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Psalm 119:113-120
THE 119TH PSALM
Psalms 119:113-120
119:113 SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
119:114 Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.
119:115 Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my
God.
119:116 Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be
ashamed of my hope.
119:117 Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy
statutes continually.
119:118 Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their
deceit is falsehood.
119:119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore
I love thy testimonies.
119:120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.
"My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments." (v.
120)
There is not enough of the "fear of the Lord" nowadays, even among Christians.
When we fear Him, we will respect Him, and, in fact, fear is a form of respect.
To respect Him is to honor Him, and to honor Him is to obey him. Though the
Christian need not fear the judgment of God as far as being condemned to an
eternal hell is concerned, we need to fear His chastisement, which He will mete
out as He sees the need. Whether this word "judgments" refers to His Word, as
a synonym, or whether it refers to the judgments of God, literally, we do not
know for sure. The word "judgments" is used in this particular psalm, beginning
in v. 7, some sixteen times as a synonym for the Word of God. There are other
times that it uses this word that are not too clear as to which they refer.
At any rate, we need to fear God because of His judgments!
Fear is a deterrent to sin. It is the reason we spank our children, to cause
pain, which they learn to fear, and thereby learn to do right. God sometimes
must "spank" us, and teach us to fear so that we will be afraid to disobey Him,
but if we do not fear Him, we will not often obey Him. The psalmist learned
obedience by knowing God, and he knew that God put "away the wicked like dross"
(v. 119). David feared so much in that he trembled at the thought of the awesome
power of God, and of His judgments. David won the respect of the people, and
the fear of the Philistines, when he "proved himself" faithful in the incident
with Goliath, and many times thereafter when he won battles against the enemies
of God. Here though, it is his turn to fear. David knew fear as all brave men
do; it is not a shame to be fearful but the shame comes when we allow the fear
to cause us to act contrary to the will of the Lord. I see no shame in trembling
before God either, nor, at times, before men, if we still go on with the confidence
that God will give us the victory. Perhaps it is the fear of the Lord that won
David the honor of being a "man after God's own heart."
--Marty Dunn
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