Context Readings
Zayin
49 Remember the word to Your servant, In which You have made me hope. 50 This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me. 51 The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.
Cross References
Romans 15:4
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Psalm 27:13
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.
Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.
Psalm 42:8
The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 42:11
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Jeremiah 15:16
Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.
Psalm 94:19
When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.
Psalm 119:25
My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.
Ezekiel 37:10
So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
John 6:63
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
Romans 5:3-5
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
Hebrews 6:17-19
In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath,
Hebrews 12:11-12
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
James 1:18
In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Peter 2:2
like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
bible.knowing-jesus.com
Words have an interesting affect. Sometimes people’s words encourage us, other times they infuriate, still others may make us laugh. The effects of various words are directly related to the person delivering them and the content and context that is contained.
Consider the supreme affect of the words of God. The Psalmist confesses to God that the words of God are his “comfort in affliction” and the chief instrument for revival in his soul (Ps. 119.50).
Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me.
Why are these words comforting? The word of God comes and brings comfort to the saint because the words of God are eternally linked to the divine character.
Why can I take comfort in affliction? It is because the word of God communicates that God is eternally sovereign and all-powerful! Nothing or no one can thwart his plans, he has no rivals!
In addition, I can be comforted in affliction because God is equally good as he is sovereign. It would be one thing to be all powerful but be corrupt like an evil dictator. But no, our God is eternally good and powerful. O’ consider the comforts of this! He is able not only to control the various situations and trials of life, but also to work them together for the good of the saint and the greater glory of his own character!
How good it is in prayer to remember the commitment of God to his own glory and character, even in our trials, that he is the living God who acts and thinks consistent with what he has revealed in his word! Throughout my life I am to be running to the word for consolation! For it is in this word that I know God.
This is why the Psalmist speaks of revival. Encouraging words from a friend can lift your spirits, but it is only the word of the living God that can revive your soul! He comes to the geyser of divine glory to put his weary and tired face to its base and is refreshed and revived in his innermost man with the refreshing reality of who God is.
Thanks be to the gracious, merciful, and loving God who has stooped towards us his creation, even communicating his infinite character in terms that our finite brains can understand, that we could respond with whole souled exaltation to the great I am.
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