Last week, we saw the psalmist crying out to God, feeling the deadness in his soul through sin and turning to the Word of God for spiritual revival. However, this is not the end of his journey through this struggle. He still has several steps to go as life flows back into him through the Word.
The first thing he does is to confess his sin and to sense God's forgiveness. "I have told of my ways, and You have answered me" (v 26). This is absolutely essential for us, too, if we would know God's help in times of such distress. Then he cries out to God for a greater understanding of His statutes, and he meditates on all God's wonders (v 26, 27). Yet still, in our text, the psalmist's soul is "weeping" within him - poor, needy, weakened through grief. His soul is still downcast within him, still brought low from a sense of his sinfulness and unworthiness. Again, this is an experience that true children of God can face today. The question is, what can be done about it if it should happen to us? Should we just tough it out, gritting our teeth in the hopes that tomorrow may be a better day, or is there something more positive we can do? Has God given us anything that might work to help us in these situations?
It will come as no surprise to you to learn that God has indeed given us what we need - the means of grace - and that an important one of these is the Word of God! The same Word which revives the soul of the believer is the Word that strengthens him! The psalmist knew this. You can almost see him praying this as he hears the Word, or as he reads it. He asks that God would strengthen him - which seems to mean that God would enable him to stand up under the affliction. How interesting that he does not ask (as we might) that the struggle would simply be removed. See how he continues his prayer in the following verses of this psalm:
Psalm 119:29–32 — Remove the false way from me, And graciously grant me Your law. 30 I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me. 31 I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! 32 I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart.
He knows this battle will remain with him as long as he lives on earth. But he understands that God can use His Word to enable him to endure. It is through the Word that he will avoid false and foolish ways in future and stay true to a path of faithfulness. It is in clinging to the Word that he will avoid being put to shame. It is through heeding the Word that his heart will be enlarged.
The question for us this week is whether we know these things to be true as the psalmist did. If so, we will immerse ourselves in God's Word so that it can show us our sin, so that we can confess it and find forgiveness, and so that we can be strengthened to fight the good fight of the faith that rages "around us and within".