Personal Revival: Psalm 119:156
The Psalmist brilliantly navigates the terrain of his heart and provides for us, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, an example of personal revival.
Eleven times in Psalm 119 the author petitions God to “revive me and give me life.”
Vs. 25 My soul clings to the dust. Revive me according to your word.
Vs. 37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
Vs. 40 Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!
Vs. 50 This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.
Vs. 88 In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.
Vs. 93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.
Vs. 107 I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word!
Vs. 149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O Lord, according to your justice give me life.
Vs. 154 Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!
Vs. 156 Great is your mercy, O Lord; give me life according to your rules.
Vs. 159 Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.
The eleventh personal revival passage of the 119th Psalm is positioned with an abiding personal love of God’s word.
| 97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. |
The expression here, “O how love I thy law,” implies intense love – as if a man were astonished at the fervour of his own emotion. His love was so ardent that it was amazing and wonderful to himself – perhaps wonderful that he, a sinner, should love the law of God at all; wonderful that he should ever have been brought so to love a law which condemned himself. Any man who reflects on what his feelings are by nature in regard to religion, will be filled with wonder that he loves it at all; all who are truly religious ought to be so filled with love to it, that it will be difficult for them to find words to express the intensity of their affection. Barnes Notes
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| 97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. |
The law is God’s law, and therefore it is our love. We love it for its holiness, and pine to be holy; we love it for its wisdom, and study to be wise; we love it for its perfection, and long to be perfect. Treasury of David
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| 97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. |
He meditated in God’s word because he loved it, and then loved it the more because he meditated in it. He could not have enough of it, so ardently did he love it: all the day was not too long for his converse with it. His matin prayer, his noonday thought, his evensong were all out of Holy Writ; yea, in his worldly business he still kept his mind saturated with the law of the Lord. Treasury of David
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| 97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. |
When “thy law,” and “my meditation” are together all the day, the day grows holy, devout, and happy, and the heart lives with God. Treasury of David
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| 98 Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. |
Always with me, making me wiser than my enemies.
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| 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. | More insight than all my teachers, because I meditate on God’s statutes.
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| 100 I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. | More understanding than the elders, because I obey your precepts.
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| 101 I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. |
I have kept away from wrong paths so that I might obey God’s word.
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| 102 I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. |
I have kept on God’s path, because God has taught me, Himself through His word.
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| 103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! |
Observe, reader, there is such a thing as a spiritual taste, an inward savour and relish of divine things; such an evidence of them to ourselves, by experience, as we cannot give to others. To this taste the word of God is sweet; yea, sweeter than any of the gratifications of sense, even those that are most delicious. Benson Commentary
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| 104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.
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Avoidance of sinful courses is both the effect and means of increasing in divine knowledge. Jameison-Fawcett-Brown
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