K Kaph.
81My (A)soul languishes for Your salvation;
I (B)wait for Your word.
82My (C)eyes fail with longing for Your word,
While I say, “When will You comfort me?”
83Though I have (D)become like a wineskin in the smoke,
I do (E)not forget Your statutes.
84How many are the (F)days of Your servant?
When will You (G)execute judgment on those who persecute me?
85The arrogant have (H)dug pits for me,
Men who are not in accord with Your law.
86All Your commandments are (I)faithful;
They have (J)persecuted me with a lie; (K)help me!
87They almost destroyed me on earth,
But as for me, I (L)did not forsake Your precepts.
88Revive me according to Your lovingkindness,
So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.
And now the Gospel progresses even further in this next section of Psalm 119. The writer proceeds now to the means by which men become made into the image of their Creator. His focus immediately begins with his soul which, he says, “languishes” as he waits for God’s salvation.
Most Christians do not understand this idea. They have misunderstood almost the entirety of the holy Scriptures. They learned and accepted the mistaken belief that “salvation” by faith in Jesus simply means that their spirits have been saved from eternal torment in hell. Then when they read the word “soul,” which is sometimes translated “life” in the Bible they replace it with the word “spirit.” By doing this they totally miss God’s teaching of the salvation of the soul.
Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions. It is the sentient being each of us calls “me.” It does not consist of our brain or other parts of our physical body. Consider the person who has had a stroke. He often knows what he wants to say, but the wrong word comes out of his mouth. His physical body can no longer do what his soul wants to do. Jesus commands us to lose our carnal (fleshly, of the world) souls in order to gain a soul like Christ’s, that is, a mind, a will, and emotions made into the image of God. This idea, in fact, is the mystery of the Gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ reveals to man throughout all of history. Jesus warned,
23But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, (A)Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
24Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and (B)take up his cross and follow Me.
25“For (C)whoever wishes to save his life [Greek psuche = soul] will lose it; but whoever loses his life [psuche] for My sake will find it.
26“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
27“For the (D)Son of Man (E)is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and (F)WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. (Matthew 16:23-27)
This is also what the teacher to the Hebrews means when he discusses the Sabbath rest that remains for Christians in Hebrews 3 and 4. He is not talking about an impotent faith which simply says, “I believe in Jesus. Therefore I am saved. I do not need to worry about specific things to obey because Jesus has and always will forgive all my sins. In fact, I have no sins, for Jesus has forgiven them all!” Simply try to tell a Christian that they lead a sinful life and you will see this false doctrine played out time and time again.
Hebrew says, “For the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12 KJ2000) The psalmist here in verses 81-88 reveals this very same idea. He “waits” for God’s word. His carnal soul languishes because that soul has not yet been saved; he has not yet been resurrected from the dead and glorified with the likeness of his God. In fact his spiritual eyes begin to fail with longing for this event. He is dried up, barren and useless, like a smoked wineskin.
Nevertheless, this one who seeks to die to all worldly things, who is now “almost destroyed on the earth,” continues in God’s commandments, precepts, and testimonies. He is like James who says, “I will show you my faith by my works, for faith without works is dead.” Here is the man who takes part in the first resurrection, the first of God who will realize the salvation of his soul.
