Psalms 119:54 - Verse of Controversy

Hidden Treasures of the 119th Psalm. A very interesting journey today on the 119th Psalm. We're in verse 54, and I don't know if you've ever heard the saying, but I think it's very true that I've been made wise by my enemies, and when you find a verse that has a great deal of controversy, you can't see that obviously Satan would like us not to understand this. So Psalm 119 verse 54, there is much, much, much controversy, but let's just go into what it says, and then we'll take it from there. It says, thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. Again, we are in the Zion section, and so this idea of a sword and the beautiful thing about this verse itself is it starts with a Zion like all the verses do, and also the word that starts the verse is songs, and that word starts with the Zion, which when you think about it, there's nothing like cutting through to your heart with a song. I mean, I don't know about you, but I mean, I can remember many times a song touched my heart, and you know, the tears began to flow.

Sometimes even pulled over on the side of the road. Maybe you've experienced that too, but the idea of songs and cutting through to, you know, what's really going on inside is a beautiful thing, and clearly King David knew this above anybody. So here we have him saying that the statutes, which are the hukam, the high, hard, that's Hebrew for statutes, is hukam, and those are the sayings, the commandments, the statutes that really are hard to understand or maybe impossible to understand, and so you're kind of walking in faith when you're doing a statute.

You don't understand why you're doing it, but you know God said it, and so here you go. We're going to walk by faith into that, and here, you know, King David says these, these high, hard statutes have been his songs in the house of his pilgrimage, and you know, before we get into the controversy, just the beauty of the verse is amazing because the idea of these statutes being a song, and then where they're the song is just doubly beautiful to me in the house of his pilgrimage. Now the word pilgrimage here, no doubt, John Bunyan loved that word because it was obviously the pilgrim's progress, and clearly if you follow Christian very far in that book, you'll find that he goes on quite the adventure, and all our lives are this pilgrim's progress. I mean, we are strangers, which is what the idea is of a pilgrim. We're strangers trying to make our way through on this adventure where God's going to teach us all this stuff, but in this case, when he's talking about the house of David's pilgrimage, you can't help but think that, wow, is this when he was running from his son Absalom? I can't even imagine what was, what that was like in that particular pilgrimage or the pilgrimage when he was running from King Saul in the caves and all that stuff. Or is this a pilgrimage where he always felt like he was a stranger? I don't know if you are like that, but I do.

I feel like I'm a stranger. So where are these songs taking place? Now, to get to the controversy a minute, I don't want to spend a lot of time on it, but it's worth noting because I think it highlights the fact that this psalm has, this particular verse has a great teal to glean from it, from a standpoint of how King David's heart was and how our heart could be towards these statutes as well. So the controversy came because according to their Midrash and that, you know, these are sayings that, you know, Jesus referred to as your traditions and they had one or they have one to this day that says King David was punished for this verse, which is really a bit hard to understand. They said that for him to say that these very, very holy commandments were songs that God didn't like that. And so, and not that it would have been a sin for anybody else, but they believe that that was a sin for King David and that some of what he experienced in his life was a result of writing this particular verse. Once again, I think we're made wise by our enemies and go, why, why would they be upset about that?

Right? And do we know that this is scripture? So it's breathed by the Holy Spirit. And so there's something very valuable here. And to me, it is just like highlights the fact that we should really take notice of this. We know that it's scripture and we know that it's opposed.

So it's a pretty good place to look and say, wow, there must be some phenomenal, neat wisdom in this. And so when I look at the word pilgrimage, that is absolutely one of the most beautiful words in the verse, because it has to do with these letters that I'll go through one by one that, that to me make up this beautiful concept of what a pilgrimage is. So it starts off with a mem and a mem, as you may know, is the middle of the Hebrew alphabet often means water, but it very much means King.

So the beginning of kingdom, the beginning of malek, which is the word for King in Hebrew, they start with that mem. And so this is the idea that this is a royal trip that we're talking about. This is the king, and which by the way, we all are, and King David certainly was. So this is a king.

And then the second letter, if we spent a whole eight verses on, is the gimel, which looks like a foot. So this is a trip. And it's a great trip, as it were, because there's, you know, the, the gimel is this idea of chasing after, right, the dalit to, to provide the riches that were stolen from him. So that's part of the, of this is a king on this great adventure to return what has been stolen. Well, what did Jesus do?

Right? Look at Isaiah one. I mean, Isaiah 61.

Well, you can look at Isaiah one, too. But anyway, so there's a king on this trip. And then you got this vav, which we know is a continuation. And it means like Jacob's ladder coming down. And so here's this great trip that is being continued.

And, and almost, you know, obviously, for those of us who've lived life, you know, it just keeps going on and on. The last letter, of course, is the most spectacular to me in this particular verse. I don't know, maybe the first letter, but the last letter is a race. And that would mean that the Spirit, right, it's the, the race is the beginning of the word rock. And it also quite often means the Holy Spirit, but it, it also means preeminence.

This is the right way to go. So when you think about the Israelites in the desert, they were on a pilgrimage, right? And how are they guided? They were guided by the Holy Spirit. Okay, the Holy Spirit, you know, they had a pillar of fire, and wouldn't it be nice sometimes?

Like, God, I don't know what direction to go. Would you mind putting a pillow, pillar of smoke or fire right there for me to see which way to go? But that's what the Holy Spirit does in our lives, right? And so here we are in this pilgrimage, and we are all on it. But we are to be guided by the Spirit. And I don't know about you, but one of the places that I really enjoy thinking about this particular verse is, you know, I'm on a pilgrimage every single morning in my quiet time.

And of course, I know that those of you are listening are on those voyages too, right? You're, you're seeking God, and, and you're trying to find him. And so the Spirit is the only way to get there. And so it's kind of beautiful to me that I, that Miriam was the prophetess, and she sang to the rock in order for the water.

Now, I know that's going to be really complicated for some of you who've never studied that. And by all means, somebody can email me, I'll take them through the verse by verse way you can find this, but it's in there. That the rock followed them in the desert, and Miriam would sing to it, and out would gush the water. Well, the word itself is obviously living water, because it is Jesus. And he says, he's, you know, come to me, and I'm going to give you drink that's going to well up to living water, right? And so as we study the word, like you're doing right now, and I'm so grateful that you are and I'm on this journey with me. But as we study the word, I don't know about you, but sometimes my heart just sings to God, like, God, you got to show me what this what this is. And even this very verse, you know, show me what this means.

And as we as we sing this with our hearts, because our hearts are going to cut through to the real deal, right? Then the Holy Spirit, right? He guides you to the passage. And so for years, I had Bible studies, I, I did this technique, I did that strategy, I did all these different things that people would put me on.

And, and I would spend time doing that. But I so many times, I'd come away empty, until one day I came up with the idea of every single morning when I'm in my quiet time, I'm asking God, where are we going today? And letting the Spirit guide me on my pilgrimage right through the word.

And and as I'm going, I'm singing right, and out flushes the water. And and I hope that you found some way that you're guided by the Spirit like that. And you can relate to this idea of singing as King David did in the house of his pilgrimage. And I'm not so sure as I think about it, that this wasn't just David's pilgrimage through the Torah, like he was singing these statutes in order for the Spirit to show him, you know, the directions that he was supposed to go with absolutely beautiful, something to ponder. I appreciate you staying with me a little bit long today. I'm so excited about this verse and I pray that you will even understand it further. Feel free to email me if you got something neat. I would love to see it. My email is always there in the show notes. Thank you for listening.