September 24, 2019 -- Psalm 119:23 -- On what is your attention fixed?

Even though princes sit plotting against me,

your servant will meditate on your statutes.

Psalm 119:23 English Standard Version

Your social standing cannot protect you from the hate non-believers harbor against the faithful followers of the Living God. King David experienced this. Though he was mighty in the land, his own sons plotted against him rebelling against showing themselves to be enemies of the LORD and enemies to their own father.

What was David’s response? Speaking from a worldly point of view, one would expect David to become a bitter old man. Two of his sons mounted rebellions against him. One of David’s sons violated his own sister. His brood was troublesome like a boiling cauldron. Yet the LORD Who is King of kings rescued David each and every time. David is not the hero of this story—it is the LORD his God—Who is David’s Rescuer and the One Who brings peace Who is the Hero.

So David refused to retreat to bitterness. Instead he meditated on the statutes of the LORD the Lawgiver. These are the rules by which we measure the boundaries of our lives. These are the laws which God gives so that we do not conform to the patterns and standards of the world but are wholly directed by Him Who made us and therefore knows what is best for us.

Ultimately it is David’s descendant and his LORD Who lived and fulfilled this verse perfectly: Jesus—Who with the Father, created the heavens and the earth—came Incarnate—God-Man—and His own people did not acknowledge Him. Kings judged Him and pursued Him, hounding Him. Unlike His ancestor, Jesus never sinned. Never was tossed to and fro by sin and doubts. Jesus remained perfectly submitted to the statutes of God. He meditated on them and by them guarded His hearts and His steps so that He became the perfect High Priest and the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.

This Psalm, line by line, verse by verse, stanza by stanza, always points to Jesus. He is the hero of our faith and LORD of our life. The psalm encourages us to live for Him—eyes fixed not on our circumstances, our weaknesses and failures, but sharply focused on His perfections. The rules and laws and statutes and Word of God direct us so that we do not constantly rehearse bitterness in the sound track of our minds, but as we remember all His directives we are ever and always teaching our souls of the perfections of our God.

You are the LORD—faithful to all Your promises which are “yes” and “amen” in Jesus Christ. You are the perfect Lawgiver—teaching us what is just and right in a world gone crazy. Ah, Spirit of God, move our stubborn and inclined-to-bitterness-hearts from focusing on ourselves and lift our thoughts and aspirations to where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. You know what is best for us therefore as we submit our lives to You show us the secret places of our heart where we are hanging on to unjust thoughts and wicked ways and as these rebellions are exposed, conquer them so that we will be wholly and fully submitted to You and find the peace of Christ which passes all understanding. Amen.