When It's Time for God to Act

When It’s Time for God to Act

Psalm 119:121–128

Ayin

Friends,

More than once, we’ve looked at what was happening around us, or to us, and wondered, “Lord, when are You going to do something about this?” I think that question gets us very close to the heart of this Sunday’s stanza, Ayin. As we’ve seen in previous stanzas, the psalmist is living under intense pressure. Here, he speaks of oppressors (v. 121) and the insolent (v. 122).

By verse 126, the problem has become even larger: “your law has been broken.” The psalmist isn’t only concerned about what people are doing to him. He looks around and sees people disregarding the Word of God. And then comes what I think may be the key verse of the stanza: “It is time for the LORD to act, for your law has been broken” (v. 126).

That’s a remarkable prayer. The psalmist knows what is right, loves what is right, and has tried to do what is right. But he also knows something we sometimes forget: he can’t make everything right. God must act.

Notice, though, what the psalmist does while he waits for God to act. He doesn’t take matters into his own hands. He asks God to protect him. He longs for God’s salvation. He asks God to teach him. And rather than allowing the lawlessness around him to weaken his love for

God’s Word, it deepens it: “Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold” (v. 127). That therefore is important. Other people’s rejection of God’s Word and lawless living makes the psalmist treasure it all the more.

So, here is the outline that is currently guiding my study this week and I’m thinking will form the blueprint for Sunday’s sermon.

Big Idea: The blessed life trusts God to act against what is wrong while continuing to live the blessed life of loving, learning, and living what is right.

First: Trust God to Defend You (vv. 121–123)

The psalmist begins with his own situation: “I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors” (121). He isn’t claiming sinless perfection. He’s saying that in this matter he has acted rightly, and now he entrusts himself to God.

Verse 123 gives us a vivid picture of his waiting: “My eyes long for your salvation.” He has looked for God’s deliverance so long that his eyes are weary with watching. Yet he keeps looking. Biblical waiting isn’t doing nothing. It’s never passive. It’s continuing to look toward God because we know our help, real help, must ultimately come from Him.

Second: Ask God to Teach You (vv. 124–125)

This is one of the things that strikes me most about the stanza. The psalmist is surrounded by wrongdoing, but his prayer isn’t simply, “Lord, straighten them out.” He says, “teach me your statutes” and “give me understanding.”

That is a wonderfully humble response to living in a world where other people are wrong.

Before asking God to deal with everyone else, the psalmist asks God to keep teaching him. And notice the basis of his prayer: “Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love”

(124). He doesn’t appeal to his own worthiness. He appeals to God’s hesed, His covenant love. The servant of God…and we…need both the love of God and the instruction of God.

Third: Love What God Loves While You Wait for Him to Act (vv. 126–128)

Now we reach the climax: “It is time for the LORD to act.” The psalmist sees God’s law being broken and longs for God to intervene. But verses 127–128 show us what he does in the meantime. He loves God’s commandments “above gold, above fine gold” (127). He considers God’s precepts right, and he hates “every false way” (128).

That may be the great challenge of Ayin. We can’t determine when God will act, but we can determine where we will stand and how we will behave while we wait. When the people around us treat God’s Word lightly, we treasure it. When others call false ways right, we

continue to call God’s ways right. And when it seems that evil is winning, we remember that

God has not surrendered His throne.

I think that progression gives us the heart of Ayin: trust, teachability, and treasure. We trust God to defend us. We ask Him to teach us. And we treasure His Word while we wait for Him to act.

There is also a wonderful gospel trajectory here for us. Jesus perfectly fulfilled what the psalmist desired to do and what he longs for others to do. Jesus always did what was just and right. He was oppressed by insolent men, yet He entrusted Himself to the Father. And when it appeared that evil had triumphed at the cross, God acted. He raised His Son from the dead. The resurrection reminds us that God will not allow evil to have the last word. There may be times when we cry with the psalmist, “It is time for the LORD to act.” And one day He will. Christ will return, every false way will be exposed, every wrong will be judged, and everything God has promised will be fulfilled. Until then, we wait with our eyes on Him, our hearts anchored in His steadfast love, and His Word treasured above fine gold. Now that’s a good Word to live on today.

And just before I close, let me say one more thing. Today is my 70th birthday, and one

thing I’m grateful for is you. Some of you have asked about the preaching: “What’s next, Pastor?” Well, we’ll finish Psalm 119 on Sunday, October 11. The plan is then to preach eight of the eleven psalms of the Sons of Korah before beginning Matthew, hopefully placing Matthew 1:18–25, the birth of Jesus, on Christmas Sunday, December 20th. If we begin Matthew on December 13th, 2026, I think we’ll finish sometime around August or September of 2028.

How’s that?

Once again, let me say “thank you,” for faithfully shepherding your CG. My prayer is that as you study Ayin this week, you will see that waiting for God to act doesn’t mean standing still spiritually. We keep trusting Him, learning from Him, and loving His Word.

In the love of Jesus for you and me, Pastor Reggie