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ר（Resh) Preserve My Life
Series: Finding the Gospel in Psalm 119 – A Hymn to the Law (20/22) Psalm 119:153–160
Andy Nagahrara
Today we continue with the very long Psalm 119 that I have been sharing with you in the series, and we will take up verses 153-160, where the 20th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “ר（Resh)” is placed at the beginning of each line of the 20th paragraph.
The character is derived from the Hebrew: ראש roš, which depicts a head. Today’s text is characterized by the repetition of the wish, “Preserve my life according to __.” Last week, we thought about the water of life that keeps our souls alive through the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John’s Gospel.
Today as well, while listening to the psalmist’s wishes, let’s think about how we are kept alive by the water of life that is given to us.
Let’s continue reading a few verses at a time. First, verses 153 and 154.
1. We are made alive by God (153,154)
153 Look upon my suffering and deliver me,
for I have not forgotten your law.
154 Defend my cause and redeem me;
preserve my life according to your promise.
The first “Preserve my life” appears in verse 154.
Here it says, “According to your promise.” The immediately preceding verse 153 contains the psalmist’s cry for “help,” which, as in the last time I spoke to you, tells us that his life is in danger.
It is a cry, “I value your words, but I am suffering terribly from those who ignore your words. Please help me!” Even under such circumstances, the psalmist believes that God’s promises will not be broken, and he wishes to keep him alive.
The promise, “I will make you live,” is God’s promise given to the people of the Old Testament age, to the people of the New Testament age, and to us today. The promise is hope for the future. It is a reality that cannot be seen yet. We are also taught this by the New Testament narrators.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (HEB 11:1)
We all live in a reality that is not easy. The difference between those who have faith and those who do not is whether or not they live by believing this promise. So how can we say proudly that this promise is worth believing?
The basis for this is the words in the first half of verse 154, “Defend my cause and redeem me.” “Redeem” is not a word we use in our daily conversation, but it is an important concept for the “normalization” of our relationship with God. It was not a special word for people in Old Testament times. It meant buying back the property or land of a close relative that had become the property of another, or freeing a slave by paying a ransom.
The word “atonement” is similar to the word “redemption,” but the major difference between the two is that “atonement” is the act of settling one’s own wrongs by paying the price oneself, whereas “redemption” is done by having someone else pay the price in one’s place that one cannot pay oneself. God’s promise is this “redemption” promise.
Surely we are alive in the sense that our hearts are beating and we are breathing. However, we do not recognize the meaning of life only there. Why do we sometimes feel like we are dead even though we are alive? Maybe it’s because we feel like we’re not living like ourselves. We carry a burden that we cannot do anything about, “Even if we want to live our lives the way we want to, it won’t happen.”
It doesn’t change no matter how much wealth you’ve built up or even if you’re in an admirable position.
Jesus was crucified and died in agony, but he knew that it was God’s will, so he accepted the pain of the cross that he could have avoided if he had wanted to.
The disciples believed in the “redemption” of Jesus’ crucifixion, suffering to death, and resurrection on the third day in order to free human beings who had been placed in slavery under the power of great sin and could not escape.
They started preaching to believe in Jesus as Lord because they knew that if one believes and lives in Jesus as Lord, one can be set free from the power of sin and regain the life God has given. Being made alive by the water of life that Jesus gives means that we can become our joyful true selves, to be made alive again. However, it is not a kind of self-actualization that can be obtained by acquiring something. Again, even if you get a lot of things, you can’t acquire a way of life that suits you. It is something that must be redeemed because it cannot be obtained by oneself. We are not living by ourselves, we are being made alive.
2. Who are the wicked? (155-158)
155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they do not seek out your decrees.
156 Your compassion is great, O LORD;
preserve my life according to your laws.
157 Many are the foes who persecute me,
but I have not turned from your statutes.
158 I look on the faithless with loathing,
for they do not obey your word.
Here it says “Preserve my life according to your laws.” What is God’s judgment like?
Judgment is to judge things and give a suitable reward. God’s judgment is the judgment of good and bad in the eyes of God.
In verse 155, the psalmist understands that God’s standard of good and evil is whether we seek God’s laws. The psalmist himself wants to judge things by God’s standards no matter what.
So, who are the people who appear throughout Psalm 119 as afflicting the psalmist? Verse 158 tells us who they are. They are not external enemies who do not know the God of the Bible, but the fellow citizens who are supposed to believe in God.
It’s not that they don’t know God’s commands, but that there are people who know but don’t keep them. Therefore, as stated in verse 155, they are not out of salvation, but they are far from salvation because they do not seek the law even though they should be saved.
When Jesus came into the world, our understanding of God’s salvation changed dramatically. No, rather than changing, it reverted to God’s original will as shown in the first two chapters of Genesis. Jesus’ disciples were convinced by what Jesus said and did that God is not the people’s God of Israel but the God who saves all people in the world, and began to introduce Jesus to non-Jewish peoples as well.
Now the Lord Jesus is being preached to all peoples. However, God’s standard of judgment has not changed. God is not the one who judges and rewards people based on what religion they are. Being a Christian does not guarantee our righteousness and reward us for it. As the psalmist puts it, the question is whether or not you are a person who simply pursues God’s law.
And the reward isn’t about the afterlife. As we heard earlier in the Gospel of John, “those who do not believe have already been judged,” that is, they have received a huge reward for not being connected with God. It means that they do not know that they are being kept alive. Awareness of being alive brings peace and contentment, regardless of the circumstances.
Believing in Jesus is only the starting point of the new life given. We began to work as a part of that body. It is a step of loving and continuing to pursue the God’s law. It is only from there that the realization of being truly alive comes.
If I am satisfied with the fact that I believed, was baptized and became a Christian, and do not live in pursuit of God’s law in the course of my life after that, I may end up standing on the side of someone else’s suffering as an “evil person.”
3. According to your love (159,160)
159 See how I love your precepts;
preserve my life, O LORD, according to your love.
160 All your words are true;
all your righteous laws are eternal.
In these last two verses it is written, “Preserve my life according to your love.” Mercy is a word that can also be translated as love or grace. This is the fundamental motivation for God to keep us alive and well.
God’s love expressed by Jesus is unconditional love. He loves everyone without exception. But it is up to us to choose whether to hold back the outstretched hand or reject it. Jesus does not force. If he forces it, it is no longer love.
So I would like to draw your attention again to the word “redeem” that I spoke about earlier today. In the church, we often use the term “redemption for sin,” but when we think of “sin” simply as a term that refers to human behavior and character, we miss the essence of the problem.
That is the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus severely criticized in the Gospels.
It remains as racism, discrimination against women, and discrimination against sexual minorities in Christian society, but it is by no means God’s will. It’s just that people borrow the authority of God and the Bible to justify their thoughts. It is not the “sinners” who are prejudiced by others that God hates. Rather, God’s wrath is directed at those who refuse to listen to God and are willing to make their own will, especially those who pretend their own will to be God’s and call people sinners. God never judges us by the labels that people put on us. Instead, God will bless those who believe in God’s promises and live under such attacks.
Sin is the nature of all people to turn their backs on God, their self-centeredness. Grasping back God’s outstretched hand means acknowledging this sinful nature and confessing, “Preserve my life according to your love.”
Jesus never disappoints those who wish to follow Him and who hold back His outstretched hand. If you have been given a desire to follow Jesus, please tell pastors and leaders. Be baptized and start a new life with Jesus and those who love Him.
(Prayer)
Dear God, thank you for allowing me to live with you.
Please guide us so that we can live the way you desire.
Make us capable of loving one another as You have loved us.
Help this church to take on the role it has been given as part of your body.
With thanks to you and in anticipation, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Summary
In order to make us live, God lived in this world as one person, Jesus, and showed us the way of life. It is God’s response to the psalmist’s request to let him live. We have no power to live on our own. We are those who are kept alive by God. Recognizing this, trying to know God’s will, and trying to know and obey will lead us to live the eternal life that God gives us.
For Discussion
1. What does it mean that we are redeemed by God?
2. What is sin?