Psalm 119:149 | “Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O Lord, according to your justice give me life.”

The psalmist cries out with quiet confidence. He asks the Lord to hear his voice, to listen and to answer, yet his confidence is not grounded in his own faithfulness or performance. It rests wholly on the character of God. He appeals to the steadfast love of the Lord, his hesed: the faithful, good, and gracious covenant love God has pledged to his people. As Spurgeon observes, “Note, that he does not plead his own deservings, nor for a moment appeal for payment of a debt on account of merit; he takes the free grace way, and puts it, ‘according unto thy lovingkindness.’” Alongside this appeal to mercy, the psalmist also appeals to God’s justice. The Lord is fair, right, and unwaveringly faithful to his word. For the believer, God’s justice is not a cause for fear but a source of comfort, because God always acts in perfect faithfulness to his promises. Calvin writes, “The Prophet, then, sensible that he had need of the divine mercy, betook himself directly to the word, in which God, sweetly alluring men to himself, promises that his grace will be ready and open for all.” Those who walk with the Lord are faithful only because he is first faithful to them. Yet they will never exceed his faithfulness. His covenant love runs deeper than our obedience, and his faithfulness reaches beyond our understanding.