Psa 119:72 | KingComments | STEP | The ninth letter, teth , is originally a ‘womb’, a vessel containing something good, pointing to the coming of good after suffering, for example, of the contractions. We find in this verse the suffering of the tribulation – some connect this letter with the serpent – as a womb that produces something good (cf. ). This stanza begins in with the word “good” and ends with it in as better=good. The letter teth first appears in the Bible in Genesis 1 where it says that God saw that the light was good ( ). Five of the eight verses of this stanza begin with the word good. Every servant of the Lord will be able to testify that the Lord’s dealings have been good and are good ( ).That goodness is “according to Your word” and in answer to the psalmist’s prayer in . His dealing in goodness is, as He makes Himself known in His Word. If we have experienced that goodness, it is also good to say so to God, as the psalmist does here. We may say with the poet of a song: ‘Count your blessings, name them one by one.’ His dealings in goodness in this verse are evident not so much in His direct blessings, but rather in the afflictions. This may sound strange to some believers, but the Word of God is clear: “We exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that …” ( ). God in His goodness uses tribulations to keep us on the right path or to bring us back to it (cf. ; ). Therefore, persecution is one of the blessings of the one who leaves everything to follow the Lord ( ). It is not difficult to accept prosperity and health as good. Anybody can do that, whether they are believers or non-believers. It is something else to accept adversity, tribulation and suffering as good. That is why the psalmist, as well as the believing remnant, and also we, need teaching. The lesson is to experience and realize that God is always good and does good, in whatever circumstance we find ourselves. We may well ask the question, which is at once a certainty: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” ( ). When we have experienced the goodness of God, it awakens the desire to learn to discern well and to have the right knowledge for that purpose ( ). This teaching we may ask of God. There is in the righteous the proper condition of heart to ask this, for he believes and trusts in the commandments of the LORD. This is the condition of having benefit from teaching. There must be no doubt about God’s commandments. We must not submit them to us, but we must submit to them. Then we will not look to other sources for learning discernment and knowledge. As a result of his spiritual growth, the believer will become mature in faith. Spiritually mature believers are those “who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil” ( ). Therefore, the psalmist expresses the desire: “Teach me.” Are we eager to learn and willing to sit at the Lord’s feet? When the believer questions God’s goodness, he goes astray ( ). Then God brings affliction into his life, setbacks and difficulties that make him return to God. This discipline is God’s education to teach us Who He is, that He is good, and that we can always trust Him, even and especially in difficult times. Abraham also showed that he had learned the lesson ( ). In the midst of the most painful trial, he continues to trust in the goodness and omnipotence of God. The righteous is kept from going astray when he keeps God’s Word. God is good through and through and always, and He alone is good ( ; ). Therefore, everything He does is also good, even if He brings affliction and suffering into the life of the believer. Job had, and we too have, difficulty discerning this. Only after his test Job can testify that his knowledge of God was flawed and insufficient: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes” ( ). The believer longs to know and trust the goodness of God better. Therefore, he asks that God teaches him His statutes. The righteous lives in a world full of lies about Who God is ( ). The people who propagate these lies are here called “arrogant”. An example of this lie is the popular book by conservative Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, entitled When Evil Afflicts Good People. In it, he believes he must choose between the goodness of God and the power of God. The arrogant smear the righteous with that kind of mendacious reasoning, with this deformation and damage to the image of God. However, that is no reason for the righteous to deviate from God’s precepts and abandon the path of obedience. On the contrary, he observes those precepts with all his heart. He refuses to believe these lies. He does not recognize in them the voice of the good Shepherd and flees from them ( ), clinging all the more to the Word of God. The heart of the arrogant is in great contrast to this. For that “heart is covered with fat”, it is insensitive because they hang on to sin with all their heart ( ). This is evident from the fact that they try to smear their lies on the righteous without any sense of shame. A fat heart implies that it is no longer amenable to the Word of God (cf. ). The righteous has joy in his heart because he delights in the law of the LORD. This keeps him insensitive to the lies with which the arrogant besmirch him. He acknowledges the benefit of the affliction in which he has been for a time ( ). He now understands that the affliction was necessary for him to become aware that God is always good and that He can always be trusted, not only in prosperity, but also and especially in adversity. The affliction has been temporary, for it has ceased once, but it is good for him to have been in it, so he says. A believer does not simply arrive to the point where he can say that. He can say in faith that “all things …work together for good to those who love God” ( ), but trusting the LORD in great adversity is another thing. In this case, the righteous learned the LORD’s statutes through them and came to appreciate them. This also leads him to appreciate “the law from Your mouth” ( ). He says of it that it is “better” to him “than thousands of gold and silver [pieces]”. What comes from the mouth of God comes from His heart. That is what makes His Word so valuable. “From Your mouth” means that the teaching of the Word for the psalmist comes directly and very personally from the mouth of God. It is a speaking from mouth to mouth, that is, from very close by. It speaks of fellowship. Gold or silver have lost their appeal for those who have learned to value God’s Word. Gold and silver, despite all their value in the eyes of men, have only temporary value, while the value of God’s Word remains for all eternity. Many people, unfortunately sometimes even believers, are in their heart full of material things. As a result, they think and talk a lot about material things. The psalmist’s heart is full of the Word of God and therefore he thinks and talks a lot about the Word. This testifies that his heart is full of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, his Lord, so that all the privileges of the world are regarded by him not only as worthless but also as harmful ( ).

‏ Psalms 119:72

/teth/ The Good After the Suffering

The ninth letter, teth, is originally a ‘womb’, a vessel containing something good, pointing to the coming of good after suffering, for example, of the contractions. We find in this verse the suffering of the tribulation – some connect this letter with the serpent – as a womb that produces something good (cf. Heb 12:11).

This stanza begins in Psa 119:65 with the word “good” and ends with it in Psa 119:72 as better=good. The letter teth first appears in the Bible in Genesis 1 where it says that God saw that the light was good (Gen 1:4). Five of the eight verses of this stanza begin with the word good.

Every servant of the Lord will be able to testify that the Lord’s dealings have been good and are good (Psa 119:65).That goodness is “according to Your word” and in answer to the psalmist’s prayer in Psa 119:17. His dealing in goodness is, as He makes Himself known in His Word. If we have experienced that goodness, it is also good to say so to God, as the psalmist does here. We may say with the poet of a song: ‘Count your blessings, name them one by one.’

His dealings in goodness in this verse are evident not so much in His direct blessings, but rather in the afflictions. This may sound strange to some believers, but the Word of God is clear: “We exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that …” (Rom 5:2b-3). God in His goodness uses tribulations to keep us on the right path or to bring us back to it (cf. Psa 23:4; 2Cor 12:7-9). Therefore, persecution is one of the blessings of the one who leaves everything to follow the Lord (Mk 10:29-30).

It is not difficult to accept prosperity and health as good. Anybody can do that, whether they are believers or non-believers. It is something else to accept adversity, tribulation and suffering as good. That is why the psalmist, as well as the believing remnant, and also we, need teaching. The lesson is to experience and realize that God is always good and does good, in whatever circumstance we find ourselves. We may well ask the question, which is at once a certainty: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32).

When we have experienced the goodness of God, it awakens the desire to learn to discern well and to have the right knowledge for that purpose (Psa 119:66). This teaching we may ask of God. There is in the righteous the proper condition of heart to ask this, for he believes and trusts in the commandments of the LORD. This is the condition of having benefit from teaching. There must be no doubt about God’s commandments. We must not submit them to us, but we must submit to them. Then we will not look to other sources for learning discernment and knowledge.

As a result of his spiritual growth, the believer will become mature in faith. Spiritually mature believers are those “who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil” (Heb 5:14). Therefore, the psalmist expresses the desire: “Teach me.” Are we eager to learn and willing to sit at the Lord’s feet?

When the believer questions God’s goodness, he goes astray (Psa 119:67). Then God brings affliction into his life, setbacks and difficulties that make him return to God. This discipline is God’s education to teach us Who He is, that He is good, and that we can always trust Him, even and especially in difficult times. Abraham also showed that he had learned the lesson (Gen 22:1-19). In the midst of the most painful trial, he continues to trust in the goodness and omnipotence of God. The righteous is kept from going astray when he keeps God’s Word.

God is good through and through and always, and He alone is good (Psa 119:68; Lk 18:19). Therefore, everything He does is also good, even if He brings affliction and suffering into the life of the believer. Job had, and we too have, difficulty discerning this. Only after his test Job can testify that his knowledge of God was flawed and insufficient: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). The believer longs to know and trust the goodness of God better. Therefore, he asks that God teaches him His statutes.

The righteous lives in a world full of lies about Who God is (Psa 119:69). The people who propagate these lies are here called “arrogant”. An example of this lie is the popular book by conservative Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, entitled When Evil Afflicts Good People. In it, he believes he must choose between the goodness of God and the power of God. The arrogant smear the righteous with that kind of mendacious reasoning, with this deformation and damage to the image of God.

However, that is no reason for the righteous to deviate from God’s precepts and abandon the path of obedience. On the contrary, he observes those precepts with all his heart. He refuses to believe these lies. He does not recognize in them the voice of the good Shepherd and flees from them (Jn 10:5), clinging all the more to the Word of God.

The heart of the arrogant is in great contrast to this. For that “heart is covered with fat”, it is insensitive because they hang on to sin with all their heart (Psa 119:70). This is evident from the fact that they try to smear their lies on the righteous without any sense of shame. A fat heart implies that it is no longer amenable to the Word of God (cf. Isa 6:10). The righteous has joy in his heart because he delights in the law of the LORD. This keeps him insensitive to the lies with which the arrogant besmirch him.

He acknowledges the benefit of the affliction in which he has been for a time (Psa 119:71). He now understands that the affliction was necessary for him to become aware that God is always good and that He can always be trusted, not only in prosperity, but also and especially in adversity.

The affliction has been temporary, for it has ceased once, but it is good for him to have been in it, so he says. A believer does not simply arrive to the point where he can say that. He can say in faith that “all things …work together for good to those who love God” (Rom 8:28), but trusting the LORD in great adversity is another thing. In this case, the righteous learned the LORD’s statutes through them and came to appreciate them.

This also leads him to appreciate “the law from Your mouth” (Psa 119:72). He says of it that it is “better” to him “than thousands of gold and silver [pieces]”. What comes from the mouth of God comes from His heart. That is what makes His Word so valuable. “From Your mouth” means that the teaching of the Word for the psalmist comes directly and very personally from the mouth of God. It is a speaking from mouth to mouth, that is, from very close by. It speaks of fellowship.

Gold or silver have lost their appeal for those who have learned to value God’s Word. Gold and silver, despite all their value in the eyes of men, have only temporary value, while the value of God’s Word remains for all eternity.

Many people, unfortunately sometimes even believers, are in their heart full of material things. As a result, they think and talk a lot about material things. The psalmist’s heart is full of the Word of God and therefore he thinks and talks a lot about the Word. This testifies that his heart is full of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, his Lord, so that all the privileges of the world are regarded by him not only as worthless but also as harmful (Phil 3:7-8).