This section of Psalm 119 is all about waiting. The Psalmist is longing for God to break in and bring him comfort and justice. The rather obscure phrase “I am like a wineskin in the smoke” seems to imply that he feels dried up and burned out.
81 My soul faints with longing for your salvation,
but I have put my hope in your word.
82 My eyes fail, looking for your promise;
I say, “When will you comfort me?”
83 Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke,
I do not forget your decrees.
84 How long must your servant wait?
When will you punish my persecutors?
Yet even in this rather bleak portion of the Psalm, the writer’s unshakeable confidence in God’s word shines through. God’s word is what gives him “hope” (Ps 119:81). Though his eyes fail waiting for God’s “promise” (Ps 119:82) to come to fulfilment, he doesn’t become cynical and doubt that it will ever come to pass. Instead, he is confident that God’s word is completely “trustworthy” (Ps 119:86).
But I think the key to how he keeps going despite God’s seeming inactivity on his behalf is in the final verse. His confidence in God’s word has convinced him of the Lord’s unfailing love for him.
88 In your unfailing love preserve my life,
that I may obey the statutes of your mouth.
It’s the same idea that Paul runs with in Rom 8:31-39. If we have become convinced that God’s love for us is unfailing, then we can face suffering with hope. In fact, this is the most important type of “understanding” that the Spirit gives us as we read the Bible – the understanding that God is our Father, and he truly loves us.
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.