By: admin On: May 14, 2012 In: Cleansed, Set Apart Comments: 0
Deal bountifully with Your servant,
that I may live and keep Your word.
Psalm 119:17
Set Apart, Cleansed

TAKING IT IN

Recapping the last eight verses of Psalm 119, the Psalmist prayed as a young man out in the world seeking to live “set apart”, cleansed by the Word of God.

In the next eight verses the trials of life appear to be weighing heavy on his mind. We find him pleading as a servant and a pilgrim who increasingly finds himself to be a stranger in an enemy’s country.

This verse today is a prayer that allows us to enter into “the grace place”. Coming in humility as God’s servant we can boldly ask Him to deal bountifully with us. The word “bountiful” means in a “bountiful manner”, “liberally“, and “plentifully“.

We can bring a large petition to God in our time of need because He is a great God who has large amounts to give.

Charles Spurgeon comments that the prayer of the author of this psalm 

“begs for a liberality of grace, after the fashion of one who prayed, ‘O Lord, thou must give me great mercy or no mercy, for little mercy will not serve my turn.’”

This prayer offered up to the Lord is not selfish or comfort centered but lifted up to heaven that God’s Word might be lived out and kept in our lives.

Set Apart, Cleansed

MAKING IT MEANINGFUL

Often we are tempted to throw in the towel aren’t we?

As we come to the rest of these verses in future weeks we will see that the author of this psalm was a man who had suffered deeply.

• He had known deprivation and fear for his life (Psalm 119:17)
• Seasons when he had gotten nothing from God’s Word (Psalm 119:18)
He had also known loneliness, rejection, and a sense of abandonment (Psalm 119:19-20)
• He had known persecution (Psalm 119:22-23)

In the midst of these trials, he wanted to live – not only in the sense of surviving, but also in the sense of a quality of life, especially in regard to God. We don’t want to merely “survive” our seasons of challenge but we want to learn to “thrive” in the midst of them.

A large request is in order when we have a large need. Without God’s liberal dealings with us, even at our best we are the extremity of weakness, emptiness, and nothingness. We have an abundance of sin. Thank God He has a greater abundance of grace.

Romans 5:20 ….But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

Oh how we need to remember in the midst of trying times that God is abundant in goodness and truth. He has a multitude of tender mercies and loving kindness to bestow. He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. And the faith we must grasp and continue to hold on to is that He is able to do exceeding and abundantly above all that we ask or think.

WORKING IT INTO MY HEART

If you are not already familiar with Annie Johnson Flint, then get acquainted with her writing. She has written some of the most inspiring poems dealing with faith and triumph in times of trial and suffering. S

he was born in Vineland, New Jersey and lost both parents before she was six years old. Adopted by a childless couple, she became afflicted with arthritis as a teen and soon thereafter became unable to walk. She aspired to be a composer and concert pianist but when illness deprived her of her ability to play the piano she resorted to writing poetry. Some of her poetry she set to music. Later in life, being unable to open her hands, she wrote many of her poems on the typewriter, using but her knuckles. She is a woman that lived in “the grace place”.

Set Apart, Cleansed
“He Giveth More Grace”
by Annie Johnson Flint – (1866-1932)
He giveth more grace as the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as the labors increase,
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.
His Love has no limit;
His grace has no measure.
His pow’r has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
Annie’s song was based on three Bible promises. Look them up this week and write them down to draw upon as you pray:

“LORD, deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word.”

  • Isaiah 40:29
  • James 4:6
  • Jude 2 A
As we ask God to revive our hearts we must learn to live in this “grace place” in our time of great need. Take a moment now to pray and then worship in your “grace place”.

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