God’s Word for You
Psalm 119:131-133 The sweetest words
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, November 24, 2024
131 I open my mouth wide and pant,
longing for your commandments.
Holding open one’s mouth was sometimes used as an ancient synonym for “to declaim,” that is, to speak some practiced speech or poem in a loud and often pompous manner, as when a layman tries to recite Shakespeare. Far from reciting something, our poet shows that the opened mouth here is only to pant, to show his thirst for the word of God. Psalm 42:1 is a comparison with a deer panting; here we have the poet himself panting. He longs for God’s holy commandments. As Luther says, “He does not say that he opened his mouth to speak or breathe, but rather to inhale, for he preferred to be taught rather than to teach.”
The believer is wise to listen to the Holy Spirit rather than trying to tell the Spirit what to do. The Holy Spirit enters into us at our baptism, or when people come to faith (since there are some who come to faith before they are baptized, especially in the case of certain adults, Luke 23:42). But once there, in our hearts, he is not idle, and we long to hear the word of God. He urges us to obey the commandments of God, and since this is the case, believers should not be idle or oppose his urgings, but we should exercise ourselves in all Christian virtues, in all godliness, modesty, temperance, patience, and brotherly love, and we should diligently seek “to make our calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). Why? One reason is brought out by our Lutheran Confession, the Formula of Concord: “So that the more they experience the power and might of the Spirit within themselves, the less they will doubt their election” (Solid Declaration, XI:73). We long to hear his word so that we will be assured of our place with him forever in heaven.
132 Turn to me and have mercy on me
according to your judgment for those who love your name.
God told the prophet, “Turn to me and be saved” (Isaiah 45:22). Our poet holds God at his word, and asks only that he will do what he has promised to do.
I have taken “judgment” here as a term for the word of God. Some translations (ESV, NIV) do not. The difference is whether or not we should understand mishpat as “judgment” or “manner, custom.” An example of the latter is Genesis 40:13, “just as you used to do (lit. ‘as was your custom’) when you were cupbearer.” But as with most secondary or idiomatic definitions, the context needs to demand the more unusual meaning. Here, I don’t see that as being the case.
We ask for God’s mercy according to his judgment because, left to our own judgment, we would never deserve mercy. But God is not merciful because we deserve it or earn it. He is merciful. As the British theologian Bede said, “The Lord who had given the oppressing Law will also give uplifting grace” (Sermon on Psalm 83). And Anselm said: “The proud are crushed under the Law, and the crushed are lifted up under the Gospel.”
133 Direct my footsteps according to your sayings;
let no evil rule over me.
“Sayings” is another term for the word of God. Our poet asks God to guide and direct his footsteps, which means the ways he lives his life. He wants to do everything according to the word of God, all of the Holy Spirit’s sayings, whether the Law of Moses, or the account of the creation and the lives of the Patriarchs, or the history of the Israelites before, under and after the kings, or the words of the prophets, or the other poetic things like Job, the Proverbs and the other Psalms. Why? Because the word of God presents the whole will and mind of God that he knows mankind needs to know about and to understand. This shows us the seriousness and the gravity of our sins, as well as the variety of our sins. We might think that only some things are sinful and other things are ignored by God if the Scriptures did not show us sinners who did wicked and cruel things to splash cold water on us and teach us that we sin in more ways than one.
Who would trouble themselves about animals if Balaam was not rebuked by the angel of the LORD for beating his donkey (Numbers 22:32)?
Would we not sink into the worship of angels as lesser holy beings if Scripture did not come right out and tell us not to (Colossians 2:18)?
Would we be tempted to think of Mary the mother of Christ as a new Eve if the Bible did not tell us that Eve placed herself under Christ and looked to him alone for forgiveness of her sins and redemption, never once claiming any such thing for herself, and placing herself under his command even in his death (Luke 1:47; John 19:27)?
“Let no evil rule over me” seeks healing from sin in Christ alone, “whose blood cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Christ died “once for all” (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 10:10), and so what a sin it is to look to anyone else, including one’s own labors, works, and merits, or Mary (!) to atone for sin, when Christ has already accomplished everything on the cross!
The Christian who has heard the gospel again and again throughout his lifetime longs to hear the sweet words of the gospel, sweeter than a mother’s voice to a baby, sweeter than a husband’s greeting on the doorstep after a long absence, sweeter than the return of the bird songs after a violent thunderstorm. “The word of the Gospel is sweet and gentle; like peaceful rain and dew it falls on souls silently” (Philippus Presbyter, pupil of Jerome, on Job 42). The forgiveness of our sins, the blessing of God on our lives and spirits, and the promise of the resurrection and of everlasting life are the sweetest words there are.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.