based on the LGG Study of Psalm 119 / w8d2
Scripture: Psalm 119:165-168 / SOAP: 165
Those who love your law are completely secure;
Psalm 119:165-168 NET
nothing causes them to stumble.
166 I hope for your deliverance, O Lord,
and I obey your commands.
167 I keep your rules;
I love them greatly.
168 I keep your precepts and rules,
for you are aware of everything I do.
The King James translation of verse 165 says: “Great peace have those who love Your law.. .” It paints a beautiful picture of and for those who love God’s Word. Even in the storms of life, when we love God’s Word (keeping in mind that what we love, we do1 and noting that the Psalmist did not just love God’s law, he also obeyed God’s commands), then we will know a peace that is beyond our understanding – unmarred and unswayed by the world and the troubles of life.
I hope for Your salvation, and I do Your commandments: The psalmist here displays the kind of active faith and trust that saves. He had faith in God for salvation; yet it was a faith that could also say, “I do Your commandments.” This is the kind of living faith so strongly promoted in the Epistle of James.
I love that the writer makes it clear that his hope is in God’s deliverance and that obedience follows that hope (vs 166). Borrowing from the commentary of gotquestions.org, “the psalmist had faith in God for salvation; yet it was a faith that could also say, “I do Your commandments.” This is a wonderful example of being saved through faith and not by works. The psalmist was also greatly affected by God’s ever-watching eye, which had a great effect on his obedience, yet even more evidence of his love for God – for when we love someone, do we not want to please them?
“This verse does not promise peace to those who perfectly keep God’s Law, for who can keep it? It promises peace to those who ‘love’ God’s Law.” (Boice)
cited @ https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/psalm/psalm-119.cfm?a=597164
The way we live will reflect who or what we love. If our goal is to please man/the world, then we will live by the world’s standard. If our hope is in God and we love His Word, then we will live accordingly. Friends, it is important to remember that we cannot “serve” both, For, as Jesus said, “You will either hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” While Jesus referenced money in the lesson he was teaching, the principle applies to anything that has mastery over us. Gotquestions.org2 explains it like this: A master is anything that enslaves us (Romans 6:16). Alcohol, lust, and money are all masters of some people. In Jesus’ warning that we cannot serve two masters, He specifies money (or “mammon” or “wealth” in other translations) as a master in opposition to God.” However, in Jesus’ invitation to the crowd in Luke 9:23, He says anyone who wishes to follow Him must “forsake everything. – Jesus’ call to follow Him is a call to abandon all other masters.”
Prayer for the Journey
Father, may we never forget You are watching, and let our security and our peace be found in You alone. Deepen our love for Your ways, rooting our faith deeper in You, and please turn our eyes from the world’s lure so that we might escape the desire to live by its standard. – In the mighty name of Jesus, amen!
Reflection for the Journey
Do I base my life on how others see me and/or what they find acceptable in me – or on what God sees and finds acceptable in me?
Me From the Inside Out 