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Psalm | 7 | 8 | 16 | 22 | 23 | 29 | 34 | 63 | 73 | 90 | 91 | 107 | 110 | 119 | 138 | 139 |

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This Bible study on Psalm 119 contains outlines, extensive cross-references, Bible study discussion questions, lessons to learn, and applications.  Visit our inductive Bible studies for more studies on this and other books of the Bible.

Psalm 119: Inductive Bible Study

Psalm 119:65-72

He is Good, and Does Good

Summary- God’s word is central to His character. He deals with us on that basis. We learn discernment and knowledge through Him. He uses it to draw us closer to Himself through affliction. His actions are a direct outpouring of His character. His word keeps us safe from the lies and attacks of our enemies. It is more valuable to me than all material gain.

Central Teaching- His word reflects His character. He never does anything contrary to it, and it is always for our best.

Key Words- good, affliction, teach, learn

Key Verse- 68

Ten things this passage says-

Ten things this passage does NOT say-

What does this passage teach me about God?

He deals graciously with us, according to His character.

His character is exactly as His word displays it.

He teaches me good discernment and knowledge.

He uses affliction to grow my character.

He is good and does good.

His word supersedes the lies of the arrogant.

He desires that His children be teachable.

His law is better than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Questions-

How has the Lord treated us? V65

What are some ways that His word says He treats us? V65

As His servants, how should we respond to this kind of treatment? V65

How does He teach me good discernment and knowledge? V66

What are some examples of using good discernment? V66

Why do you think good discernment and knowledge are paired here? V66

What is the backbone for having good discernment? V66

What is our natural state of behavior? V67

How should our behavior be changed by affliction? V67

How does affliction help us keep to His word? V67

How do we know that He is good? V68

What has He done that is good in your life? V68

How could this promise affect the way we view circumstances in our lives? V68

What is one danger of Christian life, according to this verse? V69

What kind of lies might arrogant people tell against us? V69

Why do you think it specifies that “arrogant” people are the ones who tell the lies? V69

What should our response be to this kind of persecution? V69

What does it mean “their heart is covered with fat”? V70

How should our response to God’s word be different than these people’s? V70

What are some signs that we are properly delighting in God’s law? V70

What should our attitude be towards affliction? V71

Why is it good for us to be afflicted? V71

How can we learn His statutes through affliction? V71

What should our attitude towards God’s law be, according to this verse? V72

What are some practical ways we can tell whether or not our attitude towards God’s law is correct? V72

Cross References-

Psalm 119:65-

1 Chron 29:14

14 “But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You.

Ps 13:6

6 I will sing to the LORD,

Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Ps 16:5-6

5 The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You support my lot.

6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

Ps 23:5

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Ps 116:7

7 Return to your rest, O my soul,

For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

Psalm 119:66-

1 Kings 3:9

9 “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

1 Kings 3:28

28 When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

Ps 72:1-2

Give the king Your judgments, O God,

And Your righteousness to the king’s son.

2 May he judge Your people with righteousness

And Your afflicted with justice.

Ps 119:34

34 Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law

And keep it with all my heart.

Prov 2:1-9

My son, if you will receive my words

And treasure my commandments within you,

2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom,

Incline your heart to understanding;

3 For if you cry for discernment,

Lift your voice for understanding;

4 If you seek her as silver

And search for her as for hidden treasures;

5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD

And discover the knowledge of God.

6 For the LORD gives wisdom;

From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

8 Guarding the paths of justice,

And He preserves the way of His godly ones.

9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice

And equity and every good course.

Prov 8:20

20 “I walk in the way of righteousness,

In the midst of the paths of justice,

Isa 11:2-4

2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,

The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and strength,

The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

3 And He will delight in the fear of the LORD,

And He will not judge by what His eyes see,

Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor,

And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;

And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,

And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

Matt 13:11

11 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

Phil 1:9

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

James 3:13-18

13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Ps 119:128

128 Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything,

I hate every false way.

Ps 119:160

160 The sum of Your word is truth,

And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.

Ps 25:5

5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation;

For You I wait all the day.

Ps 25:9

9 He leads the humble in justice,

And He teaches the humble His way.

Psalm 119:67-

Deut 32:15

15 “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked —

You are grown fat, thick, and sleek —

Then he forsook God who made him,

And scorned the Rock of his salvation.

2 Sam 10:19

19 When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans feared to help the sons of Ammon anymore.

Ps 119:176

176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant,

For I do not forget Your commandments.

Prov 1:32

32 “For the waywardness of the naive will kill them,

And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

Jer 22:21

21 “I spoke to you in your prosperity;

But you said, “I will not listen!’

This has been your practice from your youth,

That you have not obeyed My voice.

Ps 119:75

75 I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous,

And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

Jer 31:18-19

18 “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving,

‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised,

Like an untrained calf;

Bring me back that I may be restored,

For You are the LORD my God.

19’For after I turned back, I repented;

And after I was instructed, I smote on my thigh;

I was ashamed and also humiliated

Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’

Hos 2:6-7

6 “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns,

And I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.

7 “She will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;

And she will seek them, but will not find them.

Then she will say, “I will go back to my first husband,

For it was better for me then than now!’

Hos 5:15

15 I will go away and return to My place

Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;

In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

Hos 6:1

“Come, let us return to the LORD.

For He has torn us, but He will heal us;

He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

Heb 12:10-11

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Rev 3:10

10 “Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

Job 33:19

19 “Man is also chastened with pain on his bed,

And with unceasing complaint in his bones;

Ps 94:12

12 Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O LORD,

And whom You teach out of Your law;

Eccl 7:3

3 Sorrow is better than laughter,

For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.

2 Cor 4:17

17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

James 1:12

12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

James 4:9

9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

Psalm 119:68-

Ex 33:18-19

18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”

19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

Ex 34:6-7

6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Ps 86:5

5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,

And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.

Ps 106:1

Praise the LORD!

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Ps 107:1

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Ps 145:7-9

7 They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness

And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

8 The LORD is gracious and merciful;

Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.

9 The LORD is good to all,

And His mercies are over all His works.

Isa 63:7

7 I shall make mention of the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, the praises of the LORD,

According to all that the LORD has granted us,

And the great goodness toward the house of Israel,

Which He has granted them according to His compassion

And according to the abundance of His lovingkindnesses.

Matt 5:45

45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matt 19:17

17 And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Mark 10:18

18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

Ps 25:8-9

8 Good and upright is the LORD;

Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.

9 He leads the humble in justice,

And He teaches the humble His way.

Ps 119:12

12 Blessed are You, O LORD;

Teach me Your statutes.

Ps 119:26

26 I have told of my ways, and You have answered me;

Teach me Your statutes.

Psalm 119:69-

Job 13:4

4 “But you smear with lies;

You are all worthless physicians.

Ps 35:11

11 Malicious witnesses rise up;

They ask me of things that I do not know.

Ps 109:2-3

2 For they have opened the wicked and deceitful mouth against me;

They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,

And fought against me without cause.

Jer 43:2-3

2 Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, “You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’; 3 but Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.”

Matt 5:11-12

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Acts 24:5

5 “For we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

Acts 24:13

13 “Nor can they prove to you the charges of which they now accuse me.

Ps 119:51

51 The arrogant utterly deride me,

Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.

Ps 119:157

157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,

Yet I do not turn aside from Your testimonies.

Ps 119:34

34 Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law

And keep it with all my heart.

Matt 6:24

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

James 1:8

8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Psalm 119:70-

Ps 17:10

10 They have closed their unfeeling heart,

With their mouth they speak proudly.

Ps 73:7

7 Their eye bulges from fatness;

The imaginations of their heart run riot.

Isa 6:10

10 “Render the hearts of this people insensitive,

Their ears dull,

And their eyes dim,

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

Hear with their ears,

Understand with their hearts,

And return and be healed.”

Acts 28:27

27 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL,

AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR,

AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES;

OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES,

AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS,

AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN,

AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.”‘

Ps 40:8

8 I delight to do Your will, O my God;

Your Law is within my heart.”

Ps 119:16

16 I shall delight in Your statutes;

I shall not forget Your word.

Ps 119:35

35 Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,

For I delight in it.

Rom 7:22

22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,

Deut 32:15

15 “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked —

You are grown fat, thick, and sleek —

Then he forsook God who made him,

And scorned the Rock of his salvation.

Jer 5:28

28’They are fat, they are sleek,

They also excel in deeds of wickedness;

They do not plead the cause,

The cause of the orphan, that they may prosper;

And they do not defend the rights of the poor.

Psalm 119:71-

Ps 94:12-13

12 Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O LORD,

And whom You teach out of Your law;

13 That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity,

Until a pit is dug for the wicked.

Ps 119:67

67 Before I was afflicted I went astray,

But now I keep Your word.

Isa 27:9

9 Therefore through this Jacob’s iniquity will be forgiven;

And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin:

When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;

When Asherim and incense altars will not stand.

1 Cor 11:32

32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

Heb 12:10-11

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Gen 50:20

20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

Eccl 7:14

14 In the day of prosperity be happy,

But in the day of adversity consider —

God has made the one as well as the other

So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.

Lam 3:27

27 It is good for a man that he should bear

The yoke in his youth.

2 Cor 4:17

17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

James 1:12

12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

James 4:9

9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

Psalm 119:72-

Ps 19:10

10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;

Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

Ps 119:14

14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,

As much as in all riches.

Ps 119:111

111 I have inherited Your testimonies forever,

For they are the joy of my heart.

Ps 119:127

127 Therefore I love Your commandments

Above gold, yes, above fine gold.

Ps 119:162

162 I rejoice at Your word,

As one who finds great spoil.

Prov 3:14-15

14 For her profit is better than the profit of silver

And her gain better than fine gold.

15 She is more precious than jewels;

And nothing you desire compares with her.

Prov 8:10-11

10 “Take my instruction and not silver,

And knowledge rather than choicest gold.

11 “For wisdom is better than jewels;

And all desirable things cannot compare with her.

Prov 8:19

19 “My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,

And my yield better than choicest silver.

Prov 16:16

16 How much better it is to get wisdom than gold!

And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.

Matt 13:44-46

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

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