April 21, 2020 -- Psalm 119:155 -- Untitled

Salvation is far from the wicked,

for they do not seek your statutes.

Psalm 119:155 English Standard Version

That particular word salvation has only been used once before in this Psalm (verse 123). Now the word salvation is used here and in the next two stanzas, which are the last two stanzas of this epic poem. There is an intensification of the psalmist’s language of dedication to the LORD His God that is moving towards a crescendo and then in the final verse of this Psalm a rather surprising conclusion.

How are the wicked different than those who are deemed righteous? It is one of the critical questions of Psalm 119. Both the righteous and the wicked sin. Both the righteous and the wicked experience times of blessing in God’s good creation. Yet is the righteous who seek God. It is the righteous who in times of trouble and times of triumph seek to remain faithful to the Living God. They know themselves to be saved—that is rescued from themselves, rescued from this world and rescued from the clutches of the devil.

Salvation does not come from ourselves. Salvation is the gift of the God of all Mercy. In fact He rebukes Israel, those supposed to be His Own people when He declared:

I spread out my hands all the day
    to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own devices;
 a people who provoke me
    to my face continually,

Isaiah 65:2-3 English Standard Version

It is almost as if the LORD of Heaven and Earth was holding out His arms for a hug that His people refused to receive. His arms were left hanging there suspended in invitation and spurned. Though He had provided salvation for them, His people did not embrace Him or His ways. Though He had rescued them, they stubbornly returned back to their former slave masters.

The people embraced by the Living God our Father are those who recognize they are sinful. They understand their need for rescue. When confronted by their sin they see that Jesus Christ has spread out His hands at the cross and embraced our punishment for sin so that we could be counted as holy and receive the embrace of our Father in heaven. The Spirit of God, Who has shown us Christ’s forgiving work and our Father’s open embrace, strengthens the people who have received God’s salvation to walk in His statutes. There is a sense in which the statutes of God can be called His wisdom. Those who know their former sinful way of life (and the incessant throbbing impulses to sin again) are wonderstruck that the God of all Love and Mercy should receive them in His embrace. Therefore they long to walk in the wisdom, the laws, and commands, He has set out for them. Such regulations are for the believer the pathway of peace.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Your is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.