Psalm 119,42 Then I can answer the scoffers, for I trust in your word.
This prayer is a close follow-up to what he asked for in the previous verse. There, David prayed that God's faithful love and his good salvation should come to him, as God had promised him. Now he tells God what he will do when he experiences God's mercy and works of grace.
Waw is the Hebrew letter that the next eight verses start with. Very few Hebrew words start with this letter, but it is often used as a conjunction as "and". The theme of this section is trust in God.
ו
Psalm 119.41Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise;
Again David prays to Jehovah, the Lord, the Eternal I Am. He prays for two things, mercy and salvation. They are in some ways synonymous words in this context, because they are all about the same. When God shows mercy, we share in His salvation.
Psalm 119,40 Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!
David has just talked about the scorn and disgrace he gets because he stuck to God's word. With that in mind, I think what he says is very strong: "I long for your precepts!" That is a powerful statement that we need to look more closely at.
Psalm 119.39 Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.
David prays for grace to be spared from the mockery and shame that comes from sticking to God's good laws. He is like us and obviously doesn't like to be looked down upon. He wants, as we all do, to be respected for who he is and for what he believes in. Unfortunately, he knows from bitter experience, that he is not always respected when he speaks the word of God.
Psalm 119,38 Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.
This prayer shows us that David had learned to recdeive the Word of God. There was no longer any talk of commandments, laws or regulations. He has received the word to him into his heart. He has heard God through the Scriptures. He has read and meditated on God's Word in such a way that he has heard God's voice through what he has read and meditated on. We see that from what he says: "Your promise to your servant." God's word has become personal to him. This is one of the most important lessons we can learn, learning to hear from God as we read the Bible.
Psalm 119,37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
Our eyes are important. Our eyes are the door to the soul. What we see creates thoughts and can awaken all kinds of desires within us. We are strongly influenced by what we see. Unfortunately, we are not always as aware of this and look at things we should not have looked at. In our culture, we are bombarded with pictures of young and old that we could benefit being spared from. We are exposed to nudity and worse in many media. Pornography is easily accessible and captures many in its devastating web.
Psalm 119.36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
Again, David's prayer shows great insight into human nature. He knows himself so well that he asks for God's help. He knows that hearts and minds are a battle ground where strong forces fight for power. Therefore, he prays that God will stir the heart and bend it towards the word of God, that he may enjoy and delight to live after the testimonies of God. He prays, "God, make me willing to obey what you say! Make me want to stick to your law! ”
Psalm 119,35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
In the previous verses, David prayed for insight and understanding. Now he asks for guidance. The words he uses in this prayer includes the meaning that God must guide him by bending his will. He prays that God must awaken his inner soul power to choose to do what God wants. This is somewhat similar to what Paul says: “For God will continually revitalise you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases him” (Phil. 2:13). We need to understand both the word of God and how to do what God wants. In order to do that, we depend on God working in us.
Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
I like the burning zeal David has to learn from God what man could not teach him. God has given all human beings a measure of intellectual capacity to think and learn, but here David teaches us that we can ask God to give us grace to use that ability to understand what tends to our peace. He asks to know how to keep God's law. He prays that the Lord must enlighten his mind to understand God's will.
We need wisdom and understanding to keep God's law. Therefore, we also find in the New Testament that the apostle Paul often prays that the Holy Spirit must give the believers enlightened eyes to understand and take possession of our inheritance. He calls the Spirit the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. The Apostle John says: we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 5:20).
In this Psalm, David does not ask just for understanding to keep the word. He also prays for grace to observe God's law wholeheartedly. In Hebrew thinking, understanding and knowledge are not anything theoretical and intellectual, but are always linked to life. We only understand God's Word when we live it. If we do not live by the word of God, we have not understood it. If we truly understand who God is and what He says we should do, we would not dare or want to do something other than obey. When we have come to know God through Jesus Christ, we also have the urge to do His will.
There are some translations where this last sentence is not a prayer, but a promise: Truly, I shall observe it with my whole heart! There is no contradiction between its two ways of translating this sentence. Whenever we give a promise to God, we do it in prayer for grace to fulfil it. Whenever we commit ourselves to something for God, we do so in the belief that God will help us. Our prayer and promise go in the same direction. Both are turned to God. It is him we want to learn from. It is His will that we will do, and it is His grace that will help us. We pray wholeheartedly, and will gladly keep and observe His law of our whole heart.
"Give me an understanding heart, that I with burning zeal can know and obey your truth!"
Psalm 119.33 marks a new section. All the next eight verses start with the Hebrew letter He. In these verses we find many prayers to understand God's path. These are prayers that God's people need to pray in our day.
Psalm 119.33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
"Lord, teach me!" This is how a disciple prays. Whoever is an apprentice says this to his master. "Teach me the profession. Teach me how to do it. Teach me to become a master who knows his subject, just like you! ” When David says, Lord teach me, it becomes too weak to compare it with the student asking his teacher for instruction. He had both priests, prophets, and wise counselors he could get help from, but he asked to be guided by God's counsel. For who is a teacher like him? (Job 36:22)