GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
PSALM 119:156
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156 Your compassion is great, O LORD,
Give me life according to your laws.
The poet has begun to repeat himself. The second half of the verse is almost the same as the same part of verse 154. It will be repeated again in verse 159. This is the language of “a mounting urgency.”
It’s high time we remembered something about the Book of Psalms. The beauty of the Psalms is simply explained, but too often we forget the source of that beauty. What is the difference between a little article about, say, a famous battle, written for Wikipedia or an old encyclopedia, and an actual account from the diary of a soldier or a civilian who was really there? The private account may not have every detail, since it’s written from one person’s point of view or memory, but it has their actual feelings and thoughts from that moment. In their words, such things as love, fear, excitement, and even a recollection of smells, sounds, and the weather, all come through. The Psalms present a great many of those things from many different periods of Israel’s history– the wars of Saul, of David, the reign of Solomon, and a few of them, perhaps, from the days of the divided kingdom– and at least one from the exile and the return from the exile. One even one written by Moses in the wilderness.
The Psalms are the epitome and compendium of all Holy Scripture. They are the catalogue or summary of all of the key doctrines of the Bible. The Psalms are a magnificent collection of illustrations, such as “the church militant,” which is subject to the cross; “the example of true repentance;” and “a highly polished mirror of faith.” And the Psalms are also a manual, a handbook, and the physician’s office for Christian living. All of these things are behind the simple half-verse, “Your compassion is great, O LORD.”
What is it that can get anyone through a hard day, a lonely day, a day of ongoing grief or trouble? What guides the widow past what would have been a wedding anniversary? The Lord’s compassion lifts him up, like a raft at sea, like a bridge over a freezing river. The Lord’s compassion is a warm blanket on a cold night, the only voice in a silent house.
Where does this compassion of the Lord come from? He does not tell us; only that he himself is love, and that, therefore, he loves (1 John 4:8). But he describes his compassion through the poet’s careful choice of words. “Compassion” here is the plural of the ordinary word for “womb.” The plural does not mean that the Lord God has multiple wombs; it is not that kind of a plural. A grammarian would call this an “intensive plural,” meaning that the picture of the belly, the womb, or the guts of God are implied. This is an anthropomorphism since God is a spirit (John 4:24), but anthropomorphism or not, the Lord God’s guts churn for those that he loves. His stomach is wrenched and his cheeks become wet with tears over the misery of his people who live in a world of sin, of death, of loss and loneliness. So he inspires his poet to continue with the words, “Give me life according to your laws.” This is the request to cause there to be life as opposed to death, joy as opposed to grief; beauty in place of ashes (Isaiah 61:3). For all of the terrible results of sin are wiped away forever by God’s compassion in the blood of Christ.
Think of any cross that mankind must bear. Let it be the weight you yourself are carrying today, whether this is a new burden or an old one, or one you thought you had set down but must take up again. What helps you bear that burden, that cross? It is the cross of Christ. He does not ask you to carry it alone, because no one has the strength to endure their private crosses all by themselves. His cross is there, right alongside your cross. Yours is the burden of today; his was the burden of all mankind. But because he bore what he was given, he helps you and me to bear what we have been given. When we pray, with our holy poet, “Give your compassion… give me life,” we pray for many things we don’t even think about, but he knows all things. He supplies what we lack, including the strength to bear up under our sorrows.
Even the thought of one single sin is enough to fill the human heart with fear. One single sin sets fire to the agreement of man to live by God’s holy law and burns it quickly to ashes in a fearful roar of hot wind and fury, and the one single sin ruins everything. But think of that one single sin. God’s guts churn over the cruel mess of that sin, and Christ’s compassion sent him flying down from his throne to the manger, and from there to the cross, to lift up and carry away the guilt of that one single sin, and countless more, so that your faith in Christ is the gift that he sets there in place of your guilt over that sin. That one single sin is no more. None of them are. Ever.
This is God’s compassion. This is life. This is God’s grace.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Psalm 119:156 the only voice in a silent house