Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19980726.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm One Hundred And Nineteen (Gimel) - The VALUE And USE Of Scripture To Offset Verbal Abuse
(Psalm 119:17-24)
  1. Introduction
    1. Verbal abuse is incredibly destructive for people to receive, for it works to counter one's view of his own worth and identity through mind-controlling, false concepts. Yet, many believers face it even regularly.
    2. One of the great values of taking in Scripture on a regular basis is its capacity to shield one from the harmful effects of receiving verbal abuse. Psalm 119:17-24, section "Gimel", shows us the way as follows:
  2. The VALUE And USE Of Scripture To Offset Verbal Abuse Damage, Psalm 119:17-24.
    1. The psalmist expressed a great personal need for the intake of God's Word, Ps. 119:17-20:
      1. He claimed that his life experience was centered on the goal of keeping God's Word, Ps. 119:17.
      2. As God uncovered the psalmist's dullness, he said he learned extraordinary things from Scripture, v. 18.
      3. These extraordinary truths were needed by the psalmist to counter feelings of insecurity and loneliness, pictured in his expression of being like a nomadic sojourner on the earth, Ps. 119:19.
      4. In effect, the psalmist revealed that his life principle, his nephesh representing the entire inner man of emotions, spirit and intellect were all at all times in great need of that Scripture, Ps. 119:20!
    2. Just WHY the psalmist expressed this need is given in Psalm 119:21-24:
      1. The psalmist relayed that he had come under verbally abusive scorn by formidable opponents, 119:23a.
        1. As these opponents are called "princes", men who have hope of a future as even more influential KINGS, these opponents seemed immovable threats to one's future welfare!
        2. These influential, immovable, future-threatening opponents had come unitedly against the psalmist with formidable, powerful scorn and slanderous speech, Ps. 119:23b.
      2. However, as a breath of fresh air, God's Word had proved to be joyfully adequate to handle this event:
        1. In the verbal attack, the psalmist had mused on the passages of Scripture that counter the viewpoints and nature of the verbal attacks, Ps. 119:23b.
        2. The Word had undercut the attack and neutralized it as follows: (a) It had caused the verbal abuse to roll off the psalmist without doing harm to his inner man emotionally, spiritually and mentally, 22. (b) The Word had also acted to rebuke the psalmist's opponents, revealing to him and possibly also to them how they had wandered away from the truth of Scripture to become so evil, Ps. 119:21.
        3. Consequently, the psalmist had come to view Scripture as the object of delight, for God's Word had become the psalmist's multiple counselors to countered the opposing convocation, Ps. 119:24b!
Lesson: In facing a strong group of seemingly unstoppable opponents who verbally abused him to control the psalmist for their own agendas, the psalmist found exposing himself to the truths of Scripture more than countered these abusers' efforts, ev en critiquing THEM to his relief and joy!

Application: (1) Since through KNOWING Scripture one can escape enormous damage by cruel, formidable, seemingly unstoppable verbal abusers, one does well to copy the psalmist's following practices: (a) he does well to make reading so as to know God's Word his goal in life, (b) to ask God to uncover his dullness so that he can DISCERN extraordinary, valuable, useful truths from that Word, and (c) to seek Scripture's truth as one goes after FRIENDS in a hostile, verbal abuse situation! (2) Recall, in a similar vein, that Jesus Christ is called the "Supernatural Counselor" and "Mighty God" in Isaiah 9:6, and that He is also called the "Word of God" in John 1:1-2, 14 with Revelation 19:13. Accordingly, IF one reads and applies Scripture on a r egular basis, he lives out the advice of the Omniscient, Supernatural Counselor, Jesus Christ. That counters the efforts of all sorts of abusive, errant mortals! (3) Likewise recall that, according to Psychologist, Dr. Frank B. Minirth (You Can Measur e Your Mental Health, p. 14), psychological testing on Christians showed that believers "who spent time daily with the Word were found to be more mature, more mentally healthy, and to show no significant pathology."