Psalm 119:113-120 ס (Samekh)
A journey through Psalm 119
Psalm 119:113-120 ס (Samekh)
I hate the double-minded,
but I love your law.
You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
Depart from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.
Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
Hold me up, that I may be safe
and have regard for your statutes continually!
You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,
for their cunning is in vain.
All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,
therefore I love your testimonies.
My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments.
(ESV)
Divided Loyalty
“But what about…?”
It is a phrase people use to escape the consequences of bad choices. We see it in politics, on sports fields, and, sadly, often in churches. Rather than judging an action by what is true, people shift their standards according to who committed it. It rarely works the opposite way. Few people try to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10 ESV). In this media-driven culture, people often hesitate to stand firm for anything, just in case there are social ramifications. They are סֵעֲפִים (sēʿăpîm), divided within themselves, changing allegiances with the winds.
The psalmist says that he hates the divided people in verse 113 of Psalm 119, and then notes that God Himself spurns those who stray from His statutes through deceit. Such people compromise their individual testimonies but can also infiltrate the Church and distract the faithful from the hope of the Word. Paul wrote to Titus, advising him to “avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law.” He said that after two warnings, people who stir up division should be avoided (Titus 3:9–10). Inner dividedness can eventually become disruption within the community. However, it is hard to avoid people who were once committed to the Lord but choose to branch away. This is where the psalmist returns to the Word.
The Word of God is both a hiding place and a shield. It offers truth and refuge that can keep the believer singly devoted to God and God alone. The psalmist, illustrating the very thing Paul recommends, tells the evildoers to “go away” so that he can focus on what is true.
Upheld
At the same time, the psalmist understands that even if his enemies leave him alone, he still has to deal with his own tendency to wander from the statutes he loves. The central part of this section is his plea: “Uphold me… Hold me up” (Psalm 119:116–117). Without the power of God, no one can stand against the temptation to think, “But what about…?” When God provides the support, it becomes possible to live faithfully and without shame. Spurgeon put it this way:
Such is the frailty of our nature that unless we are continually upheld by grace, we shall fall so foully as to be ashamed of ourselves, and ashamed of all those glorious hopes which are now the crown and glory of our life (3961).
There are times, indeed, when we are our own worst enemies. Our resolutions are nothing without the hand of God holding us up every moment of every day. The love of God upholds us so that we can faithfully obey out of our love for Him.
Fear and Trembling
In the end, God will deal with both the wicked and the ambivalent. The realization that no one is without failure and that every heart is deceitful must shock us (Romans 3:23; Jeremiah 17:9). How we respond to that fact illustrates who we are. We either ignore it and call out the “what about…” scenarios, or we tremble with fear at the judgment pronounced by a holy and just God. Spurgeon wrote, “Even the severities of the Lord excite the love of his people” because they produce “filial fear which leads to reverence and obedience” (3963, 3964).
In other words, when we recognize our utter helplessness before a holy God, we can only beg Him to uphold us and cry out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 ESV). We have hope in His Word that will not put us to shame because He holds us up.
Post from 2020:
The Lord is our shield, and our faith is how we hold it up as protection against the “flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16). Without God, we have no hope. Hope in His word is not a wish, but a sure conviction and assurance that it means what it says, and that God’s promises are true (Romans 5:5). There is no shame for trusting in the Father.
Hope and faith are inextricably woven into our shield of protection. As long as we hold fast to it, we can withstand any assault against us. This year seems to be the year of assaults. A worldwide pandemic, nationwide protests and riots, and individual job losses and uncertainty definitely challenge our faith if we are not well armed with the promises of God. The Father will hold us up and keep us spiritually safe no matter what the world throws at us. Our responsibility is to stay true to His statutes and build up a strong defense.
There is another reason to be perpetually prepared to hold tightly to the full armor of God. The first 7 verses of this part of Psalm 119 proclaim God’s protection of the faithful, but the last acknowledges fear of God’s judgment. If the psalmist has faith, why does he fear?
God is holy, perfect in all His ways and only He is righteous to save. If our faith is misdirected to our intellect, our creativity, our humanity, or our policies, we will be subject to the judgment on those things; they cannot protect us. Faith that keeps us safe is in the Father who loves us so much that He sent His Son as our redemption (John 3:16). Nothing else matters if Jesus is not our perfect redeemer as He claimed to be. If we want to be confident in hope that doesn’t disappoint and in faith that shields us, we must examine ourselves and make sure our trust remains in Christ alone (2 Corinthians 13:5; 2 Peter 1:10).
A NOTE:
Psalm 119 is too rich and too vast to leave to my own thoughts. Six years ago I was content to share my personal responses as I navigated the events of the summer of 2020, but since then, I have learned to frame my responses in light of scholarship and thoughtful research.
Psalm 119 is also too rich and too vast to delve deeply into centuries of scholarship for anything less than a multi-volume publication, the scope of which is beyond a simple devotion on Substack. For this project, then, I have decided to limit my external references to a few trusted sources that will be listed in the “References and Resources” at the end of each article. Primarily, I will rely on the wisdom of Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s treatment of Psalm 119 in The Treasury of David: The Complete Seven Volumes, the NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, and Blue Letter Bible online for its translations. Bible Gateway has extensive resources and I will include those as I use them.
References and Resources
Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash
Blue Letter Bible. Sowing Circle, 1996–2025, www.blueletterbible.org. Accessed 13 Apr. 2026.
Coogan, Michael D., et al., editors. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 2018.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2001. Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com.
The Holy Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2015.
*Spurgeon, Charles H. The Treasury of David: The Complete Seven Volumes. Hendrickson Publishers, 2004. Kindle ed. (Note: A hard copy in three volumes is available here.)
Walton, John H., and Craig S. Keener, editors. NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. Zondervan, 2019. (Note: the NRSV is out of print, but the NIV is available here, and the NKJV here.)
*I cannot recommend this text highly enough. Each page’s wisdom demands reflection and return to the Scriptures.