The songwriter appeals to the One who made him to help him. Give me understanding, he pleads, help me figure this out and to trust you as I do.

Your hands made me and formed me;
give me understanding
so that I can learn Your commands.

(Psalm 119:73 CSB)

In this section of David’s ode of love to the word of God, stanza 10 of 22, I wonder if his opening plea isn’t so much about understanding the meaning of God’s word but rather understanding how to apply God’s word. For, he also asks God to “comfort me” (v.76) and beckons, “May Your compassion come to me” (v.77), even as he declares “for I put my hope in Your word” (v.74b). So, what’s going down that’s causing the psalmist to look up?

Let the arrogant be put to shame
for slandering me with lies;
I will meditate on Your precepts.

(Psalms 119:78 CSB)

Slandered. Lied about. Put to shame. I listened to an audiobook last year, For Shame: Rediscovering the Virtue of a Maligned Emotion, where the author, Greg Ten Elshof, defines shame as the loss of social capital within a community you care about. Because of what had been said about him, the psalmist seems to have lost the esteem of the community he refers to as “those who fear You” and “those who know Your decrees”, so he longs that they would again see him and rejoice with him and turn to him (v.74, v.79). But while that is his hope, it does not appear to be his reality as he pens this stanza. And so, he pleads to the One who made him, “Give me understanding.”

Shamed. Disregarded, at least by some. And what does the songwriter do? Turns to the word. “I put my hope in Your word” (v.74). “Your instruction is my delight” (v. 77). “I will meditate on Your precepts” (v.78). What does the songwriter desire? “May my heart be blameless regarding Your statutes” (v.80).

So, what drives someone slandered falsely to cast themselves into God’s word unreservedly? A desire to understand, it would seem. But what is it he wants to make sense of? I’m thinking it’s centered on the verse I’m particularly chewing on this morning.

I know, Lord, that Your judgments are just
and that You have afflicted me fairly.

(Psalms 119:75 CSB)

Slandered by liars, yet believing he has also been afflicted fairly by the Lord. Noodle on that for a bit. No wonder his cry is, “Give me understanding!”

God was not the author of the slander, nor did He evoke the lies, but He would permit the hardship and harness it for His purposes. He would allow the shame in order to sanctify His saint. And the remedy for the injustice suffered by the songwriter? God’s justice. The balm for the shame? The Word illuminated by the Spirit.

So, give me understanding.

By Your grace. For Your glory.