DAY 7.
The seventh stanza vs.49 – 56 lie before us today and may the Holy Spirit breath life into the word today that they may become a living word to us.
David seeks the same knowledge in v 50 he longs for open communications between himself and the Living God, he cannot live without them and neither can we, Lord.
'Remember' v 49 is reminding the Lord as if He needed it, that His word is vital for His servant to survive in the battle of life.
It is Gods word that has brought him 'hope' and that provides a tasty spiritual meal for the observant servant of the Lord.
'Hope thou in God' Psalm 45 vs.5 and 11 to 'hope' here means to wait expectantly for the Lord to fulfil His word in as well as to us.
To wait for the appointed time for the word to be taught and obeyed, we remind ourselves our Father is never in a hurry and He is never late in fulfilling His plans and purposes.
We are told to 'rejoice in hope' Romans 12 v 12 so whilst we are being taught we rejoice in the fulfilling of the promises that God gives us in His word.
The anticipation of the promise knowing that it will come fills us with delight so that we come closer to the Lord and prolong the time we spend with Him.
The object of our rejoicing is not the receiving of the promise but to the One who is giving it, we rejoice in the God of our salvation who continually meets our needs.
Now that brings us to the 'hope of our salvation' in 1 Thessalonians 5 v 8 this brings us confidently to the foundation of our faith and our trust in God.
We know that 'He cannot lie' Titus 1 v 2 and Numbers 23 v 19, now the Titus reference points to our eternal salvation it is anchored securely in the Living God to promised it to us before the world began.
What a terrific 'hope' we have that the rescuing act of the Lord Jesus will stand the test of Gods judgement on the world and that He will receive us into the heavenly place forever.
So we can look at the 'hope of our calling' Ephesians 1 v 18 and here to the many promises that are stored up for is to enjoy through our inheritance in Christ Jesus.
The 'inheritance' points to the possessions a believer receives as they live under the new order of living set out in Gods word.
The conditions are laid out in the scriptures for us to search out and claim in Christ Jesus
expecting Him to fulfil His word in doing so.
The hope we have as we look at the promises of God are fulfilled in us as we come as little children expecting our heavenly Father to work them out in us so that we grow spiritually.
To lose our child like simplicity usually means we take our eyes of the Lord and return to our own trying to meet our needs, note we say 'child like faith' not 'childish faith' because the former enables us to grow in the faith the latter leaves us meandering around getting nowhere.
There is one more 'hope' that we need to ponder over and maybe delight in today in doing so and that is the 'hope that is an anchor' Hebrews 6 v 19.
There we look at the two pillars that give us both 'anchor' and 'hope' in our faith, in v 18 'two immutable things' the word 'immutable' means unchanging and unchangeable facts: the first is the 'promise' the second the 'oath'.
The 'promise' points to an undertaking and proclamation to do or give something with the guarantee that it will be performed.
In 2 Corinthians 1 v 20 we are guaranteed the promises of God because the guarantor is our Lord Jesus Christ v 19 everything is anchored in who He is.
The 'oath' points us to is the established and eternal word of God, He has made the oath to His children and confirmed it in His Son who has officially performed His duties for us in the presence of the Father.
He has confirmed His duties in bringing us back to God through His sacrifice on Calvary and the fact that He has risen and ascended back to the heavenly place from where He came to earth.
We cannot have a greater hope than this, the same Lord Jesus is coming again to take us His whole ransomed people to be with Him in the heavenly place for eternity, what an anchor to have.
Well may David tell us that it brings comfort to him as he passes through afflictions that overwhelm him and many a saint will testify to this over the centuries.
Our hope then is based on the promises given to us in Gods word and it is for us dig them out and believe the content of them bring them into reality into our life.
Do you notice how often in the Psalm David refers to the non believers that surround him, the proud here that are living with human directions and having no spiritual guidance
It may be a source of encouragement to us today who are surrounded continually with folk who have no need of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Only yesterday I listened to a well known radio presenter telling her companion not to bother with salvation as he had no need of it.
The media in Britain is monopolized by such arrogant people who vent their feelings against the Christian Gospel regularly making fun out of believers with their sarcastic comments.
The truth is they will soon be brought face to face with the Lord Jesus who to them is not alive right now but then it will be a different story as they fall at His feet for judgement.
The 'proud' are referred to six times in the Psalm 119 pointing to folk being arrogant, bold and filled with self exaltation they are the complete opposite of the humble that Almighty God receives.
The world is full of self important people who are filled with exaggerated self importance, they know everything and yet they no nothing about eternal issues brushing them off as irrelevant.
The 'derision' v 51 brings out the mocking threats of such folk who do not realise the empty threats are recorded and will be held against them on the Judgement Day.
They sound clever but when faced with truth they shy away because they love their sin to much to want to deal with it.
Now the disciple of the Living God draw consolation from the very word that is despised by the proud, to the believer they cannot live without it, as it is so precious to them.
'I remember' v 52 the promises of God bring constant solace to the soul being battered by the folk around them, the comfort received lifts the spirit and strengthens them for the next bout of conflict.
'Remember' brings out the thought of reflecting on the past victories gained by obeying the word of God rather than listening to rebellious people.
The word also points us to reflect upon it now in the conflict because it reveals not only the nature of the conflict but it gives us the conclusion of it in glorious victory.
There is then a third meaning of the word 'remember' attributed to its use here and that is to remind ourselves to use the word of God and to stand on the promises that it reveals.
Yes many a saint has felt the impact of the violent nature of human beings when seeking to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them and it has made them timid until they remembered the word of the Lord.
The word 'horror' comes three times in scripture and refers to white hot heat that boils over and folk do things they wish they had never done afterwards.
The storm brews in the hours or days before and suddenly the rage is vented in uncontrollable force not only verbally but with violent reactions as well.
David knew this in his long battle with Saul and the old king looked with horror on his younger pretender literally used his large army to track him down, seeking to kill him.
The truth lies in the sacred pages of scripture David rested his cause in the word of God he trusted the word rather than rest in the knowledge gained through human wisdom.
There can be nothing worse for an angry person to be faced with a singing opposition and Satan is no less angry when he hears the sounds of melodious music rising from the Lords people.
David wrote many a Psalm recorded in scripture, during the heat of the battles with Saul
and what delightful songs they are filling our worship today.
Let us note that David did not stop singing when the battles with Saul ended and he became King of Israel oh no he sang songs of praise over the whole of his earthly pilgrimage.
Have you ever sang songs of praise in the night when you could not sleep or were awakened from your sleep, no, then try it?
We note the third use of 'remembered' in v 55, here we are to gaze on the Lord Himself, to remember Him, the idea is captured in 1 Corinthians 11 regarding the Lords Supper.
We are told to 'remember Me' by the Lord Jesus, remember what I did on Calvary, then remember where I am now and what I am doing for you.
The remember what I am going to do shortly, coming to take you home for eternity.
