Psalm 119 Lesson 18 TSADE - Fairhaven Baptist Church

Psalm 119:137-144

Lesson 18

Tsade (Fishhook)

Text: Psalm 119:137-144 “Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.138 Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. 139 My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words. 140 Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it. 141 I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts. 142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth. 143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights. 144 The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.”

The Letter Tsade,
1. A Fish hook,
  1. The Meaning,
    1. the idea carried by drawing a fishhook is:
      - to pull toward, something inescapable, desire, trouble, or even harvest.
      - It carries the same idea as hooking something, pulling it in,
    2. Some examples of the use of the letter:
      - Reysh-Tsade-Hey, (hxr) Head hooked beholding, (think about in a supermarket)
        
        Desire/ to Want
      - Tsade-Reysh, (rx) Hook the Head
        
        Trouble/ Distress
      - Tsade-Mem-Alef, (amx) Hook/ Desire Water Powerfully
        
        Thirst
      - Tsade-Vav-Hey, (hwx) Pull Toward Security to Behold
        
        Commanded
      - Tsade-Dalet-Qoof, (qdx) pull toward door back of head,
        
        Justice/ Righteousness
2. The Word, (the Spirit of God uses the word of God to implant faith into our hearts- Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ” consequently, the more we live in the word, the stronger our faith will become. The simple truth is, that people all have varying degrees of faith, some have none, some have very little, and others have great faith. In this section, we will see how the word of God can lead us into a life of great faith.
  1. God’s Word is Trustworthy no matter what people may do, Vs.137-139
    1. The Psalmist begins this section with “Righteous” are thou O’ Lord
      - I spend a lot of time on the character of God, and this is one of the fundamental aspects of who God is, He is Righteous,
        
        all of the characters put together come together to form righteousness,
        
        that fact that He is merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant it goodness and truth, that He forgives, and that He judges, all make Him righteous,
      - by understanding that, everything else falls into place,
    2. Because He is righteous, then he is also “Upright”
      - straight, just, plumb
    3. this extends to His judgments,
      - Genesis 18:24b “….Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
      - this was a question asked in reference to God destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and asked if God would destroy the wicked and the just alike.
      - The judgments of God are Righteous, and Just.
    4. Not only His judgments is righteous, but also his commandments,
      - think about that, His commandments are righteous, and very faithful vs.138
        
        first they are in line with his Character, including all of them, Merciful Gr…
        
        Second they are “very faithful”, that is to say they are firm, and unwavering.
      - I John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
        
        the commandments of God are not hard, they are not unfair, they are not depriving, they are not frivolous.
        
        They do not waver, what was wrong is still wrong, what was right, is still right.
        
        One caveat on this point is, we must make sure we are talking about who the commandment is directed. For instance it was right for Noah to build an ark, but may not be for us to waste our time doing the same.
    5. Vs.139 “My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.”
      - people sin, and rebel against God all the time, but this in no way negates His commands or His righteousness in them,
        
        people turn away form God’s commands, but that doesn’t exclude us from following them.
        
        Just because the world say it is now OK…
  2. God’s word is Trustworthy no matter what people may say, vs.140&141
    1. the psalmist mentions his love for the word, while he is despised and looked down on,
      - thought to be small.
      - This is much the same way Christians are viewed today.
      - Yet, how many times has the word of God been disproved? Never,
      - how many times has it been confirmed? Many times (places, people, events…)
      - but the ones who look down on Christians are constantly having to come up with new theories,
        
        even this week I read an article on the expansion of the universe, or lack there of,
        
        in 2011, the Nobel Physics prize was awarded to a team that came up with the idea and theory of the expansion of the universe.
        
        But now, a team at Oxford is saying this doesn’t look like the case,
        
        Oh, by the way it was the expansion of the universe theory that gave movement to the “dark matter” theory (wrong again, and we are the dumb ones)
  3. God’s word is Trustworthy no matter how we feel, vs.142-144
    1. Hebrews 4:15 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
      - this is a reference to the swinging of the emotions of man, like a pendulum,
        
        swinging from high to low, and back again
    2. we all have moments when we feel strong, and weak,
      - we may feel feelings of distress, but God’s word is steady and non wavering.
    3. God’s word not only contains truth, it is truth,
      - John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
    4. Because the word is truth, we can draw joy from it knowing the promises of God.
    5. Because the word is truth, because it is set, because it is never changing, because it is everlasting….
      - then it doesn’t matter how long we live, the word will always be true.
      - This is an important point for people today, circumstances, situations, people all may change, customs, manners, ideas, all may change,
        
        but the word of God changes not
      - Malachi 3:6 “For I am the LORD, I change not;…”
      - Immutable & Eternal
        
        these are two aspects of God that can give us confidence on everything else.

Next Week: Qoof, the back of the head,