Psalm 119:65-72 “You have treated your servant well, according to your word, LORD. Teach me good judgement and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I observe your word. You are good, and do good. Teach me your statutes. The proud have smeared a lie upon me. With my whole heart, I will keep your precepts. Their heart is as callous as the fat, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.”

Affliction comes, and it doesn’t have to be punishment from God. Sometimes it comes because we go against God’s commands. His Word isn’t just a bunch of arbitrary laws. He gives us important instructions for living righteous and fulfilling lives. He is good, and He does good by giving us the Scriptures. When we run into trouble because we don’t follow, it should drive us back to His Word. It really is better than thousands of pieces of gold or silver!

For additional worship: Your Words are Wonderful (Sovereign Grace)

Psalm 119:57-64 “The LORD is my portion. I promised to obey your words. I sought your favor with my whole heart. Be merciful to me according to your word. I considered my ways, and turned my steps to your statutes. I will hurry, and not delay, to obey your commandments. The ropes of the wicked bind me, but I won’t forget your law. At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you, because of your righteous ordinances. I am a friend of all those who fear you, of those who observe your precepts. The earth is full of your loving kindness, LORD. Teach me your statutes.”

You can use this passage to diagnose your own spiritual temperature. Is the Lord your portion? Do you desire Him more than anything? Do you trust Him to be merciful based on His Word? Do you know His statutes well enough to resist the wicked? Do you give thanks to Him for His guidance? Do you desire to help and befriend other believers? Do you believe that we are recipients of His loving kindness? Do you want know His law more and more?

Mark 12:29-31 “Jesus answered, ‘The greatest is: “Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment. The second is like this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ ”

For additional worship: Your Words (Third Day)

Psalm 119:49-56 “Remember your word to your servant, because you gave me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, for your word has revived me. The arrogant mock me excessively, but I don’t swerve from your law. I remember your ordinances of old, LORD, and have comforted myself. Indignation has taken hold on me, because of the wicked who forsake your law. Your statutes have been my songs in the house where I live. I have remembered your name, LORD, in the night, and I obey your law. This is my way, that I keep your precepts.”

God’s Word does bring hope and comfort, but it can also bring indignation. We are right to be troubled when we see so many refuse to follow and believe. The key is to not allow that to take away our joy. Instead, we should sing about God, His Word, and His ways, and we should continually remember Him, even as we lay down to sleep at night. When we do, it will help us to keep His commands!

For additional worship: Living Word (Jeremy Camp)

Psalm 119:41-48 “Let your loving kindness also come to me, LORD, your salvation, according to your word. So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in your word. Don’t snatch the word of truth out of my mouth, for I put my hope in your ordinances. So I will obey your law continually, forever and ever. I will walk in liberty, for I have sought your precepts. I will also speak of your statutes before kings, and will not be disappointed. I will delight myself in your commandments, because I love them. I reach out my hands for your commandments, which I love. I will meditate on your statutes.”

God speaks to us through His Word, even as the world tells us we’re fools to believe and follow. The irony is that it’s the very Word they disparage that gives us hope and shows us how to answer them! In fact, the lives that we live and the testimony of our lips show our faith, hope and love to a world that needs to know God.

2 Peter 3:3-4 “knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.’ ”

2 Peter 3:13-14 “But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without defect and blameless in his sight.”

For additional worship: Show Us Christ (Sovereign Grace)

Psalm 119:33-40 “Teach me, LORD, the way of your statutes. I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law. Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart. Direct me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in them. Turn my heart towards your statutes, not towards selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways. Fulfil your promise to your servant, that you may be feared. Take away my disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good. Behold, I long for your precepts! Revive me in your righteousness.”

There are many ways this world defines success. Wealth. Happiness. Health. Influence. God defines success by our willingness to follow Him, and we see this reflected in the Psalmist’s prayer. Not only should we desire to keep God’s statutes to the end, but we need to recognize that we can’t do that without God’s help. How often do we pray to Him for revival, strength, direction, guidance, protection and desire?

Matthew 6:13 “Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’

For additional worship: Break Thou the Bread of Life (Acapeldridge)

Psalm 119:25-32 “My soul is laid low in the dust. Revive me according to your word! I declared my ways, and you answered me. Teach me your statutes. Let me understand the teaching of your precepts! Then I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. Keep me from the way of deceit. Grant me your law graciously! I have chosen the way of truth. I have set your ordinances before me. I cling to your statutes, LORD. Don’t let me be disappointed. I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free.”

If God has set us free, why wouldn’t we want to hear from Him? That’s why His Word is so wonderful. It’s His direct communication to us. The very fact that God hasn’t left us without hope and direction should cheer our souls! When we are depressed and weary we should turn to the Bible. He speaks to us every day if we’re willing to read and to hear.

For additional worship: Wonderful Words of Life

Psalm 119:17-24 “Do good to your servant. I will live and I will obey your word. Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law. I am a stranger on the earth. Don’t hide your commandments from me. My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times. You have rebuked the proud who are cursed, who wander from your commandments. Take reproach and contempt away from me, for I have kept your statutes. Though princes sit and slander me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. Indeed your statutes are my delight, and my counsellors.”

We read the Word because we are servants in need of instruction. We read the Word because we are blind and in need of direction. We read the Word because we are strangers in need of guidance. We read the Word because we are humble and long to follow. We meditate on the Word because it is a delight!

For additional worship: Speak O Lord (Keith & Kristyn Getty)

Psalm 119:9-16 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. With my whole heart I have sought you. Don’t let me wander from your commandments. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, LORD. Teach me your statutes. With my lips, I have declared all the ordinances of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.”

How can we keep pure and blameless in God’s sight? By following God’s Word! We’ll be more likely to follow if we truly believe His truth is the most important thing in life, that it is greater than riches, and that we should read and memorize it so that we will carry it with us always.

Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.”

For additional worship: Ancient Words

Psalm 119:1-8 “Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the LORD’s law. Blessed are those who keep his statutes, who seek him with their whole heart. Yes, they do nothing wrong. They walk in his ways. You have commanded your precepts, that we should fully obey them. Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey your statutes! Then I wouldn’t be disappointed, when I consider all of your commandments. I will give thanks to you with uprightness of heart, when I learn your righteous judgements. I will observe your statutes. Don’t utterly forsake me.”

The entirety of Psalm 119 extols the importance of the Word of God. The Psalmist uses eight different terms to refer to God’s Word: law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, word, and ordinances. It is alphabetic acrostic, with 8 lines per letter. That means every line in each 8 line section begins with the same letter, and it goes through all 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet sequentially. It is the longest chapter in the Bible.

It opens with two blessings, the only blessing statements in the Psalm, and they remind us of two important lessons. First, obedience does bring blessing! And second, although we can’t truly be blameless in life, we can be blameless in God’s sight because of Jesus!

Colossians 1:21-22 “You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him.”

For additional worship: The Heav’ns Declare Your Glory, Lord

The heav’ns declare your glory, Lord;
In ev’ry star your wisdom shines;
But when our eyes behold your Word,
We read your name in clearer lines.

Sun, moon, and stars disclose your praise
Round the whole earth, and never stand,
So when your truth began its race,
It touched and glanced on ev’ry land.

Nor shall your spreading gospel rest
Till through the world your truth has run,
Till Christ has all the nations blessed
That see the light or feel the sun.

Great Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Bless the dark world with heav’nly light.
Your gospel makes the simple wise;
Your laws are pure, your judgments right.

Your brilliant wonders here we view,
In souls renewed and sins forgiv’n.
Lord, cleanse my sins, my soul renew,
And make your Word my guide to heav’n.

Psalm 118:25-29 “Save us now, we beg you, LORD! LORD, we beg you, send prosperity now. Blessed is he who comes in the LORD’s name! We have blessed you out of the LORD’s house. The LORD is God, and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, I will exalt you. Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.”

Who saves us? Who brings us spiritual prosperity? Who comes in the name of the Lord? Who blesses us out of the Lord’s house? Who brings us light? Who is the final sacrifice for sins?

Luke 19:37-38 “As he was now getting near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!’ “

O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His loving kindness endures forever!”

For additional worship: All Glory Laud and Honor (Reawaken Hymns)