Have you had that moment when you’ve realized the manner of the life you’ve  lived will ultimately bring you death? 

The threat to life isn’t necessarily a physical ailment, or a lack of resources, but instead something more important than your physical body— your soul is in danger of perishing. If you’ve had this experience, you’ve likely already recalled it to memory. It’s an inner sense that something is off, and has been off for sometime. It could be that no one would know, according to the outward appearance of your life, but your inner-self, your soul, is parched. All your pursuits, even of good things, have left you empty. 

These are watershed moments, a crossroad where you know if you continue to do what you’ve been doing, ultimately, your soul will dry out.

I’ve had that moment. My body was well and alive, and some would think I was even thriving. I was living in sunny San Diego, California, the dream of every Oregon boy who grew up under grey skies. Three months in the sun and sand, one would think I’d be happy as a clam! But my soul was clinging to death. Something was off, and I knew it.

Our passage today speaks to this reality. We are in Psalm 119, and reading from verse 25-32. Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm in Psalter, and it is built on an acrostic with the Hebrew Alphabet. Each line of this 8 stanza poem begins with the letter daleth. The Psalm, as you will read, is centered around praising the written word of God. It reads like a prayer of repentance, praise and petition to God.

Would you stand with me in honor of God’s word. Let’s read.Psalm 119:25-32

My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word.
When I told of my ways you answered me,
Teach me your commandments
Make me understand the way of your precepts
And I will meditate on your wondrous work
My soul melts away for sorrow
Strengthen me according to your word
Put false ways far from me
And graciously teach me your law
I have chosen the way of faithfulness
I set your rules before me
I cling to your testimonies, O Lord
Let me not be put to shame!
I will run in the way of your commandments
When you enlarge my heart

[Pray]

25 My soul clings to the dust;

give me life according to your word.

The Psalmist used a form of poetry that would either contrast two statements, or continue the thought from the first statement to the next. This first statement is one of contrast. The main object of the stanza was the soul.

My soul… the Hebrew word used there is nepesh. In this context, it means heart, or inner self. It is the inner life of the person. And here, the psalmist gives us a window into his heart. He said it…

Clings to the dust. The biblical illusion to dust is a picture of death. In Gen 3:19, when God pronounced the curse upon Adam and Eve, he said, “..for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Eccl 3:20 echoed: All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

The picture the Psalmist painted of his soul was one that was dry, hungry, and parched, starving for nourishment, and dying. Life was fleeing him. He had been brought low to the ground. His soul was clinging to the dust— to death. Have you been there? Does this describe what it is like when our inner self is dying?

But this is a stanza of contrast. And his response was to plea for life. He wasn’t asking for physical life. He didn’t ask for food, shelter, water, or even community— instead he asked for life according to your word.

He pled with God for life. But not any kind of life. He asked for life that will revive the soul, the heart, the inner-self, which was according to the [your] word. The word for word is dabar. It’s a noun. A thing. It has substance. We see in scripture that the word of God itself is likened to food, which gives life. 

Jesus cited Duet 8:3 when he responded to Satan’s temptation in Matt 4:4:

“It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

So, the psalmist finds himself low, his soul clinging to death. He’s speaking of his soul, his inner person, the spiritual nature. How does one receive spiritual food when dying? How is the soul revived? 

Look at verse 2626 When I told of my ways you answered me,

Teach me your commandments

How is the soul revived? Repentance. When you realize you’ve followed your own way, your own path, and that is what has brought you death, the path to life is repentance. It’s acknowledging before your Creator that you’ve veered from His path, His design for you. 

The Psalmist knows that God is faithful to answer us when we repent. This is a result of His character, His nature, for he announced himself as “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands,[a] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…" (Ex 34:6-7a)

In repentance, we recognize a contrast between our ways and God’s ways.

The Psalmist contrasted “my ways” with “your commandments.” And he pled with God to teach him. His petition was that God would teach him the commandments. Friends, the things that bring our soul to the dust, that which bring us death is following our own way. When we do things in accordance to what we think would be right, what we think would work, what we want and we don’t follow God’s way, we are walking towards spiritual death. 

Spiritual death is to be feared above physical death. Jesus declared to his disciples: “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. [29] Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. [30] But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. [31] Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Matt 10:28–31

We make decisions based on what we perceive we need— based on our physical circumstances. When those decisions lead us to sin, we are bringing our soul to death. We are not trusting God for His provision. Jesus spoke to that as a lack of faith!

So what is the Psalmist’s plea? 

Teach me your commandments. We become the student. He is the teacher. The psalmist has humbled himself under God’s law. He’s recognized his way leads to death, and God’s way leads to life. He wants life.

27 Make me understand the way of your precepts

And I will meditate on your wondrous work

I was an interesting math student. In Pre-Calculous, I would get B’s and C’s on my assignments up to the test, and then I’d typically ace my test. One of my college professors thought that was odd, and he had me take the test over again because he thought I had cheated. I didn’t grasp it the week before. Something clicked over the weekend. And then I understood. The truth of the matter was this: I could learn all the formulas, but if I didn’t grasp the why, I wouldn’t understand how to apply the formulas. I had to understand why in order to get it!

Can you see what the psalmist was asking? Make me understand… Help me understand why?

But notice the psalmist pleas with God to make him understand! These things are spiritually discerned, not in his own understanding. We know from Scripture that  “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor 2:14 ESV)

The ways of God are folly to those who haven’t been born again by the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God illumines the mind to understand. In order to follow the ways of God, the psalmist realized he must understand the ways of God. This understanding is given by the Spirit of God. 

And in understanding the ways of God, the Psalmist will meditate on His wondrous work.

Theology always leads to doxology. The study of God ought to always lead to the worship of God. If we rightly understand God, we will marvel, and meditate on the wonder of who He is and what he has done. We will proclaim his wondrous works!

Psalm 145:5

[5] On the glorious splendor of your majesty,and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. (ESV)

28 My soul melts away for sorrow

Strengthen me according to your word

Do you see how he is speaking of his inner-person? V 25: his soul clings to the dust. V 28: his soul melts away for sorrow. Sorrow is a result of sin. 

This is why we said verse 26 was him repenting, for… in Psalm 32:3–4, we read

[3] For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

[4] For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah (ESV)

When we acknowledge our way, when we repent, we can look to God and ask for Him to strengthen us. He doesn’t leave us in our sorrow. He gives us His word as sustenance, which strengthens us.

But the Psalmist doesn’t want to stay on the rollercoaster of spiritual ups and downs. He wants life! Consistent life! Look at his plea in v 29.

29 Put false ways far from me

And graciously teach me your law

Do you pray that way? That God would remove false ways from you? Do you see that He pleas with God to act upon him? Do you realize how helpless you are to remove false ways on your own? In his plea for life, his petition is for God to move upon him. 

And he asks God to graciously teach… it’s a plea that recognized sin. The psalmist recognized he didn’t deserve God to teach, but asked him to respond graciously…

Next, the Psalmist turns from petition and plea to stating his position. He has drawn a line in the sand, and this is his stance:

30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness

I set your rules before me

31 I cling to your testimonies, O Lord

Let me not be put to shame!

32 I will run in the way of your commandments

When you enlarge my heart

I have chosen the way of faithfulness…

When we repent of our way, we chose to turn away from our own way and follow Him. It is the way of faithfulness. It’s the way of faith. We now know and believe that our way leads to death, and God’s way leads to life. 

Thus, he states: I have set your rules before me.

How do we follow the way of faithfulness? We behold the way of God. We set our eyes on his commands, for in them is life! That’s where we set our gaze.

I cling to your testimonies! — this is the contrast: when we follow our own way, we are brought down to the dust, to death, but when we cling to the way of God, We cling to life! Our soul has life…

But there is a heart change that must occur. Hebrew understanding of the heart: drivers seat of the will. Encompasses mind, will, emotions, desires… 

The psalmist recognizes that they cannot keep the commandments of God without the supernatural help of God. Their heart must grow. It must grow for the word, it must grow to love God, his ways. And when his heart has grown to love the right things, instead of crawling along the ground, parched of sustenance, we are able to run in his ways. We are full of life! 

This is the contrast the psalmist makes: Our soul clings to death when we follow our own ways. Our soul clings to life when we cling to His testimonies. 

Church, will we choose to cling to the dust, to our sinful ways, or to life, to the testimony, the word of God?