We cling to the wrong thing! Psalm 119.25
Psalm 119.17-24 (1)
Pray Psalm 119.25, 26.
My soul clings to the dust;
Revive me according to Your word.
I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.
Sing Psalm 119.25, 26
(Festal Song: Revive Thy Work, O Lord)
My soul clings to the dust; revive me by Your Word!
My ways I have declared to You; teach me Your statutes, Lord!
Read Psalm 119.25-32; meditate on verse 25.
Preparation
1. How does the psalmist describe himself?
2. What does he want God to do?
Meditation
I pray this ד (daleth) stanza every Monday morning before I begin my time in God’s Word. As I do, I’m reminded of my favorite PeanutsTM character, Pig-Pen, or as he later came to be known, Pigpen. Dust clung to Pigpen wherever he went, even amid a winter’s snow. It didn’t seem to bother him, and a little dust in our soul from time to time might not bother us, either.
But God can make those particles of dust weigh like a mountain in our soul, and we should be glad He does.
Our soul is a little like Pigpen, because the law of sin still operates there (Rom. 7.21-23). We understand what the psalmist means in this word of confession. The earth – the world – was too much with him, too present and active in his soul, as it can be at times with us; so he disburdened himself of his sin before the Lord.
As we shall see, the sin weighing heavily on his soul (v. 28) was his having played fast and loose with the truth (v. 29). In stanza 3 the psalmist noted that he was a stranger in the world and that the world opposed him for his commitment to God and His Word. Sometimes it can seem easier just to go along with the ways of the world than always to be striving against them. Let your soul cling to the dust a bit. What harm can that do?
Plenty. It creates a heaviness in your soul that can only be removed by confessing your sin, repenting of it, and then clinging to the Word of God with all your soul and strength.
The psalmist leads us to examine ourselves (2 Cor. 13.5) so that the Word of God might dwell in us richly (Col. 3.16; Ps. 119.9-11) and we might continue to delight and rejoice in the Lord and His Law.
Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
God remembers. He remembers everything, of course; but here we are clinging to the fact that He recalls how He made us. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2.7). And as an aside, even though women were created in a slightly different fashion (Gen. 2.21-23), I’m afraid it doesn’t make us any less dusty.
But I digress. We are rejoicing because God remembers. “But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath; for He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again” (Ps. 78.38, 39). “For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground” (Ps. 44.25). And last, but not least, “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (Ps. 103.14).
Yes. God remembers. And yet, this is not where He expects us to linger because He has given us of His Spirit. In fact, “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (1 Jn. 4.13).
He longs to give us new life, a revived life, through His Word, both written and worked by Jesus Christ. We pray, “Revive [us] according to Your word” (Ps. 119.25). Regardless of our dust.
For the real truth is this: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5.17).
Even our dust-prone status takes on a new beauty. The beauty of “holiness” (Ps. 29.2).
For reflection
1. What does it mean when we say that we are “but dust” or that our soul “clings to the dust”? Do you experience this?
2. Look at John 7.37-39. Why should we expect being filled with the Holy Spirit to cleanse the dust bowl of our soul?
3. Why is it a good thing that God remembers that we are but dust? How should you respond to that?
While the souls of the children of this world cleave to the earth as their portion, the children of light are greatly burdened, because of the remains of carnal affection in their hearts. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Psalm 119.25
Pray Psalm 119.27, 28.
Wait on the Lord in silence as you meditate on His Word. Let the Spirit reveal any “dust” in your soul. Confess and repent of it, and seek the way of the Lord for that area of your life.
Sing Psalm 119.27, 28.
(Festal Song: Revive The Work, O Lord)
Make me to understand your precepts and your ways,
as on Your works I meditate with wonder and with praise!
My soul weighs down with woe, I need Your strength, O Lord!
Remove from me all lying ways; grant me Your holy Word!
T. M. and Susie Moore
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.
