THE BELIEVER'S WHETSTONE
Psalms 119:25
Morning Meditation 7/23/2014
"My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word."
The psalmist has lost his intimate walk with the Lord and finds himself groveling in the dust of despair. Has this ever happened to you? Uncle Buddy Robinson was saved in what we would call a camp meeting. He experienced the waves of God's love for weeks. His testimony is that he went to bed one night and slept off his religion. He went to bed rejoicing in the Lord, he awoke the next morning and what he called "his religion" was gone. Well, uncle Buddy would not settle until he regained his happy walk with the Lord. He got it back but it was a struggle. The words, "My soul cleaveth unto the dust," is a good description of a believer who has lost touch with the Lord.
John Gill's comment on this is: "My soul cleaveth unto the dust, &c.] Either to the dust of death, having the sentence of it; being almost in despair of life, upon the brink of the grave seemingly, and free among the dead: or in a very low estate of mind, in great dejection and humiliation, rolling himself in the dust, and putting his mouth in it; if there might be any hope of deliverance; but despairing of it, unless the Lord appeared; or finding a proneness in him to the corruption of nature, the body of sin and death, which was very powerful and prevalent."
The Psalmist, in this state of mind, and suffering utter despair, makes his request to the Lord, "quicken thou me according to thy word." The Hebrew word for "quicken" means, "to be restored to life or health." This verb is in the piel stem. The piel stem usually expresses an "intensive" or "intentional" action. He is asking God to exercise intensive action. It would be like saying, "Lord, pull me back out of the grave. I am at the point of no return and You are the only one that has the power to quicken me."
F. E. Marsh says, "In calling attention to the fact, that the Word of God is a whetstone, to sharpen us in the many-sidedness of our Christian life, I want to call attention to the frequency with which the Psalmist pleads the prayer, 'Quicken me,' in the 119th Psalm. The Hebrew word translated 'quicken,' occurs no less than sixteen times. Nine times the term is rendered 'quicken' and 'quickened,' and five times 'live.' The same word is translated 'revive' in Nehemiah 4:2; Psalm 138:7; Habakkuk 3:2. The word occurs in three relations in Psalm 119.
1. There is the Psalmist's testimony as to what the Lord has done in the past (Psa. 119:50, 93.
2. The Psalmist's prayer for present revival (Psalm 119:17, 25, 37, 40, 77, 88, 107, 116, 149, 154, 156, 159, 175).
3. The Psalmist's confidence as to what the Lord will do in Psalms 119:144, "The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live." (The word live is the same word as revival or quicken).
Let's see how the Word of God is as a whetstone to sharpen us.
1. The Word of God is a whetstone to sharpen us in prayer (John 15:7).
2. The Word of God is a whetstone to sharpen us, in separating from us things contrary to the mind of God. There is one incident, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, which illustrates in a remarkable manner the separating influence of the Word of God--when it is believed--upon the life. The Apostle Paul met with great success, in his preaching at Ephesus, and one results of his mission was, that many who had cunning arts, burnt all their books; and the cause of this is put down to the working of God's Word, for in speaking of the burning of the books, it says, "So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed (Acts 19:20).
3. The Word of God is the whetstone to sharpen us in our spiritual life. When the Apostle Paul was leaving the Church in Ephesus, among other things he said, "I commend you to God, and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up" (Acts 20:32).
C2B7 The attitude in our spiritual life, is to be looking up. As the Psalmist says, "In the morning I will direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up."
C2B7 The strength of our spiritual life is to gird up the loins of our mind with the truth of God. 1 Peter 1:13, "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"
C2B7 The exercise of our spiritual life is to stir up the fire of grace, which the Lord has kindled in our hearts, as Paul says in writing to his son Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6, "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands."
C2B7 The place of our spiritual life, is the presence of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 6:17-18, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
C2B7 The responsibility of our spiritual life is to take up our cross daily, even as Christ took up the cross for us. Cross bearing always precedes crown-wearing
The believer's whetstone is the Word of God. There is a razor sharpness in and through the life of the believer who has made God's Word his whetstone.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro White
