GIVE ME LIFE!

IN THE WORD, WE UNDERSTAND LIFE!

Psalm 119:153-160

Look on my affliction and deliver me,

for I do not forget your law.

Plead my cause and redeem me;

give me life according to your promise!

Salvation is far from the wicked,

for they do not seek your statutes.

Great is your mercy, O LORD;

give me life according to your rules.

Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,

but I do not swerve from your testimonies.

I look at the faithless with disgust,

because they do not keep your commands.

Consider how I love your precepts!

Give me life according to your steadfast love.

The sum of your word is truth,

and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

Give me life! The psalmist’s request is clear! He is afflicted, surrounded by enemies who persecute him and are opposing him. His adversaries are wicked and faithless. His cry is loud and clear: Merciful Giver of life, give me life!

Notice that the request has some significant modifiers: “according to your promises”, “according to your rules”, and “according to your steadfast love”.

The writer’s request is a supplication that is both informed by, and willing to be modified by, the Word of God. So often, we are frustrated because we want to understand why things happen to us, but understanding God and His role and purposes should produce much peace to our souls.

As the psalmist relies on God’s promises, he expects God to be the one to plead his cause. We know that we also have an advocate Who goes before the Father and pleads our case. Our perfect Redeemer is our attorney, as He pleads on our behalf, and is our assurance that every promise that has been made on our behalf will come to fruition.

God, as the creator and sustainer of all, has every right to set all the rules; our inspired writer knows this well. He knows that God has set His rules and that mercy drives His dealings with us. His grace should always astonish us, as it’s never, ever deserved. Just remembering that God deals with us according to grace should produce even more peace to our weary souls.

Even though the writer asserts that he has followed God’s rules, he knows well that his only hope is to receive life according to God’s unending and unfailing love. We have been loved from eternity past. Before we were ever born, God planned and provided a Savior Who would bear His wrath and shed His blood for the remission of our sins. God’s steadfast love should produce amazing peace to our guilty souls.

Every word, every promise, every judgment, every covenant, every thing about God’s Word is true and stands forever!

Jesus said that He came to give us an abundant life.

John 10:7-11

         So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus is the way to abundant life. He is the giver of life. He is the protector of our life. He is the sustainer of life. He is the enabler of life. He is the goal of our life. Jesus laid down His life so that we might have eternal life!

May we live our life today, resting in the peace of knowing that God is our All!