The Nugget:
Psalm 119:42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.
My Comment:
Saints trust in the Scriptures (The New Topical Textbook, subheading under the main heading “The Scriptures,” page 240).
“Saints” is a Bible term for ordinary believers in the Bible. The Psalmist speaks in Psalm 119:41, “Let thy mercies come also unto me,” and he follows that thought with Psalm 119:42, “So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.”
The Bible is surely one Book you can confidently place your trust in. It has stood the test of time. It has survived the constant attacks of its enemies.
It has rendered the opinions of so-called “higher critics” utter foolishness. It has been proven accurate time after time by the findings of archeology in the Holy Land and neighboring regions. Just consult the Archaeology Study Bible as one readily obtainable resource on that score.
When I sometimes encounter the remarks of atheists in comments on the Internet (notice, despite my invitation to atheists to post comments here, they have fallen strangely silent!), I lament their lack of basic knowledge of the Bible and its proofs.
Now many years ago, a lawyer (Irwin H. Linton, who practiced law before the U.S. Supreme Court) wrote a book called A Lawyer Examines the Bible. Now there is a most valuable book to sink your teeth into. Mr. Linton affirmed he had never met a single atheist who had done a lawyer-like examination of the Bible, studying the arguments both for and against it. Mr. Linton said he had never met an atheist who had read so much as even one of the standard classic scholarly works written in defense of the Bible and the truth of Christianity. Neither have I met such a person.
Sometimes I have met atheists or agnostics who have read books against the Bible or Christianity, like Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason, or Bertrand Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian, or the works of Robert Ingersoll, an atheist of a former generation. But they have never read scholarly books in defense of the Bible and Christianity.
I met the top attorney for the legal firm in Dearborn, Michigan that handles the legal affairs of the Ford Motor Company. One of his staff attorneys was a student or member of my Sunday school class for college and career age young people, the Lamplighter Class, at Covenant Baptist Church. He was most concerned about his boss, for his boss had been active in a Baptist church, but had turned away from God and the Bible, and now claimed for some years to be an atheist. I went at my student’s request and the permission and invitation of his boss to meet his boss at the law office.
What was to be a twenty-minute meeting lasted about two hours. The boss claimed to have read books in defense of Christianity, but said they were unconvincing. I asked him to name just one of those books–but he claimed he could not recall any titles. I said, “That’s fine. I’ll start naming some books I have in my own library, and when you hear a title or author that you recall having read, we can discuss it in detail here and now.” When I got to the title by Linton, A Lawyer Examines the Bible, he thought he recalled reading that one. So, I pulled it out of my briefcase and handed it to him. I asked him to point out any argument Linton presents that he felt was flawed. He confessed, upon having the actual book in his hands, that he in fact had not read it. I presented other probably unanswerable evidence in support of the Bible. He thanked me for sharing with him. I do not personally know what ultimate impact that meeting had on this high-powered attorney. Certainly he had no argument to present against belief in the Bible for which I did not have a ready answer that day.
The Psalmist says he placed his trust in God’s Word, the Bible. The Bible equipped the Psalmist to have an answer for those who would try to put him to shame.
If anyone who reads this post has a question they want answered about the Bible, or who thinks they have an argument against what I have written in support of the Bible, feel free to post your comment below. If you are not able to trust the Bible, why not?
And if there are any atheists or agnostics out there (especially if you favor such groups as the American Humanist Association, or the Freedom from Religion Foundation, or the Southern Poverty Law Center, or belong to any such group), here is your chance to either get your questions answered, or present your case against the Bible. Your posts, if in your own words and on topic, will be approved, and will be answered with gentleness and respect. I check for new comments that require my approval at least once a day, usually in the evening. So you might have to wait a day to see your comment appear if you have never posted here before.
For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:
(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 629 for Psalm 119:42.
(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 673 or in Logos 5 Bible software for Psalm 119:42.
(3) Lacking access to those two resources, consult the cross references for this passage as I have developed them as given below:
Psalm 119:42. So shall. Ps 3:2, 3. 42:10. *Ps 71:10, 11. 109:25. *Mt 27:40-43, 63. have wherewith, etc. or, answer him that reproacheth me in a thing. ver. Ps 119:22, 39. Ps 42:3, 10. 1 S 2:3. 2 S 16:7, 8. 19:18-20. Pr 27:11. **1 P 3:15. +*2 P 1:16, 19. for I trust. T#1092. ver. Ps 119:49, 74, 81. *Ps 56:4, 10, 11. 71:1. **Ps 89:19-37. 91:2. +**2 S 7:12-16. 1 Ch 28:3-6. +**Is 55:3. Mic 7:8. *Ac 27:25. in thy word. ver. Ps 119:9, 49, 81. Ps 130:5. +*Jsh 1:8.
ps 119.42 So I shall have an answer for him who reproaches me, for i trust in
thy word.
cross refs.
psm 42.10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me.
acts 27.25 therefore keep your courage,men, for i believe God, that it
will turn out exactly as i have been told.
My question is a bit off subject, but hoping maybe you can shed some light on the issue of Satan once being a top angel. Heaven is supposed to be perfect, so how is it possible that the most pure form of evil, the devil, could have originated there? If this could happen to a top angel, will this also be true for people who go to heaven?
That is a very good question, Michelle!
The Bible seems to indicate that Satan, the devil, was not always bad. He was created perfect in the beginning. But once he rebelled, he lost his innocence, lost that perfection, and has been in rebellion ever since.
Some hints about all this can be found in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 as well as the book of Job, chapters 1 and 2 in particular. Psalm 82 provides additional insight into what could be called God’s “heavenly council.”
I believe that when we get to heaven as believers in Jesus Christ, we in our glorified bodies (Philippians 3:21) will not have a sinful nature, and we will never will to sin. We will be like Christ (1 John 3:2).