A Lamp to My Feet: Psalm 119 Week 5

H.M. Coker

10 Jun, 2024

A Lamp to My Feet: Psalm 119 Week 5

Click here for the free printable download of “A Lamp to My Feet: Psalm 119, Week 5.”

This is the final week of our Psalm 119 study. Whether you have been doing this study alone or with a group, I’d love to hear about what God has done in your life as you have dwelt richly in His Word. Send me an email at Surpassing-Worth.com.

Week 5, Day 1:

Pray: Dear Lord, Thank You for making us one body in Christ.  You so composed the body giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that we may have the same care for one another.  If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.  We are the body of Christ and individually members of it.  (See 1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

Hear: As you studied the Psalmist’s “I action” statements last week, did you see another group emerging in the text? 

  1. Read Psalm 119 and highlight in blue everything you learn about “those who fear the Lord.”
  2. If you have not already done so, begin a new page in your Cross-Referencing Journal entitled “Those Who Fear the Lord.”  Then, take notes on everything the text of Psalm 119 teaches you regarding those who fear the Lord.  

Do: So far, I have assigned a memory verse to you for each week of our study.  This week I want you to choose a memory verse.  Think about the areas God has been working on in your life.  Has there been one verse or a section of verses that God has brought to your mind to guard your way (Psalm 119:9) and to keep you from sinning against Him (Psalm 119:11)?  Has a verse taught you a truth you never knew before?  Spend some time in prayer, then write your memory verse for the week in the space below. 

Your final assignment for today is to share your memory verse with another believer.  If you are studying Psalm 119 with a group, then text your memory verse to the entire group.  If you are studying alone then ask the Holy Spirit to lay on your heart a fellow believer who would be encouraged by this verse and share it with them in a note or a text. 

Week 5, Day 2:

Pray: Dear Lord, Teach me Your way and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.” (Psalm 27:11).

Hear:  What about those who were afflicting the Psalmist?  What are their actions?  What is their character like? What will be their end? 

  1. Read Psalm 119 and highlight in red everything you learn about the wicked person/persons afflicting the Psalmist.  If you don’t have a red highlighter, you could underline these sections with a red pen.  You may have to overlap some of what you have already highlighted in orange, that’s ok. 
  2. Write down everything you learned in Psalm 119 about the wicked person/persons afflicting the Psalmist.

Do: Jesus teaches, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father Who is in heaven.  For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).  Who was the last person to persecute you?  Pray for them right now, by name. 

Week 5, Day 3:

Pray: Dear Lord, You are good and upright; therefore You instruct sinners in the way.  You lead the humble in what is right and teach the humble in Your way.  All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep Your covenant and Your testimonies. (Psalm 25:8-10)

Hear: In Psalm 119:126 the Psalmist writes, “It is time for the Lord to act, for Your law has been broken.”

  1. Read Psalm 119 again.  This time highlight in purple everything you learn about the Lord.
  2. When you are done highlighting, open your Cross-Referencing Journal to the section on God and write everything you have learned about Him from the text of Psalm 119.

Do: God has revealed truths about Himself to us in His Word and in our study of Psalm 119 we have learned that His Word will stand forever (Psalm 119:89,152,160).  “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8).  God always acts in faithfulness and accordance with His Word (Psalm 119:90, 138).  “God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind.  Has He said, and will He not do it?  Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19).  “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God Who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9).  Spend time in prayer and praise Him for each of the truths you learned about Him today.  Let these truths sink deep into your heart that in the midst of affliction you may remember them and hold fast. 

Week 5, Day 4:

Pray: Dear Lord, I know from Your Word that many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in You.  I am glad in You, and I rejoice and shout for joy.  (Psalm 32:10-11)

Hear: Let’s Review what we have learned this week.  As was the case last week, use your notes and the text of Psalm 119 to answer the questions and only refer to my references as I guide if you get stuck. 

  1. How does the Psalmist regard those who fear the Lord? (Psalm 119:63)
  2. When those who fear the Lord see the Psalmist, what do they do?  Why? (Psalm 119:74)
  3. Why does the Psalmist want those who fear the Lord to turn to him? (Psalm 119:79) (Does this bring your mind back to our study of Philippians?  You may want to cross-reference Philippians 3:17, 4:9, and 1 Corinthians 11:1.)
  4. What are the wicked like? What terms are used to describe them? (Psalm 119:21, 23, 53, 70, 113, 115, 118, 122, 161)
  5. How do the wicked act in regard to the Word of God? (Psalm 119:21, 53, 85, 118, 136, 139, 150, 155, 158)
  6. What are the wicked’s actions toward the Psalmist in Psalm 119? (Psalm 119:51, 61, 69, 78, 150, 161)
  7. How does the Lord deal with the wicked (Psalm 119:21, 118, 119, 155)
  8. Read through your CRJ entry from day two.  In the space below, write everything that could complete the sentence, “The Lord is…” (Psalm 119:12, 57, 68, 90, 114, 137, 149, 156, 171).
  9. Use a word study concordance book or app to look up the definition, in their original Hebrew, of any of the words from #8 you don’t understand.  Be sure to look at verse 12, “blessed” (H1288) (this is not the same word we looked up in week one) and verse 57, “portion” (H2506).
  10. Last week we saw how the Psalmist cried out to God in his affliction.  Does the Lord answer the Psalmist’s prayers? (Psalm 119:26)
  11. We have learned that the Psalmist hoped in the Word.  Through Whom does the Psalmist hope in the Word? (Psalm 119:49)
  12. What is the earth full of? (Psalm 119:64)
  13. In the midst of affliction, the Psalmist remembers what unchanging truths in Psalm 119:68a?
  14. What does Psalm 119 teach us regarding the Lord as Creator? (Psalm 119:73, 90)
  15. What is it that comforts the Psalmist? (Psalm 119:76)
  16. How long does God’s faithfulness endure? (Psalm 119:90)
  17. Who teaches us? (Psalm 119:102, 171)
  18. In verse 137 we see that the Lord is Righteous (if you don’t know what this word means, be sure to look it up).  How long will His Righteousness last?  Will He ever stop being righteous? (Psalm 119:142)
  19. In what did the Lord appoint His testimonies? (Psalm 119:138)
  20. We have already seen that the Lord is merciful, but how is His mercy described in Psalm 119:156?
  21. How does the Lord act toward those who love His name? (Psalm 119:65, 94, 114, 132, 168)
  22. Read Psalm 1 and write everything you learn which correlates to this week’s lesson.
  23. Read Romans 12:9-21 and write everything you learn which correlates to this week’s lesson.

Do: Spend time in prayer and journal about all God has taught you in this study.  Think about what specific things have changed in your life since you began five weeks ago.  What do you plan to do differently as you move forward? 

Week 5, Day 5:

Pray: Dear Lord, You are my Shepherd; I shall not want.  You make me lie down in green pastures.  You lead me beside still waters.  You restore my soul.  You lead me in paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in Your house forever.  Amen.  (Psalm 23)

Hear: We have learned so many rich truths over the past five weeks.  Today’s assignments may take more than one day to complete, in fact I expect it to. 

  1. First: If you have not already done so, neatly transfer all of your highlights and notes to your Bible.  I love transferring my notes to my Bible.  What a blessing it is to have the cross-references listed in the margins and to see reminders of the passages God used to conform me more into the image of His Son.  How lovely it will be a year from now to be able to open to Psalm 119 and walk someone through what it teaches us about God, God’s Word, and Affliction by simply following the colored highlights.  
  2. Second: Set up a review schedule for yourself.  There are many ways you could do this. You could assign one day of every month to a specific book of the Bible.  Use the review day to read the entire book, review your memory verses from that book, read through your Cross-Reference Journal entries for that book, and do the Comprehensive Review which can be found at the end of this lesson.   Don’t forget to put the review days on your calendar and set reminders on your phone. You could also have weekly review days for specific aspects of your studies.  For example, you could commit to reviewing all of your old memory verses for 20 minutes every Sunday and to reading your entire Cross-Reference Journal for an hour every Monday (this is another reason why it is so important you write your Cross-Reference Journal using the exact words of Scripture).
  3. Third: Work on hiding in your heart all the truths you have learned, that you might not sin against God (Psalm 119:11).  At the end of the lesson is a brief review of Psalm 119.  To use this review, answer each question using the exact words of Scripture.  Then go through the questions again, covering the answers with a notecard and see if you can answer each question from memory using the words of Scripture.  If you can say the answer accurately, then put a little check mark by that question, you have buried that truth in your heart.  When you get through all the questions, go back to the beginning and repeat the process on any questions without checks until you have all of the truths memorized.  Isn’t it an amazing blessing to see how much Scripture you have memorized through daily studying the Word?!

Comprehensive Review:

  1. Review your memory verses.
  2. Write the memory verse you selected for Week 5.
  3. The Bible is composed of different forms of literature.  For example, Genesis is a book of history and Philippians is a letter.  What kind of literary writing is Psalm 119?
  4. Who are the principal people or groups of people you see in this Psalm?
  5. Who is the Psalmist speaking (singing) to in Psalm 119?  (Psalm 119:1-12)
  6. According to Psalm 119:1-4, who is blessed? 
  7. How has God commanded His precepts to be kept? (119:4)
  8. What motivated the Psalmist to write Psalm 119?  What is he experiencing?
  9. What is the Psalmist’s comfort in his affliction? (Psalm 119:50)
  10. If God’s law had not been the Psalmist’s delight, what does the Psalmist say would have happened to him?  (Psalm 119:92)
  11. Before he was afflicted, he went astray, but now what? (Psalm 119:67)
  12. The Psalmist says it was good for him that he was afflicted, Why? (Psalm 119:71)
  13. Is God faithful even in affliction? (Psalm 119:75)
  14. Who does the Psalmist ask to deliver him from his affliction? (119:153)
  15. What words are used by the Psalmist to signify the Word of God?
  16. How are God’s rules described in Psalm 119:39?
  17. Is God’s Word always upright and righteous? (verse 62, 75, 137, 144, 172)
  18. Can we trust God’s Word?  Is It a firm and secure foundation for us? Is God’s Word true?  What is truth?  (verse 86, 140, 142, 151, 160)
  19. How long will the Lord’s Word last? (verse 89, 111, 144, 152, 160)
  20. Is there a limit to the perfection of God’s Word? (verse 96)
  21. What are we given by/through the Word of God? (verse 98, 104, 105, 130, 165, 50, 93)
  22. How does the Psalmist describe God’s testimonies in verses 24, 111, and 129?
  23. What does the Psalmist ask for in Psalm 119?  List the primary categories of things he requests. (refer to your notes from week 4)
  24. Why?  What are the reasons he gives for why he makes these requests?  What is his motivation?  To Whose glory is it?
  25. What does he appeal to? 
  26. What does he spend almost no time at all asking for? (Psalm 119:78, 84, and 126)
  27. Do you remember the general themes of the Psalmist’s “I action” statements? 
  28. Is the Word of God meant to be merely read or is it also to be actively obeyed?  How do you know from your study of Psalm 119? (8, 22, 33, 34, 44, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 69, 100, 101, 106, 112, 121, 129, 145, 166, 167, 168)
  29. Is keeping the Word a passive action?  (10, 31, 45, 94)
  30. How does the Psalmist approaches keeping the Lord’s commandments? (Psalm 119:34, 44, 60, 69, and 112)
  31. Do we have a choice whether we obey the Word or not? (30, 108, 112, 173)
  32. Does the Psalmist trust the Word?  Does he believe what It says? (42, 66, 128)
  33. How does the Psalmist feel about the Word of God?  (14, 16, 20, 24, 35, 40, 47, 48, 70, 81, 82, 97, 113, 119, 123, 131, 161, 163, 167, 174)
  34. How does he regard the Word in comparison to worldly wealth? (14, 127, 162, you may also want to refer back to verse 72 and his prayers in verses 36-37)
  35. Remember he is in a season of severe affliction, yet how does he approach God in this season? (7, 62, 108, 164, 171, 172)
  36. What does the Psalmist place his hope in? (43, 74, 81, 114, 166)
  37. Does the Psalmist keep quiet about the Word? (13, 46)
  38. How does the Psalmist feel about the ungodliness being carried out by the wicked? (Psalm 119:53, 104, 113, 128, 136, 139, 158, 163)
  39. What does the Psalmist say over and over that he does not and will not do? (Psalm 119:16, 51, 61, 83, 87, 93, 102, 109, 110, 141, 153, 157, 176)
  40. How does the Psalmist regard those who fear the Lord? (Psalm 119:63)
  41. When those who fear the Lord see the Psalmist, what do they do?  Why? (Psalm 119:74)
  42. Why does the Psalmist want those who fear the Lord to turn to him? (Psalm 119:79)
  43. What are the wicked like? What terms are used to describe them? (Psalm 119:21, 23, 53, 70, 113, 115, 118, 122, 161)
  44. How do the wicked act in regard to the Word of God? (Psalm 119:21, 53, 85, 118, 136, 139, 150, 155, 158)
  45. What are the wicked’s actions toward the Psalmist in Psalm 119? (Psalm 119:51, 61, 69, 78, 150, 161)
  46. How does the Lord deal with the wicked (Psalm 119:21, 118, 119, 155)
  47. “The Lord is…” (Psalm 119:12, 57, 68, 90, 114, 137, 149, 156, 171).
  48. We have seen how the Psalmist cried out to God in his affliction.  Does the Lord answer the Psalmist’s prayers? (Psalm 119:26)
  49. We have learned that the Psalmist hoped in the Word.  Through Whom does the Psalmist hope in the Word? (Psalm 119:49)
  50. What is the earth full of? (Psalm 119:64)
  51. In the midst of affliction, the Psalmist remembers what unchanging truths in Psalm 119:68a?
  52. What does Psalm 119 teach us regarding the Lord as Creator? (Psalm 119:73, 90)
  53. What is it that comforts the Psalmist? (Psalm 119:76)
  54. How long does God’s faithfulness endure? (Psalm 119:90)
  55. Who teaches us? (Psalm 119:102, 171)
  56. In verse 137 we see that the Lord is Righteous.  How long will His Righteousness last?  Will He ever stop being righteous? (Psalm 119:142)
  57. In what did the Lord appoint His testimonies? (Psalm 119:138)
  58. We have already seen that the Lord is merciful, but how is His mercy described in Psalm 119:156?
  59. How does the Lord act toward those who love His name? (Psalm 119:65, 94, 114, 132, 168)

Do: Once you are finished, go share these truths with someone else. 

All verses are taken from the ESV translation unless otherwise noted.