Psalm 119:108
Accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me Your judgments.
Accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD
Accept
The Hebrew word used here is "רָצָה" (ratzah), which means to be pleased with or to take delight in. This word conveys a deep desire for God's approval and favor. In the context of ancient Israel, acceptance by God was not merely a passive acknowledgment but an active delight in the offerings presented. The psalmist is earnestly seeking God's pleasure, emphasizing a relationship where the worshiper desires to bring joy to the heart of God.

the freewill offerings
The term "freewill offerings" comes from the Hebrew "נְדָבוֹת" (nedavot), which refers to voluntary gifts or sacrifices given out of one's own volition, not out of obligation. In the Old Testament, freewill offerings were expressions of gratitude and devotion, given beyond what was required by the law. This highlights the psalmist's sincere devotion and love for God, offering praise and worship not because it is mandated, but because it flows naturally from a heart full of love and reverence.

of my mouth
This phrase underscores the verbal nature of the offering. Unlike physical sacrifices, these offerings are spoken words—prayers, praises, and declarations of faith. The psalmist recognizes the power of words and their ability to convey the deepest emotions and commitments to God. In the biblical context, words were seen as powerful and significant, capable of blessing, cursing, and shaping reality. The psalmist's words are thus a spiritual sacrifice, reflecting a heart aligned with God's will.

O LORD
The use of "LORD" in all capitals indicates the Hebrew name "YHWH" (Yahweh), the covenant name of God. This name is deeply personal and relational, reminding the reader of God's eternal presence, faithfulness, and unchanging nature. By invoking this name, the psalmist is not only addressing God but is also acknowledging His sovereignty, holiness, and the intimate relationship He has with His people. It is a call to the God who hears, sees, and responds to His covenant people.

and teach me Your judgments
and teach me
The Hebrew word for "teach" is "לַמְּדֵנִי" (lamdeni), which implies instruction, guidance, and impartation of knowledge. The psalmist is expressing a desire to be a lifelong learner under God's tutelage. This request for teaching is not merely academic but transformative, seeking to understand and live out God's will. It reflects a humble acknowledgment of one's need for divine wisdom and guidance in navigating life's complexities.

Your judgments
The term "judgments" is translated from the Hebrew "מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ" (mishpatecha), which refers to God's decrees, laws, and decisions. These are not arbitrary rules but are rooted in God's character and His righteous governance of the world. The psalmist's request to learn God's judgments indicates a desire to align with divine justice and righteousness. It is an acknowledgment that true wisdom and understanding come from knowing and applying God's standards in every aspect of life.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Psalmist
The author of Psalm 119, traditionally believed to be King David, who is expressing his devotion and desire for God's guidance.

2. LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant name of God, emphasizing His eternal and unchanging nature, to whom the psalmist directs his prayer.

3. Freewill Offerings
Voluntary expressions of worship and devotion, not mandated by law, reflecting the psalmist's heartfelt commitment to God.
Teaching Points
The Heart of Worship
True worship is not just about fulfilling obligations but offering our hearts and words freely to God. Our prayers and praises should be sincere and voluntary, reflecting our love and reverence for Him.

The Importance of God's Judgments
Understanding God's judgments is crucial for living a life that pleases Him. We should continually seek His guidance and wisdom through prayer and study of His Word.

The Role of Prayer in Spiritual Growth
Prayer is a vital component of our relationship with God. By asking Him to accept our offerings and teach us, we acknowledge our dependence on Him for spiritual growth and understanding.

Voluntary Devotion
Just as the psalmist offers freewill offerings, we are called to willingly devote our time, talents, and resources to God's service, not out of compulsion but out of love and gratitude.

The Power of Words
Our words can be offerings to God. We should strive to speak words that honor Him, recognizing the impact they have on our spiritual life and witness to others.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does it mean to offer "freewill offerings" of our mouth to God, and how can we incorporate this practice into our daily lives?

2. How can understanding God's judgments help us make better decisions in our personal and spiritual lives?

3. In what ways can we ensure that our worship and prayers are sincere and not just routine or obligatory?

4. How does the concept of freewill offerings in the Old Testament relate to the New Testament idea of offering a sacrifice of praise?

5. Reflect on a time when you sought God's wisdom in a challenging situation. How did His guidance impact your decision-making process?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Leviticus 22:18-23
Discusses the concept of freewill offerings in the context of the Old Testament sacrificial system, highlighting the voluntary nature of these offerings.

Hebrews 13:15
Encourages believers to continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, which aligns with the psalmist's desire to offer the "freewill offerings" of his mouth.

James 1:5
Relates to the psalmist's request for God to teach him His judgments, emphasizing the availability of divine wisdom to those who ask.
An Aspiration of PietyHomilistPsalm 119:108
God's Acceptance of Our SufferingsBp. Cowper.Psalm 119:108
Sincere OfferingsBp. Cowper.Psalm 119:108
Characteristics of the Word of God as Declared by the Various Names Given to it in This PsalmS. Conway Psalm 119:1-176
Introductory to Whole PsalmS. Conway Psalm 119:1-176
The Illuminated PathS. Conway Psalm 119:105-112
People
Heth, Nun, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Accept, Beg, Beseech, Decisions, Free, Freewill, Freewill-offerings, Free-will-offerings, Judgments, Laws, Mouth, O, Offerings, Ordinances, Praise, Teach, Voluntary-offerings, Willing
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 119:108

     6603   acceptance, divine

Psalm 119:105-120

     5376   law, purpose of

Library
Notes on the First Century:
Page 1. Line 1. An empty book is like an infant's soul.' Here Traherne may possibly have had in his mind a passage in Bishop Earle's "Microcosmography." In delineating the character of a child, Earle says: "His soul is yet a white paper unscribbled with observations of the world, wherewith at length it becomes a blurred note-book," Page 14. Line 25. The entrance of his words. This sentence is from Psalm cxix. 130. Page 15. Last line of Med. 21. "Insatiableness." This word in Traherne's time was often
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

Life Hid and not Hid
'Thy word have I hid in my heart.'--PSALM cxix. 11. 'I have not hid Thy righteousness in my heart.'--PSALM xl. 10. Then there are two kinds of hiding--one right and one wrong: one essential to the life of the Christian, one inconsistent with it. He is a shallow Christian who has no secret depths in his religion. He is a cowardly or a lazy one, at all events an unworthy one, who does not exhibit, to the utmost of his power, his religion. It is bad to have all the goods in the shop window; it is just
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Cleansed Way
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.'--PSALM cxix. 9. There are many questions about the future with which it is natural for you young people to occupy yourselves; but I am afraid that the most of you ask more anxiously 'How shall I make my way?' than 'How shall I cleanse it?' It is needful carefully to ponder the questions: 'How shall I get on in the world--be happy, fortunate?' and the like, and I suppose that that is the consideration
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Time for Thee to Work'
'It is time for Thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void Thy Law. 127. Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. 128. Therefore I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.' --PSALM cxix. 126-128. If much that we hear be true, a society to circulate Bibles is a most irrational and wasteful expenditure of energy and money. We cannot ignore the extent and severity of the opposition to the very idea of revelation, even if we would;
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Stranger in the Earth
'I am a stranger in the earth: hide not Thy commandments from me.... 64. The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy: teach me Thy statutes.' --PSALM cxix. 19, 64. There is something very remarkable in the variety-in-monotony of this, the longest of the psalms. Though it be the longest it is in one sense the simplest, inasmuch as there is but one thought in it, beaten out into all manner of forms and based upon all various considerations. It reminds one of the great violinist who out of one string managed
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

May the Fourth a Healthy Palate
"How sweet are Thy words unto my taste." --PSALM cxix. 97-104. Some people like one thing, and some another. Some people appreciate the bitter olive; others feel it to be nauseous. Some delight in the sweetest grapes; others feel the sweetness to be sickly. It is all a matter of palate. Some people love the Word of the Lord; to others the reading of it is a dreary task. To some the Bible is like a vineyard; to others it is like a dry and tasteless meal. One takes the word of the Master, and it
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Inward Witness to the Truth of the Gospel.
"I have more understanding than my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my study; I am wiser than the aged, because I keep Thy commandments."--Psalm cxix. 99, 100. In these words the Psalmist declares, that in consequence of having obeyed God's commandments he had obtained more wisdom and understanding than those who had first enlightened his ignorance, and were once more enlightened than he. As if he said, "When I was a child, I was instructed in religious knowledge by kind and pious friends, who
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

A Bottle in the Smoke
First, God's people have their trials--they get put in the smoke; secondly, God's people feel their trials--they "become like a bottle in the smoke;" thirdly, God's people do not forget God's statutes in their trials--"I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes." I. GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE THEIR TRIALS. This is an old truth, as old as the everlasting hills, because trials were in the covenant, and certainly the covenant is as old as the eternal mountains. It was never designed
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

The Dryness of Preachers, and the Various Evils which Arise from their Failing to Teach Heart-Prayer --Exhortation to Pastors to Lead People Towards this Form Of
If all those who are working for the conquest of souls sought to win them by the heart, leading them first of all to prayer and to the inner life, they would see many and lasting conversions. But so long as they only address themselves to the outside, and instead of drawing people to Christ by occupying their hearts with Him, they only give them a thousand precepts for outward observances, they will see but little fruit, and that will not be lasting. When once the heart is won, other defects are
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

Of Deeper Matters, and God's Hidden Judgments which are not to be Inquired Into
"My Son, beware thou dispute not of high matters and of the hidden judgments of God; why this man is thus left, and that man is taken into so great favour; why also this man is so greatly afflicted, and that so highly exalted. These things pass all man's power of judging, neither may any reasoning or disputation have power to search out the divine judgments. When therefore the enemy suggesteth these things to thee, or when any curious people ask such questions, answer with that word of the Prophet,
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Seven-Fold Joy
"Seven times a day do I praise Thee because of Thy righteous judgments."--Ps. cxix. 164. Mechthild of Hellfde, 1277. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 I bring unto Thy grace a seven-fold praise, Thy wondrous love I bless-- I praise, remembering my sinful days, My worthlessness. I praise that I am waiting, Lord, for Thee, When, all my wanderings past, Thyself wilt bear me, and wilt welcome me To home at last. I praise Thee that for Thee I long and pine, For Thee I ever yearn; I praise Thee that such
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

And in Jeremiah He Thus Declares his Death and Descent into Hell...
And in Jeremiah He thus declares His death and descent into hell, saying: And the Lord the Holy One of Israel, remembered his dead, which aforetime fell asleep in the dust of the earth; and he went down unto them, to bring the tidings of his salvation, to deliver them. [255] In this place He also renders the cause of His death: for His descent into hell was the salvation of them that had passed away. And, again, concerning His cross Isaiah says thus: I have stretched out my hands all the day long
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

The Christian Described
HAPPINESS OF THE CHRISTIAN O HOW happy is he who is not only a visible, but also an invisible saint! He shall not be blotted out the book of God's eternal grace and mercy. DIGNITY OF THE CHRISTIAN There are a generation of men in the world, that count themselves men of the largest capacities, when yet the greatest of their desires lift themselves no higher than to things below. If they can with their net of craft and policy encompass a bulky lump of earth, Oh, what a treasure have they engrossed
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan

Excursus on the Choir Offices of the Early Church.
Nothing is more marked in the lives of the early followers of Christ than the abiding sense which they had of the Divine Presence. Prayer was not to them an occasional exercise but an unceasing practice. If then the Psalmist sang in the old dispensation "Seven times a day do I praise thee" (Ps. cxix. 164), we may be quite certain that the Christians would never fall behind the Jewish example. We know that among the Jews there were the "Hours of Prayer," and nothing would be, à priori, more
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

The Daily Walk with Others (I. ).
When the watcher in the dark Turns his lenses to the skies, Suddenly the starry spark Grows a world upon his eyes: Be my life a lens, that I So my Lord may magnify We come from the secrecies of the young Clergyman's life, from his walk alone with God in prayer and over His Word, to the subject of his common daily intercourse. Let us think together of some of the duties, opportunities, risks, and safeguards of the ordinary day's experience. A WALK WITH GOD ALL DAY. A word presents itself to be
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

The Talking Book
In order that we may be persuaded so to do, Solomon gives us three telling reasons. He says that God's law, by which I understand the whole run of Scripture, and, especially the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be a guide to us:--"When thou goest, it shall lead thee." It will be a guardian to us: "When thou sleepest"--when thou art defenceless and off thy guard--"it shall keep thee." And it shall also be a dear companion to us: "When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee." Any one of these three arguments
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

How to Read the Bible
I. That is the subject of our present discourse, or, at least the first point of it, that IN ORDER TO THE TRUE READING OF THE SCRIPTURES THERE MUST BE AN UNDERSTANDING OF THEM. I scarcely need to preface these remarks by saying that we must read the Scriptures. You know how necessary it is that we should be fed upon the truth of Holy Scripture. Need I suggest the question as to whether you do read your Bibles or not? I am afraid that this is a magazine reading age a newspaper reading age a periodical
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 25: 1879

The Obedience of Faith
"Is there a heart that will not bend To thy divine control? Descend, O sovereign love, descend, And melt that stubborn soul! " Surely, though we have had to mourn our disobedience with many tears and sighs, we now find joy in yielding ourselves as servants of the Lord: our deepest desire is to do the Lord's will in all things. Oh, for obedience! It has been supposed by many ill-instructed people that the doctrine of justification by faith is opposed to the teaching of good works, or obedience. There
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

Faith
HABAKKUK, ii. 4. "The just shall live by faith." This is those texts of which there are so many in the Bible, which, though they were spoken originally to one particular man, yet are meant for every man. These words were spoken to Habakkuk, a Jewish prophet, to check him for his impatience under God's hand; but they are just as true for every man that ever was and ever will be as they were for him. They are world-wide and world-old; they are the law by which all goodness, and strength, and safety,
Charles Kingsley—Twenty-Five Village Sermons

What the Truth Saith Inwardly Without Noise of Words
Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth.(1) I am Thy servant; O give me understanding that I may know Thy testimonies. Incline my heart unto the words of Thy mouth.(2) Let thy speech distil as the dew. The children of Israel spake in old time to Moses, Speak thou unto us and we will hear, but let not the Lord speak unto us lest we die.(3) Not thus, O Lord, not thus do I pray, but rather with Samuel the prophet, I beseech Thee humbly and earnestly, Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. Let not Moses
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

That the Body and Blood of Christ and the Holy Scriptures are Most Necessary to a Faithful Soul
The Voice of the Disciple O most sweet Lord Jesus, how great is the blessedness of the devout soul that feedeth with Thee in Thy banquet, where there is set before it no other food than Thyself its only Beloved, more to be desired than all the desires of the heart? And to me it would verily be sweet to pour forth my tears in Thy presence from the very bottom of my heart, and with the pious Magdalene to water Thy feet with my tears. But where is this devotion? Where the abundant flowing of holy
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Links
Psalm 119:108 NIV
Psalm 119:108 NLT
Psalm 119:108 ESV
Psalm 119:108 NASB
Psalm 119:108 KJV

Psalm 119:108 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Psalm 119:107
Top of Page
Top of Page