Only Him

DEVOTION

PSALMS

ONLY HIM

Ps 119:137-144

137 Tsadhe

Righteous are you, O LORD, and your laws are right. 138 The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are fully trustworthy. 139 My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore your words. 140 Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them. 141 Though I am lowly and despised, I do not forget your precepts. 142 Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true. 143 Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight. 144 Your statutes are forever right; give me understanding that I may live.

NIV

Day eighteen in the longest Psalm. Laws, statutes, promises, precepts, commands and the Torah are once again in the heart and mind as well as the mouth of the psalmist. The Hebrew words give us a better view of what is actually being said here. Why this translation chooses these words we are not sure. Other translations have some different words, yet the Hebrew seems even better. There are Testimonies, Something said, mandate, Torah, command, testimonies. The idea in all that is how determined the psalmist is to everything from the Lord. All the Lord says is true and final. There is no other authority for the psalmist and there should be no other for us. Everything the Lord has said is trustworthy, which we cannot say about everything man says. If fact there is a ministry called, “Godsaidmansaid.com” dedicated to comparing the false words of man against the true words of God. When we consider his word is trustworthy then we have to trust it, put our complete trust in his word. The psalmist does not speak about trust for salvation alone, in fact many times within the context of what the psalmist speaks, he is talking about his physical life experiences rather than his afterlife or eternal life. He has been on the run from Saul, he is being hunted because he is hated, and he has threatened Saul's position as king. He is not in a good position in life at the moment he wrote these words. This trusting in God, in his testimonies, that which the Lord has said about himself and his relationship with those who love him is in the forefront of David’s thinking. The promises of the Lord have been tested, and we have also seen them tested and proved to be true and trustworthy. Whenever God speaks into our heart and mind we can be sure it is worthy of being trusted completely without any reservations or questions. It would seem whenever we try to make some excuse for God as to why something did not happen as we hoped it would, we are not actually trusting his word, or we are misusing it. The fact is his word is final, we cannot alter it nor should we try to use his word to fit our ideas of what he says. We should adjust our thinking to be in accord with the word, for his word is the only thing we can trust. It does not matter the circumstances of our life, what our situation is at any particular moment, whether we are on top of the world or in distress, his word has to be our guiding light for our journey. His word gives us understanding so that we can live. This living is not just getting by, but living with joy, contentment, peace, love and in trust of Him. He is our Rock, our Refuge, our Strength, our Savior, our Father, our Redeemer, our King, our Lord, our Tower, our Salvation, our Help, and our God. In whom else can we trust? Not even ourselves, but only Him.