Verse 20 in the Hebrew:
גרסה נפשי לתאבה אל משפטיך בכל עת
Transliteration:
Gar-uh-saw nahp-shee luh-tah-ahb-aw el mish-paw-tay-chah buh-kawl ayt
Translation:
My soul is crushed with longing for your wise judgments at all times (or “in all circumstances”).
Jesus didn’t just value the wise judgments of YHWH, He didn’t just long for the wise judgments of YHWH, he didn’t just yearn for the wise judgments of YHWH, but His soul was crushed with longing for the wise judgments of His Father. And it wasn’t just sometimes; it was at ALL TIMES.
“Your wise judgments” (mish-paw-tay-chah) is one of the synonyms used in Psalm 119 for the word of God as it appears in Scripture. This particular synonym emphasizes that God is active through His word to wisely (and mercifully and justly) bring upon each of us the consequences of the actions that proceed from our heart attitudes. In this way, God halts our error and thus protects us from potential further ravages of evil—that is why I refer to these judgements as both wise and merciful.
Can you imagine living life with the constant unrelenting soul-crushing burden of longing for the wise judgments of YHWH? Jesus did.
What specifically was He longing for? I can think of at least three possibilities. He could have been longing for the deeper wisdom and insights that come from the mind of YHWH as God works His holy judgments out into the world.
Or, He could have been longing for those wise judgments to effectively deal with, and stop, or at least moderate, the evil that was so prevalent, and damaging, in the lives of those around Him—people whom He deeply cared about.
Or, He could have been anticipating and longing for the time when His own soul would actually be crushed in judgment for those sins; so that, in this way, true relief of condemnation and harsh consequences through eternal forgiveness would finally come to those He loved.
My suspicion is that all three of these specific longings were constantly crushing the soul the Messiah. Behold…THE CHRIST!