Psalms 119:52 - Never Hang up

Hidden Treasures of the 119th Psalm. Oh, today's verse is actually one of my favorites, so I'm glad we get to dig around in this today. In the Zion section of the 119th Psalm, we are getting to verse 52, and I'll just go on and read it, and then we'll go into it. So it says, I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself. And as we've talked about, that whole idea of the Zion being the sort of sword, sort of plowshare, and that so much of the Psalm, this section of the Psalm, has to do with the word remember, and being mindful of God, remembering Him, which this verse really speaks straight at that.

And that word zakar, as we talked about, is that Zion kind of cuts through what's going on in your mind to actually hone in with that kuff that's in the middle, and then that race making God the priority of your thoughts. So I heard this story years ago, and it was just like, it just latched onto my soul, and I've never let go of it, because it just seems like this is my quest. My quest in life is to accomplish what this little story talked about, actually do a devotion at the retirement home behind where the dealership was in Mocksville, and I get to do that to this very day.

I couldn't for a little while because of COVID, but as we talked about, I got vaccinated, and they let me in there finally so that I could do my devotions again. And what I learned early on is that if you can give them something to remember what you talked about, it means the world to them. And so I always have my jokes that I would tell, and then a little devotional story at the end, and since I handed those out every single day, I became known as the man with the papers, because some of these people would have notebooks. You know, I've been doing this for really over 20 years, and some of these people have kept notebooks of all these things, and people would even steal each other's notebooks to get these papers.

But, you know, anyway, my jokes were all dad jokes and, you know, puns and those kind of things. But the devotional stories have always had a lot of meaning to me, and it all started really because my mother started sending this stuff to me. And so I got this story one time.

I think I heard it on, actually, the Truth Radio Network. It was unfocused on the family, but I wrote it out because it was so powerful, and I thought about it all these times. So I know that was a long setup, but it's a great, great story. And essentially, it goes like this, that this poor man lost his wife, and he wasn't a very religious man, but after he lost his wife, he began to pray for the first time in his life, really. And as he prayed, he sort of connected that to, you know, picking up the phone and calling God. And so it says that he would pick up the phone and call God, you know, just because he needed somebody to talk to now that his wife was gone. And obviously, the more he talked to God, the more he found out, oh, wow, this is really what I've been looking for my whole life. And so it says he picked up the phone more and more until he got to the point where he never hung up.

Okay. And that's the punchline for me, like that's, that's what my quest is. I just want to get to that point of being that mindful of remembering God in all my thoughts, in other words, somehow or another, where I get to the point in my life, in my prayer life, where I never hang up, where I'm always mindful. And so I love this particular verse for that very reason, is because here, the Psalmist is saying he's done that, you know, he's remembered. And again, I know he's under pressure from the previous verse that the proud had had him greatly in derision, but here, he is remembering the judgments of old.

And the neat thing about that, of course, we've talked about the word zakar. But the judgments are the misfit, where the, these are the ideas of actually where God is finding good in something, because it ends with that teth, which we're going to, you know, do that whole section here shortly. But that means goodness. And so God is out there looking for the good in a given situation. And so when he's talking about these judgments, it's translated old, but we've seen this word before, when we talked about, I'll keep your law continually forever and ever. Well, that first forever, it's the same word that here is translated old. So it's really a really neat thing if you sit there and go out when exactly was the greatest judgment, God judging in the history of the world, and actually, that was Jesus on the cross.

And so the neat thing about that word being forever, it's actually eternity, it's eternity going forward and eternity going backwards. So it's very realistic to think that King David could comfort himself with eternity forward, to see that these people that were mocking him and making fun of him. The problem with that always is I can remember my own story is there. You know, when I lost the dealership, there were a lot of people that thought I was a crook. And to some extent, I am completely honest, I've, I've never, you know, gotten to the point where I wasn't selfish.

And I never got to the point where at times, you know, there wasn't something quite right about certain deals that I did, you know, that I didn't have it where I should have been. And so, you know, there's some little sense of truth in that. And the neat thing is, from my perspective, is that we desperately need Jesus to make us right, right?

We're not right without him, there's just no way that, you know, we have that without the judgment of old, right? Because when Jesus was judged on the cross, all that stuff, that those people that, you know, there's always just a little hint of truth and what people are throwing at you when they're making fun of you. And the good news is Jesus paid for that.

I mean, he paid it all. And so I think it's absolutely beautiful when the psalmist says, right, that I remember thy judgments of eternity. And, and, and given Jesus the credit for the one who actually, you know, took my judgment, right, and that comforted me. And that word comfort, again, as we talked about before, is the same word that we had two verses ago, I think it was. And that word could easily be translated, repent.

Right? And here, it actually uses the form of the word that normally, when somebody is going to say repent is repent. So I remembered by judgments of old and have repented. Well, the beautiful thing about true repentance in my, you know, it's teshuva to the Jews, or, you know, returning to God, that, you know, that's the way you get the steak dinner. That prodigal son, when he repented, right, and he went back and he went into his father's arms, that's how he got the robe, that's how he got the signet ream, and that's how he got the party with the steak dinner. I mean, this is all what's available as we actually turn back towards God, the whole feast is there waiting on us.

Right? So talk about comfort. And the feast for us really, for those of us who love this word, and have spent all this time in Psalm 119 with me, right?

I mean, this is the steak dinner right here. I mean, there's so much food in these verses, it's just absolutely unbelievable. So as we return to comfort ourselves, right? It's absolutely amazing how much comfort there is in these judgments of eternity, right? And so I hope you're like me, that wow, we need Jesus, and we need these, you know, when we, I'm blessed, I take communion almost every morning. And as I'm doing that, it's a really opportune time, because Jesus said, you know, do this in remembrance of me. So here I'm remembering, you know, that he was crushed for my iniquity, I'm remembering that blood that covers my sin. And I'm remembering that I got it covered, and that I get to be in this unbelievable relationship with God, and with other people as a result of that, right? So what a precious, precious thing it is that we can remember these judgments of eternity, right, and repent, get to go back into the Father's arms to get the robe and the signet ring and the steak dinner. I mean, it's all good. So enjoy repenting with me today on 119th Song.