Your Steadfast Love

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

August 17, 2025

Psalm 119:81-88

 “Summer in the Psalms: Your Steadfast Love”

The story is told that years ago, during a pastoral vacancy here in this congregation, a retired pastor in the area was serving on this particular Sunday as vacancy pastor with preaching and leading worship. He was assisted by a now deceased member of the congregation who was serving as Lay Assistant. The appointed psalm was a portion of Psalm 119, just like today – emphasis on a portion of Psalm 119; not the entire 176 verses of the psalm. For whatever reason, the Lay Assistant did not seem to understand this, and was leading the congregation in speaking responsively all 176 verses of Psalm 119. Back then, the responsive reading of the psalm was done from the hymnal vs. printing out in the bulletin as we do now. If you look in the front part of the hymnal, there is a section that includes the psalms. If you find Psalm 119 there, you will see that it’s about seven pages long. I am told that this went on for a while as the Lay Assistant and congregation were dutifully marching their way through a good bit of Psalm 119. Finally, after some time had passed and the congregation was well into the psalm, the vacancy pastor finally interrupted this and said: “Alright, I think we’re done with the psalm for today.” I’m sure there was a collective sigh of relief from the congregation with this intervention as people put their hymnals away and the service moved on. Let me put your mind at rest today: we are focusing only on a few selected verses from Psalm 119. We’re looking at verses 81-88 under the theme “Your Steadfast Love.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Based on what I just shared with you, the big question on everyone’s mind might be: so why is Psalm 119 so long? It’s longer by far than any other psalm, but why? The length of Psalm 119 is intentional because it is based on the Hebrew alphabet, of which there are twenty-two characters or letters. This is called an alphabetical acrostic. An acrostic is a poem or word arrangement in which certain letters in each line spell out a word, motto, etc. Psalm 119 is divided up into twenty-two stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and these are noted in the heading before each stanza. Each of those twenty-two stanzas contains eight lines all beginning with the same Hebrew letter. So when we do the math here, we have 22 stanzas (one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet) x 8 lines per stanza, giving us a grand total of 176 total lines in Psalm 119. Almost every line within the psalm contains the word “law” or a similar word, such as “commandments,” “testimonies,” “ways,” or “precepts.” Check it out in your pew Bibles!

All of this by way of introduction to that section of Psalm 119 that is before us today, verses 81-88. This is one psalm not attributed to David, and its author is unknown to us. Psalm 119 is a plea for deliverance from enemies. Look at what the psalmist writes: “My eyes long for your promise; I ask, ‘When will you comfort me?’… How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me?... they persecute me with falsehood; help me! They have almost made an end of me on earth” (Psalm 119:82, 84, 86b, 87a). This is someone who is in desperate straits; backed into a corner; pursued by those intent on destroying him. That is a terrible place to be. Maybe some of you know what that is like from personal experience: fearful days, sleepless nights, with no end in sight. Where do you turn? What do you do? In the midst of all of his insecurities and uncertainties, the psalmist answers his own question: “In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth” (Psalm 119:88). Only the steadfast love of the Lord will see a person through such a time.

Those two words, “steadfast love,” are pivotal in understanding who God is. Sometimes this is translated as “lovingkindness,” or “mercy,” or “faithfulness.” The root word here is chesed (חֵסֵד), which, like many words in the original Hebrew or Greek of Scripture, doesn’t always have a corresponding word in English that makes for a good translation. This word is used literally hundreds of times within the Old Testament, and it is ascribed to the Lord. It is the steadfast love of the Lord that gives life. Without this, as the psalmist writes, “I have become like a wineskin in the smoke” (Psalm 119:83a). What does that mean? A wineskin needs to be supple, elastic and flexible in order to hold wine or water. If a wineskin is left in smoke, it will dry out and start to crack. It will become brittle and stiff; likely to break apart. That’s a pretty graphic image of what the psalmist feels like: dried out, cracking open, and ready to break apart. At times, this is how we may feel also. We feel exhausted, beaten down, and ready to throw in the towel. How do we move beyond this? Drawing on that wineskin image, how do we become reconditioned and restored? The psalmist’s prayer to the Lord is our own prayer today: “In your steadfast love give me life” (Psalm 119:88a).

That steadfast love which gives life has been poured out into the world which God dearly loves. That steadfast love has been given to us through God’s only begotten Son, Jesus, who came to bring us forgiveness of our sins, eternal life and salvation through his life-giving death upon the cross and his glorious resurrection from the dead. Today’s Epistle lesson (Hebrews 11:17-31, 12:1-3) closes with words of great encouragement. When we are feeling like that wineskin in the smoke – depleted, worn out, ready to break apart, let us remember that the steadfast love of the Lord gives us life. Let us find encouragement and strength for the way forward, as the Word of God tells us: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:1-3).

Today, tomorrow, and all the days to come, let our prayer be: “In your steadfast love give me life” (Psalm 119:88a). Amen.