#853 Daleth

Daleth

25 My soul clings to the dust;

give me life according to your word!

26 When I told of my ways, you answered me;

teach me your statutes!

27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,

and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

28 My soul melts away for sorrow;

strengthen me according to your word!

29 Put false ways far from me

and graciously teach me your law!

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! Psalm 119: 25-32

A continuation of Psalm 119, the fourth section, the poor and needy.

Daleth - also Dalet, the fourth letter of the Aleph-Bet, also representing the number 4. Dalet comes from the word dalah which means to draw out or impoverish. It is, in ancient pictographs, depicted as a door or tent flap. Example of use, da'at means "door on the eye". 

…19 Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To the one who is victorious, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.… Revelation 3: 19-21

Dalet also represents lowliness, possessing nothing of one's self. Remember the preceding letter, Gimel, represented a rich man chasing after a poor man to show him charity.

2 and He began to teach them, saying: 3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.… Matthew 5: 2-3

20 Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin. 21 But now, apart from the Law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction,…

…23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.…

26 He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.… Romans 3: 20-27

My soul clings to the dust - It is a humbling state, that the heart wants earthly things, that it is ever drawn toward death. Let this also be seen as a blessing of the eyes, to see the state, to sorrow over it, to be poor in spirit, a beggar mourning for life. The Psalmist, in other songs, cries, "in sin my mother conceived me."

1 As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.… Ephesians 2: 1-2

Give me life according to Your Word - Again, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I do not ask in accordance to my own way, but by that which God has declared. 

…62 Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before? 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64 However, there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him.)… John 6: 62-64

…2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”…

…5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’… John 3: 2-7

…9 I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.… John 10: 9-11

When I told of my ways, You answered me - 

- Such a declaration proves that the man knows his own condition, and is no longer blinded by pride. Our confessions are not meant to make God know our sins, but to make us know them. And thou heardest me. His confession had been accepted; it was not lost labour; God had drawn near to him in it. We ought never to go from a duty till we have been accepted in it. Pardon follows upon penitent confession, and David felt that he had obtained it. It is God's way to forgive our sinful way when we from our hearts confess the wrong. Teach me thy statutes. Being truly sorry for his fault, and having obtained full forgiveness, he is anxious to avoid offending again, and hence he begs to be taught obedience. He was not willing to sin through ignorance, he wished to know all the mind of God by being taught it by the best of teachers. He pined after holiness. Justified men always long to be sanctified. When God forgives our sins we are all the more fearful of sinning, again. Mercy, which pardons transgression, sets us longing for grace which prevents transgression. We may boldly ask for more when God has given us much; he who has washed out the past stain will not refuse that which will preserve us from present and future defilement. C. H. Spurgeon

…8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.… 1 John 1: 8-10

Make me understand the way of Your precepts - Again, he is not a casual reader, not wanting a surface understanding. He could care less of t-shirts, cliches and tattoos. 

- The fact is that the more we know of God's doings the more we admire them, and the more ready we are to speak upon them. Half the wonder in the world is born of ignorance, but holy wonder is the child of understanding. When a man understands the way of the divine precepts he never talks of his own works, and as the tongue must have some theme to speak upon, he begins to extol the works of the all perfect Lord. Some in this place read "meditate" or "muse" instead of "talk"; it is singular that the words should be so near of kin, and yet it is right that they should be, for none but foolish people will talk without thinking. If we read the passage in this sense, we take it to mean that in proportion as David understood the word of God he would meditate upon it more and more. It is usually so; the thoughtless care not to know the inner meaning of the Scriptures, while those who know them best are the very men who strive after a greater familiarity with them, and therefore give themselves up to musing upon them. Observe the third verse of the last eight (19), and see how the sense is akin to this. There he was a stranger in the earth, and here he prays to know his way; there, too, he prayed that the word might not be hid from himself, and here he promises that he will not hide it from others. C. H. Spurgeon

My soul melts away for sorrow - Can you cry now, then let your cries be to the One Who can sustain you. 

- There is one good point in this downcast state, for it is better to be melted with grief than to be hardened by impenitence. C. H. Spurgeon

Strengthen me according to Your Word - Again, according to God's Word. This is where faith comes from, revelation comes from, so pray in the word and be lifted up by the Word. 

…20 My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.… Proverbs 4: 20-22

Put false ways far from me - Let me despise my own wickedness, and please remove it far from me.

- David would seem to have remembered those times when, according to the eastern fashion, he had practised deceit for his own preservation, and he saw that he had been weak and erring on that point; therefore he was bowed down in spirit and begged to be quickened and delivered from transgressing in that manner any more. Holy men cannot review their sins without tears, nor weep over them without entreating to be saved from further offending. There is an evident opposition between falsehood and the gracious power of God's law. The only way to expel the lie is to accept the truth. Grace also has a clear affinity to truth: no sooner do we meet with the sound of the word "graciously" than we hear the footfall of truth: "I have chosen the way of truth." Grace and truth are ever linked together, and a belief of the doctrines of grace is a grand preservative from deadly error. In the fifth of the preceding octave (Ps 119:21) David cries out against pride, and here against lying-- these are much the same thing. Is not pride the greatest of all lies? C. H. Spurgeon

I have chosen the way of faithfulness - I hate the lie, I desire to walk in the light of Your truth.

- There is a doctrinal way of truth which we ought to choose, rejecting every dogma of man's devising; there is a ceremonial way of truth which we should follow, detesting all the forms which apostate churches have invented; and then there is a practical way of truth, the way of holiness, to which we must adhere whatever may be our temptation to forsake it. C. H. Spurgeon

I cling to Your testimonies, O Lord - I love Your Word, herein lies my strength, let me not be ashamed in this. See me through.

When You enlarge my heart - No room for pride here, it is an act of God.

…25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.… Ezekiel 36: 25-27