Psalm 119: A Psalm for the Wandering (How God Meets Us When Faith Fizzles)

“Finish well” is common parlance in youth groups encouraging students not to let faith peter out at the end of high school. It’s a frequent refrain in academic addresses seeking to curtail “senior-itis” among soon-to-be graduates. It is undoubtedly a valid direction to give students. But what happens when they don’t finish well? When a student screws up the ending of her high school career or flatlines in his faith, consider offering counsel from Psalm 119.

For 175 verses of the psalm, David — the greatest monarch in Israel’s history and certainly one of the more famous figures in the entire biblical narrative — belabors the depth of Scripture in beautiful monotony. He sings the anthem of God’s testimonies over and over and over. With richness and freedom, he worships his Lord and praises his sovereignty. Yet as he concludes, he makes a startling confession. I wander like a lost sheep; seek your servant” (v. 176). Perhaps the greatest chapter in Scripture about Scripture ends with nothing but a fizzle of a prayer. But despite how distressing that may appear, our students need this reminder: Even a faith that’s “fizzling” is enough.

David’s admission of wandering from God suggests that he has wandered before and will wander again. This was not a rare occasion of straying; it was a repeated experience. This pattern is the reason  David sings in the first place. Despite his wandering, he “does not forget God’s commandments.” He prays for God to help him (Ps. 119:173) and seek him (Ps. 119:176) because he knows he will be utterly defeated apart from God’s intervention. “Seek your servant” is something like, “Send out your search party!” His prayer evokes the striking image of the Good Shepherd who carries his wandering lamb back home on his shoulders (Luke 15). This is his prayer: “Pick me up and bring me close, God!”

The closing verse is made all the more compelling when it is juxtaposed with verses 167–168, where David writes: I obey your decrees and love them greatly. I obey your precepts and decrees, for all my ways are before you.” There are only a few lines between this declaration and the confession that he wanders from God. It might seem anticlimactic, but this is the tenor of the entire psalm, throughout which David remains honest about who he is: a lost sheep desperate for his Shepherd. He wants to love God and his Word above everything else, but there have been times (more than he probably cares to admit) when he wanted nothing to do with God.

Wandering Students and the Gospel of Grace

If your students are honest with themselves, they would have to make the same confession. There are moments, hours, entire days even, where their interest in the things of God is marginal at best. They wander. They go astray. They, like the apostle Paul, are often transfixed between what they know is true and what their flesh wants (Rom. 7:15–19). And, if you are honest, you would have to say the same. We all go “astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way” (Isa. 53:6). No matter how many times we sing All to Jesus, I surrender,” we don’t always want God above everything else. Such is the life of a saved sinner.

And this is why we need the gospel.

The truth is that if God only saved individuals who wanted Him above everything else, there would be no one in heaven. The good news for you and your students is that even as we run from God, He chases us down. While we were still sinners,” Paul writes, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). God does not wait to be wanted before He searches us out. The Good Shepherd does not sit on His hands waiting for his lambs to make their way back to the fold. He initiates the search (Ezek. 34:11, 16). And so it is that the entire final stanza is the psalmist’s plea to God to continue chasing after him. David is saying, Don’t stop helping me, God! Don’t stop pursuing me!”

Our students are often ruled by feelings, so how extraordinarily relieving to hear an announcement that isn’t conditioned on their current emotional state. Come what may, God’s saving sinners by grace alone never fluctuates or falters or falls by the wayside — even if your teenagers do. Their lives may be characterized by flightiness, indecisiveness, and worry, but they have a God who is sure and steadfast, one who tenders a grace that is sovereign and strong. The good news of your teenagers’ salvation is established in the unflinching fact of Jesus’s death and resurrection.

When our students come to the end of their days, weeks, or even years and find their faith weak, amounting to nothing but a fizzle, that’s okay. That’s enough. It’s not the quality of their faith or the quantity of their faith that matters, after all. What matters is the object of their faith, the One in whom their faith rests. Your teenagers will not always love God perfectly, so remind them again—the gospel declares God has perfectly loved them. And he always will.

A note from the editors: Psalms are meant to be experienced, helping us to take the truths of God’s character deep into our souls. Here’s a song based on this psalm for your encouragement: Save Me Like You Promised | Psalm 119​:​169​-​176 by Chris Juby.

Bonus Material for Psalm 119: Flourishing (Psalm 119) by Sandra McCracken.

Bradley Gray serves as the senior pastor of Stonington Baptist Church in Paxinos, Pennsylvania, where he lives with his wife Natalie and their three children, Lydia, Braxton, and Bailey. He blogs regularly at www.graceupongrace.net. In all of his writings, Bradley aims to serve up the timeless truth of God’s “grace upon grace” for every weary and worn-out soul. 

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