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¹²¹ I have done what is just and right;
    do not leave me to my oppressors.
¹²² Give your servant a pledge of good;
    let not the insolent oppress me.
¹²³ My eyes long for your salvation
    and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.
¹²⁴ Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love,
    and teach me your statutes.
¹²⁵ I am your servant; give me understanding,
    that I may know your testimonies!
¹²⁶ It is time for the Lord to act,
    for your law has been broken.
¹²⁷ Therefore I love your commandments
    above gold, above fine gold.
¹²⁸ Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right;
    I hate every false way.

You may have had the experience of getting so drawn into a book it is as if the outside world doesn’t exist. You just withdraw into the world of the characters and the plot and forget about what else is going on.

When we love God’s word, it produces the opposite effect. We engage with the outside world more, not less. But we see it now through the lens that the Lord gives us as he speaks. The lens of reality.

The Psalmist looks up from the word and starts straining with his eyes. He spends his life now looking for the salvation the Lord promises (verse 123). God’s word is full of God’s promises, so he waits to see them fulfilled. We have even more certain evidence that God will do what he says he will - we can look back to the cross. But like the Psalmist we experience injustice now (verse 121), we know believers are oppressed (verse 122). So we too wait. We know that the Lord will deal with us not according to what we deserve, but according to his covenant promises (verse 124). 

The other experience the Psalmist has as he looks up from the word is a sense of indignation that others don’t follow what it says. If God has spoken, if he has given his law, then it is right to want others to act on it. This is the word of the creator! This is God who deserves all glory telling us how to bring him glory. And yet, he lives in a world where that law is broken all the time (verse 126). The Psalmist burns with a passion for God’s glory that he longs for something to be done. 

If we love the Lord’s commandments (verse 127), and consider his precepts to be right (verse 128), we will feel like this. This isn’t proud Phariseeism. We know we are sinners who need forgiveness and to be taught God’s way (verse 125). But it a consequence of believing what God in his word says about himself. Sin is never normal. 

Of course we must remember that the Lord gives us his reasons for the delay in keeping his promises, and why he doesn’t immediately step in when people break his law. He is full of love and mercy, giving people time to repent. This is good news - we know it has been for us. And our longings should be joined with compassion and love. But it is a warning that the kind of privatised religion our world wants us to have, and we easily slip into isn’t right.