The Command

DEVOTION

PSALMS

THE COMMAND

Ps 119:121-128

121 Ayin

I have done what is righteous and just; do not leave me to my oppressors. 122 Ensure your servant's well-being; let not the arrogant oppress me. 123 My eyes fail, looking for your salvation, looking for your righteous promise. 124 Deal with your servant according to your love and teach me your decrees. 125 I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes. 126 It is time for you to act, O LORD; your law is being broken. 127 Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold, 128 and because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.

NIV

Day sixteen in the longest psalm. There seems to be a lot of repetition in some of the phrases the psalmist uses throughout this whole psalm. The words decrees, statutes, commands, law and precepts show up a lot. The words arrogant and oppressors or enemies and wicked also are repeated. The concept of the path is constant as well. In addition the idea of the Lord teaching him and fulfilling his promises along with giving him understanding has been stated numerous times. All these things show up and give us the whole of the idea that God is taking care of him and he will overcome all who oppose him. The promise of God is never broken, although his law is and has been many times over. The question is whether we have done what is righteous and just. The answer is yes, because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the ultimate of what is a righteous and just act and because we are in Christ who is righteous and just, we are therefore also righteous and just. That does not mean our flesh is, but our spirit surely is. Yet God also makes sure we will not be left to the oppressor. He has provided us with his armor so that as we put it on, we can take our stand against all the forces of evil, all who would attempt to oppress us. The psalmist keeps saying that his eyes fail, or the idea of straining, searching for the salvation of the Lord. They were waiting for a Messiah throughout their history and in fact are still looking and waiting today. They rejected Jesus, although he is their Messiah. Jesus is the righteous promise of God. John 3:16 states it is the love of God for all the world is the reason for Jesus coming. Some people need to be taught that, the psalmist was wanting to be taught the decrees of the Lord. The Hebrew word translated decree means an enactment, hence and appointment of time, space and labor. That speaks directly to the appointment God made with man by sending Jesus at the exact time and space to do the work of God by being the sacrifice for sin. Why David did not see the Messiah was because of the decree of God. But we have seen the Messiah come to Israel and the whole earth. We have been given that understanding. The Lord has acted and his law was broken. So Jesus fulfilled that law, and those who are in Jesus are no longer bound by the law, in essence we have been freed from it, so then we cannot break that which we are not under. Those who live by the law, will die by the law. Those of us who are in Christ no longer live under the law and therefore the law has not grip, no death for us. Is the law bad? By no means for we would have not known sin unless it was for the law,  but having known sin we also knew we needed a Savior to take away our sin, and Jesus has done that, therefore in a sense we love the law, but hate that which is evil. We love the path of God, but hate the path of evil. We know the law, but we live by faith instead of the law, because the law brings death and faith brings life. We walk the path of faith and we will live forever as a result. We love the command of God because it was his command that his Son would be our sacrifice for sin. Jesus is the command of God.