By Will Kynes, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
KNOWING GOD
Psalm 119:17–24
The recent documentary, “The Social Dilemma,” presents a clear and frightening picture of how social media companies psychologically manipulate users through a constant deluge of likes, status updates and notifications that gradually transforms them into mindless receptors of advertising.
This barrage of distraction makes immersing ourselves in God’s word more difficult, but also more necessary, so that we are conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29) rather than that of Silicon Valley or Madison Avenue. Psalm 119 describes the enduring joy of knowing God through His word.
We grow spiritually as we encounter God through His word. (17–18)
The logic here seems backward. We are often tempted to think that our obedience to God’s word earns us God’s blessing, but the psalmist asks here for God to be good to him so that he may obey God’s word. In Ephesians 2, Paul says something similar: though we are dead in sin, we are saved by the divine gift of faith, not by our works, but so that we may do the good works God prepared in advance for us to do.
Similarly, the psalmist expresses his dependence on God to open his eyes, so that he may see the wonders of God’s law. The spiritual growth that comes through an encounter with God through His word is dependent on God’s gracious gift of spiritual enlightenment.
Knowing God through His word helps us face opposition. (19–22)
The psalmist’s feeling of being a “stranger” (NIV, KJV) or “resident alien” (CSB) on earth resonates with 1 Peter’s description of Christians as “foreigners and exiles” scattered across the earth (1 Pet. 1:1, 2:11). Peter claims this exile status makes obedience to God all the more important. As exiles, he says, they should “abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul” and “live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us” (1 Pet. 2:11–12).
Similarly, because the psalmist is estranged from his community, his soul is constantly consumed with longing for God’s law (vv. 19–20). Obeying God commands will protect the psalmist from the Lord’s rebuke against those who arrogantly disregard them (v. 21). The Old Testament is full of examples of God’s judgment against such arrogant disobedience, including even King Solomon, who violated God’s instruction for kings and led the people into idolatry (1 Kings 11:1–4; also see Deut. 17:14–20).
The logical relation between the scorn heaped on the psalmist and his obedience of God’s statutes in verse 22 is unclear. He may be scorned for his piety, which is something believers should be prepared for, or his piety may be a means to overcome this scorn.
The passage from 1 Peter above suggests both may be the case. Initial opposition to our distinct witness may be eventually transformed into approval through persistence in good deeds.
Knowing God through His word helps us have His perspective. (23–24)
The psalmist pictures here a royal court. The rulers may slander him, but he has greater counselors than those who surround the king — divine statutes. More than that, he may be a servant, but he is the servant of the King of kings. It’s natural that the psalmist finds “delight” in God’s law, which puts the world in proper perspective.
Knowing God through His word, like all true knowledge, is not merely an intellectual undertaking; it involves our emotions, our actions, as it thoroughly transforms our perception of the world. This is what the demons, who “believe” in God, lack (James 2:19), and what the spiritual disciplines shape within us.
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