This episode closes out detailing the positive encounter with God's law that believers should ideally experience. Many unfortunately rarely get beyond the first encounter with God's law, which brings conviction and crisis as they grapple with the demands of God on their lives. While the psalmist clearly wrestled with God's law, ultimately resulting in confession and repentance, the vast majority of his descriptions are very positive. The psalmist describes the law as his delight (v. 77) as he anticipates discovering "wonderful things" in God's law.(18) The psalmist at one point is starving for God's law (v. 20) and considers the Law his food. Christ Himself noted that "His food" was to do the will of the Father. (John 4:34) Such expressions underscore the path to true fulfillment. When we cultivate our longing for God and His law/His will, we discover that this second encounter with God and His Law/will results in incomparable satisfaction.
Starving for and Filled with the Law of God
The Christian life is all about the transformation of self-centered desires into truly satisfying God-honoring desires. This episode cites several verses in Psalm 119 in which the psalmist's desires are consumed with God and His law, even to the point the author sounds famished for them: "I am crushed with longing after your ordinances at all times." (20) This language signals the transformation of desire available to all Christians. God deposits in every believer a holy relish for God and His law (Romans 7:22), and saints who cooperate with the process of sanctification discover the beauty and excellency of God's law, which expresses God Himself. True lasting fulfillment is the reward of all those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Their desperate longing is satisfied in Christ Himself.
Make the Law Your Rod and Staff
The road to having the psalmist's ways established involves two encounters with God's law. As a reminder, Psalm 119 uses 8 words to describe God's law: judgments, ordinances, precepts, word, testimonies, statutes, commandments, and way. The first encounter for Christians is often corrective: the law reflects God's character and highlights where ours is deficient. When believers work through the challenges of conforming to God's law through confession and repentance, they can revisit the same law and experience delight. God in His grace does a transformative work and now the law becomes the psalmist's delight. (Psalm 119:20)(Psalm 1:2) Believers should therefore recognize that the roadmap of sanctification is a purposeful journey in which we are both corrected and comforted by God's law as the Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ.
Obey the Law through the Power of Christ
This episode takes many of themes of psalm 119 and applies them to Christian living. "The law is given as a tutor to lead us to Christ." (Gal. 3:24) While Christians should always rely on Christ and His merit as the basis for justification, they should nevertheless seek to honor God by fulfilling the Law, which is summed up in the Great Commandments. And, just as faith in Christ is the basis of our justification, faith in Christ is also the basis for all subsequent sanctification. Christ aids us in fulfilling the Law, while He delivers us from the power of sin. In essence, Christians are to keep the moral law THROUGH the power and grace of Christ. Many of the themes of dependence on God's grace are sprinkled throughout Psalm 119, the psalmist noting that he need God's grace to keep the Law. The episode is a needful reminder to the Christian Church to reject the Marcionite false dichotomy of our day which bogusly asserts that the Old Testament was all law and the New Testament all grace.
Grace to Repent
This recap of the prior weeks' lessons emphasizes the necessity of God's grace in repentance. Many believers unfortunately don't avail themselves of God's grace to repent, because they're unaware that God honors sincere prayers that say something like, "Lord, I confess this sin, but I honestly don't want to repent..can you help me?" The primary casualty of such a prayer is human pride, and God gives grace to the humble honest petitioner who acknowledges that even though he knows about God's ways, he can't honestly embrace them as his own. The grace to repent, is consequently God's answer to the psalmist's first petition in verse 5: "that my ways be established to keep your statutes." The psalmist rests his hope on God's grace to repent in verse 32: "I will run the way of your statutes, for you will enlarge my heart." God establishes the psalmist's "ways" by enlarging his heart and helping him to repent.
Grace to Repent
In addition to describing the psalmist's dependence on the grace of God to repent and embrace God's way, this episode addresses the underlying struggle to repent. We depend on the grace of God to repent because, based on our fleshly sympathies, we really don't believe that God's ways are better. 1 John 5:3 states that God's commands are not burdensome. This is utter nonsense to the flesh since "commandments" restrict "freedom." The voice of the flesh understands freedom as the ability to do whatever pleases the flesh without incurring negative consequences. We consequently need God's grace to enlarge our hearts (32) to consider "commandments" as the path of true freedom. When we come under the commandments we discover true freedom: "I will walk at liberty for I seek your precepts." (45) And, with the grace of God, we see the destructive nature of "libertine" freedom. The flesh promises the world but conceals a harvest from hell. One application of Psalm 119 to NT Christian life is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, Who applies grace to our lives to assist us in repenting. We discover that God's commandments are NOT burdensome and that sin amounts to slavery. "Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin." (John 8:34)
“Graciously Grant Me Your Law”
The road to looking like Christ involves confession and repentance. While many readily confess their sins, repentance is often more challenging. Psalm 119: 25-32 records the psalmist's struggle to repent, and the psalmist's dependence on the grace of God to help him repent. "Remove the false way from me and graciously grant me your law." (29) The Psalmist implores God to give him a gift he doesn't deserve, i.e., grace, and that gift is His law. The gift of God's law here refers to granting the psalmist's a love for God's law, whereby he can abandon false ways and repent. This dependence on the grace of God to repent is underscored by verse 32: "I shall run the way of Your commandments, for you will enlarge my heart." Grace enlarges the psalmist's heart, enabling him to repent and therefore fulfill God's law. The application for NT believers struggling to repent is straightforward. Grace doesn't just release us from the penalty of sin, it also changes us from within, giving us a new heart so we can honor God by obeying Him. We run the way of commandments because He enlarges our heart.
The Mirror of God’s Law
Citing Psalm 119:104, this episode highlights how God gets us to change our ways. "From your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way." God's precepts, one of the eight expressions of God's way and law used in Psalm 119, act as a mirror to show us where we have missed the marked. They reveal the psalmist's false way (and those of others) and he sees the obvious disconnect. Confession and repentance should be the response, and we observe this in Psalm 119:59: "I considered my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies." God's law reveals sin, and ideally the response is confession and repentance. The psalmist then reconsiders the law, here God's testimonies, and sees its inherent beauty. At one point the psalmist's petitions God: "Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things in your law." (18) This positive encounter with God's law is largely contingent upon the initial response to God's law where we confess and repent. The law consequently for NT believers is therefore very useful if we would become more like Christ.
“Lord, Show Us the Way!”
This episode addresses the means by which God would establish the psalmist's ways to keep His statutes. (5-6) These verses capture the goal of the entire psalm. On the road to receiving God's assistance, the psalmist acknowledges his faulty ways and repents: "I consider my ways and turn my feet to your testimonies." (59) This statement indicates repentance and directs the psalmist's to God's testimonies. Throughout Psalm 119 eight expressions of God's way (way, law, precepts, ordinances, commandments, testimonies, word, statutes) become the central focus of the psalmist. The more the psalmist reflects on God's testimonies, statutes, etc., the more the way of God is established in his life. In like manner, NT believers are called to consider God's testimonies, i.e., His kindnesses, and the reflection leads to repentance. (Rom. 2:4) The more we reflect on all the spiritual blessings we have in Christ, the Son Himself Who is the Way, becomes our way of life. God establishes our way as we abide in the Way.
Keeping the Law, through Christ
This initial episode answers the question right from Psalm 119:5-6, which I believe summarizes the main theme of the entire psalm. "Oh that my ways may be established to keep your statutes! Then I will not be ashamed when I look upon all your commandments." Since the question mostly deals with how Psalm 119 should be applied to NT believers, the episode deals with a common misunderstanding of the importance of the Law for Christians. Some claim that Christians are not under the moral law based, based on Christ having fulfilled it for us. While our acceptance in God's sight is completely based on Christ's perfect adherence to the Law, coupled with His substitutionary death, Christians are obliged to keep the moral law by abiding in Christ. The sum of the Law is love of God and neighbor, and the New Testament constantly holds believers accountable to observe these commandments THROUGH abiding in Christ. This then is the clearest application of Psalm 119 to NT believers, that God would help establish our ways to abide in Christ, resulting in keeping God's moral law.