Psalm 119:1-40 The Sufficiency of God’s Wonderful Word

Dennis Mock
Sunday, October 18, 2009

There is in many circles today an absolute disdain for the Bible. For the believer,
however, this is nothing more precious. Ps. 119 uniquely addresses the issue of God’s
Word for the generation of the Psalmist and this one. It is the Psalm of the saints, the
Christian’s ABCs for utilizing God’s Word. St. Augustine said of it, “It seemed not to need
an expositor, only hearers and listeners”. It is an acrostic using each of the 22 letters of
the Hebrew alphabet to start each section. As we read it we will find that God leads us to
worship Him as the God of the Word, the God who gave us the Word. We do not worship
the words or we would engage in idolatry. Israel’s greatest sin was perhaps that they
worshiped the Law rather than the Lawgiver. Over the next several Sundays we will take
each stanza section and look at principles and corollaries that flow from them. As we
work through the Psalm you will notice that there are 8 synonyms that refer to Word of
God: Law, Word, Sayings, Commandments, Statutes, Judgments, Precepts, and
Testimonies. The Word is a gracious gift from our loving God and divine creator. It is a
trustworthy guide to how we can live life wisely to please Him.
– One of the challenges with this Psalm is focusing too heavily on an individual
verse.
– Notice each of the 8 verses is a couplet. Eight means “perfection plus”.
– Actually don’t read ahead week to week but review what we covered the previous
week as we progress through this Psalm.

1. (Psalm 119:1-8) Blessing Comes to Those Who Obey.

a. Principle: God blesses those who obey His Word and walk in His
ways. (v. 1)
i. There must be no disconnect between knowing and doing.
ii.Those who have integrated His Word into every part of their life.
b. Corollaries:
i. Obedience is an overflow of a heart that is bent towards God.
ii.(v. 4) God’s Word is meant to be fully obeyed. It is either all or nothing.
2. (9-16) The Power of Hiding God’s Word in our Hearts.
a. Principle: God’s Word helps keep us from sinning when we hide it in
our hearts.
i. Hide means to “lay up or store treasure”.
ii.We hide His Word in our hearts so that we can bring it back out when
needed.
b. Corollaries:
i. To activate this principle you must live according to the Word of God.
1. There are other World religions that do integrate all that they
believe into every part of life. They are wrong in what they
believe but they do integrate it.
ii.God’s Word convicts, challenges, and changes us.
1. The Holy Spirit uses the Word like a “needs service” light in our
car.
a. We can ignore it and there may not be immediate
consequences but there will be over time and they will be
more severe the longer we ignore the warning.
iii.Requires us to ask God to teach us the principles of His Word.
1. We have to want to know what it says and what it teaches.
 iv.(13-16) It must be intentional - We need to call the Word to mind and
meditate on it.
1. We must not neglect it.
2. We should delight in it.
3. We make a decision in advance based on the Word of God that
we will not sin. We don’t wait until the heat of the moment.
4. We can’t just show up and eat the buffet each Sunday and then
starve the rest of the week!
5. We should build a reservoir of verses to draw from.
3. (17-24) God Himself will Give us Passion and Insight into His Word.
a. Principle: God’s Word provides insight instruction and guidance for
life as we keep His commands.
i. Knowing is never enough. We must also act on that truth. We must be
“doers not hearers only.”
ii.Great Commission: “Teach them to obey everything that I have
commanded you.”
iii.There is nothing in life that you experience that God doesn’t know
about and knows how to provide for you in it perfectly.
1. Spiritual, emotional, financial, etc.
b. Corollaries:
i. We must delight in the Word of God.
1. We must make time and learn to find delight in it.
2. This is not just the 10 commandments or the OT but all of God’s
revealed Word.
ii.It must be a consuming passion for us.
1. When do we get the most done? When we are consumed with
longing to do it! We must get to that point with God’s Word.
2. We can’t manufacture this. It must come as an overflow of our
love for God.
iii.(v. 18) We need to depend on God to enlighten us.
1. The phrase for “open my eyes” means, “uncover my blindness”.
a. This is what happened to Paul on the road when he
encountered the Lord.
b. This must happen for salvation itself. Until God removes
the blinders we cannot see.
2. There is a spiritual dimension that we cannot understand without
His help.
3. Eph. 1:17-19 – Prayer that God would open our eyes and
enlighten us.
4. (25–32) God’s Word Gives Understanding and Encouragement
a. Principle: God’s Word gives us understanding of the Way of truth
and strengthens and encourages us in life’s sorrows.
b. Corollaries:
i. We must grasp that sorrows and suffering are a natural part of life.
1. Life is full of wonderful things and horrible things.
2. When I conduct a funeral I heavily weight it with the Word of
God. The families share with me that when I read the Word of
God it calms and comforts their spirit. Nothing else has this
power.
ii.(31-32) We must hold fast to the Word of God.
1. In Genesis 2 the same word is used and it means, “to cleave”.
 5. (33-40) God’s Word gives Direction and Proper Priorities.
a. Principle: God’s Word teaches us how to direct our heart towards
Him and away from worthless things.
b. Corollaries:
i. (36-37) We must believe God’s Word will protect our lives and preserve
our priorities.
1. It constantly reminds us that this is not about us it is about God.
ii.(35) We must follow the path that is marked out by God’s Word.
1. There are things that are commanded and things that are
prohibited; right and wrong.
2. We must know where we are headed and the path we will take to
get there.

This week take these principles and evaluate yourself in light of them. If you will do this
with these principles from Psalm 119 then your life will change! This Psalm is a
bottomless treasure trove.

We shy away from the word “Law” but we must not shy away from the Word of God.
Think of Law in this way:
L – Loving teaching that we receive from our God.
A – Adhering fully
W – Walking in accord with God’s Word.