LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Tasters from the King's Table
Love for the Word
Psalm 119 is completely centered on the Word of God. Among all the verses that speak of the Word, there are at least twelve in which the state of he who yearns for the Word, and the help that comes to him, are reflected. The soul faints for the Word amid testing (20, 28, 81), the eyes also fail, swollen with tears and are open during the watches of the night to meditate on the commandments of God (82, 123, 136, 148). There is a cry for the Word and supplication for the presence of God (58, 147), and affliction, from which comes deliverance (92, 153). The flesh even trembles for fear of the Lord and His judgments (120).
Such brokenness has no comparison in the Scriptures, except in a verse from the New Testament: Hebrews 5:7, referring to the Lord Jesus: " Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up both supplications and entreaties to him who was able to save him out of death, with strong crying and tears; (and having been heard because of his piety;) " In this verse we have a true summary of these twelve fervent yearnings from Psalm 119. Here we find both supplications (153), entreaties (58, 20, 28, 81), strong cries (147) and tears (82, 123, 148, 136), the prayer to be delivered from death (92, 153), pious or reverent fear (120) and, finally, the reference to the flesh (120).
The cold bleak nights, without a doubt, heard him mumble these inspired words in the midst of his agony. Who else but He could give them full expression? The psalmist didn't experience anything but foreshadowed and lesser suffering pains and agonies, compared with those of Him who suffered, for us, the unspeakable.
Only the Servant of God could suffer in this way and yearn with such fervor for the provision of the word of God. He knew he was to complete the greatest work ever carried out. For that reason we see his complete surrender of his whole being, in constant agony, daily before God. He was literally, "like a wineskin in smoke" (83).
In this agony, his help, his food and his daily sustenance, was the blessed Word of God. It is for that reason that his words are impregnated with the Holy Scriptures. That is how he could teach with authority. May the Lord grant us this grace of loving the Word and to be immersed in it, for our blessing and that of many others!