Psalm 119 - Kaph

Every believer has rough patches in life. Then there are the times that make those rough patches seem not so bad after all. There are brutal desert stretches in which everything seems wrong, nothing makes sense, and there is no answer in sight. These are times that try the souls of men - that plunge into their deepest beings and snatch out every bit of hope.

This stanza describes such a poignant situation encountered by the psalmist. He describes the state of his soul and the desperation of his inner being. He is suffering, feeling that his soul is completely spent. There is nothing left to give him strength. He searches for help and strength, but it is all gone. He is parched and dried out.

v. 81 "My soul languishes."
v. 82 "My eyes fail with longing."
v. 83 "I have become like a wineskin in the smoke."

Physically, he feels that he is at the point of death. It seems that he has few days left. The traps and persecutions are so intense and oppressive that he is at the point of destruction. The trial that he is facing is no mere trifle; it is something far beyond his ability to withstand.

v. 84 "How many are the days of Your servant?"
v. 85 "The arrogant have dug pits for me."
v. 86 "They have persecuted me with a lie."
v. 87 "They almost destroyed me."

He asks the desperate question of "How long?" He is waiting for God to give him hope and comfort. He is waiting for God to deliver him by responding in judgment on the wicked. He knows that trials are part of life, but he has waited and endured, and it seems that this one will never end. He pleads for God's intervention.

v. 82 "While I say, 'When will You comfort me?'"
v. 84 "When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?"

The psalmist also includes some brief and simple cries for help. When the trial has been so overwhelming, and he perhaps finds himself at a loss for how to pray, these prayers by their very simplicity reflect his helplessness and desperation.

v. 86 "Help me!"
v. 88 "Revive me."

This is a man in desperate times. It is in times like these that some who have faithfully followed God for years will turn aside. They fail to see God's answer, and they conclude that He has failed them or even that everything they had followed and believed was merely a myth. In times like these, there are sadly those who give up on God and on Christianity. Those who continue to follow God may find themselves doing so out of habit or duty, lacking any inner conviction or any foundation of faith to uphold them. They are just going through empty motions because they don't know what else to do.

This man does not make either of those mistakes. As black as things are, and as tried as his soul is, there are things that he knows are right, and he clings tenaciously to those truths. In addition to the descriptions of his bleak situation, this stanza is filled with continued reliance on the Word of God. This man knows that the Word is the place to find his help. He knows that the Word is right. He knows that he must remember it and continue to keep it.

v. 81 "I wait for Your word."
v. 82 "Longing for Your word."
v. 83 "I do not forget Your statutes."
v. 86 "All Your commandments are faithful."
v. 87 "I did not forsake Your precepts."
v. 88 "So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth."

Even his prayers for help reveal this man's reliance on the truth of the Word. The Word reveals things about God and about His treatment of His children. Because the psalmist has learned truth, he knows what he can expect. While not always directly stated as an expectation, his words reveal that he expects salvation (v. 81). He expects comfort (v. 82). He expects righteous judgment (v. 84). He expects help from God (v. 86). He expects revival (v. 88). He expects to experience God's lovingkindness (v. 88).

As of yet, this man's expectations remain unfulfilled. There is nothing to encourage his expectations. Everything outside of this man and everything inside of him tells him that his life is falling apart and that there is no answer, but he refuses to believe that. In spite of every bit of external evidence and every internal inclination, this man clings to the fundamental truth that God cannot be wrong. God says that He will watch over His children as they seek to follow Him. That knowledge, though seemingly unsupported in his current situation, was enough for the psalmist, and it is enough for every Christian. God doesn't need man's feelings. He doesn't need visible evidence. His Word is sufficient. In times of deepest desperation, when no evidence can be seen, the Christian can cling to God's Word, knowing it is right.

"They almost destroyed me on earth, but as for me, I did not forsake Your precepts." Psalm 119:87 (NASB)