In the first half of this stanza of Psalm 119, the psalmist identified two ways that God’s Word makes an impact in his life. The second half identifies two more. See them for yourself in Psalm 119:133-136:

The first two reasons that the psalmist gave for God’s Word being so wonderful and so impacting in his life were mentioned in the first four verses of this stanza. First, God’s Word gives understanding; and second, it displays mercy. All together, in this stanza and in the next, there are seven different reasons.

The latter half of this stanza identifies two more reasons God’s Word is so incredible.

Frankly, none of the seven items on this list should be surprising. Every single one of them is found in various other places in Scripture, and each of them can be seen readily in one’s own experience with God’s Word, if you’re looking carefully at how it can impact your life.

Both of the ones listed in this passage  of Psalm 119 seem especially obvious. However, they both bear a closer look.

Verse 129 begins this stanza by using the word “wonder.” And God’s Word is indeed wonderful. Take a look at this week’s passage in Psalm 119:129-132:

My kids frequently utter the statement, “I’m bored.” When my wife and I try to excite their wonder, little comes from it most of the time. We have been inundated with a barrage of incredibly life-like scenarios and creations from Hollywood, and prominent in the news of the day is the issue of “deep fake” news. This is the ability to create news events so real that they cannot be identified as fiction.

As a result of the entertainment industry, and the media and social media, much of our culture has lost our sense of wonder. But I don’t think that we can lay the blame at the foot of media and entertainment completely. I think that we have lost this sense of wonder because we have lost our sense of awareness of who God is and what he is doing in our lives.

The writers of the psalms have not lost this sense of awareness. The words “wonder” or “wonderful” or one of their many derivative forms occurs more than thirty times throughout the psalms.

In this stanza, the writer begins by stating that God’s statutes are wonderful, and worthy of obedience. This statement summarizes the theme of this stanza and the next, that God’s Word creates wonder within us when our obedience springs form a proper understanding and appreciation of it.

Why does the psalmist make such a claim about God’s Word? There are seven reasons given in these two stanzas, which we will look at in turn. From this segment, we can immediately see two of them.

The first half of this stanza showed one reason that the psalmist was certain that God would deliver him. The rest of this passage gives two more reasons. Take a look at this passage in Psalm 119:125-128:

God is a loving God. Of course, that goes hand in hand with his holiness and the need for righteousness in our lives. As the psalmist has discovered and revealed in this stanza of Psalm 119, God will deliver his people because of his love; and, in fact, God will deliver the psalmist because of that love.

The psalmist has enemies, and his enemies are the enemies of God. This is perhaps the lowest point in the entirety of Psalm 119, and we see the writer cry out for deliverance. His first reason for requesting that deliverance is because of God’s love, in verse 124.

The second reason the psalmist gives here is because he is God’s servant. The writer is basically declaring, “I belong to you, God! Help me because of that!” And like any good earthly master, who cares for that which belongs to him, should God do any less than care for those who belong to him?

The psalmist also seems to understand that God’s deliverance can be seen in the Word. He asks for deliverance, and he asks for it in the form of discernment to understand God’s statutes completely. You can see this clearly in verse 125.

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 first half of this stanza identified two ways we can focus intentionally on God’s Word. This passage reveals yet a third way that we can do so. You can read it for yourself in Psalm 119:117-120:

In the first half of this strophe, we saw that being intentional about being in God’s Word is the only way that we can maintain a relationship with the Scriptures that helps us grow. It won’t happen by accident; we must choose to stay on the right path, and be strategically deliberate in staying there.

The first way listed here is through a simple determination to obey God’s Word. The second way listed is found in verses 116 and 117, and shows us that we must seek God’s grace and help to stay connected to him.

The third way that we can stay focused in our relationship with God and his Word is by simply recognizing and standing in awe of who God is. When we realize that it is only by the grace of God that we can stay connected to God, we realize just how helpless we are, and how much need we have of him. That realization should bring us to our knees in awe and wonder.

And it is when we see God for who he fully is, that’s when we can begin to see just how bad the world’s way is. It is only as we tremble in awe before a holy God that we will ever see the distorted values of this world. Those things that this world entices us with are empty, and they cannot give us what we need. That can only come from the Creator of everything.