Psalm 119:159 NKJV
Consider how I love Your precepts;
Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.
Revived by Lovingkindness, Not Merit
My Notes
Scripture: “Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.” —Psalm 119:159 (NKJV)
David’s prayer is tender, honest, and deeply personal. He doesn’t boast of perfect obedience—he pleads from love. “Consider how I love Your precepts…” He knows he falls short in fulfilling them, but his heart is set on them. This is the kind of love that grieves over sin, delights in truth, and longs for revival.
He doesn’t ask God to reward his devotion. He asks to be revived “according to Your lovingkindness.” The Hebrew word here is hesed—a rich, covenantal term that wraps together God’s mercy, grace, loyalty, and steadfast love. As Darrell Bock describes, hesed goes beyond duty; it is divine affection in action.
Peter echoed these words when he said to Jesus: “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You” (John 21:17). It’s the confident cry of one who knows his heart belongs to God, even when his strength falters. And it’s a model for us: revival is not earned—it’s received. It flows not from merit, but from mercy.
This is the ninth time David prays for reviving grace in Psalm 119. Each time, it’s not empty repetition—it’s a cry of faith, a plea for renewal. He asks to be revived not for comfort alone, but for courage, obedience, and endurance. “Revive me to do my duty with vigor.”
Matthew Henry commented, “When we feel spiritually faint, we don’t need to prove ourselves—we need to be honest. “Lord, You know I love Your Word. Revive me, not because I deserve it, but because You are kind.” That’s the heart of this verse. And that’s the heart of revival.
Time to Reflect
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Do you love God’s precepts—or only His promises?
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Where do you feel in need of revival right now?
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How does knowing revival comes from lovingkindness—not merit—change your posture in prayer?
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Have you ever prayed, “Lord, You know I love You”?
Prayer
Abba, You know all things. You know that I love You and I love Your Word, even when I fall short in keeping it. Consider my affection and revive me according to Your lovingkindness. Breathe life into my weary soul. Restore my joy, renew my strength, and reignite my devotion. Let Your mercy be the source of my revival, and Your Word the path I walk. I do not ask because I am worthy—I ask because You are gracious. Let Your hesed carry me, quicken me, and keep me. I ask for this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Cross References for Further Study (NKJV)
Love for God’s Word
Psalm 119:11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:97 Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
Psalm 119:140 Your word is very pure; Therefore Your servant loves it.
John 21:17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Revival and Renewal
Psalm 119:25 My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.
Psalm 119:40 Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me in Your righteousness.
Psalm 119:88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.
Psalm 119:107 I am afflicted very much; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word.
Psalm 119:149 Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; O Lord, revive me according to Your justice.
Psalm 119:154 Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word.
Psalm 119:156 Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your judgments.
Psalm 119:159 Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 2:4–5 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
God’s Lovingkindness and Mercy
Exodus 34:6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.”
Psalm 103:8–12 The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Numbers 6:24-26 The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.
Honest Prayer and Intercession
Psalm 139:23–24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Romans 8:26–27 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Hebrews 4:15–16 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Proverb for Today
“But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.” Proverbs 1:33 NASB1995
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 159, which is in the 20th section, which is called “Resh ר” Its primary meaning is “head,” symbolizing leadership, authority, and the beginning or summit of something. This connection to “head” is derived from the Hebrew word “rosh” (ראש), which means head or chief. The pictograph of the ancient Hebrew letter Resh is a head of a man, reinforcing its association with the head as the source of intellect and wisdom. The letter also carries symbolic duality, representing both spiritual leadership and poverty, as the word “rash” (רָשׁ) means poor or lowly, and “rasha” (רָשָׁע) means wicked person. This duality reflects the idea that a person can choose between greatness and degradation, with the potential for spiritual renewal even from a state of poverty or wickedness.
In this section of the psalm, David appears to draw closer to God in prayer, presenting his case and invoking divine assistance with greater boldness and anticipation. It is a pleading passage, and the central theme revolves around the word “Consider.” With unwavering confidence, he asserts his personal relationship with the Lord’s cause as a compelling reason for divine intervention. The specific aid he seeks is personal revival, for which he repeatedly implores the Lord.
……..Bill
Summary of Commentaries:
Psalm 119:159 reveals David’s heartfelt appeal for revival, not based on merit but on God’s lovingkindness. Spurgeon highlights David’s deep love for God’s precepts—he asks God to consider his affection, not his performance. This love is sincere, fervent, and grieved by others’ disregard for God’s Word. David’s repeated cry, “Quicken me,” reflects his spiritual weariness and need for renewal. He seeks restoration to outlast sorrow, opposition, and fainting faith. Revival, as Guzik and others affirm, is never earned—it flows from God’s covenant mercy. Like Peter’s appeal in John 21:17, David’s confidence rests in being known and loved by a gracious God.
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“Consider,” or see, “how I love thy precepts.” A second time, he asks for consideration. As he said before, “Consider mine affliction,” so now he says, “Consider mine affection.” He loved the precepts of God—loved them unspeakably, loved them so as to be grieved with those who did not love them. This is a sure test: many there are who have a warm side towards the promises, but as for the precepts, they cannot endure them. The Psalmist so loved everything that was good and excellent that he loved all God had commanded. The precepts are all of them wise and holy; therefore, the man of God loved them extremely, loved to know them, to think of them, to reclaim them, and principally to practice them. He asked the Lord to remember and consider this, not upon the ground of merit, but that it should serve as an answer to the slanderous accusations which at this time were the great sting of his sorrow.
“Quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness.” Here he comes back to his former prayer, “Quicken me” (Psa 119:154), “quicken me” (Psa 119:156). “Quicken me.” He prays again, the third time, using the same words. We may understand that David felt like one who was half stunned with the assaults of his foes, ready to faint under their incessant malice. What he wanted was revival, restoration, renewal; therefore, he pleaded for more life. O thou who didst quicken me when I was dead, quicken me again that I may not return to the dead! Quicken me that I may outlive the blows of my enemies, the faintness of my faith, and the swooning of my sorrow. This time, he does not say, “Quicken me according to thy judgments,” but, “Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness.” This is the great gun which he brings up last to the conflict: it is his ultimate argument, if this succeed not he must fail. He has long been knocking at mercy’s gate, and with this plea, he strikes his heaviest blow. When he had fallen into great sin, this was his plea, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness,” and now that he is in great trouble, he flies to the same effectual reasoning. Because God is love, he will give us life; because he is kind, he will again kindle the heavenly flame within us.
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Enduring Word
Consider how I love Your precepts; revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness: The psalmist asked God to look at his love for His word, but then asked for revival on the basis of God’s lovingkindness instead of on his own merit. (Guzik)
Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness: An idea stated before (Psalm 119:88) is here repeated. Revival is never deserved or earned, but given from the lovingkindness of God. (Guzik)
i. “The consciousness of need is revealed in the thrice repeated, ‘Quicken [Revive] me.’ He feels the weakening of his very life under the pressure of circumstances.” (Morgan)
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Albert Barnes
Consider how I love thy precepts – Search me. Behold the evidence of my attachment to thy law. This is the confident appeal of one who was conscious that he was truly attached to God; that he really loved his law. It is similar to the appeal of Peter to the Savior John 21:17, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” A man who truly loves God may make this appeal without impropriety. He may be so confident – so certain – that he has true love for the character of God, that he may make a solemn appeal to him on the subject – as he might appeal to a friend, to his wife, to his son, to his daughter, with the utmost confidence that he loved them. A man ought” to have such love for them,” that he could affirm this without hesitation or doubt; a man ought to have such love for God, that he could affirm this with equal confidence and propriety.
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John Gill
Consider how I love thy precepts,…. How ardently and affectionately, how cordially and sincerely, Psalm 119:127; and that was the reason why he was so grieved and distressed when wicked men transgressed and despised them;
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Matthew Henry
Here is,
David’s appeal to God concerning his love to his precepts: “Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love them; consider it then, and deal with me as thou used to deal with those that love thy word, which thou hast magnified above all thy name.” He does not say, “Consider how I fulfill thy precepts;” he was conscious to himself that in many things he came short, but, “Consider how I love them.” Our obedience is pleasing to God and pleasant to ourselves only when it comes from a principle of love.
His petition thereupon: “Quicken me, to do my duty with vigor; revive me, keep me alive, not according to any merit of mine, though I love thy word, but according to thy lovingkindness;” to that we owe our lives, nay, that is better than life itself. We need not desire to be quickened any further than God’s lovingkindness will quicken us.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“Consider how I love thy precepts.” He saith not, consider how I perform thy precepts; but how I love them. The comfort of a Christian militant, in this body of sin, is rather in the sincerity and fervency of his affections than in the absolute perfection of his actions. He fails many times in his obedience to God’s precepts, in regard of his action; but love in his affection still remains; so that both before the temptation to sin, and after it, there is a grief in his soul, that he should find in himself any corrupt will or desire, contrary to the holy will of the Lord his God; and this proves an invincible love in him to the precepts of God.
—William Cowper.
“Quicken me.” Often as the Psalmist had repeated his prayer for quickening grace (nine times is the petition urged, Psa 119:25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159), it was not a “vain repetition,” or an empty sound. Each time was it enlivened with abundant faith, intense feeling of his necessity, and the vehemency of most ardent affection. If the consciousness of the faintness of our strength and the coldness of our affections should lead us to offer this petition a hundred times a day in this spirit, it would never fail of acceptance.
—Charles Bridges.
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Resh ר
153
Consider my affliction and deliver me,
For I do not forget Your law.
154
Plead my cause and redeem me;
Revive me according to Your word.
155
Salvation is far from the wicked,
For they do not seek Your statutes.
156
Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord;
Revive me according to Your judgments.
157
Many are my persecutors and my enemies,
Yet I do not turn from Your testimonies.
158
I see the treacherous, and am disgusted,
Because they do not keep Your word.
159
Consider how I love Your precepts;
Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.
160
The entirety of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.
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