Psalm 119:129-136
Author Calvin Miller tells of his trip to the Great Barrier Reef in his book, Into the Depths of God. Miller writes,
Like all visitors to the Reef, I was a first overwhelmed by the odd sensation of standing up - only ankle deep - seventy or ninety miles out in the middle of the ocean. It was for me the odd sensation that Peter must have felt when he walked on the Sea of Galilee.
But once my “ankle-deep-wonder” had passed, I remembered why I had made the trip. I was with my wife and son. My son had come to scuba dive while my wife and I snorkeled. Snorkeling is a pastime more than a sport. For while my son plunged deeply beneath clear waters to bury himself in the wonder of the mysterious ocean depths, my wife and I, wearing masks, only floated on the surface facedown.
In some ways what we were all seeing looked the same. But my wife and I literally sunburned our backs in our surfaces study of the reef, while our son plumbed its wonders.
Miller goes on to explain that both he and his son can tell you about that day and both can say they have been to the Great Barrier Reef. But his knowledge is only surface while his son’s understanding has great depth.
This story illustrates all too well the differences between those believers in Christ who go deep into their relationship with the Lord and those believers who just stay on the surface of their relationship with God. One goes deep and is transformed and hungers for more and more of God - the other is content to just skim the surface and has no idea the riches being missed.
The author of Psalm 119 is one of those people who has gone deep with God. All through this very long Psalm the author celebrates the Scripture as he talks about the it by various terms - the law of God, the precepts of God, the testimonies of God and more. But one can tell very quickly that he is not merely focused on the Bible but on knowing the God of the Bible; he longs to experience God in a deep way and does so with God’s help.
Do you long for that? Do you long for a deeper, richer relationship with God that goes deep with him, past the surface of the Christian faith into the kind of experience with God we see running all through Psalm 119? This morning, through these few verses we have read from Psalm 119, Let us look into the mind of one who has gone deep with God and catch a clearer understanding of where God wants to take each of us.
I. The effects of God’s Word (vs. 129-131).
Through the words of the Psalmist, we first notice the effect of God’s Word.
This is a theme that runs all through Psalm 119, not only the select verses we read this morning. Over and over the Psalmist explains that God’s Word has changed him and he wants it to happen more and more. Like someone who has experienced a great increase in health through exercise, he has committed himself not to quit, but to push on for more, for being close to God has become something he now craves. There are three effects that he speaks of in this passage.
A. Inspiration for obedience (v. 129)
In verse 129, he explains that God’s Word has given him inspiration for obedience. He writes, “Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.” This is his way of saying that God’s Word so fills his mind and touches him and amazes him that he is inspired for obedience. God’s Word, he finds, is worthy of being followed, implemented, obeyed in life. He is not merely saying that he finds God’s Word persuasive for holy living, but that somehow God’s Word has a spiritual effect upon him, triggering a desire to obey.
All of us have had the experience of an advertisement working on us. Probably all of us can remember seeing a TV commercial or an ad in the newspaper about a product and for some reason we started to think we really had to have that new thing. This is why it is dangerous for me to go to really cool stores like Lowe’s or Best Buy because once I’m there, I see things that that I don’t know how I could never live without. Odd, isn’t it, that life is just fine until you walk into those stores.
But the Psalmist is talking in verse 129 not about effective marketing that stirs up a desire for a product, but about a spiritual experience where God uses his Word to inspire action of a different kind - obedience. There is something powerful, isn’t there, about truly spending time focusing on the words of a Bible passage, taking in their meaning, letting those words speak to you, and feeling the tug of the Holy Spirit as he prompts you to act on those words.
Listen: those who have gone deep in their relationship with God know this experience and seek it out daily. Those who have gone deep with God make time in their lives to quiet down, focus their thoughts upon the Bible and really dig deep, because they know God will meet them and he will turn their hearts to him. They do not seek this experience occasionally, but daily.
B. Understanding for life (v. 130)
Now in verse 130 the Psalmist explains another effect of God’s Word: it gives understanding for life.
He writes, “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” God’s Word, the Psalmist is saying, helps us understand spiritual things, it helps us see more clearly what God sees. It opens the eyes so you finally see and understand. Of course, God’s Word shows us how to live, handle problems, and a whole host of other practical issues. In that, it gives light by showing us what God wants. But it also helps us understand life.
A while back I was waiting for a couple of friends at a restaurant in downtown Kokomo. As I sat at the table waiting, I watched the other customers, many of whom were young adults. Some were in business clothing, some were not. I remember wondering why I felt so different from how these folks did - I could see an emptiness on so many faces. I knew as a Christian my sins had been forgiven and that alone blesses me. But then the Lord reminded me of Psalm 63:5 which speaks of the soul being satisfied by God like the body is satisfied with a good meal. I realized that spiritually God had satisfied me - I was no longer looking for something to fill that void inside that everyone is born with. God had filled it and I was rooted in him. My point is that God’s Word gave me understanding about one of the effects of salvation on my soul, interpreting my spiritual experience for me, not to mention giving me insight into how to share the gospel.
God’s Word teaches, informs, gives light, and reveals the truth about everything we need to know and understand. Listen: those who have gone deep with God look at things so differently than the rest because of their Scripture-saturated minds.
C. Longing for more (v. 131)
Now there is a third effect of God’s Word on a person who has gone deep with God. God’s Word creates a longing for more. Verse 131: “I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments.”
This verse reminds of us Psalm 42:1 which says, “As the deer panteth for the water so my soul longeth after thee.” There is a hunger inside of each of us for God. But it is a mistake to think that once you get saved that there is no more hunger. Actually, the reverse is true. Once you come to know God, your hunger for him can increase even more. He satisfies the soul with salvation but then makes you want more of him, to know him more deeply, to experience his presence more fully and consistently.
As I have watched Jeff [Jeff owns a fitness center] at his business work with new customers I have noticed something. They come to him because the desire to improve their health. But learning to workout is not always fun. It is work, hard work, at it takes discipline and pain to make significant progress. But if Jeff can motivate them to stick with a serious exercise program long enough, then start to see some real benefits. And once they start feeling better, once they get stronger, once their bodies adapt they may start to love exercise. Then the customers need less accountability to stick with the program.
It is the same way with those who have gone deep in their relationship with God. They disciplined themselves to make their devotional lives steady. They worked hard to really engage sermons and make prayer a priority. They strove to understand the spiritual life. And they started to experience great benefits. They got hooked. And now they don’t want to quit. Yes, such people still experience struggles spiritually, but they long for God and keep after him, craving his presence. This is what the Psalmist is talking about. Like a man hot and panting for a glass of cold water, so he longs for God’s Word.
Folks, I tell you, if you will but discipline yourselves to feed your relationship with God in serious manner, you’ll get hooked and you’ll be both satisfied and hungry for more at the same time.
II. The requests for God’s help (vs. 133-135).
Yes, through the words of the Psalmist we see the effects of God’s Word on this man who has gone deep with God. But if we are to understand the mind of one who has gone deep with God we must also pay attention to the requests for God’s help that he makes.
This is important because what someone asks for tells you a great deal about them. I see this in Kiran everyday. My wife and I have begun reducing the amount of time Kiran is allowed to have her pacifier each day. We are getting ready to wean her off of it. Now she only allowed to have it when it is bed time. She knows this and she also knows that I can be something of a pushover when it comes to her. So just about every day she comes up to me when it is not bedtime with a big smile on her face while swaying back and forth and says, “Pluggies?” She is so cute. Then I say, “No, pluggies are for nite-nite.” And she responds, “Pluggies!!!!???!!!?” And I give her the same response again and maybe once more until she gives up. My point is that her request reveals what is most important to her: her personal comfort and happiness.
A. For consistent obedience (vs. 133-134)
The Psalmist, being a man who has gone deep with God, asks for things that reveal a heart that is not selfish, but that longs for more of God. In verse 133 he prays, “Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.” He has gone deep with God and does not want sin to ruin everything. And so he prays that God will help stay on the path of obedience so that he will not fall into sin.
Now, it is a good thing to want to be obedient because that is just the right thing to do. Those of you who have had several children may have one that is really into keeping the rules. A child like this has a clear sense of right and wrong and justice and just doesn’t understand people who break the law. We need sticklers for the rules in our world. They are motivated to light right just because of a very clear-cut sense of right and wrong. This kind of person obeys mom and dad because that is just what one ought to do.
But then there are the folks who think about relationships. They say in their hearts, “If I do wrong, I may hurt someone. That would be terrible.” This kind of son or daughter learns that if get into trouble they might break mom or dad’s heart and they can’t bear that thought so they obey.
The Psalmist is like that kind of person. He wants God’s help to live an obedient life. He knows he cannot do it on his own strength. But he wants to live obediently, to stay out of sin, because he knows that if he gets into sin it will harm, hinder, derail and mess up his relationship with God. He knows that sin will create a barrier between him and the Lord and he does not want to break the Father’s heart. If there is one thing a person who has gone deep with God does not want to lose it is the depth or quality of the relationship. Sure, if sin is committed, repentance will bring about the restoration of fellowship but people like the Psalmist can’t bear the thought of such an interruption in their walk with God. So he prays for strength from God to keep him on the straight and narrow.
B. For further teaching (v. 135)
But not only does the Psalmist pray for consistent obedience, he also prays for further teaching. In verse 135 he prays, “Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.”
That expression, “make your face shine upon your servant,” is an Old Testament way of saying, "please show me favor, please spend time with me. Please take me under your wing. Please take a special interest in me.”
What he is asking for is what every teacher does who takes a special interest in a student. Every teacher sees many students come through their classroom, but every once in a while a student comes along that the teacher sees something special in. And the teacher’s interest is piqued, and the choice is made to invest some extra time and effort into mentoring and teaching and building up that particular student.
That is what the Psalmist has in mind here. Now, he knows that God loves everybody the same and God does not show favoritism. But God responds to those who respond to him. The Psalmist is saying, “God, I want more of you. Teach me your Word.”
This is always a key request in the mind of someone who has gone deep with God. They want to keep learning, growing in God’s Word. They want more, spiritually. And the more they learn, the more they realize they have yet to learn and understand and apply. So they pray for more, because they know if God does not enable them to grow, they have no more hope of growing.
As a pastor I see this all the time. Those who want to go deep with God or have gone deep with God are committed to prayer and Bible study. We might think they need it least. But they want more.
If you could see a gauge on your desire for God’s Word, what would it read? Would it read high or low? If it reads high, you don’t need anyone to tell you to pray about this. You already are. But if it reads low, I plead with you to ask God to create a craving within you for his word and to take you deep with him.
Conclusion
These few verses from Psalm 119 give us a look into the mind of someone who has gone deep with God. They help us understand what makes a person close to God tick. They help us understand those believers we think of as real saints.
But they are also a challenge and an invitation to all of us to go deeper with God. If you truly know Christ as your Savior, ask him to take you deeper. You can’t go there just by sheer force of will. You can only go deep with God’s help.
Our world, our church needs deep people. Will you be one?
fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and touched on whether or not there is conflict between enjoying mixed martial arts and being a Christian.
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