Our Righteous God and His Righteous Word

Our Righteous God and His Righteous Word

Psalm 119:137-144

Main Idea: The perfect and eternally righteous Word of God should compel us toward love, faith, and trust.

When Christians study the doctrine of God, one of the important categories we investigate is his attributes. As Timothy George well says,

When theologians ask, “What is God like?” they talk about the divine attributes. God’s attributes are also known as his perfections, properties, virtues, and predicates. The attributes characterize God’s nature and character. (“The Nature of God,” 190)

George goes on to note that

the attributes of God are too numerous to list; but they include infinity, incomprehensibility, immutability, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, simplicity, eternity, spirituality, holiness, truth, wisdom, goodness, love, righteousness, unity, immensity, fidelity, mercy, self-sufficiency, indivisibility, immeasurability, personality, congruence, glory, blessedness, and freedom. (Ibid.)

Stanza Tsade (?), Psalm 119:137-144, zeros in on one of these divine attributes: righteousness.

A form of the word righteousness occurs six times in these eight verses, which is not surprising since each verse begins with the Hebrew letter Tsade (?) and the Hebrew word for “righteous” is tsedeq (???). Wayne Grudem provides a helpful and simple definition of righteousness when he writes, “God’s righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right” (Systematic Theology, 203). The psalmist will look at this wonderful attribute of our God in three movements. He devotes attention to our righteous God and his righteous Word. This stanza takes the form of a confession. There is only one prayer request, and it comes at the end in verse 144. We should make the psalmist’s confession and prayer our own.

Our Righteous God’s Word Is Righteous and Faithful

Psalm 119:137-138

Righteousness is not a popular idea in twenty-first-century Western culture. Because it is not a popular idea, most persons have little or no understanding of what righteousness is. Even when people talk about “righteousness,” their definitions of righteousness can also differ. So where should we turn to understand what true righteousness is? James Boice is correct when he answers, “Anyone who cares about righteousness and wants to act righteously should study the Bible” (Living, 134). Psalm 119:137-144 is an excellent place to start.

He Is Righteous in Who He Is (119:137a)

The psalmist begins this stanza with a straightforward affirmation about our God: “You are righteous, Lord” (Yahweh). Your character and nature are characterized by what is right. The apostle Paul tells us the “righteousness of God is revealed” in the gospel (Rom 1:16-17). The apostle John adds that when we sin, “we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one” (1 John 2:1). Righteousness is an essential attribute of our great God. Moses writes of God in Deuteronomy 32:4, “All his ways are just. A faithful God, without bias, he is righteous and true.”

Our God is the standard of righteousness. No correct understanding of righteousness can be gained outside of him or apart from him. The Lord alone is righteous. He is the final standard. He is the only standard. If you want to know what righteousness is, then get to know the one true and living God. And if you want to see perfect righteousness in action, then just look at Jesus!

He Is Righteous in What He Says (119:137b-138)

Because the Christian God is righteous in who he is, he is also righteous in what he reveals in his Word. His “judgments are just” (v. 137b). There are no lies. There is no deception. “The decrees you issue are righteous” (v. 138), as the psalmist says. He reinforces this truth by saying that God’s decrees are “altogether trustworthy.” Righteousness and faithfulness characterize the Word of God. God’s righteous revelation is the natural expression of his absolute and perfect righteousness. God’s Word is altogether true and trustworthy because he inspired it (2 Tim 3:16). Therefore, to doubt and question the righteous nature of God’s Word is to question the righteous nature of God himself. The two are intertwined.

Our Righteous God’s Word Is to Be Obeyed

Psalm 119:139-141

Our righteous God did not give us his righteous and trustworthy Word for us merely to contemplate and reflect on it, as important as both are. He gave us his Word for us to passionately pursue him and obey his Word. Concerning God’s words, Spurgeon writes, “It is not left to our choice whether we will accept them or no; they are issued by royal command, and are not to be questioned” (Treasury, 390). That which is not to be questioned is to be obeyed without question. The psalmist develops the idea of obedience in three helpful ways.

Be Passionate for God’s Word (119:139)

The psalmist testifies to his passion for God’s Word with a negative example: “My anger [“zeal” ESV, NIV, NASB] overwhelms me because my foes forget your words.” Zeal speaks of a

passionate intensity over things that matter. . . . Here it is zeal to defend God’s Word because the enemies have forgotten it, meaning they have not paid attention to its revelation or regulations. (Ross, Psalms, 572)

The psalmist grieves with anguish in his soul over the reality that those who oppose him care nothing for God’s Word. It does not matter to them. But the psalmist cannot stand idly like a passive observer; that is not an option. It would trouble him that people disregard God’s Word and take the lives of the unborn. It would trouble him that people disregard God’s Word and practice bigotry and racism. It would trouble him that people disregard God’s Word and neglect the poor and the immigrant. It would trouble him that people disregard God’s Word and even mock the Lord Jesus, the Savior of the world. The psalmist is passionate about these things. We should be passionate about them as well.

Love God’s Word (119:140)

The trustworthiness of God’s Word is something the psalmist knows well from experience. God’s Word can be described as “well tried” (ESV) and “completely pure” (CSB). This purity means that God’s Word has been discovered “to be pure, like gold that has been refined” (Ross, Psalms, 573). Therefore, the psalmist’s response makes perfect sense: “Your servant loves it.” The servant of the Lord loves the Word of God and the God of the Word. His heart and soul are joined to the Word of God like one lover is joined to another! And because he loves the Word, he is passionate about it (v. 139), he will not forget it (v. 141), it is his delight (v. 143), and he will live by it (v. 144). Jesus said it well in Matthew 4:4: “Man must not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Scripture must be our life. Scripture must be our love.

Faithfully Recall God’s Word (119:141)

In the eyes of the world, the one who loves and lives by the Word of God is a fool. The psalmist says he is “insignificant and despised.” Because he loves God and his Word with all his heart, his enemies mock him and make fun of him. Still, he says, “I do not forget your precepts.” He remains faithful to the Lord’s Word and true to him no matter what. He loves him and his Word more than the opinions of people. As Paul says in Galatians 1:10, “Am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” When we are ridiculed by this world, we should faithfully recall the Lord’s Word. We must commit to obey it and not forget it.

Our Righteous God’s Word Will Endure Forever

Psalm 119:142-144

Things in this broken and fallen world do not last. Things wear out. Things break and cannot be repaired. We will all grow old and die, becoming in this world nothing more than a memory. Thankfully, there is something that will never wear out, become obsolete, or fade away. It is the righteous character of our eternal God and his righteous Word. The prophet Isaiah got it exactly right: “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the [righteous] word of our [righteous] God remains forever” (Isa 40:8)

Believe God’s Word Is Righteous and True (119:142)

Once again, the psalmist passionately declares and confesses, “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.” God does not change. Therefore, his righteous character will never change; it will last forever. It will remain an everlasting righteousness. And because God is everlastingly and eternally righteous, his “instruction is true.” This is such an important and encouraging truth. Politicians lie. CEOs lie. Employees lie. Spouses lie. Parents lie. Children lie. Even Christians lie. But our God never, ever lies. Never! He is righteous, and his Word is righteous. He is true, and his Word is true. Concerning the Scriptures, Spurgeon is spot on: “We may not say of them that they contain the truth, but that they are the truth” (Treasury, 391).

Delight in God’s Word at All Times (119:143)

Verse 143 now describes the activity of the foes from verse 139. They inflict on the psalmist “trouble and distress.” His troubles have brought him emotional distress and “anguish” (ESV). They have “overtaken” him (CSB), “found [him] out” (ESV). Like hounds after their prey, they have tracked him down. He is discouraged and almost overwhelmed by their relentless attacks. But God has rescued him by his Word. Taking his focus off his enemies, he has fled to the Word of God, which is his “delight.” Brought low by his oppressors (vv. 121,134), he is lifted up and given renewed vigor (v. 144) by the commands of the Lord. Delighting in the Word of God no matter what may come his way, he is strengthened and empowered to press on and stay in the fight.

Find Life in God’s Word through Prayer (119:144)

This is the only prayer request in stanza Tsade, and it is a prayer for understanding. It is preceded by a second declaration that the Lord and his “decrees are righteous forever” (cf. v. 142). God is righteous forever, and his Word is righteous forever. The psalmist longs to understand the righteous Word of his righteous God to the end so “that I may live” (ESV). The Message paraphrases verse 144 very well: “The way you tell me to live is always right; help me understand it so I can live life to the fullest.”

Conclusion

“Life’s adversities should drive us all the more to our Bibles” (Motyer, Psalms, 357). That is certainly true for the Christian. It was certainly true of the Lord Jesus. When Satan confronted and tempted Christ in the wilderness, each and every time he went to the righteous Word of his righteous Father and defeated his foe (Matt 4:1-11). Zeal for the Word of God consumed our Savior (v. 139). Despised and treated as nothing by this world, he did not forget the words of Holy Scripture (v. 141). Trouble and anguish dogged him all the way to Golgotha, but he continually delighted in the commands of the Bible (v. 143). He knew his Father’s Word was both righteous and faithful (v. 138) and that eternal life was on the other side of the cross and the empty tomb! This is how our Lord lived. This is how those of us who follow him should live as well. Delight in his Word. There is life—abundant life—for all who do.

Reflect and Discuss

1. Why is it important that both God and his Word are righteous? What would it change if either were not righteous?
2. What are some similarities and differences between the ways the Bible and your culture define righteousness?
3. How does one’s definition of righteousness affect how one thinks and lives?
4. Based on this stanza’s teaching of righteousness, how would you define unrighteousness?
5. Are the Bible and your culture ever at odds with what they define as unrighteous? If so, how?
6. How can Christians speak in such a way that they proclaim and promote biblical righteousness but not act self-righteously?
7. Is righteousness an inward character trait or an outward action?
8. Does pursuing biblical righteousness ever come at a cost?
9. What is the reward of pursuing biblical righteousness?
10. How does one attain the perfect righteousness that Jesus has?