your wonderful ways. In Jesus' name, amen.