God’s Word for You
Psalm 119:50 Your word gives me life
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, March 10, 2024
50 This is my comfort in my suffering:
that your word gives me life.
The suffering of a Christian might be external, an affliction from an opponent who despises Christ and will do anything to serve Satan’s hatred of God. Or it might be internal, the frustrations and doubts that come because of such attacks. The explanation to the Seventh Petition in the Catechism keeps us aware of such troubles and of the holy Scripture’s answer: “We pray that our Father in heaven would deliver us from every evil that threatens body and soul, property and reputations, and finally when our last hour comes, grant us a blessed end and graciously take us from this world of sorrow to himself in heaven.”
Through all of such threats and attacks, God commands his preachers to “Comfort, comfort my people” (Isaiah 40:1). The comfort of the word of God is that it is more powerful than any force in creation, on the earth, under the earth, or above us in the stars. To have the comfort and the consolation of the word of God is more powerful than the grave, because God promises us an end even to death, when we will rise and live with him forever in Paradise. Even if I were to make such a mistake that my life would be forfeit in this world, but I held onto my faith in Christ, then I would say with Job: “I still have this consolation—my joy in unrelenting pain—that I had not denied the words of the Holy One” (Job 6:10). For “our stay in this world in the flesh is a little thing and lasts only a short time.” “It is better even to hate the things that are here, for they are small, short-lived and corruptible, and to love the things that are there in heaven, the good things that are incorruptible.”
Surely comfort about the forgiveness of our sins and about the resurrection of the dead are the greatest comforts that the word of God gives: “Your word gives me life.” But so that we do not forget the other glorious benefits, we should consider as many as we can. The benefits of the word of God are:
1, The word clearly teaches us who God is. “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone the Son wants to reveal him to” (Matthew 11:27). God is not a pagan deity, a local god, a mysterious good force opposing a mysterious force of darkness and evil. The true God is the Triune God of the Scriptures: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.
2, The word of God gives instructions for those who sin and err. “Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and he will teach us his ways” (Isaiah 2:9). And again: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105).
3, The word of God is the means God gives for the conversion of sinners. “I declared to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God” (Acts 26:20). What is this declaration apart from the proclamation of the word of God, law and gospel? And what are the means of grace apart from the gospel in the word and in the sacraments?
4, The word of God is for kindling faith, and for strengthening faith. The light of faith ignites in people’s hearts from the light of the word of God. “For it is God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ and who has shone in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
5, The word of God causes spiritual rebirth. This is a picture of how man comes to faith. “Even though we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ—you are saved by grace” (Ephesians 2:5). And again, “When you were dead in your sins and in your uncircumcised sinful nature, God made you alive together with Christ. He forgave all our sins” (Colossians 2:13).
6, The word of God teaches us to use God’s name correctly so that we do not need to avoid it, as some do. “How are they to call upon him in whom they have not believed? Or how are they to believe in him if they have not heard about him?” (Romans 10:14). God’s word teaches us to use his name to pray, to praise, and to give thanks.
7, God’s word is food for the soul. “Man lives by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). And the word of God also warns: “I will send a famine of hearing the word” (Amos 8:11). Therefore we should embrace the word, take it to heart, and let it live on our lips and in our conversation.
8, God’s word brings comfort for the afflicted. David says: “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). “The Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor, to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:1-2). This is also where our verse here, Psalm 119:50, proclaims the same thing.
9, God’s word gives guidance for godly living. “I shall teach you the way you should go” (Psalm 32:8). “Teach them the right way to live” (2 Chronicles 6:27). For as the ancient Father said, “If Christ would imitate us according to our actions, we would cease to exist! For this reason we should be his disciples, not the other way around, and learn to lead Christian lives.”
10, God’s word arms and gives strength to those in spiritual warfare. “The word of God is the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). “No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you” (Isaiah 54:17).
11, The word of God itself is the crown and glorification of those who prevail. “You have the words of everlasting life” (John 6:68). “The gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). “The Wisdom of God… makes their treasuries full” (Proverbs 8:21).
These gifts cannot come to us apart from the word of God, through reading his word, hearing it, preaching it, proclaiming it in the spoken word or through pictures for children and for the simple, pure hearts that see there the truth of the Holy Spirit. God does not give us physical, earthly things in this way, but the wealth of spiritual things, life, understanding, illumination, salvation, comfort, hope, and what we need for spiritual defense. “These things cannot come about except through the ministry of word and sacraments” (Augsburg Confession). And to remember our very first point and our joy: The word of God promises and gives the forgiveness of sins, and the promise of the resurrection to everlasting life.
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.