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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Psalms 119:65 - 119:72
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Teth. The Realization that God's Humiliation of Man is Salutary. —
v. 65. Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according unto Thy Word, not with the intention of harming His servant, but of impressing upon him the fact that the believer's path is one of crosses and sorrows, as the Word of God so frequently states. A course in the school of suffering always works benefits to the children of God.
v. 66. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, enabling him to distinguish carefully between good and evil; for I have believed Thy commandments, for it is only by following the path of God's Word with the greatest exactness that one is kept out of the mazes of error and sin.
v. 67. Before I was afflicted, before God chose to lay the burden of suffering upon him, I went astray; but now have I kept Thy Word. It was the tribulation laid upon him which caused the psalmist to realize the hollow mockery of everything which this world offers, as well as the emptiness of his own righteousness.
v. 68. Thou art good and doest good, even when God lays upon His children the burden of suffering, since His purpose is always one of kindness and mercy, teach me Thy statutes for tribulation drives the believer into the Word. This appreciation of the Word is increased, moreover, on account of the lies which the godless are pleased to spread concerning the believers.
v. 69. The proud have forged a lie against me, smearing falsehoods all at once over him, making the true nature of things hazy by daubing them over with false colors or pasting on deceit; but I will keep Thy precepts with my whole heart, in spite of all the falsehoods which are circulated about him and which cause men to look askance at him.
v. 70. Their heart is as fat as grease, altogether without sensitiveness; it is impossible to make an impression upon the majority of the godless, to convince them of the wrong of their mockery; but I delight in Thy Law, his pleasure in studying the Word of God growing with every new attempt of the enemies to discredit him.
v. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, he now gratefully acknowledges the benefit which he has received from the afflictions laid upon him, that I might learn Thy statutes, for he might never have learned this important lesson if God had not taken him into the school of suffering. Therefore he concludes this section with a shout of triumph,
v. 72. The Law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver; for he has now learned that all the wealth of the world cannot compare with the precious content of the Word, which is the true treasure of all Christians.