“I hope for your salvation, O Lord, and I do your commandments.” Psalm 119.166 Here we have a picture of saving faith. The psalmist hopes in God—not in himself—for salvation. He does not plead his case. He does not list his religious accomplishments. There is no claim to worthiness, no esteem of self, no looking at self whatsoever. He looks …

“Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.” Psalm 119.165 There is great security in the Word of God. The psalmist makes that point clear in this verse. Those who love the law have peace—they enjoy spiritual wholeness and spiritual prosperity. Loving the Word of God leads to divine favor. Protection from stumbling and sin …

“Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.” Psalm 119.164 This verse contains unnatural praise. Indeed, it displays supernatural praise. The frequency of the poet’s praise may not surprise us. He offers his praise seven times a day. While we may be inspired by that, we’re not surprised by it. Surely God is worth infinite praise. What …

“I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.” Psalm 119.163 This verse offers an illustration of one of the most common forms of Hebrew poetry—contrasting parallels. This brief, potent verse offers two contrasts, and in both cases the contrast is stark. These comparisons reveal the nature of God’s Word and what our response to it must be. First, …

“I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.” Psalm 119.162 In the previous verse, the poet sang of his reverential awe for God’s Word. Though powerful men of the earth persecuted him, he didn’t tremble in fear of those prices. He stood in awe of God’s Word (161). In this verse, he reveals that such fear and …

“Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.” Psalm 119.161 This verse opens the second-to-last stanza of this beautiful psalm, this ode to the Word of God. In this stanza, the psalmists’s prayer serves as a powerful testimony to what the Word of God produces in the life of a believer. The first fruit …

“The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” Psalm 119.160 There is no escaping this fact: God’s Word is unchanging. It is truth. His revelation is righteous. Scripture—every bit of it—is perfectly righteous, perfectly true, and eternally unchanging. Don’t move too quickly past this. Let it sink in. God’s Word is perfect …

“Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.” Psalm 119.159 This verse highlights the main theme of this stanza: The psalmist desire that the Lord look on him and deliver him. To open this stanza, he asked the Lord to look on his affliction and deliver him. Here, he asks the Lord to consider …

“I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.” Psalm 119.158 We’ve seen the psalmist’s enemies and persecutors many times in this psalm. He has lamented their sin. They surround him at all times, so he has prayed to the Lord for deliverance. These enemies are an ever-present part of his song. Their wickedness is …

“Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies.” Psalm 119.157 The psalmist continues this stanza filled with prayer with a theme that he has returned to time and again in this psalm. He again laments his enemies and their wickedness, and again he speaks of his devotion to the Word of God. I …