Psalm 119:113-120

 (1) Contrast:

love/hate 

    119:113 I hate people with divided loyalties,
    but I love your law.

Draw near/turn away

    119:114 You are my hiding place and my shield.
    I find hope in your word.
    119:115 Turn away from me, you evil men,
    so that I can observe the commands of my God.

God will sustain and support the psalmist because he focused on God's words vs God will despise and remove all the wicked

    119:118 You despise all who stray from your statutes,
    for they are deceptive and unreliable.
    119:119 You remove all the wicked of the earth like slag.

(2) Conclusion

    Therefore I love your rules.
    119:120 My body trembles because I fear you;
    I am afraid of your judgments.

(NET) As he explains in the next verse, the psalmist’s fear of judgment motivates him to obey God’s rules.

(3) Application

(Kel) Separating themselves from ungodly and untrustworthy people whom God will judge, believers pray for God to sustain them in their faith by his word. Christians who love the LORD and his word cannot be comfortable in a world of double-minded and deceitful people who have no intention of following God’s ways. Many of these ungodly people are false teachers and deceivers, or have been influenced by them, over whom the judgment of God hangs (1 Pet. 2:3). The chief concern of Christians is to remain faithful in their lives and honest in their words; they must renounce all secrets and shameful things and deception because their witness is to people who are perishing (2 Cor. 4:2). They know that God will judge the unbelievers with a terrible judgment, and so they try to warn them (2 Tim. 4:2).

(4) Reflection

When we see how God despises and removes the wicked, do we draw the same conclusion as the psalmist, i.e. to fear God? 

What is our attitude towards the evil men? Do we turn away from them?

Audrey