Psalm 119:42 NKJV
42
So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me,
For I trust in Your word.
The Sword of the Spirit: Trusting in God’s Word
My Thoughts
This is David declaring that the answer he has for anyone who reproaches him is from the Word of God. His comfort and protection come from trusting the Word of Almighty God. In John, it says
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:1-5 NKJV
And in Ephesians 6:17, the word is called “sword” of the spirit, so we are called to answer those who try to argue or humiliate us for our beliefs with the Word for it is our comfort and protection.
Psalm 119:42 emphasizes the importance of trusting in God’s word as a source of strength and assurance against reproaches. The commentaries below highlight that this trust equips believers to respond effectively to skeptics and critics, offering testimonies of God’s faithfulness and the truth of His promises. David’s confidence stems from personal experiences of salvation, illustrating that faith acts as a powerful weapon against doubters. This should also encourage believers to uphold God’s word as a foundation for their responses, showcasing that reliance on the Word of God will inspire resilience amidst challenges and affirm one’s identity as a child of God.
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 42, which is in the 6th section, which is called “VAV.ו”. According to the hebrews4christians.com website, the letter Vav (“WAW” in several versions of the Bible) is the 6th letter of the Aleph-Bet, having the numeric value of six. The pictograph for VAV looks like a tent peg. Since VAV represents the number six, it has long been associated as the number of man in the Jewish tradition:
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Man was created on the sixth day
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Man works for six days
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The “beast” is identified as the “number of a man” – 666 (Revelation 13:18)
Since it looks like a tent peg, it is also used for connecting things. So, in it, we can think of the connection between spiritual and earthly matters.
……..Bill
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me.” This is an unanswerable answer. When God, by granting us salvation, gives to our prayers an answer of peace, we are ready at once to answer the objections of the infidel, the quibbles of the skeptical, and the sneers of the contemptuous. It is most desirable that revilers should be answered, and hence we may expect the Lord to save his people in order that a weapon may be put into their hands with which to rout his adversaries. When those who reproach us are also reproaching God, we may ask him to help us to silence them by sure proofs of his mercy and faithfulness.
“For I trust in thy word.” His faith was seen by his being trustful while under trial, and he pleads it as a reason why he should be helped to beat back reproaches by a happy experience. Faith is our argument when we seek mercies and salvation; faith in the Lord who has spoken to us in his word. “I trust in thy word“ is a declaration more worth the making than any other; for he who can truly make it has received power to become a child of God, and so to be the heir of unnumbered mercies. God hath more respect to a man’s trust than to all else that is in him; for the Lord hath chosen faith to be the hand into which he will place his mercies and his salvation. If any reproach us for trusting in God, we reply to them with arguments the most conclusive when we show that God has kept his promises, heard our prayers, and supplied our needs. Even the most skeptical are forced to bow before the logic of facts.
In this second verse of this eight the Psalmist makes a confession of faith, and a declaration of his belief and experience. Note that he does the same in the corresponding verses of the sections which follow. See Psa 119:50, “Thy word hath quickened me;” Psa 119:58, “I entreated thy favor;” Psa 119:66, “I have believed thy commandments;” Psa 119:74, “I have hoped in thy word.”
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Enduring Word
So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in Your word: Trust in God’s word provides an answer to those who reproach us. The disapproving voices we often hear can be answered by our abiding trust in the approval that we believers find in God.
When we believe who God is and what He has done for us in Jesus Christ, the disapproval of this world is answered.
(David Guzik)
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Albert Barnes
So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me – I shall have something by which I may reply to those who calumniate me. So the Savior replied to the suggestions of the tempter almost wholly by passages of Scripture, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 4:7, Matthew 4:10; and so, in many cases, the best answer that can be given to reproaches on the subject of religion will be found in the very words of Scripture. A man of little learning, except that which he has derived from the Bible, may often thus silence the cavils and reproaches of the learned sceptic; a man of simple hearted, pure piety, with no weapon but the word of God, may often thus be better armed than if he had all the arguments of the schools at his command. Compare Ephesians 6:17.
For I trust in thy word – I believe it; I rely on it; I confide in that, as my only comfort and protection.
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John Gill
So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me,…. Saying there is no help and salvation for him in God; asking where is his God, in whom he trusted? And where is the promise of salvation, on which he depended? To which an easy and ready answer might be given, when the mercies and salvation of God came unto him, and he clearly appeared to be interested in them; see Psalm 3:2;
for I trust in thy word: in Christ the essential Word, the object of trust and confidence; or in the written word, it being divinely inspired and dictated by the Spirit of God, and so to be depended on as true and faithful; or rather God’s word of promise concerning mercy, grace, and salvation, which God that has made is faithful and able to perform, as may be believed.
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Matthew Henry
David’s expectation of the good assurance which that grace and promise of God would give him: “So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproaches me for my confidence in God, as if it would deceive me.” When God saves those out of their troubles who trusted in him he effectually silences those who would have shamed that counsel of the poor (Ps. 14:6), and their reproaches will be for ever silenced when the salvation of the saints is completed; then it will appear, beyond dispute, that it was not in vain to trust in God.
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Miscellaneous Notes
“So shall I have wherewith to answer,” etc. Hugo Cardinalis observeth that there are three sorts of blasphemers of the godly,—the devils, heretics, and slanderers. The devil must be answered by the internal word of humility; heretics by the external word of wisdom; slanderers by the active word of a good life.—Richard Greenham.
“So shall I have,” etc. For I should give them a short answer, and a true one,—that I trust in thy word; I put my confidence in thee, who canst make good thy promises, because thou art omnipotent; and wilt, because thou art merciful.—William Nicholson.
“So shall I have wherewith to answer,” etc. This follows the phrase, “according to thy word.” Christians should learn from the example of David what to oppose to the reproaches and false accusations of the enemies of the truth. Nothing is done by railing; but weapons should be taken from the word of God; and these are strong through faith in God for the overturning of both the Devil himself and his instruments. For truly with weapons of this kind the Saviour himself discomfited Satan in the wilderness (Mat 4:1-11); and Paul (Eph 6:10-18) puts on himself, and commends to the Christian soldier, the girdle of Divine truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.—Solomon Gessler.
“Wherewith to answer,” etc. It is not forbidden to believers, modestly and fully, to answer those that reproach them, and to rebut the lie. See Pro 26:5; Pro 27:11. But to be able to answer them is received as a blessing from God.—Martin Geier.
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Cross-References
1 Peter 3:15 (KJV)
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Psalm 56:4 (KJV)
4 In God I will praise his word,
In God I have put my trust; I will not fear
What flesh can do unto me.
Acts 27:25 (KJV)
25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
Psalm 56:10 (KJV)
10 In God will I praise his word:
In the Lord will I praise his word.
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Closing Thoughts
Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, And do not stand in the place of the great; For it is better that he say to you, “Come up here,” Than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, Whom your eyes have seen. Proverbs 25:6-7 NKJV
What Jesus said in Luke 14:8-11
8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him;
9 and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.
10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.
11 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 14:8-11 NKJV
ו VAV – Connecting spiritual and earthly matters.
41
Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord—
Your salvation according to Your word.
42
So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me,
For I trust in Your word.
43
And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
For I have hoped in Your ordinances.
44
So shall I keep Your law continually,
Forever and ever.
45
And I will walk at liberty,
For I seek Your precepts.
46
I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings,
And will not be ashamed.
47
And I will delight myself in Your commandments,
Which I love.
48
My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments,
Which I love,
And I will meditate on Your statutes.
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