have. Well now this evening we'll
continue our meditation in the 119th Psalm and this evening
we'll take the four verses from 29 to 32. Psalm 119 from verses
29 to 32. And they read as follows. Remove from me the way of lying
and grant me thy law graciously. I've chosen the way of truth,
thy judgments have I laid before me. I've stuck unto thy testimonies,
O Lord, put me not to shame. I will run the way of thy commandments
when thou shalt enlarge my heart. I suppose we might be surprised
that the psalmist should write in this way and ask that the
Lord would remove from me the way of lying. Well, it's a very
subtle world we live in and we have a very subtle devil who
will often make us lie, not perhaps in downright untruths, but sometimes
as I thought, by just influencing the things that we've said, perhaps
to enhance them on one side, and perhaps on the other side
to decrease the value or the situation, and how necessary
and important it is to be honest in our speech, in the things
we say, and it's very easy to just fall away from that good
standard. No doubt we see here that's why
the psalmist says, remove from me the way of lying. And the Lord Jesus tells us really
about this temptation when he was on earth and we read in the
8th of John in verse 44, ye are of your father the devil. He was speaking against those
Pharisees, etc. And the lusts of your father
Ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar
and the father of it. So we have to be aware that that's
our great adversary, who is very keen to cause us to sin, which
we might think is very trivial, perhaps not important but nonetheless
we should never forget that sin is sin and needs to be atoned
for and so the psalmist says and grant me thy law graciously
well it's good isn't it for us to remember the law the Word
of God really as we read it now of course when it was written
the Psalms they probably only had the Pentateuch, those chapters
or those books rather written by Moses and perhaps they had
Joshua as well but not very many more. So they were favoured to
have that and we're far more favoured to have now the whole
Word of God. And in the Hebrews we're encouraged
from this aspect where Paul said in the 8th chapter of the 10th
verse, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws into
their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to
them a God and they shall be to me a people. Well that is
the mercy of God toward us to realise that those things are
done and we should be very thankful for it. and desire to truly praise
God. And similarly, Isaiah tells us
in the 48th chapter, Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy
One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee
to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest
go. And see here we have this statement,
Grant me thy law, graciously. And this is the gracious leading
and gracious direction of Almighty God. And then also we read together
in that first chapter, the eighth verse, in Joshua. And Joshua
reminds Israel of the position. He says, this book of the law
shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein
day and night. Thou mayest observe to do according
to all that is written therein. But then thou shalt make thy
way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. Well, it's wonderful advice that
he was to give to Israel after Moses had passed away and before
they went into Canaan. It was very good words. And of
course, they're really appropriate for us still today. in our lives
to meditate upon the wonderful truths of God there's so much
to think about there's so much to meditate on and yet so often
our minds are carried away with the trivialities of this world
and then just one perhaps final comment on this statement here
which really runs on to the next verse where the psalmist says,
I have chosen the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before
me. And that set out really when
the apostle wrote to the Philippians. Remember the third chapter is
a very beautiful chapter. And it reads this in the seventh
and eighth verses. But what things were gained to
me? Those I counted loss for Christ. yea doubtless and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
countenance but done that I may win Christ you see he wanted
to know the truth Paul did he wanted especially to know the
preciousness and the reality of the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we can see how it's also
spoken of here that he would know the law graciously, and
also those judgments which were laid before him. And we have
the Word of God laid before us, and we should never think, therefore,
that we can just pass over any of it, but we should realize
how relevant and how important it is to us. And he tells us,
I have stuck unto thy testimonies, O Lord, put me not to shame. That really means that he hadn't
moved away from the truth of God. There it was before him,
and it was stuck with him. And we can read in the Romans
how again Paul says in the seventh chapter, for I did light in the
law of God after the inward man. What a blessing that is if you
and I delight in the law of God, the word of God in the inner
man. But he also, the Apostle Paul
tells us of the conflict. And of course, there is a conflict
and we do have a conflict. And he goes on to say, but I
see another law in my members warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members. Well, I'm sure we can understand
what Paul was saying and also understand really what the Psalmist
is saying and realize the relevance of these truths. And he has to
come and cry out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Well, we're thankful And the
Apostle was able to go on and he said, I thank God, through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's the secret again, the
Lord Jesus Christ. So then with a mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with a flesh, the law of sin. Well, we're poor creatures, we're
sinful creatures. We need God's to keep us in that
right and good way. I've stuck unto thy testimonies. Oh Lord, put me not to shame. We can be put to shame. We can
walk contrary to God. We can follow those things which
are not in accordance with his will. And Joel really picks up
this theme. He tells us in the second chapter,
and you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, means,
of course, in the church of God, and that I am the Lord. your
God and none else, and my people shall never be ashamed. You see the word here is in this
31st verse, I have stuck unto thy testimonies, O Lord, put
me not to shame. And here we have this confirmation
really, my people shall never be ashamed. It's a wonderful
blessing to be found walking before the Lord in the light
of His countenance. And sometimes, of course, the
journey may be very demanding and very hard. We can understand
what it was like, perhaps, in Gideon's day when, you remember,
he had that army to defeat the enemy. And when they'd actually
gained the victory and they came back to the River Jordan, and
they came to Jordan, and passed over he and the three hundred
men that were with him, faint yet pursuing. Sometimes we perhaps may feel faint and
yet what a blessing there is to continue and to pursue indeed
the hymn writer says pursue the narrow way to him I view and
then finally in this verse this section rather we come to verse
32 where he says I will run the way of thy commandments, when
thou shalt enlarge my heart. There was a real willingness,
wasn't there, to do God's will. A real willingness to run in
the way of his commandments. Not make excuses, but to run
in that way. And so, we perhaps can remember
the words written by Solomon, in the Song of Solomon, when
he tells us In the very beginning, in the fourth verse of the first
chapter, draw me, we will run after thee. What a blessing it
is to be drawn to the Lord, because what that does, it enlarges our
heart. We see how glorious and wonderful
the Gospel is. And what a mercy then, if it
has this gracious effect, that we desire to run after the Lord. And again, just the last, in
conclusion with this 32nd verse, again coming back to the Apostle
Paul, and again the Philippians, and he tells us familiar verses,
brethren, he says, I count not myself to have apprehended, to
have really understood, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forth under those things which
are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. We must always realise we're
in a battle. We're on the battleground. It's
not an easy warfare. And we are to press toward the
mark set before us. That is, of course, pressing
towards that mark of the Saviour, the glorious God. And who is
the high calling of God? Well, may God help us to meditate
on these great truths. You know, there's so much really.
We've gone very rapidly over four verses. Not many words in
those four verses, but great truths. And it's good, I hope,
that you won't just go home and forget about what you've heard,
not remember it at all, you can go home and remember and just
ponder these words and bring them before the Lord to encourage
us and to direct us in the way that we should live and go. May
God bless his word.