Psalms 119:118 Weighed And Found Wanting

Hidden Treasures of the 119th Psalm. How about some fear of the Lord today in the 119th Psalm as we got to verse 118. It is the sixth verse in the Psalmic section, which would be the anointing of the fear of the Lord, and I'm sure you're going to feel that, as there's much to be feared when it comes to the Psalmic. And it's fascinating to me the power that's in this letter that we'll get all to that in a second.

Let's just read it in English. Verse 118 is, Thou has trodden down all them that er from thy statutes, for their deceit is falsehood. And so, you know, here the psalmist is sharing what happens when you, you know, fake it when it comes to keeping God's statutes.

And those statutes, those hukam, are the most sacred of the bunch. And so, and the interesting thing about the way that that reads in Hebrew is it says that er from their statutes, it's like they wandered from the statutes, but it's saying that it's more than that because their deceit is falsehood. And so, as you know, the first letter in all these verses in the 119th Psalm of the sections is going to be that Psalmic, and mostly you can key in on that word to get a real feel for that particular verse.

And so, this word in Hebrew is a psalmic and a lamed and a hey. And in this case, it has to do with, yes, something that's been weighed and trodden down because it's worthless, but the idea there of that word is this concept of weighing something to see what its value is. And again, when we're thinking about the word Psalmic, if it isn't going to weigh enough, it's going to be a broken off branch, which we know from the very first verse are going to be those vain thoughts or those vain people that we hate. What's fascinating is that God shares this concept in several different places. The first one that comes to mind for me is in Matthew 5 13, when Jesus says you're the salt of the earth, but, you know, if the salt loses its savor, right, it's cast to the ground and trodden on underfoot, same idea. And also, just about as scary, maybe scarier, is in Daniel chapter 5, you might remember the many, many techo Eufarsin, you know, you've been weighed and filed wanting is this same idea. And actually, if you look in those letters that are in that many, many techo Eufarsin, you're going to see that Psalmic and they're showing that this is part of that process that the Psalmic does for those who don't measure up.

And so that word trodden has to do with how much something weighs and how much I suppose that gold weighs more than maybe what sparkles, so to speak. So the idea here is there's something to be afraid of when it comes to God, that he is looking to see the false gold from the real gold, or the real salt from the false salt. And so I just focus back on that idea of thirsty, right?

That salt that has its flavor makes people thirsty. And so the whole idea here, I believe, as we look back to the wisdom of the Psalmic, and we get down to this to try to understand it, is back to the broken off branches. And, you know, you can see a whole study on broken off branches, by the way, in Romans 11, being that those who don't abide, like in John 15, then they don't have the sap, and so they get broken off, like the wind blows them, and they're going to be the branches that are found wanting. And so God, being the gardener that he is, is going to prune those branches. And of course that's something to be afraid of, but it's also something really, really good, because he prunes us so that we can be more fruitful. In other words, we have branches that are not in the vine. If we have thoughts or we have things in our life that are not connected, right, the good news is God is going to snip them off, and they're going to be trodden underfoot, because if it's not in the vine, apart from us, you can do nothing. And so when you look at this, you know, in your own life, you know, what in your life is connected to the vine, and if so, that is the stuff that's not going to get broken off, or trodden underfoot, or lose its saltiness.

And so the idea of, like, I was just thinking about people that I know, and those that are clearly connected to the vine. Like, I know this dear friend who's a widow. She lost her husband maybe six years ago. Her husband was my best friend, and so I talk to her every week. And she is one of those people that's just what I would call the salt of the earth, man.

I mean, she brings out the best in anybody I've ever seen. Like, in her children, if they're around her, or her friends when they're around her, she's just playing the salt of the earth, and she makes you thirsty, because she is going to bring out that which is connected to the vine. That which, you know, seems to bear fruit, right?

Because that's the only way we can bear fruit is we can stay connected. So to get this whole idea of the psalmic, and I believe the fear of the Lord here, is that if we will stay connected to the vine, or allow him to prune those things that are not connected to the vine, so that we can do what produces fruit. And, you know, the question that I want to ask myself, am I doing stuff that brings out the best in other people? Am I thinking about God? What can I do to bring out the best in others? Because in that, I don't want my salt to lose its saltiness, and I certainly don't want to be like, was it Belteshar there in Daniel, who was, you know, been weighed in five wanting, you know, that's about the last thing we want. But the good news is that God is doing that so that the kingdom will be pure, and kingdom will be fruitful, and the kingdom will be luscious, and all those things that come from good branches that are connected to the good root, that won't be broken off and trodden underfoot.