Before I get ahead of myself, let's get to the passage and some background. The passage for today is Psalm 119:25-32, the section titled "Daleth" in our accrostic poem. What I would like to point to from this passage again is the insufficiency of human effort and the absolute necessity and incomparable beauty of God's grace. It is a wonderful picture of a kind, merciful, and loving God that we find here in the Old Testament hymnal, and it should inspire gratitude in the heart of every New Testament Christian. Let's begin:
Verse 25 begins with a dramatic statement, "My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!" What a beautiful picture of salvation! But let's explore this a bit further by asking a couple of questions.
First of all, what does the Psalmist mean when he says, "My soul clings to the dust"? After all, most of the time when there is a complaint in the Psalms, or an agony of soul expressed, I can really relate to it. For instance, in the last post we noted the question from Psalm 73, "Why do the wicked prosper?" Surely we can all relate to that question. Or what about the cry of the David in Psalm 25:17-18, "The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins."? I must admit that I have read that many times and not thought of David at all, for the prayer seemed to come directly from my own heart. And how many times have I made David's prayer my own in Psalm 51:3, "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me."? But here in Psalm 119, we have a strange lament--"My soul clings to the dust". I can't relate to that. I don't even like dust, much less like it enough to cling to it. In fact, I'm allergic to dust--makes me sneeze my fool head off. Now that I think about it, I don't know anyone that likes dust. And I've known some really messy people before. But dust?! Surely nobody likes dust enough to say that their soul clings to it like a spouse to their beloved or a mother to their child. You can see why the less literal translations soften the metaphor. Like the NIV, "I lie in the dust" (yuck, nobody likes that), or The (subliminal) Message which chucks the imagery all together in favor of, "I'm feeling terrible—I couldn't feel worse!" Who couldn't relate to that?
But isn't there something that the Psalmist is trying to say by choosing this imagery? And don't we lose that when we depart from the literal? Let's answer the first question here, and I'll let you draw your own conclusions on the second. So, what is he trying to say? I believe that the dust is a metaphor of the lifeless existence apart from God. In a word, death. Consider Genesis 2:7, "then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." In this case the Psalmist would in effect be saying, "I am a dead man in my sin, and my soul loves it. It clings to it. Please deliver me from this death and give me life according to your word." Would this be consistent with other salvation statements that are made in Scripture? Certainly Ephesians 2 springs to mind. "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins...But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." (2:1, 4-5a). (Notice that it does not say, "And you were feeling really terrible in your sins.") Now, does the picture of salvation become more stark, and more amazing? Because of the work of Christ on the cross, we are no longer dead, but alive in Christ! R.C. Sproul says it better:
"Man...is stone cold dead at the bottom of the ocean. That’s where you once were when you were dead in sin and trespasses and walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. And while you were dead hath God quickened you together with Christ. God dove to the bottom of the sea and took that drowned corpse and breathed into it the breath of his life and raised you from the dead. And it’s not that you were dying in a hospital bed of a certain illness, but rather, when you were born you were born D.O.A. That’s what the Bible says: that we are morally stillborn." (in The Pelagian Captivity of the Church)
Here is the truth that I believe that the Psalmist is trying to convey: we have a powerful bent towards sin. Our soul is drawn to it like a magnet. As illogical as it may seem, we love to sin, even when it means choosing death ("dust") over life. Consider what Paul says in Romans 7:18-19, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." That is how powerfully we are drawn to sin.
So what is the solution to this? Paul says it in Romans 7:24-25, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" But amazingly, we find the solution in the Psalms, too! In verse 26 the Psalmis says, "When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!" In his commentary on Psalm 119, Augustine says, "For he seems to me to say this; I have confessed my sins, and You have heard me; that is, so that You would remit them. 'O teach me Your statutes.' I have acknowledged my ways: You have blotted them out: teach me Yours." In other words, God not only saves us, but He changes us too. What a wonderful hope we have in the gospel. When we are dead in our sins and loving it, God brings life to us through Christ! And then he teaches us how to live!
Following this is a series of strong statements of the inability of man in comparison to the ability of God. "Make me understand the way of your precepts." "Strengthen me according to your word!" "Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!" This is more than a statement of weakness; it is a cry of dependence. Now, with God's intervening grace, the Psalmist is able to change his statement from "My soul clings to the dust" to "I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame!" (v. 31)
Cast yourself on the Lord and see the wonder of His benefits. According to this Psalm, some of them are: life, God's gracious answer, the gift of meditation and understanding, strength and purity. And that is Good News!
Soli Deo Gloria!
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