Thinking About Perspective
Psalms 119:73-80
December 5, 2021
Tonight we come to back to the 119th Psalm
And since this is our second time through it,
Instead of expositing the whole stanza, we are just focusing on specific truths.
THE LAST TIME we looked at this stanza we called it “7 Requests of the Afflicted”
And when you read these 8 verses that really sort of just jumps out at you.
This man had been afflicted and in that affliction he had 7 requests.
I do actually want to identify those again tonight
Because I think it will help give balance to the truth we want to discuss.
So let me show you those 7 requests quickly tonight.
1) UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR WORD
(73) “Your hands made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.”
This is an important request to begin the list
Because it reminds us of the PSALMIST’S SUBMISSIVE SPIRIT.
• Very similar to Jesus who in the garden,
• Who even though He would pray that “this cup might pass from Me”
• He also would pray “Yet not My will but Yours be done”
Even in affliction this Psalmist is only interested in obedience.
He is not looking for an easy way out.
And so his initial request is for understanding of God’s word.
That’s a good prayer to pray when you’ve been afflicted.
2) PATIENCE FOR YOUR WORD
(74) “May those who fear You see me and be glad, Because I wait for Your word.”
The Psalmist had prayed for understanding and yet
He was certainly aware that it MIGHT NOT COME IMMEDIATELY.
Sometimes we must simply endure while we do not understand.
So the request of the Psalmist is that
While he is waiting and while he is confused
HE WANTS TO BE A BLESSING and an encouragement to other believers.
That is also a great request during affliction.
Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians that when 1 member of the body suffers the rest of the body suffers with it.
You probably can think of times when you’ve seen other believers respond so positively to their affliction that it actually grew your faith.
That is what the Psalmist wants here.
He wants to wait well so that other believers
Will be encouraged by how he endures.
That is a great request.
3) COMFORT ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD
(76) “O may Your lovingkindness comfort me, According to Your word to Your servant.”
And we certainly have no complaint here.
If you’ve ever been afflicted then you likely sympathize.
The Psalmist wanted comfort.
We don’t know specifically what kind of comfort he wanted
Because we don’t know the nature of his affliction,
But none of us can blame him
For appealing to “the God of all comfort” for comfort.
What we do see is what the Psalmist wants to be comforted by.
“may Your lovingkindness comfort me”
More than anything he wants to be reminded of God’s loyalty to him.
That is big isn’t it?
This was Job’s plight.
• He was afflicted and his friends kept telling him it was because God had forsaken him.
The Psalmist wants the comfort of knowing
That despite the affliction God is still for him.
That is a good request too.
4) DELIVERANCE FOR YOUR WORD
(77) “May Your compassion come to me that I may live, For Your law is my delight.”
What is the request?
I want to live!
This lends us to believe that this particular affliction
May in fact have been such that threatened his life.
So the Psalmist prayed for deliverance.
• Again, anyone who wouldn’t pray for deliverance when facing death probably isn’t really facing death.
• There is nothing wrong with this request.
What is even better however is WHY he is making the request.
And it is because “Your law is my delight”
He has a desire to be a testimony.
This is similar to Paul saying it is better for me to depart and be with Christ but it is better for you if I remain here.
This Psalmist doesn’t want deliverance to return to an apathetic life of sin,
This Psalmist wants deliverance to continue a life of obedience.
And in that sense, this is also a great request.
5) VINDICATION BY YOUR WORD
(78) “May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; But I shall meditate on Your precepts.”
If the Psalmist’s life is in danger
It may be due to the false witness uttered against him.
And so in harmony with a prayer for deliverance is also a prayer for vindication.
• Elijah wanted such a vindication…
• Paul wrote 2 Corinthians chasing such vindication…
Both of those men wanted it, not just for their own personal satisfaction,
But because their reputation was tied to
The credibility of the message they preached.
In many ways their vindication was a vindication of the word of God.
The Psalmist isn’t specific that this is why he wants vindication,
But even in this request his commitment to God’s word is obvious.
He is leaving his defense to God while he merely seeks out God’s word.
And that is a good request.
When afflicted to turn over your defense to God.
6) FELLOWSHIP WITH YOUR WORD
(79) “May those who fear You turn to me, Even those who know Your testimonies.”
Earlier he wanted to be an encouragement to other believers.
Now he wants other believers to be an encouragement to him,
Specifically as they come and share the word with him.
And that is a great request.
A Christian has no desire in the “misery loves company” mentality.
But we love it when someone can strengthen us with God’s word.
The Psalmist prayed for that to happen.
And that is a great request.
7) OBEDIENCE TO YOUR WORD
(80) “May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, So that I will not be ashamed.”
He STARTED with a submissive request for understanding
And he ENDS with a submissive request to be obedient.
God help me obey!
And when you are afflicted that is also a great request.
So you can see the overall force of the stanza.
The Psalmist is afflicted and his prayer is clear and concise.
In fact his prayer is a great example and pattern for you or I
To pray when we are afflicted.
He is afflicted and in that affliction he prays for:
• Understanding
• Patience
• Comfort
• Deliverance
• Vindication
• Fellowship
• Obedience
That is still great advice.
But as I said, we studied that in more detail last time and you can go find that sermon on the website if you want to study it again.
TONIGHT we want to zoom in a little and focus just on one aspect.
This stanza has 8 verses.
7 of those verses express a request for God.
• 1 verse stands alone without a request.
• 1 verse is merely a statement of theology.
• 1 verse shows us the perspective of this afflicted Psalmist.
That is verse 75 and we want to examine it a little closer tonight.
(75) “I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”
That is the Psalmists perspective.
Behind every single one of those great requests sits this perspective.
In fact, it is this perspective that allows him to make such great requests.
What we find here is great insight to affliction.
• Since sooner or later you will find affliction in your life,
• Let’s see if we can’t all gain a little of the perspective that this Psalmist has.
• And then you can follow his example in your prayer life.
FIRST I think it would do us all good to examine the word “afflicted”
Since everything in this Psalm flows from that condition.
“afflicted” is the Hebrew word ANA
In it’s simplest sense it means “to be occupied” or “to be busied with”
Which carries the idea of frustration or having to do what you don’t want to do.
But here the tense of the word carries the idea of
Someone actively doing it to you
For the purpose of humbling or humiliating.
It wasn’t just random, it was for a purpose.
The preacher in Ecclesiastes used the word
Just to express the everyday frustrating occupations of life.
But the Psalmist here is NOT talking about something random
Or the result of living in a cursed world.
The Psalmist here is talking about something that was specifically and intentionally done to him.
• He was intentionally humbled.
• He was intentionally afflicted.
• He was set as the target and he was afflicted; he was humiliated.
Now probably all of you have felt that at one point in your life or another.
But WHAT IS GREATLY LACKING in our world
Is the PROPER PERSPECTIVE as to what’s going on when that happens.
So we have a Psalmist who has been intentionally humbled,
Now let’s look at what he perceives about it.
There are 3 things.
#1 THE AUTHOR OF AFFLICTION
Psalms 119:75
And this first point actually comes from the end of the verse.
The Psalmist was intentionally humiliated or afflicted,
but the question is: BY WHO?
And the answer: GOD
“You have afflicted me”
Listen, if you believe in the sovereignty of God
Then you must go here.
Oddly enough the world doesn’t typically mind going here.
The world doesn’t seem to mind blaming their affliction on God.
Now, most do it because they want to use it to blaspheme Him.
They use the presence of their affliction as proof that
Either God isn’t good or God isn’t powerful.
“If God was good He would not do this”
“Or maybe He is good, He’s just now powerful enough to stop it”
And the world thinks they have God in some sort of trap
And so they love to actually attribute affliction to God.
And many times people in the church sort of buckle the knees here
And run backward and don’t know what to do with it.
That’s where we get such backward and awful statements like,
• “God didn’t will for this to happen.”
• “It’s not God’s will for such awful things”
• “God didn’t do this, sin did this.”
YOU’VE HEARD THEM ALL.
But none of those statements answer the world’s reproach.
• If God didn’t will for this to happen, then how did it happen unless it’s because He couldn’t stop it?
• If God didn’t do this, but sin did, then who is really in charge here?
You see the problem?
That is why the perspective of the Psalmist is the only perspective.
God did do this.
God is the Author of affliction.
We love passages like this:
Psalms 139:13-16 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”
We especially love that type of passage when everything is rosy and wonderful.
But that passage doesn’t only apply to things you perceive to be good.
• If God wove us in our mother’s womb then that has to include those who are born with physical deformity doesn’t it?
• If God ordained all our days then that has to include the tragic days too doesn’t it?
I listened to a sermon excerpt from Voddie Baucham this week and shared it on Facebook of you want to see it.
Voddie talked about the day he discovered heart issues and was rushed to the doctor. The doctor told him that he made it within an hour of his death. He noted how many believers have told him, “That was the providence of God”
(As though providence was the equivalent to luck or good fortune)
Voddie Baucham agreed that his arriving an hour before he would have died was in fact the providence of God, however if he had died an hour before he arrived that also would have been the providence of God.
The providence of God is that
God ordains ALL THINGS after the counsel of His will.
(Not just the things you like)
Remember when God called Moses to go to Egypt to lead His people out?
God told Moses to approach Pharaoh.
What was Moses’ hesitation?
He shouldn’t do it because he stuttered.
Do you remember God’s response?
Exodus 4:10-11 “Then Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”
Was Moses speech impediment a surprise to God? – No
Why, because God knows all things? – No
God wasn’t surprised by Moses’ speech impediment
Because God is the one who caused him to have it!
God made him that way!
Just like God makes man mute or deaf or seeing or blind.
Remember?
John 9:1-3 “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
That man was created exactly as God intended.
He was fearfully and wonderfully made.
Now, that IS TRUE in regard to your birth,
But it is ALSO TRUE in regard to your days.
God ordained all your days too,
And that includes your days of affliction.
GOD IS THE AUTHOR OF THEM.
And someone would then balk and say, “Why in the world would God be so calloused as to bring such affliction into someone’s life?”
The world would say, “Aha! See, we told you He wasn’t good.”
Why would God author your affliction?
WELL PERHAPS it is precisely what the Psalmist understood
HUMILITY!
OR MAYBE it is shape you into a person who can encourage others.
Remember Peter?
Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
MAYBE it is like the blind man, simply for the glory of God.
I don’t know, and incidentally neither did this Psalmist.
Remember, his first request was for UNDERSTANDING.
But knowing why is not important.
Knowing that God is providentially behind it is.
Because if God is sovereign over your affliction
Then you can be confident that it is not random
And that He has a redeeming purpose behind it.
But knowing the author of affliction is important.
#2 THE JUSTICE OF AFFLICTION
Psalms 119:75
Well, we might be able to square with the fact that
God orchestrated my affliction, BUT THIS ONE is really difficult.
The Psalmist said: “I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous”
Not only is God behind all decisions, but all of God’s decisions are right!
“judgments” is MISPAT
And it means “the act of deciding a case”
Deuteronomy 1:7 “‘You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’”
Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD.”
So God is behind the decisions.
THIS IS REALLY THE ABSOLUTE MIRACLE OF PROVIDENCE.
If you want to have your mind blown
Just try to ponder the providence of God.
We already read that God ordains all our days.
But did any of you get the directive this morning regarding every single thing you were supposed to do? – No.
Instead, God gave you autonomy in a sense to do whatever you wanted.
And this autonomy isn’t just for the redeemed,
God even gives this autonomy to the most vile and wicked.
And so every day we live in a world
Which in essence does whatever they want.
And yet, at the end of the day, it is exactly what God ordained.
I mean try to figure all the contingencies that could occur
Based on 1 different choice by 1 different human.
It’s unfathomable, and yet God in His providence controls it all!
It’s mind-blowing.
You see it in stories like Daniel’s brothers selling him into Egypt.
But the easiest place is certainly the cross.
Acts 2:22-23 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”
• God certainly didn’t make the Jews appeal to the Romans to crucify Jesus;
• They wanted to do that.
• And yet, at the end of the day that’s exactly what God ordained.
God is making the decisions.
God is making the judgments.
And that is not just about major things like the cross,
That is even about the minor things of life like your affliction.
But here the Psalmist DOESN’T JUST acknowledge that God is making the decisions, he says they “are righteous”
“righteous” is SEDEQ
And it means “right”
Job 31:6 “Let Him weigh me with accurate scales, And let God know my integrity.”
There “accurate” is the word SEDEQ
So not only does the Psalmist acknowledge
That God is making all the decisions
But that God is making the right decisions!
Now that is perspective isn’t it!
Can you say that?
• I’ll be honest, there have been times in my affliction where I didn’t say that.
• There have been times where I wondered if God had a clue what He was doing.
So did others in Scripture.
• Elijah was perplexed why Jezebel got to run free.
• Habakkuk couldn’t figure out why God would use the Chaldeans to discipline Israel.
• John the Baptist was shocked to be rotting in prison.
Job 9:19-20 “If it is a matter of power, behold, He is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him? “Though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me; Though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty.”
Job 19:7 “Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice.”
Job 23:1-4 “Then Job replied, “Even today my complaint is rebellion; His hand is heavy despite my groaning. “Oh that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat! “I would present my case before Him And fill my mouth with arguments.”
Job had trouble with this notion for a while, maybe you have too.
But Elihu quickly confronted him.
Job 34:10-15 “Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness, And from the Almighty to do wrong. “For He pays a man according to his work, And makes him find it according to his way. “Surely, God will not act wickedly, And the Almighty will not pervert justice. “Who gave Him authority over the earth? And who has laid on Him the whole world? “If He should determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust.”
Elihu reminded Job that God does not act wickedly, He can’t.
Now, you may have to take that by faith…
So, take it by faith!
God is the author of affliction and God is right in all that He does.
He is not making the wrong decision.
• If you knew all the facts like He knows all the facts.
• And if you loved purely like He loves purely.
• You’d have no problem at all with decisions He makes.
The best perspective in affliction is
To see that God is the author of it and His affliction is always just.
And by the way, it is this perspective that allows our Psalmist to pray that God will help him be obedient.
If you don’t think God is doing the right thing in your life
You’re going to have a really tuff time obeying His commands.
This perspective is essential.
The Author of Affliction, The Justice of Affliction
#3 THE FIRMNESS OF AFFLICTION
Psalms 119:75
Well those first 2 perspectives are sort of hard to swallow,
But I have to tell you it doesn’t immediately get any easier.
The Psalmist says, “And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me”
What does that mean?
I know how you want to read it.
You want to read it that even in my affliction, God will be faithful to me.
Well, He will be, but THAT’S NOT what the Psalmist is saying.
That is actually what the Psalmist requests in the next verse.
(76) “O may Your lovingkindness comfort me”
That is what you are looking for.
• And certainly God is loyal, and certainly God will be for you.
• And certainly God will not abandon you or turn His back on you.
But when the Psalmist says that “in faithfulness You have afflicted me”, He is NOT saying that God will be faithful to me in the affliction.
What the Psalmist is actually saying is that
God is faithful in His decision to afflict.
“faithfulness” there is EMUNA
It means “firmness or fidelity or steadfastness”
It is a word that refers to
“God’s strict observance of His promises and His duties.”
So let me tell you what the Psalmist is actually saying.
• He’s NOT saying that God is faithful to you in affliction (though He is)
• What the Psalmist IS saying is that: GOD IS FAITHFUL TO AFFLICT
Wait! What?
God is faithful to afflict
He afflicts out of His faithfulness.
He humbles people because He is faithful to His purposes and duty.
Think about Nebuchadnezzar and the great humbling God gave him.
• Could anyone else humble Nebuchadnezzar? -No
• But if Nebuchadnezzar is never humbled he’ll never be saved.
• Was anyone faithful enough to humble him? God was.
God is faithful to that.
• He is resolute to afflict.
• He is resolute to humble.
He has said that you need it and He is faithful to make sure you learn it.
Now that is good perspective.
Let me show you where Paul learned that perspective.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
• Paul had a thorn in the flesh.
• It was a messenger of Satan sent to torment him.
• The purpose was humility.
Do you see the providence of God?
• Surely – Satan wanted to afflict Paul
• That messenger of Satan was happy to lie about Paul
But who authored it?
God did.
Now Paul asked 3 times for it to be taken away, but what did he learn?
• God was faithful in it.
• God was resolute in it.
• God wouldn’t change His mind about it.
WHY?
Because it was the right decision.
God was using it to humble Paul
And to ultimately squeeze more glory out of his ministry.
When Paul learned this perspective,
He quit praying for the thorn to be removed
And started rejoicing in the presence of every other thorn in his life!
Perspective!
Didn’t we read from the Psalmist in the previous stanza?
Psalms 119:71 “It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.”
This is a great perspective!
It DOESN’T’ MEAN you can’t pray for comfort or deliverance.
Our Psalmist did that.
But what it does mean is that
There is a perspective in that even while you pray
• You understand that God’s will is being done
• And even a refusal by God to remove your affliction is simply because He is faithful to finish what He started in you.
I want to look at one final text here,
But it’s a little too lengthy for the screen.
TURN TO: HEBREWS 12:4-11
This is exactly what the writer of Hebrews is talking about.
He is recognizing the faithfulness of God
To bring the necessary affliction into your life.
In fact, God is doing it because He loves you
And He is faithful to love you the right way.
Do you see the perspective?
So don’t regard lightly His discipline.
And don’t faint when you are reproved.
Understand that God is faithfully at work in your life.
• He has authored this affliction.
• This affliction is right.
• It is right because He is faithful to finish what He started in you.
That is good perspective when you face affliction.
And when you have that perspective, then go ahead and pray your way through those 7 requests that the Psalmist laid out.
