Your promises have been thoroughly tested

.... and your servant loves them (Psalm 119:140 NIV). The different translations of the Hebrew that we find in English versions,  can be quite puzzling. The NKJV of this verse reads “Your word is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it.”  Let's start with “is pure” and “have been thoroughly tested.”  Leaving aside the confusing nature of Hebrew tenses, the verb underling the translations means to refine, as silver is refined.  Are we to say that the Word of God was in need of being refined?  Better not!  And in fact “The Words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace, like gold purified sevenfold” (Psalm 12:6),  hence the NKJV. The problem though is that the word we are seeking to translate is a verb,  and that is what  the NIV is trying to show.  JSP (1917) has “Thy word is tried to the uttermost, And Thy servant loveth it.”

So is it “promises” or is it “Words?”  No doubt you know the phrase “His word is his bond,” meaning his word is as good and as a firm  promise. Speaking to us,  Jesus puts it this way “let your 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no,' be 'no'” (Matthew 5:37). Since He does not say one thing,  and do another, God's promises are  “Yes and Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20).  In other words  God's Words are as good as a promise.   And His promises are “exceeding great and precious” (2 Peter 1:4), and “without a shadow of turning.” So then they are pure and completely reliable. The Psalmist had tested God's Words, His promises,  and had found them pure, trustworthy,  and true.  In a world where “all seek their own” (Philippians 2:21), and at a time when everything that can be shaken is being shaken, it is good to know that He, and His Word are thoroughly reliable and can be trusted.

One of my favourite hymns when I was first saved was “Great is thy faithfulness.” Righteousness had become very attractive to me, not that I was there, but I wanted to be. And His great mercy, faithfulness  and forgiveness contrasted so greatly with the lack of mercy,  unfaithfulness,  and unforgiveness that I had experienced both in my own behaviour and character,  and in the behaviour and character of those who had let me down. Here was rock, a source of peace and stability,  in the midst of so much that had been,  and was being,  shaken in my life at that time.  If there was a God, and that God was the God of the Bible, then His Word had to be pure, and as I accepted the invitation to taste and see,  it  become clear to me that His promises would stand up to being thoroughly tested.

Great is Thy faithfulness,  O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy comparisons they fail not. As Thou hast been Thou for ever shalt be. Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, morning by  morning Thy Mercies I see. All I have needed,  Thy Hand hast provided. Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me.  Thank You Lord for Your faithfulness,  Your promises and the purity of Your Word. I love them Lord, for You and they keep me grounded. I bless You Lord, hallelujah in Jesus Name Amen