but I love your law.
You are my refuge and my shield;
I have put my hope in your word.
Away from me, you evildoers,
That I may keep the commands of my God!
Sustain me, my God, according to your promise,
and I will live;
do not let my hopes be dashed.
Uphold me, and I will be delivered;
I will always have regard for your decrees.
You reject all who stray from your decrees,
for their delusions come to nothing.
All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross;
therefore I love your statutes.
My flesh trembles in fear of you;
I stand in awe of your laws."
-Psalm 119:113-120
Here in the 15th section of the psalms, the writer expresses the fact that having emotions, and not just the ones the world has deemed as good, is in fact a good thing. A commentary from Haven Baptist Church, breaking down the longest chapter in the Bible, breaks down 2 pairs of contradicting emotions laid out in this stanza of 8 verses. Hate and Love, Hope and Fear. In the eyes of the Lord, these emotions usually represent 2 different types of people, one who lives a life of Love and Hope, the other a life of Hate and Fear. But according to King David, as followers and lovers of the Word, there are times to express a full spectrum of emotions. Without Hate, how are we to appreciate love? If there is no Fear, what is there to have hope against? "But as Christians, we are called to Love all and Fear nothing." In most cases, yes. Love your enemy, Do not Fear, Live a life of Hope. That is not what the psalmist is saying here. David lays out the truth that, even as born-again believers, full of God's Love, there are specific things in this world we are to hate.
"These six, things the Lord Hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren."- Proverbs 6:16-19
Our God is a God of Love, and Grace and Mercy, and he wants not one of his children to perish; He is also a Just and Holy and Perfect God who could not even look upon the face of Jesus, his perfect son, when the weight of the world's sin was upon his shoulders. Because of this, the God of all love and peace and truth, has certain things that he hates. As believers, we must hate these things too. In this section of the psalm, David states that one thing he hates is someone who is unable or unwilling to make up their own mind. This person is swayed by the thoughts and actions of another, like a dumb sheep led to food by the shepherd. Whatever the other person says is fact until someone else comes along with new and better truth. It brings to mind the saying, "In life, if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything." As believers, we need to be sure that what God says is truth and life and we cannot allow our minds to swayed by the masses, just because their voice might sound louder than the Lord's.
Contradicting Hate, of course, is Love. We can know for sure that if the bible is clear on the things God hates, it is all the more clear on the things He loves. A heart of humility and unity with his neighbor, an honest tongue, someone who jumps at the chance to bring life to a situation, not death. here in the psalms, the Love of God's word is one of the common themes throughout all 22 stanzas. David knew what it was like to be disobedient to God and his commands, but he also saw the provision and the stability that came when he humbled his heart and submitted to God's word. So much so, that when push came to shove, David wanted nothing else to but please God and obey his law and commands. Not out of fear, but out of love and reverence.
This naturally brings us into the 3 emotion expressed in this section, Fear. We have probably heard one time or another about having the fear of the Lord in our hearts, not of trepidation, but reverence. The fear expressed here is not the same. This is the fear expressed by Job in chapter 31, "..For destruction from God is a terror to me..."(Job 31:23) This is what the world means by the emotion of fear. I have sinned, therefore God's judgment will smite thee dead, kind of fear. But don't fret. David is not implying his reborn believing man is in fear, but the flesh that fights against it. -"My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments"-vs 120. Our flesh has every right to be afraid of God and His power, but that does not mean our spirits do. The opposite in this context is Hope. The Hebrew letter Samekh resembles that of a shield, and it is because of the verse listed here, -" You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word." "Hold me, and I shall be safe, and I shall observe your statutes continually."- vs 114, 117. Keeping hope in a Father who will never fail us is one of the greatest gifts, in my opinion, we have been given, not negating the gift of salvation itself. A person without hope is someone who tends to live in fear that the curveball life has thrown them is the best they will ever get and nothing can be done to change it. A person who is full of hate and fear becomes someone who is so skeptical of others that nothing can break down the stronghold they have constructed around themselves, and only someone who lives a life of Love and Hope can prayer and intercede on behalf of the other and belie that God will change their hearts in ways only he can.
David is truly one of my favorite Bible heroes, not just for his feats in battle or his numerous adventures, but for the absolute fact that He never claimed to be perfect, he just knew and loved and reverend a Perfect God, and that God is available to us all, if we open the word and desire to chase after the things that God loves, and doing them with full humility and sacrifice.
Adam Semple- A Young Man on a Journey through the Psalms.
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