Psalm 119:143 NKJV
143
Trouble and anguish have overtaken me,
Yet Your commandments are my delights.
Delight in the Depths
My Notes
Scripture: “Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, Yet Your commandments are my delights.” —Psalm 119:143 (NKJV)
Trouble and anguish are not distant possibilities—they are inevitable companions on the journey of life. David does not speak hypothetically; he speaks from experience. These words—trouble and anguish—convey a sense of being hemmed in, pressed from all sides, with no room to breathe. It’s the feeling of being overtaken, pursued by sorrow, and finally caught.
Yet in this narrow place, David declares: “Your commandments are my delights.” Not merely his comfort, but his delight. This is no superficial joy—it is a deep, abiding pleasure rooted in the character and promises of God. When worldly pleasures fail, when strength wanes, and when understanding fails, the Word of God remains a refuge of delight.
This is the mystery of faith: affliction does not cancel joy. In fact, it often clarifies it. The child of God knows this mystery well—how the soul can be cast down by weakness, yet lifted up by truth. The commandments of God do not merely instruct; they revive, they reassure, they restore the heart toward eternal hope.
In the past, some believers marked their Bibles with “T” and “P”—Tried and Proven. These were not empty rituals, but testimonies of faith tested in fire. David’s confession is one such testimony. He had tasted the bitterness of anguish, yet found the sweetness of God’s Word undiminished.
Let this be our aim: to cultivate a delight in Scripture so deep that no trouble can sour it. Let us study the Word now, so that when anguish overtakes us, we are not left desolate, but anchored in truth.
Time to Reflect
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What recent trouble or anguish has overtaken you?
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How has God’s Word comforted you in past seasons of distress?
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Are there promises in Scripture you’ve found to be “tried and proven”?
Prayer
Abba, when trouble and anguish overtake me, let Your Word overtake my heart. Teach me to delight in Your commandments—not only in peace, but in pressure. Let Your truth be my refuge, Your promises come to me in the night. Help me remember that affliction is not the end of joy, but often the beginning of deeper fellowship with You. May I be one who treasures Your Word above all earthly comforts, and who finds in it the strength to endure and the grace to rejoice. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Cross References
NKJV |
Scripture |
2 Corinthians 1:5 |
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. |
Psalm 1:2 |
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. |
Psalm 119:50 |
This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life. |
Romans 5:3-5 |
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. |
Psalm 36:5 |
Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. |
Proverb for Today
He who has knowledge spares his words, And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive. Proverbs 17:27-28 NKJV
Summary of Commentaries:
Psalm 119:143 reveals a profound spiritual mystery: though overtaken by trouble and anguish—whether from enemies, internal conflict, or divine testing—David finds deep delight in God’s commandments. Spurgeon likens this to being seized by grief yet uplifted by truth, a mystery only understood by those familiar with spiritual struggle. Barnes and Gill describe this affliction as being hemmed in, pursued by sorrow, yet comforted by the Word. Matthew Henry and others affirm that Scripture offers peace even amid suffering. True delight in God’s Word becomes a refuge, a joy that trials cannot extinguish, and a mark of genuine sanctification.
NOTE: Psalm 119 has 22 sections to which each section is represented by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Today, we’re looking at verse 143, which is in the 18th section, which is called “TSADDE צ ”. The website https://hebrewtoday.com/alphabet/the-letter-tzadi-%D7%A6/ has this to say about the letter “TSADDE צ ”: A person who safeguards and protects his eyes from evil things and protects his mouth and speech from saying bad things, will be a tzadi(k), righteous individual. In Jewish tradition, the number 18 represents life because of the word חַי (chai), life, which has a numerical value of 18 (8+10). One who safeguards himself and uses his limbs and body properly will be a righteous person (tzadik) and live a long life.
……..Bill
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me.” This affliction may have arisen from his circumstances, or from the cruelty of his enemies, or from his own internal conflicts, but certain it is that he was the subject of much distress, a distress which apprehended him, and carried him away a captive to its power. His griefs, like fierce dogs, had taken hold upon him; he felt their teeth. He had double trouble: trouble without and anguish within, as the apostle Paul put it, “without were rightings and within were fears.”
“Yet thy commandments are my delights.” Thus, he became a riddle; troubled, and yet delighted; in anguish, and yet in pleasure. The child of God can understand this enigma, for well he knows that while he is cast down on account of what he sees within himsel,f he is all the more lifted up by what he sees in the word. He is delighted with the commandments, although he is troubled because he cannot perfectly obey them. He finds abundant light in the commandments, and by the influence of that light, he discovers and mourns over his own darkness. Only the man who is acquainted with the struggles of the spiritual life will understand the expression before us. Let the reader herein find a balance in which to weigh himself. Does he find, even when he is begirt with sorrow, that it is a delightful thing to do the will of the Lord? Does he find more joy in being sanctified than sorrow in being chastised? Then the spot of God’s children is upon him.
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Enduring Word
Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet Your commandments are my delights: Despite the difficulties of his life, the psalmist still found delight in God’s word. His appreciation of God and His word was not only valid in good times, but also in trouble and anguish. (Guzik)
i. “When we are most sorely afflicted, and cannot see the reason for the dispensation, we may fall back upon this most sure and certain fact, that God is righteous, and his dealings with us are righteous too. It should be our glory to sing this brave confession when all things around us appear to suggest the contrary. This is the richest adoration.” (Spurgeon)
ii. “Years ago, there were Christians who used to put the promises of God to the test, and when they received what was promised, would write ‘T’ and ‘P’ in their Bible next to the promise. The letters stood for ‘tried and proven,’ exactly what the psalmist says he found to be true in his experience.” (Boice)
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Albert Barnes
Trouble and anguish – The word rendered “trouble” means affliction of any kind; the word rendered “anguish” would probably express that which results from being pressed, compressed, straitened. It properly refers to a situation where there is no room to move, and where we are pent up in a narrow place. The two words denote deep affliction.
Have taken hold on me – Margin, as in Hebrew, “found me.” That is, they were in pursuit of me, and have at last apprehended me. Trouble, anguish, and death are in pursuit of us all our lives, and are never very far in the rear of us. Often, when we least expect them, they come suddenly up to us, and make us their victims.
Yet thy commandments are my delights – Notwithstanding this trouble, and in this trouble – no matter what comes – I have the same unfailing source of comfort, the truth of God; and notwithstanding what may occur, I still make God and his law the source of my happiness. See the notes at Psalms 119:24.
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John Gill
Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me,…. Or, “found me”. Outward troubles and inward distress; troubles arising from his enemies, the men of the world, that hated and persecuted him; and from a body of sin and death, from the temptations of Satan, and divine desertions; some from without, and others from within; troubles both of body and mind, which is what all good men are liable to;
[yet] thy commandments [are] my delights; so far from being grievous, that they were a pleasure to him; yea, exceedingly delighted him, and cheered and refreshed his spirits amidst all his troubles.
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Matthew Henry
Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me-trouble without, anguish within; they surprised him, they seized him, they held him. Sorrows are often the lot of saints in this vale of tears; they are in heaviness through manifold temptations.
Yet thy commandments are my delights. All this trouble and anguish did not put his mouth out of taste for the comforts of the word of God, but he could still relish them and find that peace and pleasure in them which all the calamities of this present time could not deprive him of. There are delights, variety of delights, in the word of God, which the saints have often the sweetest enjoyment of when they are in trouble and anguish, 2 Co. 1:5.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me,” or “found me,” etc. We need not take pains, as many do, “to find trouble and anguish,” for they will, one day, “find us.” On that day, the revelations of God must be to us instead of all worldly “delights” and pleasures, which will then have forsaken us; and how forlorn and desolate will be our state if we should have no other delights, no other pleasures, to succeed them, and to accompany us into eternity. Let our study be then in the Scriptures, if we expect our comfort in them in time to come.
—George Horne.
“Thy commandments are my delights.” Delight in moral things (saith Aquinas) is the rule by which we may judge of men’s goodness or badness. Delectatio est quies voluntatis in bono (Delight is the repose of the will in good). Men are good and bad as the objects of their delight are: they are good who delight in good things, and they are evil who delight in evil things.
—Thomas Manton.
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Additional Cross-References
Psalm 116:3 (KJV)
3 The sorrows of death compassed me,
And the pains of hell gat hold upon me:
I found trouble and sorrow.
Job 23:12 (KJV)
12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips;
I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
Psalm 119:77 (KJV)
77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live:
For thy law is my delight.
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TSADDE צ – The Purity and Truth of God’s word
137
Righteous are You, O Lord,
And upright are Your judgments.
138
Your testimonies, which You have commanded,
Are righteous and very faithful.
139
My zeal has consumed me,
Because my enemies have forgotten Your words.
140
Your word is very pure;
Therefore Your servant loves it.
141
I am small and despised,
Yet I do not forget Your precepts.
142
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
And Your law is truth.
143
Trouble and anguish have overtaken me,
Yet Your commandments are my delights.
144
The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting;
Give me understanding, and I shall live.
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