31
I cling to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not put me to shame!
Faith Amidst Struggles
My Thoughts
David’s soul and spirit are warring with each other, the soul wanting to give in to fleshly desires and his spirit striving to cling to God’s testimonies. It is a battle played out among all believers. David prays for the Lord not to put him to shame, and that is the answer: when we stay close to Christ Jesus, we will not be put to shame.
Psalm 119:31 expresses a deep commitment to God’s testimonies, with David pleading for mercy to avoid shame. This verse is part of the DALETH section, which underscores the contrast between the soul’s despair and the hope found in God’s word. The commentaries highlight the struggle between human frailty and unwavering faith in God’s promises. David emphasizes the significance of sticking to God’s teachings amidst difficulties, reflecting a desire for divine acceptance and guidance. Ultimately, this passage encourages believers to cling to their faith in times of trial, trusting in God’s faithfulness.
Note: Psalm 119 is an acrostic pattern. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet; each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. Today, we’re looking at verse 31, which is in the 4th section, which is called ד DALETH. According to the hebrews4christians.com website, the letter Daleth is the 4th letter of the Aleph-Bet, having the numeric value of four. The pictograph for Dalet looks something like a closed (hanging) tent door. The bent shape of the valet symbolizes a needy person who is bent over; the meaning of the word Daleth is poor or impoverished, and it represents the lowliness of possessing nothing of one’s own. As a door, Daleth also symbolically represents the choice to open ourselves to the hope of our dreams or to remain closed off and alienated.
The eight verses of “ד DALETH” alphabetically arranged:
Verse 25. (D)epressed to the dust is my soul: quicken thou me according to thy word.
Verse 26. (D)eclared have I (to thee) my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
Verse 27. (D)eclare thou to me the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
Verse 28. (D)ropping (marg.) is my soul for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
Verse 29. (D)eceitful ways remove from me; and grant me thy law graciously.
Verse 30. (D)etermined have I upon the way of truth; thy judgments have I laid before me.
Verse 31. (D)eliberately I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, put me not to shame.
Verse 32. (D)ay by day I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
—Theodore Kubber.
……….Bill
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Commentaries:
John Stephen
“I have stuck unto thy testimonies.” It is not a little remarkable that while the Psalmist says (Psa 119:25), “My soul cleaveth to the dust,” he should say here, “I have cleaved unto thy testimonies;” for it is the same original word in both verses. The thing is altogether compatible with the experience of the believer. Within there is the body of indwelling sin, and within there is the undying principle of divine grace. There is the contest between them “the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh“ (Gal 5:17), and the believer is constrained to cry out, “O wretched man that I am“ (Rom 7:24). It is the case, and all believers find it so. While the soul is many times felt cleaving to the dust, the spirit strives to cleave unto God’s testimonies. So the believer prays, “Cause that I be not put to shame.” And keeping close to Christ, brethren, you shall not be put to shame, world without end.
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Charles Spurgeon
I have stuck unto thy testimonies, —or I have cleaved, for the word is the same as in Psa 119:25. Though cleaving to the dust of sorrow and of death, yet he kept fast hold of the divine word. This was his comfort, and his faith stuck to it, his love and his obedience held on to it, his heart and his mind abode in meditation upon it. His choice was so heartily and deliberately made that he stuck to it for life, and could not be removed from it by the reproaches of those who despised the way of the Lord. What could he have gained by quitting the sacred testimony? Say rather, what would he not have lost if he had ceased to cleave to the divine word? It is pleasant to look back upon past perseverance and to expect grace to continue equally steadfast in the future. He who has enabled us to stick to him will surely stick to us.
“O LORD, put me not to shame.” This would happen if God’s promises were unfulfilled, and if the heart of God’s servant were suffered to fail. This we have no reason to fear, since the Lord is faithful to his word. But it might also happen though the believer’s acting in an inconsistent manner, as David had himself once done, when he fell into the way of lying, and pretended to be a madman. If we are not true to our profession, we may be left to reap the fruit of our folly, and that will be the bitter thing called “shame.” It is evident from this that a believer ought never to be ashamed, but act the part of a grave man who has done nothing to be ashamed of in believing his God, and does not mean to adopt a craven tone in the presence of the Lord’s enemies. If we beseech the Lord not to put us to shame, surely we ought not ourselves to be ashamed without cause.
The prayer of this verse is found in the parallel verse of the next section (Psa 119:39): “Turn away my reproach which I fear.” It is evidently a petition which was often on the Psalmist’s heart. A brave heart is more wounded by shame than by any weapon which a soldier’s hand can wield.
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Enduring Word
I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame: The psalmist understood that if he were to give himself entirely to God – to cling to His word as a shipwrecked man clings to a floating plank in the sea – then he could trust that God would not allow him to be put…to shame. This was well-placed confidence.
In the beginning of the section, he is clinging to the dust (Psalm 119:25); by the end, he is clinging to God’s word. In the beginning, he is laid low; now he is joyfully running with all his strength in the race God’s word sets before him.
(David Guzik)
The clinging of this verse connects well with the choosing of the previous verse. “Having once chosen our road, it remains that we persevere in it; since better had it been for us never to have known the way of truth, than to forsake it, when known.” (Horne)
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Albert Barnes
I have stuck unto thy testimonies – The word here rendered “stuck” is the same which in Psalms 119:25 is rendered “cleave:” – “My soul cleaveth unto the dust.” It means here that he had adhered to the testimonies of God as if he had been glued to them, or as if he and they were firmly united together. He had so adhered to them that he could not be detached from them.
O Lord, put me not to shame – Let me not be disappointed or confounded; let all my anticipations of the good effects of obeying thy law be realized; let me find all that I have hoped for; let me partake of thy friendship and favor as I desire. See Psalms 119:6.
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John Gill
I have stuck unto thy testimonies,…. The word of God, the Scriptures of truth, and the doctrines contained in them. These he closely adhered to, was glued unto them as it were; having firmly believed them, he steadfastly professed them; nor could he be moved from them by any temptations whatever, notwithstanding the reproach cast upon them and him for their sake, or the opposition made unto them;
O Lord, put me not to shame: or let me not be ashamed of the choice I have made, of the testimonies I adhere unto, of my hope and confidence in the Lord and his word; or suffer me not to do anything, any sinful action, that may expose me to shame and contempt.
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Matthew Henry
That those who make religion their choice and rule are likely to adhere to it faithfully: “I have stuck to thy testimonies with unchanged affection and an unshaken resolution, stuck to them at all times, through all trials. I have chosen them, and therefore I have stuck to them.” Note, the choosing Christian is likely to be the steady Christian; while those that are Christians by chance tack about if the wind turns.
That those who stick to the word of God may in faith expect and pray for acceptance with God; for David means this when he begs, “Lord, put me not to shame; that is, never leave me to do that by which I shall shame myself, and do thou not reject my services, which will put me to the greatest confusion.”
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Adam Clarke
I have stuck — דבקתי dabakti, I have cleaved to, been glued to, them: the same word as in Psalms 119:25. My soul cleaves as much to thy testimonies, as my life has cleaved to the dust.
O Lord, put me not to shame. — Let my sins and follies be blotted out by thy mercy; and so hide and cover them that they shall never appear, either in this or the coming world, to my shame and confusion! How many need to be importunate with God in this prayer!
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Miscellaneous Quotes
“I have stuck unto thy testimonies.” He adhered to them when momentary interests might have dictated a different line of conduct, when unbelief would have been ready to shrink from the path of duty, when outward appearances were greatly discouraging to fidelity, when all were ready to deride his preposterous determination.—John Morison.
“I have stuck.” True godliness evermore wears upon her head the garland of perseverance.—William Cowper.
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Cross-References
Deuteronomy 10:20 (KJV )
20 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
Deuteronomy 11:22 (KJV )
22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
Deuteronomy 4:4 (KJV )
4 But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.
1 John 2:28 (KJV )
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
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Closing Thoughts
This morning, Israel is on my mind and my heart. Join me in praying for her protection and that our Lord God Almighty’s name will be glorified.
17 But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation:
Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. Isaiah 45:17 (KJV)
ד DALETH
25
My soul clings to the dust;
Revive me according to Your word.
26
I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.
27
Make me understand the way of Your precepts;
So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.
28
My soul melts from heaviness;
Strengthen me according to Your word.
29
Remove from me the way of lying,
And grant me Your law graciously.
30
I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.
31
I cling to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not put me to shame!
32
I will run the course of Your commandments,
For You shall enlarge my heart.
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