December 16, 2025 3:00 am
The psalmist's prayer in Psalm 119, verses 153-158, highlights the importance of relying on God's promises and faithfulness, even in the face of persecution and enemies. This reliance on God's word is contrasted with the wicked who seek not God's statutes. Jesus also felt righteous emotion at the hardness of people's hearts, emphasizing the need for a holy and indignant heart, stirred by the Holy Spirit.
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Welcome to the Days of Praise podcast, a daily devotional by the Institute for Creation Research. Delivered by the Word. Consider mine affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget thy law. Plead my case and deliver me. Quicken me according to thy word.
Psalm one nineteen, one fifty three through one fifty four. Much of the Old Testament records God's intervention into the affairs of man, often in huge victories on the battlefield. The great military king David wrote frequently of his deliverance amid slaughter, and certainly there is an overtone of physical deliverance felt in these verses. The key to this prayer, however, is in verse 158: I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved, because they kept not thy word. Although the psalmist spoke of his many persecutors and enemies, his desire was fixed directly on the faithfulness of God's promises.
Note the constant reliance on the truth of what God has said. I do not forget thy law. Verse one fifty three. God spoke of the opposite condition through Hosea: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4.6.
Quicken me according to thy word. Psalm 119, 154. For the wicked seek not thy statutes. 155. Even though there are many enemies who persecuted him without cause, this godly man would not decline from thy testimonies.
I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved, because they kept not thy word. Verse 158. Jesus felt the same righteous emotion when he looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. Hearts not stirred with the Holy Spirit's indignation at the wicked culture and flagrant violators of God's word should give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Those who love God's holiness also love God's Word.
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We hope you'll start each day with days of praise.
