RESH

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 [a]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.

Resh is a very common word that basically means head, but is used to indicate whatever leads or comes first, like a captain, summit, or capstone. Preceded by the particle beth and in the form resheet, it means first, beginning, best. It is the first word of the Bible, Bresheet, or “In the beginning.”

We see over and over in this psalm the precedence of God’s word in the psalmist’s life: “Your law” (v. 153), “Your Word” (vv. 154; 158; 160), “Your statutes” (v. 155), “Your judgments” (vv. 156; 160), “Your testimonies” (v. 157) are all associated with His word and point to the superior leadership by God of us through them.

The word “consider” means to look, see, give attention. So, the psalmist asks God to LOOK at what he suffers. Don’t we all want God to notice us when we are in trials, calling out to Him for help in our times of suffering? Do we not take comfort in knowing that He hears us and will deliver us when we are obedient and put our trust in Him? Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Notice the condition on the promise here… “those who are called according to His purpose.” They are those who are living according to His will. God calls all men to Him through the gospel, and those who answer that call become faithful followers of God and have the hope and comfort that He sees, He is in control of the big picture, and He will deliver them. Look at the actions of God throughout the psalm that the followers of God can trust in: deliverance (v. 153}, advocacy (“plead my cause,” v. 154), redemption (v. 154), revival (vv. 154; 156), salvation (v. 155), and even mercy (v. 156) and lovingkindness (v. 158). But all these are conditional upon our obedience to HIS WORD.

The “summit” or “capstone” idea is deliverance (v. 153). Think of when you struggle because of persecution, feelings of being “down,” trodden underfoot, at the bottom, in a low place… and yet God “lifts us up.” Psalm 61:2 says, “From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” He leads us toward the summit. We know that God lifts the humble (Psalm 147:6). He is our “capstone,” the “mountain top” we seek. We rise up out of troubles only because of His leadership and guidance. So we LOOK UP and follow His directions.

The word resh is also used to indicate a certain plant (called “head”) that yields poison: rosh, gall, venom. HAW and BDB note that this usage is always figurative (see Deuteronomy 32:32, Psalm 69:21). We can see this idea in vv. 157-158, with the use of the terms “enemies” and “treacherous.” Our enemies are quite often very vocal in their persecution of us. Does “spewing poison or venom” sound familiar? In Psalm 140:3, David wants deliverance from those who “sharpen their tongues like a serpent; the poison of asps is under their lips.” The unbelievers in Acts 14:2 were said to have “stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren.” Definite behavior of enemies. Yet regardless of the treacherous and disgusting things others do, we can stand firm because of God’s word. Suffering should draw the believer closer to God. We CHOOSE to love His precepts. Mindset matters; it will either make us bitter toward God or allow an opportunity to cultivate our love and trust in Him. We prove our love and trust in God when we obey Him (John 14:15). Titus 1:16 says, “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” Our works, our choices, our actions will prove whether we truly know and love God.

A third usage of this word resh means poverty, from the root rush, which means to be poor. As we depend upon God to be delivered, to be saved, to receive mercy, must we not first acknowledge our poverty? Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Our riches are only because of our relationship with the Father. Remember, our treasure is to be laid up in heaven (Matthew 6:19). James 2:5 asks, “Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” When we, like Paul, recognize our poverty without Christ, we begin to humble ourselves to submit to His will and become rich in faith.

Without God, without His Word, we would not know what He expects of us. We would never know that His word brings life to all who hear and obey it: “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:23-25).

The psalmist uses the word “revive me” twice in these eight verses. Revive is also translated quicken, and means to make alive, to restore to life or health.  “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I [Christ] speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). John 10 talks of Christ being the good Shepherd, how His sheep hear His voice and know Him and follow Him, and because of this they have life, and not just any life… abundant life.

Why would we not love the truth of God’s word, when it is the catalyst to our salvation, our deliverance, our redemption?? We can have confidence in God’s word. Christ asks the Father to sanctify His people “by the truth” and continues to clarify that truth is His Father’s word (John 17:17). The psalmist knows that ALL of God’s word is truth as well. Paul states it this way in 2 Timothy 3:16 -17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  ALL scripture has come from God, and since God cannot lie (Titus 1:2), because God is the God of truth (Psalm 31:5), God the Spirit IS truth (1 John 5:6), even as God the Son IS truth (John 14:6). Therefore, we can depend upon what we read from God to be true. Because God (as the Father, the Son and the Spirit) is all truth, we can see how His righteous judgments will “endure forever.” It is the words that Jesus spoke that will judge every person on the last day (John 12:48). This judgment will determine our eternal destination, never to be changed (Matthew 25:31-46).

Consider the words of Paul’s encouragement to the Christians being persecuted in Thessalonica:

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:3-10)

May we find ourselves loving our Savior and Lord and proving our love for Him and His law through our obedience to His word, knowing that when we suffer because of righteousness, we glorify God all the more, being like Christ (1 Peter 3:13-17).

 

 

by Holly Lipsey