Strident or Pleading



Psalm 119:121-128 – Ayin
121I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors.
122Give your servant a pledge of good; let not the insolent oppress me.
123My eyes long for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.
124Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love and teach me your statutes.
125I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!
126It is time for the Lord to act, for your law has been broken.
127Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.
128Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way.

In recent years, my prayer life has changed to the place where I rarely try and tell God what to do. At this point in my life, I am utterly convinced that my ideas are generally worthless in the light of God’s all-powerful, all-knowing character. While I tell Him my situations, I just don’t feel the need to tell Him how to fix things. I’m all out of ideas. And so, when I come across a psalm like this one, I have to read it several times to wrap my head around the direction the author is taking.

I find the tenor of this strophe a little shocking. It seems demanding, a tone that many of the psalms share. Verse 121 sounds like Job, the model of Old Testament suffering, as he was protesting his innocence before God. That stance of “I’m in the right here. Stand up for me!” is difficult. So much of the Word convinces me of my sinfulness, it’s a little weird to come from a place of self-defense. But by the same token, the psalmist asks God to “deal with your servant according to Your steadfast love”. That seems more appropriate. Don’t give me what I deserve, dear Lord. Please look upon me with love, for my sin demands judgment.

I am most taken with verse 125. In the NIV it says “I am Your servant; give me discernment . . .”  That seems like an appropriate request. Without the gift of discernment, I am floundering in a stormy sea of my own making. Understanding given by God brings resolution and calm; and who doesn’t want that?

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