Teach Us Lord

Three weeks ago we started looking at Psalm 119. I want to continue this week by looking at the fourth stanza,

“My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!

When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!

Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!

Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!

I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.

I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame!

I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!” (25-32)

In verse 71 of this Psalm the writer said, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.” Calvin said, “Whether we suffer poverty, exile, imprisonment, contempt, sickness, childlessness, or any such thing, let us remember that nothing happens apart from God’s pleasures and providence, and that God Himself does nothing that isn’t perfectly in order.”

We don’t often think that way, but we must learn to count the trials of our life as blessings…they make us more like Him. Luther said, “I want you to know how to study theology in the right way, I have practiced this method myself…Here you will find three rules. They are frequently proposed throughout Psalm 119 and run thus, prayers, meditation, and trial.”

The Psalmist was in the midst of trial—we saw it last week and we see it again today, but trials drew him closer to God.

When God is our focus, when God is our delight, when God is the center of our desire, we will gladly endure all things to get to Him. As a mother endures labor knowing the joy that is to come, we must endure the labor of life’s trials so that we can grow in our sanctification and in our joy.

In our stanza there are several things happening, but I want to break this down into three main headings. First, the Psalmist sees his sin. Look at verse 25, “My soul clings to the dust.” Throughout the Bible we see dust:

man was formed from dust,

dust was a symbol of humility,

and it was a symbol of grief. He said, “My soul clings to the dust…”. God said to Adam, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Ecclesiastes says, “All go to one place. All are from the dust and to dust all return.”

Dust is a reminder of the frailty of our humanity…we are mortal, we live, and we die, and that is becauseof our association with Adam…in 1 Corinthians 15:49 Paul said, “We all bear the image of the man of dust.” We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of God’s glory. Our souls cling to dust…we will see this word again in verse 31, but you can’t get any closer than what is implied in this word...it is stuck to, cleaving to, close to, but we see not just his sin, but his sorrow—look at verse 28, “My soul melts away for sorrow.” It is one thing to know you’ve sinned, it is another to grieve over it. The Psalmist sees his sin and we see his sorrow. Let’s turn to the second theme tomorrow.

I took the picture above in June of 2005. It’s a house somewhere on the dusty plains of Kenya.