Word Live: Waiter
Are you able to give God quality time just now? If not, come back later when you know you won’t need to rush.
Bible passage
Psalm 119:73–96
×™ Yodh
73 Your hands made me and formed me;
give me understanding to learn your commands.
74 May those who fear you rejoice when they see me,
for I have put my hope in your word.
75 I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
76 May your unfailing love be my comfort,
according to your promise to your servant.
77 Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
78 May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause;
but I will meditate on your precepts.
79 May those who fear you turn to me,
those who understand your statutes.
80 May I wholeheartedly follow your decrees,
that I may not be put to shame.
×› Kaph
81 My soul faints with longing for your salvation,
but I have put my hope in your word.
82 My eyes fail, looking for your promise;
I say, ‘When will you comfort me?’
83 Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke,
I do not forget your decrees.
84 How long must your servant wait?
When will you punish my persecutors?
85 The arrogant dig pits to trap me,
contrary to your law.
86 All your commands are trustworthy;
help me, for I am being persecuted without cause.
87 They almost wiped me from the earth,
but I have not forsaken your precepts.
88 In your unfailing love preserve my life,
that I may obey the statutes of your mouth.
ל Lamedh
89 Your word, Lord, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens.
90 Your faithfulness continues through all generations;
you established the earth, and it endures.
91 Your laws endure to this day,
for all things serve you.
92 If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
93 I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have preserved my life.
94 Save me, for I am yours;
I have sought out your precepts.
95 The wicked are waiting to destroy me,
but I will ponder your statutes.
96 To all perfection I see a limit,
but your commands are boundless.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
Readers with experience of online shopping will know that it is possible to request next day – or even same day – delivery! Culturally conditioned not to have to wait for anything, we can find it difficult to wait on God, not least for him to deliver us from difficulty. In our impatience we are easily tempted to autonomy and self-sufficiency – in other words, to idolatry.
These verses are an antidote to our impatience. The psalmist is in the midst of adversity (v 75) and is worn out with waiting for God to end his suffering (vs 81–83). Even so, his faith does not waver. He remains resolute that God is righteous and faithful (v 75), that his love is unfailing (v 76), that he is compassionate (v 77) and that he is the source of salvation (v 81). It is God’s character that compels the psalmist’s confidence in him. God’s instruction is a covenantal gift of himself to his people, that they might enjoy his gracious rule and reflect his character. Arrogant oppressors disregard God’s law (vs 78,85), but the psalmist delights in it – even in the face of death (v 87). He can testify that God’s design for life has saved his life (vs 92,93). God is worth waiting for!
Author
Nigel Hopper
Respond
Take time to wait on God, allowing his Spirit to guide you into the truth he wants you to take from today’s reading.
Deeper Bible study
‘Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.’1
Psalm 119 consists of 22 stanzas, each built around one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza is made up of 8 verses, each verse beginning with the same letter.2 Walter Brueggemann describes the psalm as ‘an astonishingly crafted acrostic psalm’ and the writing of it as ‘a massive intellectual achievement’.3 These words might make us picture the author in a quiet library, carefully sketching out and then filling in the details of this lengthy poem, but the psalm’s contents portray a setting that is anything but tranquil. Today’s middle stanza (vs 81–88) is particularly graphic, describing the psalmist’s desperation due to persecution by the arrogant disregarders of God’s Law (v 85). Clearly the writer’s confidence in God’s word does not depend on untroubled circumstances.
Similarly, in the book of Judges, we have seen that the Lord is active, sometimes unnoticed, in the years of trouble and chaos, often in spite of the ignorance or wilful self-centredness of his people and their individual leaders. Do you sometimes go through times so turbulent that it is impossible to detect God’s presence or God’s purpose in it all? This is when, like the psalmist, we need to hold on by faith to God’s Word (eg vs 74b,81b,83b,87b,89), meditate on God’s promises, love and compassion (vs 76,77,88) and thus draw sustenance from Scripture (v 93).
Today’s third stanza (vs 89–96) encourages us to depend on God’s Word by stressing its permanence and stability (vs 89,96), resting as it does on the Lord’s eternal faithfulness (v 90a) and unchanging purposes (vs 90b,91). In The Message, Eugene Peterson translates verse 90 as ‘Your truth never goes out of fashion’.
Find passages of scripture which are particularly relevant to troubles which you, or others, are currently going through. Pray and act accordingly.
1Ps 119:73 2 The Hebrew letters form the headings to each stanza in the NIV 3 W Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, Augsburg, 1984, p39
Author
Paul Oakley
