“My soul clings to the dust: quicken me (or make alive, revive) according to Your word.” Psalm 119:25
Throughout Psalm 119, there is great emphasis on the written word of God, His precepts and testimonies, His commandments, the necessity to know them, keep them, and obey them. Why? Because according to the “will” and mind of God in Christ, there can be the receiving of great reward, primarily a knowledge and experience of God which comes by the revelation of the Person of God, and the power of that revelation in the life. In other words, there is a very real and life-giving, life-communicating relationship between the “word of God,” His truth, and the power of the Spirit. A knowledge of the word of God, that objective expression of the truth of God and His ways, is essential if one would be enabled by faith to believe Him for the power of Christ’s indestructible life, His saving life. If one would know the power of the Spirit in His quickening working in the heart and life, then one must know and adhere to the truth of the revealed nature and will of God. It is as G. Campbell Morgan declared: “God rides best in His (own) chariot.” That chariot is His word, His commandments, promises, and declarations of things present and things to come.
Why then is Psalm 119 so very important? The answer is not found in the mechanics of reading and memorizing the objective word of God, though it is indispensable to faith. The answer lies in the result of the declared will of God in the Psalm, and the path that God gives us in prayer, so that, by the appeal of the soul to God for His quickening power and strength, he may be able to receive from the faithful God, His mercy and grace. It is as the soul, in realizing and becoming convinced of the purpose and design of God by His words, then seeks God on the basis of His word, and by the Spirit, that the very life of Christ by the Spirit it given for the individual to know, and live by, declaring by life, word, and deed, the knowledge of the riches of Christ to a lost and dying world. What then is the great assurance, according to the soul’s conscious need, and his appeal to God?
First of all, when the soul seeks God with all his heart, there is cleansing from sin. The Psalmist declares that a “young man” can cleanse his way in this manner, all “according to Your word.” (119:9) Secondly, there is the assurance of a way by which the believer can escape sinning against God, and it is, the hiding of the word of God in the heart. (v. 11) Thirdly, there is the revelation of the beauty, greatness, and glory of God according to the law of God. Thus, there is the prayer, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law.” (v.18) And fourthly, and so very important, is the matter of being quickened anew, strengthened afresh, renewed and refreshed by the very presence of God. The Psalmist speaks again and again of the matter of being “revived” by the Spirit of God, that very clear and real intervention of God whereby the Spirit of God “pours the power into us” when we need it.To the man whose experience is reflected in the words of the Psalmist: “My soul clings to the dust,” comes also the prayer, “…quicken me according to your word.” (v.25) This quickening comes according to the truth, the promises of God, and the wisdom He gives concerning anything that might be hindering Him from working in the life. Got willingly teaches by the Spirit, giving the knowledge of the truth, that one might receive His strength to rise up anew, and go forth to run the race set before him. The Psalmist’s prayer which WILL be heard is this: “Quicken me in Your way.” (v.37). “Quicken me in your righteousness.” (v.40) And quicken me after Your lovingkindness.” (v.88)
Dear Father, Quicken us by Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.