Psalm 119:140 arrested my attention this morning. Apparently, it’s done so a couple of times before.
Some translations render it that the “promise is well tried”, like my ESV. Other’s that the “promise is pure”, like the CSB, NASB, and NKJV. The original word is the word “to smelt” or “refine.” So, you can see how the two translations end up being a possibility — one emphasizes the product, the other the process.
The intrinsic character of God’s promise is likened to the nature of gold after it has been put in the fire — it’s pure, pure, pure! But the intentional application of God’s promise means it is always being put in the fire — in every trial, temptation, and tumult — thus God’s promise is tried, tried, tried. So, which is it? Are God’s promises perfectly pure or repeatedly tried? Yes!
Doing something a bit different this morning, posting my two previous musings on the verse. Was encouraged as I chewed on them again. If you’ve got time for a double meal, maybe you too.
2016
We often talk of our less-than-ideal circumstances as divinely appointed or allowed crucibles. Situations where the heat is turned up so that the impurities might be burned off. Times that test our faith and in so doing expose thoughts, attitudes, and actions unbecoming those who name Christ as Lord. Where, beyond reacting to the latest curve ball thrown at us, we are also repenting of the latest less than godly “swing and a miss” at dealing with that curve ball. Where our jar-of-clay-ness is once again made evident, and we find ourselves falling before the throne of grace in need of His forgiveness and His fortification. Experiences endured that God might continue to form within us the image and nature of His Son.
And from time to time, if but for a brief respite, we walk out of the fiery furnace of our trial and realize that it’s working. While we’re not there yet, we’re not where we were. Certainly not perfect, but evidence that shows we really are a work that’s making progress. Nothing to boast in, no merit to claim, but signs that our holy determination to try to walk in the Spirit, and be led by the Spirit, and live by the Spirit is, in fact, bearing something of the fruit of the Spirit. Our lives are tried, and He is glorified.
But this morning, and I may not be reading this exactly as intended, the Spirit illumines the fact that the Word of God is also tried.
Your promise is well tried, and Your servant loves it.
(Psalm 119:140 ESV)
The promises of God are also smelted or refined. They are also subject to the intense heat of trial and testing. They are no stranger to the crucible, not unfamiliar with the fiery furnace. But not for the purposes of cleaning them up or driving out any flaws or impurities. Instead, the promises of God are subjected to the heat that they might be tested and proved to be pure. That they might be shown to be that which, far from being burned up, withstands the heat of all life’s troubles and afflictions.
The Word of God is not intended to sit on the shelf. Most of us know that. But nor is it only intended to be pulled out for morning devo’s or mid-week Bible studies or Sunday sermons. Rather, His testimonies, His statutes, His commandments, and His promises are intended to accompany the child of God into the crucibles of real life. They can stand the heat. And only as we purposefully include the Word as part of our “survival kits” during calamity, only as we cling to it as an anchor during the storm, only as we apply it as a balm for our wounds, do we try and test the promises of God and find that they are gold–that they are true and endure.
I never really would have known experimentally the peace that passes all understanding, if I hadn’t believed the Word when it said such peace could be experienced. Wouldn’t have confirmed the veracity that His grace is sufficient, or that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, or that He won’t allow us to be tempted or tested beyond what we’re able, if I hadn’t continued to “taste and see that the Lord is good” during my temptation and testing.
The songwriter-servant could proclaim, “I love Your promises” not only because by nature they were without blemish, but also because in everyday life they had been tested in the context of his testing and were found to pure and as resilient as gold.
The Word of God . . . not just a book for the shelf, or for the morning closet, or for the Sunday pew. But a book to be taken with us into the fire. A book to be well tried.
Promises for the present. A living and active Word for those who are living and active.
Reminding of His grace. With us in our testing for His glory.
Amen?
2019
Pretty sure that this morning what I’m picking up isn’t exactly what the songwriter was laying down. That the words that have grabbed me were intended to mean something a little different than the meaning I’m getting from them. That what I’m chewing on has a little different flavor from how it was originally seasoned. And, I’m thinking, that’s ok.
Your promise is well tried, and Your servant loves it.
(Psalm 119:140 ESV)
Continuing to read in the psalmist’s love letter to the word of God. Twenty-two sections of eight verses each extolling the glory of God’s revelation of Himself and His ways for His people. The longest song in the Psalter, the longest chapter in the Bible, a divine acrostic as each section is given to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter.
Today’s letter? Tsadhe or, in my English thinking mind, T. And verse 140’s beginning T word is tsaraph, or, as the ESV translates it, “tried.”
Tried is Your promise exceedingly, and Your servant loves it.
And, according to my handy dandy e-lexicon, the word has the idea of something that has been tried in a smelting fire and thus is without defect. That the nature of God’s word, the essence of His promises, are akin to something without impurity. That God’s word, His promise, is as pure as if it had been put through the flame. That God has given to His people a pure word is, I think, kind of the intent.
But the thought that came to me as I read this lyric from this divine love ballad was more of how I have “well tried” His covenant. Of how I have tested the veracity of His blessed assurances. Of how many miles, in a sense, I have put on His precious promises as I’ve appropriated them for myself, again and again, in my situations and need, thus making them well tried.
If the Christian life is marked by the reality of going so many steps forward then so many steps back, how many back steps have I taken in 40+ years of seeking to walk in the Way? And how many of those back steps have cast me upon the promises of God?
If I were to count every failure of the flesh that has required renewed belief in the promise that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn. 1:9); or count every time I’ve been drained empty by a life struggle, or life season, and have had to cling to the assurance that “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Php. 4:13); or count the myriads of disappointments in my ability to walk the worthy walk and have had to retreat to the solid ground “that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Php. 1:6); or count the uncountable number of times I have had to claim other promises as I’ve stumbled my way along this pilgrim path; then, to be sure, I can say along with the songwriter, with equal conviction:
Your promise is well tried, and Your servant loves it.
Not that I make pure His word, but that I have tested it–more times than perhaps I would care to admit–and found it all-sufficient and without wont.
Praise God for His precious promises.
Praise God for His living, active, and enduring Word.
Because of grace. For His glory.
My Morning Meal 
AMEN!!!