“My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word…Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.” Psalm 119:25, 88
Psalm 119 is rightly described as one of the greatest doxologies on the immense value of the word of God. Repeatedly the writer breaks out into celebration over all the great blessings he has received from taking in God’s commandments, statutes, judgments, etc. However, while we must recognize the word from the Lord contained in this great psalm, we must likewise take note of the word to the Lord from the psalmist. This psalm is not just a song of Israel; it is also a powerful prayer for God’s provisions.
Like every healthy relationship, God has invited us into a conversation with Him, but we often struggle to balance the two sides of the conversation. Some believers spend a great deal of time studying what God has said to them to the neglect of speaking to Him in prayer. Others spend plenty of time talking to God in prayer while failing to find out what His answers to their queries may be as revealed in His word. Like so much of life, we must bring the two elements of this relationship into better balance.
It is evident from the declarations of the psalmist that he engaged God’s word frequently, and that he did so with full intentions of shaping his life around the demands contained therein. Immediately he declared the blessed state of those who so live (vv. 1-2), declaring that he would keep His statutes, etc. (vv. 5-16, 57, 69). As he continued, he declared the motivation for this pursuit to include his longing for God’s judgments (vs. 20, 40), his delight in His testimonies (vs. 24, 47, 70), his clinging to His testimonies (vs. 31), because such gave him life (vs. 50), and he relentlessly presented this list of praises for the word throughout the psalm. With such an attitude towards God’s word, how could he possibly fall short of his aim?
Woven throughout these declarations of his view of and intentions towards God’s word, the psalmist demonstrates the necessary attitude to live up to his self-professed aims. Desiring to know and serve God does not ensure the ability to execute the plan because we are all finite, weak, flawed, etc. The psalmist never assumes he has the wherewithal to live in the prescribed way, despite wanting to do so with every fiber of his being. Notice his petitions for God to empower him to succeed.
Though seeking Him with his whole heart his pleas included asking God to keep him from wandering (vs. 10), empowering him to keep His law (vv. 17, 35-37, 80, 88), granting him the ability to understand His will (vv. 27, 33, 43, 66, 73, 108, 125, 135, 144), and assuring him of His mercy thereby providing comfort to his soul that he may finish the task at hand (vv. 76-77, 116-117, 122, 153-156).
This theme of prayerful dependence runs throughout this beautiful psalm. It is a powerful reminder to us not to try and stand on our own righteousness, wisdom, determination, etc., though we must certainly live in these principles. The issue is not in the pursuit of these critical characteristics of a faithful servant of God. The issue is in failing to cling to our only source of power to live them out on the battlefield of life. May we set our minds to keep God’s will as the psalmist clearly did. May we likewise humbly recognize our inability to fulfill these ideals of our own might (cf. Romans 7) and seek His strength every day of our lives. Then and only then will we succeed in our pursuit of His will and ways.