GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
PSALM 119:164-166
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164 Seven times in a day I praise you
for your righteous judgments.
The ancient church and the Medieval church took this verse to mean that Christians should do the same thing. In other words, they took the verse to be prescriptive rather than descriptive. The difference is simple. Does the poet simply state what he did, or is he commanding all people to do the same?
There is no command word here, but that doesn’t mean that what the Psalm’s poet is saying should not at least be considered. But there is no definite enumeration of which “times” or hours he means. It would be easiest to pick out the five most definite times: (1) When we wake up, we say a prayer of thanks and ask for God’s protection (just as Luther’s Morning Prayer does), (2) a similar prayer when we go to sleep (as Luther’s Evening Prayer does), and (3,4 and 5) at the times of the usual meals. The other two most obvious moments are (6 and 7) the beginning or end of the work day. These moments for prayer and reflection as well as thanksgiving seem like the clearest and most obvious points that the poet means. It was especially pious and severe that the monasteries decided to control and insist upon what amounted to a full-blown worship service at seven superimposed hours. As a voluntary act, there is nothing wrong with those observations, but to insist on them, and the other things that went along with that (such as assigning a monk to prod his brothers who might nod off during one of the late-night or very early morning services, or even set fire to their clothes after repeated infractions) was taking things too far. It turned an act of free devotion into a requirement and a law.
But to pray in the morning, and before bed, and at meals, and at a couple of other times, like beginning and ending work, or other appropriate moments like morning and afternoon coffee breaks, or the like, seems entirely appropriate, and might already be what many Christians do. For those who do not, but who might at least pray before meals before bed, well, this is also a fine thing, and there should never be any guilt attached to it because it does not happen to tally the same as what David may have done on a regular basis. There should never be any guilt or wrongdoing associated with praying, or praising God, or any good work. And shame on those who would make one man’s act the imposed rule and standard of all others. Otherwise such shameful men or women should be held accountable to Psalm 6:6, “All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears,” and the identical act should be demanded of them for a single night to teach them not to dictate good works to anyone, but to praise God as an act of service and love, for Psalm 6:9 also assures believers: “the Lord has heard my prayer.”
165 Those who love your law have great peace,
and nothing makes them stumble.
Augustine asks: “Does this mean that the law itself is not an offense to those who love it, or that there is no offense from any source to those who love the law?” And he answered correctly that both senses are rightly understood. We can expand on that thought, with 1 John 2:1 as a guide (“Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble”). Those who know the law of God but who plan and plot ways to get around it, such as the Scribes and Pharisees did, stumble across the law all the time. The same thing happens today with those who take the warnings attached to the Lord Supper and try to remove them at the cost of the judgment of those who are then invited in without the boundaries of fellowship, knowledge of doctrine, and of repentance, as Paul warns (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). And again, there are those (some of them are the very same people, but not all) who set up boundaries around holy Baptism, as if some people should not be baptized for various reasons, when our Lord himself nor his Apostles nor the Baptizer John make any such restrictions. Such people prevent the gospel, faith and forgiveness from being freely given even though Jesus commands us to give these things to all nations and make them disciples of Christ.
For those who love the law of God, and love all of this holy Word, there is nothing that makes them stumble in it, for they learn to walk in his way and happily follow in his footsteps their whole lives. For do not all believers “walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had” (Romans 4:12)? And did we not pray earlier in this Psalm, “Direct my footsteps according to your word” (119:133)? We are led to want to walk in the way that the Lord directs us, for he is our Shepherd (Psalm 23:1) and he leads us to life (Proverbs 19:23). He directs our path (Psalm 119:35), our footsteps (Psalm 119:133; Jeremiah 10:23) and our very hearts to love him and be loved by him (2 Thessalonians 3:5). When we sin, he directs the blows that call us to repentance (Ezekiel 26:9). When we repent, he directs his servants to proclaim his forgiveness so that we can be certain it comes from him (Jeremiah 36:3; John 10:23).
166 I wait for your salvation, O LORD,
and I keep your commandments.
To wait for God’s gifts is a blessing in itself, because we know that what he promises will certainly happen. In contrast, the same word “wait” is used in Esther 9:1 (in English, “hope”) when the enemies of the Jews waited and hoped to overpower God’s people and kill them. But that was the plan of an enemy, not God’s plan. Gos has given us something sweet and delightful to do while we wait for the arrival of the last day. This is to “keep his commandments,” to obey his holy law, to serve him by loving and serving one another. We love God above all things, and we love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Our waiting is commanded and directed this way: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14). And since one of the fruits of the Spirit is patience (Galatians 5:22), this is something we can certainly pray about and ask God’s help to do it. For who can be truly patient about the return of our Lord to come and bring us home? We gladly watch and pray, for even if he is a long time in coming, and even though he comes at an hour when no one will expect him, we pray that he will help us to be faithful and wise servants, taking care of other servants in his kingdom during our time of grace (Matthew 24:44-45). It will be good to see him return. Until then, let us spur one another on toward love, and serving Christ.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Archives at St Paul’s Lutheran Church https://splnewulm.org/daily-devotions/ and Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2024
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Psalm 119:164-166 Seven Times in a Day