Gimel
Psalm 119:17-24

4 Requests
• “Deal bountifully with your servant” – Why? “That I may live and keep Your word” – not for my own welfare, but for YOUR glory!
• “Open my eyes” – Give me spiritual discernment and understanding into the mysteries of God – “that I may see wondrous things from Your law” – God help me to see things that I could never discern by myself – illumination of the Spirit!
• “do not hide Your commandments from me” – Why? – Because “I am a stranger in the earth” – this world is not my home – I need the truth of God to be my companion and my guide
• “Remove from me reproach and contempt” – Why? – “For I have kept Your testimonies” – I have read, studies, and obeyed Your Word – please let your favor rest on me! Let my enemies be ashamed of mocking me**!

2 Contrasts
• The Believer “breaks with longing for Your judgments at all times” – the prideful (cursed) “stray from Your commandments” – one yearns for the Word of God while the other disobeys it!
• Unbelievers “sit and speak against me” – the believer “meditates on Your statutes; Your testimonies also are my delight & my counselors.”