153 Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget thy law. 154 Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to thy promise!
155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek thy statutes.
156 Great is thy mercy, O Lord; give me life according to thy justice.
157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from thy testimonies.
158 I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep thy commands.
159 Consider how I love thy precepts! Preserve my life according to thy steadfast love.
160 The sum of thy word is truth; and every one of thy righteous ordinances endures for ever.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 119:153-160
Commentary on Psalm 119:153-160
(Read Psalm 119:153-160)
The closer we cleave to the word of God, both as our rule and as our stay, the more assurance we have of deliverance. Christ is the Advocate of his people, their Redeemer. Those who were quickened by his Spirit and grace, when they were dead in trespasses and sins, often need to have the work of grace revived in them, according to the word of promise. The wicked not only do not God's statutes, but they do not even seek them. They flatter themselves that they are going to heaven; but the longer they persist in sin, the further it is from them. God's mercies are tender; they are a fountain that can never be exhausted. The psalmist begs for God's reviving, quickening grace. A man, steady in the way of his duty, though he may have many enemies, needs to fear none. Those that hate sin truly, hate it as sin, as a transgression of the law of God, and a breaking of his word. Our obedience is only pleasing to God, and pleasant to ourselves, when it comes from a principle of love. All, in every age, who receive God's word in faith and love, find every saying in it faithful.