Transformed By Knowing God – Psalm 119:137-144

צ TSADDE [1]

“Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments. Your testimonies, which You have commanded, are righteous and very faithful.” Psalm 119:137-138

God is righteous by nature. He is exactly what He ought to be. Everything He does is consistent with His perfect goodness. There is nothing lacking or wrong in Him. He is the eternal standard of what is right. [2] In Deuteronomy 32:4, Moses wrote, “He is the Rock, His work is perfect. For all His ways are justice. A God of truth and without injustice! Righteous and upright is He.”

God’s testimonies “are righteous and very faithful.” He does not lie. His promises, warnings, and actions are fair and reliable. [3] What is there not to trust about God? He always tells the truth.

“My zeal has consumed me, because my enemies have forgotten Your Words.” Psalm 119:139

Henry Kissinger once wrote, “The weak are strengthened by the frontier. The strong grow weak by inhibition!” Prior to David becoming king, many in Israel lived in fear due to their lack of faith in God. For example, in 1 Samuel 17:4-10, when the giant Goliath challenged Israel to find one among them to fight him, those who were famous for being strong, turned inward and were greatly afraid. David, on the other hand, though considered weak by others, looked upward to God, and as a result, zeal to silence the giant consumed him.

When David saw that his fellow Israelites lacked faith in God to arise for the occasion, he picked up five smooth stones, his slingshot, and ran at the giant.

Before he struck the giant dead, in 1 Samuel 17:45-46, he prophesied, saying, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

In the Book of Judges, we learn that for many years, Israel was weak due to their inhibition to completely destroy pagans from their land. Frequently, pagans conquered and subdued them. Then, they would cry out to God for help and He would raise up a “Judge” to rescue them. Though David was weak, His faith in God was strong. By faith in God, he expelled invaders from Israel. He set up a massive orchestra and choir to lead Israel in worship. During His days, the Word of God was held in high honor. David’s zeal for God inspired others to do great exploits.

“Your Word is very pure. Therefore, Your servant loves it.” Psalm 119:140

David deeply loved God’s Word. Lovers love God’s Word because it is our connection with Him. The Scripture is like a two-way bridge between God and people. He comes to us and we go to Him in it. Love for Scripture is a sign of one’s love for God.

David loved God’s Word because it is pure. In John 15:3, Jesus said to His disciples, “You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you.” In Ephesians 5:26, Paul wrote of Christ cleansing His bride the Church “with the washing of water by the Word.” God’s Word has the power to cleanse and transform those who receive it. Just as gold is refined by removing what is worthless from it, God’s Word refines our hearts by helping us to identify and remove the impurities that are within us. [4]

“I am small and despised, yet I do not forget Your precepts.” Psalm 119:141

David honored God’s precepts above himself. God’s Word transformed him. In 1 Corinthians 1:27, Paul wrote, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.”

In Deuteronomy 7:7-8, God explains that He didn’t choose Israel because it was a large nation with lots of people. Even today, Israel is a tiny nation about the size of the state of New Jersey.

In Deuteronomy 9:4-6, God explains that He didn’t choose Israel because Israel was more righteous than other nations. The Israelites often disobeyed God and made Him angry.

God chose Israel because He knew that their weaknesses would magnify His strength. The outstanding people in the Bible stand out because they acknowledged their inadequacies and embraced God’s grace. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

“Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Law is truth.” Psalm 119:142

God’s righteousness will never run dry or change in nature after so many years.

God’s Law is truth. Truth is the best guide. To reject truth is to act foolishly.

In John 8:32, Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” In John 18:37, Jesus said to Pilate, “For this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

“Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet Your commandments are my delights. The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting. Give me understanding, and I shall live. Psalm 119:143-144

These two verses repeat the message of the two verses before them, but they add greater emphasis. Earlier David said, “I am small and despised.” Now, he states, “Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me.” Earlier David said, “I do not forget Your precepts.” Now, he expresses a stronger love for God’s Word, “Your commandments are my delights.” [5] Neither lingering inadequacies within him nor trials from without him lessened David’s love for God’s Word.

God’s testimonies will always be right. We don’t have to worry about them changing or coming to an end. In John 4:14, Jesus said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” [6]

David prayed for greater understanding: “Give me understanding.” There is always more to understand about God. David wanted to know God better each day than the day before.

David knew that his eternal salvation depended on understanding God rightly. He said to the Lord, “Give me understanding, and I shall live." In John 17:3, Jesus said, “This is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”


[1] From Googles sources and Bible Gateway: “Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem. It contains 176 verses divided into 22 sections, with each section named after one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Instead of just one line per letter, all eight verses in a given section begin with that specific letter. For example, verses 137–144 start with the צ TSADDE, and this exact pattern continues sequentially all the way through the final letter, Tau (ת).

צַדִּ֣יק אַתָּ֣ה יְהוָ֑ה וְ֝יָשָׁ֗ר מִשְׁפָּטֶֽיךָ׃
צִ֭וִּיתָ צֶ֣דֶק עֵדֹתֶ֑יךָ וֶֽאֱמוּנָ֥ה מְאֹֽד׃
צִמְּתַ֥תְנִי קִנְאָתִ֑י כִּֽי־שָׁכְח֖וּ דְבָרֶ֣יךָ צָרָֽי׃
צְרוּפָ֖ה אִמְרָתְךָ֥ מְאֹ֗ד וְֽעַבְדְּךָ֥ אֲהֵבָֽהּ׃
צָעִ֣יר אָנֹכִ֣י וְנִבְזֶ֑ה פִּ֝קֻּדֶ֗יךָ לֹ֣א שָׁכָֽחְתִּי׃
צִדְקָתְךָ֣ צֶ֣דֶק לְעוֹלָ֑ם וְֽתוֹרָתְךָ֥ אֱמֶֽת׃
צַר־וּמָצ֥וֹק מְצָא֑וּנִי מִ֝צְוֺתֶ֗יךָ שַׁעֲשֻׁעָֽי׃
צֶ֖דֶק עֵדְוֺתֶ֥יךָ לְעוֹלָ֗ם הֲבִינֵ֥נִי וְאֶחְיֶֽה׃

Historically, each letter name corresponds to a concrete object. Over time, these pictures evolved into the letters used today. For example, צ TSADDE was originally the symbol for righteous.

[2-6] Material developed, added to and edited from Matthew Henry’s Commentary