Hidden Treasures of Psalms 119 - 3rd Verse - No Iniquity

Hidden treasures of the 119th Psalm.

So we are going on a treasure hunt and the gold we are seeking in this treasure hunt is actually the face of God, pure light. So join us taking this deep dive mining with King David in the 119th Psalm. So once again, I hope you sense how grateful I am to be able to do these with you and that you would listen today as we move on into verse three, which is hugely significant. I want to make another point that I think is critical in understanding the Psalm. Is that some people, in fact Matthew Henry, when you look at his commentary, seem to think that the verses were somewhat unrelated, although his commentary is beautiful. I would say that the verses are all very related. Again, we're making connections in this case in the first section of eight verses on the aleph, on what the father, on what this first letter of the aleph base is actually expressing about the father.

And so here we see this verse is so clearly, verse three is so clearly related to verse two, but it's also related to verse one. And to go back a minute, verse one starts out with the word Asher, which means blessed, which means happy. And you might even remember that one of Jacob's kids was named Asher. Well, that was because his mother was happy when he was born and so she named him Asher. And that word Asher, you're going to find it in these passages that we talked about last week, or better said last episode, not last week, that we talked about in Deuteronomy chapter six and Exodus 15 and Genesis 26 five.

You're going to find that word all those places. It's not necessarily translated Asher there or happy, it's translated which or this. So it's very interesting that David knew this word and this word blessed, happy is very connected to what we're doing here. And so when we get to this idea of the blessed folks, it says they also do no iniquity and they walk in his ways. This is verse three that we're moving into and that word iniquity is a amazing study all in itself. So interestingly, to understand iniquity, it's really, really fun that we kind of understand the letters that make it up are the exact same letters that make up the word anav. So when you say iniquity in Hebrew, you would say anav, avon, almost like Avon, you know, the Avon lady. But if you say anav, the same letters, you're just putting them in a little different order. So the word anav is the word that means meek. And so in, you know, Isaiah 61, where Jesus is going to preach the good news to the meek, and the meek are going to inherit the earth, as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, this word anav has to do with the letter Ian, which starts both words. And the idea is that you're looking for something, you're looking out for something. And the second letter in anav, you can hear that none sound, that means a servant.

So they're looking to serve. And that V would be essentially something coming down from heaven. So it's God, that Jacob's ladder is the vav. So when you look at that, what the anav are doing is they're looking across the horizon trying to find ways to serve God, where the Avon, in other words, we change those letters, and rather than looking to serve, they're looking for heaven to serve them. And the result of that is this thing we hear in every child, like we've ever met where they're saying, it's not fair, that's not fair, I want ice cream cone, or whatever the situation is, that's not fair, or that measuring things to see how we measure up against other people is iniquity.

And this idea of things aren't equal, so it's not fair. And when we're looking for God to serve us, you know, like John Kennedy said in that famous speech, right, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. Well, same kind of thing, ask not what God can do for you, but what you can do for God. And when you go about life that way, then you are the anav, which is that very much the blessed people that we're talking about here. But if you are looking for God to serve you, then you have this entitled mentality, that is the anav. And so the beautiful thing about what we're learning about these blessed people is they do none of this looking for God to serve them. That's beautiful, isn't it?

I think it's so helpful. And it says they walk in His ways. Now, that means they wear a WWJD bracelet, essentially. What would Jesus do, or maybe what would Jesus have me do? In other words, what would God's ways be in this particular situation? And so when they are walking, they're walking in the same way that Jesus would walk in any given situation. They're doing, you know, they are the anav, they're looking to serve God, and then they're looking to see how God would respond in this particular situation. And so when you put all those together, and you see that here's the heart of the Father, to read these three verses together, which I think they very much belong together, is blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. And they're also blessed because they keep His testimonies. In other words, they know what He's done for them, and they keep that close to their heart, and they seek Him with everything they've got, with a whole heart.

They also are not the Ivan, they are the anav, and they walk, in other words, this is a whole picture of what every father would want his son to be, right? Essentially, this son that would walk in obedience, this son that would walk in service to others, this son that would walk like Jesus, I mean, it's an absolutely beautiful thing. And so they're very much connected, and the first three verses, I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I have, and I just tell you, they kind of whet your appetite for what's the finish line going to be as we continued in this whole Asher-like blessed idea of what the Father would have for us in this expression of fatherhood. And I also felt like maybe I did you a little bit of disservice last time when I talked about Exodus 15, you know, there's more to it that, you know, we talked about the passage in Genesis 26, 5, and then in Exodus 15, but I wanted to give you the actual verse where we begin to see, you know, what King David is making reference to. The thing about Exodus 15, as you might recall, is where Moses sings his song, it's like, things are awesome, God has delivered them from the Egyptians, I mean, they're on an absolute high, but still in chapter 15, before you know it, they end up in Merah, which means, which is actually where the name Mary comes from, and the word Miriam, it comes from this whole idea of almost like the Merah, I mean, almost like the Avon, like, we're looking for you to serve us, because it says that they tested him, and they were tempting God, so to speak, and that's where the whole Merah thing happens again in Exodus 15. And so, in Exodus 15, 26 is actually the main verse I wanted to get to, so we've had the whole thing with them, you know, winning and singing the songs, and then we find them there, tempting God, and God says to them, in verse 26, if thou will diligently hearken to my voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right in his sight, and give ear to his commandments, and that's the word mitzvahs, and keep all his statues, and that is that word hasak, that high, hard ones, that I'll put none of these diseases on the Egyptians, none of these diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians. In other words, once again, God is making reference to these things that David will make reference to throughout the 119th Psalm, but I think it's significant to note that this is the first time we see Moses bringing this in, we saw the first place in Genesis where it came in for Isaac, now we're seeing it here, and again, you're going to see it in Deuteronomy 6, with the whole idea of what the Jews call Shammah, and, you know, hear O Israel, the Lord is one, teach these commandments to your children. That's the Deuteronomy 6 passage, it pretty much covers the whole thing, but in Exodus I did want to at least point out that there is a verse kind of that I wanted to highlight that I didn't mention quite as well as I would hope to yesterday, so thank you again for listening and tune in next time for more adventures in the 119th Psalm.