“It Gives Understanding to the Simple” (Ps 119:129-136)

“Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.  The entrance of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple”.

The word of God, by its message and power, gives understanding to people who don’t have it. “It gives understanding to the simple” (vs129-130). They see and hear it, God teaches them, and then they know the truth.

We aren’t evangelizing people who know the gospel, so we’re not looking to the human being for a reason to tell him the truth. We evangelize the lost, trusting the word to give an understanding, faith, and life. You don’t go to a school and quiz them at the beginning of the term, hoping they’ll have the answers, as if they’d been taught.  You teach, and then you expect them to learn.  It is the same with us.  Man is ignorant and hateful to God, but the GOSPEL enlightens, makes them love Christ, and it gives them understanding in how to live.

The gospel is the power of God, so use it, even amidst those who can’t see anything (Rom 1:16).  Don’t despair because men are hateful and lost; trust the Living Word of God to give light, just like you would light a match in a dark room.

Everyone doesn’t receive teaching, but everyone God saves, does.  He says, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Rom 10:13-15).  This is the only method God has of saving sinners.  He speaks, and then He teaches them the word spiritually.  They believe, and then they live by it.

Secondly, God is merciful toward those who love Him, even as we struggle and need help (vs131-132). He says, “I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for your commandments.  Look upon me and be merciful to me, as Your custom is toward those who love Your name”.  Ours is no perfect love, unaltered by coldness, sins, and slips.  We have Satan in us, in our flesh, and in the old man, we are hateful to God... yet, we love Him too, desiring to do His will, confessing ourselves both “black and comely” (Song 1:5).  We are STILL loved by God, and He will help us, because in spite of the wrongs that we admit, in spite of the evils that we abhor, there is love for God, desire to obey, and we come to Him by the word.  

Look at the big picture.  If your wife says a rebellious word, does that make her a rebel?  If your husband speaks harshly and impatiently, does that mean that he doesn’t love you?  Or, do you look at them as a whole, see the good, and say, “In spite of this sin, I know that you love and honor me”?  It is the same with Jesus.  Peter and the disciples had sinned horribly and repeatedly, but Jesus’ question was the same:  “Do you love Me”, and if the answer is “yes”, then “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).  He didn’t take Peter’s fall as the whole of his person; He took Peter’s love and helped him tremendously, and it is the same with us.  If we desire grace to obey and honor God, then He WILL give it to all who trust Christ and love Him thereby.

Finally, I’ve prayed this prayer, in my own words, many, many times. He says, “Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me (vs133-135).”  The believer knows the battle with sin is real, and we don’t want to be slaves to it, at any cost.  We examine ourselves, making sure that we repent, because the repentant are blessed by God.

We don’t want past sins to master us, to be who we really are.  We don’t want falls to become permanent, or for frustration and heartbreak to take us off Christ.  More than anything imaginable, we want to walk uprightly with God, because sin’s mastery leads to hell’s misery, and I can’t have Christ and sin.

This prayer for power is continually answered, time and again, as God breaks the power of sin by pardon and His promises of assistance.  He reveals Christ is for us, and because of this, He is for us, the Spirit is for us, and the blood is all He’s demanded to forgive and to cleanse.  “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Heb 10:14).  We want help, and He will give it.

Sin is TOO STRONG for all of us, and only those who learn to BEG will conquer it.  Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me”, and we have this mindset (Gen 32:26).  We fight, saying,  “Lord, I can’t conquer sin, but I must.  I hate it, but I do it, and I fear the result of sin conquering me!  Help me!”, and He does, “For sin shall not have lordship over you, for you are not under the law but under grace” (Rom 6:14).