This passage begins the the third stanza in a trio that focuses upon walking in God’s Word. The writer’s main thrust in this stanza however, is keeping our focus upon God intently at all times. We will look at the first half, which you can find in Psalm 119:121-124:

Because of what God has done on our behalf, we need to keep our gaze focused completely upon him. Where sin is concerned, we must look to God’s Word for help and strength and hope. Where danger and spiritual threat is concerned, we must look to God’s Word for deliverance.

This is where the writer finds himself now. Those who threatened him, of whom he wrote in verses 110 and following, are oppressing him so much that his only hope can be God’s deliverance. The writer is looking to God for his help.

This is a low point for the author of this Psalm, and is perhaps indicated by the fact that this is one of the few verses in the entirety of Psalm 119 that does not contain a reference to God’s Word. The depths of despair are evident in the feeling of the psalmist, and it seems as if his focus might be distracted for the moment.

But that does not last for long. The writer identifies three reasons why God will save him. Two of those are in the latter half of the stanza, and we will examine them next week. But the first is found in verse 124, and is probably the strongest of them all.

The psalmist knows that God will save him, because God is a loving God. He is not indifferent and distant. He is not uncaring and unconcerned. He is loving and he loves his creation passionately. He loves humanity so much that he has given them his Word. In the psalmist’s day, that meant the writings of Scripture, but for us, that means the Word, written, as well as the Word, incarnate.

That’s how much God loves his creation! And if he loves that deeply, wouldn’t he be concerned for that creation, and move to save it, especially those who he calls his own?

Of course he does! God delivers! And even though we live in a fallen world, where bad things happen, and not everything goes as we want it to, God is still in control, and is still working to achieve what is best on our behalf. He always has, and he always will. Hebrews 13:8 states this very clearly: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

In the next half of this stanza, we will see two more reasons that the psalmist is sure that God will act on his behalf to deliver. We will look at those in depth next, but for now, I encourage you to focus upon God’s love for you, and just how great that love is.

Question: How have you experienced the deep love of God recently? What has he shown you about how great that love is? You can leave a comment by clicking here.