Psalm 119 Commentary

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The unfolding of Thy Word gives light.
It gives understanding to the simple.
Psalm 119:130

Psalm 119:1 Aleph. How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the LORD. 

• Blessed Ps 1:1-3 32:1,2 112:1 128:1 Mt 5:3-12 Lu 11:28 Joh 13:17 Jas 1:25 Rev 22:14 
• blameless, 2Ki 20:3 2Ch 31:20,21 Job 1:1,8 Joh 1:47 Ac 24:16 2Co 1:12 Tit 2:11,12 
• walk Eze 11:20 Ho 14:9 Lu 1:6 1Th 4:1,2 

GOD'S FORMULA FOR
BLESSING

Note that in the Septuagint (Lxx) this verse begins with the great word ALLELOUIA which means "Praise Yahweh" hallelujah, praise the LORD. As you read these comments on Psalm 119 you will notice that there are frequent references to the Septuagint translation of the passage as the Greek words often add significant insights to the meaning of the verse. Therefore, in a sense, the Septuagint functions somewhat like a "commentary" on the Hebrew text. And remember that many (if not most) of the OT quotations by the writers of the NT are taken not from the Hebrew text but from the Greek text, the Septuagint.

How blessed are those whose way is blameless - The blessing of obedience. Way refers to one's way of life or conduct. Jesus declared "blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” (Luke 11:28+) Obedience is the key to blessing in both the Old and New Testament. God desires to bless His children because they are, so to speak, His trophies of redemption, His re-creations in Christ, and as such He desires the lost world to see His glory through His believing, obedient children. This begs the question -- Are you shining for Jesus? (cf Mt 5:16+, Phil 2:15+, 2 Pe 3:11, 12+) 

Psalm 1:1+ is the key to blessing - "How blessed (HEBREW LITERALLY "BLESSED, BLESSED" = EMPHASIS) is the man who does not walk (conduct himself) in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!" In fact, if we fail to carry out Psalm 1:1+, we will hardly have a holy desire to carry out verse 2 and the indescribable blessing associated with it. Psalm 1:2-3+ says "But (WHAT IS THE CONTRAST? WALKING...STANDING..SITTING...IN SIN!)  his delight (IF WE ARE "DELIGHTING" IN THE TEMPORAL DELICACIES OF THIS FALLEN UNGODLY WORLD OUR APPETITE GOD'S ETERNAL, HOLY WORD WILL BE NIL!) is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates (Hebrew - hagah; Lxx - meletao = carefully think about, cultivate, meditate - see invaluable value of meditation) day and night (HOW OFTEN?). He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers."

Blessed (0835)('esher/'eser related to the verb 'ashar = to go or be straight, to go on, to advance, to be right) and always refers to people but never to God. Vine writes that "Basically, this word connotes the state of “prosperity” or “happiness” that comes when a superior bestows his favor (blessing) on one. In most passages, the one bestowing favor is God Himself = Dt. 33:29. Used twice in Psalm 119 - Ps. 119:1; Ps. 119:2.

Septuagint - Blessed (3107)(makarios from root makar, but others say from mak = large or lengthy) means to be happy, but not in the usual sense of happiness based on positive circumstances. From the Biblical perspective Makarios describes the person who is free from daily cares and worries because his every breath and circumstance is in the hands of His Maker Who gives him such an assurance (such a "blessing"). As discussed below makarios was used to describe the kind of happiness that comes from receiving divine favor. Used in both Ps 119:1,2.

Blameless (without defect or blemish, perfect, integrity) (08549)(tamim from the verb tamam = to be complete, entire or whole literal sense in Lev 3:9, Ezek 15:5, refers to a action which is completed) has both physical (without defect) and spiritual (blameless, devout, upright) significance. Tamim has the fundamental idea of completeness or wholeness. Tamim deals primarily with a state of moral or ceremonial purity

Septuagint - Above reproach (beyond reproach, blameless, faultless, unblemished) (299)(amomos from a = without, not + momos = spot, blemish in physical sense or moral sense, blot, flaw, shame or disgrace {as a moral disgrace}) is literally without spot or blemish (blot, blight). It was used literally of the absence of defects in sacrificial animals. Figuratively, it means morally (spiritually) blameless, unblemished by the marring of sin, a perfect description of the Lamb of God. How incredibly incomprehensible that sinners such as we can be described with the same adjective (amomos) used to describe our incomparable, sinless Lord! O the wonder of the "cleansing power" of the Lamb's precious blood, which washes us Whiter than the Snow. Here is a beautiful old Maranatha chorus.

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD,
“Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. 
(Isa 1:18+)

 Hallelujah.
Thank You Jesus!

Who walk in the law of the LORD - Walk is the verb corresponding to noun way for our walk describes the way we continually (poreuomai in present tense = continually, middle voice = reflexive = initiate the action and participate in results thereof) conduct ourselves. Blameless is who we are to be within, in our heart, and walking blamelessly shows who we really are. Our walk will ultimately reveal our heart. The reward for a walk of integrity is being blessed by the Almighty God! 

THOUGHT - When we walk in the law of the LORD the idea is that we conduct ourselves in the sphere of the God's law. Think of a fish in a bowl. What keeps the fish alive? Water of course. The fish lives or conducts itself in the sphere or atmosphere of the water. No water, no life! By analogy the law of the LORD is our "water," our source of true spiritual life (as energized of course by the Holy Spirit - cf 2 Cor 3:5,6+, Jn 6:63, Jn 7:37,38,39+)

Moses said it this way...

"Take (not a suggestion but a command) to your heart (NOT JUST YOUR HEAD BUT YOUR HEART!) all (OT AND NT!) the words (MEMORIZE THEM SO YOU CAN MEDITATE ON THEM!) with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. 47 “For (TERM OF EXPLANATION) IT (THE WORD OF GOD) is not an idle (EMPTY, VAIN, USELESS) WORD for you; indeed IT IS YOUR LIFE (COULD GOD HAVE BEEN ANY CLEARER REGARDING HOW IMPORTANT THE WORD IS TO OUR LIFE!). And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 32:46-47)

Jesus said it this way...

“It is written,‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.”  (Matthew 4:4+) 

Do you really believe the words of Moses and the words of Jesus? If you do, then you will show it by your daily choice (under grace, not law - cf Gal 3:3+) to read, memorize and meditate on the Word! If you really believe Moses and Jesus then you will immerse yourself (like a fish), by the washing of the water with the Word (Eph 5:26+), in the living and active Word of God (Heb 4:12+), so that you will be able (enabled by the Spirit - Php 2:13NLT+) to walk in the law of the LORD! Let it be true in each of our lives LORD God, that by Your Word, energized by Your Spirit, we would be enabled to walk for Your Glory (Mt 5:16+), in the Name of Jesus, the ever living Word of God (Rev 19:13+). Amen

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Charles Bridges - 1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord

This most interesting and instructive Psalm, like the Psalter itself, ‘opens with a beatitude for our comfort and encouragement, directing us immediately to that happiness, which all mankind in different ways are seeking and inquiring after. All would secure themselves from the incursions of misery; but all do not consider that misery is the offspring of sin, from which therefore it is necessary to be delivered and preserved, in order to become happy or “blessed.” ’1

The undefiled character described in this verse marks, in an evangelical sense, “an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile”2—not one who is without sin, but one who in the sincerity of his heart can say—“that which I do I allow not.”3 As his way is, so is his “walk”—“in the law of the Lord.” He is “strengthened in the Lord, and he walks up and down in his name”4—his “ears hearing a word behind him, saying—this is the way, walk ye in it—when he is turning to the right hand or to the left.”5 And if the pardon of sin, imputation of righteousness,6 the communion of saints, and a sense of acceptance with God;7—if protection in providence and grace,8 and, finally and for ever, the beatific vision,9 are the sealed privileges of his upright people, then there can be no doubt, that “blessed are the undefiled in the way.” And if temporal prosperity,10 spiritual renovation and fruitfulness,11 increasing illumination,12 intercourse with the Saviour,13 peace within,14 and, throughout eternity, a right to the tree of life,15 are privileges of incalculable value; then surely “the walk in the law of the Lord” is “the path of pleasantness and peace.” “Truly”—indeed may we say—“God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.”1

But let each of us ask—What is the “way” of my heart with God? Is it always an “undefiled way?” Is “iniquity” never “regarded in the heart?” Is all that God hates habitually lamented, abhorred, forsaken? “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”2

Again—What is my “walk?” Is it from the living principle of union with Christ? This is the direct—the only source of spiritual life. We are first quickened in him. Then we walk in him and after him. Oh! that this my walk may be steady, consistent, advancing! Oh! that I may be ever listening to my father’s voice—“I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect!”3

Is there not enough of defilement in the most “undefiled way,” and enough of inconsistency in the most consistent “walk” to endear to us the gracious declaration of the gospel—“If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous?”4

1 Bp. Horne on Psalm 1:1.

2 John 1:47. Comp. Acts 24:16.

3 Rom. 7:15.

4 Zech. 10:12.

5 Isa. 30:21.

6 Ps. 32:1, 2, with Rom. 4:6–8.

7 1 John 1:7.

8 2 Chron. 16:9. Job 1:8, 10

9 Matt. 5:8.

10 Joshua 1:7, 8. 1 Tim. 4:8. 2 Chron. 17:4, 5.

11 Ps. 1:2, 3.

12 John 7:17.

13 Jn. 14:23; 15:14, 15.

14 Ps 119:163. Gal. 6:16. Isa. 32:17.

15 Rev. 22:14.

1 Psalm 73:1.

2 Psalm 139:23, 24.

3 Gen. 17:1.

4 1 John 2:1.

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Wiersbe - The Bible’s ABCs

WHAT WOULD YOUR CHRISTIAN LIFE BE LIKE IF YOU HAD NO BIBLE? Would that make any difference? After all, what is the Bible supposed to do for our lives? God gives us some answers to those questions in this psalm. Almost every verse in this long psalm in some way refers to the Word of God. The psalm is arranged according to the Hebrew alphabet. The first eight verses all begin with the Hebrew letter aleph; the next eight verses start with beth; the next eight, gimel; and so on. It’s as though God were saying, “Here are the ABCs of how to use the Word of God in your life.” “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD!” (Ps 119:1). Undefiled means “people who are blameless, those who have integrity.” Integrity is the opposite of duplicity and hypocrisy, which is the pretense to be something we are not. If we have integrity, our whole lives are built around the Word of God. The psalmist says, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!” (Ps 119:2). Are you wholeheartedly into the Word of God? In the Bible, heart refers to the inner person, and that includes the mind. “I will praise You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments” (Ps 119:7). It also includes the will. “I will keep Your statutes” (Ps 119:8). In other words, when you give your whole heart, mind, and will to the Word of God, it starts to put your life together. Is your life or your home “falling apart” today? Turn to the Word of God. The Bible has one Author—God. It has one theme—Jesus Christ. It has one message—the salvation of your soul. And it has one blessing to bring—a life of integrity. The Word of God is a powerful spiritual resource. Its truth feeds your soul. As you walk in the life of faith, the Holy Spirit uses the Bible to minister to you. Get into the Word and allow it to make you whole and build integrity into your life. (Prayer, Praise and Promises Psalm 119:1-8 The Bible ABC's)

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God's Word - Psalm 119:1–6

God’s Word gives us happiness, holiness, success, worship, cleansing, and joy. There is no substitute for God’s Word. His Word should be a part of our everyday life. His Word will guide and direct us.

  1.      THE PERSON—vv. 1–4
  2.      THE PRECEPTS—vv. 5–8
  3.      THE PURGING—vv. 9–11
  4.      THE PRAISING—vv. 12–16

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Warren Wiersbe -  PSALM 119 - Borrow Wiersbe's expository outlines on the Old Testament

This psalm is special in several ways. It is the longest psalm (176 verses), and it is an acrostic psalm, following the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In most editions of the Bible, the twenty-two sections of this psalm are headed by the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet (Aleph, Beth, Gimel, etc.). In the Hebrew Bible, each verse in a section begins with that Hebrew letter. For example, all the verses in the “aleph” section (vv. 1–8) begin with the Hebrew letter “aleph.” Look at the “teth” section (vv. 65–72) and start v. 67 with “Til” and v. 71 with “Tis,” and you will have each line starting with the English letter “T” (which is the same as the Hebrew “teth”). The Jews wrote in this fashion to help them memorize the Scriptures so they could meditate on God’s Word. We do not know who wrote this psalm, although the writer refers to himself many times. He was suffering for his love for God’s Law (vv. 22, 50–53, 95, 98, 115), yet he had determined to obey the Word regardless of the cost. All but five verses mention the Word of God in one way or another. The exceptions are vv. 84, 90, 121, 122, and 132. God is referred to in every verse. The number eight is stamped all over this psalm. Each section has eight verses; there are eight special names for God’s Word listed; there are eight symbols of the Word given; the believer has eight responsibilities to the Word. The word “eight” in Hebrew literally means “abundance, more than enough”; it is the number of new beginnings. It is as though the writer is saying, “God’s Word is enough. If you have the Scriptures, that is all you need for life and godliness.” Indeed the Bible points us to Christ: He is the Living Word about whom the written Word speaks. In one sense, Ps. 119 is an expansion of Ps. 19:7–11. Note the eight basic titles of the Bible in the first nine verses of the psalm: law of the Lord, testimonies, ways, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, and word. These are repeated many times throughout the psalm.

 I.  What the Bible Is

A. Water for cleansing (Psalm 119:9).

This whole section (Psalm 119:9–16) deals with victory over sin. Young people in particular need to learn to heed and hide the Word that they might overcome temptation. As you read the Word and meditate on it, it cleanses your inner being, just as water cleanses the body. See John 15:3 and Eph. 5:25–27.

B.  Wealth and treasure (Psalm 119:14, 72, 127, 162).

Many people do not know the difference between prices and values. Your Bible may cost but a few dollars, but what a treasure it is. How would you feel if you lost God’s Word and could not replace it?

C.   A companion and friend (Psalm 119:24).

The writer was a stranger (Psalm 119:19), rejected by the proud (v. 21) and by princes (v. 23), but he always had the Word to be his counselor. Read Prov. 6:20–22.

D.   A song to sing (Psalm 119:54).

Imagine making a song out of statutes—laws! Life is a pilgrimage; we are “tourists” and not residents. The songs of the world mean nothing to us, but God’s Word is a song to our hearts.

E. Honey (Psalm 119:103).

The sweetness of the Word is like honey to the taste. It is sad when the Christian must have the “honey” of this world to be satisfied. See Ps. 34:8 and Job 23:12.

F.   A lamp (Psalm 119:105, 130).

This is a dark world and the only dependable light is the Word of God (2 Peter 1:19–21). It leads us a step at a time, as we walk in obedience. 1 John 1:5–10 tells us we walk in the light as we obey His Word.

G. Great spoil (Psalm 119:162).

Poor soldiers were made rich from the spoil left by the defeated enemy. The riches of the Word do not come easy; there must first be that spiritual battle against Satan and the flesh. But it is worth it. Read Luke 11:14–23.

H.  A heritage (Psalm 119:111).

What a precious inheritance is the Bible! And think of those who had to suffer and die that we might have this inheritance.

II. What the Bible Does

A.  It blesses (Psalm 119:1–2).

It is the book with a blessing (Ps. 1:1–3). We are blessed in reading the Word, understanding the Word, and obeying the Word. We are also blessed when we share the Word with others.

B.  It gives life (Psalm 119:25, 37, 40, 50, 88, 93).

“Quicken” means “to give life.” The Word gives us eternal life when we believe (1 Peter 1:23). It is the living Word (Heb. 4:12). But the Word also quickens us when we are weak, discouraged, and defeated. Revival comes when we yield to God’s Word.

C.  It gives strength (Psalm 119:28).

Trusting the Word encourages us (Matt. 4:4). God’s Word has power (Heb. 4:12) and can empower us when we believe and obey.

D.  It gives liberty (Psalm 119:45).

A law that gives liberty—what a paradox! Sin would have dominion over us (v. 133), but the Word sets us free (John 8:32). True liberty comes in obeying God’s will. His Word is “the perfect law of liberty” (James 1:25).

E. It imparts wisdom (Psalm 119:66, 97–104).

We may get knowledge and facts in other books, but true spiritual wisdom is found in the Bible. Note in vv. 97–104 that there are various ways to discover truth—from your enemies, from your teachers, from your older friends—and all of these are good. But above them all is a knowledge of the Bible. Teachers may know from books, and elders may know from experience (both deserving respect), but these without the Bible are not sufficient.

F.  It creates friends (Psalm 119:63).

Knowing and obeying the Bible will bring into your life the very finest friends. Those who love God’s Word are friends indeed. There are false friends who may dazzle you with their worldly wisdom and wealth, but their friendship will lead you astray. Stick with those who “stick” with the Bible (Psalm 119:31).

G.  It gives comfort (Psalm 119:50, 76, 82, 92).

More than sixty verses in this psalm mention trial and persecution (vv. 22, 50–53, 95, 98, 115, etc.). The believer who obeys the Word will have trials in this world, but the Bible gives him lasting comfort. The Comforter, the Spirit of God, takes the Word of God and applies it to our hearts to comfort us.

H.  It gives direction (Psalm 119:133).

The Christian life is a “walk,” a day at a time and a step at a time (vv. 1, 3, 45). The Word directs our steps, both for walking and for running (v. 32). Note the prayers in vv. 35 and 116–117. As we pray for guidance, the Lord answers through His Word.

III. What We Must Do with the Bible

 A. Love it (Psalm 119:97, 159).

The way you treat your Bible is the way you treat Christ. To love Him is to love His Word. The Word is a delight (vv. 16, 24, 16, 35, 47, 70) and not a disappointment; we rejoice to read it (vv. 14, 162).

B. Prize it (Psalm 119:72, 128).

To hold the Bible in high esteem is the mark of a true saint. It should be more precious to us than any earthly treasure.

C.  Study it (Psalm 119:7, 12, 18, 26–27).

At least twelve times the psalmist prays, “Teach me.” The Christian who daily studies his Bible will be blessed of God. Bible study is not always easy, for it takes the “whole heart” (vv. 2, 10, 34, 69, 145).

D.  Memorize it (Psalm 119:11).

“The best Book, in the best place, for the best purpose!” is the way Campbell Morgan explained this verse. All ages need to memorize the Word, not children and young people alone. Joshua was not a youth when God commanded him to memorize the Law (Josh. 1:8). Jesus was able to quote Scripture when He faced Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1–11).

E. Meditate on it (Psalm 119:15, 23, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148).

Meditation is to the soul what digestion is to the body. To meditate means to “turn over” God’s Word in the mind and heart, to examine it, to compare Scripture with Scripture, to “feed on” its wonderful truths. In this day of noise and confusion, such meditation is rare but so needful. Meditation is impossible without memorization.

 F. Trust it (Psalm 119:42).

We trust the Bible about everything, because it is right about everything (v. 128). It is true and can be trusted wholly. To argue with the Bible is to argue with God. We test every other book by what God says in His Word.

G. Obey it (Psalm 119:1–8).

To keep the Word is to obey it, to walk in its commandments. Satan knows the Word, but he cannot obey it. If we know God’s truth and fail to obey it, we are only fooling ourselves.

H.  Declare it (Psalm 119:13, 26).

As we obey, we should also witness to others about the Word and tell them what the Lord has done for us.

Resources on Psalms by Dr. Warren Wiersbe: Always worth checking for his insightful, devotional and practical comments.

Be worshipful : glorifying God for who he is : OT commentary, Psalms 1 - 89 by Warren Wiersbe

Wiersbe's Commentary on the entire Old Testament - by Warren Wiersbe - for comments on Psalms scroll down to page 872

Meet yourself in the Psalms by Warren Wiersbe

Prayer, praise & promises : a daily walk through the Psalms by Warren Wiersben - Note this is also online below 

Wiersbe's expository outlines on the Old Testament by Warren Wiersbe

"Even the most difficult Scriptures come alive as Warren Wiersbe leads you book-by-book through the Old Testament and helps you to see the "big picture" of God's revelation. In this unique volume, you will find: • Introductions and/or outlines for every Old Testament book • Practical expositions of strategic chapters • Special studies on key topics, relating the Old Testament to the New Testament • Easy-to-understand expositions that are practical, preachable, and teachable If you have used Dr. Wiersbe's popular BE series, you know how simple and practical his Bible studies are, with outlines that almost teach themselves. If not, you can now discover a wonderful new resource. This work is a unique commentary on every book of the Old Testament. It contains new material not to be found in the BE series.

With the Word - Devotional Commentary - Warren Wiersbe - 428 ratings 

This book gives short explanations and applications of the strategic chapters of each Bible book. Dr Wiersbe's insights into each chapter are always enlightening and challenging.

Psalm 119:2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.  

• Observe Ps 119:22,146 25:10 105:45 De 6:17 1Ki 2:3 Pr 23:26 Eze 36:27 Joh 14:23 1Jn 3:20 
• seek Ps 119:10 De 4:29 2Ch 31:21 Jer 29:13 

OBEDIENCE THE WAY
TO BLESSING

How blessed are those who observe His testimonies

Observe (preserve, keep, watch, guard) (05341) natsar means to guard, keep, observe, hide, preserve, hide. Many of the uses of natsar are nuanced by the object that is being watched or guarded. Natsar is close syn to more common verb shamar "keep, tend." guard, protect, conceal, observe, preserve, watchman. First use is by God: sense of "keeping with faithfulness" in Ex 34:7 Who KEEPS lovingkindness for thousands. Watching the mouth (Pr 13:3 Ps 141:3), one's path in life (Pr 16:17), one's heart (Pr 4:23). 

Cowper - Blessed... Blessed, in the first verse and second, is to let us see the certainty of the blessing belonging to the godly.

Manton - In the former verse a blessed man is described by the course of his actions, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way": in this verse he is described by the frame of his heart. 

Obedience to God’s Word results in: being treasured by God (Ex 19:5); blessedness (happiness) in life (Ps 119:2); not being ashamed (Ps. 119:4-6); understanding (Ps 119:100); avoidance of evil (Ps 119:101); guidance for life (Ps 119:105); safety and freedom from anxiety (Pr 1:33); life (Pr 19:16; Eze 18:19; Jn 8:51); God’s blessing (Isa1:19); greatness in the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:19); bearing fruit for God (Mt 13:23); manifesting love for God (Jn 14:23; 1Jn 2:5); promise of God’s presence (Jn 14:23; 2Jn 9); abiding in the love of God (Jn 15:10); evidence of the doctrine that has been taught (Ro 6:17); assurance of salvation (1Jn 2:3); eternal life (1 Jn 2:17); dwelling in God (1Jn 3:24); love of God’s children (1Jn5:2); and entrance into heaven (Rev 22:7).

Thomas Manton on testimonies - The notion by which the word of God is expressed is "testimonies"; whereby is intended the whole declaration of God's will in doctrines, commands, examples, threatenings, promises. The whole word is the testimony which God hath deposed for the satisfaction of the world about the way of their salvation. Now because the word of God branches itself into two parts, the law and the gospel, this notion may be applied to both. First, to the law, in regard whereof the ark was called "the ark of the testimony" (Exodus 25:16), because the two tables were laid up in it. The gospel is also called the testimony, "the testimony of God concerning his Son." "To the law, and to the testimony" (Isaiah 8:20); where testimony seems to be distinguished from the law. The gospel is so called, because therein God hath testified how a man shall be pardoned, reconciled to God, and obtain a right to eternal life. We need a testimony in this case, because it is more unknown to us. The law was written upon the heart, but the gospel is a stranger. Natural light will discern something of the law, and pry into matters which are of a moral strain and concernment; but evangelical truths are a mystery, and depend upon the mere testimony of God concerning his Son. 

Cowper on testimonies - The word of God is called his testimony, not only because it testifies his will concerning his service, but also his favour and goodwill concerning his own in Christ Jesus. If God's word were no more than a law, yet were we bound to obey it, because we are his creatures; but since it is also a testimony of his love, wherein as a father he witnesseth his favour towards his children, we are doubly inexcusable if we do not most joyfully embrace it.

Spurgeon - Blessed are they that keep his testimonies. What! A second blessing? Yes, they are doubly blessed whose outward life is supported by an inward zeal for God's glory. In the first verse we had an undefiled way, and it was taken for granted that the purity in the way was not mere surface work, but was attended by the inward truth and life which comes of divine grace. Here that which was implied is expressed. Blessedness is ascribed to those who treasure up the testimonies of the Lord: in which is implied that they search the Scriptures, that they come to an understanding of them, that they love them, and then that they continue in the practice of them. We must first get a thing before we can keep it. In order to keep it well we must get a firm grip of it: we cannot keep in the heart that which we have not heartily embraced by the affections. God's word is his witness or testimony to grand and important truths which concern himself and our relation to him: this we should desire to know; knowing it, we should believe it; believing it, we should love it; and loving it, we should hold it fast against all comers. There is a doctrinal keeping of the word when we are ready to die for its defence, and a practical keeping of it when we actually live under its power. Revealed truth is precious as diamonds, and should be kept or treasured up in the memory and in the heart as jewels in a casket, or as the law was kept in the ark; this however is not enough, for it is meant for practical use, and therefore it must be kept or followed, as men keep to a path, or to a line of business. If we keep God's testimonies they will keep us; they will keep us right in opinion, comfortable in spirit, holy in conversation, and hopeful in expectation. If they were ever worth having, and no thoughtful person will question that, then they are worth keeping; their designed effect does not come through a temporary seizure of them, but by a persevering keeping of them: "in keeping of them there is great reward."

We are bound to keep with all care the word of God, because it is his testimonies. He gave them to us, but they are still his own. We are to keep them as a watchman guards his master's house, as a steward husbands his lord's goods, as a shepherd keeps his employer's flock. We shall have to give an account, for we are put in trust with the gospel, and woe to us if we be found unfaithful. We cannot fight a good fight, nor finish our course, unless we keep the faith. To this end the Lord must keep us: only those who are kept by the power of God unto salvation will ever be able to keep his testimonies. What a blessedness is therefore evidenced and testified by a careful belief in God's word, and a continual obedience thereunto. God has blessed them, is blessing them, and will bless them for ever. That blessedness which David saw in others he realized for himself, for in Psalms 119:168 he says, "I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies, "and in Psalms 119:54-56 he traces his joyful songs and happy memories to this same keeping of the law, and he confesses, "This I had because I kept thy precepts." Doctrines which we teach to others we should experience for ourselves.

Who seek Him with all their heart - The opposite of a whole heart is a divided heart. The idea is FULL SURRENDER...seeking Christ with ALL my heart. Not a mite would I withhold. I have been bought with a price. Present yourself as living and holy sacrifice.“Heart” refers to intellect, volition, and emotion (cf. Ps 119:7, 10, 11, 32, 34, 36, 58, 69, 70, 80, 111, 112, 145, 161). Complete commitment or “whole heart” appears 6 times (Ps 119:2, 10, 34, 58, 69, 145).

Spurgeon - And that seek him with the whole heart. Those who keep the Lord's testimonies are sure to seek after himself. If his word is precious we may be sure that he himself is still more so. Personal dealing with a personal God is the longing of all those who have allowed the word of the Lord to have its full effect upon them. If we once really know the power of the gospel we must seek the God of the gospel. "O that I knew where I might find HIM, "will be our wholehearted cry. See the growth which these sentences indicate: first, in the way, then walking in it, then finding and keeping the treasure of truth, and to crown all, seeking after the Lord of the way himself. Note also that the further a soul advances in grace the more spiritual and divine are its longings: an outward walk does not content the gracious soul, nor even the treasured testimonies; it reaches out in due time after God himself, and when it in a measure finds him, still yearns for more of him, and seeks him still.

Seeking after God signifies a desire to commune with him more closely, to follow him more fully, to enter into more perfect union with his mind and will, to promote his glory, and to realize completely all that he is to holy hearts. The blessed man has God already, and for this reason he seeks him. This may seem a contradiction: it is only a paradox.

God is not truly sought by the cold researches of the brain: we must seek him with the heart. Love reveals itself to love: God manifests his heart to the heart of his people. It is in vain that we endeavour to comprehend him by reason; we must apprehend him by affection. But the heart must not be divided with many objects if the Lord is to be sought by us. God is one, and we shall not know him till our heart is one. A broken heart need not be distressed at this, for no heart is so whole in its seeking after God as a heart which is broken, whereof every fragment sighs and cries after the great Father's face. It is the divided heart which the doctrine of the text censures, and strange to say, in scriptural phraseology, a heart may be divided and not broken, and it may be broken but not divided; and yet again it may be broken and be whole, and it never can be whole until it is broken. When our whole heart seeks the holy God in Christ Jesus it has come to him of whom it is written, "as many as touched Him were made perfectly whole."

That which the Psalmist admires in this verse he claims in the tenth, where he says, "With my whole heart have I sought thee." It is well when admiration of a virtue leads to the attainment of it. Those who do not believe in the blessedness of seeking the Lord will not be likely to arouse their hearts to the pursuit, but he who calls another blessed because of the grace which he sees in him is on the way to gaining the same grace for himself.

If those who seek the Lord are blessed, what shall be said of those who actually dwell with him and know that he is theirs?

"To those who fall, how kind thou art!
How good to those who seek
But what to those who find? Ah! this
Nor tongue nor pen can show:
The love of Jesus— what it is,
None but his loved ones know."

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Building On The Bible

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart. — Psalm 119:2

Today's Scripture: Psalm 119:1-8

What can be done to improve society? An MTV political correspondent had this unexpected but praiseworthy suggestion: “No matter how secular our culture becomes, it will remain drenched in the Bible. Since we will be haunted by the Bible even if we don’t know it, doesn’t it make sense to read it?”

Our culture is indeed “drenched in the Bible.” Whether or not the majority of people realize it, the principles on which the United States was founded, and the values which still permeate our national life, were based on the Holy Scriptures.

Yet God’s Word no longer occupies the commanding place it held in the past. Its ethics are sometimes still praised even though biblical morality is flagrantly violated. So I agree with the political correspondent’s urging that people read the Bible.

We need to do more, however, than just read the Word of God. We need to believe the Bible and put its inspired teachings into practice. The psalmist reminded us that we are to walk in God’s ways, to keep His precepts diligently, and to seek Him with our whole heart (Ps. 119:2-4).

If we obey the Bible, we’ll build on our good foundation and improve our society—one person at a time.By:  Vernon Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

For Your Holy Book we thank You;
May its message be our guide,
May we understand the wisdom
Of the truth Your laws provide.
—Carter

The Bible: read it, believe it, obey it!

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Charles Bridges - 2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart

The “testimony” in the singular number, usually denotes the whole canon of the inspired writings—the revelation of the will of God to mankind—the standard of their faith.5 “Testimonies” appear chiefly, to mark the preceptive part of Scripture6—that part, in which this man of God always found his spiritual delight and perfect freedom. Mark his language: “I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever; for they are the rejoicing of my heart.”7 Not however that this blessedness belongs to the mere outward act of obedience;8 but rather to that practical habit of mind, which seeks to know the will of God in order to “keep” it. This habit is under the influence of the promise of God—“I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.”9 And in thus “keeping the testimonies of God,” the believer maintains the character of one that “seeks him with the whole heart.”

Oh! how many seek, and seek in vain, for no other reason, than because they do not “seek him with the whole heart!” The worldling’s “heart is divided; now shall he be found faulty.”10 The professor “with his mouth shows much love; but his heart goeth after his covetousness.”11 The backslider “hath not turned unto me with his whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.”12 The faithful, upright believer alone brings his heart, his whole heart, to the Lord—“When thou saidst—Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee—Thy face, Lord, will I seek.”1 For he only has found an object that attracts and fills his whole heart—and if he had a thousand hearts, would attract and fill them all. He has found his way to God by faith in Jesus. In that way he continues to seek. His whole heart is engaged to know and love more and more. Here alone the blessing is enjoyed, and the promise made good—“Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”2

But let me not shrink from the question—Do I “keep his testimonies” from constraint or from love? Surely when I consider my own natural aversion and enmity to the law of God, and the danger of self-deception in the external service of the Lord, I have much need to pray—“Incline my heart to thy testimonies. Give me understanding—save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies.”3 And if they are blessed, who seek the Lord with their whole heart, how am I seeking him? Alas! with how much distraction; with how little heart-work! Oh! let me “seek his strength” in order to “seek his face.”4

Lord! search—teach—incline—uphold me. Help me to plead thy gracious promise—“I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.”5

5 Comp. Isa. 8:20.

6 Ps 119:138.

7 Ps 119:14, 111.

8 Treasure up his testimonies—Bp. Horsley.

9 Ezek. 36:27.

10 Hos. 10:2.

11 Ezek. 33:31.

12 Jer. 3:10.

1 Psalm 27:8.

2 Jer. 29:13.

3 Ps 119:36, 125, 145.

4 Ps. 105:4.

5 Jer. 24:7.

Psalm 119:3 They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways.  

• 1Jn 3:9 5:18 

They also do no unrighteousness

Spurgeon -  They also do no iniquity. Blessed indeed would those men be of whom this could be asserted without reserve and without explanation: we shall have reached the region of pure blessedness when we altogether cease from sin. Those who follow the word of God do no iniquity, the rule is perfect, and if it be constantly followed no fault will arise. Life, to the outward observer, at any rate, lies much in doing, and he who in his doings never swerves from equity, both towards God and man, has hit upon the way of perfection, and we may be sure that his heart is right. See how a whole heart leads to the avoidance of evil, for the Psalmist says, "That seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity." We fear that no man can claim to be absolutely without sin, and yet we trust there are many who do not designedly, wilfully, knowingly, and continuously do anything that is wicked, ungodly, or unjust. Grace keeps the life righteous as to act even when the Christian has to bemoan the transgressions of the heart. Judged as men should be judged by their fellows, according to such just rules as men make for men, the true people of God do no iniquity: they are honest, upright, and chaste, and touching justice and morality they are blameless. Therefore are they happy.

They walk in His ways.  

Spurgeon - They walk in his ways. They attend not only to the great main highway of the law, but to the smaller paths of the particular precepts. As they will perpetrate no sin of commission, so do they labour to be free from every sin of omission. It is not enough to them to be blameless, they wish also to be actively righteous. A hermit may escape into solitude that he may do no iniquity, but a saint lives in society that he may serve his God by walking in his ways. We must be positively as well as negatively right: we shall not long keep the second unless we attend to the first, for men will be walking one way or another, and if they do not follow the path of God's law they will soon do iniquity. The surest way to abstain from evil is to be fully occupied in doing good. This verse describes believers as they exist among us: although they have their faults and infirmities, yet they hate evil, and will not permit themselves to do it; they love the ways of truth, right and true godliness, and habitually they walk therein. They do not claim to be absolutely perfect except in their desires, and there they are pure indeed, for they pant to be kept from all sin, and to be led into all holiness.

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Charles Bridges - 3. They also do no iniquity; they walk in his ways

This was not their character from their birth. Once they were doing nothing but iniquity. It was without mixture, without cessation—from the fountain-head.6 Now it is written of them—“they do no iniquity.” Once they walked, even as others,7 in the way of their own hearts—“enemies to God by wicked works.” Now “they walk in his ways.” They are “new creatures in Christ; old things are passed away; behold! all things are become new.”8 This is their highly-privileged state—“Sin shall not have dominion over them: for they are not under the law, but under grace.”9 They are “born of God, and they cannot commit sin: for their seed remaineth in them, and they cannot sin, because they are born of God.”10 Their hatred and resistance of sin are therefore now as instinctive, as was their former enmity and opposition to God. Not indeed that the people of God are as “the saints made perfect,” who “do no inquity.” This is a dream of perfection—unscriptural and self-deluding.1 The unceasing advocacy of their Heavenly Friend evidently supposes the indwelling power of sin, to the termination of our earthly pilgrimage. The supplication also in the prayer of our Lord teaches them to ask for daily pardon and deliverance from “temptation,” as for “daily bread.”2 Yes—to our shame be it spoken—we are sinners still; yet—praised be God!—not “walking after the course,” not “fulfilling the desires,” of sin. The acting of sin is now like the motion of a stone upward, violent and unnatural. If it is not cast out, it is dethroned. We are not, as before, “its willing people,” but its reluctant, struggling captives. It is not “the day of its power.”

And here lies the holy liberty of the Gospel—not, as some have feigned,—a liberty to “continue in sin, that grace may abound;”3 but a deliverance from the guilt and condemnation of abhorred, resisted, yet still indwelling sin. When our better will hath cast it off—when we can say in the sight of an heart-searching God, “What we hate, that do we”—the responsibility is not ours—“It is not we that do it, but sin that dwelleth in us.”4 Still let us inquire, is the promise of deliverance from sin “sweet to us?”5 And does our successful resistance in the spiritual conflict realize the earnest of its complete fulfilment? Blessed Jesus! what do we owe to thy cross for the present redemption from its guilt and curse, and much more for the blissful prospect of the glorified state, when this hated guest shall be an inmate no more!6 O let us take the very print of thy death into our souls in the daily crucifixion of sin.7 Let us know the “power of thy resurrection” in an habitual “walk in newness of life.”8

6 “Every imagination of the thoughts of the heart is evil—only evil—continually.” And this “God saw”—before whom “all things are naked and open”—who searcheth the heart, and therefore cannot be mistaken. Gen. 6:5.

But lest we should conceive this to be the picture of some generation of so peculiarly aggravated a character, that the awful demonstration of his wrath could no longer be restrained, this testimony is repeated by the same Omniscient Judge, immediately subsequent to the flood, (Gen. 8:21,) and confirmed by him in many express declarations. Jer. 17:9, 10. Matt. 15:19.

7 Eph. 2:2, 3. Col. 1:21.

8 2 Cor. 5:17.

9 Rom. 6:14.

10 1 John 3:1.

1 Comp. Eccl. 7:20, with Job 9:20. Phil. 3:12.

2 Matt. 6:11–13.

3 Rom. 6:1, 2.

4 Ro. 7:15–20.

5 Ro. 6:14.

6 Rev. 21:27.

7 Rom. 6:6.

8 Phil. 3:10. Rom. 6:4, 5.

Psalm 119:4 You have ordained Your precepts, That we should keep them diligently.  

• De 4:1,9 5:29-33 6:17 11:13,22 12:32 28:1-14 30:16 Jos 1:7 Jer 7:23 Mt 28:20 Joh 14:15,21 Php 4:8,9 1Jn 5:3 

You have ordained Your precepts,

That we should keep them diligently.  

Spurgeon - Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. So that when we have done all we are unprofitable servants, we have done only that which it was our duty to have done, seeing we have our Lord's command for it. God's precepts require careful obedience: there is no keeping them by accident. Some give to God a careless service, a sort of hit or miss obedience, but the Lord has not commanded such service, nor will he accept it. His law demands the love of all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and a careless religion has none of these. We are also called to zealous obedience. We are to keep the precepts abundantly: the vessels of obedience should be filled to the brim, and the command carried out to the full of its meaning. As a man diligent in business arouses himself to do as much trade as he can, so must we be eager to serve the Lord as much as possible. Nor must we spare pains to do so, for a diligent obedience will also be laborious and self denying. Those who are diligent in business rise up early and sit up late, and deny themselves much of comfort and repose. They are not soon tired, or if they are they persevere even with aching brow and weary eye. So should we serve the Lord. Such a Master deserves diligent servants; such service he demands, and will be content with nothing less. How seldom do men render it, and hence many through their negligence miss the double blessing spoken of in this Psalm.

Some are diligent in superstition and will worship; be it ours to be diligent in keeping God's precepts. It is of no use travelling fast if we are not in the right road. Men have been diligent in a losing business, and the more they have traded the more they have lost: this is bad enough in commerce, we cannot afford to have it so in our religion.

God has not commanded us to be diligent in making precepts, but in keeping them. Some bind yokes upon their own necks, and make bonds and rules for others: but the wise course is to be satisfied with the rules of holy Scripture, and to strive to keep them all, in all places, towards all men, and in all respects. If we do not this, we may become eminent in our own religion, but we shall not have kept the command of God; nor shall we be accepted of him.

The Psalmist began with the third person: he is now coming near home, and has already reached the first person plural, according to our version; we shall soon hear him crying out personally and for himself. As the heart glows with love to holiness, we long to have a personal interest in it. The word of God is a heart affecting book, and when we begin to sing its praises it soon comes home to us, and sets us praying to be ourselves conformed to its teachings.

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Charles Bridges - 4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently

We have seen the character of the Man of God. Let us mark the authority of God, commanding him to a diligent obedience. The very sight of the command is enough for him. He obeys for the command’s sake, however contrary it may be to his own will. But has he any reason to complain of the yoke? Even under the dispensation which “gendereth unto bondage” most encouraging were the obligations to obedience—“that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever.”9 Much more, then, we, under a dispensation of love, can never want a motive for obedience! Let the daily mercies of Providence stir up the question—“What shall I render unto the Lord?”10 Let the far richer mercies of grace produce “a living sacrifice” to be “presented to the Lord.”11 Let “the love of Christ constrain us.”12 Let the recollection of the “price with which we were bought,” remind us of the Lord’s property in us, and of our obligations to “glorify him in our body, and in our spirit, which are his.”1 Let us only “behold the Lamb of God;” let us hear his wrestling supplications, his deserted cry, his expiring agonies—the price of our redemption; and then let us ask ourselves, Can we want a motive?

But what is the scriptural character of Evangelical obedience? It is the work of the Spirit, enabling us to “obey the truth.”2 It is the end of the purpose of God, who “hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”3 It is the only satisfactory test of our profession.4

Then let me begin my morning with the inquiry—“Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” “Teach me thy way, O Lord: I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.”5 Let me trade with all my talents for thee: ever watchful, that I may be employed in thy work; setting a guard upon my thoughts, my lips, my tempers, my pursuits, that nothing may hinder, but rather every thing may help me, in keeping thy precepts diligently.

But why do I ever find the precepts to be “grievous” to me? Is it not that some indolence is indulged; or some “iniquity regarded in my heart;” or some principle of unfaithfulness divides my service with two masters, when I ought to be “following the Lord fully?” Oh! for the spirit of “simplicity and godly sincerity” in the precepts of God. Oh! for that warm and constant love, which is the main-spring of devoted diligence in the service of God. Oh! for a larger supply of that “wisdom which is from above,” and which is “without partiality and without hypocrisy!”6

9 Deut. 5:29. Comp. Deut. 6:17, 18; 28:1, 2. Jer. 7:23.

10 Psalm 116:12.

11 Rom. 12:1.

12 2 Cor. 5:14.

1 1 Cor. 6:19, 20.

2 1 Peter 1:22.

3 Eph. 1:4.

4 Matt. 12:33. John 14:15, 21.

5 Acts 9:6. Psalm 86:11.

6 James 3:17.

Psalm 119:5 Oh that my ways may be established To keep Your statutes!  

• Ps 119:32,36,44,45,131,159,173 51:10 Jer 31:33 Ro 7:22-24 2Th 3:5 Heb 13:21 

A PRAYER FOR
PRESSING ON!

Oh that my ways may be established To keep Your statutes!  

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Spurgeon - O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Divine commands should direct us in the subject of our prayers. We cannot of ourselves keep God's statutes as he would have them kept, and yet we long to do so: what resort have we but prayer? We must ask the Lord to work our works in us, or we shall never work out his commandments. This verse is a sigh of regret because the Psalmist feels that he has not kept the precepts diligently, it is a cry of weakness appealing for help to one who can aid, it is a request of bewilderment from one who has lost his way and would fain be directed in it, and it is a petition of faith from one who loves God and trusts in him for grace.

Our ways are by nature opposed to the way of God, and must be turned by the Lord's direction in another direction from that which they originally take or they will lead us down to destruction. God can direct the mind and will without violating our free agency, and he will do so in answer to prayer; in fact, he has begun the work already in those who are heartily praying after the fashion of this verse. It is for present holiness that the desire arises in the heart. O that it were so now with me: but future persevering holiness is also meant, for he longs for grace to keep henceforth and for ever the statutes of the Lord.

The sigh of the text is really a prayer, though it does not exactly take that form. Desires and longings are of the essence of supplication, and it little matters what shape they take. "O that" is as acceptable a prayer as "Our Father."

One would hardly have expected a prayer for direction; rather should we have looked for a petition for enabling. Can we not direct ourselves? What if we cannot row, we can steer. The Psalmist herein confesses that even for the smallest part of his duty he felt unable without grace. He longed for the Lord to influence his will, as well as to strengthen his hands. We want a rod to point out the way as much as a staff to support us in it.

The longing of the text is prompted by admiration of the blessedness of holiness, by a contemplation of the righteous man's beauty of character, and by a reverent awe of the command of God. It is a personal application to the writer's own case of the truths which he had been considering. "O that my ways, "etc. It were well if all who hear and read the word would copy this example and turn all that they hear into prayer. We should have more keepers of the statutes if we had more who sighed and cried after the grace to do so.

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Charles Bridges - 5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

The Lord has indeed “commanded us to keep his precepts.” But, alas! where is our power? Satan would make the sense of our weakness an excuse for indolence. The Spirit of God convinces us of it, as an incitement to prayer, and an exercise of faith. If, reader, your heart is perfect with God, you “consent to the law that it is good;” you “delight in it after the inner man;”7 you would not have one jot or tittle altered, mitigated, or repealed, that it might be more conformed to your own will, or allow you more liberty and self-indulgence in the ways of sin. But do you not sigh to think, that when you aim at the perfect standard of holiness, you should, at your best moments, and in your highest attainments, fall so far below it; seeing indeed the way before you, but feeling yourself without ability to walk in it? Then let a sense of your helplessness for the work of the Lord lead you to the throne of grace, to pray, and watch, and wait, for the strengthening and refreshing influences of the Spirit of grace. Here let your faith realize at one and the same view your utter insufficiency, and your complete All-sufficiency.8 Here behold Him, who is ever presenting himself before God as our glorious Head, receiving in himself, according to the good pleasure of the Father,1 the full supply for this and every successive moment of inexpressible need. Our work is not therefore left upon our own hands, or wrought out at our “own charges.” So long as “He hath the residue of the Spirit,”2 “grace” will be found “sufficient”—Divine “strength will be made perfect in weakness.”3 “Without him we can do nothing.”4—“Through Him all things.”5 Even the “worm Jacob shall thresh the mountains,” when the Lord says—“Fear not, I will help thee.”6

In connecting this verse with the preceding, how accurately is the middle path preserved, equally distant from the idea of self-sufficiency to “keep the Lord’s statutes,” and self-justification in neglecting them! The first attempt to render spiritual obedience will quickly convince us of our utter helplessness. We might as soon create a world, as create in our hearts one pulse of spiritual life. And yet our inability does not cancel our obligation. Shall God lose his right, because sin has palsied our ability? Is not a drunken servant still under his master’s law? and is not the sin which prevents him from performing his duty, not his excuse, but his aggravation? Thus our weakness is that of an heart, which “cannot be subject to the law of God,” only because it is “carnal, enmity against God.”7 The obligation therefore remains in full force. Our inability is our sin, our guilt, and condemnation.

What then remains for us, but to return the mandate to heaven, accompanied with an earnest prayer, that the Lord would write upon our hearts those statutes, to which he requires obedience in his word?—“Thou hast commanded us to keep thy statutes diligently.” We acknowledge, Lord, our obligation; but we feel our impotency. Lord, help us: we look unto thee, “O that our ways were directed to keep thy statutes!” “Give what thou commandest; and then command what thou wilt.”8 Now, as if to exhibit the fulness and suitableness of the promises of the gospel, the commands and prayers are returned back again from heaven with promises of quickening and directing grace. Thus does the Lord fully answer his end with us. He did not issue the commands, expecting that we could turn our own hearts to them; but that the conviction of our entire helplessness might cast us upon him, who loves to be sought, and never will be thus sought in vain. And indeed this is a part of “the mystery of godliness,” that in proportion as we depend upon him, who is alike “the Lord our righteousness” and our strength, our desires after holiness will increase, and our prayers become more fervent. He who commands our duty, perfectly knows our weakness. And he who feels his own weakness is fully encouraged to depend upon the power of his Saviour. Faith is then the principle of evangelical obedience, and the promises of his grace enable us for duty, at the very time that we are commanded to it.1 In this view are brought together the supreme authority of the Lawgiver, the total insufficiency of the creature, the full provisions of the Saviour, and the all-sufficiency of “the God of all grace.” We pray for what we want; we are thankful for what we have; we trust for what is promised. Thus “all is of God.” Christ “is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”2 Thus “grace reigns” triumphant. The foundation is laid in grace, and the head-stone will be brought forth with shoutings, crying, “Grace, grace unto it!”3—The Saviour’s work is finished, and Jesus is crowned Lord of all for ever.

7 Rom. 7:16, 22.

8 2 Cor. 3:5.

1 Col. 1:18, 19.

2 Mal. 2:15.

3 2 Cor. 12:9.

4 John 15:5.

5 Phil. 4:13.

6 Isa. 41:14, 15.

7 Rom. 7:7. Compare Genesis 37:4. John 8:43; 5:40. 2 Peter 2:14,—where the moral inability is clearly traced to the love of sin, or the obstinate unbelief of the heart, and therefore is inexcusable. The case of the heathen is traced to the same wilful source, Rom. 1:20–28.

8 “Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis.”—Augustine.

1 “Quod lex imperat, fides impetrat.”

2 Rev. 22:13.

3 Zech. 4:7.

Psalm 119:6 Then I shall not be ashamed When I look upon all Your commandments.  

• shall I Ps 119:31,80 Job 22:26 Da 12:2,3 1Jn 2:28 3:20,21 
• I have Ps 119:128 Joh 15:14 Jas 2:10 
• Spurgeon's sermon A Clear Conscience or listen to audio version

Then I shall not be ashamed  Then shall I not be ashamed. He had known shame, and here he rejoices in the prospect of being freed from it. Sin brings shame, and when sin is gone, the reason for being ashamed is banished. What a deliverance this is, for to some men death is preferable to shame!

When I look upon all Your commandments - NLT is interesting = "when I compare my life with your commands." 

Look upon (05027)(nabat) is a root which means that which one does with the eye (Ps 94:9), everything from a mere glance (1Sa17:42) to a careful, sustained, and favorable contemplation (Isa 5:12; Ps 74:20; Ps 119:6, 15 Hab 1:5) 

Septuagint - Look at (regard, pay special attention) (1914)(epiblepo from epi = upon + blepo = to observe, to see) means to literally to turn the eyes upon. The root verb blepo frequently implies looking not nonchalantly but with intent and earnest contemplation. BDAG says epiblepo means to "look intently, to pay close attention to (show special respect for - James 2:3), to look attentively at with implication of personal concern for someone or something (God in Lk 1:48+).  

Spurgeon - When I have respect unto all thy commandments. When he respects God he shall respect himself and be respected. Whenever we err we prepare ourselves for confusion of face and sinking of heart: if no one else is ashamed of me I shall be ashamed of myself if I do iniquity. Our first parents never knew shame till they made the acquaintance of the old serpent, and it never left them till their gracious God had covered them with sacrificial skins. Disobedience made them naked and ashamed. We, ourselves, will always have cause for shame till every sin is vanquished, and every duty is observed. When we pay a continual and universal respect to the will of the Lord, then we shall be able to look ourselves in the face in the looking glass of the law, and we shall not blush at the sight of men or devils, however eager their malice may be to lay somewhat to our charge.

Many suffer from excessive diffidence, and this verse suggests a cure. An abiding sense of duty will make us bold, we shall be afraid to be afraid. No shame in the presence of man will hinder us when the fear of God has taken full possession of our minds. When we are on the king's highway by daylight, and are engaged upon royal business, we need ask no man's leave. It would be a dishonour to a king to be ashamed of his livery and his service; no such shame should ever crimson the cheek of a Christian, nor will it if he has due reverence for the Lord his God. There is nothing to be ashamed of in a holy life; a man may be ashamed of his pride, ashamed of his wealth, ashamed of his own children, but he will never be ashamed of having in all things regarded the will of the Lord his God.

It is worthy of remark that David promises himself no immunity from shame till he has carefully paid homage to all the precepts. Mind that word "all, "and leave not one command out of your respect. Partial obedience still leaves us liable to be called to account for those commands which we have neglected. A man may have a thousand virtues, and yet a single failing may cover him with shame.

To a poor sinner who is buried in despair, it may seem a very unlikely thing that he should ever be delivered from shame. He blushes, and is confounded, and feels that he can never lift up his face again. Let him read these words: "Then shall I not be ashamed." David is not dreaming, nor picturing an impossible case. Be assured, dear friend, that the Holy Spirit can renew in you the image of God, so that you shall yet look up without fear. O for sanctification to direct us in God's way, for then shall we have boldness both towards God and his people, and shall no more crimson with confusion.

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Charles Bridges - 6. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments

The Lord expects our obedience to be not only “diligent,” but universal. Willingly to dispense with the least of the commandments, proves that we have yet to learn the spirit of acceptable obedience.4 Grace is given and suited for all, no less than for one of them, “that we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.”5 One lust “regarded in the heart” is sufficient to keep possession for the tyrant, however others may be restrained. Even Herod could “do many things;” and yet his adulterous wife cherished in his bosom, too plainly proved the sovereignty of sin to be undisturbed.6 Saul slew all the Amalekites but one; and that single exception to universal obedience marked his unsoundness, cost him the loss of his throne, and brought him under the awful displeasure of his God.7 And thus the corrupt unmortified member brings the whole body to hell.8 Reserves are the canker upon godly sincerity. A secret indulgence—“the rolling of the sweet morsel under the tongue”—“the part of the price kept back”9—stamps our service as a robbery, not as an offering. We may be free, sincere, and earnest in many parts of our prescribed duty; but this “root of bitterness” renders the whole an abomination.

Sincerity therefore must be the stamp of my Christian profession. Though utterly unable to render perfect obedience to the least of the commandments, yet my desire and purpose will have respect unto them all. I shall no more venture to break the least than the greatest of them; much less shall I ever think of attempting to atone for the breach of one by the performance of the rest. They are indeed many commandments; yet—like links in a chain—they form but one law; and I know who has said—“Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”10 However the professor may confine his regard to the second table (as if the first were ceremonial, or obsolete, or the regulation of the outward man was the utmost extent of the requirement), I would fix my eye with equal regard to both; yet specially marking any command in either of them, that may appear most directly opposed to my besetting corruptions. Thus “walking in the fear of the Lord,” I may hope to walk “in the comfort of the Holy Ghost;”1 and “hereby shall I know that I am of the truth, and shall assure my heart before God.”2

But where, in my strictest walk, is my hope of acceptance, but in Him, whose obedience has “fulfilled all righteousness”3 in my stead, and whose death “has redeemed me from the curse”4 of my unrighteousness, when repentance, prayers, and tears, would have been of no avail? Yet it is only in the path of holiness that we can realize our acceptance.5 The heart occupied with this world’s pleasure, knows nothing of this heavenly joy. Its brightness is dimmed—its freshness fades—its life withers—in the very breath of an unholy world. A godly assurance of the present favor of God must be weakened by self-indulgence, unwatchfulness, allowance of secret sins, or neglect of secret duties. “If thou return to the Almighty”—said a wise man,—“thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. Then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.”6

Let us then carefully examine the character of our assurance. Does it rest simply and exclusively upon the testimony of the Gospel? Will it abide the test of the word of God? Is it productive of tenderness of conscience, watchfulness, and circumspection of conduct? Does it exercise our diligence in adding grace to grace, that we may “make our calling and election sure,” and that “an entrance may be ministered to us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?”7 How boldly can we plead our Christian confidence in the path of godliness.—“I have stuck unto thy testimonies; O Lord, put me not to shame. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed.”8

4 Matt. 5:19.

5 Col. 1:10.

6 Mark 6:18–20.

7 1 Sam. 15:21–32.

8 Mark 9:43–48

9 Acts 5:1, 2.

10 James 2:10, 11.

1 Acts 9:31.

2 1 John 3:19.

3 Matt. 3:15.

4 Gal. 3:13.

5 1 John 1:7, 2:5, 3:21, 24.

6 Job 22:23, 26.

7 2 Peter 1:5–11.

8 Ps 119:31, 80.

Psalm 119:7 I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments.  

• I shall give thanks l Ps 119:171 9:1 86:12,13 1Ch 29:13-17 
• when Ps 119:12,18,19,27,33,34,64,73,124 25:4,5,8-10 143:10 Isa 48:17 Joh 6:45 
• Your righteous judgments, Ps 119:138 

I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,

Spurgeon - I will praise thee. From prayer to praise is here, a long or a difficult journey. Be sure that he who prays for holiness will one day praise for happiness. Shame having vanished, silence is broken, and the formerly silent man declares, "I will praise thee." He cannot but promise praise while he seeks sanctification. Mark how well he knows upon what head to set the crown. "I will praise thee." He would himself be praiseworthy, but he counts God alone worthy of praise. By the sorrow and shame of sin he measures his obligations to the Lord who would teach him the art of living so that he should clean escape from his former misery.

Spurgeon - With up righteous of heart. His heart would be upright if the Lord would teach him, and then it should praise its teacher. There is such a thing as false and feigned praise, and this the Lord abhors; but there is no music like that which comes from a pure soul which standeth in its integrity. Heart praise is required, uprightness in that heart, and teaching to make the heart upright. An upright heart is sure to bless the Lord, for grateful adoration is a part of its uprightness; no man can be right unless he is upright towards God, and this involves the rendering to him the praise which is his due.

When I learn Your righteous judgments.  

Learn (03925)(lamad) means "to learn, study, and teach," as well as "to be taught and to be learned." Lamad conveys the idea of learning and teaching in the sense of educating and training. The first use of lamad in the OT is in Dt 4:1+ which emphasizes its importance (because Israel was being given instructions prior to entering the promised land). The idea is to gain information and respond properly to it with regular action, implying acceptance of, or submission to the information. 

Septuagint - Learn (3129)(manthano related to the noun mathetes = disciple, literally a learner! The shut mind is the end of discipleship!) has the basic meaning of directing one’s mind to something and producing an external effect. Manthano refers to teaching, learning, instructing, and discipling. Manthano to genuinely understand and accept a teaching, to accept it as true and to apply it in one’s life. It was sometimes used of acquiring a life-long habit.

Righteous (06664)(tsedeq) the root connotes CONFORMITY to an  ETHICAL or MORAL STANDARD. Biblically this is clearly God's holy, perfect standard

Judgments (justice, ordinance[s]) (04941)(mishpat/mispat from shaphat = to judge, govern) is a masculine noun used over 400x in the OT and has general meanings including a judgment, a legal decision, a legal case, a claim, proper, rectitude.  Vine writes that mishpat/mispat "has two main senses; the first deals with the act of sitting as a judge, hearing a case, and rendering a proper verdict. Eccl. 12:14 is one such occurrence. Mishpat can also refer to the “rights” belonging to someone (Ex 23:6). This second sense carries several nuances: the sphere in which things are in proper relationship to one’s claims (Ge 18:19—first occurrence); a judicial verdict (Dt. 17:9); the statement of the case for the accused (Nu 27:5); and an established ordinance (Exod. 21:1).  (Vine's Expository Dictionary)

Spurgeon - When I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. We must learn to praise, learn that we may praise, and praise when we have learned. If we are ever to learn, the Lord must teach us, and especially upon such a subject as his judgments, for they are a great deep. While these are passing before our eyes, and we are learning from them, we ought to praise God, for the original is not, "when I have learned, "but, "in my learning." While yet I am a scholar I will be a chorister: my upright heart shall praise thine uprightness, my purified judgment shall admire thy judgments. God's providence is a book full of teaching, and to those whose hearts are right it is a music book, out of which they chant to Jehovah's praise. God's word is full of the record of his righteous providence, and as we read it we feel compelled to burst forth into expressions of holy delight and ardent praise. When we both read of God's judgments and become joyful partakers in them, we are doubly moved to song— song in which there is neither formality, nor hypocrisy, nor lukewarmness, for the heart is upright in the presentation of its praise.

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Charles Bridges - 7. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments

The righteous judgments of God include the whole revelation of his word9—so called—as the rule by which he judges our present state, and will pronounce our final sentence.10 David’s attainments here seemed to be as nothing. So much remained unlearned and unknown, that he could only anticipate the time, when he should have learned them. “Thy commandment”—he exclaims—“is exceeding broad.”11 When the Apostle, after twenty years’ acquaintance with the gospel, expressed it as the one desire of his heart—“That I may know Christ”1—evidently he entertained the same humbling views of his high attainments, and the same exalted apprehensions of the value of treasures yet unexplored, and progressively opening before him. Thus the wisest saints are only students in the Divine School. Yet whatever their learning be, it casts them into the mould and spirit of their doctrine.2 Conceit however of knowledge is the greatest enemy to knowledge, and the strongest proof of ignorance; so that, “if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.”—“He deceiveth himself.”3

But what is the motive, that enlivens the believer in this holy learning? Is it that he may live upon the airy breath of human applause? No, rather that he may “praise his God with uprightness of heart.” When our mind is dark, our lips are sealed. But when “he opens our understandings” to “learn his judgments,” he will next “open our lips, and our mouths shall show forth his praise.”4 And this indeed is the end, for which “his people are formed;”5 for which they “are called out of darkness into marvellous light.”6 This is the daily frame, in which our God will be glorified.7 Yet must we live as well as sing his praise. “The praise of the upright heart will be shown in the holy walk and conversation.”8

But let us watch, that our praise really flows “out of the abundance” of what our hearts have “learned” of his “righteous judgments.” For do we not sometimes speak of our Saviour with a secret lurking after self-exaltation? May we not really be seeking and serving ourselves in the very act of seeming to serve and honor him? Surely the very thought of the selfishness that defiles our holiest earthly praise, may well quicken our longings after that world of praise, where the flame burns active, bright, incessant; where we shall offer our sacrifices without defilement, without intermission, without weariness, without end.9

9 John 3:18, 19.

10 Jn. 12:48.

11 Ps 119:96.

1 Phil. 3:10–14.

2 Rom. 6:17.

3 1 Cor. 8:2. Gal. 6:3.

4 Ps. 51:15; also ver. 27, 171.

5 Isa. 43:21.

6 1 Peter 2:9.

7 Psalm 50:23. For an example of the uprightness of heart in the service of praise here alluded to, see 1 Chron. 29:13–18.

8 Psalm 116:12–14.

9 Rev. 4:8.

Psalm 119:8 I shall keep Your statutes; Do not forsake me utterly!  

• I shall keep Your statutes Ps 119:16,106,115 Jos 24:15 
• Do not forsake me utterly Ps 119:116,117,176 38:21,22 51:11 Php 4:13 

I shall keep Your statutes - Keep (see shamar) means to watch, to keep, to preserve, to guard, to be careful, to watch over, to watch carefully over, to be on one's guard. This is what Adam was supposed to do in Ge 2:15 but did not do a very good job as we see in Genesis 3! 

Spurgeon - I will keep thy statutes. A calm resolve. When praise calms down into solid resolution it is well with the soul. Zeal which spends itself in singing, and leaves no practical residuum of holy living, is little worth: "I will praise" should be coupled with "I will keep." This firm resolve is by no means boastful, like Peter's "though I should die with thee, yet will I not forsake thee, "for it is followed by a humble prayer for divine help,

Do not forsake me utterly! After his confident assertion that he could keep all God's statutes, testimonies, precepts, walking in His law, respecting His commandments, and learning His judgments he suddenly realizes he simply cannot do all this and right at the end of his first stanza he cries out for God's mercy! (cp Php 2:12,13, Eze 36:27). 

THOUGHT - And this indeed is my feeble cry...the fear that the Holy God would say "enough of your sin...have your own way then''. Lord I plead with you to not give me over to my flesh and to the lusts of this world. Do not forsake me utterly yea even though I deserve that end. Please visit me afresh Lord. Please be willing to speak to me to make Your presence known to me. Tender my heart to confess quickly my waywardness, rebellion and evil heart. For Thy Name's sake. Amen.

Spurgeon - O forsake me not utterly. Feeling his own incapacity, he trembles lest he should be left to himself, and this fear is increased by the horror which he has of falling into sin. The "I will keep" sounds lightly enough now that the humble cry is heard with it. This is a happy amalgam: resolution and dependence. We meet with those who to all appearance humbly pray, but there is no force of character, no decision in them, and consequently the pleading of the closet is not embodied in the life: on the other band, we meet with abundance of resolve attended with an entire absence of dependence upon God, and this makes as poor a character as the former. The Lord grant us to have such a blending of excellences that we may be "perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

This prayer is one which is certain to be heard, for assuredly it must be highly pleasing to God to see a man set upon obeying his will, and therefore it must be most agreeable to him to be present with such a person, and to help him in his endeavours. How can he forsake one who does not forsake his law?

The peculiar dread which tinges this prayer with a sombre hue is the fear of utter forsaking. Well may the soul cry out against such a calamity. To be left, that we may discover our weakness, is a sufficient trial: To be altogether forsaken would be ruin and death. Hiding the face in a little wrath for a moment brings us very low: an absolute desertion would land us ultimately in the lowest hell. But  the Lord never has utterly forsaken his servants, and he never will, blessed be his name. If we long to keep his statutes he will keep us; yea, his grace will keep us keeping his law.

There is rather a descent from the mount of benediction with which the first verse began to the almost wail of this eighth verse, yet this is spiritually a growth, for from admiration of goodness we have come to a burning longing after God and communion with him, and an intense horror lest it should not be enjoyed. The sigh of Psalms 119:5 is now supplanted by an actual prayer from the depths of a heart conscious of its undesert, and its entire dependence upon divine love. The two, "I wills" needed to be seasoned with some such lowly petition, or it might have been thought that the good man's dependence was in some degree fixed upon his own determination. He presents his resolutions like a sacrifice, but he cries to heaven for the fire.

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Charles Bridges - 8. I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly

The resolution to “keep the Lord’s statutes” is the natural result of having “learned his righteous judgments.” But how happily does David combine “simplicity” of dependence with “godly sincerity” of obedience! Firm in his purpose, but distrustful of his strength, instantly upon forming his resolution, he recollects that the performance is beyond his power; and therefore the next moment, and almost the same moment, he follows it up with prayer—“I will keep thy statutes; O forsake me not utterly.” Oh! beware of self-confidence in the Christian course. We stumble or advance, as we lean upon an arm of flesh, or upon an Almighty Saviour. Temporary desertion may be the seasonable chastisement of spiritual wantonness. When grace has been given in answer to prayer, it was not duly prized, or diligently improved. The “Beloved”—in answer to solicitation—“is come into his garden;” he knocks at the door, but the spouse is “asleep.” The answer to prayer was not expected, not waited for, and therefore not enjoyed; and the sleeper awakes too late, and finds herself forsaken by the object of her desire.1 Again—when we have given place to temptation;2 when “our mountain stands strong;”3 when love for our Saviour “waxes cold,” and our earnestness in seeking him is fainting;4 we must not be surprised, if we are left for a time to the trial of a deserted state.

Yet we sometimes speak of the hidings of God’s countenance, as if it were a sovereign act, calling for implicit submission; when the cause should at least be sought for, and will generally be found, in some “secret thing” of indulgence, unwatchfulness, or self-dependence.5 It was while David “kept silence” from the language of contrition, that he felt the pressure of the heavy hand of his frowning God;6 and may not the darkness, which has sometimes clouded our path, be the voice of our God—“Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.”7

But in the engagement of the Lord’s everlasting covenant, how clear is the warrant of faith!—how ample the encouragement for prayer—“Forsake me not utterly!” David knew and wrote of the Lord’s unchangeable faithfulness to his people; and, while he dreaded even a temporary separation from his God more than any worldly affliction, he could plead that gracious declaration—“Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.”8 We would not indeed make the promises of grace an encouragement to carelessness: yet it is indispensable to our spiritual establishment that we receive them in their full, free, and sovereign declaration. How many fainting souls have been refreshed by the assurances—“For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee—with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer!” “My sheep shall never perish: neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.”9 In a lowly, self-abased and dependent spirit we shall best, however, learn to “make our boast in the Lord,” “confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in us, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”10 And even if awhile destitute of sensible consolation, still our language will be—“I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob; and I will look for him.”11

Great indeed is the danger and evil to the soul, if we apprehend the Lord to have forsaken us, because we are in darkness; or that we are out of the way, because we are in perplexity. These are the very hand-posts, that show us that we are in the way of his own promised leading—painful exercise—faithful keeping—eternal salvation;—“I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”1 Oh! the rest, the satisfaction of placing a blind implicit confidence in a covenant-keeping God!

Forsaken we may be—but not utterly. David was forsaken, not like Saul2—Peter was forsaken—not like Judas3—utterly and for ever. What foreboding have you of such desertion? Is your heart willing to forsake him? Have you no mournings and thirstings for his return? “If indeed you forsake him, he will forsake you.”4 But can you forsake him? Let him do as seemeth him good, (is the language of your heart;) I will wait for him, follow after him, cleave to his word, cling to his cross. Mark his dealings with you. Inquire into their reason. Submit to his dispensation. If he forsakes, beg his return: but trust your forsaking God. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”5 Though my comfort is clouded, my hope remains unchanging, unchangeable—such as I would not resign for the glory of an earthly crown. What are these earnest breathings—this abiding confidence, but his own work in us? And can the Lord “forsake the work of his own hands?”6 Sooner should heaven and earth pass, than the faithful engagements of the Gospel be thus broken.7

1 Song. 4:16, with 5:1–6.

2 2 Chron. 32:31.

3 Psalm 30:6, 7.

4 Cant. 3:1–4.

5 Job 15:11.

6 Psalm 32:3, 4.

7 Jer. 1:19.

8 Psalm 89:33.

9 Isa. 54:7, 8. John 10:28

10 Psalm 34:2. Phil. 1:6.

11 Isa. 8:17.

1 Isa. 42:16.

2 Psalm 30:7, with 1 Sam. 28:6, 16.

3 Matt. 26:75, with 27:3–5.

4 2 Chron. 15:2. Comp. 1 Chron. 28:9.

5 Job 13:15. Isa. 45:15; 50:10. Heb. 3:17, 18.

6 Psalm 138:8.

7 Augustine’s Paraphrase of this verse is beautifully descriptive of the believer’s conflict in a state of temporary desertion. “O Lord, if—lest I should be proud, and should say in my prosperity, I shall never be removed—it pleaseth thee to tempt me, yet forsake me not over-long;” that is, if thou hast thus forsaken me, that I may know how weak I am without thy help, yet “forsake me not utterly,” lest I perish. I know that of thy good will thou hast given me strength; and if thou turnest away thy face from me, I shall forthwith be troubled. “O forsake me not, that I perish not.”

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John MacArthur - ARRESTING THE FLESH
PSALM 119:8

The godly conduct that produces spiritual stability depends on obeying the divine standard of God’s Word. The Word is what cultivates godly attitudes, thoughts, and actions that will keep you from being overwhelmed by trials and temptations. To understand the relationship between godly attitudes, thoughts, and actions, consider this analogy. If a policeman sees someone who is about to violate the law, he will arrest him. Similarly, godly attitudes and thoughts produced by the Word act as policemen to arrest the flesh before it commits a crime against the standard of God’s Word. But if they are not on duty, they can’t arrest the flesh, and the flesh is free to violate the law of God. The analogy teaches that right attitudes and thoughts must precede right practices. Paul realized only spiritual weapons will help in our warfare against the flesh (2 Cor. 10:4). By using the right weapons, you can take “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:5). (Truth for Today)

Psalm 119:9 Beth. How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.  

• How can - Ps 25:7 34:11 Job 1:5 13:26 Pr 1:4,10 4:1,10-17 5:7-23 6:20-35 Pr 7:7 Ec 11:9,10 12:1 Lu 15:13 2Ti 2:22 Tit 2:4-6 
• by keeping Ps 119:11,97-105 1:1-3 19:7-11 78:4-8 De 6:6-9 17:18 Jos 1:7 Joh 15:3 2Ti 3:15-17 Jas 1:21-25 

How can a young man keep his way pure? A good question not just for a young man but for an old man! 

Keep pure (02135)(zakah) to clean, to be clean, to cleanse. It is found only 8x in the OT - Job 15:14 = "What is man, that he should be pure"; Job 25:4 = "how can he be clean who is born of woman?"; Ps. 51:4 = "blameless when You judge"; Ps. 73:13 = "Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure"; Ps. 119:9; Pr 20:9 = "who can say I have cleansed my heart"; Isa. 1:16 = "make yourselves clean"; Mic. 6:11 = "Can I justify wicked scales" In Psalm 119:9 zakah is translated in the Septuagint with the verb katorthoo (used in 1 Ki 2:35; 1 Chr 16:30; 1 Chr 28:7; 2 Chr 29:35; 2 Chr 33:16; 2 Chr 35:10; 2 Chr 35:16; Ps 96:10; Ps 119:9; Ps 119:128; Pr 2:7; Pr 2:9; Pr 4:18; Pr 9:6; Pr 11:10; Pr 12:3; Pr 12:19; Pr 14:11; Pr 25:5; Isa. 9:7; Jer 10:23; Ezek 18:29; Mic.7:2; Zech 4:7) which means to cause something to be correct, to come out right, accomplish successfully, or be set straight. 

Herbert Wolf - The Piel means "to make or keep clean, pure," the Hithpael, to make oneself clean" (only in Isaiah 1:16).The term appears twice in Job (Job 15:14; Job 25:4), and both times Job's comforters are asking how a man can be pure in the sight of God. In each verse zākâ is parallel to ṣādaq "be righteous." A similar question appears in Proverbs 20:9 where the admission is made that no one has kept his heart pure and sinless. Those who walk in accord with God's word can live pure lives, however (Psalm 119:9). The psalmist also notes that at times the wicked appear to be happier and more prosperous than the one who keeps his heart pure (Psalm 73:13), but in the end the wicked are ruined. In Isaiah 1:16 God warns the people of Judah that they must wash and make themselves clean or face severe judgment. Twice the verb is used of God. In Psalm 51:4 [H 6] David admits that God was "justified" when he judged David for his sin with Bathsheba. The interpretation of Micah 6:11 is difficult. Is God asking if he should "justify wicked scales" (NASB) or "acquit a man" (RSV, NIV) who uses dishonest scales? The thought seems to be that God will not "declare pure" such a sinner. (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament)

Spurgeon -  How can a young man keep his way pure How shall he become and remain practically holy? He is but a young man, full of hot passions, and poor in knowledge and experience; how shall he get right, and keep right? Never was there a more important question for any man; never was there a fitter time for asking it than at the commencement of life. It is by no means an easy task which the prudent young man sets before him. He wishes to choose a clean way, to be himself clean in it, to cleanse it of any foulness which may arise in the future, and to end by showing a clear course from the first step to the last; but, alas, his way is already unclean by actual sin which he has already committed, and he himself has within his nature a tendency towards that which defileth. Here, then, is the difficulty, first of beginning aright, next of being always able to know and choose the right, and of continuing in the right till perfection is ultimately reached: this is hard for any man, how shall a youth accomplish it? The way, or life, of the man has to be cleansed from the sins of his youth behind him, and kept clear of the sins which temptation will place before him: this is the work, this is the difficulty. No nobler ambition can lie before a youth, none to which he is called by so sure a calling; but none in which greater difficulties can be found. Let him not, however, shrink from the glorious enterprise of living a pure and gracious life; rather let him enquire the way by which all obstacles may be overcome. Let him not think that he knows the road to easy victory, nor dream that he can keep himself by his own wisdom; he will do well to follow the Psalmist, and become an earnest enquirer asking how he may cleanse his way. Let him become a practical disciple of the holy God, who alone can teach him how to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, that trinity of defilers by whom many a hopeful life has been spoiled. He is young and unaccustomed to the road, let him not be ashamed often to enquire his way of him who is so ready and so able to instruct him in it. Our "way" is a subject which concerns us deeply, and it is far better to enquire about it than to speculate upon mysterious themes which rather puzzle than enlighten the mind. Among all the questions which a young man asks, and they are many, let this be the first and chief: "Wherewithal shall I cleanse my way?" This is a question suggested by common sense, and pressed home by daily occurrences; but it is not to be answered by unaided reason, nor, when answered, can the directions be carried out by unsupported human power. It is ours to ask the question, it is God's to give the answer and enable us to carry it out. (Treasury of David)

What is the "4D" process suggested in these verses?

1). Desire to remain pure
2). Devour it: Treasure or store up God's Word of life, Word of truth in your control center [(your heart...all your heart = a whole heart not a divided heart for you will be double-minded and unstable in all your ways (Jas 1:8) for you cannot serve two masters (Mt 6:24)]
3). Do it: Keep it according to the treasured Word (v10 sought Thee...the idea of fixing your eyes on Jesus Heb12:2)
4). Depend on God's power ("Do not let me wander from Thy commandments")
5). RESULT: Not sin against God...keep way pure

By keeping it according to Your word -  Note that God provides His Word, but we are responsible to keep it. He will not force us to keep it, but in the Church age God has also provided His Spirit to enable us to make the choice daily to keep it. 

Keeping (careful, guard, kept, observe, watch) (08104)(shamar) means to keep, watch, preserve, to guard, to be careful, to watch over, to watch carefully over, to be on one’s guard. The first use of shamar in Ge 2:15 is instructive as Adam was placed in the garden (a perfect environment) and was commanded to "keep" it which in the Septuagint is translated with phulasso (used here in Ps 119:9 to translate shamar) which means to guard like a military sentinel would at his post. Clearly Adam did not do a good job at "keeping" the garden safe from intruders! And because of this failure he was cast out of the garden and angels stationed to "guard (Lxx = phulasso) the way to the tree of life" so that he would not eat of it (Ge 3:24). We are charge not with watching the Garden of Eden but to watch over the "garden" of our heart, to make sure we quickly pull (confess) "weeds" of sin! Phulasso in Ps 119:9 is in the middle voice which means the subject (us) initiates the action (guarding our heart - see Pr 4:23+) and participates in the results (fruit) of zealously guarding our heart! 

Shamar is a "key verb" in Psalm 119 - Ps. 119:4; Ps. 119:5; Ps. 119:8; Ps. 119:9; Ps. 119:17; Ps. 119:34; Ps. 119:44; Ps. 119:55; Ps. 119:57; Ps. 119:60; Ps. 119:63; Ps. 119:67; Ps. 119:88; Ps. 119:101; Ps. 119:106

Spurgeon - By keeping it according to Your word - Young man, the Bible must be your chart, and you must exercise great watchfulness that your way may be according to its directions. You must take heed to your daily life as well as study your Bible, and you must study your Bible that you may take heed to your daily life (STUDY YOUR BIBLE BUT BE SURE TO LET IT "STUDY YOU!"). With the greatest care a man will go astray if his map misleads him; but with the most accurate map he will still lose his road if he does not take heed to it. (SEE EXAMPLE OF A MAN WHO KNEW THE WORD BUT DID NOT PRACTICE IT - HIS NAME WAS NIKITA KRUSHCHEV!) The narrow way was never hit upon by chance, neither did any heedless man ever lead a holy life. We can sin without thought, we have only to neglect the great salvation and ruin our souls; BUT to obey the Lord and walk uprightly will need all our heart and soul and mind. Let the careless remember this. Yet the "word" is absolutely necessary; for, otherwise, care will darken into morbid anxiety, and conscientiousness may become superstition. A captain may watch from his deck all night; but if he knows nothing of the coast, and has no pilot on board, he may be carefully hastening on to shipwreck. It is not enough to desire to he right; for ignorance may make us think that we are doing God service when we are provoking him, and the fact of our ignorance will not reverse the character of our action, however much it may mitigate its criminality. Should a man carefully measure out what he believes to be a dose of useful medicine, he will die if it should turn out that he has taken up the wrong vial, and has poured out a deadly poison: the fact that he did it ignorantly will not alter the result. Even so, a young man may surround himself with ten thousand ills, by carefully using an unenlightened judgment, and refusing to receive instruction from the word of God. Wilful ignorance is in itself wilful sin, and the evil which comes of it is without excuse. Let each man, whether young or old, who desires to be holy have a holy watchfulness in his heart, and keep his Holy Bible before his open eye. (AND OPEN HEART). There he will find every turn of the road marked down, every slough and miry place pointed out, with the way to go through unsoiled; and there, too, he will find light for his darkness, comfort for his weariness, and company for his loneliness, so that by its help he shall reach the benediction of the first verse of the Psalm (Psalm 119:1), which suggested the Psalmist's enquiry, and awakened his desires.Note how the first section of eight verses has for its first verse, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way." and the second section runs parallel to it, with the question, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" The blessedness which is set before us in a conditional promise should be practically sought for in the way appointed. The Lord saith, "For this will I be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." (Treasury of David)

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Warren Wiersbe - Keeping Clean
 
Read Psalm 119:9-16
 
How does a person keep clean in this dirty world? The psalmist asks this question in verse 9: "How can a young man cleanse his way?" The answer: "By taking heed according to Your word." Of course this doesn't apply only to a young man. The same is true for a young woman, a child or an older person. We are living in a dirty world, and because of the pollution around us, we have to walk in the Word of God. The psalmist gives us several instructions to follow to keep us spiritually clean.
 
First, heed the Word. We first have to read and study the Word so we know it. And if we know it, we should obey it.
 
Second, hide the Word. "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You" (Psalm 119:11). G. Campbell Morgan used to say of this verse, "It tells us about the best book--'Thy Word'--in the best place--'my heart'--for the best purpose--'that I might not sin' against God." Are you obeying the Word of God? Are you treasuring it in your heart?
 
Third, herald the Word by sharing it with others. "With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth" (Psalm 119:13). If we have Scripture in our hearts, it has to come out through our lips, because "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34).
 
Finally, honor the Word. "I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways" (Psalm 119:15). In other words, "I will honor God's Word. I will respect what He wants me to do. My Father is telling me what to do, and I am going to obey Him."
 
* * *
God's Word has a cleansing effect. But you must get into the Word before it can become effective in your life. Obey God's Word, and He will keep you clean in this dirty world  (Psalm 119:9-16 Keeping Clean) 

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We are drowning in a sea of sexual images and sinful attractions. Everywhere we look we find temptation to fill our minds with thoughts of sexual relationships that God wouldn't approve. The writer asked a question that troubles us all: How do we stay pure in a contaminating environment? We cannot do this on our own but must have counsel and strength more dynamic than the tempting influences around us. Where can we find that strength and wisdom? By reading God's Word and doing what it says. - Life Application Study Bible

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HOW DO WE "PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR"?

One of the most important ways is to hide God's Word in our heart (Ps 119:9-11) AS IF OUR VERY LIFE DEPENDED UPON IT...BECAUSE OUR SPIRITUAL VITALITY DOES! Toward the close of World War II, Allied forces were mopping up against remaining Nazi resistance. One particular unit was assigned a crucial mission in Berlin. Each soldier had to memorize a map detailing all of Berlin's important military sites -- and they had to do it in a single night! In just a few hours, each soldier in the unit had committed the map to memory. The mission was a success. Several years later, the Army conducted an experiment to see if that original feat could be duplicated. They offered a similar unit an extra week's furlough--an attractive incentive--if they could carry out a comparable mission without a hitch. But the second unit could not match the success of the first. What made the difference? The lives of the men were not at stake. Surviving in battle was a greater motivation than a week's vacation. Christians are engaged in spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-18). Our road map, our plan of strategy against Satan's military strongholds, is the Bible. The more we read it, the more of it we memorize, and the more thoroughly we know it, the more effective we will be for God. We must approach God's Word as if our lives depended on it--because they do. That's real motivation! --HWR (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) 

Thy Word is like an armory,
Where soldiers may repair,
And find, for life's long battle-day,
All needful weapons there.
--Hodder

If your life depended on knowing the Bible,how long would you last?

Even though children can understand the Bible's basic truths, it is no simple book. Anyone who bothers to study it finds it to be as limitless as the cosmos. We can go back to the same text countless times and still find more there. No one has ever mastered the Scriptures. 

The Bible is like the ocean. You can wade in it, feed from it, live on it--or drown in it. But those who take the time to learn its truths and practice them will be changed forever. 

The Bible is simple enough for a child to read
and too deep for a scholar to master.

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CLEANSING Psalm 119:9–16

I.      The purging—v. 9
      A.      Concern—“How can a young man cleanse his way?” More simply, “How can a person live a holy life?”
      B.      Cleansing—“By taking heed thereto according to thy Word.” “By reading your Word and following its rules” (LB). A person who follows God’s Word will live a holy life.

II.      The plea—v. 10
      A.      Prayer—“With my whole heart have I sought Thee.” Perhaps the psalmist knew the truth of Jer. 29:13.
      B.      Plea—“O let me not wander from thy commandments.” In plain words, “Help me to obey all thy commandments.”
    A Christian should always be seeking to improve his Christian living. He should never be satisfied. To be satisfied is to be backslidden.

III.      The power—v. 11
      A.      Scripture—“Thy Word.” God’s Word will not pass away. His Word is settled forever in heaven—Ps. 119:89.
      B.      Security—“Have I hid in my heart.” If we hide His Word in our hearts, we’ll not sin against God! Jesus said that out of the heart man speaks—Matt. 15:18.
      C.      Sinlessness—“That I might not sin against thee.” The more we hide God’s Word in our hearts, the less we will sin against Him.

IV.      The prayer—v. 12
      A.      Praise—“Blessed art thou.” All prayer should begin with thanksgiving. Daniel prayed and gave thanks—Dan. 6:10.
      B.      Plea—“O Lord: teach me thy statutes.” He will teach us if we are willing to study—2 Tim. 2:15.

V.      The Person—vv. 13–15
      A.      Witness—v. 13. The Psalmist talked about the good things of God. God seeks people who will witness for Him.
      B.      Worship—v. 14. Rejoicing is a very important part of worship. The Psalmist rejoiced in God’s ways.
      C.      Ways—v. 15. He respected and meditated upon God’s ways. Many have never learned to meditate.

VI.      The praise—v. 16
      A.      Delight. Delight in God’s statutes. He was happy to keep God’s laws.
      B.      Dedication. He would not forget God’s Word!

Croft Pence

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Charles Bridges - 9. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word

Why is the young man so especially called to cleanse his way? Because God justly claims the first and the best. And is it not a most affecting proof of the alienation of the heart from God, that the youth of man—the bloom and freshness of his mind—his “first love”—should naturally be devoted to the service of sin? Ever since fallen man “begat a son in his own likeness,” “the imagination of man’s heart has been evil from his youth.”1 For “who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?”2 And never does the heart utter the cry, “My Father! thou art the guide of my youth,”3 until the misery of wandering without a guide has been painfully felt. And even when Divine grace has awakened the desire to return homewards, the habit of wandering from God, and the long-cherished pollutions of sin, seem to form an almost invincible barrier to progress.

The fearful power of “youthful lusts,” and the madness with which the heart is hurried into forbidden indulgences, give solemn weight to the inquiry—“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” And the answer is ready. Let him “take heed thereto according to the word.” Thus did Joseph4 and Daniel with his young companions5 “cleanse their way” in the defilement of an heathen atmosphere. It was probably the recollection of this purifying efficacy of the word, that induced the venerable Beza to mention in his will, among his chief matters of thankfulness to God, the mercy of having been called to the knowledge of the truth at the age of sixteen; thus, during a course of more than seventy years’ walk with God, “escaping the pollutions of the world through lust.” But the “way can only be cleansed” by the cleansing of the heart: for how can a corrupt fountain “send forth” other than “bitter waters?”6 “Out of the heart are the issues of life.” Hence the urgent need to cry—“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”7

How precious, therefore, is the word of God, as the means of this cleansing operation! When our Saviour had been setting forth himself as “the way, the truth, and the life,” and exhibiting the high privilege of union with himself—“Now,” he adds, “ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”8 This is “the truth,” which he pleaded with his Father as the means of our sanctification.9 This sets out our purifying hope.10 Here are the promises, by which we “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”11 Thus is restored to man that golden “crown”—the stamp of his Maker’s holiness—which “fell from his head when he sinned.”12

But oh! how does the recollection force itself upon us,—that our way wants daily cleansing! so defiled are our actions, our thoughts, our motives,—nay more, our prayers and services. Let us then “take heed according to the word of God”—specially thankful for its heavenly light, which guides us to the “fountain that is opened for sin and for uncleanness.”1 Let us also under the same Divine light seek for the daily sanctifying influence of the Spirit of God. “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.”2 ‘Cleanse the thoughts of my heart by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit.’3

1 Gen. 5:3; 8:21.

2 Job 14:4.

3 Jer. 3:4.

4 Gen. 39:9.

5 Dan. 1:8–20; 3:12–18.

6 James 3:11, 12.

7 Prov. 4:23. Psalm 51:10.

8 John 14; 15:1–3.

9 Ib. 17:17.

10 1 John 3:3.

11 2 Cor. 7:1. Comp. 2 Peter 1:4. Augustine’s recorded account of his own conversion furnishes a striking illustration of this subject. Confessions, Books viii. ix. The substance of it may be found in Milner’s Church History, vol. ii. 353–356. See Dr. Owen’s valuable work on the Spirit for a most instructive use made of it, as throwing light upon the doctrine of conversion. Book iii. chap. vi.

12 Lam. 5:16, with Gen. 1:27. Eph. 4:24.

1 Zech. 13:1.

2 Psalm 19:12.

3 Prayer-Book.

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Thy Word I Have Treasured in My Heart - John Piper - January 5, 1997   Psalm 119:9–16

  How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word. 10 With all my heart I have sought Thee; Do not let me wander from Thy commandments. 11 Thy word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against Thee. 12 Blessed art Thou, O LORD; Teach me Thy statutes. 13 With my lips I have told of All the ordinances of Thy mouth. 14 I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies, As much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on Thy precepts, And regard Thy ways. 16 I shall delight in Thy statutes; I shall not forget Thy word.

The Ultimate Goal of Life

There are two ways to state the ultimate goal of life, one positively and one negatively. Positively we could say: the ultimate goal of life is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. Or negatively, we could say: the ultimate goal of life is not to sin. They both mean the same thing because sinning is falling short of glorifying God by embracing other things as more enjoyable.

So if we could learn how to glorify God by enjoying him, we would know how not to sin. And if we could learn how not to sin, we would know how to glorify God by enjoying him.

Ps 119:11 tells us one of the keys to not sinning. It says, speaking to God, “Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.” The way not to sin is to treasure the word of God in your heart. Which means that the way to succeed in the ultimate goal of life—to live for the glory of God by enjoying him forever—is to treasure the word of God in your heart.

So let’s focus for a moment on what this means. Take the three key phrases: 1) Thy word; 2) I have treasured; 3) in my heart.

“Thy Word”

The Word the psalmist has in mind is not a subjective impression that comes to his mind when he prays for God’s will to be revealed. It is the revelation of God in his written word, primarily the Torah, the books of Moses, but also the writings of the prophets whom God sent to Israel. You can see this in the way he piles up familiar words for God’s revealed written word in the context. For example, verse 10b: “Do not let me wander from thy commandments.” Verse 12: “Blessed art thou, O LORD; teach me Thy statutes.” Verse 13: “With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of Thy mouth.” Verse 14: “I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies.” Verse 15: “I will meditate on Thy precepts.”

These words—commandments, statutes, ordinances, testimonies, precepts—are all words that the Bible uses to refer to the written word of God, especially in the books of Moses, but by implication to all God’s revealed written work. Today we would say “Thy word” refers to the Bible in its entirety. So what the psalmist is referring to in verse 11 is not subjective impressions but objective teachings of God in Scripture. “Thy Word—that word I have treasured in my heart.”

“In My Heart”

Next take the phrase “in my heart.” The point here is mainly to say: inside of me, not just on a tablet outside of me. The words of God are not just kept in writing for the psalmist to consult outside of himself. They are kept for his consulting inside of him—in his heart. The heart in the Old Testament is a place of both thinking and feeling (Genesis 6:5; Job 36:13). So these words of God are being treasured in a place where they can be thought about and felt.

“I Have Treasured”

Finally take the middle phrase: “I have treasured.” “Thy word I have treasured in my heart.” You might ask, How do you know that the word of God is “in the heart,” rather than only the act of treasuring being in the heart while the word is on the scrolls outside the heart? For example, I could say, “My wife have I treasured in my heart,” and would not mean that my wife is in my heart, but only that I treasure her with my heart.

The reason we know that the word of God is in the heart is that the Hebrew word “I have treasured” (tsaphan), in its 30-some uses in the Old Testament, almost always means “hide” or “store.” It only secondarily comes to mean “to treasure” since hiding was what you did with your treasures in the days before there were banks (see Job 23:12+; Proverbs 2:1+). So we know that when the psalmist says, “Thy word I have treasured in my heart,” he does not just mean that the act of valuing happens in his heart, but that the word is being hidden and stored up there as something valuable—like a treasure.

So the teaching in this verse is that one way to keep from sinning—one way to attain the ultimate reason for being, to live for the glory of God by enjoying him forever—is to store up the word of God in our hearts as something very precious. When we have the word of God stored or hidden in our hearts, and treasure it like gold and silver, that word will function to keep us from sin.

Two Things that Keep us from Sinning

It’s not just one thing, but two things that keep us from sinning and move us to glorify and enjoy God. It is not just having the word stored. Nor is it is just valuing the word. It is both. Both are crucial. We value the word and therefore we have it stored in our hearts. And the two together give us the power to stand against the temptations to sin. It is a (1) superior treasure, (2) present and active, that conquers sin.

So I believe that the Bible teaches us to memorize scripture the way an ant gathers food in summer: because it is so valuable and will be needed in the winter months. “[The ant] prepares her food in the summer, and gathers her provision in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:8). Memorizing scripture is not a discipline for its own sake. It is because the scriptures are a treasure and will be needed before the day is done to help you escape a sinful attitude and live a life that glorifies God.

The Cruciality of Bible Memory

We on the staff believe that a church-wide Bible memory challenge will be revolutionary for our lives. Dallas Willard, who is famous for his book, The Spirit of the Disciplines, said, "As a pastor, teacher, and counselor I have repeatedly seen the transformation of inner and outer life that comes simply from memorization and meditation upon Scripture. Personally, I would never undertake to pastor a church or guide a program of Christian education that did not involve a continuous program of memorization of the choicest passages of Scripture for people of all ages."

That is what we are planning to do beginning today.

You Can Do It

You may doubt that you can do this, especially if you are older. But ask yourself this question, If I offered you $1,000 for every verse you memorized in the next week, how many do you think you could memorize? Yet God says of his word in Psalm 19:10–11+, “They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Thy servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” The real value of the word is far greater than $1,000 a verse. The question is, Do you believe this? Believing this will be the crucial motivation you need.

Nor is the task beneath you and only for children. The Lord Jesus memorized Scripture verbatim. We know he did, because when he was fasting in the wilderness there were no libraries or books, and with every temptation of the devil he quoted a passage of Scripture to defeat the devil (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10+).

This is why we are calling the 52 passages prepared for all of us this year (one a week) “fighter verses.” Jesus defeated the devil’s temptations with the use of a memorized passage of Scripture. And in Ephesians 4:17+, Paul called the word of God “the sword of the Spirit.” We cannot successfully overcome sin and Satan without the present treasure of precious words of God—“fighter verses.”

You can do this. When Dawson Trotman, the founder of the Navigators, became a Christian in 1926, he was driving a truck for a lumberyard in Los Angeles. While driving, he would work on memorizing a verse a day. During the first three years of his Christian life he memorized his first thousand verses. If he can do that you can do 52 in a year.

Faith Feeds on Scripture all Day

How is your faith? Is it strong or weak? I have never known a strong Christian who did not have much scripture memorized. There is a reason for this. God designed faith to feed on the promises of Scripture all day long. Faith depends for its life on steady access to precious Biblical truth. Look at how Proverbs 22:18–19 puts this: “It will be pleasant if you keep [the words of the wise] within you, that they may be ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have taught you today, even you.”

How is your trust? Your confidence? Your peace and joy and assurance? Are they strong or weak? God says that he has given us his word so that it will be within us and that we may trust in him. Faith rises or falls to the degree that it feeds hourly on the treasure of God’s truth stored in the heart.

If you choose against Bible memory (not our program in particular) you choose against the food of faith and will, at best, become a weak Christian and, at worst, prove to be a false Christian. Far better to say with Psalm 119:9, “O how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day.”

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John Butler - Sermon Starters - The Solution Psalm 119:9
This text shows the desire of the Psalmist for sanctification. It is a rare desire to be holy, clean, upright. But it is a healthy desire.

FIRST—THE PRIORITY OF THE DESIRE
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" Man needs cleansing/holiness more than anything else. Man may have other needs such as a job, clothes, house, transportation, and food but his greatest need is to be cleansed of his sin. You may have all these other things but "without holiness no man shall see God" (Hebrews 12:14, and "Blessed (happy) are the pure" (Matthew 5:8). Holiness is the key to acceptance with God; it is also the key to happiness, Many of our churches and our government focus on the needs of the body (clothes, food, job, housing, etc.) and ignore the needs of the soul. But our text wisely focuses on the great need of man, namely, holiness.

SECOND—THE PERIOD OF THE DESIRE
"Young man." The sinfulness of man begins early in life. "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." (Genesis 8:21). Sin starts early in life. Those cute little babies if unattended spiritually soon develop sinful characteristics early in life. We have heard young children using the grossest of profanity on the playground. It doesn't stop with profanity but is found in the conduct of young children who are getting very difficult to handle in our schools. A famous football coach wrote that the lack of character and discipline in recruits made it difficult to coach. Our text talks about a young man needing cleansing. This does not exclude "old" men, but it shows the importance of purity early in life.

THIRD—THE PROMISE FOR THE DESIRE
"By taking heed thereto according to thy Word." Men need to take a soul bath. We are not talking about a body bath. We are talking about a spiritual bath. Our text asks the question about cleansing. The answer is found in the Scriptures. This tells us the great value of the Word of God. If holiness is our greatest need and the Word is the answer then the Word needs to be front and center in life. But the Bible is not even front and center in most churches. Scripture is replaced by socials (church suppers and ball games) and the Bible is put on the back burner. No wonder our churches are not a purifying influence anymore. The Scripture tells us about Christ Who can save the soul (cleanse it permanently) and it tells us about holy living. However, the Scriptures are not popular. Christ is rejected, and holiness is watered down to where it tolerates a lot of sin. Criticism of the Scriptures is often disguised as intellectualism. Often the Scriptures are rejected as separation of church and state, but we note that wickedness abounds in society and those who reject the Word do not have a solution to the problem of abounding wickedness in our youth. (Sermon Starters)

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The Key to Purity
Today's Reading: Psalm 119:9-13

How can a young person stay pure? Psalm 119:9

WHENEVER SCRIPTURE poses a critical question about life, it also gives the answer—often within the next few sentences. God isn't in the business of confusing us. He wants our life to be fruitful and obedient and prosperous.
"God, please, bring to mind Scriptures you want me to hear right now. Don't let hunger or fatigue or fear keep me from remembering."  Armageddon, 207
The psalmist asked this question: "How can a young person stay pure?" And the formula is found immediately following. "By obeying your word and following its rules. I have tried my best to find you—don't let me wander from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.... I have recited aloud all the laws you have given us" (Psalm 119:9-13, italics mine).
First, we obey his Word. We allow the Bible to become our blueprint for living. We take God's commandments to heart and make obedience our primary desire and longing.
Second, we seek to find him. Jesus tells us: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength" (Mark 12:30). A critical ingredient to a pure life is to seek God with every fiber of our being.
Third, we hide his Word in our heart. By reading and meditating on Scripture daily, we become intimately aware of God's will for us and his desire for our holiness.
Fourth, we recite his Word aloud. When tempted in the desert by Satan, Jesus didn't attempt to develop new arguments for the enemy; he simply restated what God had already said. God's Word is complete enough to guide us through each and every situation. When faced with temptation, we, too, should quote God's Word aloud.
This is the four-step plan for pure and holy living outlined in Scripture for anyone serious about his or her Christian walk. And though the psalmist's words are aimed at the young, the advice is applicable to us all.

Reflection Meditate on today's passage, asking God to speak to you specifically regarding the state of your heart. How does your life reflect the purity that God wants for you? What portions of the Word have you hidden in your heart to ward off temptation and help you discover God's will for your life

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Moral culture of young men

I. YOUNG MEN REQUIRE CLEANSING. Somehow or other, from the very commencement of moral agency, impure thoughts enter the mind, and impure emotions are awakened. So that cleansing is required almost at the beginning, because spiritual uncleanness is 
      (1) Inimical to peace of conscience.
      (2) A hindrance to true soul growth.
      (3) An obstruction to Divine fellowship.

II. MORAL CLEANSING REQUIRES CIRCUMSPECTION IN LIFE. “By taking heed thereto.” If you tread the path of vanity, avarice, sensuality, selfishness, you will go down deeper and deeper in moral filth. If you tread the path of virtue as trod by Jesus of Nazareth, you must take heed that you tread that path constantly and not turn to the right hand or to the left. “Take heed.” There are many on all hands who will try to turn you from the path.

III. CIRCUMSPECTION OF LIFE SHOULD BE GUIDED BY THE DIVINE WORD. “Thy Word,” that contains the map; Thy Word, there burns the lamp; Thy Word, there dwells the inspiration. (Homilist.)

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A. Maclaren - How a young man may cleanse his way

I. THIS IS THE GREAT PRACTICAL PROBLEM FOR LIFE. It is more especially the question for young people.
    1. You are under special temptations not to ask it. There are so many other points in your future unresolved that you are only too apt to put aside the consideration of this one in favour of those which seem to be of more immediate importance. And you have the other temptation, common to us all, of living without any plan of life at all. At your age, judgment and experience are not so strong as inclination and passion; and everything has got the fresh gloss of novelty upon it, and it seems to be sometimes sufficient delight to live and get hold of the new joys that are flooding in upon you.
    2. It is worth while for you to ask it. For you have got the prerogative that some of us have lost, of determining the shape that your life’s course is to take.
    3. You have special temptations to make your ways unclean.

II. WE CAN ONLY MAKE OUR WAY CLEAN ON CONDITION OF CONSTANT WATCHFULNESS. “Take heed to thyself” is the only condition of a pure and noble life. That such a condition is necessary will appear very plain from two considerations. First, it is clear that there must be constant watchfulness, if we consider what sort of a world this is that we have got into. And it is also plain if we consider what sort of creatures we are that have got into it. We are creatures evidently made for self-government. Our whole nature is like a monarchy. There are things in each of us that are never meant to rule, but to be kept well down under control, such as strong passions, desires rooted in the flesh which are not meant to get the mastery of a man. And there are parts of our nature which are as obviously intended to be supreme and sovereign; the reason, the conscience, the will.

III. THIS CONSTANT WATCHFULNESS, TO BE OF ANY USE, MUST BE REGULATED BY GOD’S WORD. The guard on the frontier who is to keep the path must have instructions from head-quarters, and not choose add decide according to his own phantasy, but according to the King’s orders. Or, to use another metaphor, it is no use having a guard unless the guard has a lantern. In the Word of God, in its whole sweep, and eminently and especially in Christ, who is the Incarnate Word, we have an all-sufficient Guido. A guide of conduct must be plain--and whatever doubts and difficulties there may be about the doctrines of Christianity, there are none about its morality. A guide of conduct must be decisive--and there is no faltering in the utterance of the Book as to right and wrong. A guide of conduct must be capable of application to the wide diversities of character, age, circumstance--and the morality of the New Testament especially, and of the Old in a measure, secures that, because it does not trouble itself about minute details, but deals with large principles. A guide for morals must be far in advance of the followers, and it has taken generations and centuries to work into men’s consciences, and to work out in men’s practice, a portion of the morality of that Book. If the world kept the commandments of the New Testament, the world would be in the millennium; and all the sin and crime, and ninety-nine hundredths of all the sorrow of earth would have vanished like an ugly dream. Here is the guide for you, and if you take it you will not err.

IV. ALL THIS CAN ONLY BE DONE EFFECTUALLY IF YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN. My psalm goes as far as the measure of revelation granted to its author admitted; but if a person had no more to say than that, it would be a weary business. It is no use to tell a man, “Guard yourself; guard yourself.” Nor even to tell him, “Guard yourself according to God’s Word,” if God’s Word is only a law. The fatal defect of all attempts at keeping my heart by my own watchfulness is that keeper and kept are one and the same. And so there may be mutiny in the garrison, and the very forces that ought to subdue the rebellion may have gone over to the rebels. You want a power outside of you to steady you The only way to haul a boat up the rapids is to have some fixed point on the shore to which a man may fasten a rope and pull at that. You get that eternal guard and fixed point on which to hold in Jesus Christ, the dear Son of His love, who has died for you. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Psalm 119:10 With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments.  

• With all my heart Ps 119:2,34,58,69 78:37 1Sa 7:3 2Ch 15:15 Jer 3:10 Ho 10:2 Zep 1:5,6 Mt 6:24 Col 3:22 1Jn 2:15 
• Do not let me wander from Your commandments Ps 119:21,118,133,176 23:3 125:5 143:8-10 Pr 2:13 21:16 Isa 35:8 Eze 34:6 2Pe 2:15-22 

My loose translation of Lxx = In my whole heart I have diligently searched for You. Let me not thrust off from myself away your commandments.

With all my heart I have sought You;

Spurgeon - With my whole heart have I sought thee. His heart had gone after God himself: he had not only desired to obey his laws, but to commune with his person. This is a right royal search and pursuit, and well may it be followed with the whole heart. The surest mode of cleansing the way of our life is to seek after God himself, and to endeavour to abide in fellowship with him. Up to the good hour in which he was speaking to his Lord, the Psalmist had been an eager seeker after the Lord, and if faint, he was still pursuing. Had he not sought the Lord he would never have been so anxious to cleanse his way. It is pleasant to see how the writer's heart turns distinctly and directly to God. He had been considering an important truth in the preceding verse, but here he so powerfully feels the presence of his God that he speaks to him, and prays to him as to one who is near. A true heart cannot long live without fellowship with God.

Spurgeon  - His petition is founded on his life's purpose: he is seeking the Lord, and he prays the Lord to prevent his going astray in or from his search. It is by obedience that we follow after God, hence the prayer,

Do not let me wander from Your commandments - A prayer that recognizes his dependence on God's power to keep him from wandering. While he is responsible to choose, he cries out for God's sovereign protection and power to enable him to walk uprightly. A good prayer. It reflects a humble recognition that we need God all the time! Even when we are seeking Him with a whole heart. We are always vulnerable to slip and fall, for the flesh is ever looking for a crack in our armor!

Spurgeon - O let me not wander from thy commandments; for if we leave the ways of God's appointment we certainly shall not find the God who appointed them. The more a man's whole heart is set upon holiness the more does he dread falling into sin; he is not so much fearful of deliberate transgression as of inadvertent wandering: he cannot endure a wandering look, or a rambling thought, which might stray beyond the pale of the precept. We are to be such wholehearted seekers that we have neither time nor will to be wanderers, and yet with all our wholeheartedness we are to cultivate a jealous fear lest even then we should wander from the path of holiness. Two things may be very like and yet altogether different: saints are "strangers" — "I am a stranger in the earth" (Psalms 119:19), but they are not wanderers: they are passing through an enemy's country, but their route is direct; they are seeking their Lord while they traverse this foreign land. Their way is hidden from men; but yet they have not lost their way. The man of God exerts himself, but does not trust himself: his heart is in his walking with God: but he knows that even his whole strength is not enough to keep him right unless his King shall be his keeper, and he who made the commands shall make him constant in obeying them: hence the prayer, "O let me not wander." Still, this sense of need was never turned into an argument for idleness; for while he prayed to be kept in the right road he took care to run in it with his whole heart seeking the Lord. It is curious again to note how the second part of the Psalm keeps step with the first; for where Psalms 119:2 pronounces that man to be blessed who seeks the Lord with his whole heart, the present verse claims the blessing by pleading the character: With my whole heart have I sought thee.

Henry Morris - With less self-confidence than before his cleansing through the Word the young man realizes his deep dependence on the Lord, on prayer, and on the Word, calling out for strength not to "wander" away from God's written will.

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F B Meyer - Be wholly given to God, then you too shall live in the light, as He is in the light. The warmth of His love shall fill your emotions with its glow, and teach you the art of love; the light of His truth shall banish obscurity and ignorance from your mind, and endow it with direct and certain knowledge; the ray of His presence shall inspire you with strength, vigor, elasticity, immortal youth. Where sunshine is, there is life, health, gladness, vigorous strength.

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John Phillips - Halfhearted commitment, in my opinion, was the problem with American involvement in Vietnam. The United States had no commitment to win, only a halfhearted response to a treaty obligation. American failure there led to subsequent massacres by the communists throughout Southeast Asia. America did not have total commitment; the nation was divided. Troops were sent to Vietnam to fight a war while millions demonstrated, protested, and some even burned the American flag. It was a sure recipe for ruin.

Anyone who tries to keep God's Word halfheartedly will fail. God calls for total commitment. Yet it is the wholehearted among us who disturb us most. The apostle Pauls, the D. L. Moodys, the Patrick Henrys.

A documentary film which is the prelude to a tour of Williamsburg, Virginia, gives us exceptional insight into Patrick Henry. This revolutionary hero began by demanding that colonists have the same rights as Englishmen. Patrick Henry was a born lawyer. In six weeks with only a stack of books he taught himself enough Virginia law to force the examiners to sign his application for the bar. In three years he tried over a thousand cases, most of which he won. When the British imposed the Stamp Act of 1765 on the colonies, to make them help pay for the soldiers who guarded their Indian frontiers, Patrick Henry exploded. He saw it as a violation of the Magna Charta. When things finally came to a head he lifted his voice in Richmond: "Gentlemen may cry 'Peace, peace,'" he said, "but there is no peace. Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains...? As for me, give me liberty or give me death." Patrick Henry seemed a dangerous man to many. But he was a real driving force behind the American Revolution.

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Charles Bridges - 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee; O let me not wander from thy commandments

Attention to the word, however important,4 can never be practically effective without earnest prayer. Indeed this is a character of the Lord’s people—“a generation of seekers,”5 and yet how much do we lose of the comfort of our religion, and obscure the glory of our profession, by neglecting to bring “our whole heart” to this work! When sin is vigorous, and our spiritual affections are dull, and various hindrances combine in prayer; at this crisis strong faith is needed to overcome and to persevere. But here the soul too commonly yields to the difficulty, and contents itself either with heartless complainings, or with just sufficient exertion to quiet the voice of conscience, and produce a delusive peace within. But the Lord will not be found thus. His promise is not to such seekers as these; and if we are satisfied with this state, we must look for a very scanty measure of spiritual success, accompanied with the total absence of spiritual enjoyment. In a far different spirit David could appeal—“With my whole heart have I sought thee.” And this assurance, instead of procuring self-confidence, will so far as it is genuine, invariably show itself in a prayerful acknowledgment of our weakness—“O let me not wander from thy commandments.” Yet the feeblest desire and attempt to seek the Lord, is the Spirit’s rising beam in the heart, a “day of small things” not to be “despised.”6 It is distinguished from every other principle by the simplicity of its object—“This one thing I do.” “One thing have I desired of the Lord; that will I seek after.”7 My God! my Saviour! “with my whole heart have I sought thee.” The desire of my soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.”8

When the soul is thus conscious of “following the Lord fully,” there is a peculiar dread of wandering. In a careless or halfhearted state, wanderings are not watched, so long as they do not lead to any open declensions. Secret prayer will be hurried over, worldly thoughts unresisted, waste of time in frivolous pursuits indulged, without much concern. Not so, when the heart is fully in pursuit of its object. There is a carefulness, lest wandering thoughts should become habitual. There is a resistance of the first step, that might lead into a devious path. The soul remembers the “wormwood and the gall,”9 “the roaring lion,” and the devouring wolf; and in the recollection of the misery of its former wandering, dreads any departure from the Shepherd’s fold. This blessed state of mind the flock of Christ should cherish with godly jealousy. Yet let it be remembered, that daily progress in the heavenly walk is not maintained by yesterday’s grace. Humble and dependent prayer must fetch in a fresh supply continually—“O let me not wander from thy commandments.” ‘Lord, I feel my heart so prone to wander. My affections are often scattered to the ends of the earth. “Unite my heart to fear thy name.”1 Concentrate every thought, every desire, in thyself, as the one object of attraction.’

4 Ps 119:9.

5 Psalm 24:6.

6 Zech. 4:10.

7 Phil. 3:13. Psalm 27:4.

8 Isa. 26:8, 9.

9 Lam. 3:19.

1 Psalm 86:11.

Psalm 119:11 Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.  

• Your word Ps 119:97 1:2 37:31 40:8 Job 22:22 Pr 2:1,10,11 Isa 51:7 Jer 15:16 Lu 2:19,51 Col 3:16 
• that I Ps 19:13 

Ps 119:9,11

THE BEST THING
IN THE BEST PLACE
FOR THE BEST PURPOSE

Your word I have treasured in my heart - Have you ever had weeds grow up in your garden and choke out the other plants? That's what sin in our heart does to the fruit of the Spirit in a believer's life -- it chokes out our "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal 5:22-23+) So how do we get rid of weeds in our garden? We plant flowers that will choke out the weeds! Yes, this dynamic is real and effective. Applying this physical principle to our spiritual life, we can "plant" flowers of God's Word in our heart, which the Spirit (our "Resident Gardiner") can use to choke out the weeds of sin that sprout up daily, often suddenly catching us by surprise! In the 1800's a Scottish pastor Thomas Chalmers preached a sermon entitled "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection" in which he said 

The best way to disengage an impure desire is to engage a pure one; the best way to expel the love of what is evil is to embrace the love of what is good instead. To be specific, we must replace the object of our sinful affection with an infinitely more worthy one—God himself. In this way we do not move from a full heart into a vacuum. Instead we move from a full heart to a heart bursting with fullness. And the expulsive power of our new affection weakens and even destroys the power of sin in our hearts. 

Related Resource:

• Expulsive Power of a New Affection - in depth discussion and classic sermon by Thomas Chalmers

As a medical doctor expulsion recalls the effect of the hormone oxytocin which causes expulsion of milk from the lactating mammary gland. In other words, the milk is forced out by the powerful expulsive effect of the hormone. While it is close, that is not exactly what the concept refers to spiritually, because the idea is more of something replacing something else and that which is replaced is forced out. An good synonym for this kind of expulsion would be displacement which describes the moving of something from its place or position and implies the filling of a place once occupied by something lost, destroyed, or no longer usable or adequate. Spiritually speaking a negative or sinful affection is moved from its place of enthronement on our hearts. The affection that dethrones the negative affection then ascends to the throne of the heart and from there exercises control of one's mind, emotions and will. Sounds so simple doesn't it? (Expulsive Power of a New Affection)

Treasured (concealed, hidden, stored) (06845)(tsapan/sapan) means primarily to hide, to keep secret, to conceal something often of great value with a definite purpose (for protection or for sinister purposes). Definitions of English verb To Treasure (Where applicable try "inserting" these different definitions in place of treasured) Jealously safeguard something considered precious. Esteem - set a high value on, regard highly and prize accordingly. Cherish (hold dear, feel or show affection for, entertain something in one's mind deeply and resolutely - eg, he still cherishes that memory; Keep or cultivate with care and affection). Prize highly as valuable, rare or costly! The Septuagint translates treasured with the verb krupto to cover, to hide, to conceal, to keep secret (either protectively or for selfish reasons). To keep something from being seen, but in the case of God's Word it is for the purpose of keeping in a place where it will be seen with the eyes of our heart! 

This same verb tsapan (and krupto ) is used in Job's declaration "I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured (tsapan; krupto) the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." (Job 23:12 - see the Secret of Job's Perseverance)  What value did Job place on God's Word? In a sense, he is saying he would rather starve physically than starve spiritually! Note also the important principle -- first Job did not commit sin for had he done so it would have negatively impacted his appetite and desire for the pure word which is holy. Unconfessed (unholy) sin and God's holy Word are not mutually compatible! Job's holy walk enabled a desire to treasure God's Word. We see this same principle in Ps 1:1+ (the negative) and Ps 1:2-3+ (the positive), where participating in the deeds of verse 1 will choke our desire for God's Word. And again in 1 Peter 2:1+ we see the things we need to put off or confess in order that we might have a healthy appetite and like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word that by it we might grow in respect to salvation. (1 Pe 2:2+). If your spiritual growth is stunted, perhaps you need to check 1 Peter 2:1+ or Psalm 1:1+ and confess and repent of any known sins so that you will desire the Word. 

Another doctor Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones describes how believers are to put on the new self and put off the old self as Paul alludes to in (Eph 4:22-24+). He writes

"Indeed, as I have already said, you cannot truly deal with the negative unless you are at the same time doing the positive. The way to get rid of the defects is to cultivate the virtues. To use a well-known phrase of Thomas Chalmers (see his sermon), what we need is to apply the “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection”. I use a simple illustration. The way the dead leaves of winter are removed from some trees is not that people go around plucking them off; no, it is the new life, the shoot that comes and pushes off the dead in order to make room for itself. In the same way the Christian gets rid of all such things as bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking and all malice. The new qualities develop and the others simply have no room; they are pushed out and they are pushed off. In the Septuagint, krupto is in the active voice which means the psalmist has made a conscious choice of his will to conceal the Word safely in His heart. 

What the Doctor is saying is that to deal with the negative, you need to first accentuate the positive. Take special note of the order - the new needs to be put on in order to effect displacement or expulsion of the old. We see this order in several of Paul's epistles. For example, in Colossians 3, note that we first "put on" the positive attitudes in Colossians 3:1-5+ before Paul tells us to "put off" the old, or more directly to kill the sins in Colossians 3:5. The new affection in Colossians 3:1-5 enables us to expel the old affections (and actions) in Colossians 3:5+.  Similarly, notice the critical order in Galatians 5:16+ , where Paul first commands us to walk by the spirit (the "new affections") and then and only then will you be enabled to not carry out the deeds of the flesh! In other words, the new affection in effect expels the old affection or old desires that come from our fallen flesh! Our fallen flesh tries to invert the order of Paul's Command by saying something like "I will walk by the Spirit by getting rid of this fleshly desire or that fleshly act." Can you see the subtle trap this individual has just fallen into? He (or she) has just fallen prey to legalism saying things like "I'll make a list of things I won't do, etc" That person has just placed themselves under the power of the Law and instead of expelling the fleshly desires, legalism actually stirs up the very desires the person sought to expel, displace or cast off! (See discussion of the effect of the law to actually arouse our sin nature.) 

Let me give you one of Paul's passages that teaches this principle in Ephesians 5 writing that "immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks." (Eph 5:3-4+) Do you see the "flowers" we need to plant in order to root out tenacious weeds of immorality, impurity, greed (which equates with idolatry)? What is Paul's solution? What is the new affection that exerts an expulsive effect on those difficult to pull out weeds? Clearly it is an attitude of gratitude, an attitude of giving thanks. But that is not something our fallen flesh naturally gravitates toward. Even the attitude of gratitude is a fruit of being filled with the Spirit as Paul writes in Eph 5:18-19, 20+. So let us begin each day with a confession of sins that we might not quench or grieve (1 Th 5:19+, Eph 4:30+) the Spirit but that we would empty ourselves of sin and open ourselves to the Spirit's filling and control in our hearts. Than we be enabled to be "always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father." (Eph 5:20+). 

Let us read...

Scripture every day
And meditate on what God said
To fight temptation from the world
And live a life that's Spirit led
(see note) --Sper

Spurgeon - Thy word have I hid in mine heart. His heart would be kept by the word because he kept the word in his heart. All that he had of the word written, and all that had been revealed to him by the voice of God, — all, without exception, he had stored away in his affections, as a treasure to be preserved in a casket, or as a choice seed to be buried in a fruitful soil: what soil more fruitful than a renewed heart, wholly seeking the Lord? The word was God's own, and therefore precious to God's servant. He did not wear a text on his heart as a charm, but he hid it in his heart as a rule. He laid it up in the place of love and life, and it filled the chamber with sweetness and light. We must in this imitate David, copying his heart work as well as his outward character. First, we must mind that what we believe is truly God's word; that being done, we must hide or treasure it each man for himself; and we must see that this is done, not as a mere feat of the memory, but as the joyful act of the affections.

That I may not sin against You - Notice that first and foremost when we sin, we sin against God. That truth should enter our minds when we are being tempted to sin and can be an effective deterrent! What else serves as a fortress against temptation to sin? God's Word is the "wall" that temptations have leap over or penetrate in order to take down the castle of our heart. What greater motivation do we need to memorize God's Word than Psalm 119:11. 

When the word is hidden in the heart
the life shall be hidden from sin.

Spurgeon - That I may not sin against You - Note our sin is first and foremost against a Holy God! (cf Ge 39:9, Ps 51:4) That I might not sin against thee. Here was the object aimed at. As one has well said, ” Here is the best thing” "thy word"; hidden in the best place,  "in my heart; "for the best of purposes, ” "that I might not sin against thee." This was done by the Psalmist with personal care, as a man carefully hides away his money when he fears thieves, — in this case the thief dreaded was sin. Sinning "against God" is the believer's view of moral evil; other men care only when they offend against men. God's word is the best preventive against offending God, for it tells us his mind and will, and tends to bring our spirit into conformity with the divine Spirit. No cure for sin in the life is equal to the word in the seat of life, which is the heart. There is no hiding from sin unless we hide the truth in our souls. A very pleasant variety of meaning is obtained by laying stress upon the words "thy" and "thee." He speaks to God, he loves the word because it is God's word, and he hates sin because it is sin against God himself. If he vexed others, he minded not so long as he did not offend his God. If we would not cause God displeasure we must treasure up his own word. The personal way in which the man of God did this is also noteworthy: "With my whole heart have I sought thee." Whatever others might choose to do he had already made his choice and placed the Word in his innermost soul as his dearest delight, and however others might transgress, his aim was after holiness: "That I might not sin against thee." This was not what he purposed to do, but what he had already done: many are great at promising, but the Psalmist had been true in performing: hence he hoped to see a sure result. When the word is hidden in the heart the life shall be hidden from sin. The parallelism between the second octave and the first is still continued. Psalms 119:3 speaks of doing no iniquity, while this verse treats of the method of not sinning. When we form an idea of a blessedly holy man (Ps 119:3) it becomes us to make an earnest effort to attain unto the same sacred innocence and divine happiness, and this can only be through heart piety founded on the Scriptures.

Related Resources:

• The Power of God's Word
• The Word of God - Quotations and Illustrations
• Meditate 
• Primer on Biblical Meditation
• Thoughts on the Quiet Time
• Memorizing His Word 
• Memory Verses by Topic
• Quiet Time: 7 Minutes With God 

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I. The Word of God is in its very nature expulsive of sin and cleansing therefrom (John 15:3.)
II. Hid like a sword in its sheath to be drawn out at a moment's notice. Christ's answer to Satan: "It is written." Hid like a guard in a house, a sentinel in a fort, to watch diligently against the approach of temptation. (Homiletic Monthly)

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Scripture is the source of spiritual victory.

Many Christians struggle with spiritual defeat or recurring sins because they haven’t learned to apply Biblical principles to specific situations. Perhaps they don’t know God’s will because they haven’t matured in the Word. Or maybe they know what He expects of them, but they disregard His counsel. In either case, the result is the same.

Jesus Himself repelled Satan’s attacks by quoting specific portions of Scripture that applied to specific temptations (Matt. 4:1–11). He knew the Word, believed it, and refused to compromise its principles. In so doing, He set a pattern for us to follow.

Using metaphorical language, the Apostle John emphasized the priority of the Word when he described three levels of spiritual maturity: children, young men, and fathers. In 1 John 2:13 he says, “I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.” Spiritual children aren’t yet mature in their faith, but they know who their Heavenly Father is. They know they belong to God.

John continues: “I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (v. 14). Spiritual young men are healthy, vibrant, and aggressive because the Word abides in them—it has found a home in their hearts. They’re victorious over the evil one because their doctrine is sound and they’ve cultivated spiritual wisdom and discernment (Phil. 1:9). They recognize Satan’s lies and reject them.
First John 2:14 also says, “I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning.” Spiritual fathers have a deep, mature relationship with God that comes from prolonged time in prayer and the Word.

Which of those terms best describes you—spiritual child, young man, or father? What specific things can you do today to move toward a more mature and victorious Christian life? (Drawing Near - John MacArthur)

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BRAIN GAMES

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. —Romans 12:2

A saying among scientists who  study the human brain is “Use it before you lose it.” We have the power to help keep our brain fit and working well. Dr Lawrence Katz, a neurologist, urges people to perform daily mental exercises such as brushing your teeth with the nondominant hand or taking a new route to work to help stimulate the brain and keep it healthy. The goal is to replace routine with fresh awareness and new focus.

There’s a lesson here for us as followers of Jesus Christ. Even the most valuable spiritual disciplines of Bible reading and prayer can become so habitual that our minds are not fully engaged.

To avoid slipping into a spiritual rut, why not add Scripture memory to your daily devotional time? It’s a mental effort designed to produce spiritual change. The psalmist wrote, “Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Ps. 119:11). Paul said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2).

It’s more than a brain game to memorise and meditate on the powerful Word of God. David C. McCasland  (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

LET GOD’S WORD FILL YOUR MEMORY,
RULE YOUR HEART AND GUIDE YOUR FEET.

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Memorize It!

Read: 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. —Psalm 119:11

Before the choir began to sing an anthem of praise, Cindy quoted the first Bible verse she had ever memorized. It was inspirational for our congregation to hear her repeat from memory that passage from the Psalms.

At the same time, in another part of the church, adult workers were listening to more than 50 children recite verses they had memorized. They were involved in a Scripture memory program designed to hide God’s Word in their hearts for a lifetime.

I remember when I first became a believer as a teenager. A godly woman was conducting a similar memorization program in our little church. I learned 110 verses and won an award—a book that told the story of the Bible.

I no longer have that book, but I am still carrying the best prize—those precious verses. When I need them—while visiting a sick friend, while making an important decision, while going through difficult days, while I’m talking about or writing about the Lord—the Holy Spirit brings the appropriate verses to my mind.

The psalmist referred to hiding God’s Word in his heart (Ps. 119:11). We do that by memorizing it. Then it’s always there, even when we don’t have a Bible.By David C. Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Hiding God's Word in our hearts
Will strengthen our spirit within,
Giving the help that we need
To turn from temptation and sin.
—Sper

When the Bible becomes a part of you,
you'll be less likely to come apart.

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DEVELOP A SPIRITUAL IMMUNE SYSTEM

Ps 119:9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

One of the things I’ve learned a lot about in the last few years is the immune system. Our God-given immune systems help us fight off the forces that would destroy our bodies. If our immune systems are functioning at 100 percent, we don’t have to take medicines because they will just fight off the disease seeking to take over our bodies. But if our immune systems aren’t healthy, then we become susceptible to lots of things. If we get in the condition of an AIDS patient, our bodies lose their ability to fight off almost anything. To fight off sickness, we have to strengthen the body’s immune system. That may mean stopping some things we enjoy doing and starting some things we haven’t been doing. It’s a matter of critical importance. 
The same is true spiritually. In order to increase our immunity to sin, we must strengthen ourselves through prayer, the Word, and fellowship with other strong Christians. (David Jeremiah - Sanctuary)

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Don't Use a Crooked Ruler
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy word."—Ps. 119:9

"The Bible is so strict and old-fashioned," said a young man to a grey-haired friend, who was advising him to study God's Word if he would learn how to live. "There are plenty of books written now-a-days that are moral enough in their teaching, and do not bind one down as the Bible."
The old merchant turned to his desk, and took out two rulers, one of which was slightly bent With each of these he ruled a line, and silently handed the ruled paper to his companion.
"Well," said the lad, "what do you mean?"
"One line is not straight and true, is it? When you mark out your path in life do not take a crooked ruler!"

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How full of promised cleansing is the Laver of the Word! The very Book, which as the mirror reveals my sin, is likewise the laver showing me how every stain can be cleansed. In the outer court of the Tabernacle there stood the Brazen Altar and The Laver. After serving at the first, the Priest, having dealt with the sacrifice, had to wash his hands (work) and his feet (walk) and thereby remove all defilement as he sought to enter the Holy Place to worship God. (Herbert Lockyer)

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Rod Mattoon - God reveals biblical principles for cleansing in His Word

1. We are cleansed by the power & blood of the Lord Jesus Christ

• 1 John 1:7—But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

2. We are cleansed by confessing our sin to the Lord

• 1 John 1:9—If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

3. The Word of God has a cleansing effect on our lives when we put it into practice

• Ephesians 5:26—That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
• John 15:3—Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
• Psalm 119:9—Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

4. The expectancy of the Lord's Return helps motivate us to keep ourselves pure

• 1 John 3:2—Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure.

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Adrian Rogers - Watch his video - How to Control Your Thought Life (excerpts below)

I. Three Steps to a Pure Thought Life
   A. Purification 
   B. Determination
   C. Fortification
Conclusion

A. Purification Number one: There must be the purification of the mind. Your mind has got to get clean to begin with...

B. Determination Now here's the second thing: Not only after there comes that cleansing—that's step number one—and that is purification. After that comes determination. Sorry about that. But if you're looking for a cheap way, an easy way, I can't give it to you...

C. Fortification Now, first of all, purification. Secondly, determination. Now that's still not enough. That is still not enough. You can get clean and you can say, "By the grace of God and everything in me that is, I will keep my heart clean and pure," and you'll still fall if you fail on this third and most vital thing. Purification. Determination. And then, fortification..... It is the Word of God hidden in your heart that is the antidote, the bulwark, that keep the thoughts, the impure thoughts out, and it is the, that you're not being overcome with evil, but you're overcoming evil with good. You must saturate your being with the Word of God. These hath God married and no man shall part; dust on the Bible and drought in the heart. Now you say, "Pastor Rogers, I have a wonderful Bible. I bought it over here in the Bellevue bookstore." Wonderful. I'm glad you have. But do you read it? Do you memorize it? Do you apply it? Is it real to you? A dime and a gold nugget are of the same value to you personally if both of them are lying on the bottom of the ocean floor. What good is all of the treasure in this Word of God if it's, if it's not taken and used? I mean, it can be there like a gold nugget, but somehow you have to, you have to get this into your heart and in your mind. How does the Bible keep us pure? Look again in verse 11: "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." How does the Bible keep us pure? Well, God is a holy God. And when you read the Bible, understand the Bible, and apply the Bible, what you're doing is thinking God's thoughts after Him. Now put this verse in your margin: Philippians 4:8, 9. (for full message see How to Control Your Thought Life)

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Charles Bridges - Ps 119:11. Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

WHAT an aggregate of guilt and misery is comprehended in this short word “sin”—the greatest curse that ever entered the universe of God, and the parent of every other curse! Its guilt is aggravated beyond the conception of thought. Injury to a Superior—a Father—a Sovereign! Its power is misery, wherever it extends—in the heart—in the family—in the world. In eternity its power is unrestrained. Sometimes the death-bed scene casts a fearful gleam of light upon “the worm that never dieth, and the fire that never shall be quenched:”2 but experience only can develop its full-grown horrors. How supremely important therefore is the object of our preservation from sin! and how wisely adapted are the means to the end! That word—which the man of God had just before mentioned as the guide to the cleansing of the way,3—he hides within his heart—not for concealment, but for security,4 that it may be ready for constant use.5 It is not therefore a mere acquaintance with the word, that will avail us. There must be a cordial assent—a sound digestion—a constant respect. It must be to us the rule that we would not transgress—the treasure that we are afraid to lose.6 Often indeed Satan shuts out its entrance. He “catches away that which was sown.” Too often, again, it is withered or choked in the soil. But “the honest and good heart” “hides it, keeps it, and brings forth fruit with patience, unto perfection.”7 Here it “dwells richly in all wisdom,”8 the storehouse, as occasion requires; a principle of holiness; a covering from sin. In this view it is recommended by one, who had well acquainted himself with its valuable uses—“My son, let them not” (the Divine precepts) “depart from thine eyes; keep sound wisdom and discretion. So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.”9 David also gives us the same experience—“By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.”10

2 Mark 9:44.
3 Ps 119:9.
4 Matt. 25:25. Ps. 21:10, with Ex. 25:21. Job 22:22.
5 Joshua 1:8.
6 Matt. 13:44.
7 Luke 8:15, with the whole parable.
8 Col. 3:16.
9 Prov. 3:21–24. Compare Prov. 2:10–15.
10 Ps. 17:4.

And it was probably this recollection, combined with a sense of continual danger, that suggested the prayer—“Order my steps in thy word; and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.”1

The value of the word is inestimable, as our means of walking with God in the hurry, business, and temptation of the day. The Psalms furnish precious materials for ejaculatory prayer; the promises food for comfort;2 the rules such light in perplexity;3 the instruction such solid matter for godly conference4—all operating for one end—a preservation from sin. Being from the word—a manifestation of the Saviour’s love—what a keeping of the heart! what a quickening motive! How seasonable in worldly temptation is the warning of the word hid in the heart—“No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God!”5 So in the spiritual conflict, let this word—“Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out”—be hid in the heart—what a preservative is it against unbelief!6 Take the word to the unbelieving believer, (if the expression may be allowed,) alarmed by ridicule or persecution—“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”7—Fearing that he shall never hold out unto the end; “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”8—Trembling, lest his sins should rise up to his condemnation; “The blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth from all sin.”9 And then as to duties: Let his Saviour’s word rebuke his indolence and unwatchfulness,—“What! could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.”10 Hide in the heart the sorrowful story of his agony in the garden, and his death on the cross, that “sin may appear yet more exceeding sinful.”

But how is the word to gain entrance into hearts like ours? How shall it be “hid” in so unkindly a soil? No power of man surely can plant it there. The Holy Spirit’s almighty agency must be diligently sought; for in proportion as we are filled with his gracious influences, shall we be armed, as was our Master, for the effectual resistance of our spiritual temptations.11Lastly, connected with this subject, mark the Christian’s character—“In whose heart is my law.”12—His security—“None of his steps shall slide.”13—His happiness—“O how I love thy law!”14—His victory—“The word of God abideth in him, and he hath overcome the wicked one.”15—All infallibly provided by the covenant-promise—“I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.”16 O let us not then shrink from a close contact with the word, though the cost may be the cutting off a right hand for the saving of the life. There is no better test of our security, than a willingness to come to the searching light of the word.17
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1 Ps 119:133.
2 Ps 119:50, 92.
3 Ps 119:105. Prov. 3:5, 6.
4 Col. 3:16.
5 Luke 9:61, 62.
6 John 6:37.
7 Jn 15:18.
8 Heb. 13:5.
9 1 John 1:7.
10 Matt. 26:40, 41.
11 Comp. Luke 4:1–12.
12 Isaiah 51:7.
13 Psalm 37:31.
14 Ps 119:97.
15 1 John 2:14, with Eph. 6:17.
16 Jer. 31:33.
17 Comp. John 3:20, 21.

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Hiding the Bible in the Heart
"Thy word have I hid in my hearty that I might not sin against Thee."—Ps. 119:11

The late excellent Rev. Dr. James W. Alexander was, in many respects, a model Christian man and minister. One important secret of it lay in some of his habits. One of these was that of taking, every morning, a verse or passage from the Bible for his meditation during the day, and with the view, he said, of having his entire life filled with its spirit and influence. David said to God: "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee."

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The Scriptures Value Psalm 119:11

Psalm 119 is all about the Word of God. This text is one of the texts that emphasizes the value of the Word of God.

FIRST—THE POSSESSION OF THE WORD
"Thy Word." The Psalmist possessed the Word of God. He did not possess all that we have, in fact, he only had the first five books of our Bible, namely the Pentateuch. But he possessed it and prized that great possession. We do not appreciate possessing the Scriptures as we do. Every six months I get a catalog from a book company which is just about the Bibles they sell. What a treasure we have in being able to purchase all kinds of Bibles in our day. I had a missionary friend in Detroit who was from the Ukraine. In the late 1960s on a visit to Ukraine they gave a Bible to a Christian lady. Upon receipt of the Bible the lady cried and hugged the Bible, she prized it so. Yet we in our country practically despise the Bible though we can buy it cheaply at the local dime store. To possess the Bible is a great privilege.

SECOND—THE PLACE FOR THE WORD
"I hid in mine heart." "Hid" does not mean you have concealed the Word from others but that you have deposited it as a treasure in your heart. The heart is the best possible place for the Bible. Many have the Bible in their hands, their head, on the shelf or on the table, but it needs to be in their heart. When we memorize Scripture we often say we know the Word by heart, but the Psalmist means much more than that in our text. Being in the heart means at least three things. First, it means that you will live the Word, for if it is in your heart it will show in your life. Second, it also means the you will laud the Word, for in your heart is a place of honor. And third, if means you will love the Word, for the heart is the place of affection. The Word needs to be in our heart in these three ways.

THIRD—THE PURPOSE OF THE WORD
"That I might not sin against thee. "Two main purposes can be seen in this statement,

• The holy purpose. "That I might not sin." Some want to know the Bible to win an argument, others to satisfy curiosity, the skeptics want to know the Bible so they can criticize it. The psalmist wants to know the Bible to be holy. If you would live holy, live the Word.
• The honor purpose. "Against God." All sin is against God. This does not mean that our sin is not against our fellow man, but it means that it is primarily against God.

Therefore if the Word abides in our heart and we walk a holy life it will bring honor to God. Sin dishonors God, Nathan in rebuking David for his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah said, "By this deed [sin] thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme" (II Samuel 12:14). Therefore, if you have the Word in your heart, you life will be holy and will honor God. (John Butler - Sermon Starters)

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John Phillips -  A Cleansing Effect (119:9)
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word." Think what a school playground was like in your day. Think of the passionate hatreds that could generate in a flash, of the fist-fights that broke out. Think of the cursing and swearing, the common language of the crowd. Think of the dirty jokes that were the password to popularity. Think how deeply some of those smutty stories have become embedded in your memory, still unerasable. Think of the obsession with sex, the vile things said and done with a snicker or sneer. Think of the lying and cheating, the smoking and drinking. Think of the peer pressure to conform, the pettiness and jealousy.

As I recall such things, it seems as if our school playground was a suburb of hell for youthful wickedness. Yet in those days strict discipline was maintained on campus. We could be expelled for cheating or smoking, forfeiting the right to further education in that school. Schools are much worse now, with far more permissiveness and lack of discipline-to say nothing of the problems of drug use and alcoholism. How can a young person stay clean in such an environment? The psalmist has the answer.

The Word of God kept me from many a sin when I was young, even though I did not take an aggressive stand for Christ. Whenever I reflect on the sins of my youth in the presence of God, I blush for some of the things I said and did and to think what a poor testimony I was. Yet at the same time I was kept from many harmful things by the Word of God. It had a cleansing effect on my life. I shall praise the Lord one of these days, in His presence, when He shows me the full story of God's Word keeping me in a clean path when I might have wallowed in filth. Young people who want to honor Christ at school should begin every day with a verse or two of Scripture and prayer:

   Keep me true, Lord Jesus, keep me true.
   There's a race that I must run,
   There are victories to be won,
   Give me power, every hour, to be true.

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Hidden Away

Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. — Psalm 119:11

Today's Scripture: Psalm 119:9-16

By the time I was born, my great- grandfather, Abram Z. Hess, had already lost his sight. He was known for the beautiful wooden objects he had carved on a lathe—and also as someone who could quote many verses of Scripture. He and his friend Eli would often share Scripture verses back and forth. A bit of a competitive spirit resulted in their admission that Eli could cite more references while my grandfather could recite more verses.

Today, the family often remembers Abram as “Blind Grandpa.” His practice of memorizing Scripture became a lifeline for him when he lost his physical sight. But why is it important that we memorize the Word of God?

Psalm 119 gives us instruction on how to follow God by hiding His Word in our hearts. First, in this way, we arm ourselves when temptation comes (v.11; Eph. 6:17). Then, as we meditate on His Word, we come to know Him better. Finally, when we have His words etched in our minds, we are better able to hear His voice when He instructs and guides us. We use those phrases of Scripture as we talk with Him, worship Him, and teach or witness to others (Col. 3:16).

The Word of God is “living and powerful” (Heb. 4:12). Hide its precious words away “in [your] heart” (Ps. 119:11)where they will always be with you. By:  Cindy Hess Kasper (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Lord, Your Word is a treasure—priceless and beyond
compare. I’m not the best at memorizing but
I do want Your words to saturate my mind and heart.
Please use Your Word in obvious ways in my life today.

When God’s Word is hidden in our heart, His ways will become our ways.

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USE THE "STRAIGHT RULER"
 
Thy word have I hidden in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.  Psalm 119:11 
 
The new morality really isn't new. When you analyze it, you discover at its core the old immorality! It stems from man's de-sire to cast off the restraints which absolute moral standards place upon his conduct. One who doubts God's Word and follows instead the dictates of his own reason invites trouble. Mother Eve took this ill-considered course and lost true righteousness. In like manner, the new morality as well as the old immorality are both deviations from the true morality.
 
The importance of following the unchanging and perfect guide-lines established by God Himself can be seen in the following story: "The Bible is too strict and old-fashioned," said a young man to a gray-haired friend who had been advising him to study God's Word if he would learn how to live. "There are plenty of books written today that are moral enough in their teaching which don't bind me down as the Scriptures do." Without saying a word, the old merchant turned to his desk and picked up a couple of rulers, one of which was slightly bent. With each of these, he drew a line and silently handed the paper to his young friend. "Well," said the lad, "what are you trying to say?" "Just this," he replied, "notice that one line is straight; the other is crooked. When you mark your path in life, be sure to use the straight ruler!"
 
The pathway of true morality leads us through the pages of God's Holy Word, the Bible. "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" asks the Psalmist; to which he supplies the answer: "By taking heed thereto according to thy word" (Ps. 119:9). (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Thy Word is a lamp to my feet,
A light to my path alway,
To guide and to save me from sin,
And show me the heavenly way.
— E.O.S.
 
The Bible will keep you from sin — or sin will keep you from the Bible!

Psalm 119:12 Blessed are You, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes.  

• Blessed 1Ti 1:11 6:15 
• teach Ps 119:26,27,33,64,66,68,71,72,108,124, 25:4,5 86:11 143:10 Lu 24:45 Joh 14:26 1Jn 2:27 

Blessed are You, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes - A great prayer.

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Charles Bridges - 12. Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes

“Praise is comely for the upright.”1 It is at once their duty and their privilege. But what does its highest exercise amount to, when placed on the ground of its own merit? We clothe our ideas with magnificence of language, and deck them out with all the richness of imagery; and perhaps we are pleased with our forms of praise. But what are they in his sight beyond the offering of a contemptible worm, spreading before its Maker its own mean and low notions of Divine Majesty? If a worm were to raise its head, and cry—‘O sun! thou art the source of light and heat to a widely-extended universe’—it would, in fact, render a higher praise to the sun, than we can ever give to our Maker. Between it and us there is some proportion—between us and God none. Yet, unworthy as the offering confessedly is, he will not despise it. Nay, more,—instead of spurning it from his presence, he has revealed himself as “inhabiting the praises of Israel,”2—intimating to us, that the service of praise is “set forth in his sight as incense;” and at the same time, that it should be the daily unceasing exercise of one at his own home.

The true character of praise, however, depends entirely upon the state of the heart. In the contemplative philosopher it is only cheering barren admiration: in the believer it becomes a principle of comfort and encouragement. For, can he forget “the revelation” which his God has given of himself in the gospel of his dear Son; how it divests every attribute of its terrors, and shines before us in all the glory of his faithfulness and love? The ascription of praise—“Blessed art thou, O Lord”—frames itself therefore into the prophet’s song—“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage! He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.”3

Truly then he is “blessed” in himself, and delights to communicate his blessedness to his people. Hence we are emboldened to ask for continual “teaching in his statutes”4—in the truths which he has revealed, and the precepts which he has enjoined! that we may “be followers of him, as dear children,” and “walk with him in love.”5 The practical influence, however, of Divine light constitutes its peculiar privilege. Man’s teaching puffeth up—God’s teaching humbleth. Man’s teaching may lead us into error as well as into truth—God’s teaching is “the unction from the Holy One, by which we know all things.”6 Man’s teaching may make us more learned—God’s teaching makes us more holy. It persuades, while it enlightens. It draws the heart, inclines the will, and carries out the soul to Christ.7 The tried character of God encourages us to look for his teaching—“Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will he teach sinners in the way.”8 Our warrant is especially confirmed in approaching him as our covenant God—“Lead me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art the God of my salvation. Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God.1

Reader! do you desire to praise your God? Then learn to frequent the new and living way, “by which alone you can offer your sacrifice acceptably.”2 And while engaged in this holy service, inquire, surrounded as you are with the means of instruction, what progress you are making in his statutes. Seek to have a deeper acquaintance with the character of God. Seek to be the vessels of honor and glory, into which he is pouring more and more continually, “until they be filled with all the fulness of God.”3 Value the unspeakable blessing of Divine teaching, by which you learn to live the life, and begin the blessedness of God.

1 Psalm 33:1, 2.

2 Psalm 22:3.

3 Micah 7:18.

4 The same acknowledgment and plea are made in verses 64, 68.

5 Eph. 5:1, 2.

6 1 John 2:20.

7 John 6:44, 45.

8 Ps. 25:8.

1 Ps. 143:10.

2 Heb. 10:20, 13:15. 1 Pet. 2:5.

3 Eph. 3:19.

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For Young And Old

Read: Psalm 119:9-16

Blessed are You, O Lord. —Psalm 119:12

Kerri’s grandpa was having health problems and hadn’t been himself lately. To cheer him up, Kerri visited him to recite a Bible passage she had memorized for a speech contest.

Grandpa knew that she had won, so he wanted to reward her. Opening his Bible to his favorite passage, he hid some money there. When Kerri arrived, she recited her winning entry, Psalm 119:9-16. Then Grandpa gave Kerri the Bible, and she opened it to find the hidden gift—located at Psalm 119. They had both chosen the same passage!

For Kerri and her grandpa, God’s direction led them to a portion of Scripture of vital importance for both young and old. It details how to stay pure in a world of impurity (Ps. 119:9)—something all young people need to do. It explains the importance of hiding God’s Word in our hearts (v.11)—something many older believers depend on as life becomes more difficult. The verses also remind us to praise God, value His standards, meditate on Scripture, and delight in His teachings (vv.13-16).

Sometimes God surprises us with the way He speaks to us through His Word. He can even use an amazing grandfather-grandchild “coincidence” to put them, and us, face-to-face with some of His most precious promises.By Dave Branon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Thank You for Your holy Book
To guide me day by day;
I cherish every promise
That helps me on my way.
—Lyle

God's Word is timeless—it speaks to every generation.

Psalm 119:13 With my lips I have told of All the ordinances of Your mouth.  

• I declared Ps 119:46,172 34:11 37:30 40:9,10 71:15-18 118:17 Mt 10:27 12:34 Ac 4:20 

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Charles Bridges - 13. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth

We have seen the word hid in the heart; now we see it poured forth from the lips. The Lord has taught us his statutes; now we declare these judgments of his mouth; but who can declare them with unction and power, save those who are taught of God? Now we are introduced to the high and honorable privilege of becoming a witness for our Saviour!4 Our opportunities of service are our talents, and we trade with a large increase; for “to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance.”5 But—“our lips are our own,”6—is the proud language of the world. Blessed be God; “we know that we are not our own.”7 Mostgladly do we acknowledge, that he, who fashioned our lips, has the best claim to their service. And when he has added to the claim of creation the right of purchase,8 what further constraining can we need, to induce the consecration of all that we are, and all that we have, to his glory!

This is a family obligation—To declare the judgments of God’s mouth. Thus did Abraham obtain a blessing for his children.9 Heavenly blessings are the gracious reward of thus honoring our God.10 This also is the material of our general intercourse—fruitful in spiritual results. Thus did Andrew bring Peter,11 and the woman of Samaria, her neighbors,12 to Jesus. What might we not do for our fellow sinners, if our intercourse with them was the overflowing of a heart filled with love; guided by a single desire to glorify our Saviour, and to edify his church! Fearful indeed is the guilt of sinful silence; and those, who thus prove their unfaithfulness to God, may well tremble at his awful denunciations. And yet it is possible to be bold in speech for God, when in the closet, the family, or the world, our consciences justly convict us of insincerity.—“Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?”1 Let us seek therefore to have our hearts “filled with the Spirit;”2 else our “talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.”3

This subject illustrates the character of the Lord’s people—“The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment;”4 their resolution—“My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof;”5 their prayer—“O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise;”6 their blessing—“The lips of the righteous feed many. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life.”7 The example of the Saviour, here as everywhere, is our perfect and encouraging pattern: “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo! I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.”8 In this spirit of their Master, the Apostles awed their persecutors into forbearance—“We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”9

How sinful is it to employ our lips for any but the Lord! Yet not less sinful is our reluctance to employ them for him! Surely the day—when perhaps we have been fluent in worldly conversation, and yet have neglected our opportunities for speaking a word for him, must be considered a lost day! Is there not much cause for watchfulness, prayer, and self-denial; lest our silence should deny him, whom by every obligation we are bound to confess? If our inability to bear a testimony for our Lord is not painful to us,10 must we not suspect, if not the sincerity, at least the strength of our attachment to his precious name? and we can do no better than retire into our closets with the prayer of contrition—“Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord.”11

4 Phil. 2:16.

5 Matt. 25:29.

6 Psalm 12:4.

7 1 Cor. 6:19.

8 1Co 6:20.

9 Gen. 18:19.

10 Deut. 11:18–21.

11 John 1:40–42.

12 Jn. 4:29, 30.

1 Romans 2:21.

2 Eph. 5:18, 19.

3 Prov. 14:23, with 10:19.

4 Ps. 37:30.

5 Ps. 71:15.

6 Ps. 51:15.

7 Prov. 10:21, 15:4.

8 Ps. 40:9, 10, with Luke 4:16–22.

9 Acts 4:20.

10 Compare Psalm 39:1, 2. Jer. 20:9.

11 Psalm. 143:2.

Psalm 119:14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches.  

• rejoiced Ps 119:47,72,77,111,127,162 19:9,10 112:1 Job 23:12 Jer 15:16 Mt 13:44 Ac 2:41-47 

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Charles Bridges - 14. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches

How natural is it to be speaking of that which is our delight! The man of God was always declaring the Lord’s judgments, because they were his rejoicing. There is indeed a real joy in despising earthly joys. “How sweet,” said Augustine, refering to the period of his conversion, “was it in a moment to be free from those delightful vanities, to lose which had been my dread; to part with which was now my joy!”12 More satisfying is the believer’s rejoicing in the way of God, than that of the miser in his untold riches.13 Here he may safely say to his soul—“Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease.” And these are the only riches within the reach of all. If we are poor in this world, it is the Lord’s providence. If we are poor in grace it is our own fault. It is because we have despised our Lord’s counsel to buy of him, “gold tried in the fire, that we may be rich.”1 And what is this enriching portion?—“Things present and things to come:”2 something enjoyed, and much more expected: the mercies of eternity added to the blessings of time; the riches of both worlds—all assured to him by the covenant of grace “in the way of the Lord’s testimonies.” Is it not then most strange, that with such treasure in possession and in prospect, the child of God should be so careless in increasing his store, and in confirming his own interest in it? But the riches of God’s testimonies have this peculiar property, that they cease to rejoice the heart, when they are not uppermost there. Have there not been times, when we have actually rejoiced in the accession of some worldly good, or the accomplishment of some worldly desire, more than in this heavenly treasure? What then do we count our riches? To thrive in grace, or in the world? to be rich towards God, or for our own indulgence?

But though we would rejoice in the testimonies, and would not, for all this world can afford, lose a verse or letter of our Bibles, yet we cannot be satisfied with a general interest. Many texts—doctrinal, practical, or experimental—have been specially sealed by the Divine Spirit upon our hearts.3 This or that promise—yea, all the land of promise, as much as I can set my foot upon—is mine. Of these precious testimonies, shall we not increase our little stock, until we have apprehended the full enjoyment of the whole; if indeed the fulness of that which is called “unsearchable”4 can ever be, in this life at least, completely enjoyed?

But it is not so much in the Lord’s testimonies, as “in the way of them,” that David rejoiced—the way to God, of which they testify5—“the way of holiness,”6 in which they lead—the narrow way of the cross—so contrary to our natural desires and inclinations, that none but the true sheep of Christ can ever enter, or continue in it. Who that walks in these ways will fail to find them, in duties no less than in privileges, “paths of pleasantness and peace?” Our happiness is not withered, but flourishing. “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”7

12 “Quas amittere metus erat, jam dimittere gaudium fuit.”—Aug. Confess. Book ix. Never man in his unregenerate state, by his own confession, more strongly illustrated the truth of our Lord’s declaration—“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” (John 8:34, with 2 Peter 2:19.) He describes himself actually as “wallowing in the mire,” with as much delight as if he were rolling himself in a bed of spices, or perfuming himself with the most precious ointment. (“Volutare in cæno, tanquam cinnamonis et unguentis pretiosis.”) Yet when the word pierced his heart, and brought a new bias and taste into his soul, how delightfully is his language changed in the recollection of his past “excess of riot!” “Quam sauve est istis suavitatibus carere!”

13 Ps 119:72, 127.

1 Rev. 3:18.

2 1 Cor. 3:22.

3 “This is my Scripture,” Origen used to say of such texts.

4 Eph. 3:18.

5 John 14:6, with 5:39.

6 Isaiah 35:8.

7 Jer. 6:16.

Psalm 119:15 I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways.  

• meditate Ps 119:23,48,78,97,131,148 1:2 Jas 1:25 
• have respect Ps 119:6,117 

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Charles Bridges - 15. I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways

Our rejoicing in the testimonies of God will naturally flow in an habitual meditation in them.8 The thoughts follow the affections. They are no burden to the carnal man, so far as his heart is in them. But having no spiritual taste, he has no ability for spiritual meditation. Indeed many sincere Christians, through remaining weakness and depravity, are too often reluctant to it. They are content with indolent reading: and, with scarcely a struggle or a trial, yield themselves up to the persuasion, that they are unable sufficiently to abstract their minds for this blessed employment. But let the trial prove the work. Perseverance will accomplish the victory over mental instability, and the spiritual difficulty will give way to prayer—“Lord, help me.” The fruitfulness of this employment will soon be manifest. Does it not “stir up the gift of God that is in us,”1 and keep the energies of the heart in a wakeful posture of conflict and resistance? Besides this, it is the digestive faculty of the soul, which converts the word into real and proper nourishment: so that this revolving of a single verse in our minds is often better than the mere reading of whole chapters. “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart.”2 Thus the mind becomes the instrument of faith and love—of joy and strength.

But this meditation not only includes the stated times of thought, but the train of holy thoughts, that passes through the mind during the busy hours of the day. This maintains an habitual flow of spiritual desires, and excites the flame of love within, till at length the Psalmist’s resolution becomes the inwrought habit of our minds—“I will meditate in thy precepts.”

Can we want a subject for meditation, if indeed the salvation of Jesus has been made known to our souls? While musing upon this glorious theme, does not “the fire burn”3 within, as if our hearts were touched with a live coal from the altar of God? Chide then, believer, thy dull and sluggish spirit, that suffers the precious manna to lie ungathered upon the ground, that is slow to entertain these heavenly thoughts, or rather that heavenly guest whose peculiar office it is to “help our infirmities,”4 and especially to “take of Christ’s, and show it unto us.”5

The exercise, however, of this, as of every other duty, may prove a barren form, that imparts neither pleasure nor profit.6 Let each of us then ask—What distinct experimental benefit have I received from the word? Do I endeavor to read it with prayerful meditation, until I find my heart filled with it?

But this communing with the word is not for contemplation, but for practice.7 By meditating on God’s precepts, we learn to have respect unto his ways—carefully “pondering the path of our feet,” that we “turn not aside.”1 Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes; and I have walked in thy truth.”2 “My foot,” saith Job, “hath held his steps; his way have I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”3

8 Ps 119:97. Psalm 1:2.

1 2 Tim. 1:6.

2 Jer. 15:16. “Meditation is that exercise of mind, whereby it recalls a known truth, as some kinds of creatures do their food, to be ruminated upon, until the nutritious parts are extracted, and fitted for the purposes of life.”—Bishop Horne on this verse.

3 Ps. 39:3, and comp. Ps. 45:1.

4 Rom. 8:26.

5 John 16:14, 15.

6 “If a chapter be read with the eye merely, while the mind remains inattentive, and the book be shut as soon as the chapter is finished, and thus, what has been read immediately escapes the memory; what is there to surprise, if, after the whole Bible has been several times read through, we discover in ourselves no increase of piety and devotion?”

Professor Franck.

7 Joshua 1:8.

1 Prov. 4:26, 27.

2 Psalm 26:3.

3 Job 23:11, 12.

Psalm 119:16 I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.  

• delight Ps 119:14,24,35,47,70,77,92 40:8 Ro 7:22 Heb 10:16,17 
• not forget Ps 119:11,83,93,109,141,176 Pr 3:1 Jas 1:23,24 

I shall delight in Your statutes - Delight is that which gives pleasure or satisfaction. It describes that which is pleasing. 

I shall not forget Your word - And what is the best way not to forget God's Word? Memorizing His Word  (see also Memory Verses by Topic and Memorable). Are you? Are you memorizing His Word? Don't make excuses (too old, etc). Don't procrastinate (I'll begin tomorrow). Begin today. Pick a favorite passage. Write it on a card to carry around today. Ask God's Spirit to enable you to meditate on it. You won't regret it. And let this begin a habit. Try memorizing one verse each week, being sure to review the ones already memorized. Psalm 119:165 says "Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble." Psalm 119:130 says "The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple." Psalm 119:89 says "Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven." Very few things we do in this short life will endure forever, but God's Word does (Mt 24:35). So begin your adventure today. You will not regret it in eternity! 

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One Amazing Letter

I will not forget Your word. —Psalm 119:16

Today's Scripture & Insight: Psalm 119:9-16

Once in a while my wife and I open the mail to find a letter with no words on it. When we take the “letter” out of the envelope, we see a piece of paper with nothing more on it than a colorful mark made with a felt pen. Those “letters” warm our hearts because they’re from our preschool granddaughter Katie, who lives in another state. Even without words, these letters tell us that she loves us and is thinking about us.

We all cherish letters from those we love and those who love us. That’s why there is so much encouragement in the fact that our heavenly Father has given us a letter called the Bible. The value of Scripture goes beyond its words of power, challenge, and wisdom. Amid all of the stories, teaching, and guidance this Book provides, the overriding idea is that God loves us and has planned our rescue. It tells us of His love in overseeing our existence (Ps. 139), meeting our needs (Matt. 6:31-34), comforting us (2 Cor. 1:3-4), and saving us through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus (Rom. 1:16-17).

You are loved beyond imagination. God says so in His inspired and inspiring message to you. No wonder the psalmist wrote, “I will not forget Your word” (Ps. 119:16). It is one amazing letter! By:  Dave Branon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Lord, help me to examine the Bible’s pages,
understand its truths, and apply its teachings to my
life. May I be as excited about Your letter to me as I
am about a letter, email, or Facebook posting by a friend.

The love of God for us is revealed in His letter to us—the Bible.

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Charles Bridges - 16. I will delight myself4 in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word

As delight quickens to meditation5 so does the practical habit of meditation strengthen the principle of delight. In the enjoyment of this delight the Christian (however small his attainments may be) would rather live and die, than in the pursuit, and even in the possession of the most satisfying pleasures of a vain and empty world. But if it be a real “delight in the Lord’s statutes,” it will be universal—when they probe the secret lurking-places within, and draw out to the full light the hidden indulgences of a heart that is yet “carnal;”6 when they call for the entire crucifixion of every corrupt inclination, and the unreserved surrender of all to the self-denying service of our God. This spirit is very different from the delight of the hypocrite, which is rather “to know,” than to do the “ways of his God:”7 and therefore which is satisfied with outward conformity, with little or no desire to “understand the errors of his heart,” that he might be “cleansed from secret faults.”8 The spring of our obedience will therefore prove its sincerity; and the reality of our love will be manifested by its fruitfulness and active cheerfulness in our appointed sphere of duty.

We may also observe here an evidence of adoption, when obedience is not a burden, but a delight. The servant may perform the statutes of God, but it is only the Son who “delights in them.” But what—we may ask—is the spring of adoption? It is “the Spirit of the Son sent into our hearts, whereby we cry ‘Abba, Father.’ ”9 It is because we are at peace with God through Jesus Christ; because the statutes are the message of reconciliation through him, that they become delightful to those who are partakers of this great salvation. The spirit of adoption, therefore, as the principle of delight, is the spring of acceptable obedience in the Lord’s service.

And surely those who are serving him in this happy filial walk are not likely to “forget his word.” As the eye is continually turned to the object of its affection, so the eye of the soul, that has been fixed with delight on the ways of God, will be habitually resting upon them. As one of the wise heathens observed—“I never yet heard of a covetous old man, who had forgotten where he had buried his treasure.”10 The reason is abundantly evident. His heart is in it. And this explains the forgetfulness of the ungodly or the formalist. They have no delight in the statutes. And who is not glad to forget what is distasteful? But if we “have tasted that the Lord is gracious”—if we have found a treasure in the way of his testimonies—we cannot forget the sweetness of the experience, or where to go to refresh ourselves with the repetition of it.

Forgetfulness of the word is, however, to the Christian, a source of continual complaint, and sometimes also of most distressing temptation. Not that there is always a real charge of guilt upon the conscience. For, as Boston somewhat quaintly observes—“Grace makes a good heart-memory, even where there is no good head-memory.” But means must be used, and helps may be suggested. Watchfulness against the influence of the world is of the first importance. How much of the good seed is choked by the springing thorns!1 If our hearts are ever refreshed with spiritual delight, we should be as cautious of an uncalled-for advance into the world, as of exposing an invalid’s susceptible frame to a damp or unhealthy atmosphere. Whatever warmth had been kindled in spiritual duties, may be chilled by one moment’s unwary rush into an unkindly clime. We must also recommend increasing attention to the word, as the means of its preservation2—the exercise of “faith,” without which it will “not profit”3 the active habit of love, bringing with it a more habitual interest in the statutes4—all accompanied with unceasing prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit, made the express subject of promise for this purpose.5 Under this heavenly teaching and recollections, what delight will be found in the statutes! what blessed remembrance of his word! And what a happy spirit is their delight and remembrance of the word—the affections glowing—the memory pondering—the presence and manifestation of truth keeping the heart in close communion with God! “O Lord God, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the hearts of thy people and prepare their hearts unto thee.”6

4 “I will solace and recreate myself.”—Ainsworth. A beautiful illustration of the refreshment of the word, when the mind is tired out with the toilsome encumbering cares of the world.

5 Ps 119:14, 15.

6 See Rom. 7:14. 1 Cor. 3:1, 3.

7 Isaiah 58:2.

8 Psalm 19:12.

9 Gal. 4:6.

10 “Nec vero quenquam senum audivi oblitum, quo loco thesaurum obruisset.”—Cicero de Senectute. Compare Matt. 6:21.

1 Matt. 13:22.

2 Heb. 2:1.

3 Ib. 4:2.

4 Verse 15.

5 John 14:26.

6 1 Chron. 29:18.

Psalm 119:17 Gimel. Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word.  

• Deal: Ps 119:65,124,132 13:6 116:7 Joh 1:16 2Co 9:7-11 Php 4:19 
• I may live Ro 8:2-4 Eph 2:4,5,10 Tit 2:11,12 1Jn 2:29 5:3,4 

Gimel. Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word.  

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Warren Wiersbe - Handling the Critics
 
Read Psalm 119:17-24
 
What do you do when people criticize you? What goes through your mind when you are in the presence of people who are unkind, especially people who don't believe the Word of God? The psalmist gives one answer: "Princes also sit and speak against me, but Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors" (Psalm 119:23,24).
 
Meditate on the Word of God. Get your mind fixed upon what God says. If we ponder and think about the things other people say, we will be agitated and anxious and uptight. But if we meditate on what God says, those things that are true and right and holy and beautiful, His peace will fill us.
 
Delight in the Word of God. "Your testimonies also are my delight" (Psalm 119:24). Some people delight in gossip. They enjoy listening to rumors about people. But the psalmist says, "While they were gossiping and telling lies, I was meditating on the Word of God, because I delight in it."
 
Obey the Word of God. "Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors" (Psalm 119:24). The Hebrew text means, "the men of my counsel." Authorities, friends and even enemies may want to give you counsel. But get your counsel from the Word of God.
 
* * *
Whatever your difficulty today, turn to the Bible and let it counsel you. Let it saturate your mind, heart and will. (Psalm 119:17-24 Handling the Critics)

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Charles Bridges - 17. Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word

This prayer appears to have been much upon David’s heart, and in the substance and object of it is again repeated.7 Nor does he fail to acknowledge the answer to it.1 The believer like David, is a man of large expectations. As regards himself—his own daily provocations and backslidings—he cannot stand upon his own ground. But when he brings with him the name, the blood, the intercession of Jesus, as soon could God deny his own beloved Son, as resist the supplication of those who present this all-prevailing plea.2 Nay—is not this his own gift to his children, as the pledge of every other gift?3 And what other pledge can they need, to encourage them to draw nigh with the largest desire, and the most heavenly expectation? We may indeed be too bold in our manner of approach to God;4 but we cannot be too bold in our expectations from him. Standing as we do upon such high and sure ground, it is equally dishonorable to him, and impoverishing to ourselves, to ask only a little of him. Rather let us, according to his own command, “open our mouths wide; and he will fill them.”5 Rather let us expect that he will deal—not only favorably—but bountifully with his servants—that, as “our God, he will supply all our need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”6

And, indeed, the most experienced believer cannot forget, that he is in himself still the same poor, weak, empty, helpless creature as at first. Nothing therefore short of a bountiful supply can answer his emergency. Such a supply is always at hand. The act of prayer increases the power to pray. The throne of grace is a well, which no power or malice of the Philistines can stop up.7

We need not say,—“We have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.”8 Faith will enable us “with joy to draw water out of this well of salvation.”9 Let us bring our empty vessels, until “there is not a vessel more.”10 Yes—believer—there is indeed a bountiful supply of grace—of every kind—suited to every want—grace to pardon—grace to quicken—grace to bless. Oh! see, then, that you come not empty away. Remember—who it is that pleads before the throne. Remember—that the grace you need is in his hand. From eternity he foreknew your case. He laid your portion by: He has kept it for the time of need; and now he only waits for an empty vessel into which to pour his supply. He is ready to show you, how infinitely his grace exceeds all thoughts—all prayers—all desires—all praises.

And say—what has been the fruit of your pleading, waiting expectancy at “the throne of grace?” Have you not returned thence with a fresh spring of devotedness in this service, with every selfish thought forgotten in the desire, that you “may live and keep his word.” Nothing touched or moved your reluctant heart, but the apprehension of bountiful redeeming love. This makes obedience easy—delightful—natural—in a manner unavoidable. It “constrains”11 to it. The man now lives—not the animal life of appetite—not the sensual life of vanity and pleasure—but the only life that deserves the name. He lives singly, supremely “to him that died for him, and rose again.”1 He “lives, and keeps his word.” His motto and character now is—“To me to live is Christ.”2 He values life only by its opportunities of serving his God.3 The first archangel knows not a higher object of existence. And how encouraging the reflection, that in this glorious object the meanest servant in the household of God is an equal participant with the most blessed inhabitant of heaven!

7 Ps 119:77.

1 Ps 119:65. Comp. Ps. 13:6; 116:7, 8.

2 John 16:23, 24.

3 Rom. 8:32.

4 A beautiful example of reverential approach, and of the acceptance manifested, is given in Abram’s history, (Gen. 17:3,) and is in some degree illustrated by the private records of Luther.—Note on verses 147, 148.

5 Psalm 81:10.

6 Phil. 4:19.

7 Com. Gen. 26:15.

8 John 4:11.

9 Isaiah 12:3.

10 Comp. 2 Kings 4:3–6.

11 2 Cor. 5:14.

1 2 Cor. 5:15.

2 Phil. 1:21. Comp. Acts 13:36.

3 Phil 1:20.

Psalm 119:18 Open (galah) my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful (pala; Lxx - thaumasios) things from Your law.  

• Open Heb. Reveal, Isa 29:10-12,18 32:3 35:5 Mt 13:13 16:17 Joh 9:39 Ac 26:18 2Co 3:14-18 4:4-6 Eph 1:17,18 Rev 3:18 
• Wonderful Ps 119:96 Ho 8:12 2Co 3:13 Heb 8:5 10:1 

A PRAYER FOR INSIGHT INTO
THE SUPERNATURAL! 

This is a simple but powerful prayer for spiritual illumination, asking God by His Spirit to remove the scales from our natural, spiritually blind eyes, that we might see and receive supernatural truth.

Supernatural (spiritual) truth cannot be apprehended in a natural way,
but requires a supernatural means.

J Vernon McGee on Ps 119:18 - This is the verse I used to begin the “Thru the Bible” program years ago when I first taught it in a little weather-beaten church on the side of a red clay hill in Georgia. I used this verse as a theme for many years. This is a good one—“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law [thy word].” (Thru the Bible commentary)

While the verb open is in the imperative form, in context as alluded to above, it is clearly the cry of a beggar who recognizes his abject spiritual poverty and his desperate need of spiritual bread 

The Bible is filled with spiritual truth that can only be seen with an eye opened by the Spirit of God.

Donald Williams - He must open us up and show us His wondrous things (Ps 119:18). Apart from this, in the words of Bob Dylan, “I’m a little too blind to see.” (The Preacher’s Commentary )

Kidner - To feel the force of this request, cf. the sight that met the opened eyes of Balaam (Num. 22:31) or of Elisha’s servant (2 Kgs 6:17, using another word). (Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary)

David Guzik - This reminds us that it isn’t the word that needs changing, as if it were obscure; we are the ones who are veiled and can’t understand the word of God apart from the work of the Spirit. Paul’s eyes were unveiled when he was converted (Acts 9:18); it was as if scales had dropped from his eyes....The Psalmist didn’t need new revelation; he needed to see the revelation that was already given. He didn’t need new eyes; he needed to see with the eyes he already had.

KJV Bible Commentary - As Thomas Manton observes, “The Hebrew phrase signifieth ‘unveil mine eyes’ … Paul’s cure of his natural blindness is a fit emblem of our cure of spiritual blindness: ‘Immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith …’ (Acts 9:18).

I love the way John Piper explains it "By inspiring some things hard to understand (2Pe 3:15-16), God has unleashed in the world desperation which leads to supplication—the crying out to God for help." (Ps 119:18)..."Seven times in one psalm the psalmist prays, “Teach me your statutes” (Ps 119:12, 26, 64, 68, 124, 135, 171)!" (Why God Inspired Hard Texts also quoted in Brothers, We Are Not Professionals- A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry) 

O beloved, how much more should we cry out for God's Spirit to illuminate the sacred pages!

Again Piper comments "One of the greatest privileges of having two good eyes is that we can read God’s word. But there is another set of eyes that have to be opened if the glory of God’s word is to shine in our hearts—namely, the eyes of our hearts." (cp Eph 1:18-19)  (The Shepherd, the Host, and the Highway Patrol)

Piper - The Word of God cannot be truly desired (Psalm 119:36) or spiritually comprehended (Psalm 119:18) or savingly spoken (2 Thessalonians 3:1) without the work of the Holy Spirit, whom we ask for by prayer. (All Scripture Is Breathed Out by God and Profitable)

Piper - So practically we must endeavor to forsake all self-reliance as we hear the Word of God, and seek the power of the Holy Spirit—not to tell us things that aren’t in the Scriptures, but to make us feel the wonder of what is in the Scriptures. “Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Psalm 119:18). We should pray for ourselves the way Paul prayed for the Ephesians: “that God may enlighten the eyes of our hearts to know what is the hope to which he has called us, and what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (Eph 1:18). (The Fruit of Hope- Love)

Piper - The same psalmist who said “How sweet are thy words to my taste” (Ps 119:103), said earlier, “Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Ps 119:18). He prayed, because to have holy taste buds on the tongue of the heart is a gift of God. No man naturally hungers for and delights in God’s wisdom. (How to Delight in God’s Word - Devotional by John Piper)

Adrian Rogers applies Psalm 119:18 asking - Isn't that a beautiful prayer?....Have you ever prayed that? Have you ever thought, "Well, I can just go to the Bible, and I can pull the truth out of the Bible"? Let me tell you, friend: You cannot. You may know Greek and not know God; you may know Hebrew and not know Him. I don't care who you are in that seminary, or any other Sunday School class—unless you lay that intellectual pride in the dust and pray this prayer—"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things in thy law"—you'll not know the God of this book. I want to tell you, my friend: It took a supernatural miracle to reveal it; it took a supernatural miracle to write it; and, it'll take a supernatural miracle for you to understand it. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? Listen. Most of us don't believe it. If we really believed it, we would agonize before the Lord; we would pray before the Lord; and, we would be saying, "Lord, open Thou mine eyes."..."Oh, God, illumine me. Open my eyes that I might understand."....When God opens your eyes you're going to see things you never saw before, you're going to hear things you never heard before, you're going to know things you never knew before because God the Holy Spirit is going to teach you....What you need to do when you come to the Bible is to lay your pride of intellect and your brilliance of mind in the dust, and say, "Dear God, if You don't teach me, I won't understand it." You will never go into the Bible and, with a lexicon and with a mind of logic and with a callous hand, just reach in and rip the truth out of the Bible. Oh no—God's going to reveal that truth to you as you pray.....you need to pray when you open the Bible, "Lord, open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things in Thy law. Lord Jesus, help me to see You,"....(for) in order to see Jesus in the Bible, you need light, and you need sight."....That's the first thing that will happen. Your eyes will be opened. God will help you to see things that you have never seen. I can tell when I am walking in the Spirit when I'm reading the Word of God. There are truths that just jump up off the Bible into my heart." (Click here and scroll down to Dr Roger's discussion of "HOW CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORD OF GOD? on page 679)

Wonderful things is translated in the Septuagint with the adjective thaumasios which means wonderful, marvelous, excellent; something that causes of wonder or is worthy of amazement, (See cognate verb thaumazo)

Open (01540)(galah) means to uncover (sadly the first use = Noah uncovering himself after becoming drunk! - Ge 9:21, cp Lev 18:6 prohibiting "uncover nakedness" ~ sexual relations), to reveal (God revealed Himself to Jacob at Bethel, and thus the name El-Bethel - Ge 35:7. 2Sa 2:27), expose (Ex 20:26), open (God opened the eyes of Balaam to see the Angel of the LORD - Nu 22:31), reveal (Dt 29:29). Galah is used of not yet revealing the Word of the LORD to Samuel (1Sa 3:7) and of revealing Himself to Samuel (1Sa 3:21).

Galah is used in Amos 3:7 - "Surely the Lord GOD does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel (talk that is kept confidential, speaks of intimacy) to His servants the prophets."

The Septuagint (Lxx) translates galah in Ps 119:18 with the verb apokalupto in the aorist imperative (command - I am always amazed that finite men could in any sense "command" God which speaks of His amazing grace and incomprehensible condescension! cp Ps 8:3-6). The verb apokalupto (from apó = from + kalúpto = cover, conceal, English = apocalypse - see study of apokalupsis) literally means to remove the cover from and so the idea is to remove that which conceals something. Almost all of the NT uses have a figurative use, especially to some aspect of spiritual truth that was heretofore hidden but now has the "lid removed" so that it can be seen (understood). We are continually in desperate need for God to remove the lid from His Word, the Bible, so that we might see and understand and obey!

Moses uses this same verb to describe the opening of Balaam's eyes to spiritual realities! = "Then the LORD opened (galah; Lxx = apokalupto) the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed all the way to the ground." (Nu 22:31) While I would not advocate following most of Balaam's example, his bowing down when the truth was revealed (I think he saw the pre-incarnate Christ - Angel of the LORD) is a good practice for God's children to imitate. We don't worship the word revealed but we do bow down to the God Who is the Word (Jn 1:1-3)!

Wonderful (difficult, miracles) (06381) pala  is a verb which means to be difficult, to be hard, to be extraordinary or amazing, be surpassing or to cause a wonderful thing to happen. To be beyond one’s power to do. To do something wonderful, extraordinary or difficult = Wonders, Marvels, Marvelous works. In most of its OT occurrences, pala refers to acts that are performed by Jehovah expressing actions that are beyond the bounds of human powers or expectations, especially His deliverances of Israel (Ex 3:20, Ps 106:22, 136:4). He has done things beyond the limits of human powers or expectation. God showed His people miracles when they came out of bondage in Egypt and as they were going into the freedom of the promised land - "Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” (Josh 3:5) It frequently signifies the wondrous works of God, especially His deliverance and judgments (Ex. 3:20; Ps. 106:22; 136:4; Mic. 7:15).

TWOT (ONLINE) - The basic meaning of the verb is "to be wonderful" and in the Hiphil "to cause a wonderful thing to happen." In the Piel, however, it means "to fulfil (a vow)," Leviticus 22:21; Numbers 15:3, 8, though this nuance is also present in two instances of pālāʾ in the Hiphil (Leviticus 27:2; Numbers 6:2).

Preponderantly both the verb and substantive refer to the acts of God, designating either cosmic wonders or historical achievements on behalf of Israel. That is, in the Bible the root plʾ refers to things that are unusual, beyond human capabilities. As such, it awakens astonishment (plʾ) in man. Thus, the "real importance of the miraculous for faith (is)—not in its material factuality, but in its evidential character. . . it is not, generally speaking, the especially abnormal character of the event which makes it a miracle, what strikes men forcibly is a clear impression of God's care or retribution within it" (Eichrodt). We may add that it is essential that the miracle is so abnormal as to be unexplainable except as showing God's care or retribution.

pālāʾ is applied to man around fifteen times. In such cases the thrust of pālāʾ is "to be beyond one's capabilities," and hence, unsolvable or inaccessible, and such are God's mighty and wonderful acts. To illustrate. (1) Deut. 17:8, "If a case comes before you which is 'too difficult' for you" (in the LXX, adunatein). The same Greek verb is used in the translation of Genesis 18:14, "Is there anything 'too hard' for the Lord?" Two verses in Jeremiah—Jeremiah 32:17, 27—are almost identical to this rhetorical question but the LXX uses instead the verb kruptein. Zech. 8:6, "If this seem a 'miracle' in the eyes of the remnant." (2) Proverbs 30:18, "There are three things which are 'too wonderful' (LXX adunatos) for me." (3) Deut. 30:11, "This commandment is not 'hidden'—KJV—from you (LXX huperogkos)." That is, it is accessible, and hence knowable. The same Greek word translates plʾ in 2 Samuel 13:2 and Lament. 1:9. (4) The root may also be used negatively to mean "unbelievable." The reference in Daniel 8:24 and Daniel 11:36 to the diabolical apocalyptic figure who hatches "incredible schemes" or speaks "incredible blasphemies" illustrates this. We have seen, then, that when plʾ refers to man it means unsolvable, suprarational, incredible.

Our clue for plʾ applied to God will be found in the Psalter. There appears to be no significant difference here between peleʾ and niplāʾ ōt, both referring to God's wonders, either in a general sense, or in a specific historical antecedent. As might be expected, the root appears mostly in Psalms that are classified as hymns or prayers of thanksgiving but also the historical Psalm 78, 105, 106. Often, in such psalms the key verb is "hôdâ" ( "praise"): Psalm 9:1 (H 2); Psalm 75:1 (H 2), etc., though niplāʾōt is the direct object of hôdâ only in Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31.

Equally important are the verbs in the imperative in the Psalter exhorting the people to recite orally the wonders God has done. This forms the heartbeat of Israel's liturgical celebrations. The most frequent verb here is sāpar, "tell": Psalm 9:2; Psalm 26:7; Psalm 75:2; Psalm 96:3, etc.; but also śîaḥ, "talk of": Psalm 105:2 (= 1 Chron. 16:9); Psalm 119:27; Psalm 145:5; nāgad, "declare": Psalm 40:5 [H 6]; Psalm 71:17; dabar, "speak": Psalm 40:5 [H 6]. There is to be a public sharing of what God has done and not just a private musing.

It is of interest to note that the function of God's wonders is ultimately to make mercy available to the recipient or reciter, and not just to make a demonstration of power. Thus, in Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31 niplāʾōt is parallel with ḥesed "loving kindness, mercy." God performs 'marvels of love,' Psalm 31:21 (H 22), hiplî ḥasdô.

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament.

Gilbrant - The verb pālāʾ, and its related Hebrew cognates, express the ideas of "to be difficult," "to be extraordinary," "to be hard." In most of its OT occurrences, pālāʾ refers to acts that are performed by the Lord. This is seen especially when the participial form is used. In these instances, translations have variously rendered the verb "wonders," "marvels," "wondrous things," "things too marvelous" and even "miracle."

Exodus 3:20 is an example of a participial use. One of the statements God made to Moses during his encounter at the burning bush was, "I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them" (NIV). These miracles are described throughout all succeeding generations (see Judg. 6:13; Neh. 9:17). When Joshua led Israel across the Jordan, he prepared them in advance by telling the priests, "Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you" (Josh. 3:5).

When God permitted Satan to test his servant Job, both Job and one of his counselors, Eliphaz, agreed that "[God] performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted" (Job 5:9; 9:10, NIV). The participial form of pālāʾ is also used frequently in the Psalms. God is continually praised for the "wonderful works" He does upon the earth and in the lives of men and women (e.g., Ps. 26:7; cf. 71:17; 119:18, 27; 145:5).

When the verb is used with reference to men, the idea conveyed is of something being too hard to accomplish or comprehend. For example, when God confronted Job about his ability to comprehend the workings and ways of the Almighty, Job humbled himself and admitted, "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know" (Job 42:3, NIV). An additional example of things which are too marvelous or too difficult for man to understand is conveyed in Prov. 30:18f. Mentioned there are "things that are too amazing for me," that is, "the way of an eagle in the sky... a snake on a rock, a ship on the high seas and the way of a man with a maiden" (NIV).

When Israel was given the Law, God made provision for settling disputes in a court of law. He told the people that they were to take cases that were too difficult to solve among themselves "into the place which the Lord your God will choose" (Deut. 17:8). There the appointed judge or priest would render a decision before God and men. Anyone who showed contempt for the judge was to be put to death (v. 12).

As seen above, pālāʾ is used most often with respect to acts of God, including occasions when an angel performs God's will (see Judg. 13:19). Perhaps this helps explain why the verb describes the action of "performing" a vow. In some translations, individuals were said to "make a hard vow" (Num. 6:2, the Nazirite vow). Some vows were considered "special" (NIV) or "singular" (KJV; see Lev. 27:2). (Complete Biblical Library)

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John Newton - Ps 119:18.  Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Let me suppose a person to have a curious cabinet, which is opened at his pleasure, and not exposed to common view. He invites all to come and see it, and offers to show it to any one who asks him. It is hid, because he keeps the key, but none can complain, because he is ready to open it whenever he is desired. Some, perhaps, disdain the offer, and say, “Why is it locked at all?” Some think it is not worth seeing, or amuse themselves with guessing at the contents. But those who are simply desirous for themselves, leave others disputing, go according to appointment, and are gratified. These have reason to be thankful for the favor, and the others have no just cause to find fault. Thus the riches of Divine grace may be compared to a richly-furnished cabinet to which “Christ is the door.” The Word of God likewise is a cabinet generally locked up, but the key of prayer will open it. The Lord invites all, but He keeps the dispensation in His own hand. They cannot see these things, except He shows them; but then He refuses none that sincerely ask Him. The wise men of the world can go no further than the outside of this cabinet; they may amuse themselves and surprise others with their ingenius guesses at what is within; but a child that has seen it opened can give us satisfaction, without studying or guessing at all. If men will presume to aim at the knowledge of God, without the knowledge of Christ, Who is the way and the door; if they have such a high opinion of their own wisdom and penetration as to suppose they can understand the Scriptures without the assistance of His Spirit; or, if their worldly wisdom teaches them that those things are not worth their inquiring, what wonder is it that they should continue to be hid from their eyes?

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Charles Bridges - 18. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law

In order to keep God’s word, must we not pray to understand it? What then is the prayer? Not—give me a plainer Bible—but open mine eyes to know my Bible. Not—show me some new revelations beside the law—but make me behold the wonders of the law. David had acquired in the Divine school “more understanding than all his teachers;”4 yet he ever comes to his God under a deep sense of his blindness. Indeed, those who have been best and longest taught are always the most ready to “sit at the feet of Jesus,”5 as if they had everything to learn. It is an unspeakable mercy to know a little, and at the same time to feel that it is only a little. We shall then be longing to know more, and yet anxious to know nothing, except as we are taught of God. There are indeed in God’s law things so wondrous, that “the angels desire to look into them.”6 The exhibition of the scheme of redemption is in itself a world of wonders. The display of justice exercised in the way of mercy, and of mercy glorified in the exercise of justice, is a wonder, that must fill the intelligent universe of God with everlasting astonishment. And yet these “wondrous things” are hid from multitudes, who are most deeply interested in the knowledge of them. They are “hid,” not only from the ignorant and unconcerned, but “from the wise and prudent; and revealed” only “to babes;”7—to those who practically acknowledge that important truth, that a man “can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.”8 External knowledge is like the child spelling the letters without any apprehension of the meaning. It is like reading a large and clear print with a thick veil before our eyes. Oh! how needful then is the prayer—‘Unveil9—“Open thou mine eyes:” let the veil be taken away from the law, that I may understand it; and from my heart, that I may receive it!’

But do not even Christians often find the word of God to be as a sealed book? They go through their accustomed portion, without gaining any increasing acquaintance with light, life and power, and without any distinct application of its contents to their hearts. And thus it must be, whenever reading has been unaccompanied with prayer for Divine influence. For we not only need to have our “eyes open to behold” fresh wonders, but also to give a more spiritual and transforming1 perception of those wonders, which we have already beheld.

But are we conscious of our blindness? Then let us hear the counsel of our Lord, that we “anoint our eyes with eye-salve, that we may see.”2 The recollection of the promises of Divine teaching are fraught with encouragement. The Spirit is freely and abundantly promised in this very character, as “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God.”3 If therefore we desire a clearer insight into these “wondrous things” of revelation—if we would behold the glorious beauty of our Immanuel—if we would comprehend something more of the immeasurable extent of that love, with which “God so loved the world, as to give his only-begotten Son”4—and of that equally incomprehensible love, which moved that Son so cheerfully to undertake our cause,5 we must make daily, hourly use of this important petition—“Open thou mine eyes.”

4 Ps 119:99, 100.

5 Luke 10:39.

6 1 Peter 1:12.

7 Matt. 11:25.

8 John 3:27.

9 “Revela oculos meos. Velamen detraha oculis meis.”—Poli Synopsis. Margin, Reveal. Compare 2 Cor. 3:14–16.

1 2 Cor. 3:18.

2 Rev. 3:18.

3 Eph. 1:17.

4 John 3:16.

5 Heb. 10:5–7.

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TAPPING THE TREASURE

Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. —Psalm 119:18

Stephen May discovered a treasure  while teaching literature at a university. In the library he found 150 boxes of letters, manuscripts, journals, outlines and notes given to the school by James A. Michener.

Surprisingly, no one was using those materials to write a biography of the Pulitzer Prize winning author, known for his historical novels. After years of research and writing, May produced a new account of the life of Michener from that great treasure.

Each day you and I are writing the story of our lives by what we say and do. Are we using the great, but often neglected, wealth of the Bible? The psalmist wrote: “I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. . . . Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Ps. 119:14,18).

The Bible is the written record through which we get to know Jesus Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). Its nuggets of truth are available to us all.

A life well lived is directly related to a Bible well read. As we live out our life story, let’s be sure to tap the treasure of God’s Word every day. David C. McCasland (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

THE BIBLE’S TREASURES ARE FOUND BY THOSE WHO DIG FOR THEM.

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Lord, I’m Excited!

Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. —Psalm 119:18

Today's Scripture: Psalm 119:17-24

People use Our Daily Bread in many different ways. Small groups have informed me that they meet before work to read the online devotional on their laptops. Families read it together at a meal. Others reach for it on a break or during a quiet moment of the day.

A letter from one reader inspired me with her approach each morning: “As I open Our Daily Bread, I tell God that I am excited about what His Word is going to teach me. Then I read the Scripture (if it’s short, I include all the surrounding context), and I meditate [on it] and write what it is saying to me before I read what God gave the writer . . . . Since I am indexing my journal, both Scripture and topics, as I go along, I can refer back to pertinent topics at any time. I love it.”

What impressed me is her enthusiasm for the Word and the anticipation of what the Lord has for her in the Bible. She echoes the psalmist’s prayer, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Ps. 119:18).

A writer’s thoughts are no substitute for the powerful Word of God. It’s the only place to find spiritual nourishment and strength for each day. And that’s exciting! By:  David C. McCasland (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Help more people find Jesus this Easter.

Give me, O Lord, a strong desire
To look within Your Word each day;
Help me to hide it in my heart,
Lest from its truth my feet would stray. 
—Branon

The Bible is the Bread of Life, and it never becomes stale.

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In A Fog

Read: Psalm 119:25-32 

Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. —Psalm 119:18

My wife Shirley and I stayed 2 full days in Interlaken, Switzerland, and yet we never saw Jungfrau, one of the highest and most beautiful peaks in the Swiss Alps.

“What did you think of Jungfrau?” fellow tourists would ask. We couldn’t answer because we never got a glimpse of it.

How could we possibly miss such an immense and breathtaking natural wonder? Because a persistent fog had blanketed the entire peak.

Sometimes we may be “in a fog” when we try to understand the Bible. We struggle and strain, but we cannot see the beautiful truths that lie within the passage. It may even seem as if God is keeping them hidden from us.

Don’t forget that we always need the illuminating help of the Holy Spirit. It is not God who wants to keep us from grasping the wonderful truths of Scripture; it is His enemy. The devil knows that we can’t put into practice what we don’t comprehend.

We need to pray as the psalmist did, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Ps. 119:18). As we seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance each day, He will clear away the fog so that we can see the marvelous truths within God’s Word.By David C. Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Open my eyes, that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free.
—Scott

Without the light of God's Spirit, we'll be in the dark about God's Word.

Psalm 119:19 I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.

• a stranger Ps 39:12 Ge 47:9 1Ch 29:15 2Co 5:6 Heb 11:13-16 1Pe 2:11 
• hide Ps 119:10 Job 39:17 Isa 63:17 Lu 9:45 24:45 

I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.

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Charles Bridges - 19. I am a stranger in the earth; hide not thy commandments from me

Such is the condition of the child of God—a stranger in the earth! This confession, however, from a solitary wanderer would have had little comparative meaning. But in the mouth of one, who was probably surrounded with every source of worldly enjoyment, it shows at once the vanity of “earth’s best joys,” and the heavenly tendency of the religion of the Bible. This has been ever the character, confession, and glory of the Lord’s people.6 We “would not live always,”7 and gladly do we hear the warning voice that reminds us to “arise and depart, for this is not our rest.”8 And was not this especially the character not of David only, but of David’s Lord? Born at an inn9—not “having where to lay his head”10—suffering hunger11—subsisting upon alms12—neglected by his own13—“looking for some to take pity, but there was none, and for his comforters but he found none”14—might he not justly take up the confession—“I am a stranger in the earth?”

This verse exhibits the Christian in many most interesting points of view; distant from his proper home15—without a fixed residence16—with no particular interest in the world17—and submitting to all the inconveniences of a stranger on his journey homewards.18 Such is his state! And the word of God includes all that he wants—a guide, a guard, a companion—to direct, secure, and cheer his way. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.”19 Most suitable then is the stranger’s prayer—“Hide not thy commandments from me.” Acquaintance with the word of God supplies the place of friends and counsellors. It furnishes light, joy, strength, food, armor, and whatever else he may need on his way homewards.

The pilgrim-spirit is the pulse of the soul. All of us are travelling to eternity. The worldling is at home in the earth—a pilgrim only by constraint. His heart would say—‘It is good for me to be here. Let God dispose of heaven at his pleasure. I am content to have my portion in this life.’1 The child of God is a stranger in the earth. Heaven is the country of his birth.2 His kindred3—his inheritance4—his Saviour5—his hope6—his home7—is there. He is “a citizen of no mean city,” of the heavenly Jerusalem.8 There he is a pilgrim in affection no less than in character. How cheering is the thought, that here we have no continuing city, if in heart and soul we are “seeking one to come!”9

We know indeed, that we cannot—we would not—call this world our home, and that it is far better to be without it, than to have our portion in it. But do we never feel at home in the earth, thus forgetting our proper character and our eternal prospects? Do we always live, speak, and act as “strangers in the earth”—in the midst of earthly enjoyments sitting loose to them, as if our treasure was in heaven? Does our conversation in the society of the world savor of the home whither we profess to be going? Is the world gaining ascendency in our affections? Let the cross of Calvary be the object of our daily contemplation—the ground of our constant “glorying;” and the world will then be to us a “crucified” object.10 And lastly, let us not forget, that we are looking forward, and making progress towards a world, where none are strangers—where all are children of one family, dwelling in one eternal home. “In my Father’s house”—said our gracious Head—“are many mansions: I go to prepare a place for you.”11

6 Abraham, Gen. 23:4. Jacob, Gen. 47:9. David, Psalm 39:12. All Heb. 11:13.

7 Job 7:16.

8 Micah 2:10.

9 Luke 2:7.

10 Matt. 8:20.

11 Mt. 21:18.

12 Luke 8:3.

13 John 1:11.

14 Psalm 69:20.

15 Heb. 11:9.

16 1 Chron. 29:15.

17 Phil. 3:20.

18 Acts 14:23. Heb. 10:34.

19 Prov. 6:20–22.

1 Psalm 17:4. Compare Luke 6:24; 12:19, 20; 16:25.

2 Gal. 4:26.

3 Eph. 3:15.

4 Eph. 1:3, 11, 6. Matt. 25:34.

5 John 14:3. Cor. 3:1

6 Phil. 3:20.

7 2 Cor. 5:1–6.

8 Heb. 12:22.

9 Heb. 13:14.

10 Gal. 6:14.

11 John 14:2.

Psalm 119: 20 My soul is crushed with longing After Your ordinances at all times.  

• soul Ps 119:40,131,174 42:1 63:1 84:2 Pr 13:12 Song 5:8 Rev 3:15,16 
• at all times Ps 106:3 Job 23:11,12 27:10 Pr 17:17 

My soul is crushed with longing After Your ordinances at all times.  

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THE EXPERIENCES OF A SOUL - James Smith

PSALM 119

1. Breaking (Ps 119:20).
2. Cleaving (Ps 119:Ps 119:25).
3. Melting (Ps 119:28).
4. Fainting (Ps 119:81).
5. Waiting (Ps 119:09).
6. Trusting (Ps 119:167).
7. Longing (Ps 119:175).

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Charles Bridges - 20. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times

This intense desire and affection is the Christian’s answer to his prayers—Open thou mine eyes—Hide not thy commandments from me. For who that is conversant with this blessed revelation but longs to be filled with it? In contrasting this glow with the church of Laodicea, under a brighter dispensation “neither cold nor hot:”12—which state, we may ask, most nearly resembles our own? Observe also, not only the fervor, but the steady uniformity, of this religion. It was not a rapture, but a habit; constant and uniform; “at all times.” With us, such enjoyments are too often favored seasons, happy moments; alas! only moments—why not days, and months, and years? The object of our desires is an inexhaustible spring. The longing of the soul, can never overreach its object. The cherished desire therefore will become the established habit—the element in which the child of God lives and thrives.

This uniformity is the most satisfactory test of our profession. Often are the judgments prized in affliction, when all other resources fail: or under a pang of conscience, when the terror of the Lord “is frowning upon the sinner.”1 But the affection wears off the trouble, and the heart returns to its hardness. Often also the impulse of novelty gives a strong but temporary impression.2 This is very different from the Christian, whose study is stretching out its desires at all times; finding the judgments a cordial or a discipline—a support or a preservation—as his need may require.

Not less important is this habit as the test of the soul’s prosperity. We are not satisfied with occasional intercourse with a beloved friend. His society is the life of our life. We seek him in his own ways, where he is used to resort. We feel the blank of his absence. We look out for his return with joyous anticipation. Now is this the picture of our souls longing for communion with Jesus? We may feel his loss, should the stated seasons of prayer fail in bringing him near to us. But do we long for him at all times? Do we “wait for him in the way of his judgments,” where he is wont to be found?3 And when spiritual exercises are exchanged for worldly occupations, do we seize the leisure moment to catch a word—a glimpse—a look? Is not the heart dumb with shame in the recollection of the cold habit of external or occasional duty?

But whence this low ebbing of spiritual desire? Do we live near to the throne of grace? Have we not neglected prayer for the influence of the Spirit? Have we not indulged a light, vain, and worldly spirit, than which nothing more tends to wither the growth of vital religion? Or have not the workings of unbelief been too faintly resisted? This of itself will account for much of our dulness; since the rule of the kingdom of grace is—“According to your faith be it unto you.”4 Grace is indeed an insatiable principle. Enjoyment, instead of surfeiting, only serves to sharpen the appetite. Yet if we are content to live at a low rate, there will be no sensible interest in the consolation of the Gospel. We know, desire, and are satisfied with little: and therefore we enjoy but little. We live as borderers on the land, instead of bearing our testimony—“Surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.”5 This is not the thriving, the cheerfulness, the adoring of the Gospel. It is rather the obscuring of the glory of our Christian profession, and of the happiness of its attendant privileges.

Let not the fervor of desire here expressed be conceived to be out of reach; nor let it be expected in the way of some sudden manifestation or excitement. Rather let us look for it in a patient, humble, and persevering waiting upon the Lord. We may have still to complain of coldness and wanderings. Yet strength to wait will be imperceptibly given: faith will be sustained for the conflict: and thus our souls will “make their boast in the Lord,” even though an excited flow of enjoyment should be withheld. One desire will, however, tread upon another, increasing in fulness, as the grand object is nearer our grasp.

At all events, let us beware of resting satisfied with the confession of our lukewarmness to our fellow-creatures, without “pouring out our heart before the Lord.” There is a fulness of grace in our glorious Head to “strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die,” as well as at the beginning to “quicken” us when “dead in trespasses and sins.” Abundant, also, are the promises and encouragements to poor, dry, barren souls—“I will heal their backslidings; I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.”1 For what purpose are promises such as these given, but that they may be “arguments,” wherewith to “fill our mouth,” when in the contrition of faith we again venture to “order our cause before God?” And “will he plead against us with his great power?” No—but “he will put his strength in us;”2 and we shall yet again “run the way of his commandments”3 with an enlarged heart.

12 Rev. 3:15.

1 Isa. 26:16.

2 John 5:35.

3 Isa. 26:8; 64:5.

4 Matt. 9:29.

5 Num. 13:27.

1 Hosea 14:4–6.

2 Job 23:4–6.

3 Ps 119:32.

Psalm 119:21 You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who wander from Your commandments.  

• rebuked Ps 119:78 138:6 Ex 10:3 18:11 Job 40:11,12 Isa 2:11,12 10:12 Eze 28:2-10 Da 4:37 5:22-24 Mal 4:1 Lu 14:11 18:14 Jas 4:6 1Pe 5:5 
• cursed Ps 119:10,110,118 De 27:15-26 28:15 30:19 Ne 9:16,29 Isa 42:24 Isa 43:28 Jer 44:9-11,16,28,29 Ga 3:13 

You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who wander from Your commandments.

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Charles Bridges - 21. Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments

Let the histories of Cain,4 Pharaoh,5 Haman,6 Nebuchadnezzar,7 and Herod,8 exhibit the proud under the rebuke and curse of God. He abhors their persons9 and their offerings;10 he “knows them afar off:”11 “he resisteth them:”12 “he scattereth them in the imaginations of their hearts.”13 Especially hateful are they in his sight, when, cloaking themselves under a spiritual garb—“they say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou: these are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.”14 Most of all is this sin an abomination in his own beloved people. David15 and Hezekiah16 are instructive beacons in the Church, that they, least of all, must expect to escape his rebuke—“Thou wast a God that forgavest them; though thou tookest vengeance on their inventions.”17 “Now they call the proud happy.”18 But will they be counted so, when they shall be manifestly under the curse of God; when “the day of the Lord shall be upon them to bring them low,” yea to “burn them in the oven” of his heavenly wrath?”19

Pride probably influences all, that “do err from the Lord’s commandments;” yet doubtless “the Righteous Judge” will make an infinite difference between errors of infirmity and of obstinate wilfulness.1 The confession of the man of God—“I have gone astray like a lost sheep”2—is widely different in character from the subjects of this awful rebuke and curse. “Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes; for their deceit is falsehood.”3

We wonder not at this expression of the mind of God concerning pride. There is no sin more abhorrent to his character. It is as if we were taking the crown from his head, and placing it upon our own. It is man making a god of himself,—acting from himself, and for himself. Nor is this principle less destructive to our own happiness. And yet it is not only rooted, but it often rears its head and blossoms, and bears fruit, even in hearts which “hate and abhor” its influence. It is most like its father, the Devil, in serpentine deceitfulness. It is always active—always ready imperceptibly to mix itself up with everything. When it is mortified in one shape, it rises in another. When we have thought that it was gone, in some unexpected moment we find it here still. It can convert everything into nourishment, even God’s choicest gifts—yea, the graces of his Spirit. Let no saint therefore, however near he may be living to God, however favored with the shinings of his countenance—consider himself beyond the reach of this temptation. Paul was most in danger, when he seemed to be most out of it; and nothing but an instant miracle of grace and power saved him from the “snare of the Devil.”4 Indeed, the whole plan of salvation is intended to humble the pride of man, by exhibiting his restoration to the Divine favor, as a free gift through the atoning blood of the cross. How hateful therefore is proud man’s resistance to this humbling doctrine of the cross, and the humbling requisitions of the life of faith flowing from it! This makes the sure “foundation” of the believer’s hope “a stone of stumbling” to the unbeliever’s ruin.5 As regards also the means of salvation—how can pride lift up its head in the view of the Son of God, “taking upon him the form of a servant,” that he might bear the curse of man?6 “Behold, the soul that is lifted up is not upright in him.”7

But can a sinner—can a saint—be proud?—one that owes everything to free and sovereign grace—one that has wasted so much time—abused so much mercy—so grieved the Spirit of God—that has a heart so full of atheism—unbelief—selfishness? Nay, the very pride itself should be the matter of the deepest daily humiliation. Thus the remembrance of it may, under Divine grace, prove an effectual means of subduing it in our hearts. We shall overcome corruption by its own workings, and meet our adversary with his own weapons. And if this cursed principle be not wholly destroyed, yet the very sight of its corruption, deepening our contrition, will be overruled for our spiritual advancement.

O blessed end! intended by the Lord’s dealings with us, to “humble and to prove us”—“to know,” and to make us know “what was in our heart, that he might do us good at the latter end!”1 Let us not frustrate his gracious intentions, or build again the things, which he would have destroyed. May we love to lie low—lower than ever—infinitely low before him! Lord! teach us to remember, that “that which is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in thy sight.”2 Teach us to bless thee for even thy sharp and painful discipline, which tends to subjugate this hateful pride of our hearts before our Saviour’s cross!

4 Gen. 4:5, 13–16.

5 Exod. 14:15–31.

6 Esther 7:7–10.

7 Dan. 4:29–33.

8 Acts 12:21–23.

9 Prov. 6:16, 17.

10 Luke 18:11, 12, 14.

11 Psalm 138:6.

12 1 Peter 5:5, with Prov. 3:34.

13 Luke 1:51.

14 Isa. 65:5, with Luke 18:11.

15 2 Sam. 24:1–15.

16 2 Kings 20:12–18; 2 Chron. 32:31.

17 Psalm 99:8.

18 Mal. 3:15.

19 Isaiah 2:12–17; Mal. 4:1.

1 Psalm 19:12, with 95:10.

2 Ps 119:176.

3 Ps 119:118.

4 See 2 Cor. 12:7

5 Rom. 9:32, 33. 1 Peter 2:7, 8.

6 Phil. 2:5–8.

7 Hab. 2:4.

1 Deut. 8:2, 16.

2 Luke 16:15.

Psalm 119:22 Take away reproach and contempt from me, For I observe Your testimonies.  

• Remove Ps 119:39,42 39:8 42:10 68:9-11,19,20 123:3,4 1Sa 25:10,39 2Sa 16:7,8 Job 16:20 19:2,3 Heb 13:13 
• for I have Ps 37:3,6 1Pe 2:20 3:16,17 4:14-16 

Take away reproach and contempt from me, For I observe Your testimonies.  

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Charles Bridges - 22. Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies

The proud under the rebuke of God, are usually distinguished by their enmity to his people. They delight to pour upon them “reproach and contempt,” with no other provocation given, than that their keeping the testimonies of God condemns their own neglect.3 This must, however, be counted as the cost of a decided and separate, and consistent profession. Yet it is such a portion, as Moses valued above all the treasures of the world:4 it is that reproach, which our Master himself “despised,” as “reckoning it not worthy to be compared with” “the joy that was set before him.”5 For did he bear his cross only on the way to Calvary? It was laid for every step in his path: it met him in every form of suffering, of “reproach and contempt.” Look then at him, as taking up his daily cross in breathing the atmosphere of a world of sin, and “enduring the contradiction of sinners against himself.”6 Mark him consummating his course of “reproach and contempt,” by suffering without the gate—and can we hesitate to “go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach?”7

The trial, however, especially if cast upon us by those whom we have loved and valued, or by those whom we wish to love and value us, proves most severe: and the spreading our case, after David’s example, before the Lord, is the only preservation from faintness—“Remove from me reproach and contempt.”

Perhaps “contempt” is more hard to bear than “reproach.” Even our enemies think of us so much better than we deserve, that it strikes with peculiar poignancy. Yet when the submissive prayer of deprecation8 is sent up, doubtless some answer, and that the right answer, will be given; and whether the “reproach” be removed, or “grace” vouchsafed “sufficient” to endure it,9 the issue will prove alike for the glory of God, and the prosperity of our own souls.

But let us beware of that “way of escape” in returning to the world, which the insincere are ever ready to pursue. They dare not act to the full conviction of their consciences: they dare not confront their friends with the avowal of their full determination to form their conduct by the principles of the word of God. This is hard—this is impossible. They know not the “victory that over cometh the world:”10 and therefore cannot bear this mark upon their foreheads—“These are they, which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.”1 Far better, however, will be the heaviest weight of “reproach and contempt,” than any such endeavor to remove it from ourselves. The desire to escape the cross, convicts the heart of unfaithfulness, and makes way for tenfold difficulties in our path. Every worldly compliance against the voice of God is a step into the by-path, which deviates wider and wider from the straight and narrow way, brings discredit upon our profession, proves a stumbling-block in the way of the weak, and will cause us, if not actually to come short, at least to “seem to come short of the promised rest.”2

But is the weight of the cross really “above that we are able to bear?” He that bore it for us will surely enable us to endure it for him: and upheld by him, we cannot sink. It is a sweet exchange, by which the burden of sin is removed, and bound to his cross; and what remains to us is the lighter cross of “reproach and contempt,”—the badge of our discipleship.3 If then we have the testimony of our consciences, that in the midst of a persecuting world, we “have kept his testimonies,”4—here is our evidence of adoption, of our Father’s special love, of the indwelling, comforting, supporting Spirit.5 Here then is our warrant of hope, that the overwhelming weight will be removed from us; and that we shall be able to testify to our Master’s praise in the churches of God, that “his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.”6

3 Heb. 11:7.

4 Heb 11:24–26.

5 Heb. 12:2.

6 Heb 12: 3.

7 Heb 13:12, 13.

8 See Ps 119:134.

9 2 Cor. 12:8, 9.

10 See 1 John 5:4, 5.

1 Rev. 14:4.

2 Heb. 4:1.

3 Matt. 16:24.

4 Ps 119:61, 69, 87, 95, 110.

5 John 14:15–18, 21–23.

6 Matt. 11:30.

Psalm 119:23 Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes.  

• Princes Ps 2:1,2 1Sa 20:31 22:7-13 Lu 22:66 23:1,2,10,11 
• thy servant Ps 119:15 

Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes.  

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Charles Bridges - 23. Princes also did sit and speak against me; but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes

David might well give his testimony to “the words of the Lord,” that they were “tried words:”7 for perhaps no one had ever tried them more than himself; and certainly no one had more experience of their faithfulness, sweetness, and support. Saul and his “princes might indeed sit and speak against him;” but he had a resource, of which they could never deprive him—“Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”8 As our blessed Master was employed in communion with his Father, and delighting in his work at the time, when the “princes did sit and speak against him;”9 so under similar circumstances of trial, this faithful servant of God, by meditation in the Lord’s statutes, extracted spiritual food for his support:10 and in this strength of his God he was enabled to “suffer according to his will, and to commit the keeping of his soul to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”11

The children of Israel in Egypt;12 Daniel in Babylon;13 and the disciples of Christ in the early ages of the church,14 have severely found “this same affliction to be accomplished in themselves.” God is pleased to permit it, to show that “his kingdom is not of this world,”15 to wean his people from earthly dependencies—and to bring out before the world a more full testimony of his name.1 One other reason is suggested by this verse—to make his word more precious by the experience of its sustaining consolation in the conflict with the power of the world. Often indeed, from a want of a present application of the word, young Christians especially, are in danger of being put to rebuke by the scorner’s sneer. The habit of Scriptural meditation will realize to them a present God, speaking “words of spirit and life” to their souls. The importance therefore of an accurate and well-digested acquaintance with this precious book cannot be too highly estimated. In the Christian’s conflict it is “the sword of the Spirit,”2 which, if it be kept bright by constant use, will never be wielded without the victory of faith. Such powerful support does it give against fainting under persecution, that the good soldier may ever be ready to “thank God, and to take courage.”3 Christ has left it indeed as the portion of his people—“In the world ye shall have tribulation;” counterbalanced however, most abundantly, by the portion which they enjoy in him—“In me ye shall have peace.”4 If therefore the one half of this portion may seem hard, the legacy entire is such, as no servant of Christ can refuse to accept, or indeed will receive without thankfulness.

7 Ps. 12:7, Prayer-book Translation.

8 John 14:27.

9 Jn. 11:47, 54–57.

10 Comp. Psalm 94:19–22.

11 1 Peter 4:19.

12 Exodus 1:10.

13 Dan. 6:4–6.

14 Matt. 10:17, 18. Acts 4:27–29.

15 John 18:36.

1 Matt. 10:18.

2 Eph. 6:17.

3 Acts 28:15.

4 John 16:33. See the beautiful illustration of this whole declaration—Acts 16:22–25.

Psalm 119:24 Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.

• testimonies Ps 119:16,77,92,143,162 Job 27:10 Jer 6:10 
• my counsellors Heb. men of my counsel, Ps 119:97-100,104,105 19:11 De 17:18-20 Jos 1:8 Pr 6:20-23 Isa 8:20 Col 3:16 2Ti 3:15-17 

Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.

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Thy testimonies … are … my counsellors. Boleslaus, one of the kings of Poland, carried about him the picture of his father; and when he was to do any great work, or set about any extraordinary design, he would look on the picture, and pray that he might do nothing unworthy of such a father’s name. The Scriptures are the picture of God’s will. Before a man engages in any business whatsoever, let him look there, and read what is to be done, and what to be omitted.

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Charles Bridges - 24. Thy testimonies also are my delight, and my counsellors

What could we want more in a time of difficulty than comfort and direction? David had both these blessings. As the fruit of his “meditation in the Lord’s statutes,” in his distress they were his “delight;” in his perplexity they were his “counsellors.” He would not have exchanged his delight for the best joys of earth.5 And so wisely did his counsellors direct his course, that, though “princes sat and spake against him,” they “could find none occasion nor fault.”6 The testimonies of God were truly “the men of his counsel.”7 He guided his own conduct by the rules laid before him in the book of God, as if he were having recourse to the most experienced counsellors, or rather as if the prophets of his God were giving the word from his mouth.8 Thus the subjects as well as the Sovereign, had his counsel. On one side was Saul and his counsellors9—on the other side, David and the testimonies of his God. Which, think we, was better furnished with that “wisdom which is profitable to direct?” Subsequently, as a king, David was constrained to make “the testimonies of his God his counsellors10;” and probably, to his constant regard to their voice he owed much of his earthly prosperity.11

In such a dark world as this, beset with temptation at every turn, we pre-eminently need sound and wise counsel. But all of us carry an evil counsellor within us, and it is our folly to listen to the voice.1 God has given us his word as a sure counsellor, and “he that hearkeneth to its counsel is wise.”2

Now, do we value the privilege of this heavenly counsel? Every improvement must increase our delight in it; a heartless interest shuts out this blessing. But those who make the word their delight will always find it their counsellor. Yet a mere cursory reading will never realize to us its holy delight or counsel. It must be brought home to our own experience, and consulted on those trivial occasions of every day, when, unconscious of our need of divine direction, we are too often inclined to lean to our own counsel. The Christian is a man of faith every step of his way. And this habitual use and daily familiarity with the testimonies of God will show him the pillar and the cloud3 in all the dark turns of his heavenly road. The word will be to him as the “Urim and Thummim:”4 an infallible counsellor.

Sometimes, however, perplexity arises from the conflict, not between conscience and sinful indulgence, (in which case Christian sincerity would always determine the path,) but between duty and duty. When, however, acknowledged obligations seem to interfere with each other, the counsel of the word will mark their relative importance, connection, and dependence: the present path in providence: the guidance, which has been vouchsafed to the Lord’s people in similar emergencies; and the light which the daily life of our Great Examplar exhibits before us. The great concern, however, is to cultivate the habit of mind, which falls in most naturally with the counsel of the word. “Walking in the fear of the Lord,”5 in a simple spirit of dependence,6 and torn away from the idolatry of taking counsel from our own hearts, we cannot materially err; because there is here a suitableness between the disposition and the promise—a watchfulness against the impetuous bias of the flesh: a paramount regard to the glory of God, and a meek submission to his gracious appointment. If the counsel, however, should not prove infallible, the fault is not in the word, but in the indistinctness of our own perception. We want not a clearer rule, or a surer guide, but a more single eye. And if, after all, it may not mark every precise act of duty (for to do this, “even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written,”) yet it determines the standard, to which the most minute acting of the mind should be brought;7 and the disposition, which will reflect the light of the will of God upon our path.8

But let it be remembered, that any want of sincerity in the heart9—any allowance of self-dependence10—will always close the avenues of this Divine light and counsel. We are often unconsciously “walking in the light of our own fire, and in the sparks that we have kindled.”1 Perhaps we sought, as we conceived, the guidance of the Lord’s counsel, and suppose that we are walking in it. But, in the act of seeking, and as the preparation for seeking, did we subject our motives and inclinations to a strict, cautious, self-suspecting scrutiny? Was the heart schooled to the discipline of the cross? Was “every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ?”2 Or was not our heart possessed with the object, before counsel was sought at the mouth of God?3 Oh! how careful should we be to walk warily in those uncertain marks of heavenly counsel, that fall in with the bias of our own inclination! How many false steps in the record of past experience may be traced to the counsel of our own hearts, sought and followed to the neglect of the counsel of God;4 while no circumstance of perplexity can befall us in the spirit of humility, simplicity, and sanctity, when the counsel of the Lord will fail!

An undue dependence upon human counsel,5 whether of the living or the dead, greatly hinders the full influence of the counsel of the word. However valuable such counsel may be, and however closely it may agree with the word, we must not forget, that it is not the word—that it is fallible—and therefore must never be resorted to in the first place, or followed with that full reliance, which we are warranted to place on the revelation of God. On the other hand, what is it to have God’s word as our “Counsellor?” Is it not to have himself—“the only wise God?” When our Bibles, in seasons of difficulty, are searched in a humble, prayerful teachable spirit, we are as much depending upon the Lord himself for counsel, as if we were listening to an immediate revelation from heaven. We want not a new revelation, or a sensible voice from above, for every fresh emergency. It is enough, that our Father has given us this blessed “word as a light to our feet, and a lamp to our path.”6

Let me then inquire what is the counsel of God, that speaks directly to myself? If I am an unawakened sinner, it warns me to turn from sin7—it invites me to the Saviour8—it directs me to wait upon God.9 If I am a professor, slumbering in the form of godliness, it shows me my real condition10—it instructs me in the all-sufficiency of Christ,11 and cautions me of the danger of hypocrisy.12 If through grace I am made a child of God, still do I need my Father’s counsel to recover me from perpetual backsliding13—to excite me to increased watchfulness,14 and to strengthen my confidence in the fulness of his grace,15 and the faithfulness of his love.16 Ever shall I have reason for the grateful acknowledgment—“I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel.”17 And every step of my way would I advance, glorifying my God and Father by confiding in his counsel unto the end—“Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory.”1

5 Ps 119:14, 97, 103, 127, with Psalm 4:7.

6 1 Sam. 18:14. Psalm 101:2, with Dan. 6:4, 5.

7 Margin.

8 Comp. 2 Sam. 7:4, 5; also 16:23.

9 Ps 119:23.

10 Deut. 17:18–20.

11 2 Sam. 8:6, 14. Compare also his dying and most encouraging advice to Solomon on this subject, founded doubtless upon the recollection of his own experience, 1 Kings 2:3.

1 Prov. 28:26.

2 Pr. 12:15.

3 Numbers 9:15–23.

4 Nu. 27:21.

5 See Psalm 25:12, 14.

6 Ps. 25:4, 5, 9; 143:8.

7 1 Cor. 10:31. Col. 3:17.

8 Matt. 6:22, 23.

9 1 Sam. 28:6. Ezek. 14:2–4.

10 Prov. 3:5, 6.

1 Isaiah 1:11.

2 2 Cor. 10:5.

3 Jer. 42.

4 Josh. 9:14. Isa. 30:1–3.

5 Isa. 2:22.

6 Ps 119:105. Comp. Prov. 6:23.

7 Prov. 1:24–31. Ezek. 33:11.

8 Isa. 55:1. John 7:37.

9 Hosea 12:6.

10 Rev. 3:17.

11 Rev 3: 18.

12 Luke 12:1

13 Jer. 3:12, 13.

14 1 Thess. 5:6. Rev. 3:2.

15 Isaiah 26:4.

16 Heb. 12:5, 6.

17 Psalm 16:7.

1 Psalm 73:24.

Psalm 119:25 Daleth. My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word. 

• soul: Ps 22:15 44:25 Isa 65:25 Mt 16:23 Ro 7:22-24 Php 3:19 Col 3:2 
• Revive: Ps 119:37,Ps 119:40,Ps 119:88,Ps 119:93,Ps 119:107,Ps 119:149,Ps 119:156,Ps 119:159 Ps 71:20 Ps 80:18 Ps 143:11 Ro 8:2,3 
• according: De 30:6 2Sa 7:27-29 

Related Passages:

Psalm 22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. 

Psalm 44:25  For our soul has sunk down into the dust; Our body cleaves to the earth.

Romans 7:22-24  For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

Psalm 119:37  Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways. 

Psalm 119:40 Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me through Your righteousness. 

Psalm 119:88  Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth. 

Psalm 119:93  I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have revived me. 

Psalm 119:107 I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your word. 

Psalm 119:149 Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your ordinances. 

Psalms 119:156  Great are Your mercies, O LORD; Revive me according to Your ordinances. 

Psalm 119:159  Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness. 

Psalm 71:20 You who have shown me many troubles and distresses Will revive me again, And will bring me up again from the depths of the earth. 

Psalm 80:18  Then we shall not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name. 

Psalm 143:11  For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble. 

GOD'S WORD
IT IS YOUR LIFE! 

My soul cleaves to the dust - Cleave is the Hebrew verb dabaq (Lxx =  kollao) which means to stick to, adhere to, cling to. The first use describes the supernatural union of a man and a woman in marriage (Ge 2:24). 

Revive me according to Your word - What does this teach us? God's Word has life! God's Word gives life! God's Word is our life! As Jesus clearly taught "“It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD." (Mt 4:4+, Dt 8:3+) Ask the LORD to feed you today, that your soul might be strengthened as you go forth into a culture that is becoming more godless by the day! 

In his parting words to Israel (last words are always worth listening to carefully) Moses declared 

“Take (command) to your heart all the WORDS with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the WORDS of this law. 47 “For (term of explanation) IT (WHAT?) is not an idle (VAIN, EMPTY, USELESS; Lxx =  kenos) WORD for you; indeed IT IS YOUR LIFE. And by this WORD you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.” (Deut 32:46-47)

Comment - Take in the Septuagint is  prosecho (pros = before, toward + echo = hold) which means literally to hold to, toward or before. Originally it was followed by the word "the mind" (nous) but at times "the mind" was omitted but still the idea of "the mind" was implied. Moses is saying apply your heart to the Word of God! Attach yourself to the Word of God! It is interesting that  Prosecho meant to moor a ship or tie it up, a good picture of every saint's life for we are like ships adrift of the waters of this world and need to be safely moored in the harbor of God's Word. Prosecho was also used to mean “to remain on course” another great picture of our lives staying "on course" because they are guided by the "true compass" of the Word of God! 

Take in the Septuagint is in the present imperative which is a command to make this one's habitual practice, to daily take God's Word to heart (our control center). And believers need to remember that they are daily in Need of the Holy Spirit to obey this command

THOUGHT - How do we take God's Word to heart? We are in it daily, daily reading it, so that becomes part of our very being, our LIFE! (Mt 4:4+, Lk 4:4+) We memorize it diligently, holding it fast in our memory, so it will hold us fast in trials and tribulations that otherwise might catch us off guard. And finally, we take it to heart by meditating on it night and day (Joshua 1:8+, Ps 1:2-3+). We take it to heart by imitating men like Job (Heb 6:12+) who declared "I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." (Job 23:12+)

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Charles Bridges - 25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken thou me according to thy word

Sin is no trifle to a child of God. It is his heaviest sorrow. Thus David—thus the great Apostle—found it.2 And where is the believer, who has not full sympathy with their complaints? To have a soul cleaving to the dust, and not to feel the trouble, is the black mark of a sinner, dead in sins—dead to God. To “know the plague of our own heart,”3 to feel our misery, to believe and to apply the remedy,4 is the satisfactory evidence of a child of God. Dust is the portion of the world: and they wish for no better. But that the soul of the man of God should continually cleave to the dust, is most strange and humbling. And yet such is the influence of his evil nature—such the power of self-will and self-indulgence—such the regard to human praise, and cherishing of self-admiration, that were it not that he “abhors himself” for the very dust that cleaves to him, he would question the existence of a renewing change. He knows what he ought to be. He has tasted the blessedness of “mounting upward on eagles’ wings.”5 But every attempt to rise is hindered by the clogging weight that keeps him down. It is however the cleaving of his soul that is so painful,—not occasional, but constant—not like the bird of the morning that descends for a moment, and then soars his upward flight; but it seems as if, like the “serpent—dust was to be his meat;”6 as if the spiritual, heaven-born soul was to sink and grovel below. And then, as the dust of the summer-road blinds the eye, and obscures the prospect; how does this earthliness of soul darken the view of the Saviour, dim the eye of faith, and hide the glorious prospects, which, when beheld in the clear horizon, enliven the weary pilgrim on his way!

But this complaint is the language of conflict and humiliation—not of despondency—Mark the believer carrying it to the Lord—‘Here I lie in the dust, without life or power. Oh! thou Saviour, who “camest that I might have life, and that I might have it more abundantly”7—Quicken me. Breathe upon me thine own life, that I may rise from the dust, and cleave to thee.’ This cry for quickening grace is the exercise of faith. We have a covenant to plead. Faith is the hand, that takes hold of the promise—“according to thy word.” Can this word fail? “Sooner shall heaven and earth pass away, than one jot or one tittle pass” from the engagements of a covenant-keeping God. “He is faithful that hath promised.”1 The man who takes hold of this plea, is “a prince who has power with God, and prevails.”2

But how different is the character of the mere professor! ready probably to make the same confession, yet without humiliation, without prayer, without faith. Nothing is more common than to hear the complaint—‘ “My soul cleaveth unto the dust.” The world has such power over us—we are so cold—so dead to spiritual things;’ while perhaps the complaint is never once brought with wrestling supplication, but rather urged in indolent self-complacency, as an evidence of the good state of the heart before God. Yet it is not the complaint of sickness, but an application to the physician, that advances the recovery of the patient. We do not usually expect to better our condition, by mourning over its badness, or merely wishing for its improvement. Nor is it the confession of sin, but the application to the Great Physician that marks genuine contrition before God. That confession, which evaporates in heartless complaints, belongs not to the tenderness of a renewed heart. But the utterance of genuine prayer is the voice of God’s own “Spirit making intercession for us;” and then indeed how cheering the encouragement, that he “that searcheth the hearts, knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God!”3 Some are ready to give up or delay their duty, when they have been unable to bring their heart to it. Thus does ‘Satan get advantage of us’ by our ‘ignorance of his devices.’ Quickening grace is not the ground or warrant for duty. Indisposition to duty is not our weakness, but our sin—not therefore to be indulged, but resisted. We must mourn over the dulness that hinders us, and diligently wait for the ‘help we every moment need.’ God keeps the grace in his own hands, and gives it at his pleasure, to exercise our daily dependence upon him.4 The acting of grace strengthens the habit. Praying helps to pray. If the door is closed, “Knock, and it shall be opened.”5 Assuredly it will not long be shut to him, who has faith and patience to wait until it be opened.

Now let me sift the character of my profession. Is it an habitual, persevering, overcoming conflict with sin? Do I not sometimes indulge in fruitless bemoanings of my state, when I had far better be exercising myself in vigorous actings of grace? If I find “my soul cleaving to the dust,” am I not sometimes “lying on my face,”6 when I ought to be “taking heaven by violence,”7 by importunate petitions for quickening grace? Are my prayers invigorated by confidence in the word of God? Oh! let me remember that “they that wait upon the Lord,” shall shake off the dust to which they have cleaved so long, and “shall mount with wings like eagles,”1 to take possession of their heavenly home.

O Lord! make me more deeply ashamed, that “my soul should cleave to the dust.” Breathe upon me fresh influence from thy quickening Spirit. Help me to plead thy word of promise; and oh! may every fresh view of my sinfulness, while it prostrates me in self-abasement before thee, be overruled to make the Saviour daily and hourly more precious to my soul. For, defiled as I am in myself, in every service of my heart, what but the unceasing application of his blood, and the uninterrupted prevalence of his intercession, gives me a moment’s confidence before thee, or prevents the very sins that mingle with my prayers from sealing my condemnation? Blessed Saviour! it is nothing but thy everlasting merit, covering my person, and honoring my sacrifice, that satisfies the justice of an offended God, and restrains it from breaking forth as a devouring fire, to consume me upon my very knees!

2 Ps. 48:4. Rom. 7:24.

3 1 Kings 8:38.

4 Rom. 7:24, 25.

5 Isa. 40:31.

6 Ibid 65:25.

7 John 10:10.

1 Heb. 10:23, with Luke 21:33.

2 Gen. 31:28.

3 Rom. 8:26, 27.

4 Phil. 2:12, 13.

5 Matt. 7:7, 8.

6 Josh. 7:10.

7 Matt. 11:12.

1 Isaiah 40:31.

PSALM 119:25
C H SPURGEON

This portion has 'D' for its alphabetical letter: it sings of Depression, in the spirit of Devotion, Determination, and Dependence.

Ver. 25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust. 

He means in part that he was full of sorrow; for mourners in the east cast dust on their heads, and sat in ashes, and the Psalmist felt as if these ensigns of woe were glued to him, and his very soul was made to cleave to them because of his powerlessness to rise above his grief. Does he not also mean that he felt ready to die? Did he not feel his life absorbed and fast held by the grave's mould, half choked by the death dust? It may not be straining the language if we conceive that he also felt and bemoaned his earthly mindedness and spiritual deadness. There was a tendency in his soul to cling to earth which he greatly bewailed. Whatever was the cause of his complaint, it was no surface evil, but an affair of his inmost spirit; his soul cleaved to the dust; and it was not a casual and accidental falling into the dust, but a continuous and powerful tendency, or cleaving to the earth. But what a mercy that the good man could feel and deplore whatever there was of evil in the cleaving! The serpent's seed can find their meat in the dust, but never shall the seed of the woman be thus degraded. Many are of the earth earthy, and never lament it; only the heaven born and heaven soaring spirit pines at the thought of being fastened to this world, and bird limed by its sorrows or its pleasures.

Quicken thou me according to thy word. 

More life is the cure for all our ailments. Only the Lord can give it. He can bestow it, bestow it at once, and do it according to his word, without departing from the usual course of his grace, as we see it mapped out in the Scriptures. It is well to know what to pray for, David seeks quickening: one would have thought that he would have asked for comfort or upraising, but he knew that these would come out of increased life, and therefore he sought that blessing which is the root of the rest. When a person is depressed in spirit, weak, and bent towards the ground, the main thing is to increase his stamina and put more life into him; then his spirit revives, and his body becomes erect. In reviving the life, the whole man is renewed. Shaking off the dust is a little thing by itself, but when it follows upon quickening, it is a blessing of the greatest value; just as good spirits which flow from established health are among the choicest of our mercies. The phrase, "according to thy word, "means according to thy revealed way of quickening thy saints. The word of God shows us that he who first made us must keep us alive, and it tells us of the Spirit of God who through the ordinances pours fresh life into our souls; we beg the Lord to act towards us in this his own regular method of grace. Perhaps David remembered the word of the Lord in De 32:39, where Jehovah claims both to kill and to make alive, and he beseeches the Lord to exercise that life giving power upon his almost expiring servant. Certainly, the man of God had not so many rich promises to rest upon as we have, but even a single word was enough for him, and he right earnestly urges "according to thy word." It is a grand thing to see a believer in the dust and yet pleading the promise, a man at the grave's mouth crying, "quicken me, "and hoping that it shall be done.

Note how this first verse of the 4th octonary tallies with the first of the "Quicken me." While in a happy third (17). "That I may live"... "Quicken me." While in a happy state he begs for bountiful dealing, and when in a forlorn condition he prays for quickening. Life is in both cases the object of pursuit: that he may have life, and have it more abundantly.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

The eight verses alphabetically arranged:

25. (D)epressed to the dust is my soul: quicken thou me according to thy word.

26. (D)eclared have I (to thee) my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.

27. (D)eclare thou to me the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

28. (D)ropping (marg.) is my soul for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

29. (D)eceitful ways remove from me; and grant me thy law graciously.

30. (D)etermined have I upon the way of truth; thy judgments have I laid before me.

31. (D)eliberately I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, put me not to shame.

32. (D)ay by day I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. Theodore Kubber.

Ver. 25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust. The Hebrew word for "cleaveth" signifies "is joined, ""has adhered, ""has overtaken, ""has taken hold, ""has joined itself." Our soul is a polypus: as the polypus readily adheres to the rocks, so does the soul cleave to the earth; and hardly can it be torn from the place to which it has once strongly attached itself. Though thy soul be now more perfect, and escaping from the waters of sin has become a bird of heaven, be not careless; earthly things are birdlime and glue; if you rub the wings against these thou wilt be held, and joined to the earth. Thomas Le Blanc.

Ver. 25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust, etc. The word rendered "cleaveth" means to be glued to; to stick fast. It has the sense of adhering firmly to anything, so that it cannot easily be separated from it. The word "dust" here may mean either the earth, and earthly things, considered as low, base, unworthy, worldly; or it may mean the grave, as if he were near to that, and in danger of dying. De Wette understands it in the latter sense. Yet the word cleave would hardly suggest this idea; and the force of that word would be better represented by the idea that his soul, as it were, adhered to the things of earth, that it seemed to be so fastened to them so glued to them that it could not be detached from them; that his affections were low, earthly, grovelling, so as to give him deep distress, and lead him to cry to God for Life and strength that he might break away from them. Albert Barnes.

Ver. 25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust, etc. The first clause seems intended to suggest two consistent but distinct ideas, that of deep degradation, as in Psalms 44:25, and that of death, as in Psalms 22:29. The first would be more obvious in itself, and in connection with the parallel referred to; but the other seems to be indicated as the prominent idea by the correlative petition for quickening in the last clause. "Quicken, "i.e., save me alive, or restore me to life, the Hebrew word being a causative of the verb to live. Joseph Addison Alexander.

Ver. 25. My soul cleaveth to the dust, etc. In this verse, David hath a complaint; "My soul cleaveth to the dust"; and a prayer; Quicken thou me according to thy word. The prayer, being well considered, shall teach us the meaning of the complaint; that it was not, as some think, any hard bodily estate which grieved him, but a very sore spiritual oppression (as I may call it), bearing down his soul; that where he should have mounted up toward heaven, he was pressed down to the earth, and was so clogged with earthly cogitations, or affections, or perturbations, that he could not mount up. His particular temptation he expresses not; for the children of God many times are in that estate that they cannot tell their own griefs, and sometimes so troubled, that it is not expedient, albeit they might, to express them to others.

And hereof we learn, how that which the worldling counts wisdom, to the Christian is folly; what is joy to the one, is grief to the other. The joy of a worldling is to cleave unto the earth; when he gripes it surest, he thinks himself happiest, for it is his portion: to take heed to his worldly affairs, and have his mind upon them (in his estimation) is only wisdom. For the serpent's curse is upon him, he creeps on the earth, and licks the dust all the days of his life. This is the miserable condition of the wicked, that even their heavenly soul is become earthly. Qui secundum corporis appetentiam vivit caro est, etiam anima eorum caro est; as the Lord spake of those who perished in the Deluge, that they were but flesh, no spirit in them; that is, no spiritual or heavenly motion.

But the Christian, considering that his soul is from above, sets his affection also on those things which are above: he delights to have his conversation in heaven; and it is a grief to him when he finds his motions and affections drawn down and entangled with the earth. His life is to cleave to the Lord; but it is death to him when the neck of his soul is bowed down to the yoke of the world. William Cowper.

Ver. 25. My soul cleaveth to the dust. "Look up now to the heavens." So once spake the Lord to Abraham his friend, and he speaketh thus to us also. Alas! why must it be so always that, when we come to know ourselves even but a little, we are constantly answering with the mournful sigh, "My soul cleaveth to the dust"? Ah! that is indeed the deepest pain of a soul which has already tasted that the Lord is merciful, when, although desiring to soar on high, it sadly feels how impossible it is to rise. There is much hidden pain in every heart of man even in the spiritual life; but what can deeper grieve us than the perception that we are chained as with leaden weights to things concerning which we know that they may weary but cannot satisfy us? Nay, we could never have supposed, when we first, heard the Psalm of the Good Shepherd, that it could issue from a heart that panteth after God so often and so bitterly; we could never have imagined that it could become so cold, so dry, so dark within a heart which at an earlier period had tasted so much of the power of that which is to come. Have we not formerly, with this same Psalm, been able to vaunt, "I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches"? But afterwards, but now perhaps... Oh sad hours, when the beams of the sun within seem quenched, and nothing but a blond red disc remains! The fervency of the first love is cooled; earthly cares and sins have, as it were, attached a leaden plummet to the wings of the soul which, God knows, would fain soar upwards. We would render thanks, and scarce can pray; we would pray, and scarce can sigh. Our treasure is in heaven, but our soul cleaves to the earth; at least earth cleaves on all sides so to it, and weighs it down, that the eye merely sees the clouds, the tongue can but breathe forth complaints. Ah, so completely can the earth fetter us, that the heavens appear to be only a problem, and our old man is like the Giant of Mythology, who, cast to the ground in the exhausting combat, receives by contact with his mother earth fresh strength. Oh, were it otherwise! Shall it not at last, at last be altered?

Dost thou really desire it, thou who out of the depths of thy soul so complainest, and canst scarcely find more tears to bewail the sorrow of thy heart? Well is it for thee if the pain thou sufferest teach thee to cry to God: "Quicken thou me, according to thy word." Yea, this is the best comfort for him who too well knows what it is to be bowed together with pain; this is the only hope for a heart which almost sinks in still despair. There is an atmosphere of life, high above this dust which streams to us from every side, and penetrates even the darkest dungeon. There is a spring of life by which the weary soul may be refreshed; and the entrance to this spring stands open, in spite of all the clouds of dust which obscure this valley of shadows here. There is a power of life which can even so completely make an end of our dead state, that we shall walk again before the face of the Lord in the land of the living, and, instead of uttering lamentation, we shall bear a song of praise upon our lips. Does not the Prince of life yet live in order also to repeat to us, "Awake and rejoice, thou that dwellest in the dust; "and the Spirit, that bloweth whither he listeth, can, will, shall he not in his own good time, with his living breath, blow from our wings the dust that cleaveth to them? But, indeed, even the gnawing pain of the soul over so much want of spirituality and dulness is ever an encouraging sign that the good work is begun in our hearts: that which is really dead shivers no more at its own cold. "My soul cleaveth to the dust, " sayest thou, with tears? thus wouldest thou not speak except that already a higher hand between the soul and this dust had cleft a hollow which was unknown to it before. No one has less cause for despair than he who has lost hope in himself, and really learns to seek in God that, which he deeply feels, he least of all can give himself.

Yes, this is the way from the deepest pain to procure the best consolation; the humble, earnest, persevering player, that he who lives would also give life to our souls, and continue to increase it, till freed from all dryness and deadness of spirit, and uprooted from the earth, we ascend to the eternal mount of light, where at last we behold all earthly clouds beneath us. This the God of life alone can work; but he is willing nay, we have his own word as pledge, that he promises and bestows on us true life. Only, let us not forget that he who will quicken us "according" to his word, also performs this through his word. Let us then draw from out the eternally flowing fountain, and henceforth leave it unconditionally to him, how he will listen to our cry, even though he lead us through dark paths! Even through means of death God can quicken us and keep us alive. Lo, we are here; Lord, do with us as seemeth good to thee! Only let our souls live, that they may praise thee, here and eternally! J. J. Van Oosterzee (1817-1882), in "The Year of Salvation."

Ver. 25. Cleaveth to the dust. Is weighed down by the flesh which itself is dust. James G. Murphy.

Ver. 25. The dust, is the place of the afflicted, the wounded, and the dead. Quicken me, viz., to life, peace, and joy. A. R. Fausset.

Ver. 25. Quicken thou me, etc. Seeing he was alive, how prays he that God would quicken him? I answer, The godly esteem of life, not according to that they have in their body, but in their soul. If the soul lacks the sense of mercy, and a heavenly disposition to spiritual things, they lament over it, as a dead soul: for sure it is, temporal desertions are more heavy to the godly than temporal death. According to thy word. This is a great faith, that where in respect of his present feeling he found himself dead, yet he hopes for life from God, according to his promise. Such was the faith of Abraham, who under hope, believed above hope. And truly, many times are God's children brought to this estate, that they have nothing to uphold them but the word of God; no sense of mercy, no spiritual disposition; but on the contrary, great darkness, horrible fears and terrors. Only they are sustained by looking to the promise of God, and kept in some hope that he will restore them to life again, because it is his praise to finish the work which he begins. William Cowper.

Ver. 25. Quicken thou me. This phrase occurs nine times, and only in this Psalm. It is of great importance, as it expresses the spiritual change by which a child of Adam becomes a child of God. Its source is God; the instrument by which it is effected is the word, Psalms 119:50. James G. Murphy.

Ver. 25 Quicken thou me according to thy word. Where there is life there will be the endeavour to rise the believer will not lie prone in his aspirations after God. From the lowest depths the language of faith is heard ascending to God most high, who performeth all things for the believer. The true child cannot but look towards the loving Father, who is the Almighty, All sufficient One. Have you not found it so? But will you mark the intelligence that shines around the believer's prayer? He prays that the Lord may quicken him according to his word. The word may be regarded in the light of the standard after which he is to be fashioned; or the Psalmist may have in view the requirements contained in the word regarding the believer's progress; or he may be thinking of the promises found therein in behalf of the poor and needy when they apply. Indeed, all these significations may be wrapped up in the one expression "according to thy word"  the standard of perfection, the requirements of the word, the promises concerning it. The great exemplar of the believer is Christ, of old it was the Christ of prophecy. Then the requirements of the Lord's will were scattered through the word. The Psalmist, however, may be dwelling upon the large promises which the Lord hath given towards the perfecting of his people. You see after what the spiritual nature aspires. It is quite enough to the natural man or the formalist that he be as the generally well behaved and esteemed among professors the spiritual man aspires beyond he aspires after being quickened according to God's word. Judge of yourselves. John Stephen.

Ver. 25. Quicken thou me according to thy word. By thy providence put life into my affairs, by thy grace put life into my affections; cure me of my spiritual deadness, and make me lively in my devotion. Matthew Henry.

Ver. 25. Quicken thou me according to thy word, Albeit the Lord suffer his own to lie so long low in their heavy condition of spirit, that they may seem dead; yet by faith in his word he keepeth in them so much life as doth furnish unto them prayer to God for comfort: "Quicken thou me according to thy word." David Dickson.

Ver. 25 Quicken thou me. To whom shall the godly fly when life faileth but to that Wellspring of all life? Even as to remove cold the next way is to draw near the fire, so to dispel any death, the next way is to look to him who is our root, by whom we live this natural life. All preservatives and restoratives are nothing, all colleges of physicians are vanity, if compared with him. Other things which have not life, give life as the instruments of him who is life, as fire burneth being the instrument of heat. "When heart and flesh fail, God is the strength of my heart." As a man can let a fire almost go out which had been kindled, and then blow it up, and by application of new fuel make it blaze as much as ever: so can God deal with this flame of life which he hath kindled. Paul Bayne.

Ver. 25. According to thy word. The word removes deadness of conscience and hardness. Is not this word a hammer to soften the heart, and is not this the immortal seed by which we are begotten again? Therefore David, finding his conscience in a dead frame, prayed, "My soul cleaveth to the dust; quicken thou me according to thy word." The word is the first thing by which conscience is purified and set right. John Sheffield, in "A Good Conscience the Strongest Hold, "1650.

Ver. 25. According to thy word. What word doth David mean? Either the general promises in the books of Moses or Job; which intimate deliverance to the faithful observers of God's law, or help to the miserable and distressed; or some particular promise given to him by Nathan, or others. Chrysostom saith, "Quicken me according to thy word: but it is not a word of command, but a word of promise." Mark here, he doth not say secundum meritum meum, but, secundum verbum tuum;the hope, or that help which we expect from God, is founded upon his word; there is our security, in his promises, not in our deserving: Prommittendo se fecit debitorem, etc.

When there was so little Scripture written, yet David could find out a word for his support. Alas! in our troubles and afflictions, no promise comes to mind. As in outward things, many that have less live better than those that have abundance; so here, now Scripture is so large, we are less diligent, and therefore, though we have so many promises, we are apt to faint, we have not a word to bear us up. This word did not help David, till he had lain so long under this heavy condition, that he seemed dead. Many, when they have a promise, think presently to enjoy the comfort of it. No, waiting and striving are first necessary. We never relish the comfort of the promises till the creatures have spent their allowance, and we have been exercised. God will keep his word, and yet we must expect to be tried.

In this his dead condition, faith in God's word kept him alive. When we have least feeling, and there is nothing left us, the word will support us: "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith, giving glory to God" (Romans 4:19-20). One way to get comfort is to plead the promise of God in prayer, Chirographa tua injiciebat tibi Domine, show him his handwriting; God is tender of his word. These arguments in prayer, are not to work upon God, but ourselves. Thomas Manton

Ver. 25. One does not wonder at the fluctuations which occur in the feelings and experience of a child of God at one time high on the mountain, near to God and communing with God, at another in the deep and dark valley. All, more or less, know these changes, and have their sorrowing as well as their rejoicing seasons. When we parted with David last, what was he telling us of his experience? that God's testimonies were his delight and his counsellors;but now what a different strain! all joy is darkened, and his soul cleaveth to the dust. And there must have been seasons of deep depression and despondency in the heart of David€” given as a fugitive and wanderer from his home, hunted as a partridge upon the mountains, and holding, as he himself says, his life continually in his hands. Yet I think in this portion of the Psalm there is evidence of a deeper abasement and sorrow of heart than any mere worldly suffering could produce. He had indeed said, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul"; but, even in that moment of weak and murmuring faith, he knew that he was God's anointed one to sit on the throne of Israel. But, here there is indication of sin, of grievous sin which had laid his soul low in the dust; and I think the petition in Psalms 119:29 gives us some clue to what that sin had been: "Remove me from the way of lying." Had David you may well ask in wonder had David ever lied? had he ever deviated from the strait and honourable path of truth I am afraid we must own that he had at one time gone so near the confines of a falsehood, that he would be but a poor casuist and a worse moralist who should attempt to defend the Psalmist from the imputation. We cannot read the 27th chapter of the 1st of Samuel without owning into what a sad tissue of equivocation and deceit David was unhappily seduced. Well might his soul cleave to the dust as he reviewed that period of his career; and though grace did for him what it afterwards did for Peter, and he was plucked as a brand out of the burning, yet one can well imagine that like the Apostle afterwards, when he thought thereon he wept, and that bitterly. Barton Bouchier.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Outlines Upon Keywords of the Psalm, By Pastor C. A. Davis.

Ver. 25-32. Quickening. Prayed for with confession (Psalms 119:25-26). When obtained shall be talked of (Psalms 119:27). Desired for the sake of strength (Psalms 119:28), of truthfulness (Psalms 119:29-31), and of activity (Psalms 119:32).

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Ver. 25. 

1. Nature and its tendency.

2. Grace and its mode of operation.

3. Both truths in their personal application.

Ver. 25. Quicken thou me, etc.

1. There are many reasons why we should seek quickening.

(a) Because of the deadening influence of the world. "Thy

soul cleaveth, "etc.

(b) The influence of vanity (see Psalms 119:37).

(c) Because we are surrounded by deceivers (see

Psalms 119:87-88).

(d) Because of the effect of seasons of affliction upon us

(see Psalms 119:7).

2. Some of the motives for seeking quickening.

(a) Because of what you are a Christian; life seeks more

life.

(b) Because of what you ought to be.

(c) Because of what we shall be.

(d) In order to obedience (see Psalms 119:88).

(e) For your comfort (Psalms 119:107; Psalms 119:50).

(f) As the best security against the attacks of enemies

(Psalms 119:87-88).

(g) To invigorate our memories (Psalms 119:93).

(h) Consider (as a motive to seek this quickening) the

terrible consequences of losing spiritual life; or, in

other words, lacking it in its manifest display.

3. Some of the ways in which the quickening may be brought to us.

(a) It must be by the Lord himself. "Quicken me, O Lord."

(b) By the turning of the eyes (Psalms 119:37).

(c) By the word (Psalms 119:50).

(d) By the precepts (Psalms 119:93).

(e) By affliction (Psalms 119:107).

(f) By divine comforts.

4. Enquire where are our pleas when we come before God to ask for quickening.

(a) Our necessity (Psalms 119:107, etc.).

(b) Our earnest desire (Psalms 119:40).

(c) Appeal to God's righteousness (Psalms 119:40).

(d) To his lovingkindness (Psalms 119:88; Psalms 119:149; Psalms 119:156).

(e) The plea in the text: "according to thy word"

(Psalms 119:28; Psalms 119:107). See "Spurgeon's Sermons, "No. 1350:

"Enlivening and Invigorating."

Psalm 119:26 I have told of my ways, and You have answered me; Teach me Your statutes. 

• I have told of my ways: Ps 119:106 Ps 32:5 Ps 38:18 Ps 51:1-19 Pr 28:13 
• Teach me Your statutes: Ps 119:12 25:4,8,9 27:11 Ps 86:11 143:8-10 1Ki 8:36 

I have told (saphar) of my ways - Don't miss this! To whom is he speaking? Clearly to God ("You have answered me"). What is the context (soul cleaving to dust)? The psalmist is confessing to the LORD. He is owning his sin! He is coming clean to God. Sin is ever ready to pounce on us (Ge 4:7) and sometimes it is successful! It is then that we need to tell our ways to the LORD even though He already knows. 

John Trapp - "My sins and troubles; those Thou hast remitted, and these Thou hast remedied." 

C H Spurgeon elaborates on told of my ways writing "First, he is making his case known. I understand this to be, first, the language of a sinner confessing his sin: “I have declared my ways.” He is a sensible sinner, and therefore he is not in a confessional box with the human ear of a fellow-sinner to listen to him; he is a rational being, who has not degraded himself so low as that. But he is confessing his sin to the great High Priest who can be “touched with the feeling of our infirmities;” to him who cannot be defiled by listening to our tale of sin; to him to whom alone will it avail to confess our sins, for “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,” if we confess them to him.

Can each one of us now say, in this sense, “I have declared my ways” to the Lord? For this should be done, not only at our first coming to him, but continually throughout the whole of our life. We should look over each day, and sum up the errors of the day, and say, “ ‘I have declared my ways,’—my naughty ways, my wicked ways, my wandering ways, my backsliding ways, my cold, indifferent ways, my proud ways;—the way of my words, the way of my thoughts, the way of my imagination, the way of my memory, for it has a treacherous way of remembering evil and forgetting good;—the way of my actions towards thee, my God, and there is much to regret there; the way of my actions in my family, in the world, and in the church.” What a sorrowful stock-taking each day would be to many professors if they were honest to themselves and to their God! Even those who “walk in the light, as God is in the light,” and have the closest fellowship with him, yet know that it is a very sweet and blessed thing even for them that “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin;” for even they still sin, and it is necessary for each one of them to say continually, “I have declared my ways.”

Do you try to hide your sin, dear friend? It is useless for you to attempt to do so, for God ever sees it. Why do you seek to conceal what is always before his eye? Better far to confess it to him, that he may then cast it behind his back (Isa 38:17), and remember it against you no more forever (Isa 43:25). I believe that, often, as sinners confessing to God, we miss much true comfort for want of making a clean breast of our transgressions. Yet the Lord knows what is in our heart even though we do not own it. It has been well observed that, when Moses tried to excuse himself to God for not wanting to go to deliver Israel, he said that he was slow of speech, and God met that objection by giving him Aaron his brother to speak for him; but the Lord, in his reply to Moses, also said, “All the men are dead who sought thy life.” (Ex 4:19) Moses had not said anything about that matter; but God knew that there was that fear in his heart, so he put his finger on the sore place at once. It is well when we can do that for ourselves; when, in our spirit, there is no guile; when we come, as David did, in the 51st Psalm, and confess the very sin which we have committed: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,” (Ps 51:14) calling it by its right name, then is it that the soul begins to get peace with God.

“But,” someone asks, “are we, then, to confess to God every sin in detail?” No, that would be impossible, and probably it would not even be useful; but there must be no wish to conceal any sin from God. Such a desire would be a vain one, for “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” (Heb 4:13, cf Pr 15:3) There must be an acknowledgment of the sins which we have not yet seen in their full heinousness. Each of us will do well to offer David’s prayer, “Cleanse thou me from secret faults.” (Ps 19:12) If we have committed faults which are hidden even from ourselves, we desire to be delivered from them so that they should not remain to our condemnation.

I do not suppose that any unregenerate sinner will act thus towards his God until the Holy Spirit has begun to work graciously within him. While the prodigal was wasting his substance with riotous living, he thought himself a fine gentleman; and even when he was feeding the swine, he only said, “I have had very bad luck.” But it was “when he came to himself” that he said, “I will arise and go to my father;” and it was when he felt his father’s warm kiss upon his cheek that he made the confession, “Father, I have sinned.” There is no contrition so deep as that of the man who can say concerning his sins,—

             “I know they are forgiven;
               But, still, their pain to me
             Is all the grief and anguish
               They laid, my Lord, on thee.”

So, then, our text is, first, the language of a sinner confessing his guilt to his God; but it is more than that. It is, next, the private talk of a patient with his doctor: “I have declared my ways.”

See, there is the little room upstairs, and there lies the patient whom the physician has come to try to cure. The doctor’s first work is to find out all he can about the patient’s disease, so he begins by asking concerning the various symptoms that have been noticed. He is sure to look at the sick man’s tongue, and you may learn a great deal, spiritually, of the condition of a man’s heart from the state of his tongue. The doctor will also sound the patient’s lungs, and test his heart, and take his temperature, and ask him a great many questions, not merely about what appears on the surface, but about his inmost self; and when, at last, the patient can say, “There, doctor, I have told you all, now will you prescribe for me?” he is in the condition of the psalmist when he said to the Lord, “I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.”

The text very accurately describes such a state of things as that which exists when a patient relates his symptoms to the physician, and then the physician prescribes for him; for, in addition to sin being a great evil in the sight of God, it is also a disease to which we are all prone, and from which only the great Physician can cure us. We cry out against it, and our better self fights against it, yet the old man within us, “the body of this death,” as Paul calls it, fights against the new nature, and we should be overcome were it not for divine grace. So it is well for us to declare our ways. Suppose I put it for myself or for you thus, “Lord, I find that, even when I am engaged in prayer, my thoughts wander. When I am in trouble, I get fretful and rebellious. When a little difficulty meets me in my business, I do not trust thee as I ought. I sometimes find that, when I try to be humble, I become desponding; and when I am joyful, I become presumptuous. I seem to be like a pendulum swinging too far this way, and then too far that way. I know not how to steer the ship of my life between the Scylla of this sin and the Charybdis of that. O my Master, I am but dust and ashes, I am less than nothing, and vanity! If thou dost ask me what I ail, I seem to have all manner of diseases upon me at once. Sometimes, I am hot with fever, and full of wrath; and, at other times, I shiver with ague as though I did not know what I believed, and could not lay hold of thy truth with a firm grip. Sometimes I fear that I have a fatal disease upon me; and, certainly, were it not for thine unfailing medicine—the great catholicon—my soul would pine away, and die. Yet, amid all these evil symptoms, there is one sign that, I trust, is for good. I do know where my help lies; and I look alone to thee for healing. I know that thy precious blood has cleansed me, and on that blood alone I do rely.” Thus the patient tells the good Physician, as far as he can, what he feels, and what is the disease from which he is suffering.

I think, too, that we might use another figure to illustrate the meaning of our text; it is like a client telling his advocate all about his affairs. It is a difficult case in law. There is an accuser who has come forward with very serious charges, and he brings witnesses to substantiate what he affirms, and the case is a very complicated one. The client says that he does not know how to plead for himself; he says that he is at his wits’ end, and he asks the advocate whether he has any argument that can avail for him. The advocate replies, “I must first know all about your case before I can advise you, so tell me everything.” Now, the Lord Jesus, your great Advocate, already knows all about you, yet he likes you to tell it all to him. It is always a good thing to— “Tell it all to Jesus, Comfort or complaint.”

Mind that you do tell it all to him; do not keep anything back. Tell him the complex part of your life, and tell him the black part of it; be sure to bring that out. Tell him that the accuser has good ground for his charges against you, and that he can bring abundant witnesses against you,—ay, that your own conscience will witness against you,—and that you do not know of any plea, on earth or in heaven, that can avail for you unless he will be your Advocate. Then, how dear that Advocate will be to you when he tells you that he can plead his righteousness, his life, his blood, and his death, for “if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

I do not think, however, that we have reached the very marrow of our text until we regard it as describing the intimate communion of friend with friend: “I have declared, my ways.” When two men become linked together in close friendship, they are in the habit of telling to one another all that happens in their lives; and if one of them is in a difficulty, he goes off to his friend, and tells him about it. They agree with Solomon that “two are better than one; for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow;” and, by mutual counsel, wisdom will be found. The one who is in trouble tells his friend about it, and his friend, perhaps, puts to him a number of questions, not out of prying curiosity, but in order that he may become acquainted with the whole case, and so be qualified to advise or to help. And we, beloved, if we really know the Lord in spirit and in truth, are exalted to the position of friends of Jesus. “Henceforth,” said he to his disciples, “I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.” The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” when he was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah; and we must hide nothing from our God. It ought to be the daily habit of the believer to commune with his God; we ought to make him our Confidant in all things. You will go amiss, depend upon it, if you do not wait upon the Lord for guidance. “Bring hither the ephod,” was David’s command to the priests when he was in perplexity, and knew not what he ought to do. Israel made a great mistake with regard to the Gibeonites because the case seemed so simple to them that they did not need to consult the Lord concerning it. Here were men with dry and mouldy bread, and with old shoes and clouted upon their feet; they said they had come from a far country, and the matter appeared so plain that the Israelites asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord, but took of their victuals, and made a treaty with them, as they would not have done if they had consulted the Lord. I do not think that God’s people often go astray in the most difficult cases, for they do take them to the Lord in prayer. It is in simple matters that we make our greatest blunders, because we think we know what to do, and therefore we do not wait upon the Lord for guidance. Yet he who leans to his own understanding is trusting to a broken reed which will be sure to fail him just when he most needs it. So let us, each one, say to the Lord, in the language of the text, “I have declared my ways.” (See Spurgeon's sermon on Ps 119:26 A Man of God Alone with God)

Teach me Your statutes - If our Teacher the Spirit (Jn 14:26, 1Jn 2:20, 27+) does not open our minds to spiritual truth, our attempts will be nothing more than an intellectual exercise. Is this your prayer when you open the Book, that He would open your heart and mind to the supernatural truths

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Told (05608) (saphar) means to number, to recount, to relate and then to declare. The first OT use refers to numbering objects (Ge 15:5, cf Ps 48:12). In Ps 19:1 "their expanse is declaring...", proclaiming, enumerating, telling, making known ("if you were told" - Hab 1:5). As a participle = writer, scribe, secretary. To number = take account of = carefully observe & consider. Saphar/sapar basically speaks of mathematical activity as in Ge 15:5+  (Gen 32:12 - "too great to be numbered", cf Jer 33:22 = "cannot be counted", Hos 1:10 "numbered") "count the stars, if you are able to count them." (cf Lev 15:13). To "count up" or "take a census" ("numbered the people" = 2 Sa 24:10). Assigning people to particular jobs ("So Solomon assigned..." = 2 Chr 2:2) Count out according to a list ("he counted them out to Sheshbazzar," = Ezra 1:8). With the sense "taken account of" (Ps 56:8) Meaning to measure ("until he stopped measuring" = Ge 41:49). Fathers => teach children to recount God's miracles and mighty deeds (Ps 78:3) Every believer is to declare or tell of the miracles and mighty deeds of the delivering God (1Chr 16:24; cf. Ps 9:1, 14 Ps 26:7 Ps 73:28 Ps 75:1 Ps 107:22 Jer 51:10) and to declare his name (Ps 102:21 Ps 22:22 etc.). 

Saphar is used far more in psalms that anywhere else in the OT -Ps. 2:7; Ps. 9:1; Ps. 9:14; Ps. 19:1; Ps. 22:17; Ps. 22:22; Ps. 22:30; Ps. 26:7; Ps. 40:5; Ps. 44:1; Ps. 48:12; Ps. 48:13; Ps. 50:16; Ps. 56:8; Ps. 59:12; Ps. 64:5; Ps. 66:16; Ps. 69:26; Ps. 71:15; Ps. 73:15; Ps. 73:28; Ps. 75:1; Ps. 78:3; Ps. 78:4; Ps. 78:6; Ps. 79:13; Ps. 87:6; Ps. 88:11; Ps. 96:3; Ps. 102:21; Ps. 107:22; Ps. 118:17; Ps. 119:13; Ps. 119:26; Ps. 139:18; Ps. 145:6;

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John Phillips (See Exploring Psalms: An Expository Commentary) - Gleams Amid the Gloom What the Psalmist Realized (Ps 119:25-29)
God's Word:

• In Conviction (Ps 119:25)
• In Confession (Ps 119:26)
• In Consecration (Ps 119:27)
• In Contrition (Ps 119:28)
• In Contrast (Ps 119:29)

What the Psalmist Resolved (Ps 119:30-32)

         A. His Decision to Live for God (Ps 119:30)

         B. His Determination to Live for God (Ps 119:31)

         C. His Desire to Live for God (Ps 119:32)

Some great sorrow has overtaken the singer. He is overwhelmed with grief. In his extremity he prays. This is the first of nine prayers in this psalm for God's "quickening" in his life. The psalmist finds a gleam amid the gloom in the fact that God is still on the throne, still mighty to save, still sovereign over all the situations and circumstances of life.

The psalm divides into two main parts. We have, first:
I. What the Psalmist Realized (Ps 119:25-29)
The psalmist realized that God's Word has the answer to every need. We see him applying God's Word to his life in five fundamental ways.

A. God's Word in Conviction (Ps 119:25)
"My soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken Thou me according to Thy word." We don't know what it was that so prostrated the psalmist before God. It may have been an overwhelming sense of his own guilt (guilt will do that). And that, after all, is the first function of God's Word-to expose guilt. The Holy Spirit's first work in the soul is to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come.

There can be little doubt that the psalmist was in the grip of deep depression. He was flat on his face in the dust. He had come to the end of himself and his own resources.

At this point our society would advise us to see a psychiatrist, seek professional help. There may be times when a Christian psychologist can help, but that was not the solution the psalmist discovered.

Sometimes when people go to a psychiatrist, they are put into group therapy and encouraged to let it all "hang out." They are to talk openly about their problems to others, who have problems too. Everybody comments on the problems, criticizing hangups, attitudes, personality traits, weaknesses, and shortcomings. All that is supposed to help.

The psalmist makes a different suggestion. He says to the Lord, "Quicken Thou me." He was going to air his problems all right, but he was going to take them to the Lord. He was going to seek a counselor-the counsel of the Word of God. There are very few problems in this life that cannot be solved by a thorough-going, honest exposure of one's life to the Scriptures. To do that is the greatest therapy in the world.

The psalmist asked God to "quicken him," that is, to put new life into him. What he needed was a stiff dose of Scripture, taken with a mixture of faith, every day. Try it. Read your Bible consistently. Say with Samuel, "Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth." The Bible is a book of people and principles. Sooner or later, God will confront us in the pages of His Book with the basic cause of our problem and with His inspired, infallible solution to that problem. The psalmist had discovered the best way of all to handle depression.
But we must be prepared. The Bible will not hedge or redefine sin. It will put its finger unerringly on the sin question, frequently at the root of other problems of life.

Next we have:

B. God's Word in Confession (Ps 119:26)
Confession is also marvelous therapy. "I have declared my ways, and Thou heardest me." The psalmist confessed his wrongdoing to the Lord.

Usually when we confess to somebody else, we succeed only in transferring the load from us to them. A young man came up to me once and said, "I have a confession to make to you." I said, "Oh, what is it?" He said, "I have never liked you." That came as rather a shock to me since I hardly knew him. To the best of my knowledge I had never done him any harm. I suppose telling me that did him some good, but it didn't do me any good at all. I found I had the greatest difficulty liking him after that! Fortunately, the acquaintance was only a very casual one and I soon forgot all about it as the events of life came crowding in and our paths diverged forever. Now I cannot even remember his name, and when I do occasionally think about him it is with an inward smile at how foolish we can be.

The psalmist took his problems to the Lord. He lay down, so to speak, on the Great Physician's couch and poured out his soul to Him. He took his confession to the Lord and, first and foremost, that is the place to take it.

Right from the beginning, the Bible teaches us that. When God came into the garden of Eden to confront Adam with his sin His first question was, "What hast thou done?" He said: "Now tell Me all about it. What has happened?" No permanent solution could be found to the shame and guilt of Adam's soul until he had confessed to God. No permanent solution can be found to a personality problem that leaves out confession to God. That is one reason why so much modern counseling falls short of the mark.

Jesus is far more interested in us than any psychiatrist could ever be. And He is far more knowledgeable too.

C. God's Word in Consecration (Ps 119:27)
"Make me to understand the way of Thy precepts: so shall I talk of Thy wondrous works." God does not let us off lightly. When God has finished listening to our confession and has exposed us to His Word, His counsel will be that henceforth we are to adjust our ways to His Word. It is not blind obedience that God commands. He wants to show us how His precepts work. The psalmist made an intelligent request. He said, "Make me to understand the way of Thy precepts."

We find an example in Leviticus 11 where God spelled out for Israel His dietary laws-what animals they could and could not eat. We understand, of course, that we are not under law any more in such matters. What we are interested in here is the way those precepts worked for godly Israelites who regulated their lives by God's commands. If they were observed in the right spirit, those dietary laws would lead the Israelite:

1. In the Way of a Healthy Life

God forbade, for instance, the eating of pork, rabbits, scavenger fish, crabs, lobsters, carrion fowl, and beasts of prey. We now know that, unless the greatest care is taken, pork can lead to intestinal parasitic invasion. Crab meat can cause serious allergies. God simply forbade the Israelites to eat such foods. Obeying God's law led to a healthy life. The same is true of most of God's laws. Breaking God's moral laws leads to guilt and worry which in turn, lead to ulcers and to all kinds of other physical ailments. So the way of God's law is the way of a healthy life.

Observing God's dietary laws would also lead the Israelite:

2. In the Way of a Holy Life

The body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Leviticus 11, with its long list of dietary restrictions, contains the explanatory command, "Be ye holy for I am holy." The underlying principle of that chapter, as it bears on Christian life today, is that we are not to put into our body things that would grieve the indwelling Holy Spirit and hinder Him from having undisputed sway over us. Such enslaving things as alcohol, drugs, and tobacco should be avoided on principle by believers. The Holy Spirit says, "To make a difference between the clean and the unclean [holiness and unholiness] and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten [between health and ill health]."

In addition, those dietary laws would lead the Israelites:

3. In the Way of a Happy Life

A holy life-a life free from guilt, from the gnawings of conscience, from psychologically-based illnesses-is far more likely to be happy than a guilt-ridden, pain-wracked life.

No psychologist can adequately deal with guilt apart from the Word of God. Guilt can be washed away only in the blood of Christ.
The psalmist, then, asks God to make him understand the way of His precepts, how they work. He promises that he will then talk of God's wondrous works. He will spread the word.

Next we have God's Word:

D. In Contrition (Ps 119:28)
"My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen Thou me according unto Thy word." The word melteth is a poetic way of expressing weeping. Thus it was that Jesus wept, not for His own sins, but for ours. One lesson of the prophet Hosea is that sin breaks not only God's laws, it breaks His heart.

Jesus wept at Bethany over what sin had done to an individual. His friend Lazarus was dead and in his grave. Sin had slain him as it slays everybody who enters this world. Our progress is steadily from the womb to the tomb. Jesus wept over that.

He wept over Jerusalem, over what sin had done to a nation. It had caused the nation of Israel to reject Him, and eventually to crucify Him. That sin would be visited in horror on that nation. Within a generation those hills would be black with crosses. Jesus wept over that.
He wept in Gethsemane over what sin had done to the world. Sin had turned this fair paradise into a graveyard. The penalty of sin, which soon He must bear, was so terrible, so full of horror, so appalling in its issues that He wept.

So we well might weep over our sin. "My soul melteth for heaviness" cried the psalmist as the Word of God bit into his innermost being.
Finally we have God's Word:

E. In Contrast (Ps 119:29)

The psalmist now prays, "Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me Thy law graciously."

He doesn't simply pray, "Remove me from the way of lying," as though his feet were ensnared in a net. He prays, "Remove from me the way of lying." He was conscious of the deep things of Satan in his own soul, that it was bent, warped, and twisted by indwelling sin. His heart was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. He needed to have the way of lying taken from his soul.

We are all prone to tell lies; nobody has to teach a child to lie. Some people lie occasionally, when they find themselves in a tight corner. Others will look you in the face and, with every outward evidence of sincerity, string together a whole pack of lies and swear on the Bible that they are telling the truth. They will do it so convincingly that, although you know better, you still believe them. They lie seemingly without a qualm of conscience, as though lying were their natural language-which it probably is. Today lying is a way of life, accepted almost without question. Nothing so betrays our fallen human nature.

School textbooks lie to us, politicians lie to us, businessmen lie to us, advertisers lie to us, newspapers lie to us, our children lie to us. Worst of all, when we get sick of it all and look for a way out, we find we are hedged around with religious lies. Buddhism is a lie. Islam is a lie. Much that passes for Christianity is a lie.

When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, He told the truth because He is the truth. Pilate, who had been lied to under oath many times, who had so often witnessed in court the perfidy and falsehood of the majority of men, who now scarcely expected the truth out of anybody, cynically demanded of Jesus,"What is truth?" And then, just as cynically, he walked away without waiting to be told.

The Word of God stands in contrast to the way of lying. The Bible tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. "Thy word is truth." The psalmist wanted God to straighten him out inside.

He saw, in God's Word, the answer to his need. He did not see God's law as something imposed on him governmentally, but as something imparted to him graciously. God's law to him was a blessing, not a burden.
Now the emphasis changes. We are told:

II. What the Psalmist Resolved (Ps 119:30-32)

The psalmist made three resolutions.

A. His Decision to Live for God (Ps 119:30)
"I have chosen the way of truth: Thy judgments have I laid before me." He has just asked God to remove from him the way of lying; now he deliberately chooses the way of truth. He records his decision to live for God.

A classic example of such an attitude is Daniel, who purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king's meat. We can picture him alone in his room, that first night there in Babylon. He is overwhelmed with impressions. The grandeur and splendor of that capital city, paganism on every hand. He and his friends had been chosen by the king. Their obvious intelligence, high rank, and attractive persons had secured for them impressive prospects. They were to be groomed for high office. The world lay at their feet. Daniel was to go to school in Babylon, to be trained for an important position in the administration. He was to mix with the intelligentsia, the nobility, the social elite of Babylon-at a price. The price was the compromise of his convictions. Tomorrow he would be assigned his place at the table of his peers, along with scores of others. He would be offered the best food in Babylon, with rare dainties from the royal kitchens and viands from the king's own table. The king no doubt wanted these selected courtiers of his to be the picture of good health.

Daniel took out his Bible and began to read. Passages in the Mosaic Law spoke of what kind of meat could or could not be eaten and how that meat must be killed. It must contain no blood. Well he knew that the meat which would be placed before him the next day would not meet these rigid standards of the law. He saw before him two paths. He could dare the king's wrath or he could set aside the law of God. The one path led topromotion, the other to peril; one was the path of delight, the other the path of danger; one path entailed compromise, the other conviction; the one path demanded saying "yes" to the world; the other path demanded saying "yes" to the Word. He read the Scriptures, he prayed. He said, "I have chosen." He chose to live for God.

Sooner or later that choice faces every child of God, the choice between compromising some biblical principle and complete obedience to the Word of God-even if it means offending friends, family, or employer.

Further, the psalmist records:

B. His Determination to Live for God (Ps 119:31)
A decision to live for God is the crisis; a determination to live for God is the process. The psalmist uses an interesting expression to describe his determination. He says, "I have stuck unto Thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame." That word stuck means exactly what it says. It means "attached" or "adhered." It conjures up a picture of a man who has adhered himself to the Word of God. He is not stuck with it (as though it were some kind of a burden), he is stuck to it. He cannot be separated from it. Note also that he has stuck himself to it.

Every now and then we see an advertisement on television for super glue. We see someone put a spot of this glue on a two-thousand pound car, and a little dab on the end of a piece of wood suspended from a crane. Then the tip of the wood is brought in contact with the glue on the car and a fast bond is made. Then, wonder of wonders, the car is hauled thirty feet into the air, dangling from a piece of wood, stuck with super glue. That is how the psalmist was stuck to God's Word. Nothing could pry him loose.

"O Lord, don't let me down," he says. As though God ever could. Once adhere yourself to God's Word and He will see you through, no matter what happens. The bonding is perfect.

That is the kind of bonding we need nowadays. We send a young person off to college and the first thing one of his professors says to him is, "Now you can forget all your parents told you..." This psalmist says: "Not me! I've been glued to the Book!" That is the kind of young person to send to college. In fact, if that kind of bonding has not taken place it is probably best he or she stay out of a secular college. It is better for a person to spend life pumping gas or waiting tables than to lose one's soul in a college classroom. That is what Jesus meant when He said that it is possible to lose one's life for His sake and yet to find it.

Last, the psalmist records:

C. His Desire to Live for God (Ps 119:32)

"I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart." Sin narrows us. By nature we are chronically addicted to our own ways. God's wants and wishes do not appeal to us at all. Sin has narrowed our hearts so that our circle of desire is circumscribed by self. As for God's vast and eternal interests, we scarcely have a thought for them at all.

The psalmist realizes that if ever he is to have an enlarged horizon, he must first have an enlarged heart. God must enlarge his heart. Such things as the prayer meeting, the communion service, the demands of the mission field, the daily quiet time, the meeting place of the people of God, must all be interests God implants in the soul. The psalmist's desire is to live for God. He asks God to enlarge and increase that desire so that he will end up running eagerly in God's ways.

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Ps. 119:26 Open, Obedient, Occupied
 
Read Psalm 119:25-32
 
An enlarged heart, in the physical sense, is dangerous. But spiritually speaking, an enlarged heart can be a blessing. "I will run in the way of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart" (Psalm 119:32). If you have an enlarged heart physically, you don't do much running. But if you have an enlarged heart spiritually, you are ready to walk and run with the Lord and accomplish His purposes. When an athlete is running, he is on a path and has a goal in mind, which gives him the energy to continue. That's what God wants for us today. He has a goal for us to reach and a path for us to follow. And He gives us His strength through His Word.
 
What does it mean to have an enlarged heart? First, an enlarged heart is open to God's truth. It's a heart that's honest and says, "Lord, I want Your truth even if it hurts."
 
Second, an enlarged heart is obedient to God's will. It's a humble heart that says, "O God, what You have said, I will do. I am the servant. You are the master."
 
Third, an enlarged heart is occupied with God's glory. It's a happy heart. Some people's hearts are small and narrow. They live in their own little world and have their own narrow view. What a wonderful thing it is to grow in grace and the knowledge of truth (2 Pet. 3:18)! Our horizons are expanded. We can see what we haven't seen before. We can hear what we haven't heard before. God gives us an enlarged life because we have an enlarged heart. 
 
* * *
Open your heart to God's truth and be obedient to His will. Every step of obedience expands your horizon of blessing and ministry. Most of all, be occupied with God's glory (Psalm 119:25-32 Open, Obedient, Occupied)

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Charles Bridges - 26. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me; teach me thy statutes

A beautiful description of the “simplicity and godly sincerity” of the believer’s “walk with God!” He spreads his whole case before his God, “declaring his ways” of sinfulness,2 of difficulty,3 and of conduct.4 And indeed it is our privilege to acquaint our Father with all our care and need; that we may be pitied by his love, and guided by his counsel, and confirmed by his strength. Who would not find relief by unbosoming himself to his Father? This showing of ourselves to God—declaring our ways of sin before him without guile—is the short and sure way of rest. “Thou heardest me.” “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.”5 While the voice of ingenous confession was suppressed, cries and lamentations were disregarded. It was not the voice of the penitent child! and therefore “where was the sounding of his father’s bowels, and of his mercies towards him?”6 But now, on the first utterance of confession from his lips, or rather on the first purpose of contrition formed in his heart; “while he is yet speaking,”7 the full and free pardon, which had been signed in heaven, comes down with royal parental love to his soul—“I said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”8 Oh! what cannot he testify of the more than parental tenderness, with which “his transgression is forgiven, and his sin covered!”9 And yet how necessary to the free declaration of our ways is an acquaintance with the way of forgiveness! Had not our great “High Priest passed into the heavens,” how awful would have been the thought, that “all things were naked and opened unto the eyes of him, with whom we have to do!” We could only then have “covered our transgressions as Adam, by hiding our iniquity in our bosom.”1 But now, even though “our ways” are so defiled, so crooked, that we cannot but “abhor ourselves,” on account of them, we are yet encouraged “boldly” to “declare” them all before God, with the assurance of finding present acceptance, and seasonable grace.2

And now, having found the happy fruit of this sincere and child like spirit, then follows the obligation of walking worthy of this mercy.3 Hence our need of the prayer for continual teaching. The same heavenly guidance, that brought us into the way of return, we need for every successive step to the end—“Teach me thy way, O Lord: I will walk in thy truth.”4 “I have declared my” ignorance, my sinfulness, and my whole experience before thee, looking for thy pardoning mercy, thy teaching Spirit, and assisting grace—“And thou hast heard me.” O continue to me what thou has been, and teach me more of thyself!

The hypocrite may pray after his manner. But he never thus opens his heart, and declares his ways before his God. And are we sincere in our dealings with him? How often do we treat our Almighty friend as if we were weary of dealing with him! And even when we do “declare our ways” before him, are we not often content to leave the result as a matter of uncertainty? We do not watch for the answer to our prayer. It will come in the diligent exercise of faith, but not perhaps in our way. We may have asked for temporal blessings, and we receive spiritual.5 We may have “besought” deliverance from trial, and we receive “grace sufficient” to bear it.6 But this is the Lord’s wise and gracious answer—Thou heardest me. And how sweet are those mercies, which come to us manifestly marked with this inscription—“Received by prayer!” They are such encouragement to pray again.7 It is not our inevitable weakness,8 nor our lamented dulness,9 nor our abhorred wanderings,10 nor our opposed distractions,11 nor our mistaken unbelief;12 it is not any—no—nor all these—that can shut out our prayer. If “iniquity” is not “regarded in our heart,” we may always hear our Saviour’s voice—“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”13

2 Psalm 51:3.

3 Ps. 5:8; 27:11.

4 Ps. 143:8, 10; 69:5.

5 Ps. 32:3.

6 Isaiah 63:15.

7 Dan. 9:20.

8 Psalm 32:5. 2 Sam. 12:13. Comp. Jer. 3:12, 13.

9 Compare Psalm 32:1. Luke 15:18–22. Prov. 28:13.

1 Job 31:33.

2 Heb. 4:13–16.

3 Psalm 85:8.

4 Ib. 86:11.

5 Matt. 9:2.

6 2 Cor. 12:8, 9.

7 Psalm 116:1, 2.

8 Rom. 7:21.

9 Mark 14:38, 40.

10 Ps 119:113.

11 Psalm 86:11, last clause.

12 Mark 9:22, 24.

13 John 16:23, 24. Every way worthy of that great man, and a most instructive illustration of Christian sincerity, was the resolution of President Edwards: “Resolved to exercise myself in this all my life long, viz., with the greatest openness to declare my ways to God, and lay open my soul to him—all my sins, temptations, difficulties, sorrows, fears, hopes, desires, and everything, and every circumstance, according to Dr. Manton’s twenty-seventh sermon on the 119. Psalm.” Resol. 65. Extracted from his Diary. Works, vol. i. 16.

Psalm 119:27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts, So I will meditate on Your wonders. 

• So I will meditate on Your wonders: Ps 71:17 78:4 105:2 111:4 145:5,6 Ex 13:14,15 Jos 4:6,7 Ac 2:11 Rev 15:3 

Related Passages:

Revelation 15:3+  And they *sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ​“Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! 

Make me understand (bin/biy = a command) the way of Your precepts, so I will meditate (siyah) on Your wonders (pala)   - The simple meaning of this passage is that unless the Spirit sheds light on the precepts, our eye is blind to their hidden, but glorious truths. But as the psalmist says later " The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. ." (Ps 119:130) Make me understand in the Septuagint is sunetizo which means cause to understand or give insight and is in the aorist imperative, not as if we can bark a command at God, but expressing the urgency of the request = Unless You give understanding, it will not happen! 

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Understand (discern) (0995) bin/biyn  means to understand or perceive. Bin/biyn conveys the same idea as our word discrimination. It entails the idea of making a distinction as in 1Ki 3:9 where Solomon ask God for the ability "to discern (bin/biyn) between good and evil". Many of the OT uses of bin/biyn are translated "understanding," an understanding which is the result of comparative "study" or "mental separation".

Uses of bin/biyn in Psalms Ps. 5:1; Ps. 19:12; Ps. 28:5; Ps. 32:9; Ps. 33:15; Ps. 37:10; Ps. 49:20; Ps. 50:22; Ps. 58:9; Ps. 73:17; Ps. 82:5; Ps. 92:6; Ps. 94:7; Ps. 94:8; Ps. 107:43; Ps. 119:27; Ps. 119:34; Ps. 119:73; Ps. 119:95; Ps. 119:100; Ps. 119:104; Ps. 119:125; Ps. 119:130; Ps. 119:144; Ps. 119:169; Ps. 139:2; 

Meditate (07878 - verb) (07879 - noun)(siyah) has the basic meaning of to rehearse, go over matter in one's mind usually rendered "meditate " or "talk." Speak, talk, converse aloud, or even with oneself. Ponder. Muse. In Ps 119:27 siyah is rendered with the rare verb adolescheo which can mean to talk idly, to talk in general (Ps 69:12) and then to meditate (Ge 24:63). 

Wonders (miracles) (06381)(pala)   is a verb which means to be difficult, to be hard, to be extraordinary or amazing, be surpassing or to cause a wonderful thing to happen. To be beyond one’s power to do. To do something wonderful, extraordinary or difficult = Wonders, Marvels, Marvelous works. In Ps 119:27 the Septuagint has thaumasios which means wonderful, marvelous, excellent and describes that which is a cause of wonder or worthy of amazement. (Mt 21:5, Ex 3:20)

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Charles Bridges - 27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works

Mark the reiterated cries of the man of God for heavenly light—Teach me thy statutes—make me to understand the way of thy precepts. The need and the encouragement for these cries is equally manifest. Who has ever been known to understand the way of himself? And to whom—walking in a well-ordered conversation—has the Lord ever failed to show it?1 A man, untaught by the Spirit of God, may be able to criticise and even clearly to expound much of the word of God. But such a prayer as this has never ascended from his heart; the necessity of it has never been felt. And doubtless from this neglect of prayer have arisen those floating fancies and false and unscriptural doctrines, which crude, unexercised minds have too hastily embraced. Instead of humbly and simply asking—“Make me to understand”—men too often “lean to their understanding,” and are “vainly puffed up” by their fleshly mind, “not holding the Head.”2 Such men may obtain loose fragments of spiritual knowledge. But they will not be in the faith “grounded and settled.”3 They never know when they are upon safe ground; and being “unlearned and unstable, they wrest the Scriptures”—except the sovereign grace of God interpose—“unto their own destruction.”4

Never must we forget, that teaching from above is indispensable to a right knowledge of the most simple truths. Ignorance and prejudice pervert the understanding. “Spiritual things can only be spiritually discerned.”5 Divine doctrines can only be apprehended by Divine light.6 But under heavenly teaching, the deeper and more mysterious truths (so far as they are needful to be understood) are manifested with the same clearness, as the more elementary doctrines—“Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit. Now we have received—not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”7 Wondrous indeed is the spiritual revelation in the knowledge of himself; including “the hope of his calling—the riches of the glory of his inheritance in his saints—the exceeding greatness of his power” manifested to, and wrought in, his people—no other or less than that “which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead.”8 In the understanding of the way, we would be progressing, until the new man “grows up unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”9 The smallest attainment in this knowledge is (as the great day will fully declare) of infinitely greater value than the highest intelligence in the field of earthly science.

But how important is it to grow in this knowledge!10 Theoretical attainment is at a stand. Spiritual and practical knowledge is always advancing. Little, indeed, comparatively, is necessary for salvation. But much for comfort and steadfastness—much also for the clear discernment of that narrow way of the precepts so difficult to trace, and when traced so difficult to maintain. Not less important is it to keep the object in constant view. Why do I desire to understand that way? That I may commend it to others—that I may talk of thy wondrous works. Abhorred be the thought of indulging in a self-complacent view of my attainments! But oh! let my God be more admired by me, and glorified in me.1 And may I advance both myself and others in his obedience and praise!

Often do we complain of restraint in religious conversation. But the prayer—Make me to understand while I talk—will bring “a live coal to our lips” from the altar of God—“Our mouths will then speak out of the abundance of the heart,”2 and “minister grace to the hearers.”3 Humility, teachableness, simplicity, will bring light into the understanding, influence the heart, “open the lips,” and unite our every member that we have in the service and praise of God.

1 See Psalm 50:23.

2 Col. 2:18, 19.

3 Ib. 1:24.

4 2 Peter 3:16.

5 1 Cor. 2:14.

6 Psalm 36:9.

7 1 Cor. 2:9, 10, 12.

8 Eph. 1:17–20.

9 Ib. 4:13.

10 2 Peter 3:18.

1 Gal. 1:24. Matt. 5:16.

2 Matt. 12:34.

3 Eph. 4:29.

Psalm 119:28 My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word. 

• soul: Ps 22:14 107:26 Jos 2:11,24 
• strengthen: Ps 27:14 29:11 De 33:25 Isa 40:29,31 Zec 10:12 Eph 3:16 Php 4:13 

My soul weeps because of grief - His soul is personified as being able to weep! 

Strengthen (command) me according to Your word - Strengthen is of course figurative referring to making my heart and mind and soul and spirit firm and sure, the Septuagint rendering it with bebaioo which means to establish, make sure, to strengthen inwardly, make unwavering and again is in the aorist imperative, not as if we are commanding God, but more of crying out in desperate, urgent need for His intervention. Note God's part is to strengthen internally (cf Eph 3:16+), but our part is not passive but is to be an active intake of the pure milk of the Word that by it we might grow in respect to salvation (including being spiritually strengthened). 

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Charles Bridges - 28. My soul melteth for heaviness; strengthen thou me according unto thy word

Is this David “whose heart is as the heart of a lion, utterly melting?”4 But the sorrows, as the joys of the spiritual hope—dealing immediately with the Infinite and Eternal God—are beyond conception.5 Ordinary courage may support under the trials of this life; but when “the arrows of the Almighty are within us, the poison thereof drinketh up our spirit.”6 How then can the Christian’s lot be so enviable—when their souls thus melt for heaviness? But this—be it remembered—is only “for a season.” There is a “needs be” for it, while it remains: and in the end it will “be found unto praise, and honor, and glory.”7 Never perhaps are their graces more lively, or the ground of their assurance more clear, than in these seasons of sorrow. They complain, indeed, of the diversified power of indwelling sin. But their very complaints are the evidence of the mighty working of indwelling grace. For what is it but the principle of faith, that makes unbelief their burden? What but hope, that struggles with their tears? What but love, that makes their coldness a grief? What but humility, that causes them to loathe their pride? What but the secret spring of thankfulness, that shows them their unthankfulness, and shames them for it? And therefore the very depth of “that heaviness which melts their souls” away, is the exhibition of the strength of God’s work within, upholding them in perseverance of conflict to the end. Would not the believer then, when eyeing in his heaviest moments the most prosperous condition of the ungodly, say—“Let me not eat of their dainties?”8 Far better, and, we may add, far happier, is godly sorrow than worldly joy. In the midst of his misery, the Christian would not exchange his hope in the Gospel—though often obscured by unbelief, and clouded by fear—for “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.” “If the heart knoweth his own bitterness, a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.”1 Yet the bitterness is keenly felt. Sin displeases a tender and gracious Father.2 It has “pierced” the heart that loves him,3 and shed the blood that saves him. It “grieves”4 the indwelling Comforter of his soul. God expects to see him a mourner; and he feels he has reason enough to mourn—“My soul melteth for heaviness.”

But this cry of distress is sometimes the child under his Father’s needful chastisement. The world is dethroned, but not extirpated in the heart. Much dross is yet to be removed. The sources of the too attractive earthly joy must be embittered: and now it is that the discipline of the cross forces the cry—“my soul melteth for heaviness.” Yet in the midst of heaviness, the child of God cannot forget that he is loved—that he is saved; and the recollection of this sovereign mercy makes his tears of godly sorrow, tears of joy.

But this melting heaviness has not wrought its work, until it has bowed us before the throne of grace with the pleading cry of faith—strengthen thou me. For do we stand by the strength of our own resolutions or habits of grace? Unless the Lord renew his supply from moment to moment, all is frail and withering. But what burden or difficulty is too great for Almighty strength? “Fear not, thou worm Jacob; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small.”5 And especially in our success, when the plea is drawn, as it is repeatedly in this Psalm6—according to thy word.” For what does that word assure us?—“As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”7 “Will he plead against me”—said Job—“with his great power? No; but he will put strength in me.”8 Thus David found it in his own case: “In the day when I cried, thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.”9 Thus also to the apostle was the promise given and fulfilled: “My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”10 And is not “the God of Israel” still “he that giveth strength and power unto his people;”11 still the same “faithful God, who will not suffer them to be tempted above that they are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that they may be able to bear it?”12

When we are most sensible of our utter helplessness, and most simple in our reliance upon Divine strength, then it is, that the “soul, melting for heaviness,” is most especially upheld and established. “Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop; but a good word maketh it glad.”1 And how reviving is that “good word” of the Gospel, which proclaims the Saviour, anointed to “give the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,”2 and gifted with “the tongue of the learned, that he might know how to speak a word in season unto him that is weary!”3 And no less encouraging is it to view Him “melting for heaviness”4—“sore amazed and very heavy”—under the accumulated weight of imputed guilt; learning by this bitter discipline, “in that he himself suffered being tempted, to succor them that are tempted.”5 Yet was he, like his faithful servant, strengthened according to his Father’s word, in the moment of his bitterest agony, by the agency of his own creation.6 And this faithful support, vouchsafed to the Head, is the seal and pledge of what every member in every trouble will most assuredly enjoy. “As the sufferings of Christ abound in his people, so their consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”7 The blessed word will supply all their need—life for their quickening, light for their direction, comfort for their enjoyment, strength for their support—“Strengthen thou me according unto thy word.”

Lord, may I ever be kept from despondency—regarding it as sinful in itself, dishonorable to thy name, and weakening to my soul; and though I must “needs be sometime in heaviness through manifold temptations,” yet let the power of faith be in constant exercise, that I may be able to expostulate with my soul—“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”8

4 2 Sam. 17:10. Comp. Josh. 7:5. Ps. 107:26.

5 See Job 34:29.

6 Job 6:4. Comp. Prov. 18:14.

7 1 Peter 1:6, 7. Comp. Ps. 30:5.

8 Psalm 141:4.

1 Prov. 14:10. “A good man lying on his bed of sickness, and being asked—which were the most comfortable days that he ever knew? cried out—O give me my mourning days; give me my mourning days again, for they were the joyfullest days that ever I had.”—Brooke’s Works.

2 Psalm 51:4.

3 Zech. 12:10.

4 Eph. 4:20.

5 Isa. 41:14, 15.

6 Verses 25, 41, 58, &c.

7 Deut. 33:25.

8 Job 23:6.

9 Ps. 138:3.

10 2 Cor. 12:9.

11 Ps. 68:35.

12 1 Cor. 10:13.

1 Prov. 12:25.

2 Isaiah 61:3.

3 Ib. 50:4.

4 Psalm 22:14.

5 Mark 14:33, with Heb. 2:18.

6 Luke 22:43, with 2 Cor. 12:8, 9.

7 2 Cor. 1:5.

8 Psalm 42:11.

Psalm 119:29 Remove the false way from me, And graciously grant me Your law. 

• Remove : Ps 119:37,104,128,163 141:3,4 Pr 30:8 Isa 44:20 Jer 16:19 Jon 2:8 Eph 4:22-25 1Jn 1:8 2:4 Rev 22:15 
• grant me: Ps 119:5 Jer 31:33,34 Heb 8:10,11 

Remove the false way from me, and graciously grant me Your law - It is impossible to truly receive and assimilate the truth (law) when we are encumbered by the false way. False is the Hebrew word sheqer which is a way of life walking completely contrary to God’s Law (Septuagint = adikia = wrongdoing, unrighteousness, wickedness). In Ps 119:26 he confessed his ways. Now he pleads for the way which is false to be removed, to be withdrawn, the Septuagint verb aphistemi (aorist imperative) conveying the cry to God to keep it away, in essence to cause (by the Spirit giving the desire and power - Php 2:13NLT+) one to abstain (as in 2Ti 2:19+). 

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Charles Bridges -  29. Remove from me the way of lying; and grant me thy law graciously

Every deviation in principle and conduct from the strait and narrow path, is a way of lying. Every traveller in the way, “feedeth on the ashes” of his own delusion. Does it seem a marvel that the man of God should deprecate so earnestly the influence of gross sin?9 “The brand plucked out of the fire” retains a susceptibility of the fire. The oldest Christian in the family of God might at Any moment of unwatchfulness be captivated by the chain of his former sins. Might not the recollection of past compliances with this shameful sin10 naturally have suggested the prayer—Remove from me the way of lying. But even in the profession of the Gospel, should we “be removed from him that called us into the grace of Christ unto another gospel;”11 should erroneous doctrines find a place in our system; and—as the natural consequence of doctrinal errors—should any inconsistency be marked in our practice; should there be any allowed principles of sinful indulgence, self-righteousness, conformity to the world, or shrinking from the daily cross,—then, indeed, will the prayer naturally flow from our hearts—Remove from me the way of lying.

Most justly are ways such as these called “ways of lying.” They promise what it is impossible, in the nature of things, that they can ever perform: and prove to their deluded followers that “they that observe lying vanities, forsake their own mercy.”1 We can be at no loss to trace these “ways” to their proper source;—to him, who, “when he speaketh a lie, speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it.”2 A lie was his first, alas! too successful instrument of temptation, by which he “beguiled Eve through his subtlety,”3 and still does he lament, moreover, that he should still pursue the same deadly work throughout the world lying under his sway, beguiling the blinded “children of disobedience”4 into the awful deception of mistaking their God, and into the blind choice of preferring “broken cisterns” to “the fountain of living water.”5

The gracious knowledge of the law is the only means of the removal of this evil way. David—as a king—had it written by him.6 He wished it written on him. Not the book always before him—but on the heart. The external knowledge is the common benefit of all. The gracious knowledge is the covenant blessing of the Lord’s people7—the only effective principle of holiness. The law is still what it was—an enemy to the ungodly—forcing a hateful light upon their conscience—a delight to the servant of God—framing his will, and directing his conduct. Thus truth extirpates lying. Christ reigns instead of Belial.

Thus also we are enabled to “keep our hearts”—those leading wanderers, that mislead the rest.8 For wherever we see wandering eyes, wandering feet, and a wandering tongue, all flow from a heart, that has taken its own liberty in wandering from God. But with the law as our rule, and the Spirit as our guide, we shall be directed and kept in a safe and happy path.

Grant me thy law graciously. Grant me a clearer perception of its holy character—a more sensitive sprinkling from transgressing it—a more cordial approval of its spirit—a more entire conformity to its directions.

9 Isaiah 44:20.

10 1 Sam. 21:13; 27:10.

11 Gal. 1:6.

1 Jonah 2:8.

2 John 8:44.

3 Gen. 3:1–6, with 2 Cor. 11:3.

4 Rev. 12:9, with 2 Cor. 4:4. Eph. 2:2.

5 Jer. 2:13.

6 Deut. 17:18, 19.

7 Heb. 8:10.

8 Prov. 4:23.

Psalm 119:30  I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me. 

I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me - The "faithful way" is the way of the Word, the path lit by the truth of God's Word, even as he says later writing "Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path." (Ps 119:105)

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Charles Bridges - 30. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me

Only two ways lie before us for our choice—“the way of lying” and “the way of truth.” God by the light of his word guides us into one—Satan by his temptations allures us into the other. The way of lying is the natural choice of man. The choice of the way of truth is the Lord’s work in the hearts of his people—the seal of his special, eternal love. His teaching shows us the way;9 and his grace enables us to “choose” it.10 And who in his subsequent course has ever found reason to alter his first determination? Does Mary regret her choice of the “good part?”11 One, whose solid and reflecting judgment was not likely to make a rash or hasty choice tells us, of the outset of his course—“What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” The experience of twenty years—instead of bringing matter for repentance—only confirmed him in his choice; and he repeats his determination with increasing energy of expression; “Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”1 In the same spirit one of the ancient fathers expresses himself: ‘If I have any possessions, health, credit, learning—this is all the contentment I have of them—that I may have something to despise for Christ, who comprises in his own person all and everything that is most desirable.’2

The connection of this verse with the preceding, well illustrates the bias of the believer’s heart. His experience of the deceitfulness of sin, Satan, and his own heart, stirs up the prayer—“Remove from me the way of lying.” But his choice is expressed in this verse—“I have chosen the way of truth.” The sincere desire to have “the way of lying removed from us,” is a clear evidence, that we have already “chosen the way of truth;” that “the spirit of truth hath guided us to him,”3 who is indeed “the way of truth”—the true and only way to God!4 And of all ways that could be set before the Christian, this is the way he would “choose”—as bringing most glory to his God, exalting the Saviour, honoring the spirit of God, and securing the salvation of his own soul. Whatever becomes of me—the Christian would feel—‘I would have no other way than this. Yea, though I should perish I would abide in it. So transcendent is the discovery of the glory of God—scarcely less clear than the glory of heaven itself!

The practical pathway, however, is often rugged—always narrow. We may have to encounter not only the reviling of an ungodly world, but even the suspicions of our brethren, who may not always understand our motives. Yet if our heart is upright with God, “none of these things will move us.” Our choice is made, and we are prepared to abide the cost.5

But that our choice may be daily established, let us not forget the treasury of our life, light, and grace. Let us lay the “judgments of God before us.” For we have always some new lesson to learn—some new duty to perform—some new snare to avoid. We must therefore walk by rule6—as under the eye of a jealous God, who enlightens and cheers our path—under the eye of the ungodly, who “watch for our halting”—under the eye of weak Christians, who might be stumbled by our unsteady walk—under the eye of established Christians, who will be yet further established by the testimony of our consistent profession. The Gospel affords all the material for this strict and accurate walk. All is given that is needed. The obedience that is enjoined is secured. “God working in us,”1 enables us to work for him; and while we are humbly looking for further supplies, and diligently improving what has been already bestowed, he is pledged by promise to assist,2 as we are bound by duty to obey.

What then—let me inquire—is the choice which I have made? I would remember that it is for eternity. And if, through the grace that has first chosen me, “I have chosen the way of truth,”—is the effect of this choice daily visible in a life and conversation well-ordered according to the word of God? If it is good to “hide that word in my heart,”3 as a safe-guard against sin; it is good also “to lay it before” my eyes, as the chart to guide my course—the model to direct my work—the support to uphold my weakness.4

9 Ps. 25:4; 32:8. Is. 48:17.

10 Ps. 110:3. Is. 44:3–5.

11 Luke 10:42.

1 Phil. 3:7, 8.

2 ‘Totus desirabilis et totum desirabile.’—Greg. Naz. Orat. i

3 John 16:13, 14.

4 Jn. 14:6.

5 Luke 14:28. Acts 20:24.

6 See Gal. 6:16. Phil. 3:16.

1 Phil. 2:12, 13. Isaiah 26:12.

2 Isaiah 41:10. Zech. 10:12.

3 Ps 119:11.

4 Joshua 1:8.

Psalm 119:31 I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame! 

• I cling to Your testimonies): Ps 119:48,115 De 4:4 10:20 Pr 23:23  Joh 8:31 Ac 11:23 
• do not put me to shame: Ps 119:6,80 25:2,20 Isa 45:17 49:23 Jer 17:18 Ro 5:5 1Jn 2:28 

I cling to Your testimonies - Cling (dabaq in perfect tense - speaks of his "state") means I am "stuck like glue" to God's truth, God's testimonies. He follows close and hard after God's testimonies which speaks of close contact with God's Word. This is our daily need. 

O LORD, do not put me to shame! (bosh) - Sin brings shame, so this is another prayer out of a desperate, broken heart. The psalmist senses his deep need for the cleansing waters of God's forgiveness because of his sins. 

The root meaning of shame (bosh) is “to become pale” or “to blush.” When sin occurs, there is a disconcerting feeling, a flushing of the face (unless we have so numbed our conscience that we no longer even know how to blush! Jer 6:15, 8:12). The word often occurs in contexts of humiliation and shattered human emotions. It is the feeling of public disgrace. Bosh is the confusion, embarrassment, or dismay when things do not turn out as expected. The Septuagint translates bosh with the verb Kataischuno in the present tense - continually to be disgraced, dishonored, humiliated, put to shame. 

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Shame (put to shame) (0954)(bosh) according to Strong means "properly to pale and by implication to be ashamed, disappointed or delayed." The TWOT says the primary meaning is "to fall into disgrace, normally through failure, either of self or of an object of trust." The word has overtones of being or feeling worthless. It is a "key word" in the psalms (but also common in the major prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah where Israel is confronted with her sins against the LORD) - 

Gen. 2:25; Exod. 32:1; Jdg. 3:25; 2 Sam. 19:5; 2 Ki. 2:17; 2 Ki. 8:11; 2 Ki. 19:26; Ezr. 8:22; Ezr. 9:6; Job 6:20; Job 19:3; Ps. 6:10; Ps. 14:6; Ps. 22:5; Ps. 25:2; Ps. 25:3; Ps. 25:20; Ps. 31:1; Ps. 31:17; Ps. 35:4; Ps. 35:26; Ps. 37:19; Ps. 40:14; Ps. 44:7; Ps. 53:5; Ps. 69:6; Ps. 70:2; Ps. 71:1; Ps. 71:13; Ps. 71:24; Ps. 83:17; Ps. 86:17; Ps. 97:7; Ps. 109:28; Ps. 119:6; Ps. 119:31; Ps. 119:46; Ps. 119:78; Ps. 119:80; Ps. 119:116; Ps. 127:5; Ps. 129:5; Prov. 10:5; Prov. 12:4; Prov. 14:35; Prov. 17:2; Prov. 19:26; Prov. 29:15; Isa. 1:29; Isa. 19:9; Isa. 20:5; Isa. 23:4; Isa. 24:23; Isa. 26:11; Isa. 29:22; Isa. 30:5; Isa. 37:27; Isa. 41:11; Isa. 42:17; Isa. 44:9; Isa. 44:11; Isa. 45:16; Isa. 45:17; Isa. 45:24; Isa. 49:23; Isa. 50:7; Isa. 54:4; Isa. 65:13; Isa. 66:5; Jer. 2:26; Jer. 2:36; Jer. 6:15; Jer. 8:9; Jer. 8:12; Jer. 9:19; Jer. 10:14; Jer. 12:13; Jer. 14:3; Jer. 14:4; Jer. 15:9; Jer. 17:13; Jer. 17:18; Jer. 20:11; Jer. 22:22; Jer. 31:19; Jer. 46:24; Jer. 48:1; Jer. 48:13; Jer. 48:20; Jer. 48:39; Jer. 49:23; Jer. 50:2; Jer. 50:12; Jer. 51:17; Jer. 51:47; Jer. 51:51; Ezek. 16:52; Ezek. 16:63; Ezek. 32:30; Ezek. 36:32; Hos. 2:5; Hos. 4:19; Hos. 10:6; Hos. 13:15; Joel 1:11; Joel 2:26; Joel 2:27; Mic. 3:7; Mic. 7:16; Zeph. 3:11; Zech. 9:5; Zech. 10:5; Zech. 13:4

Gilbrant adds -  The Qal stem conveys the sense of "to feel shame" or "to be ashamed" (of something); to feel shame in general (Isa 19:9; 23:4; 45:6; etc.); to be ashamed of something, where the object of shame is governed by the preposition min (HED #4263). Such objects include nations (Isa. 20:5; Jer 2:36); harvest (Jer. 12:13); idolatry (Isa. 1:29; Jer. 48:13); one's own ways (Ezek. 36:32).

The word may also mean to be ashamed of some behavior, where the behavior is expressed by an infinitive. One may be ashamed to ask for protection (Ezra 8:22); be frustrated (Jer 14:3); humiliated (Jer 22:22); disgraced (Isa 41:11; 45:16, 17; Ezek. 16:52) or confused (Ps. 35:4).

The Polal stem conveys the sense of "to delay" (because of shame). Moses delayed to descend from Mt. Sinai because of his anticipated shame over the idolatry of Israel (Exo. 32:1). Sisera's mother thought he (literally, his chariot) delayed to come home because of the shame of defeat (Judg. 5:28).

The Hiphil stem conveys the sense of to put (someone) to shame, to cause (someone) shame, or to act shamefully: to put someone to shame (2 Sam. 19:6; Prov. 10:5; 14:35; 19:26; 29:15; Jer. 2:26); to cause someone shame (Prov. 12:4; 17:2), or to act shamefully (Hos. 2:7). At times, the Hiphil stem conveys nearly the same sense as the Qal.

The Hithpolel stem conveys the sense of being ashamed of oneself before others. Adam and Eve both were "naked and were not ashamed" (Gen. 2:25). (Complete Biblical Library)

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Charles Bridges - 31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, put me not to shame

We have just seen the choice of the man of God, and the rule by which he acted upon it. Now we see his perseverance—first choosing the way—then sticking to it. While he complained of his soul cleaving to the dust,5 he would yet say—I have stuck unto thy testimonies—illustrating the Apostle’s delineation of the Christian’s two hearts (as a converted African expressed it) “I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”6 In the midst, however, of the most painful conflicts, the child of God holds fast his confidence. He feels that he hates the sin that he commits, and loves the Saviour, whom, in spite of himself, he dishonors; so that, with all his sins and unworthiness, he fears not to put in his claim among the family of God.

But, reader, seriously ask yourself—How did you become a Christian? Was it by birth and education, or by choice? If indeed by grace you have been enabled to “choose the way of truth,” then be sure you firmly stick to it, or better, far better, that you had not made it at all. “No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. It had been better for you not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after you have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto you.”1 Yet praised be God for the security of perseverance! He that enabled you to “put your hand to the plough” will keep it there in the habit of faith, firm and steadfast. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth you.”2

Yet this cleaving to the Lord3 can only be maintained by unceasing conflict. The length and weariness of the way,4 and the slowness of your progress, are sources of constant and harassing trial. Revert then to the ground of your original choice. Was it made under the Lord’s light and direction? This reason may well bind you to “stick to” it: are not the ways of God as pleasant—Is not Christ as lovely—heaven as desirable—as at the beginning? Nay—have you not even more reason to adhere to your choice than you had to make it? It was formed before at least you could fully know for yourself. Now “you have tasted”5—you have the seal of experience. Is not the crown more joyous in the nearer prospect?

Backslider! “Has God been unto you a wilderness, and a land of darkness,”6 that you virtually give your testimony after trial,—‘Satan is the better master, and I return to him?’—The world is the happiest path: and I will walk in it. This is indeed choosing a murderer in the stead of a Father—“forsaking the fountain” for the “broken cistern.”7 Oh! must there not be repentance in this path? May it be before it be too late! Ponder who it was that befriended you in the moment of awful extremity, and snatched you as a brand from the burning. Ponder the endearing proofs of his love—condescending to become a man—“a man of sorrows,”8 and to die in the agony of the cross, bearing for you the eternal curse of God.9 And does not gratitude remind you, what returns of faithful service are due from a creature so infinitely indebted to him? Surely the steadfast perseverance with which his heart clave to his costly work,10 may serve to put to shame your unsteadiness in “sticking to his testimonies.”

Believer! you are determined to abide by your choice—but not in your own strength. Remember him, who one hour declared, that he would sooner die with Christ than deny him; and the next hour denied him with oaths and curses.11 Learn then to follow up your resolution with instant prayer—“O Lord, put me not to shame.” Leave me not to myself, lest I become a shame to myself and an offence to thy church. “I will keep thy statutes; O forsake me not utterly.”12 Dependence upon the Lord, in a deep sense of our weakness, is the principle of perseverance. Never will he shut out the prayer of his faithful servant. He hath promised—“My people shall never be ashamed;”13 and therefore, taking firm hold of his promise, you may “go on your way rejoicing.”

5 Ps 119: 25.

6 Rom. 7:22, 23, 25. Thus does Augustine graphically describe this conflict in his own mind—“The new will which began to be in me, whereby I would love thee, O my God! the only certain sweetness, was not yet able to overcome my former will, confirmed by long continuance. So my two wills, the one old, the other new; the one carnal, the other spiritual, conflicted between themselves, and rent my soul by their disagreement. Then did I understand by my own experience what I had read, how the ‘flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit lusteth against the flesh.’ I was myself on both sides, but more in that which I approved, than in that which I condemned, in myself, because for the most part I suffered reluctantly what I did willingly.”—Confess. Book viii. ch. 5. Compare Rom. 7:15–20.

1 Luke 9:62. John 8:31. 2 Peter 2:21.

2 Ps. 128:5.

3 Acts 11:23.

4 Numb. 21:4.

5 1 Peter 2:3.

6 Jer. 2:31.

7 Jer. 2:13.

8 Isaiah 53:3.

9 Gal. 3:13.

10 Compare Matt. 16:23. Luke 12:50. Heb. 12:2, 3.

11 Matt. 26:55, 74.

12 Ps 119:8.

13 Joel 2:27.

Psalm 119:32 I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart. 

• run: Song 1:4 Isa 40:31 1Co 9:24-26 Heb 12:1 
• enlarge: Ps 119:45 18:36 1Ki 4:29 Job 36:15,16 Isa 60:5 61:1 Lu 1:74,75 Joh 8:32,36 2Co 3:17 6:11 1Pe 2:16 

Related Passages:

Isaiah 40:31+  Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength (MORE LITERALLY EXCHANGE THEIR "STRENGTH" FOR HIS STRENGTH!); They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart - This is speaking figuratively of "running" the race of life as in Hebrews 12:1+ "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us," And how do we run? We run by fixing our eyes on the only One Who every ran the race perfectly, our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ (Heb 12:2+). To encourage you to run to win the prize play this great little song based on Hebrews 12 - Run Like Heaven. 

This verse also reminds me of Paul's sobering declaration upon which every servant of Christ would do well to meditate (frequently)...

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run (present imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) in such a way (THIS IS A RUNNING THAT WILL NOT WIN) that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified (adokimos). (1Co 9:24-27+)

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Charles Bridges - 32. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart

A glowing picture of the Christian’s delight in the ways of God! If we “have chosen the way of God’s commandments,” and have been able to “stick unto” this way, surely we shall wish to “run in it” with constancy and cheerfulness. We shall want to mend our pace. If we walk, we shall long to “run.” There is always the same reason for progress, that there was for setting out. Necessity, advantage, enjoyment, spur us on to the end. Whatever progress we have made, we shall desire to make more; we shall go on praying and walking, and praying that we may walk with a swifter motion: we shall be dissatisfied, yet not discouraged—“faint, yet pursuing.”1 Now this is as it should be. This is after the pattern of the holy apostle—“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”2 But the secret as well as the pattern of Christian progress is—looking beyond the Apostle, and the “so great cloud of witnesses with which we are encompassed”—and “looking unto Jesus.”3 Faith is the principle of life, and supplies the daily motion of life; directing our eye to him as “the Author,” until he “becomes the Finisher,” of our faith. This is at once our duty, our privilege, our happiness, and our strength. This is the point at which we begin to run. Hitherto, the shackles of sin, self-righteousness, and unbelief, had hindered us; now we “so run, that we may obtain.”4

But in “the way of God’s commandments” how are we “sore let and hindered” by a straitened heart! And how often do we feel the heart, as it were, “shut up, and it cannot get forth:”5 faith so low—desires so faint—hopes so narrow, that it seems impossible to make progress! Perhaps we “did run well,” and have been “hindered.”6 Perhaps the soul has been asleep in carelessness or self-indulgence; or unbelief in some of its varied forms has prevailed; and thus, while we “are not straitened” in God, we “are straitened in our own bowels.”7 If then the rich fool thought of enlarging his barns, when his stores had increased upon him,8 much more should we be sending up the petition—“O that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast!”9 Whatever cause we have to cry out—“My leanness, my leanness,”10—still, let us in the exercise of faith and prayer, be waiting for a more cheerful ability to love, serve, and praise. Let us be restless, till the prison-doors are again opened, and the command is issued to the prisoners—“Go forth; and to them that are in darkness—Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.”11 Who knoweth but the Lord will once more shine upon us, once more unloose our fetters, and renew our strength?

Yet must every motion begin with God.12 I will run,—but how? not in mine own strength, but by “the good hand of my God upon me,”1 delivering and enlarging my heart. He does not say—I will make no efforts, unless thou work for me; but if thou wilt enlarge—I will run. Weakness is not the plea for indolence, but for quickening grace. “Draw me”—saith the Church—“we will run after thee.” “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”2 The secret of Christian energy and success is a heart enlarged in the love of God.

Let me then begin betimes—make haste—keep straight on—fix my eye on the mark—“endure unto the end.” I may yet expect in the joy of blessed surprise to exclaim—“Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.”3 Godly sorrow had made me serious. Now let holy joy make me active. “The joy of the Lord is my strength;”4 and I am ready, under the power of constraining love,5 to work and to toil—to run without weariness, to “march onward” without fainting;6 not measuring my pace by my own strength, but looking to him who “strengtheneth with all might by his Spirit in the inner man.”7

Happy fruit of wrestling prayer and diligent waiting on God! Joy in God, and strength to walk with him, with increasing knowledge of him, increasing communion with him, and increasing confidence in him.

1 Judges 8:4.

2 Phil. 3:13, 14.

3 Heb. 12:1, 2.

4 1 Cor. 9:24.

5 Psalm 88:8.

6 Gal. 5:7.

7 2 Cor. 6:12.

8 Luke 12:16–19.

9 1 Chron. 4:10.

10 Isaiah 24:16.

11 Isa. 49:9.

12 Prov. 16:1.

1 Ezra 7:9.

2 Song. 1:4. 2 Cor. 3:17.

3 Song. 6:12.

4 Neh. 8:10.

5 2 Cor. 5:14.

6 Isaiah 40:31, “march onward.”—Bishop Lowth’s Version.

7 Eph. 3:16.

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Warren Wiersbe - Open, Obedient, Occupied  Psalm 119:25-32
An enlarged heart, in the physical sense, is dangerous. But spiritually speaking, an enlarged heart can be a blessing. "I will run in the way of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart" (Psalm 119:32). If you have an enlarged heart physically, you don't do much running. But if you have an enlarged heart spiritually, you are ready to walk and run with the Lord and accomplish His purposes. When an athlete is running, he is on a path and has a goal in mind, which gives him the energy to continue. That's what God wants for us today. He has a goal for us to reach and a path for us to follow. And He gives us His strength through His Word.

What does it mean to have an enlarged heart?

First, an enlarged heart is open to God's truth. It's a heart that's honest and says, "Lord, I want Your truth even if it hurts."

Second, an enlarged heart is obedient to God's will. It's a humble heart that says, "O God, what You have said, I will do. I am the servant. You are the master."

Third, an enlarged heart is occupied with God's glory. It's a happy heart. Some people's hearts are small and narrow. They live in their own little world and have their own narrow view. What a wonderful thing it is to grow in grace and the knowledge of truth (2 Pet. 3:18)! Our horizons are expanded. We can see what we haven't seen before. We can hear what we haven't heard before. God gives us an enlarged life because we have an enlarged heart. 

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Open your heart to God's truth and be obedient to His will. Every step of obedience expands your horizon of blessing and ministry. Most of all, be occupied with God's glory

Psalm 119:33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of Thy statutes, And I shall observe it to the end. (PRAYER)

NET  Psalm 119:33 Teach me, O LORD, the lifestyle prescribed by your statutes, so that I might observe it continually.

LXE  Psalm 119:33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of thine ordinances, and I will seek it out continually.

NLT  Psalm 119:33 Teach me your decrees, O LORD; I will keep them to the end.

KJV  Psalm 119:33 HE. Teach <03384> (08685) me, O LORD <03068>, the way <01870> of thy statutes <02706>; and I shall keep <05341> (08799) it unto the end <06118>.

ESV  Psalm 119:33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.

NIV  Psalm 119:33 Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.

ASV  Psalm 119:33 Teach me, O Jehovah, the way of thy statutes; And I shall keep it unto the end.

CSB  Psalm 119:33 Teach me, LORD, the meaning of Your statutes, and I will always keep them.

NKJ  Psalm 119:33 HE. Teach <03384> (08685) me, O LORD <03068>, the way <01870> of Your statutes <02706>, And I shall keep <05341> (08799) it to the end <06118>.

NRS  Psalm 119:33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.

YLT  Psalm 119:33 He. Show me, O Jehovah, the way of Thy statutes, And I keep it -- to the end.

NAB  Psalm 119:33 LORD, teach me the way of your laws; I shall observe them with care.

NJB  Psalm 119:33 Teach me, Yahweh, the way of your will, and I will observe it.

GWN  Psalm 119:33 Teach me, O LORD, how to live by your laws, and I will obey them to the end.

BHT  Psalm 119:33 hôrëºnî yhwh(´ädönäy) Deºrek Huqqʺkä wü´eccüreºnnâ `ëºqeb

BBE  Psalm 119:33 HE O Lord, let me see the way of your rules, and I will keep it to the end.

• Teach: Ps 119:12,26,27 Isa 54:13  Joh 6:45 
• I shall observe: Ps 119:8,112 Mt 10:22 24:13 1Co 1:7,8 Php 1:6 1Jn 2:19,20,27 Rev 2:26 

Teach me, O LORD, the way of Thy statutes - This is a great prayer to utter frequently, because we are all like the hymnist who portrayed us as "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above." (See short clip on Robert Robinson's conviction by his own hymn). 

THOUGHT - Would we be so prone to wander if we prayed this prayed (sincerely, not ritualistically) each morning of the new day? We are always at risk of wandering but God's grace in answer to this prayer will help "stabilize the rudder" of our vessel! 

Septuagint (Lxx) = Teach (aorist imperative -see note below) (3549)(nomotheteo from nomos = a law + títhemi = to put, set) literally means to put a law and means to enact laws, make laws, give laws or establish as law (legislate) (Only 2 NT uses - Heb 7:11, Heb 8:6). There are 11 uses of nomotheteo in the Lxx (Ex 24:12; Dt 17:10; Ps. 25:8, 12; 27:11; 84:6; 119:33, 102, 104) and in 8/11 uses it translated yarah (to instruct) and thus conveys the sense of to instruct or to teach

And I shall observe it to the end - 

NET NOTE - Hebrew "and I will keep it to the end." The prefixed verbal form with vav (w) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative. The Hebrew term bq,[e ('eqev) is understood to mean "end" here. Another option is to take bq,[e ('eqev) as meaning "reward" here (see Ps 19:11) and to translate, "so that I might observe it and be rewarded." 

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Warren Wiersbe - You Become What You See
 
Read Psalm 119:33-40
 
Outlook determines outcome. What you are seeing helps to determine what you are becoming. So you'd better be careful what you look at. It's no wonder that the psalmist prays, "Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way" (Psalm 119:37). Worthless things here literally means "vanity." Much of what we see every day in the media, for example, is worthless and false. It doesn't come from God, who is Truth; it comes from Satan and the world. And it doesn't last; it's all vanity. The word for vanity means "emptiness"--what is left after you break a soap bubble.
 
Look at the Word of God. It is truth. It is God's treasure. It will endure forever. "Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven" (Ps. 119:89). When we fill our lives with the Word of God, we fight vanity. When we turn our eyes upon the pages of the Bible, we grow in truth and value and are in touch with eternity. It's an interesting coincidence that we find the letters "T" and "V" in Psalm 119:37 (in the words turn and vanity). I think a lot of people need to put this verse on their television sets. You may say, "TV is just harmless entertainment." But so much of what you see goes right into your mind and heart, making you cheap, false, worthless and temporary. The Bible tells us that "he who does the will of God abides forever" (I John 2:17).
 
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So much of what the world offers is trivial, false and worthless. Don't build your life on the world's foundations. Build your life instead on the Word of God, for it endures forever.  (Psalm 119:33-40 You Become What You See)

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Charles Bridges - 33. Teach me, O Lord, the way of the statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end

We need no instruction in the way of sin. That has been our way, ever since Adam “sought out his own invention.”8 The ungodly “desire no knowledge of the way of God’s statutes.”9 The heart leads the judgment, and “their heart is enmity to the law of God.”10 But for a child of God, this is a prayer for daily use. For the more he is taught, the more he feels his need of teaching, and the more earnest are his cries for this invaluable blessing. We know nothing spiritually, except as we are taught of God. The blind man must be led the plainest and most direct, as well as in the more difficult and rugged paths. And thus do we need the shining of light from above—not only in “the deep things of God”—but for the reception of the most elementary truths. And yet we want not this knowledge for its own sake—to feed pride or speculation—but for its practical influence. For of what avail is the discovery even of important truth, if we be not moulded into its likeness, and constrained “into the obedience of faith?” The connection of every thought with Christian practice, here directed to its proper end, is a most striking proof of the Divine origin of the statutes. The most clear instructions for the regulation of our conduct flow from single sentences or expressions in these “statutes!” and this clearly proves an infinite wisdom in their distribution, a reference in the eternal mind to every detail of practical duty, and a Divine power and unction, applying the word to the several circumstances of daily conduct! For, indeed, what mind but the mind of God could have comprehended in so small a compass such a vast system of instruction? In this view, therefore, the Lord’s teaching becomes the spring of obedience. For how can we “keep” a way which we do not understand? And who was ever “taught the way of the Lord’s statutes,” who had not his heart constrained and directed by their spiritual beauty and sweetness? In this path we realize union with the Saviour;1 “the love of God is perfected in us;”2 and our confidence is established before God.3

The object nearest to the believer’s heart, and which causes him many an anxious and too often—many an unbelieving thought—is the grace of perseverance. Now the Lord’s teaching is the principle of perseverance. It is “the light of life”4—enlightening the mind, and quickening the heart. Under this influence therefore we live—we endure—we cannot fail of keeping the way unto the end.5 Thus the end crowns the work. For with this blessing of perseverance, is sealed to us the hope of victory over our spiritual enemies, and the participation of our Saviour’s glory.6 Confidence, indeed, without prayer and dependence upon our glorious Head, is most daring presumption; but that “well-ordered and sure covenant,” which “is all our salvation, and all our desire,” engages for our continuance in “the way of the Lord’s statutes!” I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”7

8 Eccl. 7:29. Isa. 53:6.

9 Job 21:14.

10 Rom. 8:7.

1 1 John 3:24.

2 1Jn 2:5.

3 1Jn. 3:22.

4 John 1:4; 8:12.

5 1 John 2:27.

6 Rev. 2:26–28.

7 Jer. 32:40; 31:33; with 2 Sam. 23:5.

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Hold everything! Wait a minute! Have you read the Scripture for today? It's only eight short verses, and it will take you only 45 seconds. No, don't lay this booklet down and mumble to me, "I'm in a hurry and you're delaying me." I see you're eating breakfast this morning even though you're late. You take time to feed your body, but you were going to starve your soul. Take 45 seconds and read Psalm 119:33-40. If you don't read the rest of this devotional, that's okay--as long as you read the Bible. 
    These articles in Our Daily Bread are not designed to be a substitute for the Bible; they are meant to stimulate your desire to read more of the Bible. If reading this booklet has caused you to neglect the Word of God, please throw this booklet in the wastebasket! 
    Job said, "I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food" (Job23:12). Jesus taught, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Mt4:4). 
    Yes, you may have had a rough day yesterday and you're way behind. But why should you be surprised that it was such a bad day if you started it without God's Word? Don't make the same mistake today. Take time to read. --M. R. De Haan, M.D. (founder of RBC Ministries) 

• Read Ps 119:33-40 and make its words your prayer: 
• Teach me (Ps 119:33). Give me (Ps 119:34). 
• Make me (Ps 119:35). Incline me (Ps 119:36). Turn me (Ps 119:37). 
• Establish me (Ps 119:38). Spare me (Ps 119:39). Revive me (Ps 119:40).

If you're too busy to read the Bible, you're too busy!

Psalm 119:34  Give me understanding, that I may observe Thy law, And keep it with all my heart. (PRAYER)

NET  Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding so that I might observe your law, and keep it with all my heart.

LXE  Psalm 119:34 Instruct me, and I will search out thy law, and will keep it with my whole heart.

NLT  Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart.

KJV  Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding <0995> (08685), and I shall keep <05341> (08799) thy law <08451>; yea, I shall observe <08104> (08799) it with my whole heart <03820>.

ESV  Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

NIV  Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.

ASV  Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

CSB  Psalm 119:34 Help me understand Your instruction, and I will obey it and follow it with all my heart.

NKJ  Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding <0995> (08685), and I shall keep <05341> (08799) Your law <08451>; Indeed, I shall observe <08104> (08799) it with my whole heart <03820>.

NRS  Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

YLT  Psalm 119:34 Cause me to understand, and I keep Thy law, And observe it with the whole heart.

NAB  Psalm 119:34 Give me insight to observe your teaching, to keep it with all my heart.

NJB  Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding and I will observe your Law, and keep it wholeheartedly.

GWN  Psalm 119:34 Help me understand so that I can follow your teachings. I will guard them with all my heart.

BHT  Psalm 119:34 hábînënî wü´eccürâ tô|räteºkä wü´ešmüreºnnâ bükol-lëb

BBE  Psalm 119:34 Give me wisdom, so that I may keep your law; going after it with all my heart.

• Give me: Ps 119:73 111:10 Job 28:28 Pr 2:5,6 John 7:17 Jas 1:5 Jas 3:13-18 
• I may observe Thy law: Dt 4:6 Mt 5:19 7:24 Jas 1:25 2:8-12 4:11 
• I shall keep it: Ps 119:10,58,69 

Give me understanding - Understanding is biyn which means insight, discernment (Ps 19:12, Ps 73:17), ability to distinguish between good and evil (1 Ki 3:9). Lxx for understanding is sunetizo (aorist imperative) which means to cause to understand

Septuagint (Lxx) = Understanding (Sunetizo, cf sunetos = intelligent, wise) means to cause to understand, to instruct. Not found in the NT. Notice the concentration in Psalm 119 - Neh. 8:7; Neh. 8:9; Neh. 9:20; Ps. 16:7; Ps. 32:8; Ps. 119:27; Ps. 119:34; Ps. 119:73; Ps. 119:125; Ps. 119:130; Ps. 119:144; Ps. 119:169; Dan. 8:16; Dan. 9:22; Dan. 10:14

that I may observe Thy law  - 

And keep it with all my heart.

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Charles Bridges - 34. Give me understanding, and I will keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart

‘He that is his own teacher’—says Bernard—and one greater than Bernard,8 ‘has a fool for his master.’ Man cannot teach what he does not know; and of God, and of his law, he knows nothing. Therefore the beginning of wisdom is a consciousness of ignorance, a distrust of our own understanding, and the heart-felt prayer—“Give me understanding.” The spiritual understanding is the gift of Jesus Christ.9 He directs us to himself, as its fountain—“I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’10 This understanding differs from mere intellectual discernment or speculative knowledge. It is the spring of spiritual activity in our walk with God;1 so that our obedience is not outward and reluctant, but filial delight and wholeness of heart:—we desire not only to keep the law of God to the end, but every day to the end—“with our whole heart.”—Such are our obligations towards him, that we ought to study very accurately the character of our walk with him; always remembering that service without the heart—the whole heart—is hateful in his sight,2 and that what is now wilfully withheld, will gradually draw away the rest in apostasy from him. Now are we seeking more “engagedness of heart” for him. Then will this prayer be a suitable expression of our need, and the utterance of a humble, resolute petitioner. It is not, however, enough that we have once received, unless we are constantly receiving. We must ask, that we may receive; but after we have received, we must ask again. Yet is this prayer never offered up, until the soul has in part received what it is here seeking for. The natural man is “wise in his own conceit,” and has therefore no idea of his need of Divine teaching.

But we must not be satisfied with even a clear apprehension of the doctrines of the Bible, and of the “truth as it is in Jesus.” “Give me understanding”—‘not only that I may believe these doctrines, but that I may keep and observe them.’ In every path of duty, this cry is repeated, with an importunity that is never wearisome to the ears of our gracious Father. And in how many unnoticed instances has the answer been vouchsafed when some clear and heavenly ray, darting unexpectedly into the mind, or some providential concurrence of unforeseen circumstances, has disentangled a path before intricate and involved, and marked it before us with the light of a sunbeam! How many whispers of conscience! how many seasonable suggestions in moments of darkness and perplexity may the observant child of God record, as the answer to this needful prayer—“Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.”3 Nor will our growth in spiritual understanding fail to evidence itself in the steady consistency of a well-ordered conversation—“Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.”4 If then knowledge is valuable according to its usefulness, one ray of this practical knowledge—the result of prayer for heavenly teaching,—is more to be prized than the highest attainments of speculative religion—flowing from mere human instruction.

8 Prov. 28:26.

9 1 John 2:20; 5:20.

10 John 8:12; also 12:46.

1 See Col. 1:9, 10.

2 Isaiah 1:11–15. Hosea 10:2. Acts 5:1–10.

3 Psalm 107:43.

4 James 3:13.

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Give me understanding. - John Flavel
Prayer is a proper means for the increase of knowledge. Prayer is the golden key that unlocks that treasure. When Daniel was to expound the secret contained in the king’s dream, about which the Chaldean magicians had racked their brains to no purpose; what course did Daniel take? “He went to his house,” Dan. 2:17, 18, “and made the thing known to Hananiah, Michael, and Azariah, his companions; that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning his secret.” And then was the secret revealed to Daniel.

Psalm 119:35  Make me walk in the path of Thy commandments, For I delight in it. (PRAYER)

NET  Psalm 119:35 Guide me in the path of your commands, for I delight to walk in it.

LXE  Psalm 119:35 Guide me in the path of thy commandments; for I have delighted in it.

NLT  Psalm 119:35 Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found.

KJV  Psalm 119:35 Make me to go <01869> (08685) in the path <05410> of thy commandments <04687>; for therein do I delight <02654> (08804).

ESV  Psalm 119:35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

NIV  Psalm 119:35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.

ASV  Psalm 119:35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; For therein do I delight.

CSB  Psalm 119:35 Help me stay on the path of Your commands, for I take pleasure in it.

NKJ  Psalm 119:35 Make me walk <01869> (08685) in the path <05410> of Your commandments <04687>, For I delight <02654> (08804) in it.

NRS  Psalm 119:35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

YLT  Psalm 119:35 Cause me to tread in the path of Thy commands, For in it I have delighted.

NAB  Psalm 119:35 Lead me in the path of your commands, for that is my delight.

NJB  Psalm 119:35 Guide me in the way of your commandments, for my delight is there.

GWN  Psalm 119:35 Lead me on the path of your commandments, because I am happy with them.

BHT  Psalm 119:35 hadrîkënî bintîb miswötey käkî-bô häpästî

BBE  Psalm 119:35 Make me go in the way of your teachings; for they are my delight.

• Make me: Ps 119:27,36,173 Eze 36:26,27 Php 2:13 Heb 13:21 
• for I delight in it.: Ps 23:3 Pr 3:17 4:11,18 8:20 Isa 2:3 48:17 
• or I delight in it.: Ps 119:16 Isa 58:13,14 Ro 7:22 1Jn 5:3 

Make me walk in the path of Thy commandments,

For I delight in it.

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Charles Bridges - 35. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight

We are equally ignorant of the path of God’s commandments, and impotent to go in it. We need therefore double assistance. Our mind must be enlightened; our hearts constrained; else our knowledge of this humbling path would make us shrink from it. But under the complete influence of Divine grace, when understanding has been given to discern the beauty of it, the soul’s warmest desire is fixed upon it—Conscious helplessness looks upward—Make me to go; and he who said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house,” speaks the same word of quickening life and power to the soul, “giving heed,” “expecting to receive something of him.”1 It is delightful to acknowledge of this work, that “All is of God”—that “it is he that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”2 To him only can it belong. For since the natural inclination “is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be;”3 Almighty power must introduce a new and active bias—“Turn thou me, and I shall be turned”4—“Make me to go in the path of thy commandments.”

But even when brought into this path, still we want accelerated motion to run with increasing alacrity. We want to take “the Lord God for our strength; and he shall make our feet like hind’s feet, and shall make us to walk upon our high places.”5 The path, indeed, is uninviting to the eye of sense. This distorted vision brings all its difficulties into full view; hiding all its counterbalancing enjoyments. Let us, however, exercise that “faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”6 Let us exhibit our proper character, “walking by faith, and not by sight,”7 and our discernment of unseen things will be more clear, and our enjoyment of them more permanent. The prayer will then be with increasing earnestness—“Make me to go in the path of thy commandments.”

But we must not be content with walking in this way; we must seek to “delight in it.” Delight is the marrow of religion. “God loveth a cheerful giver,”8 and accepts obedience only when it is given, not when it is forced. He loves the service of that man, who considers it his highest privilege to render it, and whose heart rejoices in the way, “as a giant to run his race.”9 Fervent prayer and cheerful obedience, mark the experience of the thriving Christian. As a true “child of Zion, he is joyful in his king;”10 he loves his service, and counts it “perfect freedom”—the rule of love, mercy, and grace.

But is the self-condemned penitent distressed by this description of a child of God? He cannot find the same marks in himself; and he too hastily concludes, that he does not belong to the heavenly family; not considering, that his very grief is caused by his love to, and “delight in” that way in which he is so hindered, and in which he daily prays—“Make me to go.” It was probably the same sense of weakness and inability, “to go in the path of God’s commandments,” which urged David’s prayer; and if it urges yours, poor trembling penitent,—if it sends you to a throne of grace, you will, ere long, receive an answer of peace, and “go on your way rejoicing.”

This delight in the path is not only following the “man after God’s own heart;” but it is the image of David’s Lord, and our forerunner in this path. He could testify to his Father—“I delight to do thy will, O my God:”1 and to his disciples, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work:”2 and as a proof of the intenseness of his delight, he could to their great amazement, “go before them”3 to Jerusalem, unappalled by the “baptism” of blood which awaited him; yea, even “straitened” with the unquenchable ardor of his love, “until it was accomplished.”4

1 Matt. 9:6, with Acts 3:4, 5.

2 2 Cor. 5:18. Phil. 2:13.

3 Rom. 8:7.

4 Jer. 31:18.

5 Hab. 3:19.

6 Heb. 11:1.

7 2 Cor. 5:7.

8 2 Cor. 9:7.

9 Psalm 19:5; 112:1.

10 Ps. 149:2.

1 Psalm 40:8, with Heb. 10:7.

2 John 4:32, 34.

3 Mark 10:32.

4 Luke 12:50.

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Make me to go in the path of thy commandments.

• The path of fellowship—with God.
• The path of holiness—before God.
• The path of obedience—after God.

Psalm 119:36  Incline my heart to Thy testimonies, And not to dishonest gain. (PRAYER)

NET  Psalm 119:36 Give me a desire for your rules, rather than for wealth gained unjustly.

LXE  Psalm 119:36 Incline mine heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

NLT  Psalm 119:36 Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money!

KJV  Psalm 119:36 Incline <05186> (08685) my heart <03820> unto thy testimonies <05715>, and not to covetousness <01215>.

ESV  Psalm 119:36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!

NIV  Psalm 119:36 Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.

ASV  Psalm 119:36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, And not to covetousness.

CSB  Psalm 119:36 Turn my heart to Your decrees and not to material gain.

NKJ  Psalm 119:36 Incline <05186> (08685) my heart <03820> to Your testimonies <05715>, And not to covetousness <01215>.

NRS  Psalm 119:36 Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.

YLT  Psalm 119:36 Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, And not unto dishonest gain.

NAB  Psalm 119:36 Direct my heart toward your decrees and away from unjust gain.

NJB  Psalm 119:36 Bend my heart to your instructions, not to selfish gain.

GWN  Psalm 119:36 Direct my heart toward your written instructions rather than getting rich in underhanded ways.

BHT  Psalm 119:36 hat--libbî ´el-`ëdwötey kä we´al ´el-bäsa`

BBE  Psalm 119:36 Let my heart be turned to your unchanging word, and not to evil desire.

REQUEST FOR A
"DIVINE REBOOT"

The leaning of the heart
is the way in which the life will lean.
--Spurgeon

If Spurgeon's words are true (and they are), it behooves each of us to frequently pray Psalm 119:36. Think of it this way. What do we usually do when our computer freezes up? We have to reboot it so that it works properly. Similarly, out heart frequently needs a "divine reboot" that we might choose to order our steps in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord and not pursuing the path of this passing world (1 Jn 2:17+).

Incline my heart to Thy testimonies - The verb incline is found only one other time in Ps 119:112 "I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes Forever, even to the end," where the end (eqeb) can mean reward or recompense, which we will all experience at the end of this earthly life. The same Hebrew word (eqeb) is used in the prayer in Ps 119:33+ "And I shall observe it to the end." Simplistically, our human hearts are inclined one of two ways, either toward God or away from God. Is that not true? Jesus alludes to this when He teaches "“No one (absolutely no one) can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." (Mt 6:24+)

NOTE ON THE IMPERATIVE IN PRAYER - Usually when an imperative is spoken or stated, it comes from one who is superior and is spoken to one who is an inferior. For example, in Mark 5:8+ Jesus confronts the demoniac and commands the demon "Come out (aorist imperative) of the man, you unclean spirit!" Then in Mark 5:12+ the unclean spirit "commands" Jesus "Send (aorist imperative) us into the pigs." Clearly Jesus has unequaled Authority, for the unclean spirit know he must obey Jesus' command to come out and yet he still speaks a command. And this is relevant in both the Old and New Testaments, for even the Disciple's model prayer has six commands (all in aorist imperative)! (Mt 6:9-14+). So what is the answer? When we recite the "Disciple's Prayer" with its six aorist imperatives, we are not being presumptuous or prideful toward God. In fact, in this context the imperative is what is known as a "weakened imperative," which functions to turn the verb into a request. (as shown in Mt 6:9-14+) Inherent in this request is the idea that we are expressing our faith that God is willing and able to fulfill our request (Sometimes He say yes, sometimes no and sometimes wait a while but He always answers). Does that help you understand the "commands" in the prayers directed to the God? This is important to understand because "weakened imperatives" are very common in the prayers in Psalm 119.

Incline (05186)(natah) means to stretch out, to extend; to pay attention. It has 3 primary nuanes  (1) spreading or stretching things (2 Sa 21:10, Jer 43:10, et al). (2) To turn aside - alteration in the present course of action (Nu 20:17, 21, Nu 22:23, 2 Sa 3:27, Ge 38:16 a bad turning aside!). "Turn aside justice (pervert) (Ex 23:6) (3) To bend (Ge 24:14, Ge 49:16, Hos 11:4, 2 Sa 22:10, Ps 144:5). 

Most usages are figurative. One's heart may "turn away" (Solomon in 1 Ki 11:2-4, 9, 2 Sa 19:14). On the other hand one's heart may be inclined to God and his commands (Josh 24:23; 1 Ki 8:58; Ps 119:36). Also common is the expression "to incline the ear" (listen with intent to obey God) (Jer 7:24, 26; Jer 11:8; Jer 17:23 et al.). God inclining His ear toward men (2 Ki 19:16; Isa 37:17; Da 9:18). Men inclining their ear to the words of a sage (Pr 4:20; Pr 5:1, 13; Pr 22:17). Natah is used  meaning "decline" = a shadow (2 Ki 20:10), day (Jdg 19:8-9), rapid physical decline (Ps 102:11; Ps 109:23).The Lord extends His arm or hand to deliver His people (Ex. 6:6; Dt. 4:34; Jer. 32:21); or to bring judgments on them and the nations (Isa. 5:25; 23:11; Ezek. 6:14).  .A measuring line is "stretched over" a city (2 Ki 21:13; Zech. 1:16; cf. Isa 44:13).

Inclining one's heart a certain way, of giving attention -- of turning from being loyal (1 Ki. 2:28); turning from righteousness or justice (Ex. 23:2; 1 Sa 8:3); or preventing it (Pr 18:5). Turning one's heart  in a certain direction (1 Sa 14:7); of being loyal (Josh. 24:23);  to turn, to show love (ḥesed̠) to someone (Ezra 7:28). Natah is used of iniquities and sin turning away the good benefits of God from His people (Jer. 5:25). There are those who turn aside, away, to twisted, crooked ways (Ps. 125:5).

Outstretched arms often represent power and the miraculous in the OT (Ex 6:6, Ex 7:5).  Stretching out something: a hand, an arm is extended or a staff,  javelin (Josh 8:18, 26) or sword (Ezekiel 30:25). Moses "stretched out" his hand (or his rod) over the waters of Egypt (Ex 7:19), over the land of Egypt (Ex 10:13), toward heaven (Ex 9:23; Ex 10:21-22) and over the Red Sea (Ex 14:16, 21, 26-27). A woman displays her pride with an "outstretched neck" (Isa 3:16). God's call to stretch out the curtains of their tents, was symbolic of growth and prosperity (Isa. 54:2). The idiom, to stretch out one's hand against someone, means to act in a hostile manner toward that person (Job 15:25).

207 verses - afternoon*(1), bend down(1), bent(1), bent down(1), bow(1), bowed(3), came to stumbling(1), cast down(1), decline(1), defraud(1), deprive(2), deviated(1), distort(1), distorts(1), entices(1), extend(1), extended(3), extends(2), followed*(2), held high(1), incline(27), inclined(7), intended(1), leaning(1), lengthen(1), lengthened(1), lengthens(1), let down(1), offer(1), outstretched(17), pervert(4), perverted(1), pitch(1), pitched(11), push aside(1), spread(3), stretch(28), stretched(32), stretched-out(1), stretches(5), stretching(2), thrust aside(1), took aside(3), turn(6), turn back(1), turn aside(9), turn away(3), turned(3), turned aside(6), turned away(4), turned...away(1), turning(1), turns(1), visited(1).

Gen. 12:8; Gen. 24:14; Gen. 26:25; Gen. 33:19; Gen. 35:21; Gen. 38:1; Gen. 38:16; Gen. 39:21; Gen. 49:15; Exod. 6:6; Exod. 7:5; Exod. 7:19; Exod. 8:5; Exod. 8:6; Exod. 8:16; Exod. 8:17; Exod. 9:22; Exod. 9:23; Exod. 10:12; Exod. 10:13; Exod. 10:21; Exod. 10:22; Exod. 14:16; Exod. 14:21; Exod. 14:26; Exod. 14:27; Exod. 15:12; Exod. 23:2; Exod. 23:6; Exod. 33:7; Num. 20:17; Num. 20:21; Num. 21:15; Num. 21:22; Num. 22:23; Num. 22:26; Num. 22:33; Num. 24:6; Deut. 4:34; Deut. 5:15; Deut. 7:19; Deut. 9:29; Deut. 11:2; Deut. 16:19; Deut. 24:17; Deut. 26:8; Deut. 27:19; Jos. 8:18; Jos. 8:19; Jos. 8:26; Jos. 24:23; Jdg. 4:11; Jdg. 9:3; Jdg. 16:30; Jdg. 19:8; 1 Sam. 8:3; 1 Sam. 14:7; 2 Sam. 2:19; 2 Sam. 2:21; 2 Sam. 3:27; 2 Sam. 6:10; 2 Sam. 6:17; 2 Sam. 16:22; 2 Sam. 19:14; 2 Sam. 21:10; 2 Sam. 22:10; 1 Ki. 2:28; 1 Ki. 8:42; 1 Ki. 8:58; 1 Ki. 11:2; 1 Ki. 11:3; 1 Ki. 11:4; 1 Ki. 11:9; 2 Ki. 17:36; 2 Ki. 19:16; 2 Ki. 20:10; 2 Ki. 21:13; 1 Chr. 13:13; 1 Chr. 15:1; 1 Chr. 16:1; 1 Chr. 21:10; 1 Chr. 21:16; 2 Chr. 1:4; 2 Chr. 6:32; Ezr. 7:28; Ezr. 9:9; Job 9:8; Job 15:25; Job 15:29; Job 23:11; Job 24:4; Job 26:7; Job 31:7; Job 36:18; Job 38:5; Ps. 17:6; Ps. 17:11; Ps. 18:9; Ps. 21:11; Ps. 27:9; Ps. 31:2; Ps. 40:1; Ps. 44:18; Ps. 45:10; Ps. 49:4; Ps. 62:3; Ps. 71:2; Ps. 73:2; Ps. 78:1; Ps. 86:1; Ps. 88:2; Ps. 102:2; Ps. 102:11; Ps. 104:2; Ps. 109:23; Ps. 116:2; Ps. 119:36; Ps. 119:51; Ps. 119:112; Ps. 119:157; Ps. 125:5; Ps. 136:12; Ps. 141:4; Ps. 144:5; Prov. 1:24; Prov. 2:2; Prov. 4:5; Prov. 4:20; Prov. 4:27; Prov. 5:1; Prov. 5:13; Prov. 7:21; Prov. 17:23; Prov. 18:5; Prov. 21:1; Prov. 22:17; Isa. 3:16; Isa. 5:25; Isa. 9:12; Isa. 9:17; Isa. 9:21; Isa. 10:2; Isa. 10:4; Isa. 14:26; Isa. 14:27; Isa. 23:11; Isa. 29:21; Isa. 30:11; Isa. 31:3; Isa. 34:11; Isa. 37:17; Isa. 40:22; Isa. 42:5; Isa. 44:13; Isa. 44:20; Isa. 44:24; Isa. 45:12; Isa. 51:13; Isa. 54:2; Isa. 55:3; Isa. 66:12; Jer. 5:25; Jer. 6:4; Jer. 6:12; Jer. 7:24; Jer. 7:26; Jer. 10:12; Jer. 10:20; Jer. 11:8; Jer. 14:8; Jer. 15:6; Jer. 17:23; Jer. 21:5; Jer. 25:4; Jer. 27:5; Jer. 32:17; Jer. 32:21; Jer. 34:14; Jer. 35:15; Jer. 43:10; Jer. 44:5; Jer. 51:15; Jer. 51:25; Lam. 2:8; Lam. 3:35; Ezek. 1:22; Ezek. 6:14; Ezek. 14:9; Ezek. 14:13; Ezek. 16:27; Ezek. 20:33; Ezek. 20:34; Ezek. 25:7; Ezek. 25:13; Ezek. 25:16; Ezek. 30:25; Ezek. 35:3; Dan. 9:18; Hos. 11:4; Amos 2:7; Amos 2:8; Amos 5:12; Zeph. 1:4; Zeph. 2:13; Zech. 1:16; Zech. 12:1; Mal. 3:5

Septuagint (Lxx) = Incline (aorist imperative) (2827)(klino) literally means to slant, slope, incline, bend. In the Septuagint, klino is often used of a prayer to God to "Incline His ear". It is used figuratively of inclining one's heart (Ps 119:36, 112 

THOUGHTS:

• Have I prayed for a heart inclined toward God, the things of eternity, the things that bring glory and honor to His Name?
• What will my reward be? Have I abided in the Vine (Jn 15:5)?
• Have I carried out the works that were prepared for me in Christ (Eph 2:10)?
• Have I done it enabled by the Spirit of Christ (Eph 5:18, cf Gal 5:22-23)?
• Have I sought earnestly to redeem the time for the glory of the Lord? (Eph 5:16)
• Have I sought by the enabling power of the Spirit to store up for myself (and for His glory) treasure in Heaven where moth and rust will not destroy and thief will not break in and steal? (Mt 6:19-21).

Spurgeon - Incline my heart unto thy testimonies. Does not this prayer appear to be superfluous, since it is evident that the Psalmist's heart was set upon obedience? We are sure that there is never a word to spare in Scripture. After asking for active virtue it was meet that the man of God should beg that his heart might be in all that he did. What would his goings be if his heart did not go? It may be that David felt a wandering desire, an inordinate leaning of his soul to worldly gain (Ed: Can we not identify dear reader? And do we not oft times need to utter this prayer?), -- possibly it even intruded into his most devout meditations, and at once he cried out for more grace. The only way to cure a wrong leaning is to have the soul bent in the opposite direction.

Holiness of heart is the cure for covetousness. What a blessing it is that we may ask the Lord even for an inclination. Our wills are free, and yet without violating their liberty, grace can incline us in the right direction. This can be done by enlightening the understanding as to the excellence of obedience, by strengthening our habits of virtue, by giving us an experience of the sweetness of piety, and by many other ways.

If any one duty is irksome to us it behooves us to offer this prayer with special reference thereto: we are to love all the Lord's testimonies, and if we fail in any one point we must pay double attention to it. The leaning of the heart is the way in which the life will lean: hence the force of the petition, "Incline my heart." Happy shall we be when we feel habitually inclined to all that is good. This is not the way in which a carnal heart ever leans; all its inclinations are in opposition to the divine testimonies.

And not to dishonest gain - 

Spurgeon - And not to covetousness. This is the inclination of nature, and grace must put a negative upon it. This vice is as injurious as it is common; it is as mean as it is miserable. It is idolatry, and so it dethrones God; it is selfishness, and so it is cruel to all in its power; it is sordid greed, and so it would sell the Lord himself for pieces of silver. It is a degrading, grovelling, hardening, deadening sin, which withers everything around it that is lovely and Christlike. He who is covetous is of the race of Judas, and will in all probability turn out to be himself a son of perdition. The crime of covetousness is common, but very few will confess it; for when a man heaps up gold in his heart, the dust of it blows into his eyes, and he cannot see his own fault. Our hearts must have some object of desire, and the only way to keep out worldly gain is to put in its place the testimonies of the Lord. If we are inclined or bent one way, we shall be turned from the other: the negative virtue is most surely attained by making sure of the positive grace which inevitably produces it.

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Charles Bridges - 36. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies,—and not to covetousness

But what “makes us to go in the path of God’s commandments?” The force of his Almighty love effectually inclines the will, as with a Divine touch. “The day of his power, in which he makes us willing,” is a time of love. “I drew them”—saith he—“with cords of a man, and with bands of love.”5 Every man, who is conscious of the counteracting bias within, will deeply feel the need of this prayer—“Incline my heart.” The native principle of man draws him to his own self—to his own indulgence—pleasure—covetousness—assuming a thousand forms of gratifying self, at the expense of love to God. Few but are ready to condemn this principle in others, while perhaps it may be their own “easily besetting sin.” When the mind is grasping after the world, as if it were our portion, we have the greatest reason to “take heed” to our Lord’s admonition, and “beware of covetousness.”6 When we invest earthly gratifications with any inherent excellency—virtually putting them in the place of God—then will be a season for special supplication—Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

There is probably no principle so opposed to the Lord’s testimonies. It casts out the principle of obedience, since the love of God cannot co-exist with the love of the world;7 and the very desire to serve Mammon is a proof of unfaithfulness to God.8 We mark the deadly influence in direct breaches of the law of God. Balaam, in the indulgence of this propensity, set his will in mad contradiction to God.9 Ahab was tempted to murder.10 David to murder and adultery.11 Achan to steal.12 Judas—both to steal from his fellows and to betray his master.13 Gehazi and Ananias to lying.14 And besides—what is the matter of common but painful observation—how much of the good seed of the kingdom, that was springing up with the promise of a plentiful harvest, has this weed of rank luxuriance “choked, that it has become unfruitful!”1 Out Lord’s parables therefore2—his providence3—his promises4—his terms of discipleship5—his counsels6—his own example of poverty and renunciation of this world’s comforts7—all are directed against this destructive principle. The power of the love of Christ delivered Matthew8 and Zaccheus9 from its influence, and “inclined their hearts to the testimonies of God.” And has not faith still the same power to turn the heart from the world, from sin, from self to Christ? Learn then to rest upon the promises of his love,10 and to delight in his testimonies. Earthly cares will be cast upon him, and earthly prospects will lose their splendor.11 This life of faith—living in union with a heavenly Saviour, involves the only effective principle of resistance. Those who are risen with Christ will be temperate in earthly things, “setting their affections on things above.” Such—such alone—will “mortify the members that are upon the earth—evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”12

We desire to sit loose to our earthly comforts.13 Are we enabled to check our natural discontent with the Lord’s dealings with us, and to restrain our eagerness to “seek great things for ourselves”14 by the recollection of his word—“Seek them not?”15

Let us not forget, that the inclination—even if it is not brought into active and perceptible motion, is fatally destructive of the life of religion. “They that will be rich16 fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Awful warning to professors!—“The love of money is the root of all evil; which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”17 A most important exhortation to the people of God!—“But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness.”18 If the Lord loves you, he will not indeed lose you; but unless you “take heed, and beware of covetousness,” he will not spare you. In the midst therefore of temptation without, and a world of sin within, go onwards with the pilgrim’s19 prayer indelibly fixed on your heart—“Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.”

5 Psalm 110:3. Ezek. 16:8. Hosea 11:4.

6 Luke 12:15.

7 1 John 2:15.

8 Matt. 6:24.

9 Numb. 22:15–21. 2 Peter 2:14–16.

10 1 Kings 21:1–13.

11 2 Sam. 11:2–17.

12 Joshua 7:21.

13 John 12:6. Matt. 26:14–16.

14 2 Kings 5:20–26. Acts 5:1, 8.

1 Mark 4:19.—The example of the rich young man, Matt. 19:21, 22. Demas, 2 Tim. 4:10.

2 Luke 12:16–21; 16:14, 19, &c.

3 Matt. 6:25–31.

4 Mt. 5:33. Psalm 34:9, 10. Isaiah 33:15, 16. 1 Peter 5:7.

5 Matt. 16:24; 19:27–29. Luke 14:33.

6 1 Cor. 7:29–31. Phil. 4:5.

7 Matt. 8:20.

8 Mt. 9:9.

9 Luke 19:1–10.

10 Heb. 13:5.

11 Compare Luke 12:15, with parallel verses 16–21.

12 Col. 3:1–5.

13 Gen. 3:5, 6.

14 Jer. 6:13.

15 Jer. 45:5.

16 Οι Βουλομενοι πλουτειν. 1 Tim. 6:9.—The very inclination to be rich is alienation from him, who by just right claims the supreme undisputed whole—“My son, give me thine heart.” Prov. 23:26.

17 1 Tim. 6:10.

18 1Ti. 11.

19 1 Peter 2:11.

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Fifteen-Minute Challenge

Turn my heart toward your statutes. Psalm 119:36

Today's Scripture & Insight: Psalm 119:33–40

Dr. Charles W. Eliot, longtime president of Harvard University, believed that ordinary people who read consistently from the world’s great literature for even a few minutes a day could gain a valuable education. In 1910, he compiled selections from books of history, science, philosophy, and fine art into fifty volumes called The Harvard Classics. Each set of books included Dr. Eliot’s Reading Guide titled “Fifteen Minutes A Day” containing recommended selections of eight to ten pages for each day of the year.

What if we spent fifteen minutes a day reading God’s Word? We could say with the psalmist, “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word” (Ps. 119:36–37).

Fifteen minutes a day adds up to ninety-one hours a year. But for whatever amount of time we decide to read the Bible each day, consistency is the secret and the key ingredient is not perfection but persistence. If we miss a day or a week, we can start reading again. As the Holy Spirit teaches us, God’s Word moves from our minds to our hearts, then to our hands and feet—taking us beyond education to transformation.

“Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end” (v. 33). By:  David C. McCasland  (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

I turn to You, the Author, to teach me as I read Your Word today. I want to hear from You, to know You, and to grow closer to You.

Join the Fifteen-Minute Bible Reading Challenge! Visit Facebook.com/ourdailybread.

The Bible is the only Book whose Author is always present when it is read.

SOME OTHER USES
OF NATAH

Ps 17:6 I have called upon You, for You will answer me, O God; Incline (Imperative. Heb = natah; Lxx = klino) Your ear to me, hear my speech.

Spurgeon: Incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. Stoop out of heaven and put thine ear to my mouth; give me thine ear all to myself, as men do when they lean over to catch every word from their friend. The Psalmist here comes back to his first prayer, and thus sets us an example of pressing our suit again and again, until we have a full assurance that we have succeeded.

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Ps 18:9 He bowed (Heb = natah; Lxx = klino) the heavens also, and came down With thick darkness under His feet.

NET Bible Note: The Hebrew verb natah can carry the sense "[cause to] bend, bow down." For example Ge 49:15 pictures Issachar as a donkey that "bends" its shoulder or back under a burden. Here the LORD causes the sky, pictured as a dome or vault, to sink down as He descends in the storm.

Spurgeon: He bowed the heavens also, and came down. He came in haste, and spurned everything which impeded His rapidity. The thickest gloom concealed His splendour, and darkness was under His feet; He fought within the dense vapours, as a warrior in clouds of smoke and dust, and found out the hearts of His enemies with the sharp falchion of his vengeance. Darkness is no impediment to God; its densest gloom He makes His tent and secret pavilion. See how prayer moves earth and heaven, and raises storms to overthrow in a moment the foes of God's Israel. Things were bad for David before he prayed, but they were much worse for his foes so soon as the petition had gone up to heaven. A trustful heart, by enlisting the divine aid, turns the tables on its enemies. If I must have an enemy let him not be a man of prayer, or he will soon get the better of me by calling in his God into the quarrel.

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Psalm 78:1 A Maskil of Asaph. Listen, O My people, to My instruction; Incline (Imperative. Heb = natah; Lxx = klino) your ears to the words of My mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, (Note: A number of the uses of klino in Lxx of the Psalms refer to a call for God to incline His ear. The repetition suggests that this would be a good prayer for modern saints to utter! And see especially Ps 119:36 below)

Spurgeon: Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. Give earnest attention, bow your stiff necks, lean forward to catch every syllable. We are at this day, as readers of the sacred records, bound to study them deeply, exploring their meaning, and laboring to practice their teaching. As the officer of an army commences his drill by calling for "Attention," even so every trained soldier of Christ is called upon to give ear to His words. Men lend their ears to music, how much more then should they listen to the harmonies of the gospel; they sit enthralled in the presence of an orator, how much rather should they yield to the eloquence of Heaven.

Incline your ears. Lay them close to my lips, that no parcel of this sacred language fall to the ground by your default. John Trapp.

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Psalm 86:1 A Prayer of David. Incline (Imperative. Heb = natah; Lxx = klino) Your ear, O LORD, and answer me; For I am afflicted and needy.

Spurgeon: Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me. In condescension to my littleness, and in pity to my weakness, "bow down thine ear, O Lord." When our prayers are lowly by reason of our humility, or feeble by reason of our sickness, or without wing by reason of our despondency, the Lord will bow down to them, the infinitely exalted Jehovah will have respect unto them. Faith, when she has the loftiest name of God on her tongue, and calls him Jehovah, yet dares to ask from him the most tender and condescending acts of love. Great as he is he loves his children to be bold with him.

For I am poor and needy -- doubly a son of poverty, because, first, poor and without supply for my needs, and next needy, and so full of wants, though unable to supply them. Our distress is a forcible reason for our being heard by the Lord God, merciful, and gracious, for misery is ever the master argument with mercy. Such reasoning as this would never be adopted by a proud man, and when we hear it repeated in the public congregation by those great ones of the earth who count the peasantry to be little better than the earth they tread upon, it sounds like a mockery of the Most High. Of all despicable sinners those are the worst who use the language of spiritual poverty while they think themselves to be rich and increased in goods.

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Pr 21:1 The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand (speaks of power) of the LORD; He turns (Heb = natah; Lxx = klino) it wherever He wishes.

NET Bible Note: The farmer channels irrigation ditches where he wants them, where they will do the most good; so does the LORD with the king. No king is supreme; the LORD rules.

Psalm 119:37  Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Thy ways. (PRAYER)

NET  Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes away from what is worthless! Revive me with your word!

LXE  Psalm 119:37 Turn away mine eyes that I may not behold vanity: quicken thou me in thy way.

NLT  Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.

KJV  Psalm 119:37 Turn away <05674> (08685) mine eyes <05869> from beholding <07200> (08800) vanity <07723>; and quicken <02421> (08761) thou me in thy way <01870>.

ESV  Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

NIV  Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

ASV  Psalm 119:37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, And quicken me in thy ways.

CSB  Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless; give me life in Your ways.

NKJ  Psalm 119:37 Turn away <05674> (08685) my eyes <05869> from looking <07200> (08800) at worthless <07723> things, And revive <02421> (08761) me in Your way <01870>.

NRS  Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways.

YLT  Psalm 119:37 Remove mine eyes from seeing vanity, In Thy way quicken Thou me.

NAB  Psalm 119:37 Avert my eyes from what is worthless; by your way give me life.

NJB  Psalm 119:37 Avert my eyes from pointless images, by your word give me life.

GWN  Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things. Give me a new life in your ways.

BHT  Psalm 119:37 ha`ábër `ênay mër´ôt šäºw´ Bidräkeºkä Hayyëºnî

BBE  Psalm 119:37 Let my eyes be turned away from what is false; give me life in your ways.

• Turn away: Nu 15:39 Jos 7:21 2Sa 11:2 Job 31:1 Pr 4:25 23:5 Isa 33:15 Mt 5:28 1Jn 2:16 
• Revive me: Ps 119:25,40 

TWO PRAYERS THAT WILL
LEAD TO PERSONAL REVIVAL!

Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity - Literally "Make my eyes pass by from looking at what is worthless." As men of God we need God's power to turn away our eyes for the plethora of temptations now found everywhere in a nation that has jettisoned morality and accepted wanton immorality! Help us O God! Amen. This is the prayer of a humble heart, the heart of a man who realizes he is always one step away from falling into sin (cf 1 Cor 10:12). In English vanity describes the quality of being valueless, empty or futile. It is interesting that 

Turn (05674)('abar) is used of movement as a rule it is the movement of one thing in relation to some other object which is stationary, moving, or motivating. Abar figuratively indicates a specific spiritual concept. Men transgress the covenant or the law, i.e. move outside or beyond the requirements of the covenant or law by committing adultery and practicing idolatry (Deut. 17:2) or other sin. Moses uses the word when charging the people with disobeying and overstepping the Lord's commands (Num. 14:41; Josh. 7:11, 15). Esther 3:3 depicts Mordecai's transgressing of the king's command.

Septuagint - Turn away (in aorist imperative) (654)(apostrepho from apo = away from, a marker of dissociation, implying a rupture from a former association and indicates separation, departure, cessation, reversal + strepho = turn quite around, twist, reverse, turn oneself about) means literally to turn back or away. Classic use of apostrepho - turn, turn to, turn oneself, turn round. Describes a largely intentional turning of the body, or thoughts, to a person or thing.

Looking (07200)(ra'ah) means to see especially to see with the eyes (Ge 27:1) which various nuances such as to see so that one can learn to know, whether it be another person (Dt. 33:9) or God (Dt. 1:31; 11:2), to experience (Jer 5:12; 14:13; 20:18; 42:14), to perceive (Ge 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31; Ex. 3:4), to see by volition or personal choice of one's will (Ge 9:22, 23; 42:9, 12); to look after or to visit (Ge 37:14; 1 Sa 20:29); to watch (1 Sa 6:9); to find (1 Sa 16:17); to select (2 Ki 10:3); to be concerned with (Ge 39:23).

Vanity (worthless, deceitful, empty, false) (07723)(shav) means deceit, lie, or falsehood.

THOUGHT - A good example of something that is deceitful and full of lies is idolatry. Idols were declared worthless (shav) in Jeremiah 18:15 ("worthless gods"). These idols led the people of God to forget Him, because God tolerates no usurpers (see Mt 6:24+). Have you ever considered some of the things you are looking at (at times with lustful eyes) are in effect idols?! We don't normally think that way in the 21st century, but idols are absolutely everywhere today! And since they deceive and lie, they will promise one thing (e.g., pleasure, cf Heb 11:25+), but will steal from our life. The NT warnes us repeatedly "Do not be deceived (in the form of a command ) - read these passages in context - 1 Co. 6:9; 1 Co. 15:33; Gal. 6:7+; Jas. 1:16+ (cf Hebrews 3:13b+). 

Septuagint - Vanity (3153)(mataiotes from mataios = vain, empty <> derived from maten = to no purpose or in vain) means emptiness, vanity, nonsense, nothingness! Thayer says mataiotes is a "purely Biblical and ecclesiastical word" which describes "what is devoid of truth and appropriateness". It defines the inability to reach a goal or achieve a purpose. Mataiotes describes the state of being without use or value, emptiness, futility, purposelessness, transitoriness. It has the quality of being empty, fruitless, nonproductive, useless. Mataiotes speaks of want of attainment with the idea of aimlessness or of leading to no object or end. As discussed above  "vain things" was a Jewish name for the Gentile idols, which represented ideas and conceptions of a god that had no intrinsic value or correspondence to the real truth about the Living God. The heathen are concerned with empty things which do not matter in the eternal scheme of things. Their mind was void of useful aims or goals (eternally speaking).

A good verse to memorize which parallels this passage is Psalm 101:3 -

 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not fasten its grip on me. 

Comment - Notice the personal pronouns (I, my, I, me). David is not saying he could do this in his strength. He knew about setting worthless things before his eyes, experiencing their power to fasten a grip on his heart (adultery with Bathsheba)! While each of us is personally responsible for what we allow before our eyes, God's Spirit today is in us to give us the desire and power to accomplish this objective (see Php 2:13NLT+). Note the word fasten is dabaq which means to stick like glue (first use in Ge 2:24 is poignant = "be joined" or cleave)! Beware what you watch or it will stick like glue! 

And revive me in Thy ways - This prayer indicates the psalmist senses his need for revival. And it is linked with God's Spirit causing him to turn from looking at vain, empty, worthless things. You (I) don't wrestle continually with your eyes, do you? (A rhetorical question of course!) In our visually stimulating society where youtube videos go viral, where cell phones allow viewing of all manner of visual stimuli, our eyes are bombarded hundreds, if not thousands of times a day! If you don't think you need revival you won't pray this prayer. If you don't think you need revival, you are prideful, deluded and in desperate need of humility, for as  James says "He gives a greater grace (AND GRACE IS OUR GREAT NEED!). Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” (James 4:6+) The Greek translates "revive" in Ps 119:37 with the verb zao which means to live and it is not a shy asking of God but is in the aorist imperative which is a desperate cry for God's Spirit to breathe new life into our hearts! 

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Charles Bridges - 37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way

So strongly does the man of God deprecate temptation to self-indulgence, that he prays to be kept at the greatest possible distance from it. That his heart may not be inclined to it; he desires that his eyes may be turned from beholding it. Keeping the eye is a grand means of “keeping the heart.”1 Satan has infused his poison into all the objects around us, that all furnishes fuel for temptation, and the heart—naturally inclined to evil and hankering after vanity—is stolen away in a moment. Vanity includes “all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.” All is sin, because “it is not of the Father, but is of the world.”2 Of all that belongs to earth—“the preacher, the son of David”—standing on the vantage-ground, and having taken within his view the widest horizon of this world’s excellency, has pronounced his judgment—“Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities! all is vanity.”3 We have just mentioned the lusts of other things choking many a promising profession. Our Lord’s solemn caution to his own disciples implies their injury to a sincere profession—“Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life; and so that day come upon you unawares.”4 Some indeed seem to walk, as if they were proof against temptation. They venture to the very edge of the precipice, under a vain assurance that no danger is to be apprehended. But such a confidence is upon the brink of a grievous fall.5 The tender-hearted child of God, trusting in the promise, that “Sin shall not have dominion over him,” knows that he can only enjoy the security of it, while he is shrinking from every occasion of sin.6 He “hates even the garment spotted by the flesh;”7 and, remembering how often his outward senses have ministered to the workings of his weak and treacherous heart,8 he continues in prayer—“Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.”

Probably the recollection of the circumstance of his own sin,9 would to the end of his life remind David of his special need of this prayer. Yet who that is conscious of his own weakness and corruption, will find the prayer unsuitable to his circumstances of daily temptation? But we must watch as well as pray. For as watchfulness without prayer is presumption, so prayer without watchfulness is self-delusion. To pray that “our eyes” may be “turned from vanity,” without “making a covenant with our eyes,”10 that they should not behold it, is like “taking fire in our bosoms,” and expecting “not to be burnt,”11 because we have prayed that we might not be burnt. If we pray not to be “led into temptation,” we must “watch, that we enter not into it.”1 The sincerity of our prayer will be proved by the watchfully avoiding the circumstances and occasions of temptation. The fear of sin will manifest itself by a fear of temptation to sin. “The knife will be put to the throat, if we be given to appetite.”2 We shall be afraid of the wine sparkling in the glass.3

But where is the harm of beholding vanity, if we do not follow it? When Eve beheld the forbidden fruit, perhaps she did not think of taking it: and when she took it, she did not think of eating it: but the beginning of sin “is as the letting out of water,” whose progress once opened, beats down all before it.4 And who, after our “beguiled mother,” has not found the eye an inlet to sin?5 When Bunyan’s pilgrims were obliged to pass through Vanity Fair, beset on every side with temptations and allurements, they stopped their eyes and ears, and quickening their pace, cried—“Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.” A striking reproof to us, who too often loiter and gaze, until we begin to covet those vanities, to which, as Christians, we “are dead!”6

Is it asked—What will most effectually “turn my eyes from vanity?” Not the seclusion of contemplative retirement—not the relinquishment of our lawful connection with the world; but the transcendent beauty of Jesus unveiled to our eyes, and fixing our hearts. This will “turn our eyes from vanity” in its most glittering forms! The sight of the “pearl of great price”7 dims the lustre of the “goodliest pearls” of earth; at once deadens us to the enticements of the world, and urges us forward in the pursuit of the prize. And is not this our object? It is not enough that through special mercy I am preserved from temptations. I want to be quickened to more life, energy, delight, and devotedness in the way of my God. The secret of Christian progress is simplicity and diligence. “This one thing I do—forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth to those things that are before; I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”8 The spirit leaves no wish of the heart for beholding vanity. The world, with all its flowery paths, is a dreary wilderness: and Christ and heaven are the only objects of desire—“He that shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, he shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.”9—Precious promises to those that flee from temptation, and desire to walk in the ways of God!

1 Nu. 15:39. Job 31:1.

2 John 2:16.

3 Eccl. 1:2; also 2:1–12.

4 Luke 21:34.

5 Prov. 16:18.

6 Rom. 6:14.

7 Jude 23.

8 See Prov. 23:33. Josh. 7:21.

9 2 Sam. 11:2.

10 Job 30:1.

11 Prov. 6:27, 28.

1 Compare Matt. 6:13, with 26:41.

2 Prov. 23:2.

3 Verses 31, 32.

4 Gen. 3:6, with Prov. 17:14.

5 Lot’s wife; Gen. 19:26. Shechem; 34:2. Potiphar’s wife; 39:7. Joshua 7:21. Samson; Judges 16:1. Even the man after God’s own heart; 2 Sam. 11:2. Comp. Prov. 6:25. Matt. 5:28. 2 Peter 2:14.

6 See Col. 3:2, 3.

7 Matt. 13:46.

8 Phil. 3:13, 14.

9 Isaiah 33:15–17.

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Watch What You Watch

Read: 1 Corinthians 6:9-20

Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things. —Psalm 119:37

Is your living room the site of daily murders? Do you routinely entertain guests who swear at you and make fun of your faith? Have you ever had somebody drop by and try to convince you that sexual sin is a joking matter and that violence is entertaining?

You’ve had all these things happen in your house if you’ve watched many of the programs on TV. This is not late-breaking news. The moral content of television has been on the decline for years. But that doesn’t mean we have to go down with it.

The psalmist, who knew as much about TV as most of us know about tending sheep, said, “Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things” (Ps. 119:37). That’s a good verse to post over our TV set.

For the most part, the entertainment world is serious about casting off restraints. Just as seriously, we should protect our minds. These guidelines can help:

• Avoid jokes about sex (1 Cor. 6:18; Eph. 5:3-4,12).
• Don’t listen to vulgar language (Eph. 5:4).
• Don’t let ads cause you to covet (Ex. 20:17; Col. 3:5).
• Don’t let your eyes cause you to sin (Mt. 18:9).

Honor God with your viewing habits. When it comes to entertainment, watch what you watch.By Dave Branon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Temptation's face is young and soft
And smooth in its appeal;
But when it's through it ruins lives
With velvet fists of steel.
—Gustafson

Use self-control with your remote control.

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Failing Memory

Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way. —Psalm 119:37

Today's Scripture: Psalm 119:33-40

A New York Times article linked the increase of computer storage with the decrease of data in the human mind. Our electronic aids now remember phone numbers, driving directions, and other information we used to learn by repeated use. In schools, memorization and oral recitation are disappearing from the curriculum. We have become, according to the Times, “products of a culture that does not enforce the development of memory skills.”

Yet never have we as followers of Christ been in greater need of hiding God’s Word in our hearts (Ps. 119:9-11). Scripture memory is more than a helpful mental exercise. The goal is to saturate our minds with God’s truth so that our lives will conform to His ways. The psalmist wrote: “Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. . . . Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way” (Ps. 119:33,37).

Why not begin committing Scripture to memory? Daily consistency and review are keys to success. And just like physical exercise, this spiritual discipline is enhanced when done with a small group or with a friend.

Let’s not forget to remember and follow the life-giving wisdom of God’s Word. By:  David C. McCasland (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

God’s Word will change your life
If you will do your part
To read, to study, and obey,
And hide it in your heart.
—Sper

Let the Bible fill your mind, rule your heart, and guide your life.

REVIVAL:
Definitions & Descriptions

Vance Havner defined REVIVAL  as "a work of God's Spirit among His own people . . . what we call revival is simply New Testament Christianity, the saints getting back to normal.''

Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, "The essence of revival is that the Holy Spirit comes down upon a number of people together; upon a whole church, a number of churches, districts or perhaps a whole country. It is a visitation or outpouring of the Holy Spirit - God has come down among them."

True revival is marked by powerful and often widespread outpourings of the Spirit. Many times preaching has to cease because the hearers were prostrate or because the voice of the preacher was drowned by cries for mercy. "The Holy Spirit FELL ON all them which heard the Word." (Acts 10:44)

Jonathan Edwards son-in-law David Brainherd who prayed in the snow until it melted around him and was stained by his blood as he coughed away his life with T.B. prevailed in prayer for revival among the American Indians. Before he died he describes in his journal how it finally began in 1745:     "The power of God seemed to descend on the assembly 'like a rushing mighty wind' and with an astonishing energy bore all down before it. I stood amazed at the influence that seized the audience almost universally and could compare it to nothing more aptly than the irresistible force of a mighty torrent . . . Almost all persons of all ages were bowed down with concern together and scarce one was able to withstand the shock of the astonishing operation." 

Brian Edwards comments: "Someone has described revival as 'the top blowing off' and that is very true. But the top does not blow off before the bottom has fallen out." (Brian H. Edwards: Revival: A People Saturated With God" p.130)

Arthur Wallis in his classic study "In The Day Of Thy Power" points out the word is determined by its usage. It had historical consistency of meaning up until recent years, where (especially in America) it began to take on a lesser, more limited sense.Nevertheless, he says:  "Numerous writings on the subject preserved confirm that revival is Divine intervention in the normal course of spiritual things. It is God revealing Himself to man in aweful holiness and irresistible power. It is such a manifest working of God that human personalities are overshadowed and human programmes abandoned. It is man retiring into the background because God has taken the field. It is the Lord . . . working in extraordinary power on saint and sinner."

J. Edwin Orr, a prolific writer and eminent authority of both scholarship and experience in the subject defined a spiritual awakening as "a movement of the Holy Spirit bringing about a revival of New Testament Christianity in the Church of Christ and its related community." It may significantly change an individual, a group of believers, a congregation, a city, a country or even eventually the world but it accomplishes "the reviving of the Church, the awakening of the masses and the movement of uninstructed peoples towards the Christian faith; the revived church by many or few is moved to engage in evangelism, teaching and social action."

A.W. Tozer defined revival as that which "changes the moral climate of a community."

Revival is essentially manifestation of God; it has the stamp of Deity on it which even the unregenerate and uninitiated are quick to recognize. Duncan Campbell described it as a "community saturated with God." Revival must of necessity make an impact on the community and this is one means by which we may distinguish it from the more usual operations of the Holy Spirit." (Wallis,op. cit.) John Dawson points out that the community of the twentieth century is different from that of previous ages; modern communities are "linked vocational villages of communication" not necessarily geographically connected. A revival in the 18th Century affected your neighbor who probably lived next door; a revival that affects your neighbor in the Twentieth Century may touch neighbors in touch with you who live hundreds or even thousands of miles away, and are linked not by geographic location but by common vocation and communication. Revival is what the church first experiences; evangelism is then what she engages in. Revival is periodic; evangelism is continuous. Revival cannot last; evangelism must not stop.

Do we want a revival? Do we really? James Burns writing in "Revival, Their Laws and Leaders" said in 1909: "To the church, a revival means humiliation, a bitter knowledge of unworthiness and an open and humiliating confession of sin on the part of her minsters and people. It is not the easy and glorious thing many think it to be, who imagine it fills pews and reinstates the church in power and authority. "It comes to scorch before it heals; it comes to condemn ministers and people for their unfaithful witness, for their selfish living, for their neglect of the cross, and to call them to daily renunciation, to an evangelical poverty and to a deep and daily consecration. That is why a revival has ever been unpopular with large numbers within the church. Because it says nothing to them of power such as they have learned to love, or of ease, or of success; it accuses them of sin, it tells them they are dead, it calls them to awake, to renounce the world and to follow Christ."
    "The inevitable and constant preliminary to revival has always been a thirst for God, a thirst, a living thirst for a knowledge of the living God and a longing and a burning desire to see Him acting, manifesting himself and his power, rising and scattering his enemies . . . The thirst for God and longing for the exhibition of His glory are the essential preliminaries." D.M. Lloyd-Jones: Revival pp.90-91)

SUDDENNESS  "and suddenly there came . . ." v.2.

Revival is a Divine attack on society. In revival God's work may be sudden and unexpected; often even believers are caught unawares, while fear and astonishment grip unbelievers hearts: "There was nothing, humanly speaking to account for what happened" noted Joseph Kemp of Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh in 1905. "Quite suddenly, upon one and another came an overwhelming sense of the reality and awfulness of His Presence and of eternal things. Life, death and eternity seemed suddenly laid bare."
    Revival is God springing a convicting surprise on His creation: "I have declared the former things from of old; yea they went forth out of My mouth and I shewed them; SUDDENLY I did them and they came to pass, and new things do I declare; before they SPRING FORTH I tell you of them." (Isa 42:9; 2 Chron.29:36)
    "The effect of the sudden working of the Spirit in revival is very striking in the conviction of sinners. Often without any preparatory concern or even thought for spiritual things, a sinner will be suddenly seized with overwhelming conviction of sin."
    (Acts 3:19 - "seasons of refreshing . . . from the presence of the Lord") . . . "a movement bears this mark of spontaneity when men cannot account for what has taken place in terms of personalities, organizations, meetings, preachings, or any other consecrated activity; and when the work continues unabated without any human control. As soon as a movement becomes controlled or organized, it has ceased to be spontaneous - it is no longer a revival. The course of the 1904 revival has been outlined thus: "God began to work; then the Devil began to work in opposition; then God began to work all the harder; then man began to work and the revival came to an end."
The spirit of revival is the consciousness of God. Men were "pricked in their heart" (Acts 3:7) "fear came on every soul" (v.43) "The effects of such manifestations of God are twofold; men are made aware both of His power and His holiness. This manifestation . . . was intensely personal.". . . It is God moving in power and holiness toward you; God coming for you, and calling your name! "Here is an outstanding feature of revival; it is easy to see why it results in overwhelming conviction both among the saved and the lost whenever there is unjudged sin . . . At such times man is not only conscious God is there; but that He is there, it seems to deal with him alone, until he is oblivious of all but his own soul in the agonizing grip of a holy God. If these facts are bourne in mind, the extraordinary effects of past revivals will not seem incredible. The ruthless logic of Jonathan Edwards famous discourse "Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God" could not have produced the effect it did had not God been in the midst.""When they went into the meeting house the appearance of the assembly was thoughtless and vain; the people scarcely conducted themselves with common decency." recorded Trumbull, but goes on to describe the effects of the sermon: "the assembly appeared bowed with an awful conviction of their sin and danger. There was such a breathing of distress and weeping that the preacher was obliged to speak to the people and desire silence that he might be heard." Conant says, "Many of the hearers were seen unconsciously holding themselves up against the pillars and the sides of the pews as though they already felt themselves sliding into the pit."

This overwhelming sense of God bringing deep conviction of sin is perhaps the outstanding feature of true revival. Its manifestation is not always the same; to cleansed hearts it is heaven; to convicted hearts it is Hell.

Spurgeon noted "If you read the story of the Reformation, or the later story . . . of Whitefield and Wesley, you are struck with the singular spirit that went with the preachers. The world said they were mad; the caricaturists drew them as being fanatical beyond all endurance; but there it was, their zeal was their power. Of course the world scoffed at that of which it was afraid. The world fears enthusiasm, the sacred enthusiasm kindled by the thought of the ruin of men and by the desire to pluck the firebrands from the flame, the enthusiasm which believes in the Holy Ghost, which believes God is still present with His church to do wonders.""Dislike of enthusiasm," said D.M.Lloyd-Jones "is to quench the Spirit. Those . . . familiar with the history of the Church and in particular the history of revivals will know this charge of enthusiasm is one always brought against people most active in a period of revival. (Revival op. cit p.72)

SEVEN ''REVIVALS'' IN THE OT: Dr. Wilbur Smith notes seven "outstanding revivals" in the Old Testament in addition to the
one under Jonah. 

1) In Jacob's household (Gen. 35:1-15); 
2). Under Asa (2 Chron.15:1ff); 
3). Jehoash (2 Kings 11,12; 2 Chron 23,24); 
4. Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4-7; 2 Chron. 29:31)
5). Josiah (2 Kings 22,23; 2 Chron. 34,35) 
6&7). Two revivals after the Exile under Zerubbabel (Ezra 5,6) in which Haggai and Zechariah play a prominent part and finally in Nehemiah's time in which Ezra was the outstanding figure (Neh.9:9; 12:44-47)

NINE CHARACTERISTICS OF THESE REVIVALS:
(1) They occurred in a day of deep moral darkness and national depression
(2) They began in the heart of one consecrated servant of God who became the energizing
power behind it, the agent used of God to quicken and lead the nation back to faith in and obedience to Him
(3) Each revival rested on the Word of God and most were the result of preaching and proclaiming Gods law with power
(4) All resulted in a return to the worship of Jehovah
(5) Each witnessed the destruction of idols where they existed 
(6) In each revival there was a recorded separation from sin.
(7) In every revival they returned to offering blood sacrifices
(8) Almost all recorded show restored great joy and gladness
(9) Each revival was followed by a period of great national prosperity. 

 The Greek equivalent of the OT word for revive is only used five times in the NT. "Why is it not more of a N.T. word? For the simple reason that New Testament Christianity IS revived Christianity." (Spurgeon On Revival: Eric W. Hayden). This Greek word-- anazao (G 326) is used for the restoration of the prodigal son (Luke 15:24,32) the resurrection of Christ (Rom. 14:9) and the physical resurrection of the dead in the last days (Rev.20:5) but also for the deadly effect of sin (Rom. 7:9).
    The primary aim is to lead souls to repentance . . . There is so much emphasis today on believing,receiving, deciding and so on and so little on the vital step of repenting . . . the men dealt faithfullywith the question of sin that the conscience might be aroused." 
    "It was a precept of Wesley to his evangelists in unfolding their message to speak first in  general of the love of God to man; then with all possible energy so as to search the conscience to its depths, to preach the law of holiness; and then, and not till then, to uplift the glories of the gospel of pardon and of life. Intentionally or not, his directions follow the lines of the epistle to Romans."
    (Bishop Hadley Moule on Romans) John Nelson records of Wesley at Moorfields, "His countenance struck such an awful dread upon me before I heard him speak that it made my heart beat like the  pendulum of a clock; and when he did speak, I thought his whole discourse was aimed at me." (Wesley, Pollock p.154)

Try this little survey:
1). How many of you know we NEED a revival? 
Almost everyone raises their hands here. The knowledge of this fact hardly takes scholarship or devotion.

2). How many of you WANT a revival? 
Again, a majority opinion in church groups. And in the 80's so did around 80% of the country according to George Gallup Jr. Even the lost know we need a revival!

3). How many of you know WHAT a revival is?
The number drops off alarmingly now. Here is something we all want, we all know we need, but we don't have a clue what it is!

4). How many of you have ever EXPERIENCED a real revival? 
And here, very few if any, ever respond. "Another generation arose that did not know the mighty works of the Lord".
And that, friend, is the reason for this book. Jdg 2:10 

Psalm 119:38  Establish Thy word to Thy servant, As that which produces reverence for Thee. (PRAYER)

NET  Psalm 119:38 Confirm to your servant your promise, which you made to the one who honors you.

LXE  Psalm 119:38 Confirm thine oracle to thy servant, that he may fear thee.

NLT  Psalm 119:38 Reassure me of your promise, made to those who fear you.

KJV  Psalm 119:38 Stablish <06965> (08685) thy word <0565> unto thy servant <05650>, who is devoted to thy fear <03374>.

ESV  Psalm 119:38 Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.

NIV  Psalm 119:38 Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared.

ASV  Psalm 119:38 Confirm unto thy servant thy word, Which is in order unto the fear of thee.

CSB  Psalm 119:38 Confirm what You said to Your servant, for it produces reverence for You.

NKJ  Psalm 119:38 Establish <06965> (08685) Your word <0565> to Your servant <05650>, Who is devoted to fearing <03374> You.

NRS  Psalm 119:38 Confirm to your servant your promise, which is for those who fear you.

YLT  Psalm 119:38 Establish to Thy servant Thy saying, That is concerning Thy fear.

NAB  Psalm 119:38 For your servant fulfill your promise made to those who fear you.

NJB  Psalm 119:38 Keep your promise to your servant so that all may hold you in awe.

GWN  Psalm 119:38 Keep your promise to me so that I can fear you.

BHT  Psalm 119:38 häqëm lü`abDükä ´imräteºkä ´ášer lüyir´äteºkä

BBE  Psalm 119:38 Give effect to your word to your servant, in whose heart is the fear of you.

• Establish: Ps 119:49 2Sa 7:25-29 2Co 1:20 
• that which produces reverence for Thee: Ps 103:11,13,17 145:19 147:11 Jer 32:39-41 

Establish Thy word to Thy servant, As that which produces reverence for Thee - This is a great prayer to pray to God. Servant acknowledges our submission to Him and His will for our life. The effect of God's Word should be to produce a holy, reverential fear of God, and an associated dread of committing sin which grieves Him. 

Spurgeon - That is, “Make thy word to me real and true. Put away my natural skepticism, my proneness to question, my tendency to doubt.” “Stablish thy word.” “Make me to know how firm, how true, how real it is, for I would love it more and more. I do believe it, for I am devoted to thy fear, but I long to be still further established in the faith.”

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Charles Bridges - Often—instead of being quickened in the way—I am fainting under the pressure of unbelief. What then is my resource? Only the word of promise. Lord! seal—stablish thy word unto thy servant—devoted as I am—as I would be—to thy fear. If “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”1—a “treasure”2—a “strong confidence”3—“a fountain of life”4—how wise—how rich—how safe—how happy—is he that “is devoted to” it! “Blessed” indeed is he—with the favor of his God,5 the secret of his love,6 the teaching of his grace,7 and the mercy of his covenant.8 The promises of the Old Testament are generally connected with the fear of God, as in the New Testament they are linked with faith. But in truth, so identified are these two principles in their operation, that the faith, by which we apprehend the forgiveness of God, and the privileges of his kingdom, issues in a godly, reverential, filial fear?9 To be devoted to this fear, completes the character of a servant of God—the highest honor in the universe—the substantial joy of heaven itself.10 It is an obedience of choice, of reverence, and of love. “Joining himself to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord,—to be his servant.”11 Yes, gracious Lord, I had rather be bound than looked. I only wished to be loosed from the bonds of sin, that I might be bound to thee for ever. My heart is treacherous; lay thine own bonds upon me. “O Lord, truly I am thy servant: thou hast loosed my bonds;”12 I am “devoted to thy fear.” Is this my desire, my mind, my determination, my character? Then let me plead my title to an interest in the promises of the word—rich and free, “exceeding great and precious”13—all mine—“yea, and amen in Christ Jesus”14 let me plead, that every word may be “established” in my victory over sin, advancing knowledge of Christ, experience of his love, conformity to his image, and finally, in my preservation in him unto eternal life.

1 Psalm 111:10.

2 Isaiah 33:6.

3 Prov. 14:26.

4 Prov 14: 27.

5 Psalm 33:18.

6 Ps 25:14.

7 Ps 25:12.

8 Ps 103:17.

9 Ps 130:4. Compare Jer. 33:8, 9. Hosea 3:5; also Heb. 12:28.

10 Rev. 7:15; 22:3.

11 Isaiah 56:6.

12 Psalm 116:16.

13 2 Peter 1:4.

14 2 Cor. 1:20.

But how far has the fear of God operated with me as a safe guard from sin,15 and an habitual rule of conduct?16 David’s confidence in the promises of God, far from lessening his jealousy over himself, only made him more “devoted to the fear” of God. And if my assurance be well-grounded, it will be ever accompanied with holy fear; the influence will be known by “standing more in awe of God’s word;”17 having a more steady abhorrence of sin, and a dread of “grieving the Holy Spirit of God.” Thus this filial fear produces a holy confidence; while confidence serves to strengthen fear: and their mutual influence quickens devotedness to the work of the Lord.

It is interesting to remark, that the Christian privilege of assurance is not confined to the New Testament dispensation. David’s pleading to have the “word of his God stablished unto him,”1 was grounded upon the tried foundations of faith. And this direct act of faith, as it regards God in Christ, his engagements, and his promises, cannot be too confident. The promises are made to the whole Church, that we might each look for our part and interest in them. God loves to have his own seal and hand-writing brought before him. “Put me in remembrance”—saith he: “let us plead together.” “He cannot deny himself.”2 This is the exercise and the power of faith. I bring my wants. I bring thy word of promise. Stablish thy word unto thy servant. Thou hast bought me with a precious price: thou hast made me thine: thou hast subdued my heart to thyself, so that it is now “devoted to thy fear.” Whatsoever, therefore, thy covenant has provided for my sanctification, my humiliation, my chastisement, my present and everlasting consolation—“Stablish this word:” let it be fulfilled in me; for I am “thy servant, devoted to thy fear.”

15 Gen. 39, 9. Neh. 5:15. Prov. 16:6.

16 Prov. 23:17.

17 Ps 119:161.

1 Mark this petition, drawn out by David into a full pleading with his God, 2 Sam. 7:25, 28, 29. The expression also of the same confidence will afterwards be noticed. Verse 49.

2 Isaiah 43:26. 2 Tim. 2:13.

Psalm 119:39 Turn away my reproach which I dread, For Thine ordinances are good. (PRAYER)

NET  Psalm 119:39 Take away the insults that I dread! Indeed, your regulations are good.

LXE  Psalm 119:39 Take away my reproach which I have feared: for thy judgments are good.

NLT  Psalm 119:39 Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good.

KJV  Psalm 119:39 Turn away <05674> (08685) my reproach <02781> which I fear <03025> (08804): for thy judgments <04941> are good <02896>.

ESV  Psalm 119:39 Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.

NIV  Psalm 119:39 Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good.

ASV  Psalm 119:39 Turn away my reproach whereof I am afraid; For thine ordinances are good.

CSB  Psalm 119:39 Turn away the disgrace I dread; indeed, Your judgments are good.

NKJ  Psalm 119:39 Turn away <05674> (08685) my reproach <02781> which I dread <03025> (08804), For Your judgments <04941> are good <02896>.

NRS  Psalm 119:39 Turn away the disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.

YLT  Psalm 119:39 Remove my reproach that I have feared, For Thy judgments are good.

NAB  Psalm 119:39 Turn away from me the taunts I dread, for your edicts bring good.

NJB  Psalm 119:39 Avert the taunts that I dread, for your judgements are generous.

GWN  Psalm 119:39 Take away insults, which I dread, because your regulations are good.

BHT  Psalm 119:39 ha`ábër HerPätî ´ášer yägöºrTî Kî mišPä†Êºkä †ôbîm

BBE  Psalm 119:39 Take away the shame which is my fear; for your decisions are good.

• run: Song 1:4 Isa 40:31 1Co 9:24-26 Heb 12:1 
• enlarge: Ps 119:45 18:36 1Ki 4:29 Job 36:15,16 Isa 60:5 61:1 Lu 1:74,75 Joh 8:32,36 2Co 3:17 6:11 1Pe 2:16 

Turn away my reproach which I dread, For Thine ordinances are good.

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Charles Bridges - There is a reproach, that we have no cause to fear, but rather to glory in. It is one of the chief privileges of the Gospel3—the honorable badge of our profession.4 But it was the “reproach” of bringing dishonor upon the name of his God, that David feared,5 and deprecated with most anxious importunate prayer. The fear of this reproach is a practical principle of tender watchfulness and circumspection, and of habitual dependence upon an Almighty upholding power. “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe”6—will be the constant supplication of one that fears the Lord, and fears himself. We do not perhaps sufficiently consider the active malice of the enemies of the Gospel “watching for our halting;”7 else should we be more careful to remove all occasions of “reproach” on account of inconsistency of temper or conversation. None therefore that feel their own weakness, the continual apprehension of danger, the tendency of their heart to backslide from God, and to disgrace “that worthy name by which they are called,”8 will think this prayer unseasonable or unnecessary—“Turn away my reproach which I fear.”

Perhaps also the conflicting Christian may find this a suitable prayer. Sometimes Satan has succeeded in beguiling him into some worldly compliance, or weakened his confidence, by tempting him to look to himself for some warrant of acceptance, (in all which suggestions he is aided and abetted by his treacherous heart:) and then will this “accuser of the brethren” turn back upon him, and change himself into “an angel of light,” presenting before him a black catalogue of those very falls, into which he had successfully led him. Bunyan does not fail to enumerate these “reproaches” as amongst the most harassing assaults of Apollyon. In his desperate conflict with Christian, he taunts him with his fall into the Slough of Despond, and every successive deviation from his path, as blotting out his warrant of present favor with the king, and blasting all hopes of reaching the celestial city. Christian does not attempt to conceal or palliate the charge. He knows it is all true, and much more besides; but he knows this is true also—“Where sin abounded, grace hath much more abounded.” “The blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth from all sin.”1 Believers! In the heat of your conflict remember the only effective covering. “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”2 Do you not hate the sins, with which you have been overtaken?

3 Matt. 5:10–12. Compare Phil. 1:29.

4 Acts 5:41; 24:5; 28:22. Heb. 13:13. 1 Pet. 4:12–16.

5 2 Sam. 12:14. We find Saul strongly deprecating this reproach,—“I have sinned; yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel.” (1 Sam. 15:30.) But how different the principle in these two instances under a similar trial! The one tremblingly alive, that the name of God might not be reproached through his shameful fall. The other earnest only to secure his own reputation.

6 Ps 119:1.

7 Jer. 20:10.

8 James 2:7.

1 Rom. 5:20. 1 John 1:7.

2 Ephes. 6:16.

Are you not earnestly longing for deliverance from their power? Then even while the recollections of their guilt and defilement humble you before the Lord, take fresh hold of the Gospel, and you shall “overcome by the blood of the Lamb.”3 Victory must come from the cross. And the soul that is directing its eye thither for pardon, strength, and consolation, may sigh out the prayer with acceptance—“Turn away my reproach which I fear.”

But how deeply is the guilt of apostasy or backsliding aggravated by the acknowledgment which all are constrained to make—“Thy judgments are good!” How affecting is the Lord’s expostulation with us!—“What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? O my people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.”4 No, surely we have nothing to complain of our Master, of his work, or of his wages; but much, very much, to complain of ourselves, of our watchfulness, neglect, backsliding, and to humble ourselves on account of the consequent reproach upon our profession.

Never, however, let us cease to cry, that all the reproach which we fear on account of our allowed inconsistencies of profession, may for the Church’s sake, be “turned away from us.” Meanwhile, “let us accept it as the punishment of our iniquity;”5 and in the recollection of the “goodness of the Lord’s judgments,” still venture to hope and look for the best things to come out of it, from our gracious Lord.

3 Rev. 12:9–11.

4 Jer. 2:5. Micah 6:3. Isaiah 43:23

5 Lev. 26:41.

Psalm 119:40 Behold, I long for Thy precepts; Revive me through Thy righteousness. (PRAYER)

NET  Psalm 119:40 Look, I long for your precepts. Revive me with your deliverance!

LXE  Psalm 119:40 Behold, I have desired thy commandments: quicken me in thy righteousness.

NLT  Psalm 119:40 I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness. Waw

KJV  Psalm 119:40 Behold, I have longed <08373> (08804) after thy precepts <06490>: quicken <02421> (08761) me in thy righteousness <06666>.

ESV  Psalm 119:40 Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!

NIV  Psalm 119:40 How I long for your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness.

ASV  Psalm 119:40 Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: Quicken me in thy righteousness.

CSB  Psalm 119:40 How I long for Your precepts! Give me life through Your righteousness.

NKJ  Psalm 119:40 Behold, I long <08373> (08804) for Your precepts <06490>; Revive <02421> (08761) me in Your righteousness <06666>.

NRS  Psalm 119:40 See, I have longed for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life.

YLT  Psalm 119:40 Lo, I have longed for Thy precepts, In Thy righteousness quicken Thou me,

NAB  Psalm 119:40 See how I long for your precepts; in your justice give me life.

NJB  Psalm 119:40 See how I yearn for your precepts; in your saving justice give me life.

GWN  Psalm 119:40 I long for your guiding principles. Give me a new life in your righteousness.

BHT  Psalm 119:40 hinnË Tä´aºbTî lüpiqqùdʺkä Bücidqätkä Hayyëºnî

BBE  Psalm 119:40 See how great is my desire for your orders: give me life in your righteousness.

• I long: Ps 119:5,20 Mt 26:41 Ro 7:24 2Co 7:1 Ga 5:17 Php 3:13,14 
• Revive: Ps 119:25,37,88,107,149,156,159 Mk 9:24 Joh 5:21 10:10 1Co 15:45 Eph 2:5 3Jn 1:2 

Behold, I long for Thy precepts - Long for is (Qal Perfect) and only other use is Ps 119:174 " I long for Your salvation, O LORD."

Septuagint (Lxx) = Long for (1937)(epithumeo from epí = upon, used intensively + thumós = passion) is literally one's passion upon, to have a strong desire, to desire greatly, in this case God's precepts! The idea is he had fixed his desire upon God's precepts. It is interesting that the preposition epi can express motion toward or upon and thus one lexicon defines it as to set one's heart upon. In sum, epithumeo describes a strong impulse toward something so that one's passions or affections directed toward some object, thing or person. Jesus used epithumeo with its evil connotation here in Mt 5:28+, where epithumeo describes a husband's lustful passion directly toward a woman who is not his wife. 

THOUGHT Notice that the use of epithumeo in Ps 119:40 gives us a great pattern as to how we can fight the good fight against the sinful longing Jesus warned about in Mt 5:28+. What is the pattern? In context it is to "long for Thy precepts!" This powerful principle is also known as the Expulsive Power of a New Affection the new longing directed toward the Lord in effect negating the longing of the Old Man for gratification of the flesh!

Revive me through Thy righteousness - Note the juxtaposition of God's precepts and revival. As David said in Psalm 19:7 "The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul." This recalls the earlier prayer by the psalmist "My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word." (Psalm 119:25, cf Ps 119:107, Ps 119:149) 

THOUGHT Note that the word "revive" appears only 18x in the entire OT but Psalm 119 has 11 uses!  Ps. 119:25; Ps. 119:37; Ps. 119:40; Ps. 119:50; Ps. 119:88; Ps. 119:93; Ps. 119:107; Ps. 119:149; Ps. 119:154; Ps. 119:156; Ps. 119:159. Given this concentration of the word "revive" in Psalm 119 and our dire need for daily revival because of the "spiritual leakage" inherent in living in a godless world, it behooves all God's children to frequently immerse themselves in the living waters of Psalm 119! When was the last time you read and meditated on some of the verses in this life giving psalm?

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Charles Bridges - Behold! An appeal to the heart-searching God—“Thou knowest that I love”1 thy precepts! The heart-felt acknowledgment of their goodness naturally leads to long after them.2 The professor longs after the promises, and too often builds a delusive—because an unsanctifying hope upon them. The believer feels it to be his privilege and safety to have an equal regard to both—to obey the precepts of God in dependence on his promises, and to expect the accomplishment of the promises, in way of obedience to the precepts. The utmost extent of the professor’s service is the heavy yoke of outward conformity. He knows nothing of an inward delight, and “longing after them.” Of many of them his heart complains, “This is a hard saying: who can hear it?”3 The Christian can give a good reason for his delight even in the most difficult and painful “precepts.” The moments of deepest repentance are his times of the sweetest “refreshing from the presence of the Lord.”4 Whatever be the pleasure of indulgence in sin, far greater is the ultimate enjoyment arising out of the mortification of it.5 Most fruitful is our Saviour’s precept, which inculcates on his followers self-denial and the daily cross.6 For by this wholesome discipline we lose our own perverse will; the power of sin is restrained, the pride of the heart humbled; and our real happiness fixed upon a solid and permanent basis. So that, whatever dispensation some might desire for breaking the precept without forfeiting the promise, the Christian blesses God for the strictness that binds him to a steady obedience to it. To him it is grievous, not to keep it, but to break it. A “longing” therefore “after the precepts,” marks the character of the child of God, and may be considered as the pulse of the soul. It forms our meetness and ripeness for heaven.

There are indeed times, when the violence of temptation, or the paralyzing effect of indolence, hide the movements of the “hidden man of the heart.” And yet even in these gloomy hours, when the mouth is shut, and the heart dumb, before God—“so troubled that it cannot speak,”7—even then, acceptable incense is ascending before the throne of God. We have a powerful intercessor “helping our infirmities”—interpreting our desires, and crying from within, “with groanings that cannot be uttered;”8 yet such as being indited by our advocate within, and

1 Compare John 21:17.

2 Compare the same acknowledgment, Rom. 7:12, connected with similar delight, 22.

3 John 6:60.

4 Acts 3:19. Luther says the practice of repentance was ever sweeter to him, after hearing the expression of an old divine—“That is kind repentance, which begins from the love of God.”

5 See David’s lively expression of gratitude—first to his God—then to the instrument employed by him—(Abigail) in restraining him from the gratification of most unjustifiable revenge.—1 Sam. 25:32, 33.

6 Luke 9:23.

7 Psalm 77:4.

8 Rom. 8:26.

presented by our Advocate above,9 are cheering earnests of their fulfilment. “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.”1

These longings might seem to betoken a vigorous exercise of grace. But shall I be satisfied, while the most fervent desires are so disproportioned to their grand object—so overborne by the corruption of the flesh2—and while a heartless state is so hateful to my Saviour?3 Idle confessions and complaints are unseemly and unfruitful. Let me rather besiege the mercy-seat with incessant importunity4—“Quicken me in thy righteousness.” “I plead thy righteousness—thy righteous promise for the reviving of my spiritual life. I long for more lively apprehensions of thy spotless righteousness. Oh! let it invigorate my delight, my obedience, my secret communion, my Christian walk and conversation.” Such longings, poured out before the Lord for a fresh supply of quickening grace, are far different from “the desire of the slothful which killeth him,”5 and will not be forgotten before God. “Delight thyself in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”6 O for a more enlarged expectation, and a more abundant vouchsafement of blessing; that we may burst forth and break out, as from a living fountain within,7 in more ardent longings for the Lord’s precepts!

But it may be asked—What weariness in, and reluctancy to duties, may consist with the principle and exercise of grace? Where it is only in the members, not in the mind—where it is only partial, not prevalent—where it is only occasional, not habitual—where it is lamented and resisted, and not allowed—and where, in spite of its influence, the Christian still holds on the way of duty—“grace reigns” in the midst of conflict, and will ultimately and gloriously triumph over all hindrance and opposition. But in the midst of the humbling views of sin that present themselves on every side, let me diligently inquire—Have I an habitual “hungering and thirsting after righteousness?” And since, at the best, I do but get my longings increased, and not satisfied, let the full satisfaction of heaven be much in my heart. ‘As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.”8

And what an expectation is this to pretend to! To think what the infinitely—eternally blessed God is—and what “man is at his best estate”9—then to conceive of man the worm of the dust—

9 Heb. 9:24. Rev. 8:3, 4.

1 Psalm 145:19.

2 Rom. 7:18–24.

3 Rev. 3:16.

4 Matt. 11:12.

5 Prov. 21:25.

6 Psalm 37:4

7 John 4:14; 7:38.

8 Psalm 17:15.

9 Ib. 39:5.

the child of sin and wrath—transformed into the likeness of God—bow weighty is the sound of this hope! What then must its substantiation be? If the initial privilege be glorious,10 what will the fulness be!11 Glory revealed to us! transfused through us! becoming our very being? To have the soul filled—not with evanescent shadows—but with massive, weighty, eternal glory!12 Worlds are mere empty bubbles compared with this our sure, satisfying, unfading inheritance.

10 2 Cor. 3:18.

11 1 John 3:2.

12 2 Cor. 4:17.

Psalm 119:41 Vav. May Your lovingkindnesses also come to me, O LORD, Your salvation according to Your word; 

• Ps 119:58,76,77,132 69:16 106:4,5 Lu 2:28-32 

Vav. May Your lovingkindnesses also come to me, O LORD, Your salvation according to Your word; 

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Warren Wiersbe -  Real Freedom
Read Psalm 119:41-48
Many people have the strange idea that God's Law and man's liberty are enemies. They say, "I want freedom. I want to do my own thing." How wrong they are. God's Law and your liberty go hand-in-hand, and Psalm 119:45 makes this clear. "And I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts." Now, the world would write that verse like this: "And I will walk at liberty, for I reject and break Thy precepts. I'm going to do my own thing, my own way."
Let's get down to basics. What is freedom? Some may say freedom means the privilege of doing what you want to do. But that is not freedom. In fact, that's the worst kind of slavery in the world--to be controlled only by your impulses and inclinations. Real freedom is a life controlled by God's truth and motivated by His love.
This is true in every area of life. If we obey the traffic laws, we have the freedom to drive on the streets and highways. If we obey the laws of truth, we have the freedom to speak, and people will believe us. If we obey the laws of science, we won't blow up the laboratory. If the airplane pilot obeys the laws of aerodynamics, he will be able to fly his plane. You see, we have the freedom to enjoy the power of the Law when we have yielded to the commandment of the Law. So when I submit myself to the will of God, I am taking my first step toward freedom. As Charles Wesley wrote, God "braks the power of canceled sin; He sets the prisoner free." He says, "If you submit to me, together we will enjoy truth and love."
* * *
Are you enjoying real freedom in your Christian life? If not, you may have real freedom by submitting to the will of God. He gives us His Word so that we may know His will. Submit to Him and take your first step toward freedom (Psalm 119:41-48 Real Freedom)

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Charles Bridges - Footnotes follow each section

A prayer of deep anxiety—large desire—simple faith! It is a sinner—feeling his need of mercy—yea mercies—abundant mercy1—mercies for every moment—looking for them only in the Lord’s salvation—to be dispensed according to his word. Out of Christ we know only a God of justice and holiness. In Christ we behold a just God, and yet a Saviour:2 and in “his salvation mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”3 Therefore general notions of mercy without a distinct apprehension of “salvation”—have their origin in presumption, not in warranted faith. For can there be any communication of mercy from an unknown God? Can there be any intercourse with an angry God? “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee”4—“The Lord’s mercies, even his salvation.”

This prayer, however, is peculiarly suitable to the believer, longing to realize that which sometimes is clouded to his view—his personal interest in the Lord’s salvation! It must come to me; or I shall never come to it. I want not a general apprehension—I am not satisfied with the description of it. Let it come to me—let thy mercies be applied, so that I can claim them and rejoice in them. I see thy salvation come to others. Who needs it more than I? Let it come also unto me. Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou used to do to those that love thy name. “Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest to thy people; O visit me with thy salvation; that I may see the felicity of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.”5

Now, are we seeking the assurance of this salvation? Are we waiting to realize its present power, saving us from sin—Satan—the world—ourselves—and “blessing us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus?” Should a trial of faith and patience be ordained for us, yet in the end we shall find an enriching store of experience from His wise dispensations. That he has kept us from turning our backs upon his ways, when we had no comfort in them; that he has upheld us with secret supplies of strength—is not this the work of his own Spirit within, and the pledge of the completion of the work? That he has enabled us, against all discouragements, to “continue instant in prayer,” is surely an answer to that prayer, which in our apprehensions of it had been cast out. That in waiting upon him, we have found no rest in worldly consolation, is an assurance that the Lord himself will be our soul-satisfying and eternal portion. And who is there now in the sensible enjoyment of his love, who does not bless that Divine wisdom, which took the same course with them that has been taken with us, to bring them to these joys?

1 Psalm 51:1.
2 Isa. 45:21.
3 Psalm 85:9, 10. Comp. Rom. 3:26.
4 Job 22:21.
5 Ps 119:132. Psalm 106:4, 5.

When did a weeping seed-time fail of bringing a joyful harvest!1

But let not the ground of faith be forgotten—“According to thy word,”—that it shall come fully—freely—eternally—to him that waiteth for it.2 “Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness; those that remember thee in thy ways.”3 Many indeed are satisfied with far too low a standard of spiritual enjoyments. It is comfortless to live at a distance from our Father’s house, when we might be dwelling in the secret of his presence, and rejoicing in the smiles of his love. But let us not charge this dishonorable state upon the sovereignty of the Divine dispensations. Let us rather trace it to its true source—want of desire—want of faith—want of prayer—want of diligence. What infinite need have we of heavenly influence! What gracious encouragement to seek it! The way was blocked up—mercy has cleared the path, opened our access.—“The golden sceptre is always held out.”4 Earnest prayer will bring a sure answer. The blessing is unspeakable. Let thy mercies—thy salvation—come unto me, O Lord.

1 Psalm 126:5, 6.
2 Psalm  33:22. Compare Ps 5:1.
3 Isaiah 64:5.
4 Esther 5:2.

Psalm 119:42  So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word. 

• So shall (KJV): Ps 3:2 42:10 71:10,11 109:25 Mt 27:40-43,63 
• have wherewith (KJV): etc. or, answer him that reproacheth me in a thing, 2Sa 16:7,8 19:18-20 
• for I trust (KJV): Ps 119:49,74,81 56:4,10,11 89:19-37 2Sa 7:12-16 1Ch 28:3-6 Ac 27:25 

So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word - We trust the Bible about everything, because it is right about everything (v128). It is true and can be trusted wholly. To argue with the Bible is to argue with God. We test every other book by what God says in His Word. 

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Charles Bridges - What is the salvation which he had just been speaking of? The whole gift of the mercy of God—redemption from sin, death, and hell—pardon, peace, and acceptance with a reconciled God—constant communication of spiritual blessings—all that God can give or we can want; all that we are able to receive here, or heaven can perfect hereafter. Now, if this “comes to us”—comes to our hearts—surely it will furnish us at all times with “an answer to him that reproacheth us.” The world casts upon us the reproach of the cross. “What profit is there to walk mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?”5 What is there to counterbalance the relinquishment of pleasure, esteem, and worldly comfort? The professor can give no answer. He has heard of it, but it has never come to him. The believer is ready with his answer, I have found in the Lord’s salvation pardon and peace—“not as the world giveth”—and such as the world cannot take away. Here therefore do I abide, finding it my happiness not to live without the cross, and testifying in the midst of abounding tribulation, that there are no comforts like Christ’s comforts. This was David’s answer, when family trials were probably an occasion of reproach, “Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation and all my desire.”1

But there is a far heavier reproach than that of the world—when the grand accuser injects hard thoughts of God—when he throws our guilt and unworthiness—our helplessness and difficulties in our face. And how severe is this exercise in a season of spiritual desertion! Except the believer can stay his soul upon “a God that hideth himself, as still the God of Israel, the Saviour,”2 he is unprepared with an answer to him that reproacheth him. Such appears to have been Job’s condition,3 and Heman’s,4 not to speak of many of the Lord’s most favored people, at different stages of their Christian life. Most important therefore is it for us to pray for a realizing sense of the Lord’s mercies—even of his salvation—not only as necessary for our peace and comfort—but to garrison us against every assault, and to enable us to throw down the challenge, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.”5 Free grace has saved me—an unspotted righteousness covers me—an Almighty arm sustains me—eternal glory awaits me. Who shall condemn? “Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?”6

Now for this bold front to our enemies, nothing is wanted beyond the reach of the weakest child of God. No extraordinary holiness—no Christian establishment in experience—nothing but simple, humble faith, “For I trust in thy word.” Faith makes this salvation ours, in all its fulness

5 Malachi 3:14.

1 2 Sam. 23:5.

2 Isaiah 45:15.

3 Job 6, 7, 9.

4 Ps. 88.

5 Micah 7:8.

6 Rom. 8:33–39.

and almighty power; and therefore our confidence “in the word” will make us “ready always to give an answer to every one that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us, with meekness and fear.”7 “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that riseth against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord; and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.8

But how often is our Christian boldness paralyzed by our feeble apprehensions of the salvation of God! Clear and full evangelical views are indispensable for the effective exercise of our weighty obligations. Any indistinctness here, from its necessary mixture of self-righteousness and unbelief, obscures the warrant of our personal interest, and therefore hinders that firm grasp of Almighty strength. Coldness and formality also deaden the power of Christian boldness. Much need therefore have we to pray for a realized perception of the freeness, fulness, holiness, and privileges of the Gospel. Much need have we to use our speedy diligence, without delay; our painful diligence, without indulgence; our continual diligence, without weariness; that we be not satisfied with remaining on the skirts of the kingdom; that it be not a matter of doubt, whether we belong to it or not; but that, grace being added to grace, “so an entrance may be ministered to us abundantly into”1 all its rich consolations and everlasting joys.

7 1 Peter 3:15.

8 Isaiah 54:17.

1 2 Peter 1:5–11.

Psalm 119:43 And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, For I wait for Your ordinances. 

• take not (KJV): Ps 119:13 50:16 51:14,15 71:17,18 Isa 59:21 Eph 1:13 Jas 1:18 
• for I have (KJV): Ps 119:52,120,175 7:6-9 9:4,16 43:1 1Pe 2:23 

And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, For I wait for Your ordinances. 

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Charles Bridges  - For the sake of the Church and the world, not less than for our own sakes, let us give diligence to clear up our interest in the Gospel, that “the joy of the Lord may be our strength” in his service. The want of personal assurance not only brings a loss to our soul’s own experience, but a hindrance to our own usefulness. Not only is our answer feeble to “him that reproaches us;” but our attempts to “strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees”2 of our brethren are unavailing. The dread of the charge of hypocrisy—the absence of the only “constraining” principle—“the love of Christ,”3 or the indulgence of worldly habits and conversation—stops the utterance of the word of truth, and obscures our character as a “saint of God,”4 and a witness for his name.5 Justly indeed might he punish our unfaithfulness by forbidding us to speak any more in his name; and therefore in deprecating this grievous judgment, the child of God, conscious of guilt, casts himself at the footstool of mercy—“Take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth.” Not only take it not out of my heart; but let it be ready in my mouth for a confession of my master.

This is a valuable prayer to preserve us from denying Christ in worldly intercourse. Let the whole weight of Christian obligation be deeply felt—faith in the heart, and confession with the mouth6—the active principle, and the practical exercise. Should we be content with the dormant principle, where would be the Church—the ordinances—the witness for God in the world? Shall we shrink from the bold confession of him who “despised the shame of the cross for us?”7 Would not this imply a distrust of our own testimony—the word of truth?

Wisdom is indeed required to know when, as well as what, to speak. There is indeed “a time to keep silence,” “and the prudent shall keep silence in that time.”8 But too often a judicious caution is a self-deluding cover for the real cause of restraint—the want of apprehension of the Lord’s mercy to the soul. It will always therefore be made to examine, whether it is our cross to be “dumb with silence”—whether, when we “hold our peace even from good, our sorrow is stirred,” and our “heart hot within us, and the fire burning.”9

Sometimes the Lord may see it needful to straiten our spirits, for the discovery of our weakness, for our deeper humiliation, and more simple dependence on himself. But then will the cry—“Take not the word utterly out of my mouth”—be heard and answered. And a word spoken in weakness may be a word of Almighty power to one of the Lord’s “little ones.” Many opportunities also in our connections with the world will unexpectedly offer for the improvement

2 Isaiah 35:3.

3 2 Cor. 5:14.

4 Psalm 145:10–13.

5 See Isaiah 43:10.

6 Rom. 10:9, 10.

7 Heb. 12:2.

8 Eccl. 3:7. Amos 5:13.

9 Psalm 39:2, 3.

of the wakeful heart. The common topics of earthly conversation may furnish a channel for heavenly intercourse; so that our communications even with the world may be like Jacob’s ladder, whose foot rested upon the earth, but the top reached unto the heavens.1 And oh! what a relief is it to the burdened conscience, if but a few words can be stammered out for God, even though there are no sensible refreshings of his presence upon the soul!

But in order that the word of truth may come out of our mouth, it must be well stored in the heart. “Let then the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom;” that it may be ready for every opportunity of usefulness.2 When the heart is full, the mouth will flow.3 When “the heart is inditing a good matter, speaking of the things touching the king,” “our tongue will be the pen of a ready writer.”4 This prayer is the same confidence of faith that was expressed in the preceding verse, “For I have hoped in thy judgments,” an acceptable spirit of approach to God, and an earnest of the revival of life and comfort in the Lord’s best time and way.

1 Gen. 28:12. “Why do I make any of my visits to any of my neighbors, or countenance their visits unto me? Lord, I desire to let fall something, that may be for the good of the company; even, that more may be known of thee, and done for thee, from what passes in it. And when I propose to ingratiate myself unto any people by the civilities of conversation, it shall be, that I may gain thereby the better advantages to prosecute purposes upon them. In conversation, I would especially lay hold on all advantages to introduce as much as I can of a lovely Christ into the view of all that I come near unto.”—Cotton Mather, Student and Pastor, pp. 74, 75.

2 Col. 3:16.

3 Matt. 12:34. Comp. Ps. 116:10.

4 Ps. 45:1, 2.

Psalm 119:44 So I will keep Your law continually, Forever and ever. 

• So shall (KJV): The language of this verse is very emphatic.  Perfect obedience will constitute a large proportion of heavenly happiness to all eternity; and the nearer we approach to it on earth, the more we anticipate the felicity of heaven.
• keep (KJV): Ps 119:33,34 Rev 7:15 22:11 

So I will keep Your law continually, Forever and ever.

Charles Bridges  -  The heaping up of so many words in this short verse, appears to be the struggle of the soul to express the vehemency of its longings to glorify its Saviour. And indeed the Lord’s return to us, unsealing the lips of the dumb, and putting his word again into our mouth, brings with it a fresh sense of constraining obligation. This fresh occupation in his praise and service is not only our present privilege, but an antepast of our heavenly employment, when the word will never more “be taken out of our mouth,” but we shall “talk of his wondrous works”5 “for ever and ever.” The defects in the constancy and extent of our obedience (as far as our hearts are alive to the honor of God,) must ever be our grief and burden; and the prospect of its completeness in a better world, is that which renders the anticipation of heaven so delightful. There we shall be blest with suitable feelings, and therefore be enabled to render suitable obedience—even one unbroken consecration of all our powers to his work. Then “shall we keep his law continually for ever and ever.” Once admitted to the throne of God, we “shall serve him day and night in his temple,”1—without sin—without inconstancy,—without weariness,—without end! We speak of heaven; but oh! to be there! To be engaged throughout eternity in the service of love to a God of love! In one day’s continuance in the path of obedience even here, in the midst of the defilement which stains our holiest services, how sweetly do the minutes roll away! But to be for ever employed for him, in that place, where “there shall in no wise enter anything that defileth”2—this gives an emphasis and a dignity to the heavenly joy, which may well stamp it as “unspeakable and full of glory.”3 May we not then encourage the hope, that the Lord is making us meet for heaven, by the strength and constancy of our desires to “keep the laws of God?” And is it not evident that heaven itself can afford no real delight to one, who feels the service of God on earth to be irksome? He stands self-excluded by the constitution of his nature, by the necessity of the case. He has no heart for heaven, no taste for heaven, no capacity for the enjoyment of heaven—“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”4

Heavenly, gracious Father! who and what are we, that our hearts should be made the unworthy recipients of thy grace? that our wills should be subdued into “the obedience of faith?” and that we should be permitted to anticipate that blessed period, when we shall “keep thy law continually for ever and ever!” May this prospect realize the happiness of our present obedience! May he, who has “bought us with a price” for his glory, reign in our hearts, and live upon our lips; that each of us may have his mark upon our foreheads—the seal of his property in us, and of our obligation to him—“Whose I am, and whom I serve!”5

5 Ps 119:27.

1 Rev. 7:15.

2 Rev 21:27.

3 1 Peter 1:8.

4 Rev. 22:11.

5 Acts 27:23.

Psalm 119:45  And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts. 

• And I will (KJV): Ps 119:133 Lu 4:18 Joh 8:30-36 Jas 1:25 2:12 2Pe 2:19 
• at liberty (KJV): Heb. at large, Ps 119:32 
• for I seek (KJV): Ps 119:19,71,94,148,162 Pr 2:4,5 18:1 Ec 1:13  Joh 5:39 Eph 5:17 

And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts. A law that gives liberty—what a paradox! Sin would have dominion over us (v133), but the Word sets us free (Jn 8:32 cp Ro6:2ff). True liberty comes in obeying God’s will. His Word is “the perfect law of liberty” (Ja1:25).

Charles Bridges - Not only perseverance but liberty, is the fruit of the Lord’s mercy to our souls—not the liberty of sin—to do what we please—but of holiness—to do what we ought; the one, the iron bondage of our own will;6 the other, the easy yoke of a God of love. It was a fine expression of a heathen, “to serve God is to reign.”7 Certainly in this service David found the liberty of a king. The precepts of God were not forced upon him; for he sought them. “More to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the honey-comb.”8 The way of the Lord, which to the ungodly is beset with thorns and briers, is the King’s highway of liberty. The child of God walks here in the gladness of his heart and the rejoicing of his conscience. Even in “seeking these precepts,” there is “liberty” and enlargement of heart; a natural motion, like that of the sun in his course, “going forth as a bridegroom, and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race.”1 What must it be then, to walk in the full enjoyment of the precepts! “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” “They shall sing in the ways of the Lord”—“for how great is his goodness how great is his beauty!”2

Are we then obeying the precepts as our duty, or “seeking” them as our privilege? Do we complain of the strictness of the law or the corruption of the flesh? Are the precepts or our own hearts our burden? Is sin or holiness our bondage? The only way to make religion easy is to be always in it. The glow of spiritual activity, and the healthfulness of Christian liberty are only to be found in a persevering and self-denying pursuit of every track of the ways of God—“If ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed: and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”3 To have the whole stream of all our thoughts, actions, motives, desires, affections, carried in one undivided current towards God, is the complete and unrestrained influence of his love upon our hearts.

The corrupt and rebellious inclinations will “last”4 to the end. But as long as indulgence is denied, conflict excited, and the constant endeavor maintained to “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”5 our liberty is established, even where it is not always

6 “I gave my will to mine enemy,” said Augustine, “and he made a chain, and bound me with it.”—Confess. viii. 5.

7 “In regno vivimus. Deo servare est regnare.”—Seneca. When the female martyr Agatha was upbraided, because, being descended of an illustrious parentage, she stooped to mean and humble offices—“Our nobility,” she replied, “lies in this; that we are the servants of Christ.”—Bishop Sumner’s Evidences, pp. 359, 360.

8 Psalm 19:10, 11.

1 Psalm 19:5.

2 2 Cor. 3:17. Psalm 138:5. Zech. 9:17.

3 John 8:31, 32, 36.

4 Gal. 5:17.

5 2 Cor. 10:5.

enjoyed. Every fresh chain, by which we bind ourselves to the Lord, makes us feel more free.6 While, then, they that “promise us liberty are themselves the servants of corruption,”7 let us live as the children of God—the heirs of the kingdom—grateful—free—blood-bought souls—remembering the infinite cost, at which our liberty was purchased: and the moment of extreme peril, when we were saved. When the flesh was weak, and the “law weak through the flesh,”8 and no resolutions of ours could break us from the yoke of sin—then it was that “Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and living,”9 “delivering us from the hand of our enemies, that we might serve him without fear.”10 And then indeed do we “walk at liberty,” when we “break the bands” of all other lords “asunder,” and consecrate ourselves entirely to his precepts. “O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.”11

6 Jugum Christi non deterit, sed honestat colla.—Bernard.

7 2 Peter 2:19. Compare John 8:34.

8 Rom. 8:3.

9 Ib. 14:9.

10 Luke 1:74.

11 Isaiah 26:13. An incident in the history of ancient Rome may furnish an illustration of that full liberty and entireness of heart which forms the act of acceptable surrender to the Lord. When the people of Collatia were negotiating an unconditional capitulation to the Romans, Egerius, on the part of the Romans, inquired of the ambassadors—“Are the people of Collatia in their own power?” When an affirmative answer was given, it was next inquired—“Do you deliver up yourselves—the people of Collatia—your city, your fields, your waters, your boundaries, your temples, your utensils, all your property, divine and human, into my power and the power of the Roman people?” “We surrender all.” “And so,” said he, “I accept you.”—Livy, Book i. Such may my surrender be to the Lord! Disentangled from every other yoke, under no bonds that ought to bind me, Lord, I offer myself, and all that belongs to me, without exception or reserve, at thy feet. “But who am I, that I should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have I given thee.” 1 Chron. 29:14.

Psalm 119:46  I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings And shall not be ashamed. 

• speak (KJV): Ps 138:1 Da 3:16-18 4:1-3,25-27 Mt 10:18,19 Ac 26:1,2,24-29 
• will not (KJV): Mk 8:38 Ro 1:16 Php 1:20 2Ti 1:8,16 1Pe 4:14-16 1Jn 2:28 

 I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings And shall not be ashamed. 

Charles Bridges - “Liberty in walking” in the Lord’s ways will naturally produce boldness in “speaking” of them. Compare the conduct of the three unshaken witnesses of the truth before the Babylonish monarch.1 Mark the difference of the spirit displayed by the Apostles, and especially by Peter, before and after the day of Pentecost.2 Look at Stephen before the council,3 and Paul before Felix,4 Festus,5 and Agrippa.6 “God had not given to them the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”7 Hear the great Apostle testifying of himself—“I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also,”—at the metropolis of the world, in the face of all opposition and contempt, and at the imminent hazard of my life—“For,” says he, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.”8 In the same determination of soul, he exhorts his dear son in the faith—“Be not thou ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me his prisoner.”9 To how many does “the fear of man bring a snare?”10 Many a good soldier has faced the cannon’s mouth with undaunted front, and yet shrunk away with a coward’s heart from the reproach of the cross, and been put to the blush even by the mention of the Saviour’s name. Far better—the son of man “strengthening you”—to brave the fiery furnace or the den of lions in his service, than like Jonah, by flinching from the cross, incur the sting of conscience and the frown of God.11

Professing Christians! Are we ready to bear our testimony for Jesus, against the sneer and ridicule of the ungodly? We are not likely to “be brought before kings and rulers for the Son of Man’s sake.”12 Yet no less do we need Divine help and strong faith in withstanding the enmity of a prejudiced relative or scornful neighbor. Young people! you are perhaps in especial danger of being ashamed of your Bible, your religion, your Saviour. You may be brought under the “snare” of the “fear of man,” and be tempted to compromise your religion, and to sacrifice your everlasting all from a dread of “the reproach of Christ.” But remember him, who for your sake

1 Dan. 3:16–18.

2 Contrast Matt. 26:56, 69, 75, with Acts 2, 3, 4, 5. We can scarcely believe that the same persons are alluded to. But the explanation of the difficulty had been given by anticipation. John 7:39.

3 Acts 6, 7.

4 Ib. 24.

5 Ib. 25.

6 Ib. 26.

7 2 Tim. 1:7.

8 Rom. 1:15, 16.

9 2 Tim. 1:8.

10 Prov. 29:25.

11 Dan. 3:16–18; 6:16–22, with Jonah 1:1–15.

12 Luke 21:12. Mark 13:9.

“before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;”1 and shall the dread of a name restrain you from sharing his reproach, and banish the obligations of love and gratitude from your hearts? Have you forgotten, that you once owned the service of Satan? and will you not be as bold for Christ, as you were for him? Were you once “glorying in your shame;” and will you now be ashamed of your glory? Oh! remember who hath said, “Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”2 Think much and often of this word. Think on this day. Think on the station of “the fearful and unbelieving” on the left hand on that day. Think on their eternal doom.3 What is a prison to hell? What need to pray and tremble! If you are sincere in your determination, and simple in your dependence, then will the “love of Christ constrain you,”4 not to a cold, calculating, reluctant service; but to a confession of your Saviour, bold, unfettered, and “faithful even unto death.”5 Every deviation from the straight path bears the character of being ashamed of Christ. How much have you to speak in behalf of his testimonies, his ways, his love! When in danger of the influence of the fear of man, look to him for strength. He will give to you—as he gave to Stephen—“a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist.”6 Thus will you, like them, be strengthened “to profess a good profession before many witnesses.”7

1 1 Tim. 6:13.

2 Mark 8:38.

3 Rev. 21:8.

4 2 Cor. 5:14.

5 Rev. 2:10.

6 Luke 21:15, with Acts 6:10.

7 1 Tim. 6:12.

Psalm 119:47 I shall delight in Your commandments, Which I love. 

• I will delight (KJV): Ps 119:16,24 112:1  Joh 4:34 Php 2:5 1Pe 2:21 
• which (KJV): Ps 119:48,97,127,140,167,174 19:7-10 Job 23:11,12 Ro 7:12,16,22 

I shall delight in Your commandments, Which I love (Ps 119:47, 48, 97,113, 119,127,159,163,167)

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Charles Bridges - It is but poor comfort to the believer to be able to talk well to others upon the ways of God, and even to “bear the reproach” of his people, when his own heart is cold, insensible, and dull. But why does he not rouse himself to the active exercise of faith—“I will delight myself in thy commandments?” That which is the burden of the carnal heart is the delight of the renewed soul. The former “is enmity against God; and therefore is not, and cannot be, subject to his law.”8 The latter can delight in nothing else If the Gospel separates the heart from sinful delights, it is only to make room for delights of a more elevated, satisfying, and enduring nature.9 Satan indeed generally baits his temptations with that seductive witchery, which the world calls pleasure. But has he engrossed all pleasure into his service? Are there no pleasures besides “the pleasures of sin?” Do the ways of the Lord promise nothing but difficulty and trial? What means then the experience of him, who could “rejoice in them, as much as in all riches,” and who “loved them above gold, yea, above fine gold?”10 The “fatted calf” of our Father’s house is surely a most gainful exchange for “the husks” of the “far country.”1 The delights of holiness go deeper than sensual pleasures.2 The joy of the saint is not that false, polluted, deadly joy, which is all that the worldling knows, and all that he has to look for; but it flows spontaneously from the fountain of living waters, through the pure channel of “the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” Nay, so independent is it of any earthly spring, that it never flourishes more than in the desolate wilderness or the sick-bed solitude; so that, “although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will joy in the God of our salvation.”3 The world see what religion takes away, but they see little of what it gives;4 else they would reproach—not their own folly—but their own blindness. “Thus saith the Lord God, Behold my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.”5

The love and complacency of the soul first fixes on the commandments. Then how natural is the flow of delight in them! even at the very time that we are “abhorring ourselves in dust and ashes” for our neglect of them; and God never has our hearts, until something of this delight is felt and enjoyed. But do we complain of the dulness of our hearts, that restrains this pleasure? Let us seek for a deeper impression of redeeming love. This will be the spring of grateful obedience and holy delight. Let us turn our complaints into prayers, and the Lord will quickly turn them into praises. Let us watch against everything, that would intercept our communion with Jesus. Distance from him must be accompanied with poverty of spiritual enjoyment—“They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life; and in thy light shall we see light.”6

8 Rom. 8:7.

9 “Delectationes non amittimus, sed mutamus,” was the expression of one of the ancients. “I live a voluptuous life,” said the excellent Joseph Alleine to his wife; “but it is upon spiritual dainties, such as the world know not, nor taste not of.”

10 Ps 119:14, 127.

1 Luke 15:13–24.

2 Psalm 4:7.

3 Hab. 3:17, 18.

4 Cyprian, in one of his Epistles, (ad Donat.) mentions the great difficulty he found in overcoming the false view of the gloom of religion—little suspecting that the cause of the gloom was in himself—not in the gospel. But this is explained, Matt. 6:23.

5 Isa. 65:13, 14.

6 Ps. 36:8, 9.

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LOVE OF GOD'S WORD - The story is told of a poor, blind French girl who obtained a Braille copy of Mark and learned to read it with her fingers. But eventually her fingers became so calloused she could no longer distinguish letters and words. In desperation for the Word, she cut the calluses in an attempt to restore the sense of touch, but sadly the scarring had the opposite effect. Faced with the reality that she must give up her beloved Book, with weeping she pressed the Braille copy of Mark to her lips, lamenting “Farewell, farewell, sweet Word of my Heavenly Father!” To her surprise, she discovered that her lips were even more sensitive to touch than her fingers had been! And from that moment on she "read" the Bible with her lips, and doubtless offered praises like the psalmist who cried "Let my lips utter praise, for You teach me Your statutes." (Ps 119:171)

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When Mary Jones was 10 years old, she began saving money for something special she wanted to buy. She babysat, tended neighbors' gardens, and sold eggs from her own chickens. By the time she was 16, she had accumulated enough money to get what she so desperately wanted. Was it a new car? A fresh wardrobe? A Nintendo? No, Mary Jones was 16 in the year 1800, and what she had been saving for was a Bible. But there was no place to buy one in the tiny Welsh village where she lived, so she walked to Bala--25 miles away. There Rev. Thomas Charles had one Bible left to sell, and after some convincing, Mary talked him into selling it to her. 

Because of Mary's hunger for the Bible, Rev. Charles and others began discussing the need of making the Scriptures more readily available. The British and Foreign Bible Society was started, and during the next 100 years it distributed more than 200 million copies of God's Word worldwide. To Mary, nothing was more important than the Bible, and her persistence paid huge spiritual dividends. 

Do we treasure God's Word as much? How often do we even walk across the room to pick up the Bible and read it?  Lord, help us to cherish Your Word. --JDB (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

    Cling to the Bible--this wonderful treasure
    Brings life eternal and saves fallen man;
    Surely its value no mortal can measure--
    Seek for its blessing, O soul, while you can.
--Anon.

Many people store the Bible on a shelf instead of in their heart

Psalm 119:48 And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes. 

hands (KJV): Ps 10:12 Eze 44:12 Mic 5:9 
unto thy (KJV): Mt 7:21  Joh 13:17 15:14 Jas 1:22-25 
and I will (KJV): Ps 119:15 1:2 

And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love - An expression of praise and adoration from a heart of love.

And I will meditate on Your statutes. (Ps 119:15, 23, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148): Meditation is to the soul what digestion is to the body. To meditate means to “turn over” God’s Word in the mind and heart, to examine it, to compare Scripture with Scripture, to “feed on” its wonderful truths. In this day of noise and confusion, such meditation is rare but so needful. Meditation is impossible without memorization.Reading the Bible without meditating on it is like eating without chewing. See Meditation

We must read 

    Scripture every day
    And meditate on what God said
    To fight temptation from the world
    And live a life that's Spirit led.
--Sper

WHICH I LOVE: AHAB: 

• Ps 1:1,2;19:7-11;Ps 119:16,24,35,47,
• Ps 119:48,72,92,97,103,
• Ps 119:111,113,127,159,167,174;Jer. 15:16).

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Charles Bridges - Scarcely any expression seems to be equal to set forth the fervency of David’s love and delight in the ways and word of God. Here we find him “lifting up his hands” with the gesture of one, who is longing to embrace the object of his desire with both hands and his whole heart.7 Perhaps also in “lifting up his hands unto the commandments,” he might mean to express his looking upward for assistance to keep them, and to live in them.8 But how humbling this comparison with ourselves! Alas! how often, from the neglect of this influence of the Spirit of God, do our “hands hang down,” instead of being “lifted up” in these holy ways! We are too often content with a scanty measure of love: without any sensible “hungering and thirsting after righteousness;” neither able to pray with life and power, nor to hear with comfort and profit, nor to “do good and to communicate” with cheerfulness, nor to meditate with spiritual delight, nor to live for God with zeal and interest, nor to anticipate the endurance of the cross with unflinching resolution—the soul being equally disabled for heavenly communion, and active devotedness. Shall we look for ease under the power of this deadening malady? Let us rather struggle and cry for deliverance from it. Let us subscribe ourselves before God as wretched, and helpless, and guilty. He can look upon us, and revive us. Let us then “take hold upon his covenant,” and plead, that he will look upon us. Let us “put him in remembrance” of the glory of his name, which is much more concerned in delivering us out of this frame, by his quickening grace, than in leaving us, stupid, corrupt, and carnal, in it. Professor! awake: or beg of the Lord to awaken you! For if your cold sleeping heart is contented with the prospect of a heaven hereafter, without seeking for a present foretaste of its joy, it may be a very questionable matter whether heaven will ever be yours.

Delight, however, will exercise itself in an habitual “meditation in the statutes.”1 The breathing of the heart will be, “O how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day.”2 It is in holy meditation on the word of God, that all the graces of the spirit are manifested. What is the principle of faith, but the reliance of the soul upon the promises of the word? What is the sensation of godly fear, but the soul trembling before the threatenings of God?3 What is the object of hope, but the apprehended glory of God? What is the excitement of desire or love, but longing, endearing contemplations of the Saviour, and of his unspeakable blessings? Hence we can scarcely conceive of the influence of grace separated from spiritual meditation on the word. It is this which, under Divine teaching, draws out its hidden contents, and exhibits them to the soul, as the objects upon which the principles and affections of the Divine life are habitually exercised. Not that any benefit can be expected from meditation, even upon the word of God, as an abstract duty. If not deeply imbued with prayer, it will degenerate into dry speculative study. Without some distinct practical application, it will be unedifying in itself, and unsatisfactory for its important ends—the discerning of the mind of God, and feeding upon the rich provision of the Gospel.

Let it be a matter of daily inquiry, Does my reading of the word of God furnish food for my soul, matter for prayer, direction for conduct? Scriptural study, when entered upon in a prayerful spirit, will never, like many other studies, be unproductive. The mind that is engaged in it, is fitly set for bearing fruit; it will “bring forth fruit in due season.”1 Meditation kindles love, as it is the effect of love, “While I was musing, the fire burned.”2 “Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, this man is blessed in his deed.”3 But let us take heed, that the root of religion in the soul is not cankered by the indulgence of secret sin. The largest supply of Christian ordinances will fail to refresh us, except the heart be kept right with God in simplicity of faith, love, and diligence in the service of Christ.

Come then, Christian, let us set our hearts to a vigorous, delighting devotedness to the statutes of our God. To regard some of them, would be to obey our own will, not God’s. Let us lift up our hands to them all. How shadowy is the joy of speculative contemplation, if it does not draw the heart to practical exercise! Let faith return our obligations in the full apprehension of the Lord’s mercy. And then will love constrain us to nothing less than “a living sacrifice”4 to his service. If the professor sleeps in national godliness, let us employ our active meditation, in searching for the mine that lies not on the surface, but which never fails to enrich diligent, patient, persevering labor.5

7 See Ps 63:4; 143:6.

8 See Ps. 28:2.

1 See Psalm 1:2.

2 Ps 119:97.

3 Ps 119:120.

1 Psalm 1:2, 3.

2 Ps 29:3.

3 James 1:25.

4 Rom. 11, 12:1.

5 Prov. 2:4, 5.

Psalm 119:49  Zayin. Remember the word to Your servant, In which You have made me hope. 

• Remember: Ps 105:2,42 106:4,45 Ge 8:1 32:9 Job 7:7 Isa 62:6 *marg:
• in which: Ps 119:43,74,81,147 71:14 2Sa 5:2 7:25 Ro 15:13 1Pe 1:13,21 

Zayin. Remember the word to Your servant, In which You have made me hope - NLT = Remember your promise to me, for it is my only hope.

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Warren Wiersbe - Sing the Law
 
Read Psalm 119:49-56
 
I enjoy classical music. I often tune my radio to classical music while I'm studying. I also enjoy going to concerts. Before a concert begins, I browse through the concert program to see what will be played. I might read that the orchestra is going to play Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique." Or perhaps I will hear a Bordin string quartet. But what if, right in the middle of the program, I read that the choir is going to sing the local housing code? I'd ask, "What is going on? Choirs don't sing the law. What musician would waste time putting the housing code to music?" Look at verse 54: "Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." The psalmist says, "I sing the Law."
 
This verse presents three different attitudes toward life. To a child, life is like a prison, with nothing but rules. "Don't do this. Don't do that. Don't go there." We have to protect children so they can grow up and live their own lives. To adolescents, life is a party. They don't want statutes. "Don't tell me what to do," they say. They just want the songs. But when we become mature adults, we realize that life is not a prison or a party. It's a pilgrimage. We make this pilgrimage in obedience to God's Word. I don't know where I would have been during all these years of my life without the guidance of the Bible. God's Word is not a burden; it's a blessing. Duty becomes delight when you are yielded to the will of God.
 
I hope you are not trying to run away from the will of God and turn life into one continual party. Realize that your life is a pilgrimage and that, as a pilgrim and a stranger in this world, you need the guidance of Scripture.
 
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Are you having difficulty today on the pilgrim road? Take the mature view--yield to God's will and seek guidance in His Word. Without it, you will lose your way  (Psalm 119:49-56 Sing the Law)

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Charles Bridges - What is faith? It is hope upon God’s word. The warrant of faith is therefore the word. The spring of faith is he that causeth us to hope. He has not forgotten—he cannot forget his word. But he permits—nay, commands his servants to remind him of it,6 in order to exercise their faith, diligence, and patience. Often indeed “hope deferred maketh the heart sick.”7 But it is not needless delay8—not ignorance of the fittest time9—not forgetfulness10—not changeableness11—not weakness.12 Meanwhile, however, constantly plead the promise—Remember the word unto thy servant. This is the proper use of the promises, as “arguments, wherewith to fill our mouths, when we order our cause before God.”13 When thus pleaded with the earnestness and humility of faith, they will be found to be the blessed realities of unchanging love.

Now—have not circumstances of Providence, or the distinct application of the Spirit, made some words of God especially precious to your soul? Such words are thus made your own, to be laid up against some future time of trial, when you may “put your God in remembrance”1 of them. Apply this exercise of faith to such a word as this, “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.”2 Then plead your interest in it as a coming sinner, “Lord, I hope in this thy word.” “Thou hast caused me to hope” in it. “Remember this word unto thy servant.” Thus is prayer grounded upon the promise, which it forms into a prevailing argument, and sends back to heaven; nothing doubting, but that it will be verified in God’s best time and way.3

Take another case. God has engaged himself to be the God of the seed of believers. His sacramental ordinance is the seal of this promise.4 The believer brings his child to this ordinance, as the exercise of his faith upon the faithfulness of God. Let him daily put his finger upon this promise, Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is, as Augustine said of his mother, ‘bringing before God his own handwriting.’ Will he not remember his word? Faith may be tried, perhaps long tried. “But he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself.”5 Faith trusts—not what the eye sees, but what the word promises.

Again—Have we ever found God’s word hoped on, a covering and strength against besetting sin? This will surely be an encouragement to cry under the same temptation, Remember thy word, “He who hath delivered, doth deliver, and will even to the end deliver.”6 He “hath done great things for us.” And is not this an earnest of continued mercy? “Because thou hast been my help, therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.”7 Thus may we confidently receive a promise as the distinct message to our soul, where we are conscious of a readiness to receive the whole word as the rule of our life. And does it not set an edge upon prayer to eye a promising God, and to consider his promises, not as hanging in the air, without any definite direction or meaning, but as individually spoken and belonging to myself as a child and servant of God? This is the experience and comfort of the life of faith. This unfolds the true secret of living to God; ending at last with the honorable death-bed testimony, “Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth; and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things, which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you; and not one thing hath failed thereof.”8

6 Isa. 62:6, M. R.

7 Prov. 13:13.

8 Hab. 3:3.

9 Isa. 30:18.

10 Psalm 112:5.

11 Mal. 3:6.

12 1 Sam. 15:29.

13 Job 23:4.

1 Isaiah 43:26.

2 John 6:37.

3 We may observe Jacob making precisely this use of the word of promise to great advantage, at a time of personal extremity. Gen. 32:9, 10, 12, with 31:3, 13, 28:13–15. Was not this in fact pleading—“Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope?” Compare also verse 38 of this Psalm.

4 Gen. 17:7, 10, with Acts 2:38, 39.

5 2 Tim. 2:13.

6 2 Cor. 1:10.

7 Psalm 63:7.

8 Joshua 23:14.

Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me. 

BGT  Psalm 118:50 αὕτη με παρεκάλεσεν ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει μου ὅτι τὸ λόγιόν σου ἔζησέν με

KJV  Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

NET  Psalm 119:50 This is what comforts me in my trouble, for your promise revives me.

CSB  Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction: Your promise has given me life.

ESV  Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

NIV  Psalm 119:50 My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.

NLT  Psalm 119:50 Your promise revives me; it comforts me in all my troubles.

NRS  Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my distress, that your promise gives me life.

RSV  Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction that thy promise gives me life.

YLT  Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in mine affliction, That Thy saying hath quickened me.

NKJ  Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life.

NJB  Psalm 119:50 It is my comfort in distress, that your promise gives me life.

NAB  Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in affliction, your promise that gives me life.

LXE  Psalm 119:50 This has comforted me in mine affliction: for thine oracle has quickened me.

• This: Ps 27:13 28:7 42:8,11 94:19 Jer 15:16 Ro 5:3-5 15:4 Heb 6:17-19 Heb 12:11,12 
• That your word Ps 119:25 Eze 37:10 Joh 6:63 Jas 1:18 1Pe 1:3 2:2 

This is my comfort in my affliction (oniy) -  [Cp Ps 119:67, 71, 75, 92 v50, 76, 82, 92): More than sixty verses in this psalm mention trial and persecution (Ps 119:22, 50-53, 95, 98, 115, etc.). The believer who obeys the Word will have trials in this world, but the Bible gives him lasting comfort. The Comforter, the Spirit of God, takes the Word of God and applies it to our hearts to comfort us.

The Hebrew word for affliction (oniy) is translated in the Septuagint with tapeinosis meaning humiliation (Ac 8:33; Jas 1:10),as a state of low status, humility, lowly condition  (Lk 1:48; Phil 3:21; Heb 11:20)

That Your word has revived me - The source of revival for the psalmist and for every believer of every age! See note on Ps 119:25.

Canadian missionary J. Goforth:  his young budding faith was subjected to a severe testing. His (secular) teacher was a blatant follower of the infidel Tom Paine, and his classmates, influenced by the teacher, made his life miserable by their jeers and mockery. The foundations seemed to be giving way and in a mood of desperation Jonathan turned to God's Word. In consequence of an earnest, day-and-night search of the Word, his faith was firmly established and all his classmates, also his teacher, were brought back from infidelity. 

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Affliction (06040)(oniy from anah = to be bowed down) describes the state of pain caused by affliction miser, a state of oppression or extreme discomfort, physically, mentally, or spiritually. 

Oniy - 37v - afflicted*(1), affliction(33), great pains(1), misery(2). Gen. 16:11; Gen. 29:32; Gen. 31:42; Gen. 41:52; Exod. 3:7; Exod. 3:17; Exod. 4:31; Deut. 16:3; Deut. 26:7; 1 Sam. 1:11; 2 Sam. 16:12; 2 Ki. 14:26; 1 Chr. 22:14; Neh. 9:9; Job 10:15; Job 30:16; Job 30:27; Job 36:8; Job 36:15; Job 36:21; Ps. 9:13; Ps. 25:18; Ps. 31:7; Ps. 44:24; Ps. 88:9; Ps. 107:10; Ps. 107:41; Ps. 119:50; Ps. 119:92; Ps. 119:153; Prov. 31:5; Isa. 48:10; Lam. 1:3; Lam. 1:7; Lam. 1:9; Lam. 3:1; Lam. 3:19

Gilbrant - Jacob complained to Laban about the affliction of the constantly changing wages imposed on him (Gen. 31:42). Leah hoped that the birth of her son Reuben would end the affliction of being Jacob's unloved wife (Gen. 29:32). The angel of the Lord spoke to Hagar of the mistreatment she suffered from Sarah (Gen. 16:11). Hannah asked God to reverse her woeful situation of barrenness (1 Sam. 1:11). And David described his experience of being cursed by Shimei as an affliction (2 Sam. 16:12).

The most obvious instance of affliction in the OT was Israel's enslavement in Egypt (Exo. 3:7, 17; 4:31; Deut. 16:3; 26:7). Nehemiah 9:9 recalls the nation's predicament at the Red Sea.

Job, of course, could speak of his affliction (Job 10:15; 30:16, 27). And Psalms speaks both of the distress of the righteous (Ps 9:13; 25:18; 44:24; 88:9; 119:153) and of the deliverance of the Lord (Ps 31:7; 107:41; 119:50, 92).

When the armies of Babylon swept over the defenses of Jerusalem, the nation reached its lowest depths of misery. Lamentations depicts the distress (1:3, 9; 3:1, 19) and recalls the contrast of Israel's former days of peace (1:7).

The word is used in a vivid idiom to describe the pains (and possible frustration) involved in King David's massive stockpiling of building materials for his son's construction of the Temple (1 Chr. 22:14) (Complete Biblical Library)

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Charles Bridges - David was encouraged to plead the word of promise in prayer, from the recollection of its “comfort in his affliction.” Never, indeed, are we left unsupported in such a time, or called to drink a cup of unmingled tribulation. In the moments of our bitterest sorrow, how are we compelled to stand amazed at the tenderness, which is daily and hourly exercised toward us! We have always some word exactly suited to our affliction, and which we could not have understood without it; and “a word” thus “spoken in due season, how good is it!” One word of God, sealed to the heart, infuses more sensible relief, than ten thousand words of man.1 When therefore the word assures us of the presence of God in affliction;2 of his continued pity and sympathy in his most severe dispensations;3 and of their certain issue to our everlasting good;4 must not we say of it, “This is our comfort in our affliction?” How does the Saviour’s love stream forth from this channel on every side; imparting life, refreshment, and strength to those, who but for this comfort would have “fainted,”5 and “perished in their affliction!”6 This indeed was the end, for which the Scriptures were written;7 and such power of consolation have they sometimes administered to the afflicted saint, that tribulation has almost ceased to be a trial, and the retrospect has been the source of thankful recollection.

But those only, who have felt the quickening power of the word, can realize its consolations. Be thankful, then, reader, if, when dead in sins, it “quickened you:”8 and, when sunk in trouble, once and again it has revived you.9 Yet think not, that it is any innate power of its own, that works so graciously for you. No. The exhibition of the Saviour is the spring of life and consolation. It is because it “testifies of him,”10 “the consolation of Israel,”11—“afflicted in all our afflictions,”12—and never failing to uphold with “grace sufficient for us.”13 It is not, however, the word without the Spirit, nor the Spirit generally without the word; but the Spirit by the word—first putting life into the word,14 and then by the word quickening the soul. The word then is only the instrument. The Spirit is the Almighty agent. Thus the work is the Lord’s; and nothing is left for us, but self-renunciation and praise.

1 Prov. 15:23. “I will show you a privilege that others want, and you have in this case. Such as are in prosperity, and are filled with earthly joys, and increased with children and friends; though the word of God is indeed written for their instruction, yet to you who are in trouble, and from whom the Lord hath taken many children, and whom he hath otherwise exercised, there are some chapters, some particular promises in the word of God, made in an especial manner, which would never have been yours, so as they now are, if you had had your portion in this world like others. It is no small comfort that God hath written some scriptures to you, which he hath not to others. Read these, and think God is like a friend, who sendeth a letter to a whole house and family, but who speaketh in his letter to some by name, that are dearest to him in the house.”—Rutherford’s Letters.

2 Isa. 43:1, 2.

3 Exod. 3:7.

4 Rom. 8:28.

5 Psalm 27:13

6 Verse 92.

7 Rom. 15:4.

8 James 1:18. 1 Peter 1:23.

9 Verses 81, 82.

10 John 5:39.

11 Luke 2:25.

12 Isa 63:9.

13 2 Cor. 12:9.

14 John 6:63.

Psalm 119:51 The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do not turn aside from Your law. 

• proud (KJV): Ps 119:21,69 123:3,4 Jer 20:7 Lu 16:14,15 23:35 
• yet have (KJV): Ps 119:31,157 44:18 Job 23:11 Isa 38:3 42:4 Ac 20:23,24 Heb 12:1-3 

The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do not turn aside from Your law. 

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Charles Bridges - The scorn of an ungodly world is one of the afflictions, which realize to us the comfort of the word. And this is a trial, from which no exemption is to be expected—“All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”1 Not even David—though a king—a man of wisdom and prudence, and therefore not likely to provoke unnecessary offence, and whose character and rank might be expected to command respect—not even was he shielded from “the derision of the proud” on account of the profession and service of his God.2 Thus it ever was, and ever will be. Faith in the doctrine of Christ, and conformity to the strict commandments of the Gospel, must expose us to the taunts of the unbeliever and the worlding. Yet, where the heart is right with God, the “derision of the proud,” instead of forcing us to “decline from the law of God,” will strengthen our adherence to it. David answered the bitter “derision of Michal” with a stronger resolution to abide by his God—“I will yet be more vile than thus.”3 He counted it his glory, his duty, his joy. None, however, but a believer knows what it is to bear this cross; and none but a real believer can bear it. It is one of the touchstones of sincerity, the application of which has often been the means of “separating the precious from the vile,” and has unmasked the self-confident professor to his own confusion. Oh! how many make a fair profession, and appear “good soldiers of Jesus Christ,” until the hour of danger proves them deserters, and they reap only the fruits of their self-confidence in their own confusion!

It is, therefore, of great importance to those who are just setting out in the warfare, to be well armed with the word of God. It kept David steadfast amidst “the derision of the proud;” and it will keep young Christians from being frightened or overcome by the sneer of an ungodly world. But that it may “dwell in us richly in all wisdom,”4 and be suited to our own case, it will be well, under circumstances of reproach, to acquaint ourselves with the supporting promises and encouragements to suffer for righteousness’ sake.5 Above all, the contemplation of the great sufferer himself—meeting this poignant trial in meekness,6 compassion, and prayer7—will exhibit “a refuge from the storm, and a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as the storm against the wall.”8 The mere professor knows not this refuge; he, possesses not this armor; so that “when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately he is offended.”9 Blessed be God! the weapons of our warfare are drawn from the Divine armory; and therefore, depending on the grace, and following the example, of Jesus, we suffer as the way to victory—the road to an everlasting crown.

1 2 Tim. 3:12. Comp. 1 Cor. 4:13.

2 Psalm 35:15, 16; 123:3, 4.

3 2 Sam. 6:20–22.

4 Col. 3:16.

5 Such is the benediction of the Saviour, Luke 6:22, 23, confirmed by the recorded experience of the Lord’s most favored servants, the apostles, Acts 5:41. Paul especially, 2 Cor. 12:10; Col. 1:24,—the disciples of Thessalonica, 1 Thess. 1:6,—the Hebrew Christians, Heb. 10:34.

6 Psalm 22:6–8. Luke 23:35. 1 Peter 2:23.

7 Luke 23:34.

8 Isaiah 25:4.

9 Mark 4:17.

Psalm 119:52 I have remembered Your ordinances from of old, O LORD, And comfort myself. 

• remembered (KJV): Ps 77:5,11,12 105:5 143:5 Ex 14:29,30 Nu 16:3-35 De 1:35,36 De 4:3,4 2Pe 2:4-9 

 I have remembered Your ordinances from of old, O LORD, And comfort myself. 

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Charles Bridges - The Lord’s dealings with his people were a frequent subject of meditation to the Psalmist,1 and now were his present support under “the scourge of the tongue.”2 Evidently they are put upon record for the encouragement of future generations.3 We are ready to imagine something peculiar in our own case, and to think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try us, “as though some strange thing happened unto” us; but when we “remember the Lord’s judgments of old,” with his people, we “comfort ourselves” in the assurance, that “the same afflictions are accomplished in our brethren, that have been in the world;”4 and that “as the sufferings of Christ have abounded in them, so their consolation also abounded by Christ.”5 They also encountered the same “derision of the proud,” and always experienced the same support from the faithfulness of their God. We do not sufficiently consider the mercy and gracious wisdom of God, in occupying so much of his written word with the records of his “judgments of old.” One class will pay a prominent attention to the preceptive, another to the doctrinal, parts of Revelation—each forgetting that the historical records comprise a full and striking illustration of both, and have always proved most supporting grounds of consolation to the Lord’s people. The important design in casting so large a portion of the small volume of Revelation into a historical form, is every way worthy of its Author. “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope;”6 and how admirably adapted the means are to the end, the diligent student in the Scripture-field will bear ample witness. Wilfully therefore to neglect the historical portion of the sacred volume, from the idea of confining our attention to what we deem the more spiritual parts of Scripture—would show a sad deficiency of spiritual apprehension, and deprive ourselves of the most valuable instruction, and most abundant comfort. This neglect would exclude us from one eminent means of increasing “patience,” in the example of those “who through faith and patience inherit the promises;” of receiving “comfort,” in the experience of the faithfulness of God manifested in every age to his people; and of enlivening our “hope,” in marking the happy issue of the “patience of the saints,” and the heavenly support administered unto them.7 So far, therefore, are we from being little interested in the scriptural records of past ages, that it is evident, that the sacred historians, as well as the prophets, “ministered not unto themselves, but unto us, the things which are now reported.”1

Let us select one or two instances as illustrative of this subject. Why were the records of the deluge, and of the overthrow of the cities of the plain, preserved, but as exhibitions to the Church, that “the Lord”—the Saviour of Noah, the eight persons, and the deliverer of just Lot—“knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished?”2 What a source of comfort then to the tempted people of God is the “remembrance of these judgments of old!” And thus the Church remembers the wonderful overthrow of the Egyptians, and the consequent deliverance of ancient Israel, as a ground of assurance and expectation of the same grand display of Divine faithfulness and love under similar trials. And if we instance the wonderful history of the overthrow of the Egyptians, and the consequent deliverance of God’s ancient people, we may continually observe the Church recollecting this interposition as a ground of assurance, that under similar circumstances of trial, the same illustrious displays of Divine faithfulness and love may be confidently expected. She looks back upon what the “arm of the Lord hath done in ancient days, and in the generation of old,” as the pattern of what he ever would be, and ever would do, for his purchased people.3 Thus also God himself recalls to our mind this overthrow and deliverance as a ground of present encouragement and support, “According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things”4—and the Church echoes back this remembrance in the expression of her faith, gratitude, and expectation for spiritual blessings: “He will subdue our iniquities! and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”5 Such is the interesting use that may be made of the historical parts of Scripture. Such is the “comfort” to be derived from the “remembrance of the Lord’s judgments of old!” And is not the recollection of his “judgments of old” with ourselves, productive of the same support? Does not the retrospect of his dealings with our own souls serve to convince us, that “all his paths are mercy and truth?”6 And that the assurance is therefore warranted alike by experience and by Scripture, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”7

1 Psalm 77:5, 11, 12; 143:5.

2 Job 5:21.

3 Psalm 44:1–3; 78:3–8; 105:5, 6; 145:4. Joel 1:3.

4 1 Peter 4:12; 5:9.

5 2 Cor. 1:5.

6 Rom. 15:4.

7 In this view, the recollection of the Lord’s judgments of old “puts a new song into the mouth” of the Church, of “thanksgiving unto her God.” Isaiah 25:1–4.

1 1 Peter 1:12.

2 2 Peter 2:5–9.

3 Isaiah 51:9–11.

4 Micah 7:15

5 Micah 7:19.

6 Psalm 25:10.

7 Rom. 8:28.

Psalm 119:53 Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked, Who forsake Your law. 

• horror (KJV): {Zilaphah} properly signifies the pestilential burning wind called by the Arabs {Simoom,} (see Ps 11:6.)  It is here used in a figurative sense for the most horrid mental distress; and strongly marks the idea the Psalmist had of the corrupting, pestilential, and destructive nature of sin. Ps 119:136,158 Ezr 9:3,14 10:6 Jer 13:17 Da 4:19 Hab 3:16 Lu 19:41,42 Ro 9:1-3 2Co 12:21 Php 3:18 

Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked, Who forsake Your law. 

Charles Bridges - The remembrance of the Lord’s judgments of old, while it brings comfort to his people as regards themselves, stirs up a poignancy of compassionate reeling for the ungodly. And indeed to a feeling and reflecting mind, the condition of the world must excite commiseration and concern! A “whole world lying in wickedness!”1 lying therefore in ruins! the image of God effaced! the presence of God departed! “Horror hath taken hold of me!” to see the law of Him, who gave being to the world, so utterly forsaken! so much light and love shining from heaven in vain! The earthly heart cannot endure that any restraint should be imposed; much less that any constraint, even of love, should be employed to change its bias, and turn it back to its God. Are you then a believer? then you will be most tender of the honor of the law of God. Every stroke at his law you will feel as a stroke at your own heart. Are you a believer? then will you consider every man as your brother; and weep to see so many of them around you, crowding the broad road to destruction, and perishing as the miserable victims of their own deceivings. The prospect on every side is, as if God were cast down from his throne, and the creatures of his hand were murdering their own souls.

But how invariably does a languor respecting our own eternal interest affect the tenderness of our regard for the honor of our God; so that we can look at “the wicked that forsake God’s law” with comparative indifference! Awful indeed is the thought, that it ever can be with us a small matter, that multitudes are sinking! going down into perdition! with the name of Christ—under the seal of baptism—partakers of the means of Gospel grace—yet perishing! Not indeed that we are to yield to such a feeling of “horror” as would paralyze all exertion on their behalf. For do we owe them no duty—no prayer—no labor?2 Shall we look upon souls hurrying on with such dreadful haste to unutterable, everlasting torments; and permit them to rush on blinded, unawakened, unalarmed! If there is a “horror” to see a brand apparently fitting for the fire, will there not be a wrestling endeavor to pluck that brand out of the fire? Have we quite forgotten in our own case the fearful terrors of an unconverted state—the Almighty power of wrath and justice armed against us—the thunder of that voice—“Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord?”3 Oh! if the love of the Saviour and the love of souls were reigning with more mighty influence in our hearts, how much more devoted should we be in our little spheres of labor! how much more enlarged in our supplications, until all the kingdom of Satan were subject to the obedience of the Son of God, and conquered by the force of his omnipotent love!

But if the spirit of David, renewed but in part, was thus filled with horror in the contemplation of the wicked, what must have been the affliction—what the intensity of His sufferings, “who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners”4—yea, “of purer eyes than to behold iniquity”5—during thirty-three years of continued contact with a world of sin? What shall we say of the condescension of his love, in wearing “the likeness of sinful flesh”6—dwelling among sinners—yea, “receiving sinners, and eating with them!”1

Blessed Spirit! impart to us more of “the mind that was in Christ Jesus!” that the law of God may be increasingly precious in our eyes, and that we may be “exceedingly jealous for the Lord God of Hosts!” Help us by thy gracious influence, to plead with sinners for God, and to plead for sinners with God!

1 1 John 5:19.

2 Acts 17:16–18.

3 Heb. 10:30, with Deut. 32:35.

4 Heb. 7:26.

5 Hab. 1:13. Compare Psalm 5:5.

6 Rom. 8:3.

1 Luke 15:2.

Psalm 119:54 Your statutes are my songs In the house of my pilgrimage. 

• Ps 89:1 10:1 Ge 47:9 Heb 11:13-16 

Your statutes are my songs In the house of my pilgrimage. 

Charles Bridges - Come, Christian pilgrim, and beguile your wearisome journey heavenward by “singing the Lord’s song in this strange land”.2 With “the statutes of God” in your hand and in your heart, you are furnished with a song for every step of your way—“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”3 How delightfully does this song bring before you Him, who having laid down his life for you, engages himself as your Provider, your Keeper, your Guide, your faithful and unchangeable friend! Such a song therefore will smooth your path, and reconcile you to the many inconveniences of the way; while the recollection, that this is only “the house of your pilgrimage” and not your home; and that “there remaineth a rest for the people of God,”4 will support the exercise of faith and patience to the end. How striking the contrast between the wicked that forsake the law, and the Christian pilgrim, who makes it the subject of his daily song, and the source of his daily comfort! Yes, these same statutes, which are the yoke and burden of the ungodly, lead the true servant of the Lord from pleasure to pleasure; and, cherished by their vigorous influence, his way is made easy and prosperous. Evidently, therefore, our knowledge and delight in the Lord’s statutes will furnish a decisive test of our real state before him.

But what reason have we every moment to guard against the debasing, stupefying influence of the world, which makes us forget the proper character of a pilgrim! And what an habitual conflict must be maintained with the sloth and aversion of a reluctant heart to maintain our progress in the journey towards Zion! Reader! have you entered upon a pilgrim’s life? Then what is your solace and refreshment on the road? It is dull, heavy, wearisome, to be a pilgrim without a “song.” And yet it is only the blessed experience of the Lord’s statutes that will tune our “song.” “If therefore you have tasted that the Lord is gracious,”5 if “he has thus put a new song into your mouth,”1 oh! do not suffer any carelessness or neglect to rob you of this heavenly anticipation And, that your lips be not found mute, seek to keep your heart in tune. Seek to maintain a lively contemplation of the place whither you are going—of Him, who as your “forerunner is for you entered”2 thither—and of the prospect, that, having “prepared a place for you, he will come again, and take you to himself; that where he is, there you may be also.”3 In this spirit, and with these hopes before you, you may take up your song—“O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing, and give praise. I will bless the Lord at all times—his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”4 Thus may you go on your pilgrimage, “singing in the ways of the Lord,”5 and commencing a song below, which in the world of praise above, shall never, never cease.6

2 Ps. 137:4.

3 Ps. 23.

4 Heb. 4:9.

5 1 Pet. 2:3.

1 Ps. 40:3.

2 Heb. 6:20.

3 John 14:2, 3.

4 Ps. 108:1; 34:1

5 Ps 138:5.

6 Rev. 4:8.

Psalm 119:55  O LORD, I remember Your name in the night, And keep Your law. 

• night (KJV): Ps 42:8 63:6 77:6 139:18 Ge 32:24-28 Job 35:9,10 Isa 26:9 Lu 6:12 Ac 16:25 
• kept (KJV): Ps 119:17,34 Joh 14:21 15:10 

O LORD, I remember Your name in the night, And keep Your law. 

Charles Bridges - How did this man of God live in the statutes of God! In the day they were his pilgrim song—in the night his happy meditation.7 And truly if we can ever spend the waking moments of the night with God, “the darkness is no darkness with us, but the night shineth as the day.” Many a tried believer has found this cordial for the restlessness of a wakeful night more restorative to the quiet and health of his earthly frame, than the most sovereign specifics of the medical world. “So he giveth his beloved sleep.”8 And if in any “night” of affliction we feel the hand of the Lord grievous to us, do we not find in “the remembrance of the Lord” a never-failing support? What does our darkness arise from, but from our forgetfulness of God, blotting out for awhile the lively impressions of his tender care, his unchanging faithfulness, and his mysterious methods of working his gracious will? And to bring up as it were from the grave, the remembrance of God’s name, as manifested in his promises, and in the dispensation of his love; this is indeed the “light that is sown for the righteous,”9 and which “springeth up out of darkness.”10 It is to eye the character of the Lord as All-wise to appoint, Almighty to secure, All-compassionate to sympathize and support. It is to recollect him as a “father pitying his children;”11 as a “friend that loveth at all times,”12 and that “sticketh closer than a brother.”13 And even in those seasons of depression, when unwatchfulness or indulgence of sin have brought the darkness of night upon the soul, though “the remembrance of the name of the Lord” may be grievous, yet it opens the way to consolation. It tells us, that there is a way made for our return; that “the Lord waiteth, that he may be gracious;”14 and that in the first step of our return to our father, we shall find him full of mercy to his backsliding children.15 Thus, though “weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning.”16

Study the Lord’s revelation of his own name, and what more full perception can we conceive of its support in the darkest midnight of tribulations? “And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him, (Moses,) and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed—The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.”1 Can we wonder that such a name as this should be exhibited as a ground of trust? “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” “They that know thy name will put their trust in thee.”2 Even our suffering Lord appears to have derived support from “the remembrance of the name of the Lord in the night” of desertion—“O my God, I cry in the day-time, and thou hearest not; and in the night-season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”3 And from the experience of this source of consolation, we find the tempted Saviour directing his tempted people to the same support—“Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.”4

The main principles of the Gospel are involved in this remembrance of the Lord’s name. Memory is the storehouse, in which the substance of our knowledge is treasured up. Recollections without faith are shadowy notions. But we have confidence that our God in himself—and as engaged to us—is all that the Bible declares him to be. How vast then are our obligations to his dear Son—the only medium by which his name could be known or remembered—“who hath” so “declared him!”5 And there is the spring of practical religion. We shall “keep his law,” when we “remember his name.” A sense of our obligations will impel us forward in diligence, heavenly-mindedness, and self-devotedness in our appointed sphere. Obedience will partake far more of the character of privilege than of duty, when an enlightened knowledge of God is the principle of action.

7 Ps. 63:5, 6.

8 Ps 127:2.

9 Ps. 97:11.

10 Ps. 112:4.

11 Ps 103:13.

12 Prov. 17:17.

13 Pr. 18:24.

14 Isa. 30:18.

15 See Luke 15:20–24.

16 Ps. 30:5.

1 Exod. 34:5–7.

2 Prov. 18:10. Ps. 9:10.

3 Ps. 22:2, 3.

4 Isaiah 50:10.

5 John 1:18; also Jn 14:6. Matt. 11:27.

Psalm 119:56 This has become mine, That I observe Your precepts. 

• because (KJV): Ps 119:165 18:18-22 1Jn 3:19-24 

This has become mine, That I observe Your precepts. 

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Charles Bridges - How is it, believer, that you are enabled to “sing of the Lord’s statutes”—and to “remember his name?” This you have, because you keep his precepts. Thus you are able to tell the world, that “in keeping his commandments there is great reward”6—that the “work of righteousness is peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance for ever.”7 Christian! let your testimony be clear and decided—that ten thousand worlds cannot bestow the happiness of one day’s devotedness to the service of your Lord. For is it not in this path that you realize fulness of joy in “fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ?” “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him—my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”1 If you were walking more closely with God in “the obedience of faith,” the world would never dare to accuse religion as the source of melancholy and despondency. No man has any right to the hope of happiness in a world of tribulation, but he that seeks it in the favor of his God. Nor can any enjoy this favor, except as connected, in the exercise of faith, with conformity to the will, and delight in the law, of his God. Thus not only are “the statutes of the Lord right,” but they “rejoice the heart.”2 There is a sweetness and satisfaction in the work, as well as a good flowing out of it—a current as well as a consequent privilege—cheering the soul in the act of exercise, just as the senses are regaled at the very instant with the object of their gratification.

But let us remark how continually David was enriching his treasury of spiritual experience with some fresh view of the dealings of God with his soul; some answer to prayer, or some increase of consolation, which he records for his own encouragement, and for the use of the Church of God. Let us seek to imitate him in this respect; and we shall often be enabled to say as he does, “This I had”—this comfort I enjoyed—this support in trouble—this remarkable manifestation of his love—this confidence I was enabled to maintain—not this I hoped for—but “this I had”—it was made my own, “because I kept thy precepts.” And how important, in the absence of spiritual enjoyment, to examine, “is there not a cause?” and what is the cause? Have not “strangers devoured my strength; and I knew it not?”3 Is the Lord “with me as in months past?4—with me in my closet?—with me in my family?—with me at my table?—with me in my daily employments and intercourse with the world? When I hear the faithful people of God telling of his love, and saying, “This I had,” must I not, if unable to join their cheerful acknowledgment, trace it to my unfaithful walk, and say, “This I had” not, because I have failed in obedience to thy precepts; because I have been careless and self-indulgent; because I have slighted thy love; because I have “grieved thy Holy Spirit,” and forgotten to ask for the “old paths, that I might walk therein, and find rest to my soul?”5 Oh let this scrutiny and recollection of our ways realize the constant need of the finished work of Jesus, as our ground of acceptance, and source of strength. This will bring healing, restoration, increasing devotedness, tenderness of conscience, circumspection of walk, and a determination not to rest, until we can make this grateful acknowledgment our own. At the same time, instead of boasting that our own arm, our own diligence, or holiness, “have gotten us” into this favor, we shall cast all our attainments at the feet of Jesus, and crown him Lord of all for ever.

6 Psalm 19:11.

7 Isaiah 32:17.

1 John 14:21, 23, with 1 John 1:3, 4; 3:24.

2 Psalm 19:8.

3 Hosea 7:9.

4 Job 29:2.

5 Jer. 6:16.

Psalm 119:57 Heth. The LORD is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words. 

BGT  Psalm 118:57 η᾽ ηθ μερίς μου κύριε εἶπα φυλάξασθαι τὸν νόμον σου

KJV  Psalm 119:57 CHETH. Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.

NET  Psalm 119:57 The LORD is my source of security. I have determined to follow your instructions.

CSB  Psalm 119:57 The LORD is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.

ESV  Psalm 119:57 The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words.

NIV  Psalm 119:57 You are my portion, O LORD; I have promised to obey your words.

NLT  Psalm 119:57 LORD, you are mine! I promise to obey your words!

NRS  Psalm 119:57 The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words.

RSV  Psalm 119:57 The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep thy words.

YLT  Psalm 119:57 Cheth. My portion is Jehovah; I have said -- to keep Thy words,

NKJ  Psalm 119:57 HETH. You are my portion, O LORD; I have said that I would keep Your words.

NJB  Psalm 119:57 My task, I have said, Yahweh, is to keep your word.

NAB  Psalm 119:57 My portion is the LORD; I promise to keep your words.

LXE  Psalm 119:57 Thou art my portion, O Lord: I said that I would keep thy law.

ASV  Psalm 119:57 Jehovah is my portion: I have said that I would observe thy words.

DBY  Psalm 119:57 CHETH. My portion, O Jehovah, I have said, is to keep thy words.

GWN  Psalm 119:57 You are my inheritance, O LORD. I promised to hold on to your words.

BBE  Psalm 119:57 CHETH The Lord is my heritage: I have said that I would be ruled by your words.

• my portion: Ps 16:5 Ps 73:26 Ps 142:5 Jer 10:16 La 3:24 
• I have: Ps 119:106,115 66:14 De 26:17,18 Jos 24:15,18,21,24-27 Ne 10:29-39 

Related Passages:

Psalm 16:5  The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. 

Psalm 73:26  My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 

Psalm 142:5  I cried out to You, O LORD; I said, “You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living. 

A PORTION AND
A PROMISE

The LORD is my portion  - Portion is the first word in the Hebrew sentence! Literally "My Portion O Yahweh." 

When we are His, He is ours, forever.

Lam 3:24  "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him."

Comment on Jeremiah's declaration - This statement reflects an absolute dependence upon God. Jeremiah is saying that the Lord alone is enough. It is God who sustains and satisfies, even in the midst of deep disappointment. This passage challenges us all to believe that relationship with God is more satisfying than the things of the world. This is a truth to which most of us quickly give mental assent. But when we look at our lives, we find that too often we simply do not believe it. We often turn instead to the empty idols of the world in a futile search of satisfaction. David repeatedly attests in the psalms to the satisfaction he experienced in his relationship with God  (Ps63:4,v5 16:11 cp 73:25,26). Jeremiah also discovered this crucial difference between hoping for something from God and hoping in Him. Hope by its very nature captivates both our hearts and heads. It evokes deep emotion. It moves in and makes itself at home in our souls. It takes up residence at the very core of who we are. That is why it is so vital that we begin to place our hope in the Lord. Hoping in the Lord means recognizing that the things of this world aren’t going to satisfy the ache in our souls, no matter how good they are or how much we long to believe they will. Christian hope is not a hope so, but a hope sure!  Hope in the Lord = Ps. 31:24; Ps. 130:7; Ps. 131:3

Portion (02506) (cheleq from chalaq = to divide, share) commonly refers to a share in an inheritance, share, lot. Early in OT is used with a technical nuance of share of land given to all the tribes when they entered the land. Cheleq may refer to a "portion" or "share" of booty divided among competitors (Gen. 14:24; 1 Sam. 30:24), or it may be a share of property or possession. "A share, a piece of territory in many ways: a part of booty or spoil (Gen. 14:24; Num. 31:36); of food (Lev. 6:17[10]); a tract or portion of land (Josh. 19:9; Hos. 5:7; Mic. 2:4); of Israel as a possession of the Lord (Deut. 32:9). It is used metaphorically of a person's doing his or her part in something (Job 32:17); of one's association or part or sharing in another group or way of life (Ps. 50:18; Isa. 57:6); or of the portion or share of fortune that the Lord gives to persons (Job 31:2). The portion or proper share for the wicked is punishment or calamity (Isa. 17:14)." (Complete Word Study Dictionary OT)

Gilbrant - Meaning "lot," "share" or "portion," this noun occurs sixty-two times in the OT. It is derived from the verb chālaq, "to be smooth" or "to divide." It is attested in Middle Hebrew, Jewish Aramaic and derived dialects. Cheleq may refer to a "portion" or "share" of booty divided among competitors (Gen. 14:24; 1 Sam. 30:24), or it may be a share of property or possession. Ephraim and Manasseh did not give a portion of land to the Levites, only cities to live in (Josh. 14:4). This same use occurs in the plural "lots of property" (Josh. 18:5-9). The concept of a share of land in the Promised Land became an important concept for the Jew. The land of the inheritance was to be to the east of the Jordan. Those tribes living outside this area were believed to have been denied their "portion of the Lord" (Josh. 22:25ff). "Portion" became a metaphor for the relationship of God and humans. Deuteronomy 32:9 says that God's "portion" or "inheritance" is his people. The psalmist, in turn, claims the Lord as his portion (Ps. 16:5). Even the wicked person has a portion from God, though it is not one of prosperity (Job 20:29). Thus, the concept of portion was integral to both the physical existence of Israel in the land of Palestine, which is their portion, and the spiritual portion they had in God. (Complete Biblical Library)

Cheleq - 62 verses - associate(1), catch(1), divisions(2), equal portions(1), farm land(1), inheritance(1), land(1), legacy(1), lot(1), portion(36), portions(4), property(2), reward(4), share(9), territory(1). Gen. 14:24; Gen. 31:14; Lev. 6:17; Num. 18:20; Num. 31:36; Deut. 10:9; Deut. 12:12; Deut. 14:27; Deut. 14:29; Deut. 18:1; Deut. 18:8; Deut. 32:9; Jos. 14:4; Jos. 15:13; Jos. 18:5; Jos. 18:6; Jos. 18:7; Jos. 18:9; Jos. 19:9; Jos. 22:25; Jos. 22:27; 1 Sam. 30:24; 2 Sam. 20:1; 1 Ki. 12:16; 2 Ki. 9:10; 2 Ki. 9:36; 2 Ki. 9:37; 2 Chr. 10:16; Neh. 2:20; Job 17:5; Job 20:29; Job 27:13; Job 31:2; Job 32:17; Ps. 16:5; Ps. 17:14; Ps. 50:18; Ps. 73:26; Ps. 119:57; Ps. 142:5; Eccl. 2:10; Eccl. 2:21; Eccl. 3:22; Eccl. 5:18; Eccl. 5:19; Eccl. 9:6; Eccl. 9:9; Eccl. 11:2; Isa. 17:14; Isa. 57:6; Isa. 61:7; Jer. 10:16; Jer. 51:19; Lam. 3:24; Ezek. 45:7; Ezek. 48:8; Ezek. 48:21; Hos. 5:7; Amos 7:4; Mic. 2:4; Hab. 1:16; Zech. 2:12

Translated in the Septuagint with Part (share) (3310)(meris) refers to (1) a portion of a whole that has been divided ("district" in Acts 16:12). (2) a share or an assigned portion (Lk 10:42, 2Co 6:15, Acts 8:21, Col 1:12). In the OT, God’s people had an earthly inheritance, the land of Canaan, and each tribe received its portion of the lot. Christians have a spiritual inheritance in Christ (cf prayer of the hymn "Be Thou My Vision"). Crossing the Jordan to Canaan is unfortunately often portrayed as a picture of heaven but this is not an accurate portrayal for there will be no battles or defeats in heaven. More accurately, Canaan can be considered a picture of our present inheritance in kingdom of God's beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

I have promised to keep Your words - Have you ever promised to keep His words saying "I'll never do that sin against God again?" That's a glass house we all live in. No one except Jesus kept God's words perfectly. We will never achieve perfection, but they should evidence direction (Heaven-ward rather than Hell-ward!) only possible as we daily are filled with His Spirit, relying on Him to give us the desire and the power to work out our salvation in fear and trembling (Php 2:12+, Php 2:13NLT+).

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Warren Wiersbe - Choosing Your Friends
Read Psalm 119:57-64
All of us enjoy having friends. We need them. The psalmist says that the Word of God pertains to our friendships. "I am a companion of all who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts" (Psalm 119:63). He let the Word of God guide him in his choice of friends and associates. We have many acquaintances but few real friends. A friend is someone you don't have to talk to all the time. You can be together for long periods without saying a word, yet your hearts are united. At the other extreme, a friend is someone you aren't afraid to talk to. You can unburden your heart, and you are a better person for having been with him.
God is our best friend. Abraham was called the friend of God, and we can be His friends also. Jesus said to His disciples, "I'm not going to call you slaves. I'm going to call you friends" (John 15:15).
Friends talk to each other. And if we talk to God and let Him speak to us through His Word, we will be a companion of those who fear Him and keep His commandments.
One of the most important tests of friendship is what my friend's attitude is toward the Bible. Does he accept it? Does he receive the Word of God as truth? Does he fear God with a reverential awe and love for Him?
If I am in a right relationship to God through His Word, I will be in a right relationship with people. My friends will be God's friends. The Bible calls this separation--not isolation, but separation. It's the blessed by-product of a life lived in Scriptures.
* * *
Choose your friends carefully. Do they fear God? Do they receive the Word of God in their hearts? Use your friends' attitudes toward the Bible as an important test of friendship. Relationships are investments of our time and other resources. Make them count for eternity. (Psalm 119:57-64 Choosing Your Friends) (Ed: See Jesus' Command to "Make Friends" who will welcome you into eternity in the future! Luke 16:9 - comments. See also comments under "Vertical Vision")

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Charles Bridges - Man, as a dependent being, must be possessed of some portion. He cannot live upon himself. He must also have a large portion, because the powers and capacities to be filled are large. If he has not a satisfying portion, he is a wretched empty creature. But where and how shall he find this portion? “There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us!”1 Oh! the goodness of the Lord, in having offered himself as the portion of an unworthy sinner, and having engaged to employ his perfections for his happiness! Oh! the folly, and madness, and guilt, of the sinner, in choosing his “portion in this life;”2 as if there were no God on the earth, no way of access to him, or no happiness to be found in him! That such madness should be found in the heart of man, is a most affecting illustration of his departure from God; but that God’s own people should commit these two evils—forsaking the fountain of living waters, and hewing out broken cisterns for themselves—is the fearful astonishment of heaven itself.3

But we cannot know and enjoy God as our portion, except as he has manifested himself in his dear Son. And in the knowledge and enjoyment of him, can we envy those, who “in their lifetime receive their good things,”4 and therefore have nothing more to expect? Never indeed does the poverty of the worldling’s portion appear more striking than when contrasted with the enjoyment of a child of God5—“Soul,” said the rich fool, “thou hast much goods laid up for many years.” But God said, “This night thy soul shall be required of thee.”6 Augustine’s prayer was, “Lord, give me thyself!”7 And thus the believer exults, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire but thee. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. The Lord himself is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel.”8

Elsewhere the believer makes this confession to himself—“The Lord is my portion—saith my soul.”1 Here, as if to prove his sincerity, he “lifts up his face unto God.”2—“Thou art my portion, O Lord.” And surely the whole world cannot weigh against the comfort of this Christian confidence. For it is as impossible, that his own people should ever be impoverished, as that his own perfections should moulder away. But a portion implies not a source of ordinary pleasure, but of rest and satisfaction, such as leaves nothing else to be desired. Thus the Lord can never be enjoyed, even by his own children—except as a portion—not only above all, but in the place of all. Other objects indeed may be subordinately loved; but of none but himself must we say—“He is altogether lovely.”4 “In all things he must have the pre-eminence”3—one with the Father in our affections, as in his own subsistence.5 The moment that any rival is allowed to usurp the throne of the heart, we open the door to disappointment and unsatisfied desires.

But if we take the Lord as our “portion,” we must take him as our king. “I have said—this is my deliberate resolution,—that I would keep thy words.” Here is the Christian complete—taking the Lord as his “portion,” and his word as his rule. And what energy for holy devotedness flows from the enjoyment of this our heavenly portion! Thus “delighting ourselves in the Lord, he gives us our heart’s desire;”6 and every desire identifies itself with his service. All that we are and all that we have, are his; cheerfully surrendered as his right, and willingly employed in his work. Thus do we evidence our interest in his salvation; for “Christ became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”7

Reader! inquire—was my choice of this Divine portion considerate, free, unreserved? Am I resolved that it shall be steadfast and abiding? that death itself shall not separate me from the enjoyment of it? Am I ready to receive a Sovereign as well as a Saviour?8 Oh! let me have a whole Christ for my portion! Oh! let him have a whole heart for his possession. Oh! let me call nothing mine but Him.

1 Psalm 4:6.

2 Ps 17:14.

3 Jer. 2:12, 13.

4 Luke 16:25; 6:24.

5 Comp. Psalm 17:14, 15.

6 Luke 12:19, 20.

7 Da mihi te, Domine.

8 Psalm 73:25; 116:7; 16:5–7.

1 Lam. 3:24.

2 John 21:17. Job 22:26.

4 Col. 1:18.

3 Song 5:16.

5 John 10:30.

6 Psalm 37:4.

7 Heb. 5:9.

8 See Acts 5:31.

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he Best Portion of All

I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. Philippians 4:12

Today's Scripture & Insight: Psalm 73:21–28

“His piece is bigger than mine!”

When I was a boy my brothers and I would sometimes bicker about the size of the piece of homemade pie mom served us. One day Dad observed our antics with a lifted eyebrow, and smiled at Mom as he lifted his plate: “Please just give me a piece as big as your heart.” My brothers and I watched in stunned silence as Mom laughed and offered him the largest portion of all.

If we focus on others’ possessions, jealousy too often results. Yet God’s Word lifts our eyes to something of far greater worth than earthly possessions. The psalmist writes, “You are my portion, Lord; I have promised to obey your words. I have sought your face with all my heart” (Ps. 119:57–58). Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the writer conveyed the truth that nothing matters more than closeness to God.

What better portion could we have than our loving and limitless Creator? Nothing on earth can compare with Him, and nothing can take Him away from us. Human longing is an expansive void; one may have “everything” in the world and still be miserable. But when God is our source of happiness, we are truly content. There’s a space within us only God can fill. He alone can give us the peace that matches our hearts.By:  James Banks (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Loving Lord, thank You that nothing and no one can meet my every need like You can.

When we are His, He is ours, forever.

You have made us for yourself, Lord. Our hearts are restless until they can find rest in You. --Augustine of Hippo

Psalm 119:58  I sought Your favor with all my heart; Be gracious to me according to Your word. 

• I entreated (KJV): Ps 119:10 4:6 51:1-3 86:1-3 Ho 7:14 Heb 10:22 
• favour (KJV): Heb. face, Ps 27:8 Job 11:19 *marg:
• be merciful (KJV): Ps 119:41,65,76,170 56:4,10 138:2 Mt 24:35 

 I sought Your favor with all my heart; Be gracious to me according to Your word. 

Charles Bridges - Delight in the Lord as our “portion,” naturally leads us to “entreat his favor” as “life,”9 and “better than life,”10 to our souls. And if we have “said, that we would keep his words,” we shall still “entreat his favor” to strengthen and encourage us in his way. We shall “entreat it with our whole hearts,” as though we felt our infinite need of it, and were determined to wrestle for it in Jacob’s spirit—“I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”11 If we have known what unspeakable happiness it is to be brought into the favor of God, “by the blood of Christ;”12 and if “by him also we have access unto that grace wherein we stand,”1 how shall we prize the sense of Divine favor, the light of our Father’s countenance! We shall never be weary of this source of daily enjoyment. It is to us as the light of the sun, which shineth every day with renewed and unabated pleasure. We “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”2 Mercy, however, is the source of that “favor which we entreat;” and the word is the warrant of our expectation—“Be merciful unto us, according to thy word.” As sinners, we need this “favor.” As believers, we “entreat” it in the assurance that praying breath, as the breath of faith, will not be spent in vain. Any indulged indolence, or neglect, or unfaithfulness—relaxing our diligence, and keeping back the “whole heart” from God—will indeed never fail to remove the sunshine from the soul. But the blood of Christ still opens the way of return to the backslider, even though he may have wandered, as it were, to the ends of the earth. For “if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thine heart and all thy soul.”3 “A whole heart,” in seeking the Lord, is the seal of the Lord’s heart in returning to us—“I will rejoice over them,” saith he, “to do them good: and I will plant them in this land assuredly, with my whole heart and with my whole soul.”4

Reader! if you are a child of God, the favor of God will be to you the “one thing needful.” In other things, you will not venture to choose for yourself; “for who knoweth what is good for man in this life?”5 But in this choice you will be decided. This grand, incomparable desire will fill your heart. This will be to you as the portion of ten thousand worlds. Nothing will satisfy besides.

9 Psalm 30:5.

10 Ps . 63:3.

11 Gen. 32:26.

12 Eph. 2:13.

1 Rom. 5:1, 2.

2 Ro  5:11.

3 Deut. 4:29.

4 Jer. 32:41.

5 Eccl. 6:12.

Psalm 119:59 I considered my ways And turned my feet to Your testimonies. 

• thought (KJV): La 3:40 Eze 18:28,30 Hag 1:5,7 Lu 15:17-20 2Co 13:5 
• turned (KJV): De 4:30,31 Jer 8:4-6 31:18,19 Eze 33:14-16,19 Joe 2:13 2Co 12:21 

I considered my ways And turned my feet to Your testimonies. 

Charles Bridges - 

The Psalmist’s determination, lately mentioned, to keep God’s word, was not a hasty impulse, but a considerate resolve, the result of much thinking on his former ways of sin and folly. How many, on the other hand, seem to pass through the world into eternity without a serious “thought on their ways!” Multitudes live for the world—forget God and die! This is their history. What their state is, is written as with a sunbeam in the word of truth—“the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”6 When “no man repenteth him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?”7—this banishing of reflection is the character and ruin of an unthinking world. Perhaps one serious thought might be the new birth of the soul to God—the first step of the way to heaven. For when a man is arrested by the power of grace, he is as one awaking out of sleep, lost in solemn and serious thought,—‘What am I?8 where am I? what have I been? what have I been doing? I have a soul, which is my everlasting all—yet a soul without a Saviour—lost—undone. What is my prospect for its happiness? Behind me is a world of vanity, an empty void. Before me a fearful unknown eternity. Within me an awakened conscience, to remind me of an angry God, and a devouring hell. If I stay here, I perish; if I go forward, I perish; if I return home to my offended Father, I can but perish.’1 The resolution is formed, ‘ “I will arise,”2 and fight my way through all difficulties and discouragements to my Father’s house.’ Thus does every prodigal child of God “come to himself;” and this his first step of return to his God3 involves the whole work of repentance. The wanderer thinks on his own ways, and turns his feet unto the testimonies of his God; witnessing, to his joyful surprise, every hindrance removed, the way marked with the blood of his Saviour, and his Father’s smiles in this way welcoming his return homeward. This turn is the practical exercise of a genuine faith; and “because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live—he shall not die!”4

But this considerate exercise is needed not only upon the first instance into the ways of God, but in every successive step of our path. It will form the habit of daily “communion with our own heart;”5 without which, disorder and confusion will bewilder our steps. Probably David did not know how far his feet had backslidden from the ways of his God, until this serious consideration of his state brought conviction to his soul—so imperceptible is the declining of the heart from God! Nor is it a few transient thoughts or resolutions, that will effect this turn of the heart to God. A man may maintain a fruitless struggle to return to God for many years in sincerity and earnestness; while, the simple act of faith in the power and love of Jesus will at once bring him back. Thus while “thinking on his ways,” let him walk in Christ as the way of return—and he will walk in the way of God’s testimonies with acceptance and delight. In this spirit of simplicity, he will be ready to listen to the first whisper of the convincing voice of the Spirit, which marks the early steps of secret declension from God.6 He will also thankfully accept the chastening rod, as the Lord’s appointed instrument of restoring his wandering children to himself. For so prone are they to turn their feet away from the Lord—so continually are they “turning aside like a deceitful bow,”7—and so deaf are they from the constitution of their sinful nature, to the ordinary calls of God, that in love and tender faithfulness to their souls, is he often constrained by the stroke of his heavy hand to arrest them in their career of thoughtlessness, and turn them back to himself. Most suitable then for such a state is the prayer of Basil—“Give me any cross, that may bring me into subjection to thy cross; and save me in spite of myself!”

6 Psalm 9:17.

7 Jer. 8:6.

8 How utterly unmeaning was the celebrated aphorism of antiquity, “Know thyself,” until explained and illustrated by the light of Revelation!

1 Compare 2 Kings 7:4.

2 Luke 15:18.

3 Lk 15:17.

4 Ezek. 18:28.

5 Psalm 4:4.

6 See Isa. 30:21.

7 Psalm 78:57.

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If enough people believe that a wrong thing is right, does that make it so? For instance, if people from all educational levels persist in writing it's when they mean its, does that make it correct? From executive memos to newspaper articles to billboard ads, the misuse of it's goes on. To be correct, you would use it's for a contraction of it is. (It's a nice day.) And you would use its to denote a possessive of it. (The dog wagged its tail.) It seems that more people use this construction incorrectly than correctly. Does that mean we should condone its improper use? I hope not. The same is true of biblical teachings that are twisted so often we might consider not making such a big deal about them. 

For instance, what if people continually suggest that hell is not a real place and that people without Jesus are not really lost? (Mt. 5:22; Lk. 12:5). Should we reconsider the accuracy of what Scripture teaches about hell? Or what about the common practice of lying? Should we redefine biblical teaching about honesty? (Ps. 51:6; Prov. 19:5). Do we live by majority rule, setting life patterns by what we see others doing, or do we live by God's standards? It's a question that answers itself if we want to please Him. --JDB 

When reading God's Word, take special care
To find the rich treasures hidden there;
Give thought to each line, each precept clear,
Then practice it well with godly fear.
--Anon.

Trust God's authority--not man's majority.

Psalm 119:60 I hastened and did not delay To keep Your commandments.

• made (KJV): Ps 95:7,8 Eze 10:6-8 Pr 27:1 Ec 9:10 Ga 1:16 

I hastened and did not delay To keep Your commandments. We live in a day of instant foods, instant service and instant this and that. Instant obedience to the revealed will of God is something to ponder—and to produce.

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Charles Bridges - A superficial conviction brings with it a sense of duty without constraining to it. Men stand reasoning and doubting, instead of making haste. But a sound conviction sweeps away all excuses and delays. No time will be lost between making and performing resolutions. Indeed, in a matter of life and death—of eternal life and eternal death1—the call is too clear for debate, and there is no room for delay. Many a precious soul has been lost by waiting for “a more convenient season”2—a period, which probably may never arrive, and which the wilful neglect of present opportunity provokes God to put far away. To-day is God’s time. To-morrow ruins thousands. To-morrow is another world. “To-day—while it is called to-day; if you will hear his voice”3—“make haste, and delay not.” Resolutions, however sincere, and convictions, however serious, “will pass away as the morning cloud and as the early dew,”4 unless they are carefully cherished, and instantly improved. The bonds of iniquity will soon prove too strong for the bonds of your own resolutions; and in the first hour of temptation, convictions, left to chance to grow, will prove as powerless as the “seven green withs” to bind the giant Samson.5 If ever delays are dangerous, much more are they in this concern of eternity. If, therefore, convictions begin to work, instantly yield to their influence. If any worldly or sinful desire is touched, let this be the moment for its crucifixion. If any affection is kindled towards the Saviour, give immediate expression to its voice. If any grace is reviving, let it be called forth into instant duty. This is the best—the only—expedient to fix and detain the motion of the Spirit now striving in the heart: and who knoweth but the improvement of the present advantage may be the moment of victory over difficulties hitherto found insuperable, and may open the path to heaven with less interruption, and more steady progress?

It is from the neglect of this “haste” that convictions often alternately ebb and flow so long, before they settle in a sound conversion. Indeed the instant movement—“making haste and delaying not”—marks the principle of the spiritual life. Thus was the prodigal’s resolution no sooner formed than in action. He said, “I will arise and go to my father—and he arose, and came to his father.”6 When Matthew heard the voice—“Follow me—he left all, rose up and followed him.”7 When Zaccheus was called from the top of the sycamore-tree, “Make haste, and come down, for to-day I must abide at thy house—he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.”8

Ah! as you prize a hope for eternity; as you wish to “flee from the wrath to come,” and to “flee for refuge to the hope set before you”—beware of smothering early convictions. They may prove the first dawn of eternal day upon the soul—the first visit of the quickening spirit of the heart. Guard them with unceasing watchfulness. Nourish them with believing prayer. “Exercise” them “unto” practical “godliness.”1 “Quench not the Spirit.”2 Let not the spark be extinguished by opposition of the world. Let it not expire for want of the fuel of grace. Let it not lie dormant or inactive. “Stir up the gift of God which is in thee.”3 Every exercise, every motion, adds grace to grace, and increases its vigor, health, and fruitfulness. The more we do, the more we find we can do. The withered hand, whenever stretched forth in obedience to the Saviour’s word, and in dependence on his grace, will never fail of a supply of spiritual strength.4 Every successive act strengthens the disposition, until a continued succession has formed a ready and active habit of godliness. Thus the Lord works in setting us to work. Therefore think—determine—turn—“make haste, and delay not; and we wish you God speed;” “we bless you in the name of the Lord.”5

Professor! did you realize eternity, would you hover as you do between heaven and hell? If you were truly alive and awake, no motion would be swift enough for your desire to “flee from the wrath”—to “flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before you.”6 If ever God should touch your heart, to feel the heavenly sweetness of communion with him, will there be no regret that the privilege was not sooner sought and enjoyed? Had I betaken myself earlier to a hearty interest in the ways of God, how much more knowledge, experience and comfort should I have attained! how much more honor should I have brought to God! how much more profit to my fellow-sinners! Remember—every day of carnal pleasure or lukewarm formality is a day lost to God—to your own happiness—to eternity.

A word to the believer—Have you any doubts to clear up, any peace to regain in the ways of the Lord? “Make haste” to set your heart to the work. Make haste to the blood of atonement. Be on the watch to “hear the shepherd’s voice,”7 even if it be the voice of reproof. Promptness is a most important exercise of the habit of faith. Delay brings guilt to the conscience. The blessing of conviction—the comfortable sense of acceptance—the freedom of the Lord’s service is sacrificed to sloth and procrastination. The work that is hard to-day will be harder still to-morrow, by the resistance of this day’s convictions. A greater cost of self-denial, a heavier burden of sorrow and increasing unfitness for the service of God, will be the issue of delay. Be continually, therefore, looking for some beam of light to descend, and some influence of grace to flow in upon you from your exalted Head. A simple and vigorous faith will quickly enliven you with that love, delight, rejoicing in the Lord, readiness to work, and cheerfulness to suffer, which will once again make the ways of God “pleasantness and peace” to your soul.

1 See Deut. 30:18.

2 Acts 24:25.

3 Heb. 4:7.

4 Hosea 6:4.

5 Judges 16:9.

6 Luke 15:18–20.

7 Luke 5:27, 28. Comp. Matt. 4:18–22.

8 Luke 19:5, 6. Compare also the example of Paul, Gal. 1:15, 16.

1 1 Tim. 4:7.

2 1 Thess. 5:19.

3 2 Tim. 1:6.

4 Mark 3:5.

5 Psalm 129:8.

6 Matt. 3:7. Heb. 6:18.

7 John 10:27.

Psalm 119:61 The cords of the wicked have encircled me, But I have not forgotten Your law. 

• The bands (KJV): or, The companies, Ps 119:95 3:1 1Sa 30:3-5 Job 1:17 Ho 6:9 
• but I (KJV): Ps 119:176 1Sa 24:9-11 26:9-11 Pr 24:29 Ro 12:17-21 

The cords of the wicked have encircled me - Wicked are those hostile to God & His people (cp: Jn 15:18,19,20) Encircled is Piel Perf:  The snares & cords of those hostile to God have ensnared me, have bound me, have surrounded me, bind me with ropes (NIV), have wrapped me round; have laid a trap for me (TEV);have tried to drag me into sin (TLB);The cords of evil-doers are round me (BBE).

But I have not forgotten Your law. 

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Charles Bridges - Are we not too apt to cull out the easy work of the Gospel, and to call this love to God? Whereas true love is supreme, and ready to be at some loss, and to part with near and dear objects, knowing that he “is able to give us much more than” our love for him.1 Our resolution to keep his commandments will soon be put to the test. Some trial to the flesh will prove whether we flinch from the cross, or study to prepare ourselves for it. Few of us, perhaps, have literally known this trial of David.2 But the lesson to be learnt from his frame of mind under it, is of great importance to all who profess to have their “treasure in heaven.” It teaches us, that only exercised faith will sustain us in the time of trouble. This faith will enable us instantly to recollect our heavenly portion, and to assure our interest in it, in a remembrance of the law of our God. Had David “forgotten God’s law,” no other resource of comfort opened before him. But it was ready—substantiating to his mind “the things that were not seen and eternal.”3 Look again at the Apostle’s deliberate estimate of this very trial—not only bearing his loss, but absolutely forgetting it in the enjoyment of his better portion. “Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things; and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”4

The temper of mind under such trials as this serves indeed most clearly to discover the real bent of the heart. If we are in possession of a spiritual and heavenly portion, we shall bear to be “robbed by the bands of the wicked,” and yet, “hold fast our profession.” David, under this calamity, “encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”5 Job under the same visitation, “fell down upon the ground, and worshipped.”6 The blessings indeed we lose, are but as a feather compared with the blessings which we retain. The Providence of God is abundant support for his children. Their prospects (not to speak of their present privileges) effectually secure them from ultimate loss, even in the spoiling of their worldly all.7 Thus the early Christians suffered “the bands of the wicked to rob them”—nay—they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods; knowing in themselves, that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance.”8 We have indeed little reason to be frightened from religion by the anticipation of its trials. The exchange of the world for God, and of the service of sin for the ways of heaven, leaves no room for regret in life, in death, or in eternity. The Christian’s darkest hour is ten thousand times brighter than the brightest day of the ungodly. The hope of the crown will enable us to bear the cross, and to realize its sanctifying support as a matter for unbounded praise.

But how desolate are the poor votaries of the world in the hour of trouble! Ignorant of the all-sufficiency of the refuge of the Gospel; instead of being driven to it by the gracious visitations of God, they would rather retreat into any hiding-place of their own, than direct their steps backward to him. Their circumstances of distress are most intensely aggravated by the sullen rebellion of the heart, which refuses to listen to those breathings of the Saviour’s love, that would guide them to himself, as their sure, and peaceful, and eternal rest!1 Would that we could persuade them to cast their souls in penitence and faith before his blessed cross!2 The burden of sin, as Bunyan’s pilgrim found, would then drop from their backs. And this burden once removed—other burdens before intolerable would be found comparatively light; nay—all burdens would be removed in the enjoyment of the Christian privilege of casting all—sin—care—and trouble—upon Jesus. Contrast the state of destitution without him, with the abundant resources of the people of God. We have a double heaven—a heaven on earth, and a heaven above—one in present sunshine—the other in “the city, which hath no need of the sun”3—where our joys will be immediate—unclouded—eternal. Thus our portion embraces both worlds. Our present “joy no man taketh from us;”4 and we have “laid up treasure in heaven,” where the bands of the wicked can “never break through, nor steal.”5

Christian! Does not your faith realize a subsistence of things not seen? The only reality in the apprehensions of the world are “the things that are seen, and are temporal.” Your realities are “the things that are not seen, and are eternal.” Then remember—if you be robbed of your earthly all, your treasure is beyond the reach of harm. You can still say—“I have all and abound.”6 You can live splendidly upon your God, though all is beggary around you. You confess the remembrance of the law of your God to be your unfailing stay—“Unless thy law had been my delight, I should then have perished in my affliction.”7

1 2 Chron. 25:9. Comp. Job 42:10–12.

2 See 1 Sam. 30:1–3.

3 2 Cor. 4:18. Heb. 11:1.

4 Phil. 3:8.

5 1 Sam. 30:6.

6 Job 1:13–17, 20.

7 See Mark 10:29, 30.

8 Heb. 10:34.

1 See Matt. 11:28.

2 1 Peter 5:7.

3 Rev. 21:23.

4 John 16:22.

5 Matt. 6:20.

6 Phil. 4:18; also 2 Cor. 6:10.

7 Ps 119:92.

Psalm 119:62  At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to You Because of Your righteous ordinances. 

• midnight (KJV): Ps 119:147,164 42:8 Mk 1:35 Ac 16:25 
• thy (KJV): Ps 119:7,75,106,137 19:9 De 4:8 Ro 7:12 

At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to You Because of Your righteous ordinances. 

TO GIVE THANKS: YADAH: overlaps in meaning with a number of other Hebrew words implying "praise," such as halal (whence halleluyah). The usual context seems to be public worship, where the worshipers affirm and renew their relationship with God. An affirmation or confession of God's undeserved kindness throws man's unworthiness into sharp relief. 

THY RIGHTEOUS ORDINANCES: TSEDEQ MISHPAT: verdict favorable or unfavorable pronounced judicially, esp. a sentence or formal decree

Mt Henry: Though the Psalmist, in this psalm, much in prayer, yet he did not neglect the duty of thanksgiving; for those that pray much will have much to give thanks for. 
1. How much God's hand was eyed in his thanksgivings. He does not say, "I will give thanks because of thy favours to me, which I have the comfort of," but, "Because of thy righteous judgments, all the disposals of thy providence in wisdom and equity, which thou hast the glory of." We must give thanks for the asserting of God's honour and the accomplishing of his word in all he does in the government of the world. 
2. How much his heart was set upon his thanksgivings. He would rise at midnight to give thanks to God. Great and good thoughts kept him awake, and refreshed him, instead of sleep; and so zealous was he for the honour of God that when others were in their beds he was upon his knees at his devotions. He did not affect to be seen of men in it, but gave thanks in secret, where our heavenly Father sees. He had praised God in the courts of the Lord's house, and yet he will do it in his bed-chamber. Public worship will not excuse us from secret worship. When he found his heart affected with God's judgments, he immediately offered up those affections to God, in actual adorations, not deferring, lest they should cool. Yet observe his reverence; he did not lie still and give thanks, but rose out of his bed, perhaps in the cold and in the dark, to do it the more solemnly. And see what a good husband he was of time; when he could not lie and sleep, he would rise and pray.

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Charles Bridges - Another exercise of sacred pleasure is the ways of the Lord! His portion was always satisfying to this holy man, and he was daily feeding upon it with fresh delight. There was no occasion for the painful restrictions and mortifications of a monastery to oblige him to self-denying observances. Much less was there any desire, by these extraordinary services, to work out a righteousness of his own, to recommend him to the favor of God. His diligence in this heavenly work was the spontaneous effusion of a heart “filled with the Spirit.”8 Presenting the morning and evening service “seven times a day,”9 was not enough for him; but he must “rise at midnight,” to continue his song of praise. These hours sometimes had been spent in overwhelming sorrow.10 Now they were given to the privileged employment of praise.1 Indeed it seems to have been his frequent custom to stir up his gratitude by a midnight review of the Lord’s daily manifestations of mercy.2 A most exciting example—especially for the child of sorrow, when “wearisome nights are appointed to him,” and he “is full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day!”3 Thus “let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds.”4 We observe this Christian enjoyment under circumstances of outward trial. When “at midnight—their feet made fast in the stocks—Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises to God;”5 they gave thanks, because of his righteous judgments.

We often complain of our want of spirituality in the Divine life—how much our body hinders the ascent of the soul heavenwards—how often drowsiness overcomes our evening communion with our God; the “weakness of the flesh” overpowering the “willingness of the Spirit.”6 But after making all due allowances for constitutional infirmity, how far are we “instant in season and out of season” in the “mortification of the flesh?”7 Do we earnestly seek for a heart delighting in heavenly things? The more the flesh is denied for the service of God, the more we shall be elevated for the enjoyment, and realize the privilege of the work; and instead of having so often to mourn that our “souls cleave unto the dust,”8 we shall “mount upwards with eagles’ wings,”9 and even now by anticipation, take our place before “the throne of God and the Lamb.” Such is the active influence of self-denial in exercising our graces and promoting our comfort! Oh! how much more ferrent would be our prayers—how much more fruitful in blessings—were they enlivened with more abundant delight in the ‘angelical work of praise.’10 The theme is always before us. The subject of the heavenly song should constantly engage our songs on earth—Jesus and his love—the worthiness of the Lamb that was slain—his “power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”11 Midnight wakefulness would be far sweeter than slumber; yea, night itself would be turned into day, did “the judgments of God,” as manifested in the glory of the Saviour, thus occupy our hearts.12 Lord, tune my heart to thy praise, and then no time will be unseasonable for this blessed employment. Time thus redeemed from sleep will be an antepast of the unwearied service of heaven.13

8 Eph. 5:18.

9 See Ps 119:147, 148, 164.

10 See Ps. 77:3, 4.

1 Ps. 42:8. Comp. Job 35:10.

2 Ps 139:17, 18.

3 Job 7:3, 4.

4 Ps. 149:5.

5 Acts 16:24, 25.

6 Matt. 26:41.

7 1 Cor. 9:27.

8 Ps 119:25.

9 Isaiah 40:31.

10 Baxter.

11 Rev. 5:12.

12 See Rev 15:3, 4.

13 Rev 4:8.

Psalm 119:63  I am a companion of all those who fear You, And of those who keep Your precepts. 

• a companion (KJV): Ps 119:79,115 16:3 101:6 142:7 Pr 13:20 Mal 3:16-18 2Co 6:14-17 1Jn 1:3 3:14 

I am a companion of all those who fear You, And of those who keep Your precepts.  Knowing and obeying the Bible will bring into your life the very finest friends. Those who love God’s Word are friends indeed. There are false friends who may dazzle you with their worldly wisdom and wealth, but their friendship will lead you astray. Stick with those who “stick” with the Bible (v31).

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Charles Bridges - Those that love the Lord’s service naturally associate with kindred spirits—with those that fear him, and keep his precepts.14 These two features identify the same character; as cheerful obedience is always the fruit of filial fear. These then are the Lord’s people; and union with him is in fact union with them. Sometimes the society of the refined and intelligent of this world may be more congenial to our natural taste. But ought there not be a restraint here? Ought not the Christian to say, “Surely the fear of God is not in this place;”1 and “should I love them that hate the Lord?”2 Let those of us, who live in close, and to a certain degree necessary, contact with the world, subject their hearts to an evening scrutiny on this subject. ‘Has the society of this day refreshed my soul, or raised my heart to spiritual things? Has it promoted a watchful temper? Or has it not rather “quenched the spirit” of prayer and restrained my intercourse with God?’ To meet the Christian in ordinary courtesy, not in unity of heart, is a sign of an unspiritual walk with God. Fellowship with God is “walking in the light.” “Fellowship one with another” is the natural flow. “The communion of saints” is the fruit and effect of communion with God.3

The calls of duty, or the leadings of providence, may indeed unavoidably connect us with those, who “have no fear of God before their eyes.” Nor should we repel them from religiously affecting a sullen or uncourteous4 habit. But such men, whatever be their attractions, will not be the companions of our choice. Fellowship with them, is to “remove the ancient land-mark;”5 to forget the broad line of separation between us and them; and to venture into the most hazardous atmosphere. If indeed our hearts were ascending, like a flame of fire, with a natural motion heavenwards, and carrying with them all in their way, the choice of the companions of our pilgrimage would be a matter of little importance. But so deadening to our spirit is the conversation of the men of this world, (however commanding their talents, or interesting their topics,) that even if we have been just before enlivened by the high privilege of communion with God, the free and self-indulgent interchange of their society will benumb our spiritual powers, and quickly freeze them again. To underrate therefore the privileged association with “them that fear God,” is to incur—not only a most awful responsibility in the sight of God; but also a most serious hazard to our own souls.

If then we are not ashamed to confess ourselves Christians, let us not shrink from walking in fellowship with Christians. Even if they should exhibit some repulsive features of character, they bear the image of Him, whom we profess to love inexpressibly and incomparably above all. They will be our companions in an eternal home: they ought therefore to be our brothers now. How sweet, and holy, and heavenly is this near relation to them in our common Lord! Shall we not readily consent to his judgment, who pronounced “the righteous to be more excellent than his neighbor?”6 “Iron sharpeneth iron.”7 If then “the iron be blunt,” this will be one of the best means of “whetting the edge.”8 The most established servants of God gladly acknowledge the sensible refreshment of this union of heart.1 It is marked in the word of God, as the channel of the communication of heavenly wisdom2—as a feature in the character of the citizens of Zion3—and as that disposition, which is distinguished with manifest tokens of the Saviour’s presence;4 and which the great day will crown with the special seal of his remembrance. “They that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard” it; “and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day, when I make up my jewels.’5

14 Compare Psalm 103:17, 18.

1 Gen. 20:11.

2 2 Chron. 19:2.

3 See 1 John 1:3–7.

4 See 1 Pet. 3:6.

5 Prov. 22:28.

6 Pr 12:26.

7 Pr  27:17.

8 See Eccl. 10:10.

1 Comp 1 Sam. 23:16. Psalm 16:3. Acts 28:15. Rom. 1:11, 12. 2 Cor. 7:6, 7.

2 Prov. 13:20.

3 Psalm 15:1, 4. Comp. Psalm 16:3, and especially 1 John 3:14.

4 Luke 24:15, 32.

5 Mal. 3:16, 17.

Psalm 119:64 The earth is full of Your lovingkindness, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes. 

• earth (KJV): Ps 33:5 104:13 145:9 
• teach (KJV): Ps 119:12,26 27:11 Isa 2:3 48:17,18 Mt 11:29 

The earth is full of Your lovingkindness, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes. 

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Charles Bridges - What full provision is made for man’s happiness! The first creation was full of mercy. God knew that he had created a being full of want. Every faculty wanted some suitable object, as the source of enjoyment in the gratification—of suffering in the denial; and now has he charged himself with making provision for them all—so perfect, that no want is left unprovided for.

But what a picture does the earth now present on every side—a world of rebels! yet a world “full of the mercy of the Lord!” “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom has thou made them all. The earth is full of thy riches. The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.”6 And how does the contemplation of the Lord’s “mercy” in providence encourage our faith, in the expectancy of spiritual privileges! “O Lord! thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wing. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.”7 ‘As thou dost largely bestow thy blessings upon all creatures according to their nature and condition, so I do desire the spiritual blessings of the lively light of thy law and word, which are fitting and convenient for the being and happiness of my soul.’8 As an ignorant sinner, “what I see not, teach thou me.”9 “Teach me thy statutes,” that which thou hast appointed, as the way of duty and the path to glory—that path which I am utterly unable to discover, or when discovered, to walk in, without the help of thy grace. And indeed the hearts of his people are the vessels, into which the Lord is continually pouring more and more of himself, until they shall “be filled with all the fulness of God.”1 Every good, according to its character and degree, is diffusive. And thus the goodness or mercy of God pervades his whole universe—natural—plentiful—free—communicative.2

Yet none but a believer will understand how to use the plea which is here employed. The mercy that he sees on every side, is to him a pledge and earnest of that mercy, which his soul needs within. The world indeed in its present falling state, when seen through the medium of pride and discontent, exhibits a picture of misery, not of mercy; and only ministers occasion for complaint against the Creator. But the believer—feeling the infinite and eternal desert of sin—cannot but know that the lowest exercise of goodness in God is an act of free undeserved mercy. No wonder then that he sees mercy in everything—in every part of the universe of God—a world “full of mercy.” The very food we eat, our raiment, our habitations, the contrivances for our comfort, are not mere displays of goodness, but manifestations of mercy. Having forfeited all claim upon the smallest consideration of God, there could have been no just ground of complaint, had all these blessings been made occasions of suffering, instead of comfort and indulgence.

Indeed is it not a marvel, that when man—full of mercy—is lifting up his hand against his God—employing against him all the faculties which his mercy gave and has preserved—that God should be so seldom provoked to strike by their aggravated provocations? What multitude—what weight—what variety of mercy doth he still shower upon us! Even our hair—though seemingly so unimportant—the seat of loathsome, defiling, and even mortal disease, is the object of his special care.3 All the limbs of the body—all the faculties of the mind—all the affections of the heart—all the powers of the will: keeping us in health—capable of acting for our own happiness—how does he restrain them from those exercises or movements which might be fatal to our happiness!

And then the question naturally recurs—and to a spiritual mind will never weary by its recurrence—Whence flows all this mercy? Oh! it is delightful indeed to answer such an inquiry—delightful to contemplate him, “in whom” we are not only “blessed with all spiritual blessings;”4 but who is also the medium, through which our temporal comforts are conveyed to us. How sweet to eye these mercies, as bought with the most precious blood that ever was known in the world, and to mark the print of the nails of our crucified friend stamped upon the least of them! We allow it to add a relish to our enjoyments, that we can consider them as provided by some beloved friend; and should not our mercies be doubly sweet in the remembrance of that munificent Friend, who purchased them for us so dearly; who bestows them upon us so richly; yea, who gives himself with them all?

Have we heard of this mercy of God? And do we feel the need of it for ourselves—for every moment? Then let us apply to the throne of grace in the free and open way of acceptance and access. Let us go to the King (as Benhadad’s servants to the King of Israel1) in the spirit of self-condemnation and faith. Our acceptance does not depend (as in the case referred to) upon a “peradventure;” but it rests upon the sure word of promise, “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.”2

6 Psalm 104:24; 145:15, 16.

7 Ps 36:6–8.

8 Diodati. “It is worthy of especial notice, how often, and in what varied connections, David in this Psalm prays to be taught the statutes of God, though he seems to have been more intimately acquainted with the sacred oracles, as then extant, than almost any other man; but he knew that Divine teaching alone could enable him rightly to understand the Scriptures, and to apply general rules to all the variety of particular cases, which occurred in the course of his life.”—Scott.

9 Job 34:32.

1 Eph. 3:19.

2 Ps 119:68.

3 Matt. 10:30.

4 Eph. 1:3.

1 Comp. 1 Kings 20:31.

2 John 6:37.

Psalm 119:65 Teth. You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word. 

• dealt well (KJV): Ps 119:17 13:6 16:5,6 18:35 23:5,6 30:11 116:7 1Ch 29:14 

Teth. You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word. 

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Warren Wiersbe - True Riches
 
Read Psalm 119:65-72
 
"The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver" (Psalm 119:72). Can we honestly say that we would rather have God's Word than money?
 
Many people in the Bible had that testimony. For example, Abraham led his army to a great victory. He brought back all of the captives and all the spoil. The King of Sodom showed up and said, "Abraham, you can have all this spoil. Just give me the people." But Abraham said, "Before this battle started, I lifted my hand to the Lord and said, 'When I win this battle, I'm not taking one thing from these people.' I would rather have the Word of God than have thousands of shekels of gold and silver" (see Gen. 14). Abraham kept his testimony clean.
 
But I also think of Achan in Joshua 7. God had commanded that no spoil be taken from Jericho. But Achan stole some silver and gold and clothing and buried them under his tent. He thought no one knew, but God knew. Achan wanted riches rather than God. Judas made the same mistake. He sold Jesus Christ, the greatest Treasure in the universe, for 30 pieces of silver.
 
If we love the Word of God, we'll read it, meditate on it and seek to obey it. If the Bible does not change our values, it will not change our lives. Jesus was the poorest of the poor. He made Himself poor to make us rich. We, in turn, should make ourselves poor to make other people rich, for we have the riches of the Word of God.
 
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You have a choice to make today: you can seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, or you can bow down to the kingdom of man and seek riches. Would you rather have the temporal possessions of this world or the spiritual riches of God's Word? (Psalm 119:65-72 True Riches)

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Charles Bridges - There is a time for all things in the believer’s experience—for confession, prayer, praise. This Psalm mostly expresses the professions and prayers of the man of God—yet mingled with thankful acknowledgment of mercy. He had prayed, “Deal bountifully with thy servant.”3 Perhaps here is the acknowledgment of the answer to his prayer, “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word.” And who among us has not daily reason to make the same acknowledgment? Even in those trials, when we have indulged hard thoughts of God, a clearer view of his judgments, and a more simple dependence upon his faithfulness and love, will rebuke our impatience and unbelief, and encourage our trust.4 Subsequent experience altered Jacob’s hasty view of the Lord’s dealings with him. In a moment of peevishness, the recollection of the supposed death of a beloved son, and the threatened bereavement of another, tempted him to say, “All these things are against me.”5 At a brighter period of his day, when clouds were beginning to disperse, we hear that “the spirit of Jacob revived. And Jacob said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive, I will go and see him before I die.”6 And when his evening sun was going down almost without a cloud, in the believing act of “blessing the sons of” his beloved “Joseph,”7 how clearly does he retract the language of his former sinful impatience.—“God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, did walk—the God which fed me all my life long unto this day—the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.”1 This surely was in the true spirit of the acknowledgment, Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word.

And how is it that any of us have ever harbored a suspicion of unbelief? Has God in any one instance falsified his promise? Has “the vision” failed to come at the end? Has it ever “lied?”2 Has he not “confirmed his promise by an oath,” “that we might have two immutable things” as the ground of “strong consolation?”3 Any degree less than the full credit that he deserves, is admitting the false principle, that God is a man that he should lie, and the son of a man that he should repent. It weakens the whole spiritual frame, shakes our grasp of the promise, destroys our present comfort, and brings foreboding apprehensions of the future. Whereas, if we have faith and patience to wait,—“in the mount the Lord shall be seen.”4 “All things” may seem to be “against us,” while at the very moment under the wonder-working hand of God, they are “working together for our good.”5 When therefore we “are in heaviness through manifold temptations,” and we discover a “needs be” for it all, and “the trial of faith is found unto praise and honor and glory”6—when we are thus reaping the fruitful discipline of our Father’s school,7 must we not put a fresh seal to our testimony, “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord?” But why should we delay our acknowledgment till we come out of our trial? Ought we not to give it even in the midst of our “heaviness?”8 Faith has enabled many, and would enable us, to “glorify God in the fires;”9 to “trust” him, even when “walking in darkness, and having no light;”10 and, even while smarting under his chastening rod, to acknowledge, that he “has dealt well with us.”

But if I doubt the reasonableness of this acknowledgment, then let me, while suffering under trial, endeavor to take up different language. ‘Lord, thou hast dealt ill with thy servant; thou hast not kept thy word.’ If in a moment of unbelief my impatient heart, like Jacob’s, could harbor such a dishonorable suspicion, my conscience would soon smite me with conviction—‘What! shall I, who am “called out of darkness into marvellous light”—shall I, who am rescued from slavery and death, and brought into a glorious state of liberty and life, complain? Shall I, who have been redeemed at so great a price, and who have a right to “all the promises of God in Christ Jesus,”11 and who am now an “heir of God, and joint heir with Christ”12—murmur at my Father’s will? Alas, that my heart should prove so foolish, so weak, so ungrateful! Lord! I would acknowledge with thankfulness, and yet with humiliation, “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, according to thy word.” But how sinfully do we neglect these honorable and cheering acknowledgments! Were we habitually to mark them for future remembrance, we should be surprised to see how their numbers would multiply. “If we should count them, they are more in number than the sand.”1 And truly such recollections—enhancing every common, as well as every special mercy—would come up as a sweet savor to God “by Christ Jesus.”2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name; and forget not all his benefits.”3

3 Ps 119:17.

4 “If all the sad losses trials, sicknesses, infirmities, griefs, heaviness, and inconstancy of the creature be expounded to be, as I am sure they are, the rods of the jealousy of a Father in heaven, contending with all your lovers on earth, though there were millions of them, for your love, to fetch it home to heaven, single, unmixed, you will forgive (if we may use that word) every rod of God, and ‘let not the sun go down upon your wrath’ against any messenger of your afflicting and correcting Father.”—Rutherford’s Letters.

5 Gen. 42:36.

6 Ge 45:27, 28.

7 Heb. 11:21.

1 Gen. 48:15, 16.

2 Hab. 2:3.

3 Heb. 6:17, 18.

4 Gen. 22:14. See Scott in loco.

5 Rom. 8:28.

6 1 Peter 1:6, 7.

7 Heb. 12:11.

8 Ps 119:71, 75. “In everything (therefore including affliction) by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,” &c. Phil. 4:6. Compare also 1 Thess. 5:18.

9 Isaiah 24:15.

10 Isa. 50:10.

11 2 Cor. 1:20.

12 Rom. 8:17.

1 Psalm 139:18.

2 Heb. 13:15.

3 Psalm 103:1, 2.

Psalm 119:66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments. 

• Teach me (KJV): Ps 119:34 72:1,2 1Ki 3:9,28 Pr 2:1-9 8:20 Isa 11:2-4 Jud 3:15 Mt 13:11 Php 1:9 Jas 3:13-18 
• I Have (KJV): Ps 119:128,160,172 Ne 9:13,14 

Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments. 

TEACH ME: LAMAD: Piel Imp: has the idea of training as well as educating. The training aspect can be seen in the derived term for "oxgoad," malme'd. The principle use is in Ps119:12, 26, 64, 66, 68, 108, 124, 135, 171.) Greek uses two different words for "to learn" (manthano) and "to teach" (didasko), each having its own content, goal, and methods, Hebrew uses the same root for both words because all learning and teaching is ultimately to be found in the fear of the Lord. Each of the following passages has some variation of the phrase "learn (LAMAD) to fear Jehovah":  (Dt 4:10,14:23,17:19, 31:12,13 )

GOOD DISCERNMENT: TUWB TA'AM: The root of "tuwb" is "towb/tob" which means "to be pleasing". Ta'am literally means "taste" which fig gives the idea of discerning. This is an excellent prayer in a day when "absolutes" are absolutely "politically incorrect"! Some things are easy to "taste" -- they are foul, rotten, spoiled, but others are more subtle and thus we stand in constant need of God's grace to be able to discern so that we do not "eat" of the world's fetid, false fare but partake only of God's good Word.  Cp to the subtlety of the deception in the last days in Mt 24:24.

AND KNOWLEDGE: DA'ATH: experiential knowledge of the living God. Knowledge of His written Word cannot be separated from personal knowledge of God. To know God is to live in harmony with His will, and to live in harmony with His will we must know His will. Loss of the knowledge of God leaves a destructive vacuum in personal and national life. 
    Compare to Isa 5:13,(Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge...) Hos 4:6. (My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.) Thus this prayer is a "life & death" prayer. God show me(us) Your Truth that I may discern good from evil. (Heb 5:14)

FOR I BELIEVE IN: AMAN: Hiphil Perf: trusted, leaned on God's commandments. At the heart of the meaning of the root is the idea of certainty. Faith is not a blind leap into  the dark. 

THY COMMANDMENTS: MITSVAH: 

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Charles Bridges - If the perception of the Lord’s merciful dealings with my soul is obscure—Teach me good judgment and knowledge. Give me a clear and enlarged apprehension, that I may be ready with my acknowledgment—All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.4 Or even with an enlightened assurance of his wise and faithful dispensations, still would I urge this petition before him, as needful for every step of my path. Indeed this prayer illustrates the simplicity and intelligence of Christian faith—always desiring, asking, and expecting the most suitable blessings. For what blessings can be more suitable to an ignorant sinner, than good judgment and knowledge: “knowledge” of ourselves, of our Saviour, of the way of obedience—and “good judgment,” to apply this knowledge to some valuable end? These two parts of our intellectual furniture have a most important connection and dependence upon each other. “Knowledge” is the speculative perception of general truth. “Judgment” is the practical application of it to the heart and conduct. No school, but the school of Christ, no teaching, but the teaching of the Spirit—can ever give this “good judgment and knowledge.” Solomon asks it for himself5—Paul for his people.6 Both direct us to God as the sole fountain and author.7

We cannot fail of observing a very common defect in Christians—warm affections connected with a blind or loose judgment. Hence too often a lightness in religion, equally unsteady in profession and in practice—easily satisfied with a narrow compass in the vast field of Scripture, instead of grasping a full survey of those truths, which are so intimately connected with our Christian establishment and privilege. Much perplexing doubt, discouragement, and fear; much mistaken apprehension of important truth, much coldness and backsliding of heart and conduct, arises from the want of an accurate and full apprehension of the scriptural system.

This prayer has a special application to the tender and sensitive child of God. The disease of his constitution is too often a scrupulous conscience—one of the most active and successful enemies to his settled peace and quietness.1 The faculty of conscience partakes with every other power of man of the injury of the fall; and therefore, with all its intelligence, honesty, and power, is liable to misconception. Like a defect of vision, it often displaces objects: and, in apparently conflicting duties, that which touches the feeling, or accords with the temper, is preferred to one, which though more remotely viewed, really possessed a higher claim. Thus it pronounces its verdict from the predominance of feeling, rather than from the exercise of judgment—more from an indistinct perception of the subject presented to the mind, than from a simple immediate reference “to the law and testimony.” Again—matters of trivial moment are often insisted upon, to the neglect of important principles.2 External points of offence are more considered, than the habitual mortification of the inward principle. Conformity to the world in dress and appearance is more strongly censured than the general spirit of worldliness in the temper and conduct of outward non-conformists; while the spirit of separation from the world (which may exist in a somewhat wider range of Christian liberty, than the narrow perception of some professors has conceived,3) is totally disregarded. Thus are non-essentials confounded with fundamentals—things indifferent with things unlawful, from a narrow misconception of what is directly forbidden and allowed.4 Conscience, therefore, must not be trusted without the light of the word of God; and most important is the prayer, “Teach me good judgment and knowledge.”

The exercises of this state of feeling are both endless and causeless. In the well-intended endeavor to guard against a devious track, the mind is constantly harassed with an over-anxious inquiry, whether the right path is accurately discovered; and thus at once the pleasure and the progress of the journey are materially hindered. The influence, therefore, of this morbid sensibility is strenuously to be resisted. It renders the strait way more strait. It retards the work of grace in the soul. It is usually connected with self-righteousness. It savors of, and tends to produce, hard thoughts of God. It damps our cheerfulness in his service, and unfits us for the duty of the present moment. What, however, is more than all to be deprecated, is, that it multiplies sin; or, to speak more clearly, it superinduces another species of sin, besides the actual transgression of the law of God. For opposition to the dictates of conscience in any particular is sin, even though the act itself may be allowed by the law of God. We may, therefore, sin in the act of doing good, or in obedience to the liberty and enjoyment of the Gospel, as well as in the allowed transgression of the law. Indeed, under the bondage of scrupulous conscience, we seem to be entangled in the sad necessity of sinning. The dictates of conscience, even when grounded upon misconception, are authoritative.1 Listening to its suggestions may be sinning against the liberty, wherewith Christ has made us “free,” and in which we are commanded to “stand fast.”2 No human authority can free from its bonds. Resistance to its voice is disobedience to God’s vicegerent, and therefore, in a qualified sense at least, disobedience to God himself. And thus it is sin, even when that which conscience condemns may be innocent.3

The evil of a scrupulous conscience may often be traced to a diseased temperament of body, to a naturally weak or perverted understanding, to the unfavorable influence of early prejudice—to a want of simple exercise of faith, or perception of the matters of faith. In these cases faith may be sincere, though weak; and the sin, such as it is, is a sin of infirmity, calling for our pity, forbearance, prayer, and help. In many instances, however, wilful ignorance, false shame that will not inquire, or a pertinacious adherence to deep-rooted opinion is the source of the disease. Now such persons must be roused, even at the hazard of wounding the conscience of the more tenderly scrupulous. But as the one class decidedly sin, and the other too frequently indulge their infirmity, the excitement will probably be ultimately useful to both. Both need to have the conscience enlightened; and to obtain “a right judgment in all things”—by a more diligent “search in the Scriptures”—by “seeking the law at the mouth of the priest”4—and, above all, by earnest prayer with the Psalmist—“Teach me good judgment and knowledge.” Thus they will discern between what is imperative, and what is indifferent: what is lawful, and what is expedient. If “whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” then the only prospect of the removal of the doubt will be increase of faith—that is, a more full persuasion of the Divine warrant and instruction.1 “Howbeit there is not in every one this knowledge;”2 yet the exhortation speaks alike to all—“Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”3 Indeed the most favorable symptoms of scrupulosity (except where the disease originates in external causes) partake of the guilt of wilful ignorance; because none can be said sincerely to ask for “good judgment and knowledge” who do not diligently improve all means of obtaining it. If, therefore, the scrupulous shrink from honestly seeking the resolution of their difficulties in private conferences (where they are to be had) with ministers or experienced Christians, so far they must be considered as wilfully ignorant. We would indeed “receive them,” “bear with their infirmities,”4 and encourage them to expect relief from their hard bondage in the way of increasing diligence, humility, and prayer. While their minds are in doubt concerning the path of duty, their actions must be imperfect and unsatisfactory. Let them, therefore, wait, inquire, and pray, until their way be made plain. This done, let them act according to their conscience, allowing nothing that it condemns, neglecting nothing which it requires. The responsibility of error (should error be eventually detected) will not be—the too implicit following of the guidance of conscience—but the want of due care and diligence for its more clear illumination. Generally, however, the rule will apply—“If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”5

But, besides the scrupulous conscience, the imperfectly enlightened conscience presents a case equally to be deprecated. Often does it charge to a sinful source those incessant variations of feeling, which originate in bodily indisposition, or accidental influence of temptation. Sins of infirmity are confounded with sins of indulgence; occasional with habitual transgressions of duty. Only a part of the character is brought under cognizance; and while short comings or surprisals are justly condemned; yet the exercise of contrition, faith, love, and watchfulness, is passed by unnoticed. Thus the Gospel becomes the very reverse of the appointment of its gracious Author.6 It brings ashes for beauty, mourning for the oil of joy, and the spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise. If this evil is “not a sin unto death,” it is “a sore evil under the sun,” which may often give occasion for the prayer—“Teach me good judgment and knowledge;” that, in the simplicity of faith, I may be blessed with a tender conscience, and be delivered from the bondage of a scrupulous, and from the perplexity of an unenlightened conscience. Let my heart never condemn me where it ought not. Let it never fail to condemn me where it ought.

But alas! the perception of our need of this “good judgment and knowledge,” is far too indistinct and uninfluential. We need to cry for these valuable blessings with deeper earnestness, and more diligent and patient waiting upon God. Divine wisdom is a treasury, that does not spend by giving; and we may ask to be enriched to the utmost extent of our wants, “in full assurance of faith.” But this faith embraces the whole revelation of God—the commandments as well as the promises. And thus it becomes the principle of Christian obedience. For can we believe these commandments to be as they are represented—“holy, just, and good,” and not delight in them?1 “In those is continuance”—saith the prophet—“and we shall be saved.”2 Convinced of their perfection, acknowledging their obligations, loving them, and living in them, we shall “come to full age” in the knowledge of the Gospel, and, “by reason of use have our senses exercised to discern good and evil.”3

4 Ps. 25:10.

5 1 Kings 3:9.

6 Phil. 1:9, 10. Col. 1:9.

7 Prov. 2:6. 1 Cor. 1:5. 2 Tim. 1:7. It is recorded of one of the Reformers, that, when he had well acquitted himself in a public disputation, a friend begged to see the notes, which he had been observed to write, supposing that he had taken down the arguments of his opponents, and sketched the substance of his own reply. Greatly was he surprised to find that they consisted simply of these ejaculatory petitions—“More light, Lord,—more light,—more light!” How fully was the true spirit of prayer compressed in these short aspirations! Could they fail of success? “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5. Greenham, being asked his judgment of some important matters, answered: “Sir, neither am I able to speak, nor you to hear; for we have not prayed. I may indeed talk, and you may answer, as natural men; but we are not now prepared to confer as children of God.” Works, p. 19.

1 “Scruple,” as Bishop Taylor justly observes, “is a little stone in the foot. If you set it on the ground, it hurts you. If you hold it up, you cannot go forward. It is a trouble, when trouble is over; a doubt, when doubts are resolved; a little party behind the hedge when the main army is broken and cleared; and when conscience is instructed in its way, and girt for action, a light trifling reason, or an absurd fear, hinders it from beginning the journey, or proceeding in the way, or resting at the journey’s end.” Duct. Dubitant. Book i. chap. vi. See Calvin’s lively description of scrupulosity in Scott’s Analysis of his Institutes.—Continuation of Milner, iii. 563.

2 Col. 2:18.

3 See 1 Cor. 8:4, 7.

4 “Measuring actions by atoms is the way, not to govern, but to disorder, conscience.—Bishop Taylor, ut supra.

1 See Rom. 14:14. “To him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, (though clean by the express appointment of God. Acts 10:9–15, 1 Tim. 4:3–5, and only “unclean” therefore by the misconception of conscience,) to him it is unclean,”—i.e., he must not touch it upon the ground of conscience, though the Gospel allowed the use of it, and it was an infringement of Christian liberty to abstain from it. Thus did his ignorance make to himself an occasion of sin.

2 Gal. 5:1, with 4:9, 10.

3 Compare Rom. 14:20–23.

4 Mal. 2:7. See the example of the primitive church, Acts 15:1, 2.

1 Rom. 14:5.

2 1 Cor. 8:7.

3 2 Peter 3:18.

4 Rom. 14:1; 15:1.

5 Matt. 6:22. Compare Prov. 24:5. For a similar view of this case, see Baxter’s Christian Directory, Book i. chap. iii. The sacrifices appointed for sins of ignorance under the law, (Lev. 4,) mark God’s sense of this case; while the frequent breaches of Christian unity and forbearance arising from it may well justify this extended consideration of it.

6 Compare Isaiah 61:3.

1 Rom. 7:12, with 22.

2 Isa. 64:5.

3 Heb. 5:14.

Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. 

• Before (KJV): Ps 119:176 73:5-28 De 32:15 2Sa 10:19 11:2-27 2Ch 33:9-13 Pr 1:32 Jer 22:21 
• but now (KJV): Ps 119:71,75 Jer 31:18,19 Ho 2:6,7 5:15 6:1 Heb 12:10,11 Rev 3:10 
• See in depth article on Afflictions-Suffering-Quotes, Devotionals, Illustrations
• See commentary on Hebrews 12:5-11

THE PURIFYING EFFECT
OF AFFLICTIONS

Before I was afflicted I went astray, Qal Impf: Before I was bowed down, humbled. God's discipline has divine purpose. Parallels [2Co12:9,10 Ja4:6 See Ps 119:50, 71, 75, 92] law of God comforts in lowliness; 

But now - 'ATTAH: Praise the Lord for the fact that we even can exclaim about the "but now's" in our life. The truth is our sin demands death but in His mercy, He has afforded us "but now's" that we might return & repent & receive the times of refreshing (Ac 3:19).

I keep Your word. hedge about as with thorns so as to preserve God's Word. (NIV =  now I obey Your word.)

TIMES OF AFFLICTION: Lieutenant Paul Galanti, a US Navy pilot, spent 6 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. The experience has given him a heightened sense of ordinary privileges that most of us take for granted. Speaking of his life today, nearly three decades after being released, Galanti says, "There's no such thing as a bad day when there's a doorknob on the inside of the door." After 2,300 straight days in a locked cell, you might consider the privilege of walking outside whenever you please to be one of life's greatest luxuries. 

The writer of Ps 119 makes the startling statement, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes" (v71). From a time of suffering, the psalmist gained a greater love for God and an increased appreciation for His commands. "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your Word" (v67). Perhaps you can identify with the words of the psalmist. You've "been there" and you know what he means. Or you may be in the middle of a great hardship today. When the days are dark and relief is out of sight, we need to cling to what we know to be true about the goodness and faithfulness of God. And then, when He brings us out into the light, we too will see the results and thank God for the legacy of affliction. —DCM 

In times of greatest trouble,
I've learned to trust God's Word;
For through the Spirit's teaching
My Savior's voice I've heard.
—Fitzhugh

Tough times teach trust.

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Charles Bridges - The teaching of good judgment and knowledge will lead us to deprecate, instead of desiring, a prosperous state. But should the Christian, by the appointment of God, be thrown into this seductive atmosphere, he will feel the prayer that is so often put into his lips, most peculiarly expressive of his need—“In all time of our wealth—Good Lord! deliver us!”4 A time of wealth is indeed a time of special need. It is hard to restrain the flesh, when so many are the baits for its indulgence. Such mighty power is here given to the enemy, while our perception of his power is fearfully weakened! Many and affecting instances are recorded of the heart of the Lord’s people, in the deadening influence of a proud and worldly spirit.5 But the unmitigated curse to the ungodly is written as with a sunbeam for our warning—“When Jeshurun waxed fat, he kicked—I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear.”6 But how awful will be the period, when the question shall speak to the conscience with all the poignancy of self-conviction—“What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?” What is the end of this flowery path? “Death?”7 “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castest them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors!”8 “the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.”9

Our Saviour’s allotment for his people—“In the world ye shall have tribulation”10—marks not less his wisdom than his love. This is the gracious rod, by which he scourges back his prodigal children to himself. This is the wise discipline, by which he preserves them from the poisoned sweetness of carnal allurements, and keeps their hearts in a simple direction towards himself, as the well-spring of their everlasting joy. With all of them this one method has been pursued. All have been taught in one school. All have known the power of affliction in some of its varied forms of inward conflict or outward trouble. All have found a time of affliction a time of love. All have given proof, that the pains bestowed upon them have not been in vain. Thus did Manasseh in affliction beseech “the Lord, and humble himself greatly before the Lord God of his fathers.”1 Thus also in afflictions the Lord “heard Ephraim bemoaning himself;”2 and beheld Israel “seeking him early,”3 and the forlorn wandering child casting a wishful, penitent look towards his Father’s house, as if the pleasures, that had enticed his heart from home, were now embittered to the soul.4

And thus the Christian can give some account of the means by which his Father is leading and preparing him for heaven. Perhaps he did not at first see the reason.5 It was matter of faith, not of consciousness. But in looking back, how clear the path, how valuable the benefit—Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. I never prized it before. I could, indeed, scarcely be said to know it. I never understood its comfort until affliction expounded it to me. I never till now saw its suitableness to my case. But what an heightened aggravation of guilt, when these especial mercies fail of their gracious end—when vanity, worldliness, and sin still reign with uncontrolled sway! Ah! when sinners are unhumbled “under the mighty hand of God”—when they are afflicted, and not purged by affliction—when it is said of them—“They received not correction”6—it seems the forerunner of that tremendous judgment—“Why should ye be stricken any more.”7

Heavenly Father! keep thy poor weak erring child from this fearful doom. Let not that measure of prosperity, which thou mayest be pleased to vouchsafe, prove my curse. But especially let every cross, every affliction, which thou art pleased to mingle in my cup, conform me more to my Saviour’s image, restrain my heart from its daily wanderings, and give thy holy ways and word to my soul, and give me sweeter anticipations of that blessed home, where I shall never wander more, but find my eternal happiness in “keeping thy word.”

4 Litany.

5 The histories of David, 1 Chron. 21:1–4; Solomon, 1 Kings 11:1–8; Uzziah, 2 Chron. 26:16; and Hezekiah, 2 Chron. 32:25–32, will readily occur to the mind.

6 Deut. 32:15. Jer. 22:21.

7 Rom. 6:21.

8 Psalm 73:18, 19.

9 Prov. 1:32.

10 John 16:33. Acts 14:22. 1 Thess. 3:3.

1 2 Chron. 33:12. Compare Dan. 4:36, 37.

2 Jer. 31:18, 19.

3 Hosea 5:15; 6:1, 2.

4 Luke 15:16, 17.

5 See Heb. 12:11.

6 Zeph. 3:2.

7 Isaiah 1:5.

 

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Spurgeon - An old Puritan said, “God’s people are like birds; they sing best in cages, they sing best when in the deepest trouble.” Said old Master Brooks, “The deeper the flood was, the higher the ark went up to heaven.” So it is with the child of God: the deeper his troubles the nearer to heaven he goeth, if he lives close to his Master. Troubles are called weights; and a weight, you know, generally cloggeth and keepeth down to the earth; but there are ways, by the use of the laws of mechanics, by which you can make a weight lift you; and so it is possible to make your troubles lift you nearer heaven instead of making them sink you. Ah! we thank our God, He has sometimes opened our mouth when we were dumb; when we were ungrateful, and did not praise Him, He has opened our mouth by a trial; and though when we had a thousand mercies we did not bless Him, when He sent a sharp affliction, then we began to bless Him....Often our trials act as a thorn-hedge to keep us in the good pasture; but our prosperity is a gap through which we go astray.

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John Butler - Sermon Starters -  SANCTIFYING AFFLICTION Psalm 119:67

“Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now have I kept thy word” (Psalm 119:67).

This text will help us view our trials and troubles with a positive perspective, not a negative perspective.

FIRST—THE SIN BEFORE THE AFFLICTION

“Before I was afflicted … I went astray.” The Psalmist confesses his sinfulness.
• The period of sin. “Before.” Humans do not have a good record of conduct when the road is easy and prosperous and without pain. The Psalmist sinned when he was living an easy life. Prosperity more than poverty, imperils our character, and makes our conduct impious.
• The path of sin. “I went astray.” We glamorize this path, write about it, make Hollywood films about it and encourage it, but it is still “astray.” “Astray” from what? “Astray” from the Word of God as the last part of our text indicates. The Word is our standard, failure to abide by the Word and you are walking astray. The Bible says this problem is universal (Isaiah 53:6) and a bad one.

SECOND—THE SUFFERING IN THE AFFLICTION

“I was afflicted.” Walking astray brought affliction.
• The prediction of suffering. “If ye be without chastisement … then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Hebrews 12:8). If you belong to the Lord, as the psalmist did, God will take you to the woodshed when you walk astray from His Word. God is a God of purpose. Everything He does has reason. When we walk astray He brings affliction, but not without reason as we will see more about later.
• The pain of suffering. The word “afflicted” involves misery. “No chastening for the present seems joyous, but grievous” (Hebrews 12:11). Affliction hurts. When I was a boy and got spanked (and that happened quite often), it hurt, otherwise it did not get my attention or do any good. I would yell and cry but my folks practiced Proverbs 19:18 and I had to quiet down before they stopped the spanking.

THIRD—THE SANCTIFICATION FROM THE AFFLICTION

“But now have I kept thy word.” Here is the value of affliction.
• The path of sanctification. “Kept thy word.” Sin does not walk in the path of the Word of God, but sanctification does. If you want to be holy, you must be obedient to the word. Much of the world disobeys the Word and mocks obedience. God’s people, however, should not act like the world nor mock obeying the Word.
• The product of sanctification. “Kept thy word.” God allows troubles and trials to afflict us not without purpose. Keeping the Word of God is another way of saying you are obeying the Word of God. We can thank God for these afflictions which drive us to the Word of God in obedience. The afflictions may have been very painful but they are also very profitable, if they cause us to obey the Word of God where we had been disobedient.

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John Calvin - Disciplined to Obedience

Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. Psalm 119:67

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Hebrews 12:5–11

Experience demonstrates that when God deals gently with us, we often break into rebellion. Since even a prophet of God who strays needs to be corrected by forcible means, discipline is assuredly needful for us when we rebel.
The first step in obedience is the mortification of the flesh, which does not come naturally to people. So, not surprisingly, God brings us to a sense of duty by manifold afflictions. As the flesh is from time to time resistant, even when it seems to be tamed, it is no wonder to find God repeatedly subjecting us anew to the rod.
This is done in different ways. He humbles some by poverty, some by shame, some by disease, some by domestic distress, and some by hard and painful labors. He applies the appropriate remedy to the diversity of vices to which we are prone. It is now obvious how profitable is the truth of David’s confession. The prophet speaks of himself even as Jeremiah (31:18) says of himself that he was “as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke,” setting before us an image of the rebellion that is natural to us all.
We are very ungrateful indeed if the fruit that we reap from chastisements does not assuage or mitigate their bitterness. So long as we are rebellious against God, we are in a state of the deepest wretchedness. The means he chooses to bend and tame us to obedience is his chastisements.
The prophet teaches us by his own example that God gives evidence of his willingness that we should become his disciples by the pains he takes to subdue our hardness. We should then at least strive to become gentle, and, laying aside all stubbornness, willingly bear the yoke that he imposes upon us.

FOR MEDITATION: If the afflictions we experience have a blessed end—our sanctification (Heb. 12:11)—shouldn’t we learn to become thankful for them? Rather than simply enduring them with a stiff upper lip, we should be praising God that he did not leave us to ourselves. Are you facing afflictions today? If so, how can you shift your perception of them to offer thanks to the Lord for them? (365 Days with Calvin)

Psalm 119:68 You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes.

• good (KJV): Ps 86:5 106:1 107:1 145:7-9 Ex 33:18,19 34:6,7 Isa 63:7 Mt 5:45 Mt 19:17 Mk 10:18 Lu 18:19 
• teach (KJV): Ps 119:12,26 25:8,9 

You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes. 

THOU ART GOOD (Ex1:20 18:9 33:18-19 2Sa2:6 1Ki8:66 2Ch5:13 7:10 Ne9:25,35 Ps16:2 23:6 25:7-8 27:13 31:19 34:8 65:4 68:10 69:16 73:1 86:5 100:5 106:1 107:1 109:21 118:1,29 119:68 135:3 136:1 145:9 145:7-9 Isa63:7 Je31:14 33:11 La3:25 Ho3:5 Isa63:7 Je31:14  Na1:7 Mt19:17 Mk10:18 Lu18:19): GOOD or GOODNESS describes the attribute of God which gives to others, not according to what they deserve but according to His good will & kindness toward them. 
    The theologians tell us that God's goodness is "his benevolence to his creation" or "his kindness exhibited toward all he has made." That seems a bit vague so perhaps we might state the matter this way. God's goodness is the answer to the question: Is this a friendly universe? The answer is yes; when we come to the end of our thinking we find that behind the vastness of this universe stands a God who cares about what he has made. He is not indifferent (as in stoicism) or undecided (as in dualism) or absent (as in atheism), but he is fully involved for the good of the universe because he himself is a good God.  God's goodness is a vast subject that occupies a huge portion of the Old and New Testaments. We often sing "God is So Good. He's so good to me." That's true of course, but to say it that way limits our thinking to us. 
    God's goodness is the sum total of all His attributes. To say it another way, there is nothing about God that is not good. Goodness may be appended to all his other attributes. His wrath is good. His mercy is good. His justice is good. His holiness is good. His love is good. Everything God does is good. There is nothing but goodness in His being! Since God is good, He always has our best interests at heart. That must be true and if we are going to be "happy" (or better yet "blessed"), we must believe it & lay hold of this profound truth by faith (not by sight). Because God is good, nothing happens to us that is not for our ultimate good. This truth by no means downplays the pain of tragedy or the sorrow of unexpected loss. We all know what it is to stand by the graveside and say farewell to those I love & we all have wept many tears. And we all certainly know what it is to pray and have our prayers go unanswered-sometimes very fervent prayers for healing and help and life itself for those we love. But no matter -- GOD IS GOOD. His other great attribute of IMMUTATBILITY prevents Him from being anything other than GOOD...ALL THE TIME. Darkness veils His lovely face so we must lean on His unchanging grace, knowing that He is still GOOD.
    When God says, "No" He does it because he loves us. What God forbids is for our own good just as much as what he grants. Will we always see the good in the midst of our pain? Generally we won't. Nevertheless because God is the God Who sees (Pr15:3 El Roi Ge16:13 XR 2Ch16:9), the God Who is there (Je23:23,24), the omnipotent God (Ge18:14 Je32:17 Lu1:37 Mk10:27 Job42:2) is in the midst of the darkness (not dark to Him Ps139:11-12) working out that which is for our ultimate good and his ultimate glory. We see this by faith and believe it by faith (2Co5:7). 
    Oftentimes we won't see GOD'S GREAT GOODNESS until after our trials are past. (Job23:10) says "He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold"  Both parts of this verse contain precious truth. "He knows the way that I take." (GOD'S OMNISCIENCE & OMNIPRESCENCE) How wonderful to know that God knows. Very often we walk in such darkness that we cannot tell where we have come from or where we are going. Even the next step is a mystery to us. God knows! He knows where you are at this moment, he sees (Ge16:13 Ps139:11-12) the path in the darkness as though it were the blinding light of day. God knows! Let this thought comfort your heart, child of God.  And then Job adds "When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." Gold is produced by taking the raw ore, putting it into the smelter, and heating it until the impurities rise to the top to be skimmed away. Then nothing is left but pure gold itself. Do you feel as if God has put you in the furnace of affliction? Does it seem as if the temperature is too hot to bear? Fear not, my friend. God knows what he is doing. In the end, you will come forth as pure gold. The heat of your present trials is producing pure gold in your heart. Some day you will look back with joy on your present struggles. 
    Truth always demands a response. What shall we say to the goodness of God? If you are saved … Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. If you are lost … Taste and see that the Lord is good. The GOODNESS of God is that the gospel is the ultimate good news!  "Gospel" means Good News. God has made a way & the way is now opened for the price has been paid. The goodness of God is meant to lead sinners such as we to repentance. (Ro2:4) 

AND DOEST GOOD: Hiphil Part: Note different Strong's #. The psalmist frequently appeals to the character of God: 1) His faithfulness (v75, 90); 2) His compassion (v77); 3) His righteousness (v137, 142); and 4) His mercy (v156).

TEACH ME (Ps 25:5 119:12, 26, 64, 66, 68, 108, 124, 135, 171): Piel Imp:  Ultimately what is the psalmist asking God to do? What is the Law's ultimate purpose? To lead us to God as a schoolmaster or tutor. So if He teaches me His statues I will learn the proper fear of the Lord which in turn is the beginning of wisdom. (cp (Dt4:10; Dt14:23; Dt17:19; Dt31:12, 13). 

THY STATUTES (prescribed portions, fixed order, boundaries, allotments, limits): This Hebrew word is. from root haqaq which means "to scratch" or "engrave,'" & hence "to write."  It was a common practice among the ancients to engrave laws upon slabs of stone or metal and to set them up in a public place (e.g. the code of Hammurabi, engraved on diorite stone) {dikaioma: Ro8:4}

The Psalmist praises God's goodness and gives him the glory of it: Thou art good and doest good. All who have any knowledge of God and dealings with him wilt own that He does good, and therefore will conclude that he is good. The streams of God's goodness are so numerous, and run so full, so strong, to all the creatures, that we must conclude the fountain that is in himself to be inexhaustible. We cannot conceive how much good our God does every day, much less can we conceive how good he is. Let us acknowledge it with admiration and with holy love and thankfulness. 2. He prays for God's grace, and begs to be under the guidance and influence of it: Teach me thy statutes. "Lord, thou doest good to all, art the bountiful benefactor of all the creatures; this is the good I beg thou wilt do to me, -- Instruct me in my duty, incline me to it, and enable me to do it. Thou art good, and doest good; Lord, teach me thy statutes, that I may be good and do good, may have a good heart and live a good life." It is an encouragement to poor sinners to hope that God will teach them his way because he is good and upright,  Ps 25:8 

Spurgeon's exposition - Ps 119:68. Thou art good, and doest good - What a delightful description this is of God and his works! Who is good? Our Lord Jesus supplies the answer, “There is none good but one, that is, God.” And his works are like himself: “Thou art good, and doest good.”

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Charles Bridges - The blessed effects of chastisement, as a special instance of the Lord’s goodness, might naturally lead to a general acknowledgment of the goodness of his character and dispensation. Judging in unbelieving haste, of his providential and gracious dealings, feeble sense imagines a frown, when the eye of faith discerns a smile, upon his face; and therefore in proportion as faith is exercised in the review of the past, and the experience of the present, we shall be prepared with the ascription of praise—“Thou art good.” This is indeed the expression1—the confidence2—the pleading3—of faith. It is the sweet taste of experience—checking the legality of the conscience, the many hard and dishonorable thoughts of God, and invigorating a lively enjoyment of him. Indeed ‘this is the true and genuine character of God. He is good4—He is goodness. Good in himself—good in his essence—good in the highest degree. All the names of God are comprehended in this one of “Good.”5 All the acts of God are nothing else but the effluxes of his goodness, distinguished by several names according to the object it is exercised about. When he confers happiness without merit, it is grace. When he bestows happiness against merit, it is mercy. When he bears with provoking rebels, it is long-suffering. When he performs his promise, it is truth. When he commiserates a distressed person, it is pity. When he supplies an indigent person, it is bounty. When he succors an innocent person, it is righteousness. And when he pardons a penitent person, it is mercy. All summed up in this one name—Goodness. None so communicatively good as God. As the notion of God includes goodness, so the notion of goodness includes diffusiveness. Without goodness he would cease to be a Deity; and without diffusiveness he would cease to be good. The being good is necessary to the being God. For goodness is nothing else in the notion of it but a strong inclination to do good, either to find or to make an object, wherein to exercise itself, according to the propension of its own nature. And it is an inclination of communicating itself, not for its own interest, but for the good of the object it pitcheth upon. Thus God is good by nature; and his nature is not without activity. He acts consistently with his own nature;—‘Thou art good, and doest good.’ ”6

How easily is such an acknowledgment excited towards an earthly friend! Yet who has not daily cause to complain of the coldness of his affections towards his God? It would be a sweet morning’s reflection to recollect some of the innumerable instances, in which the goodness of God has been most distinctly marked; to trace them in their peculiar application to our own need; and above all to mark, not only the source from which they come, but the channel through which they flow. A view of covenant love does indeed make the goodness of God to shine with inexpressible brightness “in the face of Jesus Christ;”1 and often when the heart is conscious of backsliding, does the contemplation of this “goodness” under the influence of the Spirit, prove the Divinely-appointed means of “leading us to repentance.”2 Let us therefore wait on, even when we see nothing. Soon we shall see, where we did not look for it. Soon we shall find goodness unmingled—joy unclouded, unspeakable, eternal.

Meanwhile, though the diversified manifestations—the materials of our happiness—in all around us—be countless as the drops of sand and the particles of dew—yet without heavenly teaching they only become occasions of our deeper misery and condemnation. It is not enough that the Lord gives—he must teach us his statutes. Divine truths can only be apprehended by Divine teaching. The scholar, who has been longest taught, realizes most his need of this teaching, and is most earnest in seeking it. Indeed “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord,” yet we may be utterly ignorant of it. The instances of goodness in the shape of a cross, we consider to be the reflection on it. Nothing is goodness in our eyes that crosses our own inclination. We can hardly bear to hear of the cross much more to take it up. We talk of goodness, but yield to discontent. We do not profess to dislike trial—only the trial now pressing upon us—any other cross than this—that is, my will and wisdom rather than God’s. Is there not therefore great need of this prayer for Divine teaching, that we may discern singly the Lord’s mercies so closely crowded together, and make the due improvement of each? Twice before had the Psalmist sent up this prayer and plea.3 Yet he seems to make the supplication ever new by the freshness and vehemency of his desires. And let me ever make it new by the remembrance of that one display of goodness, which casts every other manifestation into the shade—“God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son.”4

This constitutes of itself a complete mirror of infinite and everlasting goodness—the only intelligent display of his goodness—the only manifestation, that prevents from abusing it. What can I say to this—but “Thou art good, and doest good?” What may I not then expect from thee! ‘ “Teach me thy statutes.” Teach me the Revelation of thyself—Teach me the knowledge of thy Son. For “this is life eternal, that I might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” ’5

1 Heb. 11:6.

2 Nahum 1:7.

3 Psalm 25:7; 86:5.

4 Ps 34:8, with Micah 7:18.

5 The revealed “goodness” of God made to Moses in answer to his prayer—“I beseech thee show me thy glory”—shows it to be not a single attribute, or a display of any particular feature of the Divine character, but rather the combined exercise of all his perfections. Exodus 33:18, 19 with 34:5–7.

6 Charnock’s Works, vol. i. 581, 585, 588. For another exquisite view (parallel, and in some degree identical, with Charnock) of this “perfecting perfection, which crowns and consummates all the rest,”—see Howe’s Works, 8vo. edit. 1822, viii. pp. 107–114.

1 2 Cor. 4:6.

2 Rom. 2:4.

3 Verses 12, 64. Comp. Ps. 25:8.

4 John 3:16.

5  Jn. 17:3.

Psalm 119:69 The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will observe Your precepts. 

• proud (KJV): Ps 35:11 109:2,3 Job 13:4 Jer 43:2,3 Mt 5:11,12 26:59-68 Ac 24:5,13 
• I will (KJV): Ps 119:51,157 
• with my whole (KJV): Ps 119:34,58 Mt 6:24 Jas 1:8 

THE ARROGANT: ZED:Root word means "to boil"; in the sphere of personality, "to act in a proud manner." The basic idea is pride, a sense of self-importance, which often is exaggerated to include defiance and even rebelliousness. Includes ideas of  willful decision, rebellion, disobedience, presumption.

HAVE FORGED: TAPHAL: Qal Perf:  to smear, plaster over,stick, glue

A LIE: SHEQER:  an untruth, a sham, a lie, lying words (Ex 5:9), a liar (Pr. 17:4), a lying witness (Dt. 19:18), a falsehood, fraud (Ps 33:17), deceit; deceitfulness, a vain, unreliable thing, perjury (Lv 6:5; 19:12).  It describes groundless words or activities which have no basis in fact or reality—completely worthless. Sheqer is a way of life which goes completely contrary to God’s Law. {ADIKIA:}

WITH ALL MY HEART: KOL LEB: = unreservedly committed to the task ALL THE TIME. Jesus told us to keep watching and praying as a lifestyle in Mt 26:41.  Father teach me these great truths as a lifestyle. Renew my mind to this clear thinking, the truth of Your word. Amen.

I WILL OBSERVE: NATSAR:Qal Impf:  Examination of the objects protected (INDUCTIVE STUDY!!!) assists in assigning to it a proper semantical range. The watchman who is not wholly committed to the guard post will not be alert, will fall asleep, will allow the enemy entry. 

THY PRECEPTS: PIQQUWD: appointment, allocation, what is mandated by God 

SPURGEON:
The proud have forged a lie against me. They first derided him (verse 51), then defrauded him (verse 61), and now they have defamed him. To injure his character they resorted to falsehood, for they could find nothing against him if they spoke the truth. Proud people are usually the bitterest opponents of the righteous: they are envious of their good fame and are eager to ruin it. Slander is a cheap and handy weapon if the object is the destruction of a gracious reputation. It is painful to the last degree to hear unscrupulous people hammering away at the devil’s anvil forging a new calumny; the only help against it is the sweet promise, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.”
But I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. My one anxiety will be to mind my own business and stick to the commandments of the Lord. If we keep the precepts, the precepts will keep us in the day of contumely and slander. David renews his resolve—I will keep; he takes a new look at the commands, and sees them to be really the Lord’s—thy precepts; and he arouses his entire nature to the work—with my whole heart. When slanders rouse us to more resolute and careful obedience they work our lasting good. If we try to answer lies by our words we may be beaten in the battle; but a holy life is an unanswerable refutation of all calumnies.

Spurgeon's exposition - They have kept on hammering away until they have finished the falsehood; they have “forged” it, as one forges a deadly weapon in the fire.

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Charles Bridges - If the Lord does us good, we must expect Satan to do us evil. Acting in his own character, as a “liar and a father of it,”6 he readily puts it into the hearts of his children to “forge lies against” the children of God! But all is overruled by the ever-watchful care and providence of God for the eventual good of his Church. The cross frightens the insincere, and removes them out of the way while the steadfastness of his own people marvellously displays to the world the power and triumph of faith. A most delightful source of encouragement in this fiery trial is to take off the eye from the objects of sense, and to fix it upon Jesus as our pattern, no less than our life. For every trial, in which we are conformed to his suffering image, supplies to us equal direction and support. Do “the proud forge lies against us?” So did they against him.1 “The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household.”2 “Consider him therefore, that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”3

But is it always “lies that are forged against us?” Is there no worldliness, or pride, or inconsistency in temper and walk, that opens the mouths of the enemies of the Gospel, and causes “the way of truth to be evil spoken of?”4 Do they not sometimes say all manner of evil against some of us, for Christ’s sake; yet alas! not altogether “falsely?”5 “Woe unto the world, because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!”6 If however the reproach of the world be “the reproach of Christ,” “let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised.”7 Insincerity of heart can never support us to a consistent and persevering endurance of the cross. A heart divided between God and the world will ever be found faulty and backsliding.8 Wholeness of heart in the precepts of God adorns the Christian profession, awes the ungodly world, realizes the full extent of the Divine promises, and pours into the soul such a spring-tide of enjoyment, as more than counterbalances all the reproach, contempt, and falsehood, which the forge of the great enemy is employing against us with unceasing activity, and relentless hatred. Yet forget not, believer, that these proofs of the malicious enmity of the proud must often be received as the gentle stroke of your Father’s chastisement. Let the fruits of it then be daily visible in the work of mortification—in the exercise of the suffering graces of the Gospel—in your growing conformity to his image—and in a progressive meetness for the world of eternal uninterrupted love.

6 Jn. 8:44.

1 Comp. Matt. 26:59–61.

2 Mt. 10:24, 25.

3 Heb. 12:3.

4 2 Peter 2:2.

5 See Matt. 5:11.

6 Mt. 18:7.

7 Heb. 10:23.

8 Comp. Hosea 10:2. Jer. 3:10.

Psalm 119:70 Their heart is covered with fat, But I delight in Your law. 

• heart is as fat (KJV): Ps 17:10 73:7 Isa 6:10 Ac 28:27 
• but I (KJV): Ps 119:16,35 40:8 Ro 7:22 

Their heart is covered with fat -  Hebrew = "their heart is insensitive like fat." This speaks of dullness to spiritual truth, to God's Word, to God's way, to God's Son Jesus Christ. The phrase "as fat as grease" describes one who is insensitive and indifferent to what is right.

THOUGHT - Is your heart fat? Then begin your workout in God's Gym and " have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself (gumnazo a command in the present imperative something you can only accomplish by continually leaning on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit) for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." (1 Ti 4:7-8+) Ponder that thought - what we do today impacts our days on earth but more importantly our eternal days in Heaven! Do you really believe that is true? If you do, than make some "life adjustments" and begin daily "seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Setting your mind on the things above, NOT ON the things that are on earth." (Col 3:1-2+), for "the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever." (1 Jn 2:17+)

May God grant each of us the desire and power by His Spirit (Php 2:13NLT+) to be "imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises," (Heb 6:12+) including men like Adoniram Judson who wrote these challenging words

A life once spent is irrevocable. It will remain to be contemplated through eternity… If it has been a useless life, it can never be improved. Such will stand forever and ever. The same may be said of each day. When it is once past, it is gone forever. All the marks which we put upon it, it will exhibit forever… Each day will not only be a witness of our conduct, but will affect our everlasting destiny (Note: Not in loss of salvation but of rewards - cf 1Co 3:11-15, Jn 15:5, 2Co 5:10+). No day will lose its share of influence in determining where shall be our seat in heaven. How shall we then wish to see each day marked with usefulness! It will then be too late to mend its appearance. It is too late to mend the days that are past. The future is in our power. Let us, then, each morning, resolve to send the day into eternity in such a garb as we shall wish it to wear forever. And at night let us reflect that one more day is irrevocably gone, indelibly marked. (See page 33-34 of A memoir of the life and labors of the Rev. Adoniram Judson)

This passage recalls Jesus words of warning to Israel and to all who hear and continue to reject the Word of the Gospel. 

Matthew 13:15+  FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’ 

Become dull (3975)(pachuno from pachus = dull) mean to thicken, to fatten and figuratively to make dull. Friberg = " literally make fat, thicken; figuratively make impervious, insensitive, dull; only passive in the NT become dull or insensitive, be unable to understand." Only other use is Acts 28:27. Uses 5 verses in the Septuagint - Dt. 32:15 "Jeshurun (Term of affection for Israel) grew fat and kicked,-- you are grown fat (Lxx = pachuno)" ; 2 Sam. 22:12; Eccl. 12:5; Isa. 6:10; Isa. 34:6 The use in Isaiah 6:10 =  “Render the hearts of this people insensitive," (Lxx = pachuno) where "render....insensitive" is a command. Render is a command and so this is clearly judicial hardening. 

Covered (02954)(taphash) is a verb essentially meaning "to be fat," occurs just once in the OT, in Ps. 119:70. This verse is a part of the stanza designated "Teth" (Ps 119:65-72), which explores some of life's hard lessons and how God uses adversity for the believer's spiritual growth. The term tāphash indicates the spiritual insensitivity (thus "fat" in KJV) of the godless (v. 70). Many propose the meaning of this verb as "to be insensitive" or "to be coated over," taking into account all information. To be fat did not carry negative connotations in the ancient Near East, a cultural truth often still held today.

Fat (02459)(heleb) is a "masculine noun referring to fat, the best. It refers to the covering of the interior of the body, of a person's belly, of a person's face (Ex. 29:13; Judg. 3:22; Job 15:27). It indicates the best or fatty portions of an offering (Gen. 4:4; Lev. 4:26) which were pleasing to the Lord. Fat was God's portion of an offering (1 Sam. 2:15, 16). It was not to be eaten by people (Lev. 3:17; 7:23-25). The "fat of the land" refers to the best part of the land (Gen. 45:18) and also indicates the products of the land: oil, wine, corn (Num. 18:12, 29, 30, 32). But a heart grown fat symbolizes a heart that has become insensitive to God (Ps. 17:10; 119:70)." (Complete Word Study Dictionary – Old Testament)

70v - Gen. 4:4; Gen. 45:18; Exod. 23:18; Exod. 29:13; Exod. 29:22; Lev. 3:3; Lev. 3:4; Lev. 3:9; Lev. 3:10; Lev. 3:14; Lev. 3:15; Lev. 3:16; Lev. 3:17; Lev. 4:8; Lev. 4:9; Lev. 4:19; Lev. 4:26; Lev. 4:31; Lev. 4:35; Lev. 6:12; Lev. 7:3; Lev. 7:4; Lev. 7:23; Lev. 7:24; Lev. 7:25; Lev. 7:30; Lev. 7:31; Lev. 7:33; Lev. 8:16; Lev. 8:25; Lev. 8:26; Lev. 9:10; Lev. 9:19; Lev. 9:20; Lev. 9:24; Lev. 10:15; Lev. 16:25; Lev. 17:6; Num. 18:12; Num. 18:17; Num. 18:29; Num. 18:30; Num. 18:32; Deut. 32:14; Deut. 32:38; Jdg. 3:22; 1 Sam. 2:15; 1 Sam. 2:16; 1 Sam. 15:22; 2 Sam. 1:22; 1 Ki. 8:64; 2 Chr. 7:7; 2 Chr. 29:35; 2 Chr. 35:14; Job 15:27; Job 21:24; Ps. 17:10; Ps. 63:5; Ps. 73:7; Ps. 81:16; Ps. 119:70; Ps. 147:14; Isa. 1:11; Isa. 34:6; Isa. 34:7; Isa. 43:24; Ezek. 34:3; Ezek. 39:19; Ezek. 44:7; Ezek. 44:15

But I delight in Your law - The Septuagint (Lxx) translates delight with the verb meletao which means to continue to perform certain activities with care (root word = melete = care) and concern and thus to practice, to continue to do, to cultivate. It means to give careful thought to (to think about, to meditate upon) which is the primary sense in 1 Ti 4:15.In classical Greek the primary meaning of the verb meletaō is “to take thought for, attend to, care for.” It can also mean “to exercise” or “to practice,” for example, an orator who practices speaking or reviews a speech in his mind before addressing an audience. The Septuagint uses meletaō mainly to translate hāghâh which means “to meditate” or “ponder” on something by talking to oneself. The Lord spoke to Joshua and advised him to meditate on the Book (the Torah) day and night (Joshua 1:8). The same is said of the righteous man (Psalm 1:2).

Delight (08173)(shaa) means "to be sealed tight," "to be blinded," "to behave as if blinded" or "to gladden," "to delight," "to take pleasure in." These two groups of meanings, while perhaps bearing some semantic connection, are clearly distinguishable in the various texts in which they occur. Shāʿaʿ occurs nine times in the OT, and all of the occurrences are confined to Psalms and Isaiah. Shāʿaʿ appears in Isaiah with the prophetic meaning "to be sealed tight," "to be blinded." This usage describes the spiritual blindness of wayward people (Isa. 29:9; some conjecture Isa 32:3). Another occurrence in Isaiah describes the shut eyes and ears of spiritually blind and deaf people (Isa 6:10). Isaiah also used shāʿaʿ with its second meaning, "to delight," referring to the delight of a child during times of peace. In Isa 11:8, a child playing near a cobra's hole is a symbol of a peaceful order during the reign of Jesse's branch. Similarly, the play of a child on a person's knee is an eschatological symbol of peace (Isa 66:12).

Psalms 94 and Ps 119 also use shāʿaʿ meaning "to delight." The Lord's consolation delights the psalmist's troubled soul (94:19). Unlike the arrogant whose hearts are "fat as grease," the psalmist says, "I delight in the law" (Ps 119:70). The reflexive occurs in Ps 119:16 and Ps 119:47 as the psalmist proclaims, "I will delight myself in your statutes" and "in your commandments." (Complete Biblical Library Hebrew-English Dictionary)

All uses of shaa - delight(4), fondled(1), play(1). - Ps. 94:19; Ps. 119:16; Ps. 119:47; Ps. 119:70; Isa. 6:10; Isa. 11:8; Isa. 29:9; Isa. 66:12

A GREAT VERSE FOR ANXIETY RELIEF - Psalm 94:19   When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul. 

It is interesting that the word delight (in English in the NAS) is found 73 times in the Bible with 10 in Psalm 119 (13% of all uses in the Bible)! 

Gen. 3:6; Deut. 28:63; 1 Sam. 15:22; 2 Sam. 15:26; 2 Sam. 24:3; 1 Chr. 29:3; 1 Chr. 29:17; Neh. 1:11; Job 22:26; Job 27:10; Ps. 1:2; Ps. 16:3; Ps. 37:4; Ps. 37:11; Ps. 40:8; Ps. 40:14; Ps. 51:16; Ps. 51:19; Ps. 62:4; Ps. 68:30; Ps. 70:2; Ps. 94:19; Ps. 109:17; Ps. 111:2; Ps. 119:16; Ps. 119:24; Ps. 119:35; Ps. 119:47; Ps. 119:70; Ps. 119:77; Ps. 119:92; Ps. 119:143; Ps. 119:174; Ps. 147:10; Prov. 1:22; Prov. 2:14; Prov. 7:18; Prov. 8:30; Prov. 8:31; Prov. 11:1; Prov. 11:20; Prov. 12:22; Prov. 15:8; Prov. 16:13; Prov. 18:2; Prov. 23:26; Prov. 24:25; Prov. 29:17; Prov. 31:13; Eccl. 5:4; Eccl. 8:6; Eccl. 12:1; Cant. 2:3; Isa. 11:3; Isa. 32:14; Isa. 55:2; Isa. 58:2; Isa. 58:13; Isa. 58:14; Isa. 62:4; Isa. 65:12; Isa. 66:4; Jer. 6:10; Jer. 9:24; Jer. 15:16; Ezek. 24:21; Ezek. 24:25; Hos. 6:6; Hos. 8:13; Amos 5:21; Mic. 1:16; Mic. 6:7; Mal. 3:1

Spurgeon's exposition - What a blessing it is for us to find our fatness there, — to delight in the marrow and fatness of God’s law! 

Psalm 119:70
Charles Bridges

An awful description of the hardened state of the proud forgers of lies! Yet not of their state only, but of every sinner who stands out in wilful rebellion against God. The tremendous blow of Almighty justice has benumbed his heart, so that the pressure of mountains of sin and guilt is unfelt! The heart is left of God, “seared with a hot iron,”1 and therefore without tenderness; “past feeling;”2 unsoftened by the power of the word; unhumbled by the rod of providential dispensations, given up to the heaviest of all spiritual judgments! But it is of little avail to stifle the voice of conscience, unless the same power or device could annihilate hell. It will only “awake out of sleep, like a giant refreshed with wine,”3 and rage with tenfold interminable fury in the eternal world, from the temporary restraint, which for a short moment had benumbed its energy. Wilful resistance to the light of the Gospel, and the strivings of the Spirit, constrained even from a God of love the message of judicial abandonment—“Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”4 Who then among us will not cry, From hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word and commandment, Good Lord! deliver us!5 Tenderness is the first mark of the touch of grace, when the heart becomes sensible of its own insensibility, and contrite on account of its own hardness. ‘Nothing,’ said Jerome, in a letter to a friend, ‘makes my heart sadder, than that nothing makes it sad.’ But when “the plague of our own heart” begins to be “known,”6 and becomes matter of confession, humiliation, and prayer; the promise of “a new heart,” is as life from the dead.7 The subject of this promise delights in God’s law; and this, amidst the sometimes overwhelming power of natural corruption, gives a satisfactory witness of a change “from death unto life.”

Christian! can you daily witness the wretched condition of the ungodly, without the constraining recollection of humiliation and love? What sovereign grace, that the Lord of glory should have set his love upon one so vile!8 What mighty power to have raised my insensible heart to that delight in his law, which conforms me to the image of his dear Son!9 Deeply would I “abhor myself;” and gladly would I acknowledge, that the service of ten thousand hearts would be a poor return for such unmerited love. What, O “what shall I render to the Lord!”10 Prayer for them who are still lying in death—praise for myself quickened from death. But what can give the vital breath, pulse, feeling, and motion? “Come from the four winds, O breath; and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”11

Let us apply, for the purpose of daily self-examination, this description of the heart, either as given up to its natural insensibility, or as cast into the new mould of “delight in the law of God.” Such an examination will prove to us, how much even renewed souls need the transforming, softening influences of grace. “The deceitfulness of sin hardens the heart”12 to its original character, “as fat as grease,” unfeeling, incapable of impression, without a divine touch. O Lord, let not my heart be unvisited for one day, one hour, by that melting energy of love, which first made me feel, and constrained me to love.

 

1 Tim. 4:2.

2 Eph. 4:18, 19.

3 Ps. 78:66, P. T.

4 Isa. 6:9, 10.

5 Litany.

6 1 Kings 8:38.

7 Ezek. 36:26.

8 Eph. 2:4, 5.

9 See Ps. 40:8.

10 Ps. 117:.

11 Ezek. 37:9.

12 Heb. 3:13

Spurgeon's Treasury of David

Ps 119:70. Their heart is as fat as grease. They delight in fatness, but I delight in thee. Their hearts, through sensual indulgence, have grown insensible, coarse, and grovelling; but thou hast saved me from such a fate through thy chastening hand. Proud men grow fat through carnal luxuries, and this makes them prouder still. They riot in their prosperity, and fill their hearts therewith till they become insensible, effeminate, and self indulgent. A greasy heart is something horrible; it is a fatness which makes a man fatuous, a fatty degeneration of the heart which leads to feebleness and death. The fat in such men is killing the life in them. Dryden wrote,

"O souls! In whom no heavenly fire is found,
Fat minds and ever grovelling on the ground."

In this condition men have no heart except for luxury, their very being seems to swim and stew in the fat of cookery and banqueting. Living on the fat of the land, their nature is subdued to that which they have fed upon; the muscle of their nature has gone to softness and grease.

But I delight in thy law. How much better is it to joy in the law of the Lord than to joy in sensual indulgences! This makes the heart healthy, and keeps the mind lowly. No one who loves holiness has the slightest cause to envy the prosperity of the worldling. Delight in the law elevates and ennobles, while carnal pleasure clogs the intellect and degrades the affections. There is and always ought to be a vivid contrast between the believer and the sensualist, and that contrast is as much seen in the affections of the heart as in the actions of the life: their heart is as fat as grease, and our heart is delighted with the law of the Lord. Our delights are a better test of our character than anything else: as a man's heart is, so is the man. David oiled the wheels of life with his delight in God's law, and not with the fat of sensuality. He had his relishes and dainties, his festivals and delights, and all these he found in doing the will of the Lord his God. When law becomes delight, obedience is bliss. Holiness in the heart causes the soul to eat the fat of the land. To have the law for our delight will breed in our hearts the very opposite of the effects of pride; deadness, sensuality, and obstinacy will be cured, and we shall become teachable, sensitive, and spiritual. How careful should we be to live under the influence of the divine law that we fall not under the law of sin and death.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Ver. 70. ”Their heart is as fat as grease. The word vpj occurs nowhere else in Scripture, but with the Chaldees vpj signifies to fatten, to make fat; also to make stupid and doltish, because such the fat ofttimes are... For this reason the proud, who are mentioned in the preceding verse, are described by their fixed resolve in evil, because they are almost insensible; as is to be seen in pigs, who pricked through the skin with a bodkin, and that slowly, as long as the bodkin only touches the fat, do not feel the prick until it reaches to the flesh. Thus the proud, whose great prosperity is elsewhere likened to fatness, have a heart totally insusceptible, which is insensible to the severe reproofs of the Divine word, and also to its holy delights and pleasures, by reason of the affluence of carnal things; aye, more, is altogether unfitted for good impulses; just as elsewhere is to be seen with fat animals, how slow they are and unfit for work, when, on the contrary, those are agile and quick which are not hindered by this same fatness. ” Martin Geier.

Ver. 70. ” Their heart is as fat as grease. This makes them”

1. Senseless and secure; they are past feeling: thus the phrase is used (Isaiah 6:10): "Make the heart of the people fat." They are not sensible of the teaching of the word of God, or his rod.

2. Sensual and voluptuous: "Their eyes stand out with fatness" (Psalms 73:7); they roll themselves in the pleasures of sense, and take up with them as their chief good; and much good may it do them: I would not change conditions with them; "delight in thy law." ” Matthew Henry.

Ver. 70.€” Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law; as if he should say, My heart is a lean heart, a hungry heart, my soul loveth and rejoiceth in thy word. I have nothing else to fill it but thy word, and the comforts I have from it; but their hearts are fat hearts: fat with the world, fat with lust: they hate the word. As a full stomach loatheth meat and cannot digest it; so wicked men hate the word, it will not go down with them, it will not gratify their lusts. ” William Fenner.

Being anxious to know the medical significance of fatty heart, I applied to an eminent gentleman who is well known as having been President of the College of Physicians. His reply shows that the language is rather figurative than literal. He kindly replied to me as follows: ”

There are two forms of so called "fatty heart". In the one there is an excessive amount of fatty tissue covering the exterior of the organ, especially about the base. This may be observed in all cases where the body of the animal is throughout over fat, as in animals fattened for slaughter. It does not necessarily interfere with the action of the heart, and may not be of much importance in a medical point of view. The second form is, however, a much more serious condition. In this, the muscular structure of the heart, on which its all important function, as the central propelling power, depends, undergoes a degenerative change, by which the contractile fibres of the muscles are converted into a structure having none of the properties of the natural fibres, and in which are found a number of fatty, oily globules, which can be readily seen by means of the microscope. This condition, if at all extensive, renders the action of the heart feeble and irregular, and is very perilous, not infrequently causing sudden death. It is found in connection with a general unhealthy condition of system, and is evidence of general mal-nutrition. It is brought about by an indolent, luxurious mode of living, or, at all events, by neglect of bodily exercise and those hygienic rules which are essential for healthy nutrition. It cannot, however, be said to be incompatible with mental rigour, and certainly is not necessarily associated with stupidity. But the heart, in this form of disease, is literally, "greasy", and may be truly described as "fat as grease." So much for physiology and pathology. May I venture on the sacred territory of biblical exegesis without risking the charge of fatuousness. Is not the Psalmist contrasting those who lead an animal, self indulgent, vicious life, by which body and mind are incapacitated for their proper uses, and those who can run in the way of God's commandments, delight to do his will, and meditate on his precepts? Sloth, fatness and stupidity, versus activity, firm muscles, and mental rigour. Body versus mind. Man become as a beast versus man retaining the image of God. — Sir James Risdon Bennett, 1881.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Ver. 70. ”

1. Fatty degeneration of the heart.

2. Thorough regeneration of the heart.

Ver. 70.€” A fatty heart.

1. The diagnosis of the disease.

2. Its symptoms. Pride; no delight in God, nor in his law; dislike to his people; readiness to lie: Psalms 119:69.

3. Its fatal character.

4. Its only cure. Ps 101:10, Ezekiel 36:26. ” C.A.D.

Ver. 71. ”

1. David knew what was good for him.

2. David learned what is good essentially. Active obedience is learned by passive obedience.

Ver. 71.  Affliction an instructor.

1. Never welcomed: "Have been."

2. Often impatiently endured.

3. Always gratefully remembered: "It is good, "etc.

4. Efficient for a perverse scholar: "That I might learn."

5. Indispensable in the education of all. J.F.

Ver. 71. ” The school of affliction.

1. The reluctant scholar sent to school.

2. The scholar's hard lesson.

3. The scholar's blessed learning.

4. The scholar's sweet reflection.” C.A.D.

Psalm 119:71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. 

• good: Ps 119:67 Ps 94:12,13 Isa 27:9 1Co 11:32 Heb 12:10,11 
• Spurgeon's Sermon - Two Good Things - Ps 119:71, Ps 73:28
• See in depth article on Afflictions-Suffering-Quotes, Devotionals, Illustrations
• See commentary on Hebrews 12:5-11
• See commentary on 1 Peter 1:6-7
• See The Refiner's Fire
• See commentary on James 1:2ff
• New Testament Words Related to Affliction/Suffering
• Verses Related to Affliction/Suffering - note the "+" sign after each verse indicates an in depth comment is available.
• Why? Seeing God in our Pain 
• Out of the Ashes
• What does the Bible say about suffering?
• Why do so many people have to experience terrible suffering before death?
• Why Would A Good God Allow Suffering? Finding goodness in trouble 

AFFLICTIONS ARE A GOOD
SCHOOLMASTER

It is good for me -  This is one of those Spiritual Paradox in the Christian Life that the world scoffs at and finds foolish, but to those saints who have walked through this fiery furnace, they understand is the way God brings forth His children like "pure gold." 

"The refiner is never very far from the mouth of the furnace
when his gold is in the fire."
-- C H Spurgeon

2 Corinthians 12:9; 10+  And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Reproofs for discipline are the way of life (Pr 6:23), a source of great blessing (Ps 94:12), to keep us from going astray (Ps 119:67), the highway to holiness (Heb 12:10), the fertilizer & rain that brings forth a harvest of righteousness & peace (Heb 12:11), the path to a true full & fulfilling life to those who submit (Heb 12:9), the fire of testing to prove our faith so that God receives great glory and honor at the revelation of Christ (1Pe 1:6,7). 

That I was afflicted - He was humbled, the effect (or at least intended effect) of afflictions. 

Afflict (Humble) (06031)('anah means to be afflicted, be bowed down, be humbled, be meek. 'Anah frequently expresses the idea God sends affliction to discipline (Dt 8:2-3+, see context Dt 8:5, 1Ki 11:39; Ps 90:15 Luke 3:5). It often speaks of harsh and painful treatment (Isa 53:4, Ge 16:6). 'Anah is most frequently translated in LXX by tapeinoo (as it is here in Ps 119:71). God commanded them to “afflict themselves” (“deny yourselves” Lev 16:31NIV), which is the same word used to describe the pain that the Egyptians inflicted on the Hebrews (Ex 1:11,12) and the suffering Joseph felt in prison (Ps 105:18)!

James 4:6+  But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE (tapeinos).”

That I may learn Your statutes - That expresses purpose. Here the purpose of affliction is to learn. Affliction is God's schoolmaster to conform us more and more to the image of His Son. (Ro 8:29, Ps 119:6) Don't run from affliction. Run to God, to His word that provides us everything necessary for life and godliness according to the true knowledge 

Statutes (decrees, ordinances)(02706)(hoq from chaqaq = to cut in or engrave in stone - hew a tomb in rock Is 22:16, draw picture on a brick Eze 4:1 or a wall Eze 23:14) is a masculine noun that means regulation, law, ordinance, decree, custom. The primary sense of hoq is an expectation or mandate prescribed by decree or custom - general decrees of God (Jer 5:22; Amos 2:4); statutes of God to Moses (Ex 15:26; Nu 30:16; Mal. 4:4)

Septuagint - Statutes (1345)(dikaioma from dikaióo = to justify <> díkaios = just, righteous <> dike = right) refers to what God has declared to be right and here referring to His decree of retribution which has the force of law. 

Spurgeon - The air from the sea of affliction is extremely beneficial to invalid Christians. Continued prosperity, like a warm atmosphere, has a tendency to unbind the sinews and soften the bones; but the cold winds of trouble make us sturdy, hardy, and well-braced in every part. Unbroken success often leads to an undervaluing of mercies, and forgetfulness of the giver; but the withdrawal of the sunshine leads us to look for the sun.

Spurgeon's exposition - The psalmist, was so impressed with the benefits which he had derived from his afflictions, that he returned to the subject: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” There is much teaching power about God’s rod. He always keeps one in his school, and it is greatly needed for such dull scholars as we are. Many a child of God can repeat the psalmist’s testimony: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” “Thou hast whipped a little knowledge into me, and not much has come in any other way.”

D L Moody - A DEAD level in a man’s life would be his ruin? If he had nothing but prosperity, he would be ruined. A man can stand adversity better than prosperity. I know a great many who have become very prosperous, but I know few such that haven’t lost all their piety, that haven’t lost sight of that city eternal in the heavens, whose builder and maker is God. Earthly things have drawn their heart’s affections away from eternal things.

---

Dear tried and tested, suffering saint, beloved of God (1Jn 3:1+, 1Th 1:4+) consider praying this song to your loving Father...

Refiner's Fire
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold
And precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold
Pure gold
Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for you Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for you my master
Ready to do your will

Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin
Deep within
Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for you Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for you my master
Ready to do your will

Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for you Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for you my master
Ready to do your will
And I am ready to do your will
Make me ready to do your will

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Charles Bridges - If I mark in myself any difference from the ungodly—if I can feel that my natural insensibility is yielding to the influence of grace—if I am enabled to “delight in God’s law,” which before I had neglected as a “strange thing,”1 if this softening transformation2 has been wrought in the school of affliction; let me thankfully acknowledge, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” None indeed but the Lord’s scholars can know the benefit of this school, and this teaching. The first lessons are usually learned under the power of the words pricking and piercing the heart; yet issuing in joyous good.3 All special lessons afterward will probably be learned here.4 ‘I never,’ said Luther, ‘knew the meaning of God’s word, until I came into affliction. I have always found it one of my best schoolmasters.’5 This teaching marks the sanctified from the unsanctified cross, explaining many a hard text, and sealing many a precious promise—the rod expounding the word, and the Divine Teacher effectually applying both.

Indeed, but for this discipline we should miss much of the meaning and spiritual blessing of the word. For how can we have any experimental acquaintance with the promises of God, under those circumstances, for which the promises are made? When, for example, but in the day of trouble, could we understand the full mercy of such a gracious word, “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”6 And how much more profitable is this experimental learning than mere human instruction! When therefore we pray for a clearer apprehension and interest in the blessed book, and for a deeper experience of its power upon our hearts; we are in fact often unconsciously supplicating for the chastening rod of our Father’s love. For it is the man “whom the Lord chasteneth, that he “teacheth out of his law.”7 Peter indeed, when on the mount of transfiguration, said, “It is good for us to be here. Let us build here three tabernacles.” Here let us abide in a state of comfort, indulgence, and sunshine. But well was it added by the sacred historian, “Not knowing what he said.”1 The judgment of David was far more correct, when he pronounced, that “it was good for him that he had been afflicted.” For so often are we convicted of inattention to the voice of the Lord—so often do we find ourselves looking back upon forsaken Sodom, or lingering in the plains, instead of pressing onward to Zoar,2 that the indulgence of our own liberty would shortly hurry us along the pathway of destruction. Alas! often do we feel the spirit of prayer to be quenched for a season by “a heart overcharged with the cares of this life”3—or by the overprizing of some lawful comfort—or by a temper inconsistent with our Christian profession—or by an undue confidence in the flesh. And at such season of backsliding, we must count among our choicest mercies, the gracious discipline, by which the Lord schools us with the cross, “that we may learn His statutes.”

After all, however, this must be a paradox to the unenlightened man. He can only “count it” all grief, not “all joy, when he falls into divers temptations.”4 His testimony is—It is evil—not it is good for me that I have been afflicted. And even God’s children, as we have before remarked, do not always take up this word while smarting under the rod. The common picture of happiness is freedom from trouble, not, as Scripture describes it,5 the portion of trouble. Yet how true is God’s judgment, when it is the very end of affliction to remove the source of all trouble,6 and consequently to secure—not to destroy—solid happiness. Yet we must determine the standard of real good by its opposition—not its accordance—to our own fancy or indulgence. The promise of “every good thing” may be fulfilled by a plentiful cup of affliction.7 Present evil may be “working together for” ultimate “good.”8 Let God take his own way with us.9 Let us interpret his providences by his covenant10—his means by his end,11 and instead of fainting under the sharpness of his rod, earnestly desire the improvement of it.

Are you, then, tried believer, disposed to regret the lessons you have already learned in this school? Or have you purchased them at too dear a cost? Do you grieve over the bleedings of a contrite heart, that have brought you under the care of the healing physician? Or could you by any other way have obtained so rich a knowledge of his love, or have been trained to such implicit obedience to his will? As Jesus, “though he were a Son, yet learned obedience by the things that he suffered;”12 so may we “rejoice, inasmuch as we are partakers of his sufferings,”13 and be thankful to learn the same obedience, as the evidence and fruit of our conformity to him.

The Lord save us from the greatest of all afflictions, an affliction lost!1 “Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.”2 “He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”3 A call to tremble and repent, to watch and pray, and “turn to him that smiteth us!”4

Oh! is there one of that countless throng surrounding the everlasting throne, who has not sung, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted?” “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”5

1 Hosea 8:12.

2 Job 23:16.

3 Acts 2:37–47; 16:27–34.

4 See Job 36:8–10.

5 On another occasion, referring to some spiritual temptation on the morning of the preceding day, he added to a friend (Justin Jonas,) “Doctor, I must mark the day; I was yesterday at school.” Milner v. 484. In one of his works, he most accurately calls affliction “the theology of Christians”—“theologium Christianorum.” To the same purport is the testimony of a learned French divine and tried saint of God—“I have learned more divinity,” said Dr. Rivet, confessing to God of his last days of affliction—“in these ten days that thou art come to visit me, than I did in fifty years before. Thou hast brought me to myself. ‘Before I was afflicted I went astray,’ and was in the world; but now I am conversant in the school of my God; and he teacheth me after another manner than all those doctors, in reading whom I spent so much time.”—Middleton’s Biog. Evan. iii. 238.

6 Psalm 50:15.

7 Psalm 94:12. The use of the word paideia in the acceptation of chastening (LXX. in this verse, and Heb. 12:5.) is remarkable, as describing literally the instruction, by which a child is trained to the acquisition of useful knowledge, which, however not being generally affected without chastening, accounts for the use of the word, to mark the discipline which usually attends instruction.

1 Luke 9:33.

2 Compare Gen. 19:17–23.

3 Luke 21:34. “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap;

4 James 1:2.Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

5 Job 5:17.“Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. 

6 Isa. 27:9.

7 Ps. 34:10, 19.Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all. 

8 Rom. 8:28. Comp. Jer. 24:5.

9 Ib. 29:11. John 16:6, 7.

10 Gen. 32:10–12.

11 James 5:11.

12 Heb. 5:8.

13 1 Peter 4:13.

1 Comp. 1 Kings 13:33. 2 Chron. 28:22.

2 Jer. 6:8.

3 Prov. 19:1.

4 Isaiah 9:13.

5 Rev. 7:13, 14.

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What Good Is Affliction?

Read: Lamentations 1:12-20

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. —Psalm 119:71

During a television interview, David Frost asked former president George Bush how he could square his belief in a loving and all-powerful God with the miseries and injustices of life. Frost reminded Bush of the time he shed tears at the sight of starving children and of his grief when his own daughter had died.

President Bush said, “It never occurred to me to blame God for that.” He insisted that the Lord has provided enough food for everyone, but that starvation occurs because of human greed and ineptitude. The President said that his daughter’s illness had drawn the family closer to one another and to God. He was comforted because he knew that she had been caught up in the arms of her loving heavenly Father.

Like those starving children, we may suffer because of the greed and selfishness of others. Like the Bush family, we may endure sorrow for reasons we can’t understand. Or we may suffer because of our own sin, as Jeremiah recounted in his lament for the wayward tribe of Judah (Lam. 1:5).

In any case, we can trust God and say with the psalmist, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted” (Ps. 119:71). With confidence, we can ask with Abraham, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25).By Herbert Vander Lugt 

There is so much within this world
Of brokenness and pain,
Yet nothing God in grace allows
Is ever done in vain.
—DJD 

God will spare you from suffering
or He'll give you the grace to bear it.

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Rock Bottom

Read: Psalm 119:65-72

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. —Psalm 119:71

I was in my early thirties, a dedicated wife and mother, a Christian worker at my husband’s side. Yet inwardly I found myself on a trip nobody wants to take, the trip downward. I was heading for that certain sort of breakdown that most of us resist, the breakdown of my stubborn self-sufficiency.

Finally I experienced the odd relief of hitting rock bottom, where I made an unexpected discovery: The rock on which I had been thrown was none other than Christ Himself. Cast on Him alone, I was in a position to rebuild the rest of my life, this time as a God-dependent person rather than the self-dependent person I had been. My rock-bottom experience became a turning point and one of the most vital spiritual developments of my life.

Most people feel anything but spiritual when they hit bottom. Their misery is often reinforced by Christians who take a very shortsighted view of what the sufferer is going through and why. But our heavenly Father is well-pleased with what He intends to bring out of such a painful process. A person who knows the secret of the God-dependent life can say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Ps. 119:71).By Joanie Yoder   (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Lift up your eyes, discouraged one,
The Lord your help will be;
New strength will come from Him who said,
“For rest, come unto Me.”
—Anon.

When a Christian hits rock bottom, he finds that Christ is a firm foundation.

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J C Philpot - We may have everything naturally that the carnal heart desires, and only be hardened thereby into worldliness and ungodliness.  But to be brought down in body and soul, to be weaned and separated from an ungodly world by affliction sanctified and made spiritually profitable, to be brought to feel our need of Christ, and that without an interest in His precious blood our soul must be for ever lost—how much better it is really and truly, to be laid on a bed of affliction, with a hope in God’s mercy, than to be left to our own carnality and thoughtlessness.  Affliction of any kind is very hard to bear, and especially so when we begin to murmur and fret under the weight of the cross; but when the Lord afflicts, it is in good earnest; He means to make us feel.  Some strong measures are required to bring us down; and affliction would not be affliction, unless it were full of grief and sorrow.  But when affliction makes us seek the Lord with a deep feeling in the soul that none but Himself can save or bless, and we are enabled to look up unto Him, with sincerity and earnestness, that He would manifest His love and mercy to our heart, He will appear sooner or later.  The Lord, who searcheth the heart, knoweth all the real desires of the soul, and can and does listen to a sigh, a desire, a breath of supplication within.  He knows our state, both of body and soul, and is not a hard taskmaster to require what we cannot give, or lay upon us more than we can bear, but can and does give all that He desires from us.  But very often He delays to appear, that He may teach us thereby we have no claim upon Him, and that anything granted is of His pure compassion and grace.

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John Piper - Taste and See -  LUTHER, BUNYAN, BIBLE, AND PAIN

Meditation on Psalm 119:71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.

From 1660 to 1672, John Bunyan, the English Baptist preacher and author of Pilgrim’s Progress, was in the Bedford jail. He could have been released if he had agreed not to preach. He did not know which was worse, the pain of the conditions or the torment of freely choosing it in view of what it cost his wife and four children. His daughter, Mary, was blind. She was ten when he was put in jail in 1660.

  The parting with my Wife and poor children hath often been to me in this place as the pulling of the Flesh from my bones … not only because I am somewhat too fond of these great Mercies, but also because I … often brought to my mind the many hardships, miseries and wants that my poor Family was like to meet with should I be taken from them, especially my poor blind child, who lay nearer my heart than all I had besides; Oh the thoughts of the hardship I thought my Blind one might go under, would break my heart to pieces. (Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners [Hertfordshire: Evangelical Press, 1978], 123)

But this broken Bunyan was seeing treasures in the Word of God because of this suffering that he would probably not have seen any other way. He was discovering the meaning of Psalm 119:71, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”

  I never had in all my life so great an inlet into the Word of God as now [in prison]. The Scriptures that I saw nothing in before are made in this place to shine upon me. Jesus Christ also was never more real and apparent than now. Here I have seen him and felt him indeed.… I have seen [such things] here that I am persuaded I shall never while in this world be able to express.… Being very tender of me, [God] hath not suffered me to be molested, but would with one scripture and another strengthen me against all; insomuch that I have often said, were it lawful I could pray for greater trouble for the greater comfort’s sake. (Grace Abounding, 123)

In other words, one of God’s gifts to us in suffering is that we are granted to see and experience depths of his Word that a life of ease would never yield.
Martin Luther had discovered the same “method” of seeing God in his Word. He said there are three rules for understanding Scripture: praying, meditating, and suffering. The trials, he said, are supremely valuable: They “teach you not only to know and understand but also to experience how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how comforting God’s Word is: It is wisdom supreme.” Therefore the devil himself becomes the unwitting teacher of God’s Word:

  The devil will afflict you [and] will make a real doctor of you, and will teach you by his temptations to seek and to love God’s Word. For I myself … owe my papists many thanks for so beating, pressing, and frightening me through the devil’s raging that they have turned me into a fairly good theologian, driving me to a goal I should never have reached. (Ewald M. Plass, What Luther Says - borrow, vol. 3 [St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959], 1360)

I testify from my small experience that this is true. Disappointment, loss, sickness, and fear send me deeper than ever into God and his Word. Clouds of trifling are blown away, and the glory of unseen things shines in the heart’s eye. Let Bunyan and Luther encourage us to lean on God’s Word in times of affliction as never before. I know that there are seasons when we cannot think or read, the pain is so great. But God grants spaces of some relief between these terrible times. Turn your gaze on the Word and prove the truth of Psalm 119:71, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”

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John Butler - Sermon Starters - AFFLICTIONS

Psalm 119:71 “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn they statutes” (Psalm 119:71).

There are a number of verses in the Bible about afflictions. We do well to study these texts for they will teach us many valuable truths that will stop our complaining so much about our trials and troubles. The text before us is one of those texts on afflictions which teaches us many valuable lessons.

FIRST—THE PERSPECTIVE OF AFFLICTION

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” Here is a rare perspective about afflictions. The Psalmist boldly announces that his afflictions were good for him. In the time of trial, we are not likely to say that, for we view our trials with critical and complaining eye. But the Psalmists has a better perspective which will help him in all of His troubles and trials. We often do not realize what is good for us. We are like little children who want nothing but cookies and cake, for they do not realize the value of other foods. When I was a little boy my grandfather gave me a shiny fifty cent piece. I was too young to know its value and exclaimed, “What a big nickel.” We are often that way with our trials, we do not value them as highly as we should. But afflictions that promote the Word of God in our life are indeed valuable.

SECOND—THE PAIN OF AFFLICTION

“Afflicted.” This word is translated from a Hebrew word which involves misery as well as humbling in its meaning. Afflictions hurt and are very painful both physically and emotionally. They can humble us and put us down by knocking the props out from under us. They can and often do embarrass us. They hurt and bring many tears and they seem like they will never end, but will go on forever. In short, affliction makes us miserable. But if the affliction does not bring pain, it is not an affliction and will not do us much good. The more painful the affliction, the more good it will do for us.

THIRD—THE PROFIT IN AFFLICTION

“That I might learn thy statutes.” There may be many good things that will come from your affliction but the chief profit from afflictions is spiritual. This will be seen in many other texts in Scripture. In a few verses before this one (Psalm 119:67), the Psalmist also views his afflictions from a spiritual standpoint. In this text, the psalmist says his afflictions caused the psalmist to learn the Word of God. In the text, a few verses before this one, he says affliction caused Him to obey the Word of God. Anything that promotes our learning and obeying the Scriptures must be given high accolades. Afflictions especially honor the Word by bringing us to a better knowledge of the Word and a better obedience to the Word. The Word of God is is our guide, our standard, and learning and obeying it is more important that learning and obeying any other knowledge in life. Therefore the profit of affliction is very great indeed.

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Streams in the Desert -  “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” (Psalm 119:71.)

IT is a remarkable circumstance that the most brilliant colors of plants are to be seen on the highest mountains, in spots that are most exposed to the wildest weather. The brightest lichens and mosses, the loveliest gems of wild flowers, abound far up on the bleak, storm-scalped peak.
One of the richest displays of organic coloring I ever beheld was near the summit of Mount Chenebettaz, a hill about 10,000 feet high, immediately above the great St. Bernard Hospice. The whole face of an extensive rock was covered with a most vivid yellow lichen which shone in the sunshine like the golden battlement of an enchanted castle.
There, in that lofty region, amid the most frowning desolation, exposed to the fiercest tempest of the sky, this lichen exhibited a glory of color such as it never showed in the sheltered valley. I have two specimens of the same lichen before me while I write these lines, one from the great St. Bernard, and the other from the wall of a Scottish castle, deeply embossed among sycamore trees; and the difference in point of form and coloring between them is most striking.
The specimen nurtured amid the wild storms of the mountain peak is of a lovely primrose hue, and is smooth in texture and complete in outline, while the specimen nurtured amid the soft airs and the delicate showers of the lowland valley is of a dim rusty hue, and is scurfy in texture, and broken in outline.
And is it not so with the Christian who is afflicted, tempesttossed, and not comforted? Till the storms and vicissitudes of God’s providence beat upon him again and again, his character appears marred and clouded; but trials clear away the obscurity, perfect the outlines of his disposition, and give brightness and blessing to his life.

  Amidst my list of blessings infinite
  Stands this the foremost, that my heart has bled;
  For all I bless Thee, most for the severe.
—Hugh Macmillan.

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Growing Through Grief

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. —Psalm 119:71

Today's Scripture: Psalm 119:65-80

A woman who lost her husband of 40 years to a sudden heart attack said that the resulting grief had caused her to value love more. When she heard couples arguing, she sometimes spoke to them, saying, “You don’t have time for this.” She noted that the wasted moments in all our lives become more precious when they cannot be repeated.

Grief changes our perspective on life. It is trite but true that how we deal with sorrow will make us either bitter or better. In a remarkable statement, the psalmist actually thanked God for a difficult experience: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. . . . It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Ps. 119:67,71).

We don’t know the nature of the psalmist’s affliction, but the positive outcome was a longing to obey the Lord and a hunger for His Word. Rarely can we use this truth to comfort those who hurt. Instead, it is the Lord’s word to us from His compassionate heart and the touch from His healing hand.

When we grieve, it feels more like dying than growing. But as God wraps His loving arms around us, we have the assurance of His faithful care.By:  David C. McCasland (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

I have been through the valley of weeping,
The valley of sorrow and pain;
But the God of all comfort was with me,
At hand to uphold and sustain. 
—Anon.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.  —Psalm 116:15

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THE GOOD THAT PAIN CAN DO
It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. —Psalm 119:71

When we accept affliction with humility it can be a discipline that leads us to a deeper, fuller life. “Before I was afflicted I went astray,” David said, “but now I keep Your Word” (Ps. 119:67). Peter would agree: Affliction leads us not to live for ourselves “but for the will of God” (1 Peter 4:2).

Far from being an obstacle to our spiritual growth, pain can be the instrument of it—if we’re trained by it. It can push us closer to God and deeper into His Word. It is a means by which He graciously shapes us to be like His Son, gradually giving us the compassion, contentment, tranquillity and courage that we long and pray for. Without pain, we wouldn’t be all that God wants us to be. His strength shines brightest through human weakness.

Has God set you apart today to receive instruction through suffering and pain? Endure this training patiently. He can turn the trial into a blessing. He can use it to draw you close to His heart and into His Word, teach you the lessons He intends for you to learn and use it to bestow His grace on you.

God is making more of you—something much better—than you ever thought possible. - David H. Roper (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

WHATEVER GOD TEACHES US THROUGH PAIN IS GAIN.
("No pain, No gain!")

Psalm 119:72  The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. 

• better (KJV): Ps 119:14,111,127,162 19:10 Pr 3:14,15 8:10,11,19 16:16 Mt 13:44-46 

THE LAW OF THY MOUTH: Read that again! What is he saying? These are the Words that originate from God’s own mouth, and come with freshness and power to our heart and soul (which daily need refreshing, reviving, cf Ps 119:25+), for God's Word is living and active (Heb 4:12+)! We do well to look upon (and into) the Word of the Lord as though it were newly spoken into our ear, as if our Father, Who loves us, is speaking to us tenderly and personally. As a practical matter, when you are reading the Scripture, seek to come to an even familiar (even memorized) passage, as if you are coming for the first time! You will be amazed at the insights you can glean from passages you thought you had down pat! The corollary is that when you come to a Bible text, and say "I've got this one down" you can be sure you will blunt your observation of the text guided by the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit.  The same Divine mouth which spoke us and everything into existence (cf Heb 11:3+) has also spoken the Word by which we are to govern that existence. (see Ps 33:9) Well may we prize beyond all price that which comes from such a supernatural Source. Moses emphasized how vital it is for us to have daily "spiritual resuscitation," (so to speak "mouth to mouth"), God's mouth (heart) to our mouth (heart)...

“For (TERM OF EXPLANATION - see Dt 32:46) it (WHAT?) is not an idle (empty, vain, useless, futile) word for you; indeed it (WHAT?) is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”  (Dt 32:47+) 

Comment - For Israel to whom these instructions and truth were originally spoken, this truth was given so that they might possess the PROMISED LAND, but by way of application for believers today, this same Word of instruction is that we might possessed our PROMISED LIFE in Christ, in Whom we have been blessed "with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." (Eph 1:3) Are you possessing your priceless possessions, attaining to the goal Jesus desires for you, the goal of an abundant life in Him (Jn 10:10)? If not, could it be that you are not taking in the Word of Life, the Word of Truth, and enabled by the Spirit (cf Ro 8:13+) obeying the truth you take in? Just wondering. Jesus said "“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.." (Jn 6:63)

IS BETTER TO ME: {The Septuagint translates "better" with agathos and in the Greek text places it first in the sentence which is a way to emphasize this truth} 

Agathos means intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent (marked by or disposed to doing good). Agathos is one whose goodness and works of goodness are transferred to others. Good and doing good is the idea. Agathos describes that which is beneficial in addition to being good. Agathos is that which is good in its character, beneficial in its effects and/or useful in its action. Agathos is used in the New Testament primarily of spiritual and moral excellence. Paul uses agathos to describe the gospel as the “glad tidings of good things” (Ro 10:15+). The writer of Hebrews uses it in the same way, of “the good things to come” of which “Christ appeared as a high priest” (Heb 9:11+) and of which the law was “only a shadow” (Heb 10:1+). The precise meaning of agathos can be difficult to appreciate and distinguish from kalos an adjective that is also translated good. An attempt is made in the following discussion to bring out the difference, but in some verses where both are used, this distinction can be difficult to appreciate.

Agathos is that which is good in its character, beneficial in its effects and/or useful in its action.

Job found this to be true as did David, as did the writer of Psalm 119...

Job 23:12+   “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. 

Psalm 119:11+ Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. 

Psalm 19:10+  They (What? See Ps 19:9) are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. 

Better in NASB - 119v - Gen. 29:19; Exod. 14:12; Num. 14:3; Jdg. 8:2; Jdg. 9:2; Jdg. 11:25; Jdg. 18:19; Ruth 3:10; Ruth 4:15; 1 Sam. 1:8; 1 Sam. 15:22; 1 Sam. 15:28; 1 Sam. 27:1; 2 Sam. 14:32; 2 Sam. 17:14; 2 Sam. 18:3; 1 Ki. 1:47; 1 Ki. 2:32; 1 Ki. 19:4; 1 Ki. 21:2; 2 Ki. 5:12; 2 Chr. 21:13; Ps. 37:16; Ps. 63:3; Ps. 69:31; Ps. 84:10; Ps. 118:8; Ps. 118:9; Ps. 119:72; Prov. 3:14; Prov. 8:11; Prov. 8:19; Prov. 12:9; Prov. 15:16; Prov. 15:17; Prov. 16:8; Prov. 16:16; Prov. 16:19; Prov. 16:32; Prov. 17:1; Prov. 19:1; Prov. 19:22; Prov. 21:9; Prov. 21:19; Prov. 22:1; Prov. 25:7; Prov. 25:24; Prov. 27:5; Prov. 27:10; Prov. 28:6; Eccl. 2:24; Eccl. 3:12; Eccl. 3:22; Eccl. 4:3; Eccl. 4:6; Eccl. 4:9; Eccl. 4:13; Eccl. 5:5; Eccl. 6:3; Eccl. 6:5; Eccl. 6:9; Eccl. 7:1; Eccl. 7:2; Eccl. 7:3; Eccl. 7:5; Eccl. 7:8; Eccl. 7:10; Eccl. 9:4; Eccl. 9:16; Eccl. 9:17; Eccl. 9:18; Cant. 1:2; Cant. 4:10; Isa. 56:5; Jer. 18:10; Lam. 4:9; Ezek. 15:2; Ezek. 36:11; Dan. 1:15; Dan. 1:20; Hos. 2:7; Hos. 10:1; Amos 6:2; Jon. 4:3; Jon. 4:8; Nah. 3:8; Matt. 5:29; Matt. 5:30; Matt. 18:6; Matt. 18:8; Matt. 18:9; Matt. 19:10; Mk. 9:42; Mk. 9:43; Mk. 9:45; Mk. 9:47; Lk. 17:2; Jn. 4:52; Rom. 3:9; 1 Co. 7:9; 1 Co. 7:38; 1 Co. 8:8; 1 Co. 9:15; 1 Co. 11:17; Phil. 1:23; Heb. 1:4; Heb. 6:9; Heb. 7:19; Heb. 7:22; Heb. 8:6; Heb. 9:23; Heb. 10:34; Heb. 11:4; Heb. 11:16; Heb. 11:35; Heb. 11:40; Heb. 12:24; 1 Pet. 3:17; 2 Pet. 2:21

THAN THOUSANDS: He must have had $$ and yet in comparison the Word of God was BETTER! Do I really believe that? Why has the devil been so successful at diluting this great truth?

Mark 4:19+  but (TERM OF CONTRAST-WHAT/WHY IS JESUS CONTRASTING? see Mk 4:18, cf James 1:22+) the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness (apate) of riches (WHAT IS A DOMINANT TRAIT/POWER OF WORLDLY RICHES? in this context riches have the power to deceive and by definition when a person is deceived, they DO NOT EVEN KNOW THEY ARE DECEIVED!), and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Mark 8:36-37+  “For (TERM OF EXPLANATION - WHAT IS JESUS EXPLAINING? WHAT HAS HE JUST DECLARED? Mk 8:35) what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37 “For (TERM OF EXPLANATION) what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Do you want to be truly rich, eternally rich? (see  cus on "accumulating" the hidden treasures found only in the Word of God! In eternity you will come into your inheritance and fully understand that heaven and earth will pass away but the Word of God abides forever (Lk 21:33+). Since it abides forever, God grant that we "imbibe" it today. In Jesus' Name. Amen

Psalm 119:14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. 

Psalm 119:127 Therefore I love Your commandments Above gold, yes, above fine gold. 

Psalm 119:162 I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds great spoil. 

Many people do not know the difference between prices and values. Your Bible may cost but a few dollars, but what a treasure it is. How would you feel if you lost God’s Word and could not replace it?

OF GOLD AND SILVER PIECES:: Gold and silver may be stolen from us (Mt 6:19+), but not the Word. Indeed, all the money in the world is useless in the hour of death, but the Word of the promise abides forever. Store up for yourselves treasure in Heaven. Remember that you can do a self-assessment on this important principle. How? Check your possessions, what you treasure, for where you treasure is, there will be your heart also (Mt 6:21+). 

Spurgeon's exposition - David had a great deal of gold and silver, far more than any of us have; but yet he thought very little of it in comparison with God’s law. Many people despise gold and silver because they have not got any. The fox said the grapes were sour because they were beyond his reach. But here is a case, in which a man had as much gold and silver as he could ever want; yet he says that the law of God’s mouth was better than all of it, and he was wise in saying so. For gold and silver can be stolen; riches often take to themselves wings, and fly away; even great wealth may soon be spent and gone; but God’s law never leaves those who love it, nor lets them lose it. When all our spending money is gone, then is the commandment of God our treasure still. Happy is everyone who can say, with David, “The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.” In this Psalm we have, as it were, notes from David’s pocket book.

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Charles Bridges - 

Well might David acknowledge the benefit of affliction, since he had thus “learned in God’s statutes” something that was “better to him than thousands of gold and silver.” This was indeed an enlightened judgment for one to form, who had so small a part of “the law of God’s mouth,” and so large a portion of this world’s treasure. And yet, if we study only his book of Psalms to know the important uses and privileges of this law, and his son’s book of Ecclesiastes, to discover the real value of paltry gold and silver,6 we shall, under Divine teaching, be led to make the same estimate for ourselves. Yes, believer, with the same, or rather with far higher delight than the miser calculates his “thousands of gold and, silver,” do you tell out the precious contents of the law of your God. After having endeavored in vain to count the “thousands” in your treasure, one single name sums up their value—“the unsearchable riches of Christ.”7 Would not the smallest spot of ground be estimated at “thousands of gold and silver,” were it known to conceal under its surface a mine of inexhaustible treasure? This it is that makes the word so inestimable. It is the field of the “hidden treasure.” “The pearl of great price”8 is known to be concealed here. You would not therefore part with one leaf of your Bible for all the “thousands of gold and silver.” You know yourself to be in possession of the substance—you have found all besides to be a shadow. “I lead,” saith the Saviour, “in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment; that I may cause them that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.”9 The grand motive therefore in “searching the Scriptures” is because “they testify of Christ.”10 A sinner has but one want—a Saviour. A believer has but one desire—to “know and win Christ.”11 With a “single eye,” therefore, intent upon one point, he studies this blessed book. “With unveiled face he beholds in this glass the glory of the Lord;”1 and no arithmetic can compute the price of that, which is now unspeakably better to him than the treasures of the earth.

Christian! bear your testimony to your supreme delight in the book of God. You have here opened the surface of much intellectual interest and solid instruction. But it is the joy that you have found in the revelation of the Saviour, in his commands, in his promises, in his ways, that leads you to exclaim, “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold!”2 Yes, indeed—every promise—every declaration—centering in him, is a pearl; and the word of God is full of these precious pearls. If then they be the richest, who have the best and the largest treasure, those who have most of the word in their hearts—not those who have most of the world in their possession—are justly entitled to this pre-eminence. ‘Let then the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom.”3 For those who are rich in this heavenly treasure are men of substance indeed.

True—this is a correct estimate of the worth of God’s law—better than this world’s treasure. But is it better to me? Is this my decided choice? How many will inconsiderately acknowledge its supreme value, while they yet hesitate to relinquish even a scanty morsel of earth for an interest in it! Do I then habitually prefer “this law of God’s mouth” to every worldly advantage; am I ready to forego every selfish consideration,4 if it may only be the means of uniting my heart more closely to the Book of God? If this be not my practical conviction, I fear I have not yet opened the mine. But if I can assent to this declaration of the man of God, I have made a far more glorious discovery than Archimides; and therefore may take up his expression of joyful surprise—‘I have found it!, I have found it! What? That which the world could never have given me—that which the world can never deprive me of.

Yet how affecting is it to see men poor in the midst of great riches! Often in the world we see the possessor of a large treasure—without a heart to enjoy it—virtually therefore a pauper. Oftener still in the Church do we see professors (may it not be so with some of us?) with their Bibles in their hands—yet poor even with the external interest in its “unsearchable riches.” Often also do we observe a want of value for the whole law or revelation of God’s mouth. Some parts are highly honored to the depreciation of the rest. But let it be remembered, that the whole of Scripture is “Scripture given by inspiration of God, and therefore profitable” for its appointed end.5 Oh! beware of resting satisfied with a scanty stock. How rich should we be, should we ponder only one word of the law each day with prayerful meditation! As you value your progress and peace in the ways of God—as you have an eye to your Christian perfection—put away that ruinous thought—true as an encouragement to the weak,1 but false as an excuse to the slothful2—that a little knowledge is sufficient to carry us to heaven.

And—Lord—help me to prize the law as coming from “thy mouth.”3 Let it be for ever written upon my heart. Let me be daily exploring my hidden treasures. Let me be enriching myself and all around me with a present possession and interest in these heavenly blessings.

6 Eccles. 5:9–10; 6:1, 2.

7 Eph. 3:8.

8 Matt. 13:44–46.

9 Prov. 8:20–21.

10 John 5:39.

11 Phil. 3:8–10.

1 2 Cor. 3:18.

2 Psalm 19:10.

3 Col. 3:16.

4 A Jewish Rabbi, when induced by the prospect of a lucrative situation to fix his settlement in a place where there was no synagogue, is said to have resisted the temptation by the recollection of this verse. Poli Synopsis—in loco. A reproof to Christians, who in “choosing the bounds of their habitation,” have not always eyed their Master’s rule. Matt. 6:33.

5 2 Tim. 3:16.

1 Zech. 4:10.

2 Prov. 13:4.

3 1 Thess. 2:13.

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SPURGEON: The law of thy mouth. 

It comes from God’s own mouth with freshness and power to our souls. Things written are as dried herbs; but speech has a liveliness and dew about it. We do well to look upon the Word of the Lord as though it were newly spoken into our ear. The same lips which spoke us into existence have spoken the law by which we are to govern that existence. Well may we prize beyond all price that which comes from such a source.

Is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. 

This is the verdict of a man who owned his thousands, and could judge by actual experience the value of money and the value of truth. He speaks of great riches, and then he sets the Word of God before it all, as better to him, even if others did not think it better to them. Gold and silver may be stolen from us, but not the Word; these are useless in the hour of death, but the Word of the promise is most dear.

See how this portion of the psalm is flavored with goodness. God’s dealings are good (Ps 119:65), holy judgment is good (Ps 119:66), affliction is good (Ps 119:67), God is good (Ps 119:68), and here the law is not only good, but better than the best of treasures. Lord, make us good, through Thy good Word.

Ps 73–80. We have now come to the tenth portion; its subject would seem to be personal experience and its attractive influence upon others. The prophet is in deep sorrow, but looks to be delivered and made a blessing. Endeavoring to teach, the psalmist first seeks to be taught (verse 73), persuades himself that he will be well received (verse 74), and rehearses the testimony which he intends to bear (verse 75). He prays for more experience (verses 76–77), for the baffling of the proud (verse 78), for the gathering together of the godly to him (verse 79), and for himself again that he may be fully equiped for his witness-bearing and may be sustained in it (verse 80). This is the anxious yet hopeful cry of one who is heavily afflicted by cruel adversaries, and therefore makes his appeal to God as his only friend.

Psalm 119:73 Yodh. Your hands made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments. 

• Thy hands (KJV): Ps 100:3 Ps 111:10 Ps 138:8 Ps 139:14-16 Job 10:8-11 
• give me (KJV): Ps 119:34,125,144,169 1Ch 22:12 2Ch 2:12 Job 32:8 2Ti 2:7 1Jn 5:20 
• that I may (KJV): Ps 111:10 Jas 3:18 

Related Passage:

Psalm 139:14-16 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.  15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;  16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. 

FEARFULLY AND
WONDERFULLY MADE

Yodh. Your hands made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments - A simple application of this truth is that the One Who made us is the best One to go to for understanding. Are you daily in His Word, so that His Spirit might give you understanding? You cannot learn what He wants you to do if you are not in His Word. 

Spurgeon's exposition - This is a very instructive prayer; the psalmist does as good as say, “Lord, thou hast made me once- make me over again. Thou hast made my body; mould my spirit, form my character, give me understanding.” If God should make us, and then leave us without understanding, what imperfect creations we should be! A man devoid of understanding is only a blood and bone creation; and therefore the psalmist does well to pray, “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding.” But what sort of an understanding is desired? That I may learn to discuss and dispute? No: “that I may learn thy commandments;” for holiness is the best of wisdom, and the surest proof of a right understanding is obedience to God’s commandments.

SPURGEON: Thy hands have made me and fashioned me. It is profitable to remember our creation; it is pleasant to see that the divine hand has had much to do with us, for it never moves apart from the divine thought. It excites reverence, gratitude, and affection towards God when we view him as our Maker, putting forth the careful skill and power of his hands in our forming and fashioning. He took a personal interest in us, making us with his own hands; he was doubly thoughtful, for he is represented as making and molding us. In both giving existence and arranging existence he manifested love and wisdom; and therefore we find reasons for praise, confidence, and expectation in our being and well-being. Give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments. As thou hast made me, teach me. Here is the vessel which thou hast fashioned; Lord, fill it. The plea is an enlargement of the cry, “Forsake not the work of thy hands.” Without understanding the divine law and rendering obedience to it we are imperfect and useless; but we may reasonably hope that the great Potter will complete his work and give the finishing touch to it by imparting to it sacred knowledge and holy practice. We pray that we may not be left without a spiritual judgment. Only those who are taught of God can be holy. We often speak of gifted people; but they have the best gifts to whom God has given a sanctified understanding wherewith to know and prize the ways of the Lord. David’s prayer is not for the sake of speculative knowledge and curiosity: he desires an enlightened judgment that he may learn God’s command-menu, and so become obedient and holy. No one has by nature an understanding capable of compassing so wide a field, and hence the prayer, as if to say, I can learn other things with the mind I have, but thy law is so pure, perfect, spiritual, and sublime that I need to have my mind enlarged before I can become proficient in it. We need a new creation, and who can grant us that but the Creator himself?

Matthew Henry Concise - Ps 119:73-80. God made us to serve him, and enjoy him; but by sin we have made ourselves unfit to serve him, and to enjoy him. We ought, therefore, continually to beseech him, by his Holy Spirit, to give us understanding. The comforts some have in God, should be matter of joy to others. But it is easy to own, that God's judgments are right, until it comes to be our own case. All supports under affliction must come from mercy and compassion. The mercies of God are tender mercies; the mercies of a father, the compassion of a mother to her son. They come to us when we are not able to go to them. Causeless reproach does not hurt, and should not move us. The psalmist could go on in the way of his duty, and find comfort in it. He valued the good will of saints, and was desirous to keep up his communion with them. Soundness of heart signifies sincerity in dependence on God, and devotedness to him. 

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Warren Wiersbe -  Ps. 119:73 Consult the Manual
 
Read Psalm 119:73-80
 
Whenever my wife and I purchase a new appliance, we add another instruction manual to our collection. We have instruction manuals for the various appliances in our home, for the automobile and for office equipment, such as tape recorders, computers and copying machines.
 
Someone may say, "I wish we had a manual of instruction for life." We do. It's called the Bible, the Word of God. "Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments" (v. 73). God made and fashioned us in His image. According to Psalm 139, He had plans for each of our lives before we were born. He gave each of us a unique mind and genetic structure. He wrote into His book the days that He assigned to us, and He planned the best for us. He also wrote a manual to help us live the way we ought.
 
He gives us the Bible and says, "I want to give you understanding. The better you understand this Book, the better you will understand yourself. You are made in My image. I want to reveal to you from My Word how to use your hands, your feet, your eyes, your ears and your tongue. I want to tell you how My Word can make your heart work the way it is supposed to work." The psalmist says, "Your hands have made me and fashioned me"--that's our origin. "Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments"--that's our operation. The Bible is the operation manual for life.
 
How strange it is that people try to live their lives without an instruction book. They wonder why their marriages fall apart, why their bodies are in trouble and why they've gotten themselves into a jam. Before all else fails, read the Word of God, the instruction manual for everyday living.
* * *
The Word of God covers the spectrum of life and provides guidelines for living in faith. When life presents new challenges and problems, refer to God's operation manual for life. It will help you align with His plans for your life.  (Psalm 119:73-80 Consult the Manual)

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Charles Bridges - In the vast universe of wonder, man is the greatest wonder—the noblest work of God. A council of the Sacred Trinity was held respecting his creation—“God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”4 Every part of creation bears the impress of God. Man—man alone—bears his image, his likeness. Everywhere we see his track—his footsteps. Here we behold his face. What an amazing thought, that the three Eternal subsistents in the glorious Godhead, should have united in gracious design and operation towards the dust of the earth! But thus man was formed—thus was he raised out of his parent dust, from this low original, to be the living temple and habitation of Divine glory—a being full of God. The first moment that he opened his eyes to behold the light and beauty of the new-made world, the Lord separated him for his own service, to receive the continual supply of his own life. His body was fitted as a tabernacle for his soul, “curiously wrought” by the hand of God; and all its parts and “members written in his book, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” Most naturally therefore does the contemplation of this “perfection of beauty” raise the adoring mind upward—“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”5 “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me.”

Could we suppose that man was framed to eat, to sleep, and to die—that, after taking a few turns upon the grand walk of life, he was to descend into the world of eternal silence, we might well ask the question of God—“Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?”1 But the first awakening of man from his death-like sleep enlightens him in the right knowledge of the end of his creation. If I am conscious of being the workmanship of God, I shall feel my relationship to him, and the responsibility of acting according to it. I would plead then this relation before him in asking for light, life, and love. I cannot serve thee as a creature, except I be made a new creature. Give me a spiritual being, without which my natural being cannot glorify thee. Thou hast indeed “curiously wrought” my frame; but sin has marred all. Make me thy spiritual “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.”2 “Give me understanding”—spiritual knowledge, “that I may learn thy commandments”—“Renew a right spirit within me.”3

But the natural man feels no need of this prayer. No, he is puffed up in his own wisdom. He cannot receive the divine testimony, which levels him, while he “understandeth not,” with “the beasts that perish,”4 and tells him, that he must “become a fool, that he may be wise.”5 But should he ever know his new state of existence, he will offer up this prayer eagerly and frequently; and every step of his way heavenward he will feel increasing need of Divine “wisdom and spiritual understanding.”

How does the song of heaven remind us of this end of our creation!—“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power; for thou hast created all things; and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”6 In harmony with this song we must acknowledge, that the “Lord hath made all things for himself”7—that he “created all things for his glory.”8 And the recollection that he “created us by Jesus Christ,”9 brings before us the grand work of redemption, and the work of the new creation consequent upon it. He who created us in his own image, when that image was lost, that he might not lose his property in us, put a fresh seal upon his natural right, and “purchased us with his own blood.” Oh! let us not be insensible to this constraining motive to “learn his commandments.” “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”10

4 Gen. 1:26.

5 Psalm 139:14–16.

1 Ps. 89:47.

2 Eph. 2:10.

3 Ps. 51:10.

4 Ps 49:20.

5 1 Cor. 3:18.

6 Rev. 4:11.

7 Prov. 16:4.

8 Isa. 43:7.

9 Eph. 3:9. Col. 1:16. John 1:1–3.

10 1 Cor. 6:19, 20.

Psalm 119:74 May those who fear You see me and be glad, Because I wait for Your word. 

• fear thee (KJV): Ps 119:79 34:2-6 66:16 Mal 3:16 
• I have (KJV): Ps 119:42,147 108:7 Ge 32:11,12 Lu 21:33 

May those who fear You see me and be glad - Who are those who fear God? In the fullest sense, they are believers, for even in the last clarion call of the Gospel in the Revelation, we see that fear of God is equated with salvation. 

Revelation 14:6-7+ And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, (NOTE THIS "EARTH SHAKING" EVENT OCCURS JUST BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION, 3.5 YEARS BEFORE THE KING RETURNS! SO EVEN IN THE MIDST OF WRATH, GOD REMEMBERS MERCY! WHAT AN AWESOME, LOVING GOD WE WORSHIP! - SEE THE RESULT OF THIS POWERFUL PROCLAMATION IN Rev 7:9, 14+ NOTICE WHERE THIS COUNTLESS NUMBER OF SAVED SOULS COME FROM!) 7 and he said with a loud voice (NOTE 3 COMMANDS CALLING FOR URGENT RESPONSE!), “Fear (aorist imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) God, and give (aorist imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come (LAST 3.5 YEARS WHICH INCLUDE THE HORRIBLE "BOWL JUDGMENTS"!); worship (aorist imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) Him Who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters (WHO? THE FATHER AND THE SON - Col 1:16+, Heb 1:2+).” 

A non-believer might have a shaking fear of God and His future judgment, but he won't give God the glory and worship Him. In fact, Paul states in Romans 3:18+ in his verdict on every man (every lost soul dead in their trespasses and sins Eph 2:1+) still in Adam (Ro 5:12+) "THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.” 

Spurgeon - A hopeful godly man is a continual source of joy to other people. When a man can inspire hope in his fellows, and he cannot do that unless he is full of hope himself, he lights a fire of comfort. Bring such a man into a storm, and he helps you to be brave. “They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.”

Because I wait for Your word - NLT = "for I have put my hope in your word."  Wait is the Hebrew word yahal/yachal which conveys the idea of tarrying, of confident expectation, of trust. The central idea of this verb is to wait as Noah literally did in Ge 8:12 (cp 1Sa 10:8, 13:8, et al). Wait means to stay or rest in expectation, to remain stationary until the arrival of some person or event. The Septuagint has an interesting translation using the verb epelpizo which means to buoy up with hope. And it is interesting that most of the uses of epelpizo are found in Psalm 119 (no uses in NT)...

Epelpizo - 2 Ki. 18:30; Ps. 52:7; Ps. 119:43; Ps. 119:49; Ps. 119:74; Ps. 119:81; Ps. 119:114; Ps. 119:147

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Charles Bridges - How cheering is the sight of a man of God! How refreshing his converse! How satisfactory and enlivening is the exhibition of his faith! The goodness of God to one becomes thus the joy and comfort of all. What an excitement is this to close communion with our God, that the light which we thus receive will shine on those around us! What a comfort will it be, even in our own hour of temptation, that the hope which we may then be enabled to maintain in the word of God, shall prove the stay, not only of our own souls, but of the Lord’s people! Many a desponding Christian, oppressed with such fears as this—“I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul,”1—when he hears of one and another exercised in the same trials, and who have “hoped in God’s word,” and have not been disappointed, “will be glad when he sees them.” Thus David recorded his conflicts, that we may not despair of our own; and his triumphs, that “in the name of our God we might set up our banners”2—“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, upon the Lord.”3 Thus also, under affliction, he was comforted with the thought of comforting others with the history of his own experience—“My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O praise the Lord with me, and let us magnify his name together. He hath put a new song into my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name; the righteous shall compass me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.”4

In this view, the believer, who has been “sifted in the sieve” of temptation, without the least “grain” of faith or hope “falling upon the earth,”5 stands forth as a monument of the Lord’s faithfulness, to “strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees, and to say to them that are of a feeble heart, Be strong, fear not.”6 Those that are “fearful, and of little faith,” “are glad when they see him.” They “thank God” for him, and “take courage”7 for themselves. What a motive is this to keep us from despondency; that instead of destroying, by our unbelief, those who are already “cast down,” we may enjoy the privilege of upholding their confidence, and ministering to their comfort! And how should the weak and distressed seek for and prize the society of those, who have been instructed by the discipline of the Lord’s school!

Believer! what have you to tell to your discouraged brethren of the faithfulness of your God? Cannot you put courage into their hearts, by declaring that you have never been “ashamed of your hope?” Cannot you tell them from your own experience, that Jesus “is for a foundation-stone, a tried stone, a sure foundation?”8 Cannot you show them, that, because he has borne the burden of their sins, he is able to “bear their griefs, and to carry their sorrows?”9 that you have tried him, and that you have found him so? Oh! be animated to know more of Christ yourself; let your hope in him be strengthened, that you may cause gladness in the hearts of those that see you; so that “whether you be afflicted, or whether you be comforted, it may be for their consolation and salvation.”1

But O my God! how much cause have I for shame, that I impart so little of thy glorious light to those around me. Perhaps some poor trembling sinner “has been glad when he saw me,” hoping to hear something of the Saviour from my lips, and has found me straitened, and cold, and dumb. Oh! that I may be so “filled with the Spirit,” so experienced in thy heavenly ways, that I may invite “all that fear thee to come to me,” that I may “tell them what thou hast done for my soul;”2 so that, “when men are cast down, they may say, There is lifting up.”3

1 1 Sam. 27:1.

2 Psalm 20:5.

3 Ps 27:13, 14.

4 Ps. 34:2, 3; 40:3; 142:7. Compare also 69:30–32.

5 Amos 9:9.

6 Isa. 35:3, 4.

7 Acts 28:15.

8 Isa. 26:16.

9 Ps. 53:4.

1 2 Cor. 1:6.

2 Psalm 66:16.

3 Job 22:29.

Psalm 119:75  I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. 

• I know (KJV): Ps 119:7,62,128,160 De 32:4 Job 34:23 Jer 12:1 
• right (KJV): Heb. righteousness, Ge 18:25 Ro 3:4,5 
• thou in (KJV): Ps 25:10 89:30-33 Heb 12:10,11 Rev 3:19 

I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. 

See Ps 119:50, 67, 71, 92 law of God comforts in lowliness 

Spurgeon - We are glad to listen to a man who can tell us that, an old man, a tried man, who can say that God has been faithful in afflicting him, a man who, after having borne the brunt of tribulation, can yet bless God for it. Such testimonies as these are full of joy and gladness to the young folk; they can encounter trial with a joyous heart when they hear what their fathers tell of the goodness of God to them in their troubles.

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Charles Bridges - This is the Christian’s acknowledgment—fully satisfied with the dispensations of God. This is his confidence—so invigorating to his own soul—so cheering to the Church. The Lord’s dealings are called his judgments—not as having judicial curses, but as the acts of his justice in the chastening of sin.4 Perhaps also—as the administration of his wise judgment in their measure and application.5 But here is not only the confession of the Lord’s general judgment, but of his especial faithfulness to himself. And this he knew—not from the dictates of the flesh, (which would have given a contrary verdict,) but from the testimony of the word,6 and the witness of his own experience.7 It could not be doubted—much less denied—‘I know, O Lord, that thy rules of proceeding are agreeable to thy perfect justice and wisdom; and I am equally satisfied, that the afflictions that thou hast laid upon me from time to time, are only to fulfil thy gracious and faithful promise of making me eternally happy in thyself.’ Blessed fruit of affliction! when we can thus “see the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy”—that his “thoughts towards us are thoughts of peace, and not of evil!”8 “The patience and faith of the saints” teach this difficult but most consoling lesson in deciphering the mysterious lines in God’s providence.

The child of God, under the severest chastisement, must acknowledge justice. Our gracious reward is always more—our “punishment always less, than our iniquities deserve.”9 “Wherefore should a living man complain?”10 In trouble, indeed—but not in hell. If he complain, let it be of none but himself, and his own wayward choice. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right—and who can doubt the wisdom? Who would charge the operator with cruelty, in cutting out the proud flesh that was bringing death upon the man? Who would not acknowledge the right judgment of his piercing work? Thus, when the Lord’s painful work separates us from our sins, weans us from the world, and brings us nearer to himself, what remains for us, but thankfully to acknowledge his righteousness and truth? Unbelief is put to rebuke; and we, of any suspicion “that God has forgotten to be gracious,” must confess, “This is our infirmity.”1

This assurance of the Lord’s perfect justice, wisdom, and intimate knowledge of our respective cases, leads us to yield to his appointments in dutiful silence. Thus Aaron, under his most afflictive domestic calamity, “held his peace.”2 Job under a similar dispensation was enabled to say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord!”3 Eli’s language in the same trial was, “It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.”4 David hushed his impatient spirit, “I was dumb; I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.” And when Shimei cursed him, he said, “Let him alone; let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him.”5 The Shunammite, in the meek resignation of faith, acknowledged, “It is well.”6 Hezekiah kissed the rod, while it was smiting him to the dust, “Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.”7 Thus uniform is the language of the Lord’s people under chastisement, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right.

But the confession of justice may be mere natural conviction.8 Faith goes further, and speaks of faithfulness. David not only acknowledges God’s right to deal with him as he saw fit, and even his wisdom in dealing with him as he actually had done, but his faithfulness in afflicting—not his faithfulness, though he afflicted—but in afflicting him; not as if it were consistent with his love, but as the fruit of his love. It is not enough, to justify God. What abundant cause is there to praise him! It is not enough to forbear to murmur. How exciting is the display of his faithfulness and love! Yes—the trials appointed for us are none else than the faithful performance of his everlasting engagements. And to this cause we may always trace (and it is our privilege to believe it, where we cannot visibly trace it) the reason of much that is painful to the flesh.9 Let us only mark its gracious effects in our restoration10—instruction11—healing of our backslidings,12 and the continual purging of sins13—and then say, ‘Is not the faithfulness of God gloriously displayed?’ The Philistines could not understand Samson’s riddle—how “Meat could come out of the eater, and sweetness out of the strong.”14 As little can the world comprehend the fruitfulness of the Christian’s trials; how his gracious Lord sweetens to him the bitter waters of Marah,15 and makes the cross not so much the punishment, as the remedy of sin. He finds therefore no inclination, and he feels that he has no interest in having any change made in the Lord’s appointments, painful as they may be to the flesh. He readily acknowledges that his merciful designs could not have been accomplished in any other way; while under trials many sweet tokens of love are vouchsafed, which, under circumstances of outward prosperity, could not have been received with the same gratitude and delight.

You that are living at ease in the indulgence of what this poor world can afford, how little does the Christian envy your portion! How surely in some future day will you be taught by experience to envy his! The world’s riches are daily becoming poorer, and its pleasures more tasteless. And what will they be, and how will they appear, when eternity is at hand! Whereas affliction is the special token of our Father’s love,1 conformity to the image of Jesus, and preparation for his service and kingdom. It is the only blessing that the Lord gives, without requiring us to ask for it.2 We receive it therefore as promised, not as threatened; and when “the peaceable fruits of righteousness,”3 which it worketh in God’s time and way, spring up in our hearts, humbly and gratefully will we acknowledge the righteousness of his “judgments,” and the “faithfulness” of his corrections.

4 1 Peter 4:17.

5 Jer. 10:24. Comp. Isa. 27:8.

6 Deut. 32:4.

7 Verse 137; 145:17.

8 James 5:11. Jer. 29:11.

9 Ezra 9:13. Comp. Job 11:6.

10 Lam. 3:39.

1 Psalm 77:7–10.

2 Lev. 10:1–3.

3 Job 1:21. Comp. 2:10.

4 1 Sam. 3:18.

5 Psalm 39:9. 2 Sam. 16:11, 12.

6 2 Kings 4:26.

7 Isa. 39:8.

8 Exod. 9:27. Judges 1:7. 2 Chron. 12:6.

9 Psalm 89:30–32. Deut 8:16. Comp. Psalm 107:43.

10 Ps 119:67, and texts referred to on that verse.

11 Ps 119:71, and texts.

12 Hosea 2:6, 7, 14.

13 Isa. 27:9; 48:10. Zech. 13:9. John 15:2.

14 Judges 14:14.

15 See Exodus 15:23–25.

1 Heb. 12:6. Rev. 3:19.

2 Phil. 1:29. Lord Bacon somewhere remarks, “that, however temporal prosperity may have been promised to the Church under the Old Testament; affliction, and suffering, and trial, are the promises made to the Church under the Gospel dispensation.

3 Such as patience, experience, hope—the work of tribulation. Heb. 12:11, with Rom. 5:3–5.

Psalm 119:76 O may Your lovingkindness comfort me, According to Your word to Your servant. 

• merciful (KJV): Ps 86:5 106:4,5 2Co 1:3-5 
• for my comfort (KJV): Heb. to comfort me

O may Your lovingkindness comfort me, According to Your word to Your servant - NLT = "Now let your unfailing love comfort me, just as you promised me, your servant."

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Charles Bridges - 

What! does the Psalmist then seek his comfort from the very hand that strikes him? This is genuine faith, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”4 The very arm that seems to be uplifted for my destruction, shall be to me the arm of salvation.

Several of the preceding verses have spoken of affliction.5 The Psalmist now prays for alleviation under it. But of what kind? He does not “beseech the Lord, that it might depart from him.”6 No. His repeated acknowledgments of the supports vouchsafed under it, and the benefits he had derived from it, had reconciled him to commit its measure7 and continuance to the Lord. All that he needs, and all that he asks for, is, a sense of his “merciful kindness” upon his soul. Thus he submits to his justice in accumulated trials, and expects consolation under them solely upon the ground of his free favor. Indeed it is hard to hold on under protracted affliction without this precious support. Patience may restrain murmuring—but a sense of love alone keeps from fainting. Holiness is our service—affliction is our exercise—comfort is our gracious reward. All the candles in the world, in the absence of the sun, can never make the day. The whole earth in its brightest visions of fancy, destitute of the Lord’s love, can never cheer nor revive the soul. Indeed it matters little where we are, or what we have. In the fulness of refreshing ordinances, unless the Lord meets us, and blesses us with his “merciful kindness for our comfort,” it is “a thirsty land, where no water is.” Absalom might as well have been at Geshur as at Jerusalem, so long as he “saw not the king’s face.”1 Nothing that the Lord “gives us richly to enjoy,” will satisfy, if this source of refreshment be withheld. The worldling’s inquiry is—“who will show us any good?” The Christian forms his answer into a prayer—“Lord! lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me.”2 “Let thy merciful kindness be for my comfort.” This gives the enjoyment of every real good, and supplies the place of every fancied good. It is a blessing that never cloys, and will never end: and every fresh taste quenches the thirst for earthly pleasures. “Whosoever drinketh of this water”—said our Divine Saviour—“shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst!”3 “Delight thyself in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”4

But, reader, do you wish to realize this comfort? Then seek to approach your God by the only way of access. Learn to contemplate him in the only glass in which a God of love is seen—“in the face of Jesus Christ.”5 Guard against looking for comfort from any other source. Beware especially of that satisfaction in creature cisterns, which draws you away from “the fountain of living waters.”6 Learn also to prize this comfort supremely, and not to be content without some enjoyment, or even with a scanty measure of enjoyment; but rather let every day’s refreshment be made a step for desiring and attaining renewed and sweeter refreshment for tomorrow. Some, however, appear to look at David’s experience, as if at present they could hardly expect to reach its happiness: and so they go on in a low, depressed, and almost sullen state, refusing the privileges, which are as freely offered to them as to others. But such a state of mind is highly dishonorable to God. Let them earnestly plead their interest in the word of promise, “According to thy word unto thy servant.” Let them lay their fingers upon one or all of the promises of their God. Let them spread before the Lord his own hand-writing and seals; and their Saviour hath said, ‘According to your faith be it unto you.”7 “The king is held in the galleries;”1 and, if he should “make as though he would go farther,” he is willing that we should “constrain him, saying, Abide with us.”2 No veil now but the veil of unbelief need hinder us from seeing an unclouded, everlasting smile of “merciful kindness” upon our heavenly Father’s reconciled face. Only let us see to it, that he is the first, the habitual object of our contemplation, the satisfying well-spring of our delight—that he is the one desire, to which ever other is subordinate, and in which every other is absorbed.

Lord Jesus! I would seek for a renewed enjoyment in “thy merciful kindness.” I would not forget that it was this that brought thee down from heaven—that led thee to endure the death of the cross—that has washed me in thy precious blood—that visits me with many endearing tokens of thy love. O let all my days be spent in the sense of this “merciful kindness for my comfort,” and in rendering to thee the unworthy returns of grateful, filial service.

4 Job 13:15.

5 Ps 119:67, 71, 75.

6 2 Cor. 12:8.

7 Jer. 10:24.

1 Compare 2 Sam. 14:23, 24.

2 Psalm 4:6.

3 John 4:13, 14.

4 Psalm 37:4.

5 2 Cor. 4:6. Compare John 14:6.

6 Jer. 2:13.

7 Matt. 9:29. The writer cannot forbear indulging himself with a transcript of the prayers of Monica, Augustine’s mother, as a beautiful example of this earnestness and simplicity of faith in pleading the promises of the word—“Lord, these promises were made to be made good to some, and, why not to me? I hunger; I need; I thirst; I wait. Here is thy hand-writing in thy word; and in the last sacrament, I had thy seal affixed to it. I am resolved to be as importunate till I have obtained, and as thankful afterwards, as by thy grace I shall be enabled; being convinced that I am utterly lost and undone, if thou hearest not the desires of the humble; and if thou dost hear and grant, I am so well acquainted with myself and with my own heart, that I have nothing to glory in; but I shall wholly glory in the Lord; and I do resolve and believe, that I shall to all eternity celebrate and magnify the riches of thy grace. Thy promises are the discoveries of thy purposes, and vouchsafed as materials for our prayers; and in my supplications I am resolved every day to present and tender them back to thee; and if thou wilt have regard to them, and appear to be a ‘God of truth’ to my soul; a poor creature, that hath long feared to burn in hell for hypocrisy, will be secured and made happy for ever. I am resolved to wait upon thee, and to cast down my soul upon thee in this way; and thou hast assured me, thou art a ‘God of judgment.’ Thou didst promise in judgment. Thou knewest what thou didst in making such promises; and thou wilt be a ‘God of judgment;’ thou knowest when and where to make them good; and thou hast pronounced—‘Blessed are all they that wait for thee.’ On thee I will wait, and for this blessing I will hope and look.”

1 Song 7:5; also Song 6:5.

2 Compare Luke 24:28, 29, with Gen. 32:26–29. Compare the invitation given, Song 4:16, instantly accepted, Song 5:1.

Psalm 119:77 May Your compassion come to me that I may live, For Your law is my delight. 

• thy tender (KJV): Ps 119:41 51:1-3 La 3:22,23 Da 9:18 
• for thy (KJV): Ps 119:24,47,174 1:2 Heb 8:10-12 

May Your compassion come to me that I may live, For Your law is my delight. 

 

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Charles Bridges - 

Sin is no light trouble to the man of God. Mercy, therefore, is to him no common blessing. Never can he have—never can he ask enough. Hence his repeated cries. Mercy brought him out of sin and misery. Mercy keeps—holds him on—assures him to the end.3 Every blessing comes in the way of mercy.4 The most careful “walker according to the Gospel rule,”5 needs mercy. The elect are “vessels of mercy”6—filled up to the brim with mercy. The crown of glory at last is received at the hands of mercy.7

The distinguishing character of God is, that his mercies are tender mercies8—a father’s pitying9—yearning10—mercies. When his returning prodigal expected probably upbraiding looks, if not a frown of banishment, how did these tender mercies bring, not only his sins, but also his very confessions in the depths of the sea, and welcome him without a cloud to his forsaken home!11 The same tender consideration puts away from his children all anxiety respecting “what they shall eat, or what they shall drink, or wherewithal they shall be clothed.”12 As a Father, he also “chasteneth”13 them—“he suffereth their manners”14—he “spareth them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him;”15—and finally, he determineth respecting each of them by an act of sovereign power—“Thou shalt call me, My Father, and shalt not depart from me.”1 In a yet more endearing character he speaks—“As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. They may forget; yet will I not forget thee.”2

Yet have we no just apprehension of these tender mercies, unless they come unto us. In the midst of the wide distribution, let me claim my interest. Let them come unto me.3 Praised be God! the way is open to me. The mere report is unfruitful. I cannot speak of them with glow and unction. The application of them is life—not the mere breathing of spiritual existence, but the life of my life—the living principle of devotedness and enjoyment—living to and for God in every form and sphere, in every hour and action of the day; my feebleness becoming strength in the Lord; “walking up and down in his name.”4 This truly is “reigning in life;”5 rising to more of its honor and dignity, and reaching forth to more of its excellence and happiness.

But let us not lose sight of the abundant overflowing spring, from which our life is maintained. In Christ was life;6 and he “came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly.”7 There can be, therefore, no exercises of life without a vital union to Christ—the source of life. Shall we then give up the hope of believing in Christ, till we feel the influence of this spiritual principle? This would be indeed like refusing to abide in the vine, till we could bring forth fruit; whereas the branch, while separated from the vine, must ever be fruitless and withered.8 We must receive life from Christ, not bring it to him. Faith implants us in him; and “Christ dwelling in the heart by faith” becomes the life of the soul, animating it in the ways of God.9

This life, therefore, will manifest itself in delight in God’s law. We shall not be satisfied to live upon the mere surface of the Gospel (which is barren and unproductive, as any other surface, in spiritual usefulness,) but we shall search into its hidden treasures, and draw forth its real life and consolation. This “delight” will furnish a plea for our use at the throne of grace. ‘If this is the fruit and acting of the life of thine own implanting, Lord! cherish it. Let me live by the influence of “thy tender mercies.” I venture to plead my delight in thy law, as an evidence of my adoption into thy family. And, therefore, I would renew my plea and my petition—“Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that” my life may be not only existence, but enjoyment—the beginning, the earnest of the everlasting life and bliss of heaven.’

3 Psalm 138:8.

4 Ps 136:23–25.

5 Gal. 6:16.

6 Rom. 9:23.

7 Matthew 25:34.

8 Psalm 51:1; 79:8.

9 Ps 103:13.

10 Hosea 11:8. Jer. 31:20.

11 Compare Luke 15:20–24.

12 Matt. 6:25–34.

13 Deut. 8:5.

14 Acts 13:18.

15 Mal. 3:17.

1 Jer. 3:19.

2 Isa. 66:13; 49:15.

3 Ps 119:41.

4 Zech. 10:12.

5 Rom. 5:17.

6 John 1:4.

7 Jn. 10:10.

8 Jn. 15:4–6

9 Compare Gal. 2:20, with Ezek. 36:27.

Psalm 119:78 May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; But I shall meditate on Your precepts. 

• the proud (KJV): Ps 119:21,51,85 35:26 
• without (KJV): Ps 119:86 7:3-5 25:3 35:7 69:4 109:3 1Sa 24:10-12,17 26:18 Joh 15:25 1Pe 2:20 
• but I will (KJV): Ps 119:23, 1:2 

May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; But I shall meditate on Your precepts

BUT I SHALL MEDITATE ON THY PRECEPTS (Ps 119:15, 23, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148): Meditation is to the soul what digestion is to the body. To meditate means to “turn over” God’s Word in the mind and heart, to examine it, to compare Scripture with Scripture, to “feed on” its wonderful truths. In this day of noise and confusion, such meditation is rare but so needful. Meditation is impossible without memorization.Reading the Bible without meditating on it is like eating without chewing. 

Mediate - Hebrew . siyach, see'-akh; 21v: Jdg 5:10 1Ch16:9 Job 7:11 12:8 15:4 Ps 55:17 69:12 77:3,v6,12 105:2 119:15,23,27, 48, 78, 97,148 143:5 145:5 Pr6:22 Isa 53:8 basic meaning > rehearse, go over matter in one's mind usually rendered "meditate " or "talk." Speak, talk, converse aloud, or even with oneself. Ponder, muse put forth, mediate, muse, commune, speak, complain, ponder Jdg 5:10 diegeomai [G1334]

(Qal) complain, muse, meditate upon, study, ponder, talk, speak

(Polel) to meditate, consider, put forth thoughts
    
Utter with the mouth (Job 12:8; Pr 6:22); to complain
pray (Ps 55:17; 77:3), 
talk disparagingly (Ps 69:12); 

meditate, esp divine things Ps 77:6,12;119:15,23,27,48,78,148 
sing (Ps145:5), 
celebrate something in song (Ps1 05:2)
consider, think upon something (Isa 53:8). 

silent reflection on 
    God's works (Ps77:12, 143:5)
    God's word (Ps119:15, 23, 27, 48, 78, 148). 

rehearsing aloud  
    God's works (1Ch6:9; Ps105:2;145:15). 
    If subject is painful > translated "complain" Ps55:17;Job7:11). 
    One can "talk disparagingly" (Ps69:12]. 
  
the "key word" in Ps 77. Here the Psalmist transfers his complaint (Ps 77:3 based on a contemplation (Ps 77:6) of  God's absence in contrast to his past deeds precisely  by meditating or talking of God's deeds. In Pr 6:22 the son who has bound his father's teaching to his heart will find that the teaching, in turn, will "talk" with him. 

We must read 

    Scripture every day
    And meditate on what God said
    To fight temptation from the world
    And live a life that's Spirit led.
--Sper

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Charles Bridges - The prophecy with which God himself condescended to open the history of the Church, has ever since been in the course of accomplishment.1 “Enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman,” has been the prevailing character and course of the world. “An unjust man is an abomination to the just; and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.”2 David, however, prayed for the confusion of his enemies—not in a vindictive spirit, as if thirsting for their destruction; but as opening the way for his own more free service of God.3 and as a chastening, that might eventually turn to their salvation—“Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O Lord.”4 That his prayer was the expression of his tender compassion, rather than of resentful feeling, is sufficiently evident from his affectionate weeping concern for their immortal interests.5 Prayers of the same deprecating character dropped from the lips of the gentle and compassionate Saviour:6 while the objects of his awful deprecations were interested in the most yearning sympathies of his heart.7 A regard also for the honor of God dictated this prayer. David knew that the malice of his enemies against him was only the working of their enmity against God; that it was not so much him that they hated and persecuted, as God in him. And therefore as a servant of God he could appeal—“Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved at those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them mine enemies.”8 The followers of a despised Saviour must indeed expect to be sorely distressed with the perverseness of the proud. But when, like their Master, they can testify that it is “without a cause,”9 how cheering are their Master’s words! “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven.”10

And have you, reader, been exercised with trials from an ungodly world? Has the derision of the proud, or the slight or ill-treatment of the ungodly, never excited revengeful feelings within? Have you always been enabled to set your Saviour’s example before you, and, “in patience possessing your soul,” to refer your cause to your Almighty Friend? “O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me.”11 Remember he has engaged to take up your cause—“Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them! I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.”12

But learn in the hour of trial where to go, and what to do. Go to the word of God for direction and support. “Meditate in his precepts.” There is often a hurry of mind in times of difficulty, which unhinges the soul from the simple exercise of faith. But habit brings practice, and steadiness, and simplicity, enabling us most sweetly to fix our hearts upon the word of God, and to apply its directions and encouragements to the present exigency. Our enemies fight against us with an arm of flesh. We resist them with the armor of the word of God. And how inestimably precious is the armor, refuge, strength, and consolation, here provided for us, against every effort to disturb our peace, “or separate our hearts from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!”

1 Gen. 3:15. Compare Rev. 12:17.

2 Prov. 29:27.

3 Ps 119:134.

4 Psalm 83:16.

5 Verses 53, 136, 158.

6 Psalm 69:21–28.

7 Comp. Matt. 23:37.

8 Psalm 139:21, 22.

9 Ps. 35:19; 69:4, with John 15:25.

10 Matthew 5:11, 12.

11 Isaiah 38:14. Compare Psalm 140:12, 13.

12 Luke 18:7, 8.

Psalm 119:79 May those who fear You turn to me, Even those who know Your testimonies. 

• Let those (KJV): Ps 119:63,74 7:7 142:7 

May those who fear You turn to me, Even those who know Your testimonies. 

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Charles Bridges - As the believer finds trouble from the world, he prays that he may find help from the Lord’s people. The very sight of our Father’s family is cheering. It brings not only fellowship but help. For the wise distribution of gifts in the body—each having his own gift—were ordained for the mutual help and sympathy of the several members.1 It is painful therefore to see Christians often walking aloof from each other, and suffering coldness, distance, and mutual differences and distrust to divide them from their brethren. Who then will not pray that he who has the hearts of all his people in his hand, would “turn the hearts of those that fear him, and know his testimonies,” unto their brethren? It was the honor of Mordecia, that he was “accepted of the multitude of his brethren.”2 In the primitive Church, “Demetrius had good report of all men, and of the truth itself;”3 and the members of the Church generally “did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart; praising God, and having favor with all the people.”4 ‘Then,’ as Chrysostom exultingly exclaims, ‘the Church was a little heaven.’ Then they could say to each other,—“Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”5 and even their heathen neighbors were awed and constrained into the confession, “See how these Christians love one another.”

Alas! that our Jerusalem should no longer exhibit the picture of a “city compact together”6—that so many “walls of partition” should separate brother from brother, so that our Zion has very rarely been exhibited in her “perfection of beauty,” when “the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.”7 Prejudice and misconception divided Job from his friends.8 Want of forbearance cankered the union of the members of the Church of Rome,9 and even prevailed to separate chief friends—Paul and Barnabas.10 Diversity of sentiment injured the influence of brotherly love at Corinth.11 And thus it has been in every successive age of the Church; so that the full answer to the Redeemer’s prayer, and the grand display to the world of the Divine original of the Gospel, is yet to be manifested.1 But as “the communion of saints” was the peculiar feature of primitive Christianity, and ever since has formed an article of her faith; in proportion as we return to the primitive standard, we shall hold closer fellowship with each other—as “members of one body”2—“considering one another, to provoke unto love and to good works”3—“bearing one another’s burdens4—and receiving one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.”5

Want of Christian self-denial presents the main hindrance to this “keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” But—admitting that some of the brethren are “weak in the faith” in comparison with ourselves—are we then to be ‘rolling endlessly the returning stone,’6 obtruding always the same stumbling offence upon them?7 We are “not to please ourselves” in compelling them to adopt our views; but rather to “receive them, and bear their infirmities.”8 Accursed be that charity, that is preserved by “the shipwreck of faith!” But though Scriptural truth must never be denied, there are times when it may be forborne. The Apostle “knew and was persuaded of the Lord Jesus, that there was nothing unclean of itself;”9 yet he would rather allow even the misconception of conscience, until clearer light should be given, than endanger the unity of the Church. Liberty must give place to love: and for himself, he would rather restrain himself from lawful indulgence, than hazard the safety of a weaker brother, or turn from one that loved his Saviour.10 Wherever, therefore, in the judgment of Christian charity we discover those “that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity,”11 we must be ready to give them our very hearts, to view them as brethren, as one with ourselves, and to welcome them in brotherly love, as those whom, with all their infirmities, Jesus “is not ashamed to call his brethren.”12 We must be ready to “turn to them,” as those “that fear God, and have known his testimonies.”

And does not the believer’s anxiety for the company and assistance of the Lord’s people rebuke Christian professors, who are far too closely linked to the society of the world? Surely, if the lovely attraction of many of its most avowed votaries can compensate for the absence of their Saviour’s image, they can have but little relish for that heavenly enjoyment, which unites the children of God together in close and hallowed communion with God. And do we not see a proof of the deteriorating influence of this worldly spirit, in their readiness to feel disgust at the infirmities of the real brethren of the Lord, and to neglect the image of Christ in them, from the unsightliness of the garb, which may sometimes cover it?

But let us mark the completeness of the Christian—combining the fear with the knowledge of God. Knowledge without fear would be self-confidence. Fear without knowledge would be bondage. But the knowledge of his testimonies connected with an acquaintance with his ways, moulds the character of men of God into the spirit of love; and qualifies them, “as fathers”1 in the Gospel, to counsel the weak and inexperienced. Should we, however, be excluded from the privilege of their intercourse; or should they be prevented from “turning unto us;” may it not be the appointed means of leading us to a more simple dependence on Divine teaching and grace, and to a more blessed anticipation of our Father’s house in heaven, where all will be harmony, peace and love? ‘We shall carry truth and the knowledge of God to heaven with us; we shall carry purity thither, devotedness of soul to God and our Redeemer, divine love and joy, if we have their beginnings here, with whatsoever else of permanent excellence, that hath a settled, fixed seat and place in our souls now; and shall there have them in perfection. But do you think we shall carry strife to heaven? Shall we carry anger to heaven? Envyings, heart-burnings, animosities; shall we carry these to heaven with us? Let us labor to divest ourselves, and strike off from our spirits everything that shall not go with us to heaven, or is equally unsuitable to our end and way, that there may be nothing to obstruct and hinder our abundant entrance at length into the everlasting kingdom.’2

1 1 Cor. 12:7. Eph. 4:15, 16.

2 Esther 10:3.

3 John 12.

4 Acts 2:46, 47.

5 Psalm 133:1. Most truly catholic was the rule of the excellent Philip Henry, and most consistently exemplified in his Christian conduct, determining “in those things, in which all the people of God are agreed, to spend my zeal; and as for other things about which they differ, to walk according to the light God hath given me, and charitably to believe others to do so too.”—Life, Williams’s Edition, p. 127.

6 Psalm 122:3.

7 Ib. 50:2, with Acts 4:32.

8 Job. 6:29.

9 Rom. 14, 15:1–7.

10 Acts 15:37.

11 1 Cor. 1:10–12.

1 John 17:21.

2 1 Cor. 12:12–27.

3 Heb. 10:24.

4 Gal. 6:2; 5:13.

5 Rom. 15:7.

6 Morning Exercises, Oct. 1682.

7 Rom. 14:1.

8 Rom. 15:1.

9 Rom. 14:14.

10 Rom. 14:13, 15. 1 Cor. 8:13. Compare Phil. 3:15, 16.

11 Eph. 6:24. Comp. 1 John 3:14.

12 Heb. 2:11, 12.

1 John 2:13, 14.

2 Howe’s Works, vol. iv. 126, 127—“It will be one of the felicities of heaven” (as Milner sweetly remarks upon the prejudices subsisting between Bernard and the supposed heretics of his day,) “that saints shall no longer misunderstand each other.”—Milner’s History of the Church, iii. 384.

Psalm 119:80 May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, So that I will not be ashamed. 

BGT  Psalm 118:80 γενηθήτω ἡ καρδία μου ἄμωμος ἐν τοῖς δικαιώμασίν σου ὅπως ἂν μὴ αἰσχυνθῶ

KJV  Psalm 119:80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.

NET  Psalm 119:80 May I be fully committed to your statutes, so that I might not be ashamed.

CSB  Psalm 119:80 May my heart be blameless regarding Your statutes so that I will not be put to shame.

ESV  Psalm 119:80 May my heart be blameless in your statutes, that I may not be put to shame!

NIV  Psalm 119:80 May my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be put to shame.

NLT  Psalm 119:80 May I be blameless in keeping your decrees; then I will never be ashamed. Kaph

NRS  Psalm 119:80 May my heart be blameless in your statutes, so that I may not be put to shame.

RSV  Psalm 119:80 May my heart be blameless in thy statutes, that I may not be put to shame!

YLT  Psalm 119:80 My heart is perfect in Thy statutes, So that I am not ashamed.

NKJ  Psalm 119:80 Let my heart be blameless regarding Your statutes, That I may not be ashamed.

NJB  Psalm 119:80 My heart shall be faultless towards your will; then I shall not be ashamed.

NAB  Psalm 119:80 May I be wholehearted toward your laws, that I may not be put to shame.

LXE  Psalm 119:80 Let mine heart be blameless in thine ordinances, that I may not be ashamed.

ASV  Psalm 119:80 Let my heart be perfect in thy statutes, That I be not put to shame.

DBY  Psalm 119:80 Let my heart be perfect in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed.

GWN  Psalm 119:80 Let my heart be filled with integrity in regard to your laws so that I will not be put to shame.

BBE  Psalm 119:80 Let all my heart be given to your orders, so that I may not be put to shame.

• May my heart be blameless : Ps 25:21 32:2 De 26:16 2Ch 12:14 15:17 25:2 31:20,21 Pr 4:23 Eze 11:9 Joh 1:47 2Co 1:12 
• So that I will not be ashamed: Ps 119:6 Ps 25:2,3 1Jn 2:28 

A PRAYER FOR A 
BLAMELESS HEART

May my heart be blameless in Your statutes - Hebrew literally = "may my heart be complete in your statutes." Septuagint translates tamim with amomos which means above reproach, beyond reproach, blameless, faultless, unblemished (Lxx = aischunomai). Blameless is innocent of wrongdoing and of course the only way that can happen is by God's Spirit cleansing our hearts (cf 1 John 1:7+ = "the blood of Jesus His Son [present tense - continually] cleanses us from all sin"), which is needed continually and thus the charge to confess in 1 John 1:9+ is in the present tense calling for this to be our lifestyle! How are you doing with your daily "cleansing"?

So that (term of purpose - always pause to ask "What purpose/result?) I will not be ashamed (bosh). Ashamed means embarrassed or guilty because of one's actions, characteristics, or associations.

Psalm 119:6   Then I shall not be ashamed When I look upon all Your commandments. 

Psalm 25:2-3   O my God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies exult over me. 3 Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed; Those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed. 

1 John 2:28+  Now, little children, abide (present imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. (See many other advantages of abiding in Jesus - e.g., John 15:5, etc)

Blameless (without defect or blemish, perfect, integrity) (08549) tamim from the verb tamam = to be complete, entire or whole (literal sense in Lev 3:9, Ezek 15:5), refers to a action which is completed) has both physical (without defect) and spiritual (blameless, devout, upright) significance. Tamim has the fundamental idea of completeness or wholeness. Tamim deals primarily with a state of moral or ceremonial purity (e.g., animal sacrifices - 51x tamim refers to unblemished animals - Passover lamb in Ex 12:5 picturing of course Christ sinless perfection - 1Cor 5:7, "knew no sin" = 2Cor 5:21). Tamim can mean blameless, complete, whole, full, perfect. Tamim can refer to the "entirety" of a period of time (7 complete Sabbaths = Lev 23:15; full year = Lev 25:30). Joshua 10:13 records the miracle of the sun standing still for a "whole (tamim) day," allowing Joshua to extract vengeance on the Amorite coalition that had attacked him. Pr 1:12 refers metaphorically to the fate of the innocent being swallowed "whole" by the wicked, even as happens to those who go to the grave.

The first OT use of tamim describes Noah "These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless (Lxx = teleios = "meeting the highest standard" [BDAG]) in his time; Noah walked with God." (Ge 6:9) In the second use God tells Abraham " “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless." And remember God's commandments always include His enablements! It is thus fitting that David describes the Law of the LORD" as "perfect" (Lxx = amomos = without defects) (Ps 19:7). In fact, not only is His Word perfect, but His work is perfect (Dt 32:4) and His way is blameless (Ps 18:30) David says that the man who "may abide in" God's tent and "dwell on" His "holy hill" is the man "who walks with integrity (Lxx = amomos = without fault, morally blameless)." (Ps 15:2) Joshua in some of his parting words of wisdom to Israel declared "Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity (Lxx = euthutes = rectitude, honesty, integrity, uprightness) and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD." (Josh 24:14) The psalmist offers a great prayer we would all be wise to echo "May my heart be blameless (Lxx = amomos) in Thy statutes, that (expresses purpose or result of a blameless heart) I may not be ashamed." (Ps 119:80) One of my favorite verses in Psalms uses tamim - "For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly (Lxx = akakia = guilelessness, innocence, integrity; "state of not being inclined to that which is base" [BDAG])." (Ps 84:11) The psalmist links tamim with a state of blessedness writing " How blessed are those whose way is blameless (Lxx = amomos), Who walk in the law of the LORD. (Ps 119:1)

Tamim - 85v - blameless(22), blamelessly(1), complete(1), entire(1), full(1), intact(1), integrity(4), perfect(5), sincerity(1), unblemished(2), uprightly(1), who is perfect(1), whole(2), without blemish(12), without defect(36). Gen. 6:9; Gen. 17:1; Exod. 12:5; Exod. 29:1; Lev. 1:3; Lev. 1:10; Lev. 3:1; Lev. 3:6; Lev. 3:9; Lev. 4:3; Lev. 4:23; Lev. 4:28; Lev. 4:32; Lev. 5:15; Lev. 5:18; Lev. 6:6; Lev. 9:2; Lev. 9:3; Lev. 14:10; Lev. 22:19; Lev. 22:21; Lev. 23:12; Lev. 23:15; Lev. 23:18; Lev. 25:30; Num. 6:14; Num. 19:2; Num. 28:3; Num. 28:9; Num. 28:11; Num. 28:19; Num. 28:31; Num. 29:2; Num. 29:8; Num. 29:13; Num. 29:17; Num. 29:20; Num. 29:23; Num. 29:26; Num. 29:29; Num. 29:32; Num. 29:36; Deut. 18:13; Deut. 32:4; Jos. 10:13; Jos. 24:14; Jdg. 9:16; Jdg. 9:19; 1 Sam. 14:41; 2 Sam. 22:24; 2 Sam. 22:26; 2 Sam. 22:31; 2 Sam. 22:33; Job 12:4; Job 36:4; Job 37:16; Ps. 15:2; Ps. 18:23; Ps. 18:25; Ps. 18:30; Ps. 18:32; Ps. 19:7; Ps. 37:18; Ps. 84:11; Ps. 101:2; Ps. 101:6; Ps. 119:1; Ps. 119:80; Prov. 1:12; Prov. 2:21; Prov. 11:5; Prov. 11:20; Prov. 28:10; Prov. 28:18; Ezek. 15:5; Ezek. 28:15; Ezek. 43:22; Ezek. 43:23; Ezek. 43:25; Ezek. 45:18; Ezek. 45:23; Ezek. 46:4; Ezek. 46:6; Ezek. 46:13; Amos 5:10

Septuagint - Blameless (beyond reproach, blameless, faultless, unblemished) (299)(amomos from a = without, not + momos = spot, blemish in physical sense or moral sense, blot, flaw, shame or disgrace {as a moral disgrace}) is literally without spot or blemish (blot, blight). It was used literally of the absence of defects in sacrificial animals. Figuratively, it means morally (spiritually) blameless, unblemished by the marring of sin, a perfect description of the Lamb of God. How incredibly incomprehensible that sinners such as we can be described with the same adjective (amomos) used to describe our incomparable, sinless Lord! O the wonder of the "cleansing power" of the Lamb's precious blood, which washes us Whiter than the Snow or Here. Here is a beautiful old Maranatha chorus (see God's desire for His children = Isa 1:18+). Hallelujah. Thank You Jesus!

Ashamed (put to shame) (0954) bosh Strong says means "properly to pale and by implication to be ashamed, disappointed or delayed." The TWOT says the primary meaning is "to fall into disgrace, normally through failure, either of self or of an object of trust." The word has overtones of being or feeling worthless. Bôsh means "to be ashamed." 

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Spurgeon - WE may regard this inspired prayer as containing within itself the assurance that those who keep close to the Word of God shall never have cause to be ashamed of doing so.
See, the prayer is for soundness of heart. A sound creed is good, a sound judgment concerning it is better, but a sound heart towards the truth is best of all. We must love the truth, feel the truth, and obey the truth, otherwise we are not truly sound in God’s statutes. Are there many in these evil days who are sound? Oh, that the writer and the reader may be two of this sort!
Many will be ashamed in the last great day, when all disputes will be decided. Then they will see the folly of their inventions, and be filled with remorse because of their proud infidelity and wilful defiance of the Lord; but he who believed what the Lord taught, and did what the Lord commanded, will stand forth justified in what he did. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun. Men much slandered and abused shall find their shame turned into glory in that day.
Let us pray the prayer of our text, and we may be sure that its promise will be fulfilled to us. If the Lord makes us sound, he will keep us safe. (Faith's Checkbook)

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Charles Bridges - The perverseness of the proud will be sure to put them to shame.3 As the preservative from this shame, David prays therefore for a sound heart—filled with solid principle—delivered into the mould of the word4—like the sacrifices of the law—entire for God.5 Often had he prayed for Divine teaching6—now he begs for soundness in the Lord’s statutes. How many “have made shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience,”7 from an unsound heart! Ignorant of the spirituality of God’s requirements, and resting in an outward obedience, they falsely conceive themselves to be “alive without the law,”8 and, “touching the righteousness that is of the law, blameless.”9 Others go a little beyond the surface; while the want of “simplicity and godly sincerity,” of brokenness of heart, love to the Saviour, and dependence upon his grace, sooner or later discovers to their eternal confusion, that “the root of the matter is” not “in them.” “Their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust.” “Their goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.”10 An unsound professor, like beautiful fruit, may attract the careless eye; but a more narrow inspection will show a worm at the core, which has spoiled nearly to the surface.1 Such religion is only a shrivelled mass of inactive formality—a dead image of a living thing.

Alas! how common is it to profess to take Christ for a Saviour, while the heart is evidently worshipping Mammon as its God!—constrained—not inclined—to the Lord’s statutes! How possible is it to be “carnally-minded” in the daily routine of spiritual exercises! How important is the recollection, that no change of place, of company, or of circumstances, can of itself effect a change of heart! “Saul among the prophets” was Saul still; with “another heart”2 indeed, but not a new heart. Sin was restrained, but not crucified. He “went out,” therefore, as one of his progenitors, “from the presence of the Lord,”3 and perished, a miserable apostate from the statutes of his God. Will profession—knowledge—gifts—feelings—privileges—avail for a sound heart? Need we speak of Judas—a follower—nay, even, an apostle of Jesus Chirist—living in a familiar intercourse with his Lord—yet with all his privileges—all his profession, “gone to his own place”4—the melancholy victim of his own self-deceitfulness? Need we allude to Balaam—“the man whose eyes were open—which heard the words of God—which saw the vision of the Almighty”—who could in the ken of his eye mark the goodliness of the Lord’s inheritance, and even in the distant horizon catch a glimpse of “Jacob’s star and sceptre,” and yet “loved the wages of unrighteousness?”5 Need we bring to the mind’s eye Ananias and Sapphira6—Alexander7 and Demas8—and others of like stamp—all of whom once shone as stars9 in the firmament of the Church—need we speak of the end of these men, to give energy to the prayer, “Let my heart be sound in thy statutes?”

How fearful the thought of being “a branch in the true vine” only by profession! to be “taken away” at length—“cast forth as a branch—withered—gathered—cast into the fire—burned!”10 It is in the inner man that hypocrisy sets up its throne; whence it commands the outward acts in whatever shape or form may be best suited to effect its purpose. The upright Christian will therefore begin with calling in the help and light of God to ascertain the “soundness of his heart.” “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me.”11 Can there be a true and solid work, where there is a professed change of heart, and no manifested change of temper and conduct? Can that “heart,” which is found upon inquiry to be earthly—unprofitable under the power of the word1—regarding “secret iniquity”2—seeking by-ends of praise,3 reputation,4 or gain5—and for the attainment of these ends shrinking from the appointed cross—can that “heart be sound in the Lord’s statutes?” Impossible.

But on the other hand, do you find that your trust in God is sincere, your desire towards him supreme, your obedience to him entire? Prize these evidences of “soundness of heart.” Thank God for them. They are the workings of his mighty Spirit in your heart—perhaps the answer to the prayer which that same Spirit had indited, “Let my heart be sound in thy statutes.” Diligently improve all the means of grace for keeping your heart in a vigorous state. Be daily—yea continually—abiding in the vine, and receiving life and health from its fulness.6 Be much conversant with the word of God—loving it for itself—its holiness—its practical influences. Be chiefly afraid of inward decays—of a barren, sapless notion of experimental truth; remembering, that except your profession be constantly watered at the root, “the things that remain in you will be ready to die.”7 Specially “commune with your own heart.” Watch it jealously, because of its proneness to live upon itself—its own graces or fancied goodness (a sure symptom of unsoundness)—instead of “living by the faith of the Son of God.” Examine your settled judgment, your deliberate choice, your outgoing affections, your habitual allowed practice; applying to every detection of unsoundness the blood of Christ, as the sovereign remedy for the diseases of a “deceitful and desperately wicked heart.”

But it may be said—will not these exercises of godly jealousy hinder our Christian assurance? Far from it. They will form an efficient preservative from carnal security. They will induce increasing tenderness, activity, and circumspection, in our daily walk; and thus, instead of retarding the enjoyment of our heavenly privilege, they will settle the foundation of a peaceful temperament.8 It is a light and careless frame, that is the real hindrance to confidence. An unsound professor knows nothing of the true spirit of adoption—nothing of that holy familiarity, with which a child of God unbosoms himself to his heavenly Father; and if he preserves an empty name in the Church, he will be put to shame before the universe of God.9 But the “sound heart” is connected with “a hope that maketh not ashamed”—the full blessing of scriptural confidence. For the heart is made “sound” by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ;” and when thus “sprinkled from an evil conscience,” we “have boldness” to “draw near”—yea, even to “enter into the holiest,” “in full assurance of faith.”10 Blessed privilege of access and communion with our reconciled God! Every moment endears the Saviour to our souls, and enlivens the hope of his glorious coming, as the joyful consummation of all the prospects of faith—“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.”1

3 Ps 119:78.

4 Rom. 6:17.

5 Lev. 22:22, 23. Comp. Mal. 1:8.

6 Ps 119:12, 33, 64, 68.

7 1 Tim. 1:19.

8 Rom. 7:9.

9 Phil. 3:6.

10 Isa. 5:24. Hos. 6:4. Comp. Matt. 13:20, 21.

1 “Quæ splendent in conspectu hominis, sordent in conspectu judicis.” Compare Luke 16:15. 1 Sam. 16:7.

2 1 Sam. 10:9–12.

3 Gen. 4:6.

4 Acts 1:25.

5 Num. 24:2–5, 17. 2 Peter 2:15.

6 Acts 5:1–10.

7 Acts 19:33, 34, with 1 Tim. 1:20. 2 Tim. 4:14.

8 Col. 4:14. Philem. 24, with 2 Tim. 4:10.

9 Rev. 12:4.

10 John 15:2, 6.

11 Psalm 139:23, 24.

1 Heb. 7:8.

2 Psalm 66:18.

3 Kings 9:16.

4 John 12:43.

5 Jn. 6:26. 1 Tim. 6:5.

6 1Ti 6:4, 5.

7 Rev. 3:2.

8 Ps 119:6. 1 John 3:20, 21.

9 Compare Dan. 12:2. Luke 12:1, 2.

10 See Heb. 10:19–22.

1 John 4:17.

Psalm 119:81 Kaph. My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word. 

• fainteth (KJV): Ps 119:20,40 42:1,2 73:26 84:2 Song 5:8 Rev 3:15,16 
• but I (KJV): Ps 119:42,74,77,114 

Kaph. My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word. 

Matthew Henry Concise - Verses 81-88. The psalmist sought deliverance from his sins, his foes, and his fears. Hope deferred made him faint; his eyes failed by looking out for this expected salvation. But when the eyes fail, yet faith must not. His affliction was great. He was become like a leathern bottle, which, if hung up in the smoke, is dried and shrivelled up. We must ever be mindful of God's statutes. The days of the believer's mourning shall be ended; they are but for a moment, compared with eternal happiness. His enemies used craft as well as power for his ruin, in contempt of the law of God. The commandments of God are true and faithful guides in the path of peace and safety. We may best expect help from God when, like our Master, we do well and suffer for it. Wicked men may almost consume the believer upon earth, but he would sooner forsake all than forsake the word of the Lord. We should depend upon the grace of God for strength to do every good work. The surest token of God's good-will toward us, is his good work in us. 

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Warren Wiersbe - Reviving Power
Read Psalm 119:81-88
Some days everything seems to go wrong. Every phone call brings bad news. The mail is nothing but bills. The children come home from school with some kind of injury or a bad report. Work is frustrating. What do you do when you have one of these days?
"My soul faints for Your salvation, but I hope in Your word. My eyes fail from searching Your word, saying, 'When will You comfort me?' For I have become like a wineskin in smoke, yet I do not forget Your statutes.... The proud have dug pits for me, which is not according to Your law" (Psalm 119:81-83,85). Here's a man who was fainting and failing. He was like a wineskin in the smoke. Wherever he walked there was a pit for him to drop into. What did he do? He turned to God. His source of hope was His Word.
If you hope in circumstances, you will be disappointed, because they change. The psalmist hoped in the Word and trusted in God's faithfulness, and God comforted him.
People will fail you, but God never will. "All Your commandments are faithful" (v. 86). The psalmist clung to the comfort, hope and faithfulness of God, and as a result he experienced revival. "Revive me according to Your lovingkindness" (Psalm 119:88). God came with a Breath of fresh, heavenly air--the Holy Spirit--and revived him.
* * *
Thank God for His faithfulness. If you are having a rough day, remember that you can depend on Him. He is your Hope and your Comfort, and He's always faithful. He'll give you the reviving power you need to rise above your circumstances and continue. (Psalm 119:81-88 Reviving Power)

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Charles Bridges - The salvation of the Gospel was the constant object of faith and desire to the Lord’s people under the old dispensation. Long had the Church triumphed in the glowing anticipation, as if in the full possession of the promised blessing—“It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness; as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”2 And as it was the joy of their living moments, so was it the support and consolation of their dying hours. “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord,”3—was the expression of the dying patriarch’s faith. And how cheering were the last words of this “sweet Psalmist of Israel,” whose “soul was now fainting for God’s salvation,” even in his dark and foreboding family prospect!—“Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.”4 Good old Simeon, in the break of the gospel-day, was ready to “depart in peace, for his eyes had seen God’s salvation.”5 And shall not we, under this heavenly influence, naturally appropriate these feelings of ancient believers to ourselves? What interpreter but experience will be needed to explain them? The uneasiness felt in any interruption of our enjoyment, will show the soul to be “fainting for this salvation.” Nothing will satisfy but the Saviour. The tempting offer of “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,” will fail in attraction. Still the cry will be, “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.”6 “Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord; even thy salvation, according to thy word.”7

As the lowest expectant of this salvation, am not I richer than the sole possessor of this world’s portion? And therefore if the Lord hides his face, I would look to no other quarter; I would stay by him, and “wait on him,” though days and months and years may pass away, “until he have mercy upon me.”1 “My soul fainteth for his salvation;” and—pressing to my lips the fullest cup of earth’s best joy—my heart would burst with despair of satisfaction, “but” that “I hope in his word.”2 “By this hope I am saved.”3 In “the patience of hope”4 I am resolved to wait until the last moment, lying at the footstool of my Saviour. I am looking for the “assurance of this hope”5—when, in the joyous anticipation of eternity, and with “the earnest of” the heavenly “inheritance” in my soul, I shall echo the voice of my coming Saviour—“Even so come, Lord Jesus.”6

Oh, how precious and important a part of our armor is Hope! As a “helmet,”7 it has “covered our head in the day of battle” from many a “fiery dart of the wicked.” In times of darkness—when the restless foe hides the prospect from the eye of faith, and the child of God can scarcely, if at all, mount up and sing—even then hope remains, and lights a taper in moments dark as the chamber of the grave—“Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the day-time; and in the night-season his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.”8 And when the afflicted, tempest-tost soul is trembling at the prospect of impending danger—at this moment of infinite peril, Hope holds out the “anchor sure and steadfast;”9 so that in the awful crisis, when “deep calleth unto deep, and all the waves and billows are going over us,” most unexpectedly “an entrance is ministered unto us abundantly,”10 in the Lord’s best time, into our desired haven.11 And it is this hope alone that sustains us. Were we to conceive of God according to the notions of our own hearts, we should give way to most unbelieving impatience. But the Divine character—as it shines forth in the word, with such love and wisdom, such tenderness and grace—invigorates our hope. The strength of the strongest of God’s people proves but small, when afflictions press heavy, and expected help is delayed. But though the “soul fainteth,” it cannot fail. We depend not on what we see or feel, but on what the word promises. If God has engaged, it must be fulfilled, be the difficulties—nay, impossibilities—what they may. Fixed, therefore, upon this sure foundation, with our father Abraham, against hope from what we see, “we believe in hope from what God has promised.”12 Thus the word is faith’s sure venture for eternity—stamped with such a marvellous, mysterious impression of Divine glory and faithfulness, and communicating such Divine power and refreshment, that the believer cannot but produce his experience of its efficacy for the support of his tempted brethren—“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”1

2 Isaiah 25:9; 61:10.

3 Gen. 49:18.

4 2 Sam. 23:5.

5 Luke 2:28–30, also 25.

6 Psalm 35:3.

7 Ps 119:41.

1 Psalm 123:1, 2. Compare Isaiah 8:17. Micah 7:9.

2 Psalm 130:5.

3 Rom. 8:24.

4 1 Thess. 1:3.

5 Heb. 6:11.

6 Rev. 22:20.

7 Eph. 6:17. 1 Thess. 5:8

8 Psalm 42:8.

9 Heb. 6:19.

10 Psalm 42:7.

11 2 Peter 1:11. Psalm 107:30.

12 Rom. 4:18.

1 Psalm 27:13, 14.

Psalm 119:82 My eyes fail [with longing] for Your word, While I say, “When will You comfort me?” 

• eyes (KJV): Ps 119:123 69:3 De 28:32 Pr 13:12 Isa 38:11 
• When wilt (KJV): Ps 86:17 90:13-15 

My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, “When will You comfort me?” 

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Charles Bridges - Though the believer may be enabled, in the habitual working of faith, to sustain his “hope in the word,” yet “hope deferred maketh the heart sick.”2 Still, Christian, as you value the promise, trust the assurance. Do not be discouraged by present appearances. The sunshine is behind the storm. “The vision is for an appointed time; though it tarry, wait for it.”3 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,” but we are hasty in looking for it.4 The failing of our eyes is the impatience of the will, “limiting God”5 to our own time, ways, and means. Faith may be exercised in not seeing his reasons—not being able to harmonize his promises with his providences, or his outward dispensations with his Divine perfections.6 But let us leave this to him, and “be still, and know that he is God.”7 We shall find in the end, that perseverance in waiting has turned to double advantage; and that even when the present answer to prayer, and also sensible comfort and acceptance have been withheld; yet that important blessings have been accomplished, and the merciful purposes vouchsafed in bringing the wayward will into more entire subjection to himself. Yea, the blessing will be so much the sweeter, from being vouchsafed in the Lord’s best time. Waiting time—whatever weariness may attend it—is precious time, and not a moment of it will be lost. The Lord secretly upholds faith and patience, so that every step of feeble perseverance in the way brings with it unspeakable delight. Even while our eyes fail for the fulfilment of the word, peace is found in submission and joyful expectation; and instead of a time of hardness, indolence, or carelessness, the Lord’s return is anticipated the more intensely, as his absence had been felt to be the most painful trial. For as well might the stars supply the place of the sun, as outward comforts, or even the external duties of religion, supply to the waiting soul the place of an absent God.

Never, however, let us forget, that the real cause of separation between God and a sinner is removed. The way of access is opened by the blood of Jesus;8 and in this way we must be found waiting, until he look upon us. Here will our cry—“When wilt thou comfort me?” be abundantly answered; and though the sovereignty of God will be exhibited in the time and measure of his consolations, yet the general rule will be—“According to your faith be it unto you.”9

But if unbelief clouds our comfort, turn the eye more simply to the “word” as testifying of Jesus. Here alone is the ground of comfort; and the more confidently we expect, the more patiently we will look. Nor shall we ever look in vain. Sin will be rebuked10 But restoration and acceptance are assured. We shall obtain—not the spurious comfort of delusion—but those wholesome comforts, founded upon the word of promise, and connected with contrition, peace, love, joy, and triumph. The Gospel shows hell deserved, and heaven purchased—thus combining conviction and faith. Indeed, conviction without faith would be legal sorrow; as assurance without conviction would be Gospel presumption. Paul’s experience happily united both. Never was man at the same moment more exercised with conflict, and yet more established in assurance.1 Thus may we maintain our assurance as really in wrestling trouble as in exulting joy; honoring the Lord by a humble, patient spirit—in Bernard’s resolution—‘I will never come away from thee without thee’—in the true spirit of the wrestling patriarch—“I will not let thee go except thou bless me.”2

But we sometimes seem to go “mourning without the sun”3—“shut up, and we cannot come forth”4—straitened in our desires and expectations—doing little for the Lord—with little enjoyment in our own souls, and little apparent usefulness to the Church. At such seasons it is our clear duty and privilege to “wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and to look for him.”5 “He waiteth that he may be gracious. He is a God of judgment: and blessed are all they that wait for him.”6 He waits—not because he is reluctant to give, but that we may be fitted to receive.

2 Prov. 13:12.

3 Hab. 2:3.

4 Comp. 2 Pet. 3:9, with Isa. 5:19; 28:16.

5 Ps. 78:41.

6 Jer. 12:1.

7 Psalm 46:10.

8 Hebrews 10:19, 20.

9 Matthew 9:29.

10 Psalm 89:30–32.

1 Comp. Rom. 7:14–25; 8:33–39.

2 Gen. 32:26.

3 Job 30:28.

4 Psalm 88:8.

5 Isaiah 8:17.

6 Isa. 30:18. “Thou mayest seek after honors, and not obtain them; thou mayest labor for riches, and yet remain poor; thou mayest dote on pleasures, and have many sorrows. But our God, of his supreme goodness, says—Who ever sought me, and found me not? Who ever desired me, and obtained me not? Who ever loved me, and missed of me? I am with him, that seeks for me. He hath me already, that wisheth for me; and he that loveth me is sure of my love. The way to come to me is neither long nor difficult.”—Augustine.

Psalm 119:83  Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget Your statutes. 

• like a bottle in the smoke (KJV): As the bottles in the East are made of skin, it is evident that one of these hung up in the smoke must soon be parched, shrivelled up, lose all its strength, and become unsightly and useless.  Thus the Psalmist appeared to himself to have become useless and despicable, through the exhausted state of his body and mind, by long bodily afflictions and mental distress. Ps 22:15 102:3,4 Job 30:30 
• yet do I (KJV): Ps 119:16,61,176 

 Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget Your statutes - Such a wineskin is shriveled up and useless.

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Charles Bridges - 

What an affecting picture of misery! Not only were his patience and hope—but his very body—“dried up” by long-continued affliction.7 This is he, who in the prime of youth was “ruddy and of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to”8—now shrivelled up like a bottle of skin9 hung up in the smoke! “Such is the mark that the rod of “chastening” leaves on the body of humiliation.”10 The soul is strengthened—the body withers—under the stroke.

What might naturally have been expected to have been the result of this lengthened exercise? Saul, under protracted trial, resorted to the devil for relief.11 An infidel nation took occasion from thence to throw off the yoke.12 Even a good man, under a few hours’ trial, murmurs against God—nay, even defends his murmuring. How did this man of God behave?13 When his soul was fainting, his hope in the word kept him from sinking.1 Under the further continuance of the trial, the same recollection gives him support—yet I do not forget thy statutes.2

Now—Christian—do not expect a new way to heaven to be made for you. Prepare for the cross. It may be—as with David—a heavy, long-continued burden; and, should it come—look on it as your appointed trial of faith, and your training discipline for more enduring conflicts. And remember that your determined resolution rather to pine away in affliction, than “make a way of escape” by sin—is the proof of the reality of his own grace in you, and of his faithful love towards you. Think how honorably he manifests your relation to Christ, by causing “his sufferings to abound in you,” and making you “bear in your body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”3 And do you not thus realize, as you could not otherwise do, the sympathy of our High Priest, who was himself “a root out of a dry ground, having no form nor comeliness, and no beauty that he should be desired—despised and rejected of men”4 to the end? Oh, what a supporting cordial to his afflicted people is the sympathy of this suffering, tempted Saviour!5

But to look at David, under his long-continued trials, preserving his recollection of the Lord’s statutes—what a striking evidence of the presence of his God, and the sustaining power of his word! If we then—blessed with much larger Scriptures than he—fail in deriving from them the same support, it can only be, that we do not search them in a dependent, prayerful, and humble spirit—that we do not simply look for the revelation of Christ; to mark his glory, and to increase in the knowledge of Him.”6 In this spirit we should have more to say of the comfort of remembering “the Lord’s statutes;” and of their upholding influence, when all other stays were found as “the trust in the shadow of Egypt—shame and confusion.”7

Job’s history strikingly illustrates both the trial and its sanctified results. When “scraping himself with a potsherd, and sitting down among the ashes,”—the temporary victim of Satanic power—he might well have taken up the complaint, “I am become like a bottle in the smoke.” But when in this hour of temptation he was enabled to resist the tempter in the person of his own wife, and commit himself with implicit resignation into the hands of his faithful God, “What! shall we receive good at the hand of God; and shall we not receive evil?”8—was not this the confidence,—yet do I not forget thy statutes?

This confidence is indeed an encouraging seal of the Lord’s love on our souls. For we never should have remembered “his statutes,” had he not written his covenant promises upon our hearts.9 And how much more honorable to our God is it than the desponding complaint, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me!”1 Let us watch then against a proud sullenness under every little trial—such as the coldness of friends, the unkindness of enemies, or our Father’s providential dispensations. How sinful to allow hard thoughts of him, whose name and character, “without variableness or shadow of turning,” is “Love!” A steady trust in the long and wearisome seasons of tribulation, is indeed to “glorify God in the fires.”2 Nothing honors him so much as this enduring, overcoming faith, persevering in despite of opposition, in destitution of all outward prospects of relief. It is when “against hope we believe in hope, not staggering at the promise of God through unbelief,” that we are “strong in faith, giving glory to God.”3

7 Prov. 17:22.

8 1 Sam. 16:12.

9 Josh. 9:4. Matt. 9:17.

10 Ps. 39:11. Comp. 31:12; 102:3. The history of Job. 30:30. The woful misery of the church: Lam. 4:8; 5:10. The sufferings of the Saviour; Psalm 22:15. Isaiah 52:14.

11 1 Sam. 28:6, 7.

12 Mal. 3:13, 14, with 2:17.

13 Jonah 4:7–9.

1 Ps 119:81.

2 Compare Ps 119:51, 61, 109, 141; 44:17–19.

3 2 Cor. 1:5. Gal. 6:17. 1 Pet. 4:13.

4 Isaiah 53:2, 3.

5 Heb. 4:15; 2:18.

6 John. 5:39.

7 Isa. 30:1–3.

8 Job 2:7–10.

9 Jer. 31:31–34.

1 Isaiah 49:14.

2 Isa 24:15.

3 Romans 4:18, 20.

 

Psalm 119:84 How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me? 

• How (KJV): Ps 39:4,5 89:47,48 Ps 90:12 Job 7:6-8 
• when (KJV): Ps 7:6 Rev 6:10,11 

Related Passages: 

Psalm 39:4  “LORD, make me to know my end And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. 5 “Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah. 

Ps 39:13 “Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile again Before I depart and am no more.”

Psalm 90:12  So (WHY? See Ps 90:11) teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. 

Job 7:6-8  “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And come to an end without hope.  7“Remember that my life is but breath; My eye will not again see good.  8 “The eye of him who sees me will behold me no longer; Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be. 

James 4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor (WOE!) that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. (UPSHOT? REDEEM THE SHORT TIME YOU HAVE LEFT)

How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me? 

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Charles Bridges - Though a steady confidence in severe and protracted exercise may enable us “not to forget the statutes;” yet we shall hasten to carry our complaint before him, “How many are the days of thy servant?”—my days of affliction under the “fury of the oppressor.” To complain of God is dishonorable unbelief.4 To complain to God is the mark of his “elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bears long with them.”5 Christian! study this instructive pattern; and, when exposed to the lawless devices of “the proud,” forget not your hiding-place. God in Christ is your strong hold, “whereunto you may continually resort.” He “hath given commandment to save you.”6 Your trial has done its appointed work, when it has brought you to him; and inclined you, after your blessed Master’s example, instead of taking the vengeance into your own hands, to commit yourself and your cause “to him that judgeth righteously.”7 ‘And this,’ as Archbishop Leighton excellently observes, ‘is the true method of Christian patience—that which quiets the mind, and keeps it from the boiling tumultuous thoughts of revenge; to turn the whole matter into God’s hands; to resign it over to him, to prosecute when and as He thinks good. Not as the most, who had rather, if they had power, do for themselves, and be their own avengers; and, because they have not power, do offer up such bitter curses and prayers for revenge unto God, as are most hateful to him, and are far from this calm and holy way of committing matters to his judgment. The common way of referring things to God is indeed impious and dishonorable to him, being really no other than calling him to be a servant and executioner of our passion. We ordinarily mistake his justice, and judge of it according to our own precipitate and distempered minds. If wicked men be not crossed in their designs, and their wickedness evidently crushed, just when we would have it, we are ready to give up the matter as desperate; or at least to abate of those confident and reverent thoughts of Divine justice which we owe Him. However things go, this ought to be fixed in our hearts that He that sits in heaven judgeth righteously, and executes that his righteous judgment in the fittest season.’

Usually the Psalmist is expressing his love for the law. Here he is complaining against his enemies; yet still implying the same spirit, that the pits, which the proud dug for him,1 were not after God’s law. The martyrs’ cry under the altar shows the acceptance of this complaint;2 “seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble” his people, “and to them that are troubled rest.”3 Some of us indeed have known but little of “cruel mockings”4 and bitter persecutions. Let such be thankful for the merciful exemption from this “hardness:”5 but let us gird on their armor for the conflict. Let none of us, in the determination to “live godly in Christ Jesus,” expect to escape “persecution.”6 Let us “count the cost”7 of suffering for Christ, whether we shall be able to abide it. For the mere spiritless notions, or for the unenlivened forms of religion, of which we have never felt the power, nor tasted the sweetness, it would be little worth our while to expose ourselves to inconvenience. But if we understand the grand substantials of the Gospel—if we are clearly assured of their reality, practically acknowledge their influence, and experimentally realize their enjoyment, we shall dare the persecuting malice of “the proud” in defence of a treasure dearer to us than life itself. Should we, however, be too rich to part with all for Christ, or too high in the estimation of the world to confess his despised followers, it will be no marvel, or rather a marvel of mercy, if he should sweep away our riches, and suffer “the proud to dig pits for us.” To make this world “a wilderness or a land of darkness” to us, may be his wisely-ordained means to turn us back to himself as our portion, to his word as our support, to his people as our choice companions, and to heaven as our eternal rest.

4 Jonah 4:1–3.

5 Luke 18:7, with Ps. 6:3; 13:1, 2.

6 Psalm 71:3.

7 1 Peter 2:23, and Archbishop Leighton on the passage.

1 Psalm 35:7.

2 See Rev. 6:9–11.

3 2 Thess. 1:6, 7.

4 Hebrews 11:36.

5 2 Tim. 2:3.

6 2 Ti. 3:12.

7 Luke 14:28.

Psalm 119:85 The arrogant have dug pits for me, Men who are not in accord with Your law. 

• The proud (KJV): This metaphor is taken from the mode in which wild beasts are caught in the East:  deep pits are dug in the earth, and slightly covered over with reeds, turf, etc., so as not to be discerned from the solid ground; and the animals attempting to walk over them, the surface breaks, they fall in, and are taken alive.  Thus the Psalmist's enemies employed craft as well as power in order to effect his ruin. Ps 119:78 7:15 35:7 36:11 Pr 16:27 Jer 18:20 
• which (KJV): Ps 58:1,2 

The arrogant have dug pits for me, Men who are not in accord with Your law. 

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Charles Bridges - see his discussion above.

Psalm 119:86 All Your commandments are faithful; They have persecuted me with a lie; help me! 

• All thy (KJV): Ps 119:128,138,142,151 19:9 Ro 7:12 
• faithful (KJV): Heb. faithfulness
• they (KJV): Ps 119:78 7:1-5 35:7,19 38:19 59:3,4 Jer 18:20 
• help (KJV): Ps 70:5 142:4-6 143:9 

HELP ME
GOD!

All Your commandments are faithful; They have persecuted me with a lie; help me! 

Help (05826) 'azar means to protect, aid, help, succor, support, give material or nonmaterial encouragement. Azar often refers to aid in the form of military assistance and in many instances refers to help from Jehovah as illustrated by the uses. Webster says to help means to aid, to assist, to succour (see below), to lend strength or means towards effecting a purpose. To relieve; to cure, or to mitigate pain or disease. To remedy; to change for the better.

The Septuagint translates 'azar most often with the word group that includes boáo, boetheo (boetheo is used in Ps 119:86) , boethos, all conveying the general idea of running to the aid of one who cries out for help (e.g., see He 2:18+ which uses boetheo) which is similar to the English word succour (from Latin succurrere = to run up, run to help) means literally to run to and so to run to to support, to go to the aid of, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want or distress; to assist and deliver front suffering; as, to succor a besieged city; to succor prisoners.

Azar - 70v - Gen. 49:25; Deut. 32:38; Jos. 1:14; Jos. 10:4; Jos. 10:6; Jos. 10:33; 1 Sam. 7:12; 2 Sam. 8:5; 2 Sam. 18:3; 2 Sam. 21:17; 1 Ki. 1:7; 1 Ki. 20:16; 2 Ki. 14:26; 1 Chr. 5:20; 1 Chr. 12:1; 1 Chr. 12:17; 1 Chr. 12:18; 1 Chr. 12:19; 1 Chr. 12:21; 1 Chr. 12:22; 1 Chr. 15:26; 1 Chr. 18:5; 1 Chr. 22:17; 2 Chr. 14:11; 2 Chr. 18:31; 2 Chr. 19:2; 2 Chr. 20:23; 2 Chr. 25:8; 2 Chr. 26:7; 2 Chr. 26:13; 2 Chr. 26:15; 2 Chr. 28:16; 2 Chr. 28:23; 2 Chr. 32:3; 2 Chr. 32:8; Ezr. 8:22; Ezr. 10:15; Job 9:13; Job 26:2; Job 29:12; Job 30:13; Ps. 10:14; Ps. 22:11; Ps. 28:7; Ps. 30:10; Ps. 37:40; Ps. 46:5; Ps. 54:4; Ps. 72:12; Ps. 79:9; Ps. 86:17; Ps. 107:12; Ps. 109:26; Ps. 118:7; Ps. 118:13; Ps. 119:86; Ps. 119:173; Ps. 119:175; Isa. 30:7; Isa. 31:3; Isa. 41:6; Isa. 41:10; Isa. 41:13; Isa. 41:14; Isa. 44:2; Isa. 49:8; Isa. 50:7; Isa. 50:9; Isa. 63:5; Jer. 47:4; Lam. 1:7; Ezek. 30:8; Dan. 10:13; Dan. 11:34; Dan. 11:45; Zech. 1:15

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Charles Bridges - In the lengthened duration of trials, the “eyes fail with looking upward,” the voice of prayer grows faint, and in a moment of weakness, the faithfulness of God is almost questioned, as if we should go mourning to the very end of our days. It is at such a season that he, who delights to “comfort them that are cast down,”8 realizes to the view of faith the unchangeable faithfulness of his commandments with respect to his people. In this recollection we can “look up and lift up our heads,” and “go on our way,” if not “rejoicing,” yet at least with humble acquiescence; assured, that in the perseverance of faith and hope, we shall ultimately be “more than conquerors through him that loved us.”9

Many Old Testament Histories beautifully illustrate the reward of this simplicity of faith in temporal emergencies.1 When Asa’s “hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob” “his bow abode in strength.”2 When, at a subsequent period, he “trusted in man, and made flesh his arm, and his heart departed from the Lord”3 he became, like Samson, “weak, and as another man.”4 So true is it, that no past communications of Divine strength can stand in the stead of the daily habit of dependence upon the Lord, without which we are utterly helpless, and are overthrown in every conflict. Our best prosperity therefore is to leave our cause in his hands, looking upward in the simplicity of wretchedness for his help, ‘All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully: help thou me. Wretched and forlorn I am; but thy truth is my shield.’

Believer! this is your only posture of resistance. Should you enter the field of conflict without this “shield of faith,” some crevice will be found in your panoply, through which a “fiery dart” will inflict a poisonous wound.5 But how can faith be exercised without a distinct acquaintance with the object of faith? We cannot repose trust or expect help, in an unknown God—in an offended God, whom every day’s transgression has made our enemy. There must, then, be reconciliation, before there can be help. Those, therefore, who are unreconciled by the death of Christ, cry for help to a God, who does not hear, accept, or answer, them. But when Christ is known as “the peace,” and the way of access to God, what instance can there be of trial or difficulty, when our reliance upon the Lord will fail? Not indeed that we shall always return from the throne of grace with the wished-for relief. For too often we bring our burden before the Lord, and yet through distrust neglect to leave it with him. Oh! let us remember when we go to Jesus, that we go to a tried, long-proved, and faithful friend. Dependence upon him is victory. The “good fight” is the fight “of faith.”6 We are best able to resist our enemy upon our knees; and even such a short prayer as this, “Help thou me,” will bring down the strength of Omnipotence on our side. But we might as well expect to crush a giant with a straw, as to enter the spiritual conflict with weapons of carnal warfare. Every trial realizes experimentally the help of a faithful Saviour. He does indeed deliver gloriously; and leaves us nothing to do but stand still, wonder, and praise—“Fear ye not; stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to-day; for the Egyptians, whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.”7

8 2 Cor. 7:6.

9 Rom. 8:37.

1 The examples of Asa, 2 Chron. 14:10–12, and Jehosaphat, 2 Chron. 20:1–30 may be referred to.

2 Gen. 49:24.

3 Comp. Jer. 17:5–8.

4 Judges 16:7, with 2 Chron. 16:7.

5 Eph. 6:16.

6 1 Tim. 6:12.

7 Exodus 14:13.

Psalm 119:87 They almost destroyed me on earth, But as for me, I did not forsake Your precepts. 

• almost (KJV): 1Sa 20:3 23:26,27 2Sa 17:16 Mt 10:28 
• but I forsook (KJV): Ps 119:51,61 1Sa 24:6,7 26:9,24 

They almost destroyed me on earth, But as for me, I did not forsake Your precepts. 

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Charles Bridges - And why did they not quite consume him? Because “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in behalf of them, whose heart is perfect toward him.”1 “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.”2 And why have not our spiritual enemies “consumed us upon earth?” “Satan hath desired to have us, that he may sift us as wheat.” “But”, saith the Saviour, “I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not.”3 “My sheep shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.”4 Steadfastness of profession is the evidence of the life of faith: grounded upon this security, the more we are shaken, the more we shall hold fast. Neither long-continued distress,5 nor determined opposition,6 will turn us from the ways of God. We would rather “forsake” all that our heart held dear upon earth, than “the precepts” of our God. With whatever intensity of affection we love father and mother, (and the influence of the Gospel has increased the sensibilities of relative affections,) we remember who hath said, “He that loveth father and mother more than me, is not worthy of me.”7 Unlike the deluded professor,8 we have counted the cost of the tribulation and persecution of the Gospel; and the result has only served to confirm our love and adherence to our heavenly Master. Shall not we find in heaven—nay, do not we find in the Gospel—a far better portion that we lose?9

When, therefore, we are tempted to neglect the precepts; or when we fail to live in them and to delight in them, let us each bring our hearts to this test. ‘What would I take in exchange for them? Will the good will and approbation of the world compensate for the loss of the favor of God? Could I be content to forego my greatest comforts, to “suffer the loss of all things,”10 yea, of life itself,11 rather than forsake one of the ways of God? When I meet with such precepts as link me to the daily cross, can I throw myself with simple dependence upon that Saviour, who has engaged to supply strength for what he has commanded?’ How often in times of spiritual temptation, if not of temporal danger, “they had almost consumed us upon earth!” but “in the mount” of difficulty “the Lord has been seen.”12 Oh! let each of us mark our road to Zion with multiplied Ebenezers, inscribed Jehovah-jireh—Jehovah-nissi13—“By this I know that thou favorest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face forever.”14

What a fine testimony of the upholding grace of God! How could a helpless believer stand against such an appalling array? Yet it is a great, but a true word, suitable for a babe in Christ as well as for an Apostle—“I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.”15 Yes, I can “wrestle even against principalities and powers” of darkness, if I be “strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”1

1 2 Chron. 16:9.

2 Ps. 76:10.

3 Luke 22:31, 32.

4 John 10:28.

5 Ps 119:83.

6 Verses 84–86.

7 Matt. 10:37.

8 Mt. 13:21.

9 Mt. 19:29.

10 Phil. 3:8.

11 Acts 20:24.

12 “In the Mount the Lord shall be seen, or shall appear, Jehovah-jireh.” (Gen. 22:14.)—Scott, in loco.

13 Exod. 17:15.

14 Psalm 41:11, 12.

15 Phil. 4:13.

1 Eph. 6:10, 12.

Psalm 119:88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth. 

• Quicken (KJV): Ps 119:25,40,159 
• so shall I (KJV): Ps 119:2,146 25:10 78:5 132:12 

Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth. 

REVIVE ME (in the Old Testament - P69:32 Ps 71:20 Ps 80:18 Ps 85:6 Ps 119:25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159 Ps 138:7 Ps 143:11 Isa 57:15 Ho 6:2 Hab 3:2

Reports on "effects" of Revival from the Welsh Revival: In Cardiff alone, as yet only slightly moved by the revival, police reports show that drunkenness has diminished 60%, whilst on Saturday last the Mayor was presented by the Chief Constable with a pair of white gloves, there being no case at all on the charge sheet an unprecedented fact for the last day of the year. The same thing happened at the Swansea County Court on the previous Saturday, and the magistrate said, "All the years I've been sitting here I've never seen anything like it, and I attribute this happy state of things entirely to the revival." The streets of Aberdare on Christmas Eve were almost entirely free from drunkenness, and on Christmas Day there were no prisoners at all in the cells.

Related Resources:

• Welsh Revival - youtube
• Welsh Revival 2 - youtube

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Charles Bridges - We need continual quickening to maintain our steadfastness in the precepts. “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.”2 But without daily “quickening after” the same “loving kindness” “the things which remain will be ready to die.” For every breath of prayer, Divine influence must flow—“Quicken us, and we shall call upon thy name.”3 For the work of praise, without the same influence we are dumb.—“O let my soul live, and it shall praise thee.”4 For the exercise of every spiritual grace there must be the commanding voice of our Divine Head—“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south: blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.”5 Thus is the creature laid in the dust, and all the glory is given to God. “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”6

Why is it, then, that at one time we spring to duty as the joy of our life; while at other times the soul is so chained down under the power of corruption, that it scarcely can put forth the feeblest exercise of life? The source of our life is the same—“hid with Christ in God.”7 But the power of the flesh hinders its every motion.8 Such a spiritual sloth has benumbed us—such backwardness to prayer, and disrelish for heavenly things—sins deeply humbling in themselves, and aggravated by the neglect of the plentiful provision laid up in Christ, not only for the life, but for the peace, joy, and strength of the soul. Nothing but indolence or unbelief straitens our supplies. Oh! stir up the prayer for quickening influence, and we shall be rich and fruitful. Sometimes also self-confidence paralyzes our spiritual energy. We expect our recovery from a lifeless state by more determined resolutions, or increased improvement of the various means of grace. Let these means indeed be used with all diligence, but with the fullest conviction, that all means, all instruments, all helps of every kind, without the influence of the Spirit of grace, are dead. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.”9

These records of David’s prayers strikingly mark the intensity of his desire to live to God. Every decay of strength and activity was, as it were, death to him, and awakened his reiterated cries. Do we desire to keep the testimony of his mouth? Do we mourn over our short-comings in service? Oh! then, for our own sake, for the Lord’s sake, and for the Church’s and the world’s sake, let our petitions be incessant, each one for himself—‘ “quicken me”—Quicken this slothful heart of mine. Enkindle afresh the sacred spark within, and let me be all alive for thee.’ Let faith be kept alive and active at the throne of grace, and all will be alive; our obligation will be deeply felt, and practically acknowledged.

The title here given to the directory of our duty—“the testimony of God’s mouth”—adds strength to our obligations. Thus let every word we read or hear be regarded, as coming directly from the “mouth of God.”1 What reverence, what implicit submission does it demand! May it ever find us in the posture of attention, humility, and faith, each one of us ready to say—“Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth!”2

2 Eph. 2:4, 5.

3 Psalm 80:18.

4 Ps 119:175.

5 Song. 4:16.

6 2 Cor. 3:5.

7 Col. 3:3.

8 See Gal. 5:17.

9 John 6:63.

1 Compare Judges 3:20.

2 1 Sam. 3:9, 10.

Psalm 119:89 Lamedh. Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. 

• For ever (KJV): Ps 119:152,160 89:2 Mt 5:18 24:34,35 1Pe 1:25 2Pe 3:13 

Lamedh. Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. 

THY WORD IS SETTLED (established, fixed) IN HEAVEN: basic sense of "settled" is illustrated in God's order to Moses to stand (i.e. station himself ) by the river's brink" to meet Pharaoh (Ex7:15). This verse avows the immutability of God's Word; it shall stand forever (cf. Ps89:2 Isa40:8; Mt24:34,35; 1Pe1:25).

Henry Morris -  This powerful verse stressing the eternal origin and eternal duration of God's Word begins the second half of Psalm 119.

Matthew Henry's Concise - Ps 119:89-96. The settling of God's word in heaven, is opposed to the changes and revolutions of the earth. And the engagements of God's covenant are established more firmly than the earth itself. All the creatures answer the ends of their creation: shall man, who alone is endued with reason, be the only unprofitable burden of the earth? We may make the Bible a pleasant companion at any time. But the word, without the grace of God, would not quicken us. See the best help for bad memories, namely, good affections; and though the exact words be lost, if the meaning remain, that is well. I am thine, not my own, not the world's; save me from sin, save me from ruin. The Lord will keep the man in peace, whose mind is stayed on him. It is poor perfection which one sees and end of. Such are all things in this world, which pass for perfections. The glory of man is but as the flower of the grass. The psalmist had seen the fulness of the word of God, and its sufficiency. The word of the Lord reaches to all cases, to all times. It will take us from all confidence in man, or in our own wisdom, strength, and righteousness. Thus shall we seek comfort and happiness from Christ alone. 

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Warren Wiersbe - Settled Questions
Read Psalm 119:89-96
 
Have you ever noticed that very little gets settled in this world? Few things are resolved politically. We sign treaties and contracts, and then they're broken or reinterpreted. Nothing seems final. Your life may be unsettled because of a situation or person. If that's the case, consider Psalm 119:89: "Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven."
 
My word--or anyone's, for that matter--is not settled. I've changed my opinions and my beliefs on certain things. I hope that when I give my word it is trustworthy. But God's Word is always true. We can trust it. We don't have to worry about Him lying to us. He can't.
 
God's Word is eternal. I often go to used bookstores and find bestsellers from years ago being sold for 25 cents each. Not so with God's Word. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matt. 24:35).
 
God's Word also is changeless. God is not a diplomat who argues endlessly. He simply says, "This is the way it is going to be." If you want to find out how He has settled things, read His Word.
 
I'm glad that when I open my Bible, I find that things are settled. God tells us how to stop wars, how to solve problems, how to take care of sin. Best of all, He tells us how we can go to heaven. That's all settled. The Lord Jesus Christ died for us on the cross, rose again and will save all who will come to Him by faith.
* * *
The strength and stability of God's Word stand out as a beacon in the instability and unsettledness of life. Because it is true, eternal and changeless, we may trust it and live by its truths. God has settled the questions of sin, death, salvation and eternal life. Do you need to settle these questions for yourself? Read and study His Word.  (Psalm 119:89-96 Settled Questions) 

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Charles Bridges - The Christian extends his survey far beyond the limits of his individual sphere. His view of the operations of God in creation enlarges his apprehensions of the Divine attributes, and especially that of unchanging faithfulness. Indeed, the very fact of a creation in ruins—a world in rebellion against its Maker, failing of the grand end of existence, and yet still continued in existence—manifests “his faithfulness unto all generations.”3 How different is the contemplation of the Christian from the philosopher! His is not a mere cold, speculative admiration, but the establishment of his faith upon a clear discovery of the faithfulness of God. Thus he stays his soul upon the assured unchangeableness of the Divine word—“Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever. Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”4 How striking is the contrast between the transient glory of man’s goodliness, and the solid foundation of all the promises, hopes, and prospects of the children of God!—“The grass withereth, and the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”5 “Unbelief” is the character of our “evil hearts.”6 Man chooses his own measure and objects of faith; he believes no more than he pleases. But it is a fearful prospect, that the threatenings of God rest upon the same solid foundation with his promises. “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”7

Need we any further proof of his faithfulness? Look at the earth established by his word of power.1 See how “he hangeth it upon nothing,”2 as if it might fall at any moment; and yet it is immovably fixed3—it abideth4—and with all its furniture continueth according to his ordinances. This—though the scoff of the infidel5—is the encouragement to Christian faith; it is at once a token of his covenant with nature, that “while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease;”6 and an emblem of his covenant with the seed of David, that he “will not cast them off for all that they have done.”7 Thus every view of the heavens—yea—every time we set our foot on the earth8—shows the unchangeableness of his everlasting covenant, and the security of the salvation of his own people.

In this vast universe, “all are his servants.” “The stars in their courses”—“fire and hail, snow and vapors, stormy winds—fulfil his word. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.”9 Man—the child of his Maker10—“created in his image”11—destined for his glory12—is the only rebel and revolter. Most affecting is the appeal, that his own Father and God is constrained to make concerning him, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me!”13

Is not then the universe of nature a parable of grace—setting out on every side—in every view—a cheering display of the faithfulness of God?14 If his providence fails not, will the promise of his covenant disappoint us? Why should he change? Does he see or know anything now, that he has not foreseen and foreknown from eternity? What more sure ground of salvation than the unchangeableness of God?15 If I can prove a word to have been spoken by God, I must no more question it than his own being. It may seem to fail on earth; but it is for ever settled in heaven. The decrees of the kings of the earth, “settled” on earth, are exposed to all the variations and weakness of a changing world. They may be revoked by themselves or their successors, or they may die away. The empty sound of the “law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not,”16 has long since been swept away into oblivion. But while “the word settled” on earth has “waxed old like a garment, and perished:” the word settled in heaven—is raised above all the revolutions of the universe, and remaineth as the throne of God—unshaken and eternal; exhibiting the foundation of the believer’s hope and of the unbeliever’s terror, to be alike unalterably fixed.

But we also remark the foreknowledge as well as the faithfulness of God. From the eternity that is past, as well as for the eternity that is to come, “thy word is settled in heaven.” Before this fair creation was marred, yea, before it was called into existence, its ruin was foreseen, and a remedy provided. “The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world,”1 and foreordained before2 that era. Coeval with this period, a people were “chosen in him,”3 and “for ever the word was settled heaven.”—“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.”4 For the establishment of the Redeemer’s kingdom upon earth, “the decree is declared;” however earth and hell may combine against it—“Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Sion.”5 And what a blessed encouragement in the grand work of bringing back “the lost sheep of the house of Israel,”6 and those “other sheep” with them, which are not of this fold”7 is it, that we do not depend upon the earnestness of our prayers, the wisdom of our plans, and the diligence of our endeavors; but upon “the word,” which “is for ever settled in heaven!”—“The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them saith the Lord—My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words, which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.” “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return,—That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”8

3 Gen. 8:22.

4 Ps 119:152, 160.

5 Isaiah 40:6–8. Compare 1 Peter 1:24, 25.

6 Hebrews 3:12.

7 Compare Luke 21:28–33.

1 Psalm 33:9. Heb. 1:3.

2 Job 26:7.

3 Psalm 24:2; 104:5; 148:6.

4 Eccles. 1:4.

5 2 Peter 3:4.

6 Genesis 8:22.

7 Jer. 31:35, 36; 33:20, 21, 25, 26.

8 Isaiah 54:9, 10.

9 Judges 5:20. Ps. 148:8; 147:15. Compare Job 37:12. Isaiah 48:13.

10 Deut. 32:6.

11 Genesis 1:27; 5:1.

12 Isaiah 43:7.

13 Isaiah 1:2.

14 Ps. 89:2.

15 Mal. 3:6. Heb. 6:17, 18; 7:21–25.

16 Daniel 6:8.

1 Rev. 13:8.

2 1 Peter 1:20.

3 Eph. 1:4.

4 John 6:37.

5 Psalm 2:6–8.

6 Matt. 15:24.

7 John 10:16.

8 Isa. 59:20, 21; 45:23.

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Someone has written a poem that talks about the problem of using a spell-checking program on a computer. The first stanza says: 

I have a spelling checker
I disk covered four my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot see. 

The words are spelled correctly, but they aren't the right words to convey the message of the writer. It's proof positive that if you're looking to the wrong source for correctness, then you aren't right. 

It's like that with matters of faith. It is possible to trust the wrong source of information about spiritual things. For instance, there are people who teach that salvation depends on keeping rituals, performing good works, joining a church, or being baptized. But they are wrong. So where can we go for the truth? We need a perfect, fool-proof source. That source is the Bible. God's Word says that salvation is by grace through faith. "It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). 

There are so many sources of information today, it's easy to pick the wrong one. Be sure you carefully check out what you hear and read about God and eternal life. The Bible is the only source of what is true and right. --JDB 

The Bible is a gift from God,
A lamp of truth and light;
It searches heart and soul and mind,
And tells us what is right. --Bosch

Like a compass, the Bible always points you in the right direction.
 

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Talmage - The balances of God never lose their adjustment. With them, a pound is a pound, and right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a soul is a soul, and eternity is eternity.

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Two writers whose books were penned in an era far different from our late 20th-century techno-society have made comebacks recently. Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility became popular again when film producers put their stories on the screen. 

How could that be? Hasn't our society advanced so far that yesteryear's books couldn't possibly have any relevance to today's situations? The great thing about classic literature is that just the opposite is true. Fine writing has enduring value when it speaks to the heart-issues people have always shared--issues like relationships, love, and surviving in this world. 
    But there's one old book that tops them all. It stands above the rest not only because it speaks clearly and accurately about the human condition but also because it was inspired by the One who created us. It's the Bible, God's Word to us. When it talks about marriage, it's right on target. When it talks about how to treat others, it's more helpful than today's advice column. But most important, when it talks about the purpose of life, it's the only source of truth. The Bible--it's an old book, but it's still the best. --JDB 

    The Bible stands though the hills may tumble,
    It will firmly stand when the earth shall crumble;
    I will plant my feet on its firm foundation,
    For the Bible stands. --Lillenas

To stay on course, trust the unfailing compass of God's Word.

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Your words of pure, eternal truth
Shall yet unshaken stay,
When all that man has thought or planned,
Like chaff shall pass away. --Anon.

In a changing world you can trust God's unchanging Word.

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God’s Enduring Word

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Matthew 24:35

Today's Scripture & Insight: Psalm 119:89-96

At the beginning of World War II, aerial bombings flattened much of Warsaw, Poland. Cement blocks, ruptured plumbing, and shards of glass lay strewn across the great city. In the downtown area, however, most of one damaged building still stubbornly stood. It was the Polish headquarters for the British and Foreign Bible Society. Still legible on a surviving wall were these words: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matt. 24:35).

Jesus made that statement to encourage His disciples when they asked Him about the “end of the age” (v. 3). But His words also give us courage in the midst of our embattled situation today. Standing in the rubble of our shattered dreams, we can still find confidence in God’s indestructible character, sovereignty, and promises.

The psalmist wrote: “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (Ps. 119:89). But it is more than the word of the Lord; it is His very character. That is why the psalmist could also say, “Your faithfulness continues through all generations” (v. 90).

As we face devastating experiences, we can define them either in terms of despair or of hope. Because God will not abandon us to our circumstances, we can confidently choose hope. His enduring Word assures us of His unfailing love. By:  Dennis Fisher (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Thank You, Lord, for the gift of Your Word. Thank You for its truth, its timelessness, and the guidance You give us by that Word. Help us believe and trust everything You say.

We can trust God’s unchanging Word.

Psalm 119:90  Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands. 

• faithfulness (KJV): De 7:9 Mic 7:20 
• unto all generations (KJV): Heb. to generation and generation, Ps 89:1,2 100:5 
• thou hast (KJV): Ps 89:11 93:1 104:5 Job 38:4-7 2Pe 3:5-7 
• abideth (KJV): Heb. standeth

Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands. 

Henry Morris -  God created the earth after He had settled His Word and then undertook the work of sustaining it forever.

Paul echoes the stability of the earth describing Jesus...

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17+)

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Charles Bridges - see comment on Ps 119:89

Psalm 119:91 They stand this day according to Your ordinances, For all things are Your servants. 

• They continue this (KJV): Ps 148:5,6 Ge 8:22 Isa 48:13 Jer 33:25 
• all are (KJV): De 4:19 Jos 10:12,13 Jud 5:20 Mt 5:45 8:9 

They stand this day according to Your ordinances, For all things are Your servants. 

 

 

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Charles Bridges -  - see comment on Ps 119:89

Psalm 119:92 If Your law had not been my delight, Then I would have perished in my affliction. 

thy law (KJV): Ps 119:24,77,143 Ro 15:4 
I should (KJV): Ps 27:13 94:18,19 Pr 6:22,23 

PRESERVED IN AFFLICTION
BY GOD'S WORD

If Your law had not been my delight, Then I would have perished in my affliction. It is interesting that the Lxx translators chose to translate Hebrew sha'shua' = "delight"  by using the word "melete" in (Ps 119:77, 92, 143,174). The point is that this repeated use of melete for sha'shua' conveys the thought that meditation on God's Word is one's delight! What a beautiful picture. The related verb in the NT is meletao meaning to take pains, meditate, devise.

Liddell-Scott on melete - care, attention,  care for many things, Id.; m. attention to action,  care paid by one, 2. practice, exercise, Lat. meditatio, Pind.; painful exercises, of the Spartan discipline, Id. b. in a military sense, exercise, practice, drill, Id. c. of an orator, rehearsal, Dem. 3. a pursuit, Pind. II. care, anxiety 

Melete 14v in Septuagint - Job 33:15; Job 37:2; Ps. 19:14; Ps. 39:3; Ps. 49:3; Ps. 119:24; Ps. 119:77; Ps. 119:92; Ps. 119:97; Ps. 119:99; Ps. 119:143; Ps. 119:174; Eccl. 12:12; Lam. 3:62

THEN I WOULD HAVE PERISHED IN MY AFFLICTION: so he could echo Ps1 19:50, 67, 71, 75 --The law of God comforts us in lowliness. Let us not forget His wellspring of comfort & run to broken cisterns that can hold no water.

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Charles Bridges - The support of the word is as sure as its basis—and that in the time when other supports sink—in affliction. David—like his great prototype—was a man of affliction9—sometimes ready to perish—always kept up by the law of his God. How many a false professor has been tried and cast by this hour of “affliction!” But he who has been sifted by temptation—who has “endured the hardness” of persecution, as a “good soldier of Jesus Christ”10—and who is ready rather to be “consumed upon earth,”11 than to shrink from his profession—this is he whom his Master “will lift up, and not make his foes to rejoice over him.”12 It is the established rule of the kingdom—“Them that honor me I will honor.’13 “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”14

The law of God opens to us a clear interest in every perfection of his Godhead—every engagement of his covenant. What wonder then, that it brings delights which the world can never conceive when bowed down with accumulated affliction? However the believer’s real character may be hidden from the world, the hour of trial abundantly proves, both what the law can do for him, and what a lost creature he would have been without it. In affliction, friends mean well; but of themselves they can do nothing. They can only look on, feel, and pray. They cannot “speak to the heart.” This is God’s prerogative:1 and his law is his voice.

But for this support, Jonah probably would have “perished in his affliction.” In the belly of the fish, as “in the belly of hell,” he appears to have recollected the experience of David under deep and awful desertion; and in taking his language out of his mouth, as descriptive of his own dark and terrific condition, a ray of light and hope darted upon his dungeon walls.2 Indeed it is a mystery, how a sinner, destitute of the support and comfort of the word of God, can ever uphold himself in his trials. We marvel not, that often, “his soul should choose strangling, and death, rather than his life.”3

But in order to derive support from the law, it must be “our delights”4—yea—that it may be our delights it must be the matter of our faith. For what solid delight can we have in what we do not believe?5 Must it not also be our joy in prosperity, if we would realize its support in affliction? For this how ineffectual is the mere formal service! Who ever tasted its tried consolations in the bare performance of the outward duty? It must be read as a reality; it will then be taken as a cordial. Let it be simply received, diligently searched, and earnestly prayed over; and it will guide the heavy-laden to Him, who is their present and eternal rest.6 The tempest-tossed soul will cast anchor upon it—“Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.”7 One promise applied by the Spirit of God is worth ten thousand worlds. And each promise is a staff—if we have but faith to lean upon it—able to bear our whole weight of sin, care, and trial.

Is then affliction our appointed lot? If “man is born”—and the child of God twice born—“to trouble, as the sparks fly upward”8—how important is it to lay in a store of supply from this inexhaustible treasury against the time when all human support will fail! Supplied hence with heavenly strength, we shall be borne up above the weakness and weariness of the flesh. And as the riches of this store-house are “the riches of Christ,”1 let those parts be most familiar to us,2 which mark his person,3 his character,4 offices,5 life,6 sufferings,7 and death,8 resurrection and glory,9 together with the promises, encouragements, and prospects directly flowing from this blessed subject—and oh! what a treasure-house shall we find richly furnished with every source of delight, and every ground of support!

9 Psalm 132:1.

10 2 Tim. 2:3.

11 Verse 87.

12 Psalm 30:1.

13 1 Sam. 2:30.

14 Rev. 3:10.

1 Isaiah 40:2. Hosea 2:14. Margin.

2 Jonah 2:3, with Psalm 42:7. The phraseology in the LXX. is identical, as if it were a clear and distinct recollection of the Psalmist’s expressions, when describing his own state of desertion.

3 Job 7:15. Compare 2 Cor. 7:10.

4 “Delights”—instar omnium—instead of all manner of delights.

5 Psalm 27:13.

6 Matt. 11:28. It was the speech of a holy man—after God had made this precious text the messenger to open his dungeon of spiritual distress, and bring him into the light of inward joy—that he had better be without meat, drink, light, air, earth, life, and all, than without this one comfortable Scripture. “If one single promise”—as Gurnal sweetly remarks in giving this story—“like an ear of corn rubbed in the hand of faith, and applied by the Spirit of Christ—can afford such a full satisfying meal of joy to the hunger-bitten, pining soul; oh what price can we set upon the whole field of Scripture, which stands so thick with promises every way as cordial as this!”—Gurnal on Ephesians 6:17. Well might Luther say—“I have covenanted with my Lord, that he should not send me visions, or dreams, or even angels. I am content with this one gift of the Scriptures, which abundantly teaches and supplies all that is necessary both for this life and that which is to come.”

7 Ps 119:49.

8 Job 5:7.

1 Eph. 3:8. John 5:39.

2 Such as Isaiah 53 which, in the compass of a single chapter sketches out his whole history. See below.

3 Isaiah 53:1, 2.

4 Isaiah 53: 9.

5 Isaiah 53:4, 5, 12.

6 Isaiah 53:3.

7 Isaiah 53:7, 8.

8 Isaiah 53:9.

9 Isaiah 53:10–12.

Psalm 119:93  I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have revived me. 

• will never (KJV): Ps 119:16,50 Joh 6:63 1Pe 1:23 

I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have revived me - What a great passage to motivate us to memorize God's Word! 

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Charles Bridges - An admirable resolution! the blessed fruit of the quickening power of the word in his deep affliction. He had before acknowledged this supernatural efficacy—“Thy word hath quickened me.”10 Now he more distinctly mentions it, as the instrumental only—not the efficient cause—“With them thou hast quickened me.” Had the power been in the word, the same effect would have immediately and invariably followed. Nor should we have been constrained to lament the limited extent of its influence. How many, Christian, shared with you in the outward privileges; but perhaps unto none was the life-giving blessing vouchsafed, save unto yourself—the most unlikely—the most unworthy of all!11 Thus does “God work in us both to will and do”—not according to any prescribed law, but “of his own good pleasure.”12 The grace therefore is not from, but through, the means. Almighty God is the source of the life. The word is the instrument—yet so “quick,”13 so melting,14 so attractive,15 that we might ask, out of what rock was that heart hewn, that is proof against its power? Yet while the precepts work nothing without the agent,16 they are the ordinary course, by which the Lord quickeneth whom he will.17

And do not we find them still lively channels of refreshment? Surely, then, we will hold to our purpose of not forgetting the precepts. The leaves of the word of God are the leaves of the tree of life, as well as of the tree of knowledge. They not only enlighten the path, but they supply life for daily walk and progress.

“The words that I speak unto you”—said Jesus—“they are spirit, and they are life;”18 so that the times when we have been most diligent in our meditation and obedience to the precepts, have been uniformly the seasons of our most holy consolation.

Men of the world, however, with accurate recollections of all matters connected with their temporal advantage, are remarkably slow in retaining the truths of God. They plead their short memories, although conscious that this infirmity does not extend to their important secular engagements. But what wonder that they for get the precepts, when they have never been quickened with them—never received any benefit from them? The word of God is not precious to them: they acknowledge no obligation to it: they have no acquaintance with it. It has no place in their affections, and therefore but little abode in their remembrance.

But this resolution is the language of sincerity, not of perfection. The child of God is humbled in the conscious “forgetfulness of the Lord’s precepts.” And this consciousness keeps his eye fixed upon Jesus for pardon and acceptance: while every fresh sense of acceptance strengthens his more habitual remembrance. Then as for his natural inability to preserve an accurate recollection of Divine things—let him not estimate the benefit of the word by the results in the memory, so much as by the impressions upon the heart. The word may have darted through the mind, as a flash of lightning, that strikes and is gone; and yet the heart may have been melted, and the passing flash may have shed a heavenly ray upon a dubious path. If the heart retains the quickening power—“The precepts are not forgotten,” even though the memory should have failed to preserve them.

But whatever word of conviction, direction, or encouragement, may have come to us, affix this seal to it—‘I will never forget thy precepts.’ It may be of signal use in some hour of temptation. The same Spirit that breathed before upon it, may breathe again; if not with the same present sensible power, yet with a seasonable and refreshing recollection of past support.

10 Ps 119:50.

11 Comp. Luke 4:25, 26.

12 Phil. 2:13.

13 Heb. 4:12.

14 Jer. 23:29.

15 Matt. 11:28.

16 1 Cor. 3:7.

17 John 5:21. Rom. 10:17.

18 John 6:63.

Psalm 119:94  I am Yours, save me; For I have sought Your precepts. 

• I am thine (KJV): Ps 86:2 Jos 10:4-6 Isa 41:8-10 44:2,5 64:8-10 Zep 3:17 Ac 27:23,24 
• for I have (KJV): Ps 119:27,40,1

I am Yours, save me; For I have sought (Lxx - ekzeteo, Heb 11:6) Your precepts. 

Save (deliver, help) (03467) yasha'  (See also yeshua from which we get our word "Jesus") is an important Hebrew verb which means to help, to save, to deliver. The root in Arabic is "make wide" which underscores the main thought of yasha' as to bring to a place of safety or broad pasture in contrast to a narrow strait which symbolizes distress or danger. Septuagint = sozo, - save, deliver.

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Charles Bridges - What a high and honorable character is stamped upon the meanest believer! He is the Saviour’s unalienable property,1 his portion,2 the “wormanship”3 of his hand, the purchase of his blood,4 the triumph of his conquering love.5 He is given to him by his Father6—“preserved in him, and called.”7 The evidence of his character is found in “seeking the Lord’s precepts.” “Whom we serve” will prove “whose we are.”8 “His servants ye are, to whom ye obey.”9 “Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself.”10 “The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh” cannot seek the Lord’s precepts.11 A new and spiritual bias, therefore, is the visible stamp and seal of the Lord’s interest in us.

True it is, that our Divine Saviour can never be robbed of his property—that his people are saved in him, beyond the reach of earth and hell to touch them. Yet are they dependent still—always sinners—every day’s provocation making them more sinners than before; needing, therefore, from day to day, fresh power, fresh keeping, and above all, fresh cleansing and acceptance. But what a powerful plea for mercy may we draw from the Lord’s interest in us! Will not a man be careful of his children, his treasure, his jewels? Such am I.1 Thy sovereign love hath bought me—made me thine2—I am thine; save me. Thou hast saved me; “thou hast delivered my soul from death; wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling?”3 Save me from the love of sin, from the daily guilt and power of sin; from the treachery of my own foolish heart; from all this, and all besides, which thou seest ensnaring to my soul. If I am not thine, whence this desire, this endeavor to “seek thy precepts?” What mean my privileged moments of communion with thee? What mean the yet unsatisfied desires after a conformity to thine image? Lord, I would humbly plead thine own act, thy free and sovereign act, that made me thine. Save me, because thou hast brought thy salvation near to me, and sealed me thine. I need mercy to begin with me; mercy to accompany me; mercy to abide with me for ever. “I am think, save me.”

And what irresistible energy does it give to our pleading, that this was the sole purpose, that brought down the Son of God from heaven! “I came down”—said he—“from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing.”4 Of this purpose he was enabled to testify at the conclusion of his work—“Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.”5

But some cry for salvation, who neglect duty, and thus make void their plea. Can we make our interest good, by seeking his precepts? Is it the way in which we love to walk? Then let us not desist from our plea before God, until our heart listens to the voice of love, centering every blessing of creation, redemption, and heavenly calling, in the privilege of adoption—“Thus saith the Lord, that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee: I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. Thou art my servant; O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions; and as a cloud, thy sins.”6 I have regarded this thy plea. I have heard this thy prayer—“I am thine, save me.”7

1 1 Cor. 3:23.

2 Deut. 32:9.

3 Eph. 2:10.

4 Psalm 74:2. Acts 20:28. 1 Cor. 6:19, 20.

5 Isaiah 53:10–12. Luke 11:21, 22.

6 John 6:37; 10:29; 17:6, 11.

7 Jude 1.

8 Acts 27:23.

9 Rom. 6:16.

10 Psalm 4:3.

11 Rom. 8:7, 8.

1 Heb. 2:13. Exodus 19:5. Mal. 3:17.

2 Isaiah 43:3, 4.

3 Psalm 56:13.

4 John 6:38, 39.

5 Jn. 17:12; 18:9.

6 Isaiah 43:1; 44:21, 22.

7 The same plea is urged in prayer, Psalm 143:12 86:2. Margin. Compare also verse 125.

Psalm 119:95 The wicked wait for me to destroy me; I shall diligently consider Your testimonies. 

• wicked (KJV): Ps 119:61,69,85-87 10:8-10 27:2 37:32 38:12 1Sa 23:20-23 2Sa 17:1-4 Mt 26:3-5 Ac 12:11 23:21 25:3 
• but I (KJV): Ps 119:24,31,111,125,129,167 

The wicked wait for me to destroy me; I shall diligently consider Your testimonies. 

 

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Charles Bridges - Am I, as a believer, safe as the Lord’s property, and in the Lord’s keeping? Yet must I expect that the wicked, the ungodly, as the instruments of Satan, will not cease to distress me. The Psalmist had before alluded to this trial, as driving him to his refuge.1 And, indeed, this is the constant character of the believer’s walk—enduring the enmity of the ungodly, and seeking his refuge in the word of God—in that hiding-place of safety to which the word directs him. How striking is the proof of the irreconcilable variance between God and the world—the world encouraging all that is contrary to God, and persecuting his image in his people! Yet the word opens to us a sure defence. If our “soul is among lions,”2 cannot we testify to the astonishment of the world—“My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me?”3 We hear indeed the roaring of the winds and waves; but we hear also the voice hushing the storm to rest—“Peace, be still.”4

The experience of this trial and support beautifully illustrates the promise—“He that believeth shall not make haste.”5 He whose hope is firmly fixed on that “tried corner-stone,” which God himself hath “laid in Zion as a sure foundation”—“shall not be greatly moved;” nay, he “shall not moved”6 at all, by “the wicked waiting for him to destroy him.” In the hour of difficulty, instead of perplexing himself with successive expedients for his safety (sought more from human contrivance, than from asking counsel at the mouth of God,) he “possesses his soul in patience,” and calmly commits all events to the Lord. Such a man “shall not be afraid of evil tidings! his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”7 ‘This trust is grounded on the word of God, revealing his power and all-sufficiency, and withal his goodness, his offer of himself to be the stay of the soul, commanding us to rest upon him. People wait on I know not what persuasions and assurances; but I know no other to build faith on, but the word of promise. The truth and faithfulness of God opened up his wisdom and power and goodness, as the stay of all those that, renouncing all other props, will venture on it, and lay all upon him. “He that believes, sets to his seal that God is true:” and so he is sealed for God; his portion and interest secured. “If you will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” ’8

But it is the “considering of the Lord’s testimonies,” that draws out their staying support. The soul must be fixed upon them, as “tried words, purified seven times in the fire.”9 And in this frame “I will,” under all distresses, all circumstances of trial, or even of dismay, “consider thy testimonies.” “I will consider” the faithfulness of those blessed declarations—“There shall not an hair of your head perish. Touch not mine anointed.”10 “He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye.”1 With this armor of defence, I shall not be afraid, even should I hear the “evil tidings,” that “the wicked have waited for me to destroy me.” Or even should I be destroyed, I know that thy testimonies cannot fail—that my rock is perfect—“that there is no unrighteousness in him;”2 and therefore, “though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.”3 Whether, then, I am delivered from the wicked, and “live—I live unto the Lord;” or whether I fall into their snare, and “die—I die unto the Lord;”4 for “I will consider thy testimonies,” assured that all thy purposes shall be accomplished concerning me, as thou hast said—“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”5 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.”6

1 Ps 119:78, 87. Comp. Ps 119:114, 115.

2 Psalm 57:4.

3 Daniel 6:22.

4 Mark 4:39.

5 Isaiah 28:16.

6 Psalm 62:2, 6. His confidence increased in the recollection of his support—“I shall not be greatly moved—I shall not be moved.”

7 Psalm 112:7.

8 Leighton’s Works, 3:256, 257.

9 Psalm 12:7, P. B. Trans.

10 Luke 21:18. Psalm 105:15.

1 Zech. 2:8.

2 Psalm 92:15.

3 Ps 27:3.

4 Rom. 14:8.

5 Heb. 13:5.

6 Isaiah 26:3.

Psalm 119:96 I have seen a limit to all perfection; Your commandment is exceedingly broad. 

• I have seen (KJV): That is, I have seen that all human wisdom or knowledge, however extensive, noble, and excellent, has it bounds, and limits, and end; but Thy law, a transcript of Thine own mind, is infinite, and extends to eternity. Ps 39:5,6 1Sa 9:2 17:8,49-51 31:4,5 2Sa 14:25 16:23 17:23 2Sa 18:14,17 Ec 1:2,3 2:11 7:20 12:8 Mt 5:18 24:35 
• but thy (KJV): Ps 19:7,8 Mt 5:28 22:37-40 Mk 12:29-34 Ro 7:7-12,14 Heb 4:12,13 

I have seen a limit to all perfection; Your commandment is exceedingly broad. 

 

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Charles Bridges - A deeper insight in the Lord’s “testimonies” is the sure result of “considering” them. Weigh them in the balances against this world’s excellency; the world and the word—each with all its fulness. Of the one perfection we see an end—of the other—none. This world is a matter of experience and observation. We have seen it—an end—not of some—but of all its perfection. It wants sufficiency. It stands us in no stead in the great emergencies of affliction—death—judgment—eternity. It wants solidity in its best substance. “In its wisdom is grief!”7 All its delicacies and indulgences—after having, like the King of Jerusalem, “not withheld the heart from any joy”—all ends in the verdict of disappointment—“Behold! all was vanity and vexation of spirit!”8 Its continuance is but for a moment. The soul is born for eternity. Therefore it must have a portion to last as long as itself. But the world, with its lusts and fashion, passeth away.9 All that it can offer is a bubble—a shadow. In its best riches, honors, and pleasures—in the utmost that its perfection can yield—in its height and prime of enjoyment—what is it in itself—what is it able to do for us? “All is vanity.”10 And yet such is the alienation of the heart from God, that it is first tried to the very uttermost, before any desire to return homeward is felt or expressed. And even then, nothing but the Almighty power of God can bring the sinner back. He would rather perish in his misery, than “return to his rest.”

Now contrast with the emptiness of the world the fulness of “the commandment of God.” Our whole duty to our God, our neighbor, and ourselves, is here laid open before us—commanding without abatement, and forbidding without allowance—making no excuse for ignorance—frailty—or forgetfulness—reaching not only to every species of crime, but to everything tending to it. This is “perfection,” of which we never “see an end.” Every fresh view opens—not the extent—but the immensity of the field; and compels us at length to shut up our inquiries with the adoring acknowledgment—Thy commandment is exceeding broad. Its various parts form one seamless piece; so that no particle can be separated without injury to the whole. As all the curtains of the tabernacle, connected by taches and loops, made but one covering for the ark, and the loosening or disjunction of the smallest point disannulled the fitness of the whole; so it belongs to the perfection of the commandment, that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”1 The spirituality of its requirements equally illustrates its Divine “perfection.” An angry look is murder;2 an unchaste desire is adultery;3 the “stumbling-block of iniquity”4—“covetousness”5 in the heart is idolatry; the thought6 as well as the act—the first conception of sin, as well as the after commission—brings in the verdict—Guilty—Death.

Can we then endure the sight of its “exceeding breadth?” Yes—for the commandment of the Gospel7 is equally broad, and covers all.8 We know who hath stood in our place—who hath satisfied Sinai’s unalterable requirements, and borne its awful curse.9 Broad as it may be, the love which hath fulfilled it is immeasurable. As a covenant, therefore, it has now lost its terrors. As a rule, we love it for its extent, and for its purity; for the comprehensiveness of its obligations, and for the narrowness of its liberty for indulgence; nor would we wish to be subject to a less severe scrutiny, or a more lenient administration.

Reader! If you have learnt “the exceeding breadth” and spirituality of the law (the first lesson that is taught and learnt in the school of Christ,) your views of yourself and your state before God will be totally changed. Before, you were “thanking God” in your heart, “that you were not as other men are.” Now you will be “smiting upon your breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner!”10 Before, perhaps you might have thought yourself, “touching the righteousness which is of the law, blameless.” Now you will glory in your new and more enlightened choice—“What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”11 Once you considered yourself “alive,” when you were really dead. Now that “the commandment is come” in its heart-searching spirituality and conviction to your soul, you “die”12 that you may live. Blessed change from the law to the Gospel—“from death to life!” “I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.”13

Such is the effect of the transition from a legal to an evangelical ground. Before, we were reckless of sin, and therefore reckless of the Gospel. As the one fell lightly upon our conscience, the other held a light estimation in our judgment. While we had no disturbance from the law, we had no delight in the Gospel. But now that we see through the true mirror, we are at once alarmed and enlightened, Praised be God!—we now take the true estimate—we degrade to the uttermost righteousness by works—we exalt to the uttermost righteousness by faith. In the one we see pollution—in the other perfection.

7 Eccl. 1:18.

8 Eccl 2:10, 11.

9 Eccl 1:2.

10 1 John 2:17. 1 Cor. 7:31.

1 James 2:10, 11.

2 Matt. 5:21, 22. Comp. 1 John 3:15.

3 Matt. 5:27.

4 Ezek. 14:7.

5 Ephes. 5:5.

6 Prov. 24:9. Compare 23:7.

7 John 6:28, 29. 1 John 3:23.

8 Rom. 3:22.

9 Gal. 4:4, 5; 3:13.

10 Luke 18:9–13.

11 Phil. 3:6, 7.

12 Romans 7:9.

13 Gal. 2:19.

Psalm 119:97 Mem. O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. 

• O how: Ps 119:48,113,127,159,165,167 1:2 De 6:6-9 17:19 Jos 1:8 Pr 2:10 Pr 18:1 

O how I love Your law! - What we love, we love to think of. A good man carries his Bible with him, if not in his hands, yet in his head and in his heart. (Ps 119:47, 48, 97,113, 119,127, 159, 163, 167) The way you treat your Bible is the way you treat Christ. To love Him is to love His Word. The Word is a delight (Ps 119:16, 24, 16, 35, 47, 70) and not a disappointment; we rejoice to read it (Ps 119:14, 162).

It is my meditation all the day - The Hebrew word "kol" for "all" in combination with the Septuagint (Lxx) use of "holos" which speaks of the totality of something and thus pictures a man who is constantly immersed in God's Word which naturally results in his mind being continually set on the things above (cp Col 3:1,2+). Where is your focus today? Lay aside every encumbrance (Heb 12:1,2+). Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within your mind (Col 3:16+). It is also interesting that "holos" in Lxx often modifies "heart" and so pictures a "whole heart" or one totally devoted to His Master! (See Integrity - A Whole Heart and Give Me An Undivided Heart)

We must read 

Scripture every day
And meditate on what God said
To fight temptation from the world
And live a life that's Spirit led.
--Sper

Psalm 119:15, 23, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148: Meditation is to the soul what digestion is to the body. To meditate means to “turn over” God’s Word in the mind and heart, to examine it, to compare Scripture with Scripture, to “feed on” its wonderful truths. In this day of noise and confusion, such meditation is rare but so needful. Meditation is impossible without memorization.Reading the Bible without meditating on it is like eating without chewing. 

Meditation (07881)(sichah; see related siyah) means musing, complaint, pondering, reflection, concern of one's thoughts. "The word is primarily used to indicate meditation. The psalmist indicated the proper procedure for an individual's response to God's Law. Because of his love for God's Law, the psalmist was prompted to meditate on it all day long. Due to his practice of meditation, the psalmist received more understanding than his elders (Ps. 119:97, 99). As Job expressed his feelings and frustrations, Eliphaz responded condemningly, stating that what Job was feeling and saying was hindering devotion to God (Job 15:4)." Eliphaz's response was that of an ignorant man who did not realize the true nature of devotion to God." (Complete Word Study Dictionary) Three OT uses - Job 15:4, Ps 119:97, Ps 119:99. 

Septuagint - melete (not found in NT but see related word meletao) means care, attention, meditation. Used 14x in the Septuagint - Job 33:15; Job 37:2; Ps. 19:14; Ps. 39:3; Ps. 49:3; Ps. 119:24; Ps. 119:77; Ps. 119:92; Ps. 119:97; Ps. 119:99; Ps. 119:143; Ps. 119:174; Eccl. 12:12; Lam. 3:62 It is also interesting that the Lxx translators chose to translate this Hebrew word sha'shua' = "delight"  by using the word "melete" in the following passages (Ps 119:77, 92, 143,174). The point is that this repeated use of melete for sha'shua' conveys the thought that meditation on God's Word is one's delight! What a beautiful picture. 

Henry Morris - This testimony of the psalmist should convict us today. He had only small portions of the Scriptures to study, much of which were portions that many modern Christians don't bother to read at all, whereas we have God's complete revelation. He loved the Scriptures so much that he continually meditated on them!

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Warren Wiersbe - Sweeter Than Honey
 
Read Psalm 119:97-104
 
How well I remember the day my doctor looked at me and said, "Reverend, you will not eat any more sweets." I've learned to do without desserts, but there's one sweet I cannot do without--God's Word: "How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103).
 
Is the Word of God like honey or medicine to you? The way some people treat it, you'd think it is castor oil. True, there are times when we need the healing medicine of the Scripture. But the Bible is much more than medicine. It also is honey. Having an appetite for God's Word is one sign that a person is truly born again, for the Bible is food for the soul. Job said, "I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12). Jeremiah said, "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" (Jer. 15:16). Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). And Peter urges us to "desire the pure milk of the word" (1 Pet. 2:2).
 
When people are sick, their appetites change--in fact, they often lose their appetites completely. Likewise, sin in our lives robs our spiritual appetite, and we lose our desire for the Word. May we always have an appetite for the sweetness of the Word of God, even when we have to read things that convict us. That first bite of Scripture may taste sour sometimes, but it will turn sweet.
* * *
It's important to feed your soul a proper diet. Do you feed and nourish on God's Word? The Bible is sweet to those who love it. Learn it and live it.  (Psalm 119:97-104 Sweeter Than Honey)

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Charles Bridges - Mark the man of God giving utterance to his feelings of heavenly delight—expressing most, by intimating, that he cannot adequately express what he desires. He seems unable to restrain his acknowledgments of Divine influence springing up in his heart—“Oh! how love I thy law!” This experience is most distinctive of a spiritual character. The professor may read, and understand, and even externally obey the law; but the believer only loves it; and he lives in it, as if he could not live without it. To the professor it is a task imposed to satisfy conscience. “The veil upon the heart”2 darkens all his spiritual apprehension, and consequently excludes spiritual delight. To the child of God it is food and medicine, light and comfort—yea, “life from the dead.” The law of precept in the world is a “law of liberty”3—a law of love—in his heart. His former obedience was the bondage of fear. But how different is the effect of constraining love! He now delights to view it in every lineament. He dwells upon every feature with intense enjoyment. Before, it was his confinement—his chain. Now, it is his liberty—his ornament. He is not what he was, “Old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new.”4

Think what good reason there is to love the law. It is the epistle of our most beloved friend—not to be slighted, but to be placed in our bosom—nearest our hearts. It sets out that relief, without which the conscience would have been tortured with the never-dying worm.5 There is more of glory—more of God—in this, than in any other manifestation of his name.6 It has ever been the mirror, that has reflected Christ to his Church. The spiritual eye discerns him in every part.7 Now—reader—do you search for him in his law? Do you “love his law” because it “testifies of him?” Do you pray for his Spirit, that his law may guide you to him? This is the evidence, that you have “turned unto the Lord, when the veil is taken away,” and you “with unveiled face behold in this glass the glory of the Lord.”1 Then if you do love his law, you will love the whole of it—its obligations as well as its privileges. You will love it at all times,2 even when it is thwarting your own will and way. The whole law is light and love—wisdom and faithfulness.

But love of the law fastens the soul to the beloved object, “It is my meditation all the day.”3 When you cannot have it in your hand, it will be found, if indeed your soul is in a prosperous state, “hid in your heart.” There it is kept as your most precious treasure; while you live upon it with unwearied appetite as your daily bread, and exercise yourself in it as your daily rule. Oh, how worthy is it of all the love of the warmest heart! The deepest students are most humbled for their want of suitable enlargement.

But this heavenly spirit can only be grounded upon a sense of reconciliation. Can an unreconciled sinner be interested in the law, in every page of which he reads his own condemnation? This explains the enmity of the ungodly.4 But the cultivation of this spirit upon the ground of the Gospel is a most important principle of Christian steadfastness, the want of which has been the source of fearful delusion;5 and in the exercise of which we shall realize a deeper insight, and more spiritual discernment of Scriptural Truth. Warm affections will be far more influential than talent, or mere external knowledge.

This habit of love and holy meditation will spread its influence over our whole character. It will fill our hearts with heavenly matter for prayer, diffuse a sweet savor over our earthly employments, sanctify the common bounties of Providence,6 realize the presence of God throughout the day, command prosperity upon our lawful undertakings,7 and enlarge our usefulness in the Church.8 Thus the man of God is formed in his completeness, symmetry, and attraction—such as the world is often constrained secretly to admire, even where the heart is unready to follow.

Lord! implant in my heart a supreme “love to thy law.” Write it upon my heart—even that new law, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”1 May I love it so that I may be always meditating upon it, and by continual meditation yet more enlarging my love and delight in it! So let it prove an ever-springing source of heavenly enjoyment and holy conversation!

2 2 Cor. 3:15.

3 James 1:25.

4 2 Cor. 5:17.

5 2 Cor. 5:19.

6 Psalm 138:2. Eph. 3:10. 2 Tim. 1:10.

7 John 5:39. “Were I to enjoy Hezekiah’s grant, and to have fifteen years added to my life, I would be much more frequent in my applications to the throne of grace. Were I to renew my studies, I would take my leave of those accomplished triflers—the historians, the orators, the poets of antiquity—and devote my attention to the Scriptures of truth. I would sit with much greater assiduity at my Divine Master’s feet, and desire to know nothing but ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified.’ This wisdom, whose fruits are peace in life, consolation in death, and everlasting salvation after death—this I would trace—this I would seek—this I would explore through the spacious and delightful fields of the Old and New Testament.” Such was the testimony of one, who had cultivated the classic fields with no inconsiderable success, and who above most men had enriched his soul with the glorious treasures of the word of God—whose praise is in all the churches as the Author of “Theron and Aspasio.”

1 2 Cor. 3:15–18.

2 Verse 20.

3 Psalm 1:2.

4 Compare 1 Kings 22:8.

5 See 2 Thess. 2:10, 11.

6 1 Tim. 4:4, 5.

7 Ps. 1:3. Comp. Jos. 1:7, 8.

8 1 Tim. 4:15.

1 Rom. 8:2.

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Love Letter

Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. —Psalm 119:97

Today's Scripture & Insight:Psalm 119:97-104

Each morning when I reach my office, I have one simple habit—check all my emails. Most of the time, I’ll work through them in a perfunctory fashion. There are some emails, however, that I’m eager to open. You guessed it—those from loved ones.

Someone has said that the Bible is God’s love letter to us. But perhaps on some days, like me, you just don’t feel like opening it and your heart doesn’t resonate with the words of the psalmist: “Oh, how I love Your law!” (Ps. 119:97). The Scriptures are “Your commandments” (v.98), “Your testimonies” (v.99), “Your precepts” (v.100), “Your word” (v.101, emphasis added).

A question by Thomas Manton (1620–1677), once a lecturer at Westminster Abbey, still holds relevance for us today. He asked: “Who is the author of Scripture? God. . . . What is the end of Scripture? God. Why was the Scripture written, but that we might everlastingly enjoy the blessed God?”

It is said of some people that the more you know them the less you admire them; but the reverse is true of God. Familiarity with the Word of God, or rather the God of the Word, breeds affection, and affection seeks yet greater familiarity.

As you open your Bible, remember that God—the One who loves you the most—has a message for you. By:  Poh Fang Chia (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Oh, may I love Thy precious Word,
May I explore the mine,
May I its fragrant flowers glean,
May light upon me shine!
—Hodder

Knowing the Bible helps us know the God of the Bible.

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The jacana is a unique tropical bird. It has spindly legs with long protruding toes, enabling it to skip along on floating weeds or stroll across lily pads. It has been given the nickname "lily-trotter." Even though it is capable of majestic flight, it seems content to move lazily from flower to flower or to drift slowly downstream. 

Many Christians are like the jacana bird in their Bible reading. They skip around on the surface, lighting on a few favorite verses that are beautiful and comforting. But they fail to learn the deeper truths of God's Word that can stabilize their lives. They seldom spend time studying their Bibles. 

The psalmist meditated on God's Word throughout the day and gained great understanding and wisdom (119:97-104). As believers, we would be wise to follow his example. Searching the Scriptures diligently (Ac17:11) will cause us to grow in our knowledge of God's truth so that we understand how the Lord wants us to live and serve Him. Don't just trip lightly over the surface of a few choice texts. Avoid being a "lily-trotter." Instead, rise to new heights of spiritual understanding. --HGB  (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

To search the Scriptures is our need,
To gain new strength and light,
For there we'll find God's precepts true
To guide our steps aright.
--HGB

When you study the Bible "hit or miss," you MISS more than you HIT.

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I love the sight of cows lying in the field, chewing their cud. But what is cud? And why do they spend so much time chewing it? Cows first fill their stomachs with grass and other food. Then they settle down for a good, long chew. They bring the food back up from their stomachs and rework what they've already eaten, assimilating its goodness and transforming it into rich milk. Time-consuming? Yes. A waste of time? Not if they want to give good milk. 

The phrase "chewing the cud" is used to describe the process of meditation. The writer of Psalm 119 obviously did a lot of mental chewing as he read God's Word. No fast food for him! If we follow his example of careful and prayerful Scripture reading, we will:  Be strengthened against sin (v.11).  Find delight in learning more about God (vv.15-16). Discover wonderfu spiritual truths (v.18). Find wise counsel for daily living (v.24).  Meditation is more than reading the Bible and believing it. It's applying Scripture to everyday life. God's Word is not meant to be fast food. Take time for a good long chew.--JEY  (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord to me,
As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word.
--Lathbury

To be a healthy Christian, don't treat the Bible as snack food.

Psalm 119:98 Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. 

• through (KJV): Ps 119:104 De 4:6,8 1Sa 18:5,14,30 Pr 2:6 Col 3:16 
• they are ever (KJV): Heb. it is ever, Ps 119:11,30,105 Jas 1:25 

Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. We may get knowledge and facts in other books, but true spiritual wisdom is found in the Bible. Note in vv. 97–104 that there are various ways to discover truth—from your enemies, from your teachers, from your older friends—and all of these are good. But above them all is a knowledge of the Bible. Teachers may know from books, and elders may know from experience (both deserving respect), but these without the Bible are not sufficient.

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Charles Bridges - What a fruitful harvest did David reap from his glowing love, and “daily meditation on the law of God!” He became “wiser than his enemies” in “subtlety,”2—“than all his teachers” in doctrine, “than the ancients” in experience. Yet he is not speaking of his extraordinary gift as a prophet, but of his knowledge gained by ordinary means. Nor is he here boasting of his own attainments; but commending the grace of God in and towards him—“Thou, through thy commandments hast made me wiser.”3 How much more wisdom does the persecuted believer draw from the word of God, than his persecutors have ever acquired from the learning of this world! Those, however, who have been effectually taught of God, need to be daily taught of him. While they rest upon their God, and seek counsel at his word, they are wise indeed; yet when they trust to their own wisdom, and turn to their own counsel, they become a by-word and occasion of offence by their own folly. Was David “wiser than his enemies or his teachers,” when he dissembled himself to fight against his own people4—or when he yielded to the indulgence of lust5—or when in the pride of his heart he numbered the people?6 Alas! how often do even God’s children befool themselves in the ways of sin!

But how did David attain this Divine wisdom? Not by habits of extensive reading—not by natural intelligence—but by a diligent meditation in the testimonies.7 In order to avail ourselves however of this means—a simple reception of the Divine testimony is of absolute importance. We can never obtain that assurance of the certainty of our faith, which is indispensable to our peace, or resist the influence of unenlightened “teachers”—or the long-established worldly maxims of “the ancients,” except by entire submission to the supreme authority of Scripture. Many sincere Christians—especially at the outset of their course—are much hindered—either by the scepticism of others, or of their own minds; or from their previous habit of studying the Bible in the light of carnal wisdom, or in dependence upon human teaching. Such need special prayer for humility of mind and simplicity of faith. Under this gracious influence they will discern that path to glory, which in infinite condescension is made so plain, that “the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein,” and the unlearned believer, who has the word before his eyes, in his heart, and in his life, shall become “perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”1

In our Christian progress, David’s habit of scriptural meditation will prove of essential service. For while those who “confer with flesh and blood” cannot have their counsellors always at hand; we, seeking our wisdom from the word of God, have the best Counsellor “ever with us,” teaching us what to do, and what to expect. Obedience also, as well as meditation, directs our way. David found understanding, because he kept the precepts. And David’s Lord has pointed out the same path of light: “If any man will do God’s will, he shall know of the doctrine.”2 “Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness—those that remember thee in thy ways.”3 Thy ways truly are ways of light, joy and love!

Now let us turn in, and inquire—What is our daily use of the word of God? Are we satisfied with a slight looking, or seeking an intimate acquaintance with it? Is its influence ever present—ever practical? Do we prize it as a welcome guest? Is it our delightful companion and guide? Oh! meditate in this blessed book. “Eat the word,” when you have “found it; and it will be unto you the joy and rejoicing of your heart.”4 The name of Jesus—its great subject—will be more precious—your love will be inflamed5—your perseverance established6—and your heart enlivened in the spirit of praise.7 Thus bringing your mind into close and continual contact with “the testimonies of God,” and pressing out the sweetness from the precious volume, it will drop, as from the honeycomb, daily comfort and refreshment upon your heart.8

2 Prov. 1:1, 4.

3 Pr 2:6. James 1:17.

4 1 Sam. 27.

5 2 Sam. 11.

6 Ib. 24.

7 This was bound upon him as a king. Deut. 17:18, 19.

1 Isaiah 35:8. 2 Tim. 3:17.

2 John 7:17.

3 Isaiah 64:5. Comp. John 14:21–23.

4 Jer. 15:16.

5 Psalm 39:3.

6 Ps 23, 95.

7 Psalm 63:5, 6.

8 Thus Luther recommends us to “pause at any verse of Scripture we choose, and to shake, as it were, every bough of it; that, if possible, some fruit at least may drop down to us. Should this mode”—he remarks—“appear somewhat difficult at first, and no thought suggest itself immediately to the mind capable of affording matter for a short ejaculation; yet persevere, and try another and another bough. If your soul really hungers, the Spirit of God will not send you away empty. You shall at length find in one, and that perhaps a short verse in Scripture, such an abundance of delicious fruit, that you will gladly seat yourself under its shade, and abide there, as under a tree laden with fruit.”

Psalm 119:99  I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. 

• than all (KJV): De 4:6-8 2Sa 15:24-26 1Ch 15:11-13 2Ch 29:15-36 30:22 Jer 2:8 Jer 8:8,9 Mt 11:25 13:11 15:6-9,14 23:24-36 Heb 5:12 
• for thy (KJV): Ps 119:24 2Ti 3:15-17

I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation.  (Job15:4 Ps19:14 49:3 104:34 119:97 119:99):Such meditation on the true history and meaning of life as found in the Bible, will indeed yield more true wisdom than can be obtained in modern education as it is influenced by the false philosophy of evolutionary humanism. The psalmist taught an important educational principle. Only one who obeys the Word of the Lord can fully understand it (119:33-34). Divine truth is not something to be contemplated from a distance. It must be grappled with in the arena of everyday experience. True wisdom depends upon obedience to God's precepts. (86:11 Jn7:17). Meditation is to the soul what digestion is to the body. To meditate means to “turn over” God’s Word in the mind and heart, to examine it, to compare Scripture with Scripture, to “feed on” its wonderful truths. In this day of noise and confusion, such meditation is rare but so needful. Meditation is impossible without memorization.Reading the Bible without meditating on it is like eating without chewing. We must read 
    Scripture every day
    And meditate on what God said
    To fight temptation from the world
    And live a life that's Spirit led.
--Sper

Spurgeon - O young man! build thy studio on Calvary; there raise thine observatory, and scan by faith the lofty things of Nature. Take thee a hermit’s cell in the garden of Gethsemane, and lave thy brow with the waters of Siloa. Let the Bible be thy standard classic, thy last appeal in matters of contention; let its light be thine illumination: and thou shalt become more wise than Plato, more truly learned than the seven sages of antiquity.

Gurnall - Meditation is prayer’s handmaid, to wait on it both before and after the performance. It is as the plough before the sower to prepare the heart for the duty of prayer, and the harrow to cover the seed when ‘tis sown. As the hopper feeds the mill with grist, so does meditation supply the heart with matter for prayer.

Henry Morris - Such meditation on the true history and meaning of life as found in the Bible, will indeed yield more true wisdom than can be obtained in modern education as it is influenced by the false philosophy of evolutionary humanism.

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Charles Bridges - See comment above

Psalm 119:100  I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts. 

• understand (KJV): 1Ki 12:6-15 Job 12:12 15:9,10 32:4,10 
• because (KJV): Ps 111:10 Job 28:28 Jer 8:8,9 Mt 7:24 Jas 3:13 

I understand more than the aged,

Because I have observed Your precepts.  Lxx provides clue as to what observed means here...diligently searching out God's Truth (Lxx = ekzeteo  -  of diligent investigation scrutinize, search out 1Pe1.10; of careful search for someone or  someth. seek out, search for Heb 11:6 ) 

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Charles Bridges - See comment above

Psalm 119:101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. 

• refrained (KJV): Ps 119:59,60,104,126 18:23 Pr 1:15 Isa 53:6 55:7 Jer 2:36 Tit 2:11,12 1Pe 2:1,2 3:10,11 

I have restrained my feet from every evil way - The only way one can accomplish this is by continually relying on the Holy Spirit. Paul writes "if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are (continually) putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Ro 8:13+) See the discussion of the Paradoxical Principle of 100% Dependent and 100% Responsible (100/100)

That I may keep Your word - This makes sense, because of we run to evil, we will not run to the Word (1Pe 2:1+ = evil which blunts the desire in 1Pe 2:2+). 

THOUGHT - This is  a key principle of spiritual growth: you must set aside sin if you expect to benefit from God’s Word. Peter expressed the same thought when he said, “Putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:1–2). Likewise, James admonished us to put off sin and receive the Word (James 1:21+). Psalm 1:1+ shows the same pattern of need for restraint if one is to desire the word in Ps 1:2. 

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Charles Bridges - David’s wisdom was of a practical—not of a mere intellectual or speculative character. It taught him to “keep the Lord’s precepts;” and in order to do this, to “refrain his feet from every evil way.” And will not advancing wisdom show itself by increasing tenderness of conscience and carefulness of conduct? The professor is afraid of hell—the child of God, of sin. The one refrains from the outward act—the other seeks to be crucified to the love of sin. Observe not only the practice but the motive—that he might keep the word. Shall we not “abhor that which is evil,” that we might “cleave to that which is good”9—abstaining from “all appearance of evil,”1 lest unconsciously we should be drawn into the atmosphere of sin—“hating even the garment spotted by the flesh”2—fearing the infection of sin worse than death? But how fearful the danger of self-deception! What need to entreat the Lord to “see if there be any wicked way in us!”3 Oh! for the large supply of grace and unction, to maintain an upright walk before a heart-searching God; to “keep ourselves from our iniquity;”4 and in dependence upon the promises, and in the strength of the Gospel, to “perfect holiness in the fear of God!”5

But how awful to hear men talk of keeping the word in a loose and careless profession! For how can it be kept, if the heart has not felt its holiness? For this is its beautiful peculiarity; that, in order to keep it, there must be a separation from sin. The two things are incompatible with each other. The two services are at variance at every point; so that the love of sin must he cast out where the love of God is ingrafted in the heart. Yet so strongly are we disposed to every evil way, that only the Almighty power of grace can enable us to “refrain from” one or another crooked path. Often is the pilgrim (yea, has it not too often happened to ourselves?) held back by a temporary ascendency of the flesh—by a little license given to sin—or by a relaxed circumspection of walk. At such seasons the blessed privilege of “keeping the word” is lost. We are sensible of a declining delight in those spiritual duties, which before were “our chiefest joy.” And “is there not a cause?” Have we not provoked our gracious God by harboring his enemy in our bosom—nay, more—by pleading for its indulgence? Has not “the Holy Spirit been grieved” by neglect, or by some worldly compliance: so that his light has been obscured, and his comforting influence quenched? No consolations, consistent with the love and power of sin, can ever come from the Lord. For the holiness of the word of God cannot be either spiritually understood, or experimentally enjoyed, but in a consistent Christian walk. And yet such is the true blessedness of the word, that the very expectation of keeping it may operate as a principle of restraint “from every evil way.”

Is there any bondage in this restraint from sin? Oh, no! Sin is slavery; and therefore deliverance from it is “perfect freedom.” There is indeed a legal restraint much to be deprecated, when the conscience is goaded by sins of omission or of wilfulness; and the man, ignorant of, or imperfectly acquainted with, the only way of deliverance, hopes to get rid of his burden by a more circumspect walk. But not till he casts it at the foot of the cross, and learns to look wholly to Jesus his deliverer, can he form his resolution upon safe and effectual grounds. Oh, may I therefore seek to abide within a constant view of Calvary! Sin will live everywhere, but under the cross of Jesus. Here it withers and dies. Here rises the spring of that holiness, contrition and love, which refreshes and quickens the soul. Here then let me live; here let me die.1

Blessed Lord! Thou knowest that I desire to “keep thy word.” Prepare my heart to receive and to retain it. May I so “abide in Christ,” that I may receive the sanctifying help of his Spirit for every moment’s need! And while I rejoice in him as my Saviour, may I become daily more sensible of every deviation from the straight path! May my eye guide my feet! “Looking to Jesus,” may I have light and grace! And may daily grace be given to “refrain my feet from every evil way, that I may keep thy word!”

9 Rom. 12:9.

1 1 Thess. 5:22.

2 Jude 23.

3 Psalm 139:24

4 Ps 18:23.

5 2 Cor. 7:1.

1 “When I am assaulted by some wicked thought, I then betake me to the wounds of Christ. When my flesh casteth me down, by the remembrance of my Saviour’s wounds, I rise up again. Am I inflamed with lust? I quench that fire with the meditation of Christ’s passion. Christ died for us. There is nothing so deadly, that is not cured by the death of Christ.”—Augustine.

Psalm 119:102 I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, For You Yourself have taught me. 

• departed (KJV): Ps 18:21 Pr 5:7 Jer 32:40 
• for thou (KJV): Eph 4:20-24 1Th 2:13 1Jn 2:19,27 

I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, For You Yourself (God) have taught me - Not only had God's Spirit taught him but had empowered him to be able to keep God's ordinances. 

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Charles Bridges - If “I have refrained my feet from” sin—if “I have not departed from God’s judgments”—to him be all the glory. O my soul! art thou not a wonder to thyself? So prone to depart—to be carried away by uncertain notions—by the opposition of Satan—by the example or influence of the world—how is it, that thou art able to hold on thy way? Because the covenant of the Lord engages thy perseverance,—“I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.”2 While conscious of my own corrupt bias to depart, let me humbly and thankfully own the work of Divine teaching. Man’s teaching is powerless in advancing the soul one step in Christian progress. The teaching from above is “the light of life.”3 It gives not only the light, but the principle to improve it. It not only points the lesson, and makes it plain; but imparts the disposition to learn, and the grace to obey. So that now I see the beauty, the pleasantness, the peace, and the holiness of “the Lord’s judgments,” and am naturally constrained to walk in them. Oh how much more frequent would be our acknowledgment of the work of God, did we keep nearer to the Fountainhead of life and light!4 How may we trace every declension in doctrine and practice—all our continual estrangement from the Lord’s judgments—to following our own wisdom, or depending upon human teaching! “Trusting in man” is the departing of the heart from the Lord.5 I never shall depart from sin by the influence of human persuasion. I never shall depart from the Lord, so long as I have the witness in my heart—Thou teachest me.

Reader! what has been your habit and progress “in the judgments of God?” Have you been careful to avoid by-paths? Has your walk been consistent, steady, advancing “in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost?”6 If there has been no allowed departure from the ways of God, it has been the blessed fruit of “ceasing from your own wisdom,”1 and simple dependence upon the promise “written in the prophets—And they shall be all taught of God.” And how delightfully does this heavenly teaching draw your heart with a deeper sense of need and comfort to the Saviour! For, as he himself speaks, “every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.”2 Remember—it was no superior virtue or discernment, that has restrained your departure from God, but—“Thou hast taught me” the way to come to God; the way to abide in him—Christ the way—Christ the end. And his teaching will abide with you.3 It will win you by light and by love, and by a conquering power allure your heart with that delight in his judgments, and fear of offending against them, that shall prove an effectual safeguard in the hour of temptation. Watch the first step of departure—the neglect of secret prayer—the want of appetite for the sincere word—the laxing of diligence—the loss of the savor of godliness. Be careful therefore that the teaching of the Lord be not lost upon you. Inquire into your proficiency in his instructive lessons. And do not forget to prize his teaching rod—that loving correction, of which David had felt the blessing,4 and which he so often uses, to keep his children from “departing from his judgments.”

Lord! do thou lead me by the hand, that I may make daily progress in “thy judgments.” Restrain my feet from “perpetual backsliding.” All human instruction will be ineffectual to keep me from “departing from thy judgments,” except “thou teachest me.” Neither grace received, nor experience attained, nor engagements regarded, will secure me for one moment without continual teaching from thyself.

2 Jer. 32:40. Compare 31:33. 1 John 2:27.

3 1 John 5:12. Comp. Eph. 5:14.

4 Psalm 36:9.

5 Jer. 17:5.

6 Acts 9:31.

1 Prov. 23:4.

2 Isaiah 54:13, with John 6:45.

3 1 John 2:24, 27.

4 Ps 119:67.

Psalm 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 

• sweet: Ps 19:10 Ps 63:5 Job 23:12 Pr 3:17 8:11 24:13,14 Song 1:2-4 5:1 

THE SWEETNESS
OF GOD'S WORD

How sweet are Your words to my taste! - Hebrew literally reads "How smooth they are to my palate, your word, more than honey to my mouth." The sweetness of the Word is like honey to the taste. It is sad when the Christian must have the “honey” of this world to be satisfied. See Ps. 34:8 and Job 23:12. NASB note says taste literally = palate. NET - Heb “How smooth they are to my palate, your word, more than honey to my mouth.” 

Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 

Related Passages:

• Ps 1:1,2;19:7-11;Ps 119:16,24,35,47,
• Ps 119:48,72,92,97,103,
• Ps 119:111,113,127,159,167,174;Jer. 15:16 

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Charles Bridges - 

None but a child of God could take up this expression; because none besides has a spiritual taste. The exercises of David in this sacred word were delightfully varied. Its majesty commanded his reverence.5 Its riches calleth forth his love.6 Its sweetness excited his joy. Its holy light, keeping his heart close with God,7 naturally endeared it to his soul.8 How barren is a mere external knowledge of the Gospel! The natural man may talk or even dispute about its precious truths. But he has never tasted them—at least not so as to relish and feed on them. The highest commendation cannot explain the sweetness of honey9 to one who has never tasted it. Thus nothing but experience can give a spiritual intelligence. But what we have really tasted, we can warmly commend—“Oh! taste and see that the Lord is good.”1 Having once tasted of his Divine goodness, the sweetest joys of earth will be insipid, distasteful, and even bitter.

Do we ask—what is it that gives this unutterable sweetness to the word?2 Is it not that name, which “is as ointment poured forth?”3 Is it not “the savor of the knowledge in Christ,”4 that revives the soul in every page with the breath of heaven? For can the awakened sinner hear, that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”5—and not be ready to say, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey unto my mouth?” Can the weary soul listen to the invitation to “all that labor and are heavy laden;”6 and not feel the “sweetness” of those breathings of love? Who can tell the sweetness of those precious words to the conflicting, tempted soul—displaying the Divine sovereignty in choosing him—and the unchanging faithfulness in keeping him, and the almighty power of the Divine will, in the gift of eternal life?7 And how can the believer hear his Saviour “knock at the door” of his heart, calling him to fresh communion with himself;8 and not to turn to him with the ardent excitement of his love,—“All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad?”9

But are there not times when we gather no sweetness from the word? It is with the spiritual as with the natural food—a want of appetite gives disgust, instead of sweetness and refreshment. An indolent reading of the word without faith—without desire—without application—or with a taste vitiated by contact with the things of sense—deadens the palate—“The full soul loatheth the honey-comb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.”10

But how melancholy is the thought of the multitudes, that hear, read, understand the word, and yet have never tasted its sweetness! Like Barzillai, they have no sense to “discern between good and evil.”11 Full of the word, or of their own conceits—feeding on the delusive enjoyments of creature-comforts—nourishing some baneful corruption in their bosoms12—or cankered with the spirit of formality—they have no palate for the things of God; they are “dead in trespasses and sins.” But how sweet is the word to the hungering and thirsting taste! We eat, and are not satisfied. We drink, and long to drink again. “If so be we have tasted that the Lord is gracious, as new-born babes” we shall “desire the sincere milk of the word, that we may grow thereby.”13 We shall take heed of any indulgence of the flesh, which may hinder the spiritual enjoyment, and cause us to “loathe” even “angels’ food” as “light bread.”14 Instead of resting in our present experience of its sweetness, we shall be daily aspiring after higher relish for the heavenly blessing.1 And will not this experience be a “witness in ourselves” of the heavenly origin of the word? For what arguments could ever persuade us that honey is bitter, at the moment when we are tasting its sweetness? Or who could convince us, that this is the word of man, or the imposture of deceit, when its blessed influence has imparted peace, holiness, joy, support, and rest, infinitely beyond the power of man to bestow? But let this enjoyment—as the spiritual barometer—the pulse of the soul—accurately mark our progress or decline in the Divine life. With our advancement in spiritual health, the word will be increasingly “sweet to our taste:” while our declension will be marked by a corresponding abatement in our desires, love, and perception of its delights.

5 Ps 119:129, 161.

6 Ps 119:72, 127. Ps. 19:10.

7 Ps 119:102.

8 P119:140. Thrice in one short Psalm does he stir up his habit of praise of the word, and of the God that gave it. See Psalm 56:4, 10.

9 Prov. 24:13, 14.

1 Ps. 34:8.

2 Ps 19:10. Job 23:12.

3 Song 1:3.

4 2 Cor. 2:14.

5 John 3:16.

6 Matt. 11:28. Comp. Prov. 16:24.

7 John 10:28.

8 Rev. 3:20.

9 Psalm 45:8.

10 Prov. 27:7.

11 2 Samuel 19:35.

12 See 1 Peter 2:1, 2.

13 1Pe 2, 3.

14 Psalm 78:25. Numb. 21:5.

1 Castæ delicæ meæ sunt Scripturæ tuæ.—Augustine.

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Many of us live in countries where food is abundant and people are well-fed. That's why we may not be familiar with the symptoms of starvation. At the outset, victims have an insatiable craving for nourishment. As time passes, however, the body weakens, the mind is dulled, and the desire for something to eat wanes. In fact, starving people actually reach a point when they don't even want food that is placed before them. Spiritual starvation follows much the same course. If we have been feeding daily on God's Word, it's natural to feel "hungry" when we skip our quiet time. But if we continue to neglect it, we may lose all desire to study the Scriptures. In fact, we may be starving ourselves. How much time do you spend reading the Bible and meditating on its truths? Do you miss the Word when you neglect it? Thomas Guthrie wrote, "If you find yourself loving any pleasure better than your prayers, any book better than the Bible, any persons better than Christ, or any indulgence better than the hope of heaven--take alarm." If you've lost your taste for the "bread of life," confess your negligence and ask God to revive your appetite for His Word. Avoid spiritual starvation! --RWD  (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me, 
As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea. 
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord; 
My spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word.
-Lathbury

A well-read Bible is a sign of a well-fed soul.

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I don't know whether I'm going through a second childhood or what, but lately I've been craving a box of Cracker Jack. Do you know what I'm talking about--the candy-covered popcorn and peanuts in a box with young Sailor Jack on the label? I remember the slogan: "The more you eat, the more you want!" Cracker Jack is great, but there is something far better. David said it is "sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Ps. 19:10). And like the candied popcorn, "the more you eat, the more you want." The more you read the Bible, the more you will desire to read it. It is an appetite that grows as it feeds, and feeds as it grows. 
    Bible study is habit-forming; like your teatime or coffeebreak. One of the first things I do when I rise in the morning is put the kettle on. It's a habit, for I want my coffee. And then with my coffee I sit down with the Book. Reaching for the Bible the first thing in the morning can become a real habit--and a good one. You wouldn't think of going to work without breakfast, but are you going into the day without your spiritual food?  Get the early morning Bible-reading habit, and keep it up until you can't break it. Reach for the Book! --M. R. De Haan, M.D. (founder of RBC Ministries) 

Then let me love my Bible more
And take a fresh delight
By day to read these wonders o'er
And meditate by night. --Watts

Those who only sample the Bible never acquire a taste for it.

---

I don't know whether I'm going through a second childhood or what, but lately I've been craving a box of Cracker Jack. Do you know what I'm talking about--the candy-covered popcorn and peanuts in a box with young Sailor Jack on the label? I remember the slogan: "The more you eat, the more you want!" Cracker Jack is great, but there is something far better. David said it is "sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Ps. 19:10). And like the candied popcorn, "the more you eat, the more you want." The more you read the Bible, the more you will desire to read it. It is an appetite that grows as it feeds, and feeds as it grows. 

Bible study is habit-forming; like your teatime or coffeebreak. One of the first things I do when I rise in the morning is put the kettle on. It's a habit, for I want my coffee. And then with my coffee I sit down with the Book. Reaching for the Bible the first thing in the morning can become a real habit--and a good one. You wouldn't think of going to work without breakfast, but are you going into the day without your spiritual food?  Get the early morning Bible-reading habit, and keep it up until you can't break it. Reach for the Book! --M. R. De Haan, M.D (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Then let me love my Bible more
And take a fresh delight
By day to read these wonders o'er
And meditate by night.
--Watts

Those who only sample the Bible never acquire a taste for it.

---

Many of us live in countries where food is abundant and people are well-fed. That's why we may not be familiar with the symptoms of starvation. At the outset, victims have an insatiable craving for nourishment. As time passes, however, the body weakens, the mind is dulled, and the desire for something to eat wanes. In fact, starving people actually reach a point when they don't even want food that is placed before them. Spiritual starvation follows much the same course. If we have been feeding daily on God's Word, it's natural to feel "hungry" when we skip our quiet time. But if we continue to neglect it, we may lose all desire to study the Scriptures. In fact, we may be starving ourselves. How much time do you spend reading the Bible and meditating on its truths? Do you miss the Word when you neglect it? Thomas Guthrie wrote, "If you find yourself loving any pleasure better than your prayers, any book better than the Bible, any persons better than Christ, or any indulgence better than the hope of heaven--take alarm." If you've lost your taste for the "bread of life," confess your negligence and ask God to revive your appetite for His Word. Avoid spiritual starvation! --R W De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me, 
As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea. 
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord; 
My spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word.
--Lathbury

A well-read Bible is a sign of a well-fed soul.

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SAVOUR EVERY BITE
How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! —Psalm 119:103

My wife Martie often tells me, “Joe, you eat too fast! Slow down and enjoy your meal.” I’m usually done long before she is, because she takes the time to savour every bite.

I wonder how many of us rush through reading God’s Word without really savouring it. The psalmist said the following about it: “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Ps. 119:103). That sounds good to me!

What are the benefits of taking our time over Scripture? A daily meal of God’s Word helps to keep anxiety, pride, fear and temptation from taking over, and strengthens us for a victorious journey. The Word gives us wisdom and understanding (vv.98-100). And it helps restrain our feet from evil (v.101). Just as our digestive system sends nutrients to our bodies, God’s Word, when read, strengthens our minds, our emotions and our will.

Rather than grabbing the Word on the run just before dashing out the door, it’s important to read it at a time and in a place where we can really have fellowship with God.

Take the time and enjoy savouring the richness of God’s Word. Joe Stowell (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

SAVOUR THE RICHNESS OF GOD’S WORD.

Psalm 119:104 From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. 

• Through (KJV): Ps 119:98,100 
• therefore (KJV): Ps 119:128 36:4 97:10 101:3 Pr 8:13 Am 5:15 Ro 12:9 
• false way (KJV): Ps 119:29,30 Pr 14:12 Mt 7:13 

From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. 

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Charles Bridges - 

The Psalmist having spoken of the pleasure, now speaks of the profit—of the word—the teaching connected with its sweetness.2 Before, he had mentioned the avoiding of sin in order to profit3—now, as the fruit of profit. So closely are they linked together. Man’s teaching conveys no, understanding—God’s teaching not only opens the Scriptures, but “opens the understanding to understand them,” and the heart to feel their heavenly warmth of life.4 Thus having learned “the principles of the doctrine of Christ,” we shall “go on to perfection”—“growing in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ.”5 Many inconsistencies belong to the young and half-instructed Christian. But when through the precepts he gets understanding, he learns to walk more uniformly and steadily, abiding in the light. In this spirit and atmosphere springs up a constant and irreconcilable “hatred of every false way”—as contrary to the God he loves. These ways will include a thousand devious paths—all meeting in one fearful end—often discovered too late.6 In doctrine can we too much turn away from the thought of putting anything—the Church, ordinances, repentance, prayers, in the place of Jesus—another foundation in the stead of that which God himself laid in Zion? Oh for spiritual understanding to hate this false way with a deadly hatred! What think we of the ways of the sinful world—so long trusted to for happiness—yet so delusive? The sinner thinks that he has found a treasure, but it proves to be glittering trash—burdensome instead of enriching—only leaving him to the pain of disappointed hope. Rightly are such ways called false ways; and of those that tread in them, it is well said, “This their way is their folly.”7 Strewed they may be with the flowery “pleasures of sin.” But they are “hard”8 in their walk, and ruinous in their end.1 Inquire of those, whose past wanderings justly give weight to their verdict, ‘What is your retrospective view of these ways?’ Unprofitableness. ‘What is your present view of them?’ Shame. ‘What prospect for eternity would the continuance in them assure to you?’ “Death.”2 Let them then be not only avoided and forsaken, but abhorred; and let every deviation into them from the straight path, however pleasing, be “resisted” even “unto blood.”3

But let me ask myself, have I detected the “false ways” of my own heart? Little is done in spiritual religion, until my besetting sins are searched out. And let me not be satisfied with forbearance from the outward act. Sin may be restrained, yet not mortified; nor is it enough, that I leave it for the present, but I must renounce it for ever. Let me not part with it as with a beloved friend, with the hope and purpose of renewing my familiarity with it at a “more convenient season:”4 but let me shake it from me, as Paul shook off the viper into the fire,5 with determination and abhorrence? What! can I wish to hold it? If “through the precepts of God I have got understanding,” must not I listen to that solemn, pleading voice, “Oh! do not this abominable thing that I hate”?6 No, Lord: let me “pluck it out” of my heart, “and cast it from me.”7 Oh, for the high blessing of a tender conscience! such as shrinks from the approach, and “abstains from all appearance of evil;”8 not venturing to tamper with any self-pleasing way; but “hating” it as “false,” defiling, destructive! I have marked the apple of my eye—that tenderest particle of my frame—that it is not only offended by a blow or a wound; but that, if so much as an atom of dust find an entrance, it would smart, until it had wept it out. Now such may my conscience be—sensitive of the slightest touch of sin—not only fearful of resisting, rebelling, or “quenching the Spirit,” but grieving for every thought of sin, that grieves that blessed Comforter—that tender Friend! To “hate every false way,” so as to flee from it, is the highest proof of Christian courage. For never am I better prepared to “endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ,”9 than when my conscience is thus set against sin. Would not I then submit to the greatest suffering, rather than be convicted of unfaithfulness to my God?

Lord! turn my eyes, my heart, my feet, my ways, more and more to thy blessed self. Shed abroad thy love in my heart, that sin may be the daily matter of my watchfulness, grief, resistance, and crucifixion.

2 Prov. 2:10, 11; 16:21.

3 Ps 119:101.

4 Comp. Luke 24:45, 32.

5 Heb. 6:1. 2 Peter 3:18.

6 Prov. 5:11. Matt. 25:11, 12.

7 Psalm 49:13.

8 Prov. 13:15.

1 Matt. 8:12. Phil. 3:19.

2 Rom. 6:21.

3 Heb. 12:4.

4 Acts 24:25.

5 Acts 28:5.

6 Jer. 44:4.

7 Matt. 5:29.

8 1 These. 5:22.

9 2 Tim. 2:3.

Psalm 119:105 Nun. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. 

• word : Ps 19:8 43:3 Pr 6:23 Eph 5:13 2Pe 1:19 
• lamp Ps 18:28 Job 29:3 

THE WORD OF GOD
LIGHTS OUR LIFE

Your word is a lamp to my feet (2Pe1:19): Why would you need a portable lamp? [Col1:13 Ac26:18 Ps 19:8] {LUCHNOS: portable lamp fed with oil, not a candle as commonly translated (Mt 5:15; Mk 4:21; Lu 8:16; 11:33, 36; 12:35, i.e., be ready, watch).  represents the eye (Mt 6:22; Lu 11:34; Ex 25:37; Zec 4:2). Metaphorically, of John the Baptist as a distinguished teacher (Jn 5:35); of the Messiah, the lamb (Rev 21:23 [Pr 6:23]). Syn.: lampás = torch, but frequently fed like a lamp with oil from a little vessel used for the purpose} On a hazardous journey, the torch was most necessary. God’s Word is the true light to guide the believer through life (cf. Pr 6:23; Jn 8:12). 

God's Word illuminates the path that leads to everlasting life. God's Word lights our journey thru this spiritually dark world. Indeed there is not a single terrain of life, upon which the Holy Scriptures do not enlighten us by pointing us to the correct principles, according to which we should handle ourselves to live to the honour of God. 
    
Of course, we receive no light if we in our confusion make the Bible to fall open by chance in the hope of finding a text that will show us the way. This is playing with God’s Word. However, if this Word is our spiritual possession, if we breathe and live it, yes, then it becomes to us what the shining pillar of fire was to Israel,—a light upon our path and lamp before our feet, that we have to follow, follow continually, to arrive in the land of blessed rest.

And a light to my path Lamps burning olive oil were highly valued for use in people's homes (Pr 13:9). Light is closely related to life and happiness, which may account for the frequent comparisons between God and light. {phos: Mt 4:16:} Path {lxx: TRIBOS: worn or beaten path or rut; the high road; rubbing; Mt 3:3 quoting Isa 40:3} We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus that we should walk in them. Ep 2:10.

In Bible times there were no powerful flashlights. On a hazardous journey, the torch was most necessary. God's Word is the true light to guide the believer through life (cf. Prov. 6:23; John 8:12). The traveler carried a small oil lamp, whose flax wick gave off only a little light. There was enough to see by. Not enough to see what lay ahead down the path, but enough to take the next step without stumbling or falling. What a reminder for us. The Word of God is a lamp to our path. It doesn’t illuminate our future, but it does shine in our present. God’s Word gives us the light we need to take our next step in life.

The way a Christian treats his Bible shows how he regards Jesus Christ. He is the living Word (Jn 1:1, 14), and the Bible is the written Word; but in essence they are the same. Both are bread (Mt 4:4; Jn 6:48), light (Ps 119:105; Jn 8:12), and truth (John 14:6; 17:17). The Holy Spirit gave birth to Jesus Christ through a holy woman (Luke 1:35), and He gave birth to the Bible through holy men of God (2 Peter 1:20–21). Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God forever (Rom. 1:25), and the Word of God will live forever (Ps. 119:89; 1 Peter 1:23, 25). 

It may be a personal prejudice, but I dislike seeing a Bible on the floor or at the bottom of a stack of books. If I am carrying several books with my Bible, I try to remember to put the Bible on the top. If we appreciate the Bible as the inspired Word of God, then we will reveal this appreciation in our treatment of the Bible. 
Would you rather have your Bible than food? Job said, “I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). God’s Word is bread (Matt. 4:4), milk and meat (Heb. 5:11–14), and even honey (Ps. 119:103). Mary chose the Word, but her sister Martha got involved in making a meal (Luke 10:38–42). Mary got the blessing while Martha lost the victory. 

Would you rather have God’s Word than money? The believer who wrote Psalm 119 made it clear that God’s Word meant more to him than “all riches” (Ps. 119:14), “thousands of gold and silver” (Ps. 119:72), “fine gold” (Ps. 119:127), and even “great spoil” (Ps. 119:162). 

THE WORD IS (Ps 19:8 43:3 Pr 6:23 Ep 5:13 2Pe 1:19): DABAR: The psalmist  vows to followed the light wherever it may lead and whatever dangers may be involved.This is a dark world and the only dependable light is the Word of God (2Pe1:19-21). It leads us a step at a time, as we walk in obedience. 1Jn1:5-10 tells us we walk in the light as we obey His Word.

Henry Ward Beecher -- “The Bible is God’s chart for you to steer by, to keep you from the bottom of the sea, and to show you where the harbour is, and how to reach it without running on rocks or bars.”
    
D. L. Moody - “There’s no better book with which to defend the Bible than the Bible itself.”
    
Oliver Wendell Holmes - “What you bring away from the Bible depends to some extent on what you carry to it.”
    
D.L. Moody - “The study of God’s Word brings peace to the heart. In it, we find a light for every darkness, life in death, the promise of our Lord’s return, and the assurance of everlasting glory.”
    
Phillips Brooks - “The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees worlds beyond: but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that. The Bible is a thing to be looked through, to see that which is beyond; but most people only look at it; and so they see only the dead letter.”

A LAMP (2Pe1:19): Why would you need a portable lamp? [Col1:13 Ac26:18 Ps19:8] {LUCHNOS: portable lamp fed with oil, not a candle as commonly translated (Mt5:15; Mk4:21; Lu 8:16; 11:33, 36; 12:35, i.e., be ready, watch).  represents the eye (Mt6:22; Lu 11:34; Ex25:37; Zec4:2). Metaphorically, of John the Baptist as a distinguished teacher (Jn 5:35); of the Messiah, the lamb (Rev21:23 [Pr6:23]). Syn.: lampás = torch, but frequently fed like a lamp with oil from a little vessel used for the purpose}

TO MY FEET: {pous} On a hazardous journey, the torch was most necessary. God’s Word is the true light to guide the believer through life (cf. Pr 6:23; Jn 8:12). 

God's Word illuminates the path that leads to everlasting life. God's Word lights our journey thru this spiritually dark world. Indeed there is not a single terrain of life, upon which the Holy Scriptures do not enlighten us by pointing us to the correct principles, according to which we should handle ourselves to live to the honour of God. 

Of course, we receive no light if we in our confusion make the Bible to fall open by chance in the hope of finding a text that will show us the way. This is playing with God’s Word. However, if this Word is our spiritual possession, if we breathe and live it, yes, then it becomes to us what the shining pillar of fire was to Israel,—a light upon our path and lamp before our feet, that we have to follow, follow continually, to arrive in the land of blessed rest.

AND A LIGHT: Lamps burning olive oil were highly valued for use in people's homes (Pr 13:9). Light is closely related to life and happiness, which may account for the frequent comparisons between God and light. {phos: Mt 4:16:} 

TO MY PATH: {lxx: TRIBOS: worn or beaten path or rut; the high road; rubbing; Mt 3:3 quoting Isa 40:3} We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus that we shouls walk in them. Ep 2:10. In Bible times there were no powerful flashlights. The traveler carried a small oil lamp, whose flax wick gave off only a little light. There was enough to see by. Not enough to see what lay ahead down the path, but enough to take the next step without stumbling or falling. What a reminder for us. The Word of God is a lamp to our path. It doesn’t illuminate our future, but it does shine in our present. God’s Word gives us the light we need to take our next step in life.

From Pilgrim's Progress, the First Stage: "The man therefore read it, and looking upon Evangelist very carefully, said, "Whither must I fly?" Then said Evangelist, (pointing with his finger over a very wide field,) "Do you see yonder wicket-gate?" Mt 7:13,14. The man said, "No." Then said the other, "Do you see yonder shining light?" Ps 119:105; 2 Pe 1:19. He said, "I think I do." Then said Evangelist, "Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly thereto, so shalt thou see the gate; at which, when thou knockest, it shall be told thee what thou shalt do." So I saw in my dream that the man began to run. Now he had not run far from his own door when his wife and children, perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on crying, Life! life! eternal life! Lu 14:26. So he looked not behind him, Ge 19:17, but fled towards the middle of the plain."

Related Resources:

• Inductive Bible Study: Application
• Meditation - An Application of Inductive Bible Study
• Primer on Biblical Meditation
• Memorizing His Word
• Power of God's Word
• A.W.Pink "Profiting From the Word" 
• Expository Notes on 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Timothy 3:17
• Expository Notes on 1 Peter 2:1; 1 Peter 2:2
• Authority of God's Word - study on 2 Timothy 3:16-17
• Ezra 7:10 - Exposition of the "Ezra 7:10 Principle"
• Job's "Secret" of perseverance?
• A Primer on the Lost Art of Biblical Meditation
• Watch the incredible youtube video The Indestructible Book - How We Got our English Bible - 3 hours, 37 minutes - It will make you weep!
• 1 Peter 2:1-3 Hungering for God's Word - John MacArthur
• 1 Peter 2:1-3 Desiring the Word - John MacArthur
• 1 Peter 2:1-3 Longing for the Word - John MacArthur
• 1 Peter 2:1-3 Cultivating a Hunger for God's Word - John MacArthur
• The Sufficiency of Scripture - John MacArthur
• The Sufficiency of Scripture - Part 1 - John MacArthur
• The Sufficiency of Scripture - Part 2 - John MacArthur
• Life Hid and Not Hid by Alexander Maclaren
• The Necessity of Scripture - William D. Barrick
• The Bible “A Lamp Unto My Feet by Greg Herrick
• Rationality, Meaningfulness & Precision of Scripture - Robert L. Thomas
• The Authority of Scripture - excellent article by Richard L. Mayhue
• The Word-Filled Life - Developing the Mind of Christ by Hampton Keathley III
• Psalm 1 Delighting in the Law of God - John Piper
• Psalm 1 Meditate on the Word of the Lord Day and Night - John Piper
• Psalm 1 Delighting In The Word - Scott Grant
• Psalm 1:2 - Notes on this Passage - C H Spurgeon
• Psalm 1:1,2 Separated and Saturated - Warren Wiersbe
• The Authority & Power of the Word upon the Heart - J C Philpot
• Benefits Arising From the Word of God - Charles Simeon's Sermon on Micah 2:7

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Warren Wiersbe - A Light in the Darkness
 
Read Psalm 119:105-112
 
You probably know the following verse well, but read it aloud as though you were hearing it for the first time. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). What lessons can we learn from that statement?
 
The world is dark. It is in a constant state of moral and intellectual darkness. We have more education today and less wisdom. People make foolish decisions. The world is also dark spiritually. Satan has numbed people's minds. They don't want to see the light of the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
 
The way is definite. How do we make it through this dark world? God has marked out a definite path for each one of us, and we don't have to be afraid of where it leads. It is a path of life, blessing and righteousness.
 
Our walk is deliberate. As we take each step, we see more of what God has for us. Sometimes I would like to have a spotlight that shines for miles down the road. But God says, "You're going to learn to walk by faith. You're going to learn to walk by patience, by My promise."
 
The Word is dependable. That lamp of the Word will not go out, and it will not lead us astray. When you read your Bible and let its truth shine on your path, God will show you what He wants you to do.
* * *
Because your walk is by faith, you can see ahead only a step at a time. Be encouraged that the way is definite and deliberate and that God's Word is dependable. Let it be the light of life that guides you as you walk through this dark world today. (Psalm 119:105 How the Light Works)

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Charles Bridges - The nightly journeys of Israel were guided by a pillar of fire1—not only directing their course, but every step and movement.2 Thus is our passage in a dark and perilous way irradiated by the lamp and light of the word. But except the lamp be lighted—except the teaching of the Spirit accompany the word, all is darkness—thick darkness. Let us not then be content to read the word without obtaining some light from it in our understanding—in our experience—in our Providential path. Did we more habitually wait to receive, and watch to improve the light, we should not so often complain of the perplexity of our path. It would generally determine our steps under infallible guidance; while in the presumptuous neglect of it—like Israel of old3—we are sure to come into trouble.

Yet it may sometimes be difficult to trace our light to this heavenly source. A promise may seem to be applied to my mind, as I conceive, suitable to my present need. But how may I determine, whether it is “the lamp of the word;” or some delusive light from him, who can at any time, for the accomplishment of his own purpose, transform himself “into an angel of light?” Or if a threatening be impressed upon my conscience, how can I accurately distinguish between the voice of “the accuser of the brethren,” and the warning of my heavenly guide? Let me mark the state of my own mind. If I am living in the indulgence of any known sin, or in the neglect of any known duty—if my spirit is careless, or my walk unsteady; a consoling promise, being unsuitable to my case, even though it awakened some excitement of joy, would be of doubtful application. “The lamp” of God, under the circumstances supposed, would rather reflect the light of conviction than of consolation. For, though God as a Sovereign may speak comfort when and where he pleases; yet we can only expect him to deal with us according to the prescribed rules of his own covenant, chastening, not comforting, his backsliding people.4 In a spirit of contrition, however, I should not hesitate to receive a word of encouragement, as the lamp of God to direct and cheer my progress; being conscious of that state of feeling, in which the Lord has expressly promised to restore and guide his people.5 Let me also inquire into the terms and character of the promise. When he “that dwelleth in the high and holy place,” engages to dwell “with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit;”6 any symptoms of tenderness and humility would naturally lead me to consider this word of promise, as sent by my kind and watchful Father, to be “a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

Again—a distinct and experimental view of the Saviour in his promises, endearing him to me, and encouraging my trust on his faithfulness and love—this is manifestly light from above.1 Or if the purpose of the promise answers any proper end—to excite or to encourage to any present duty connected with the promise; I cannot doubt, but the lamp of the Lord is directing my path.

For example—when the promise was given to Joshua, “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee;”2 he could not misconstrue “a word” so “fitly spoken” “in a time of need.” And when the same promise was subsequently given to the Church, the application was equally clear, as a dissuasive from inordinate attachment to the things of time and sense, and an encouragement to entire dependence upon the Lord.3

Further—The practical influence of the word will also enable me clearly to distinguish the light of heaven from any illusion of fancy or presumption. The effect of an unconditional promise of deliverance given to the Apostle in a moment of extremity, was exhibited in a diligent use of all the appointed means of safety.4 An absolute promise of prolonged life given to Hezekiah when lying at the point of death, produced the same practical result, in a scrupulous attention to the means for his recovery.5 Upon the warrant of a general promise of Divine protection, Ezra and the Jews “fasted, and besought their God for this.”6 Now in these and other instances, the power of the word, working diligence, simplicity, and prayer, evidently proved its sacred origin. An assurance of safety proceeding from another source, would have produced sloth, carelessness, and presumption; and therefore may I not presume the quickening word in darkness and perplexity, to be the Lord’s “lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path,” “to guide my feet into the way of peace?”

Let me apply the same test to the threatenings of the word. Its influence, meeting me in a watchful and humble walk with God, I should at once consider as the suggestion of the great enemy of the soul, ever ready to whisper distrust and despondency to the child of God. But in a self-confident, self-indulgent state, I should have as little hesitation in marking an alarming word to be the light of the word of God. It would be well for me at such a time to be exercised with fear;7 not as arguing any insecurity in my state; but as leading me to “great searchings of heart, to increasing watchfulness, humiliation and prayer.” “The commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.”8 Oh that I may be enabled to make use of this lamp, to direct every step of my heavenly way!

Whence then—it may be asked—the various tracks even of the sincere servants of God? Though there is clear light in the word yet there is remaining darkness in the most enlightened heart. There is no eye without a speck—no eye with perfect singleness of vision—consequently without some liability to error. There is light for the teachable—not for the curious;—light to satisfy faith—not cavilling. Add to this the office of the ministry—the Lord’s gracious ordinance for Christian instruction1 and establishment2—not to enslave,3 but to direct4 the judgment in the light of the word. To honor this ordinance is therefore the path of light. To neglect it, is the exposure to all the evils of a wayward will and undisciplined judgment.5

Lord! as every action of the day is a step to heaven or hell—Oh! save me from ever turning my face away from the path, into which thy word would guide me. Enable me to avail myself of its light, in the constant exercise of faith, prudence, and simplicity.

1 Exod. 13:21, 22.

2 Numb. 9:15–23.

3  Nu 14:44, 45.

4 Comp. Psalm 89:30–32.

5 Comp. Isaiah 57:18.

6 Isa 57:15.

1 Comp. 2 Cor. 1:20.

2 Joshua 1:5.

3 Hebrews 13:5.

4 Acts 27:24, 31.

5 Isaiah 38:5, 21.

6 Ezra 8:21–23.

7 Compare 1 Cor. 9:27.

8 Prov. 6:23.

1 Mal. 2:7.

2 Eph. 4:10–14.

3 2 Cor. 1:24. 1 Peter 5:3.

4 2 Cor. 13:10. Eph. 4:13. 1 Thess. 3:10.

5 2 Tim. 4:3, 4.

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SPURGEON:Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. 

We are often called to go out into the darkness; let us never venture without the light-giving Word. Each of us should use the Word of God personally, practically, and habitually, to see the way and what lies in it. Having no fixed lamps in eastern towns, in old time each passenger carried a lantern with him that he might not fall into the open sewer, or stumble over the heaps of excrement which defiled the road. This is a true picture of our path through this dark world. One of the most practical benefits of Holy Writ is guidance in the acts of daily life: it is not sent to astound us with its brilliance, but to guide us by its instruction. It is true the head needs illumination, but even more the feet need direction, else head and feet may both fall into a ditch. 

And a light unto my path. 

Whoever walks in darkness is sure, sooner or later, to stumble, while the one who walks by the light of day, or by the lamp of night, does not stumble but keeps upright. Ignorance is painful upon practical subjects; it breeds indecision and suspense, and these are uncomfortable: the Word of God, by imparting heavenly knowledge, leads to decision, and when that is followed by determined resolution, as in this case, it brings with it great restfulness of heart. This verse converses with God in adoring and yet familiar tones. Have we not something of like tenor to address to our Heavenly Father?

Note how like v1 this is, and the first verse of other octaves.

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Metaphors for the Bible and the Words of God

a)    Scripture Is like a Counselor Ps. 119:24 
b)    Scripture Is like Fire Je 5:14; Je 23:29 
c)    Scripture Is like Gold Ps. 19:9–10
d)    Scripture Is like a Hammer Jer. 23:29 
e)    Scripture Is like a Heritage Ps. 119:111 
f)    Scripture Is like Honey Ps. 19:9–10; Ps. 119:103 
g)    Scripture Is like a Lamp Ps. 119:105 
h)    Scripture Is like a Light Ps 119:105; Ps 119:130; 2 Pe 1:19 
i)    Scripture Is like Milk 1 Co 3:1–3; Heb. 5:11–13; 1 Pe 2:2 
j)    Scripture Is like a Mirror Jas 1:23–25
k)    Scripture Is like Rain Isa 55:10–11
l)    Scripture Is like a Seed 1 Pe 1:23 
m)    Scripture Is like Snow Isa 55:10–11
n)    Scripture Is like Solid Food Heb 5:11–12, 14
o)    Scripture Is like a Sword Eph 6:17; Heb. 4:12 
p)    Scripture Is like Water Eph. 5:25–26

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God’s Compass

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105

During World War II, small compasses saved the lives of 27 sailors 300 miles off the coast of North Carolina. Waldemar Semenov, a retired merchant seaman, was serving as a junior engineer aboard the SS Alcoa Guide when a German submarine surfaced and opened fire on the ship. The ship was hit, caught fire, and began to sink. Semenov and his crew lowered compass-equipped lifeboats into the water and used the compasses to guide them toward the shipping lanes closer to shore. After three days, the men were rescued.

The psalmist reminded God’s people that His Word was a trustworthy “compass.” He likened it to a lamp. In that day, the flickering light cast by an olive oil lamp was only bright enough to show a traveler his next step. To the psalmist, God’s Word was such a lamp, providing enough light to illuminate the path for those pursuing God (Ps. 119:105). When the psalmist was wandering in the dark on a chaotic path of life, he believed that God, through the guidance of His Word, would provide direction.By:  Marvin Williams (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

When we lose our bearings in life, we can trust our God who gives His trustworthy Word as our compass, using it to lead us into deeper fellowship with Him.

Heavenly Father, it is difficult to navigate life. I drift sometimes, but I will trust in You. Lead me and guide me by the faithfulness and reliability of Your Word.

God has given us His Word to help us know and follow Him.

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What Does It Really Mean?

Read: Psalm 119:105-112 

Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. —Psalm 119:105

A father was telling his son the Bible story about Lot. He said, “God was going to destroy the city of Sodom, so He warned Lot to take his wife and flee. But when Lot’s wife looked back, she turned into a pillar of salt.” Puzzled, the boy asked, “What happened to the flea?”

This humorous misunderstanding points out a deeper problem some of us have with the words of the Bible. Although we believe that every word of Scripture is inspired, this doesn’t mean we should take every word literally regardless of its context. Some people seem to do this and thereby miss the true meaning of many Bible passages.

The Bible is filled with images—word pictures we call similes and metaphors. The book of James gives us a classic example, calling the tongue “a fire” (James 3:6). We know it doesn’t mean that we have a literal flame in our mouth. Jesus used figurative language too. He said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out” (Mt. 5:29). What He meant, of course, is that we should take strong measures to keep ourselves from sin.

We need to listen carefully to what God is saying in His Word so we can put it into practice. His Word is a “lamp” for our feet and a “light” for our path (Ps. 119:105). By Dennis J. DeHaan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE
Observation: What does the context say?
Interpretation: What does the text mean?
Application: What does it mean to your life?

A text taken out of context becomes a pretext.

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Henry Ward Beecher -- “The Bible is God’s chart for you to steer by, to keep you from the bottom of the sea, and to show you where the harbour is, and how to reach it without running on rocks or bars.”

D. L. Moody - “There’s no better book with which to defend the Bible than the Bible itself.”
    
Oliver Wendell Holmes - “What you bring away from the Bible depends to some extent on what you carry to it.”
    
D. L. Moody - “The study of God’s Word brings peace to the heart. In it, we find a light for every darkness, life in death, the promise of our Lord’s return, and the assurance of everlasting glory.”

Phillips Brooks - “The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees worlds beyond: but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that. The Bible is a thing to be looked through, to see that which is beyond; but most people only look at it; and so they see only the dead letter.”

Related Resources: 

• The Word of God - Quotations and Illustrations

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Spiritual Navigation

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. —Psalm 119:105

Today's Scripture & Insight: Psalm 119:97-106

Dava Sobel’s award-winning book Longitude describes a dilemma faced by early sailors. They could readily determine their latitude north or south of the equator by the length of the day or height of the sun. Calculating east/west longitude, however, remained complex and unreliable until English clockmaker John Harrison invented the marine chronometer. This was “a clock that would carry the true time from the home port . . . to any remote corner of the world,” thus enabling sailors to determine longitude.

As we navigate the seas of life, we also have a reliable source of spiritual direction—the Bible. The psalmist wrote, “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Ps. 119:97). Rather than occasionally glancing at God’s Word, he spoke of pondering the Lord’s directions throughout each day: “Your testimonies are my meditation” (v.99). This was coupled with a commitment to obey the Author: “I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments” (v.106).

Like the mariners of old, we need a constant guide to help us find our way and stay on course. That’s what happens when we seek the Lord day by day with an open heart and a willing spirit that says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” By:  David C. McCasland (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Reflect & Pray

We need God’s guidance from above,
His daily leading and His love;
As we trust Him for direction,
To our course He’ll give correction.
—Fitzhugh

With God as your navigator, you’re headed in the right direction.

Psalm 119:106 I have sworn and I will confirm it, That I will keep Your righteous ordinances. 

• sworn (KJV): Ps 56:12 66:13,14 2Ch 15:13,14 Ne 10:29 Ec 5:4,5 Mt 5:33 2Co 8:5 
• that I will (KJV): Ps 119:115 2Ki 23:3 

 I have sworn and I will confirm it, That I will keep Your righteous ordinances. 

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Charles Bridges - 

The blessing of the guidance of the Lord’s word naturally strengthens our resolution to walk in its path. And as if a simple resolution would prove too weak, the Psalmist strengthens it with an oath. Nay more, as if an oath was hardly sufficient security, he seconds it again with a firm resolution, “I have sworn, and I will perform it.” ‘There shall be but one will between me and my God; and that will shall be his, not mine.’ Some timid Christians, under a morbid sense of their weakness, would shrink from this solemn engagement. And some, perhaps, may have burdened their consciences with unadvised or self-dependent obligations.6 Still, however, when it is a free-will offering, it is a delightful service, well-pleasing to God. Such it was in the days of Asa, when “all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them.”7 Vows under the law were both binding and acceptable.8 Nor are they less so—in their spirit at least—under “the perfect law of liberty.” A holy promise, originating in serious consideration, and established by a more solemn obligation, so far from being repugnant to the liberty of the Gospel, appears to have been enjoined by God himself;1 nay, his people are described as animating each other to it, as to a most joyous privilege;2 as a renewed act of faith and daily dedication.

Yet we would warn the inconsiderate Christian not to entangle his conscience by multiplied vows (as if they were—like prayer—a component part of our daily religion;) nor by perpetual obligation—whether of restraint or of extraordinary exercises; nor by connecting them with trifles—thus weakening the deep solemnity of the purpose. Christian simplicity must be their principle. Our engagements to God must be grounded on his engagements to us. His faithfulness—not ours3—must be our confidence. There is no innate power in these obligations; and except they be made in self-renouncing dedication, they will only issue in despondency and deeper captivity in sin.

But the inconsiderateness of the unwary is no legitimate argument against their importance. If Jephthah was entangled in a rash and heedless vow,4 David manifestly enjoyed the “perfect freedom” of the “service” of his God, when “binding his soul with a bond” equally fixed, but more advised, in its obligation.5 And have we, with “the vows of God upon us,”6 baptismal vows—perhaps also confirmation or sacramental vows—found our souls brought into bondage by these solemn engagements? Does not a humbling sense of forgetfulness suggest sometimes the need of a more solemn engagement? And may we not thus secure our duty without being ensnared by it? Have not covenanting seasons often restrained our feet from devious paths, and quickened our souls in his service? Daily indeed do we need “the blood of sprinkling” to pardon our innumerable failures, and the Spirit of grace to strengthen us for a more devoted obligation.7 But yet in dependence upon the work and Spirit of Christ, often have these holy transactions realized to us a peace and joy, that leads us to look back upon such times as seasons of favored enjoyment. “If” therefore “we sin” in a “perpetual backsliding”8 from these engagements, it is still our privilege without presumption to believe, that “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins.”9 And as for necessary grace, there is One, who hath said, “My grace is sufficient for thee;”10 and that One has given no less a proof of his interest in us than by dying for us. May we not therefore trust, that he will “perfect that which concerneth us;”11 that he will “work all our works in us”12—“to will and to do of his good pleasure?”13

Perhaps however “a messenger of Satan” may “buffet us.” ‘Thou hast broken thy bond; now it will be worse with thee than before.’ But did not Jesus die for sins of infirmity, and even of presumption? Does every failing annul the marriage covenant? So neither does every infirmity or backsliding dissolve our covenant with God. Was our faithfulness the basis of this covenant? Rather, does not “the blood of this covenant”1 make constant provision for our foreseen unfaithfulness? And does not our gracious God overrule even our backsliding to establish a more simple reliance upon himself, and a more circumspect and tender walk before him?

But let us take a case of conscience. A Christian has been drawn away from a set season of extraordinary devotion by some unforeseen present duty, or some unlooked-for opportunity of actively glorifying God. Has he then broken his obligation? Certainly not. It was, or ought to have been, formed with an implied subserviency to paramount duty. It cannot therefore be impaired by any such providential interference. Yet let it not be a light matter to remove a free-will offering from the altar. Let godly care be exercised to discover the subtle indulgence of the flesh in the service of God. Let double diligence redeem the lost privilege of more immediate and solemn self-dedication. In guarding against legal bondage, let us not mistake the liberty of the flesh for the liberty of the Gospel. Let us be simple, and ready for self-denying service; and the Lord our God will not fail to vouchsafe “some token for good.”

“Come” then, my fellow Christian, “and let us join ourselves to she Lord in a perpetual covenant, never to be forgotten”2 by God; never to be forsaken by us. Let each of us renew our surrender, “O Lord, truly I am thy servant;” I offer myself to thee. “Thou hast loosed my bonds.”3 Oh! bind me to thyself with fresh bonds of love, that may never be loosed. Glad am I, that I am anything—though the meanest of all; that I have anything—poor and vile as it is—capable of being employed in thy service. I yield myself to Thee with my full bent of heart and will, entirely and for ever; asking only, that I may be “a vessel meet for the Master’s use.”4

 

6 It is related of Mr. Pearce, by his excellent biographer, that at the period of the first awakening of his mind—“having read Doddridge’s Rise and Progress of Religion, he determined formally to dedicate himself to the Lord in the manner recommended in the seventeenth chapter of that work. The form of a covenant there drawn up he also adopted as his own; and that he might bind himself in the most solemn and affecting manner, signed it with his blood. But afterwards, failing in his engagements, he was plunged into great distress, and almost into despair. On a review of his covenant, he seems to have accused himself of pharisaical reliance upon the strength of his resolutions, and therefore taking the paper to the top of his father’s house, he tore it into small pieces, and threw it from him to be scattered by the wind. He did not, however, consider his obligation to be the Lord’s as thereby nullified; but feeling more suspicion of himself, he depended solely upon the blood of the cross”—Fuller’s Life of Pearce, pp. 3, 4. This instance must be considered, not as an example of the entangling nature of covenant engagements, but as an illustration, by way of contrast, of the enlightened deliberation and simplicity with which they should ever be undertaken. See some admirable remarks on this subject from Mr. Newton’s pen.—Life of Grimshawe, pp. 16–18.

7 2 Chron. 15:12–15.

8 Num. 30:1, 2. Deut. 23:21–23.

1 Isaiah 19:21. Comp. also Isaiah 44:5, and Scott on this verse.

2 Jer. 50:4, 5.

3 Contrast Matt. 26:35.

4 Judges 11:35.

5 Ps. 116:12–14.

6 Ps. 56:12.

7 Gen. 35:1, with 28:20–22. Compare 2 Peter 1:9.

8 Jer. 8:5.

9 1 John 2:1, 2.

10 2 Cor. 12:9.

11 Psalm 138:8.

12 Isaiah 26:12.

13 Phil. 2:13.

1 Heb. 13:20.

2 Jer. 50:5.

3 Psalm 116:16.

4 2 Tim. 2:21.

Psalm 119:107  I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your word. 

• afflicted (KJV): Ps 6:1 22:14-18 34:19 
• quicken (KJV): Ps 119:25,88 143:11 

I am exceedingly afflicted: 'anah Niphal (passive of Qal) Perfect:  (Qal) to be occupied, be busied with; to afflict, oppress, humble, be afflicted, be bowed down (Niphal) to be afflicted, be humbled /// to depress lit. or fig., abase self, afflict 

Afflicted (Humbled) (06031) 'anah means to be afflicted, be bowed down, be humbled, be meek. 'Anah frequently expresses the idea God sends affliction to discipline (Dt 8:2-3, see context Dt 8:5, 1Ki 11:39; Ps 90:15 Luke 3:5). It often speaks of harsh and painful treatment (Isa 53:4, Ge16:6). 'Anah is most translated in LXX with tapeinoo. In Lev 16:29 God commanded them to “afflict themselves” (“deny yourselves” Lev 16:31NIV), which is the same word used to describe the pain that the Egyptians inflicted on the Hebrews (Ex 1:11,12) and the suffering Joseph felt in prison (Ps 105:18)!

Revive me, O LORD (Ps 69:32 Ps 71:20 Ps 80:18 Ps 85:6 Ps 119:25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159 138:7 143:11 Isa 57:15 Ho 6:2 Hab 3:2): CHAYAH: piel imperative (intensive, intentional) Lxx = zao = live

ACCORDING TO THY WORD - Ps 19:7+ describes the "reviving" power of God's Word -  "The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul (literally it "restores life"); The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple."

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Charles Bridges - 

It would seem, that this holy saint’s covenanting season was a time of deep affliction; while his determined resolution to “keep” God’s word of obedience, gave boldness to his pleading, that God would perform his word of promise, “Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy word.” And this is our high privilege, that we are permitted to pour our troubles into the ear of One, who is able perfectly to enter into, and to sympathize with us in them; “who knoweth our frame,”5 who hath himself laid the affliction upon us:6 yea, more than all, who in “all our affliction is” himself “afflicted;”7 and who “suffered being tempted, that he might be able to succor them that are tempted.”1 There are none—not even those most dear to us—to whom we can unbosom ourselves, as we do to our heavenly Friend. Our wants, griefs, burdens of every kind—we roll them all upon him, with special relief in the hour of affliction. An affecting contrast to those, who are indeed “afflicted very much;” whose souls, “drawing nigh unto death,” and knowing no refuge, are ready to burst with their own sorrows, “the sorrows of the world”—unmitigated—unrelieved—“working death!”2

There is a “need be”3 for the afflictions of the Lord’s people. The stones of the spiritual temple cannot be polished or fitted to their place without the strokes of the hammer. The gold cannot be purified without the furnace. The vine must be pruned for greater fruitfulness.4 The measure of discipline varies indefinitely. But such is the inveteracy of fleshly lusts, that very much affliction may often be the needful regimen.5 Yet will it be tempered by one, who knows the precise measure,6 who can make no mistakes in our constitutions, and whose fatherly pity will chasten “not for his pleasure, but for our profit.”7 And need we speak of the alleviations of our trials, that they are infinitely disproportioned to our deserts8—that they are “light, and but for a moment,” compared with eternity9—that greater comfort is vouchsafed in the endurance of them, than we even venture to anticipate from their removal10—that the fruit at the end more than balances the trials themselves?11 Need we say—how richly they ought to be prized, as conforming us to the image of our suffering Lord; how clearly we shall one day read in them our Father’s commission, as messengers of love; and how certainly “the end of the Lord” will be “that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy?”12

Perhaps affliction—at least very much affliction—may not be our present lot. Yet it is our duty and wisdom, as the good soldier in the time of truce, to burnish our armor for the fight. “Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off. Because the wicked have no changes, therefore they fear not God.”13 The continual changes in Christian experience may well remind us of the necessity of “walking humbly with God,” that we may not, by an unprepared spirit, lose the blessing of the sanctified cross. How many of the Lord’s dear children may bear Ephraim’s name, “For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction!”14 Sometimes they are so conscious of the present good, that they dread affliction leaving them, more, probably, than the inexperienced professor dreads its coming.

But great affliction is as hard to bear as great prosperity. Some whose Christian profession had drawn out the esteem of others—perhaps also their own complacency—have shown by “faintness in the day of extremity their strength to be small,”1 and themselves to be almost untaught in this school of discipline—shaken, confused, broken. Special need indeed have we under the smart of the rod, of quickening grace, to preserve us from stout-heartedness or dejection. We think we could bear the stroke, did we know it to be paternal, not judicial. Have we, then “forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto us as unto children?” Do we despise the chastening of the Lord? ‘ “Quicken me, O Lord,” that I may be preserved in a humble, wakeful, listening posture, to hear and improve the message of thy blessing of the sanctified cross.’ Do we “faint, when we are rebuked of him?”2 “Quicken me, O Lord,” that I sink not under the “blow of thy hand.”3 Thus will this Divine influence save us from the horrible sin of being offended with God in our fretting spirit. We shall receive his chastisement with humility without despondency, and with reverence without distrust; hearkening to the voice that speaks, while we tremble under the rod that strikes: yet so mingling fear with confidence, that we may at the same moment adore the hand which we feel, and rest in the mercy that is promised.4 Our best support, in the depths of affliction, is for “quickening, according to thy word!” And which of the exercised children of God has ever found “one jot or one tittle of it to fail?” “Patience working experience, and experience hope, and hope making not ashamed,” in the sense of “the love of God shed abroad upon the heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”—all this is the abundant answer to our prayer, “Thou which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.”5 Nothing will bear looking back to with comfort, like those trials, which though painful to the flesh, have tended to break our spirit, mould our will, and strengthen the simplicity of our walk with God.

5 Psalm 103:14.

6 Ps 39:9.

7 Isaiah 48:9.

1 Heb. 2:18.

2 2 Cor. 7:10.

3 Peter 1:6, 7.

4 John 15:2.

5 2 Cor. 12:7.

6 Job 34:23.

7 Psalm 103:13, 14. Heb. 12:10.

8 Ezra 9:13.

9 2 Cor. 4:17.

10 2Cor 12:8–10.

11 Deut. 8:15, 16, Jer. 29:11.

12 James 5:11, with Job 13:10–12.

13 1 Kings 20:11. Psalm 55:19.

14 Gen. 41:52

1 Prov. 24:10. Comp. Jonah 4:5–9.

2 Heb. 12:5.

3 Psalm 39:10; 38:1–3.

4 Mic. 7:8, 9.

5 Rom. 5:3–5, with Psalm 71:20, 21.

Psalm 119:108 O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, And teach me Your ordinances. 

• Accept (KJV): Nu 29:39 Ho 14:2 Heb 13:15 
• teach (KJV): Ps 119:12,26,130,169 

Related Passage:

Hebrews 13:15  Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, And teach me Your ordinances. 

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Charles Bridges -  As the first fruits of his entire self-devotion to the Lord;6 as the only service he could render in his affliction; and as an acknowledgment of his answered prayer for quickening grace,7 behold this faithful servant of God presenting “the free-will offerings of his mouth for acceptance.” Such he knew to be an acceptable service. For the sacrifices of the Old Testament were not only typical of the One sacrifice for sin, but of the spiritual worship of the people of God.8 To those who are interested in the atonement of Jesus, there needeth “no more sacrifice for sin.” That which is now required of us, and in which we would delight, is to “take with us words, and turn to him, and say unto him—Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips.”1

No offering but a “free-will offering” is accepted. Such was the service under the law:2 such must it be under the Gospel.3 Yet neither can this offering be accepted until the offerer has found acceptance with his God. “The Lord had respect,” first to the person of “Abel,” then “to his offering.”4 But if our persons are covered with the robe of acceptance—if the “offering up of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” has “perfected” us before God;5 however defiled our services may be, however mixed with infirmity, and in every way most unworthy; even a God of ineffable holiness “beholds no iniquity”6 in them. No offering is so pure as to obtain acceptance in any other way; no offering so sinful as to fail of acceptance in this way. Most abundant indeed and satisfactory is the provision made in heaven for the continual and everlasting acceptance of our polluted and distracted services—“Another angel came, and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it, with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”7 With such a High Priest and Intercessor, not only is unworthiness dismissed, but boldness and assurance of faith is encouraged.8

But, as we remarked, it was “a free-will offering” that was here presented—the overflowings of a heart filled with love. No constraint was necessary. Prayer was delightful. He was not forced upon his knees. Let me seek fellowship with him in presenting my free-offering before my God. Does not he love it?9 Does not his free love to me deserve it?10 Did not my beloved Saviour give a free-will offering of delight—nay even of joy?11 And shall not his free-flowing love be my pattern and my principle?12 Shall his offering be free for me, and mine be reluctant for him? Shall he be ready with his blood for me, and I be backward with my mouth for him? “Oh my God, work thine own Almighty work—make me not only living, but willing in the day of thy power.”13 Let the stream flow in the full tide of affectionate devotedness. Blessed Jesus! I would be thine, and none other’s. I would tell the world, that I am captivated by thy love, and consecrated to thy service. Oh let me “rejoice, for that I offered willingly.” Great grace is it, that he is willing to accept my service. For what have I to offer, that is not already “his own?”14 But let me not forget to supplicate for further instruction—‘ “Teach me thy judgments,” that I may be directed to present a purer offering; that by more distinct and accurate knowledge of thy ways, my love may be enlarged, and my obedience more entire, until I “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” ’1

6 Ps 119:106.

7 Ps 119:107.

8 Compare Psalm 51:16, 17. Mal. 3:3, with Phil. 4:18. Heb. 13:15, 16. 1 Peter 2:5.

1 Hosea 14:2. Comp. Ps. 54:6.

2 Num. 29:39. Deut. 16:10. 2 Chron. 31:14. Amos 4:4.

3 Rom. 12:1. 2 Cor. 5:14, 15; 8:5.

4 Gen. 4:4, 5.

5 Heb. 10:10.

6 Num. 23:21.

7 Rev. 8:3, 4.

8 Heb. 4:14–16; 10:21, 22.

9 2 Cor. 9:7.

10 Eph. 2:4, 5.

11 Ps. 40:8. Heb. 12:2.

12 2 Cor. 5:14, 15.

13 Ps. 110:3.

14 1 Chron. 29:9, 14, 17.

1 Col. 4:12.

Psalm 119:109 My life is continually in my hand, Yet I do not forget Your law. 

• My soul (KJV): Rather, "My life {naphshee} is continually in my hand;" i.e., it is in constant danger; every hour I am on the confines of death.  The LXX., Syriac, and Ethiopic read, "in thy hand;" but this is a conjectural and useless alteration. Jdg 12:3 1Sa 19:5 20:3 Job 13:14 Ro 8:36 1Co 15:31 2Co 11:23 
• yet do I not (KJV): Ps 119:83,117,152 

My life is continually in my hand, Yet I do not forget Your law. 

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Charles Bridges - 

Precarious health, or familiarity with the dangers of war, may give peculiar emphasis to the phrase (of not unfrequent use in the word of God2)—“My soul is continually in my hand.” David, in his early public life, was in constant apprehension from the open violence3 and the secret machinations4 of his bitter enemy. Hunted down “as a partridge in the mountains,”5 and often scarcely escaping the “snare, which the wicked laid for him,”6 at one time he could but acknowledge—“there is but a step between me and death;”7 at another time he was tempted to say, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.”8 Subsequently the hand of his own son was aimed at his throne and his life.9 Yet could no peril shake his undaunted adherence to the law and precepts of God.10

What was the life of Jesus upon earth? Through the enmity of foes—various, opposite, yet combined11—his “soul was continually in his hand.” Yet how wonderful was his calmness and serenity of mind, when surrounded by them all, like “lions” in power, “dogs” in cruelty, wolves in malice?12 A measure of this spirit belongs to every faithful disciple—not natural courage, but “the spirit of power,” as the gift of God,13 enabling him in the path of the precepts “to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”14

Let us again mark this confidence, illustrated in the open trials of the servants of God. Mark the Apostle, when “the Holy Ghost witnessed to him in every city, that bonds and imprisonment awaited him.” “None of these things”—said he—“move me. I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”15 He could look “tribulation, or persecution, or peril, or sword,” in the face; and while he “carried his soul continually in his hand,” in true Christian heroism, in the most exalted triumph of faith, he could say in the name of himself and his companions in tribulation, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors.” Nothing could make him flinch. Nothing could turn him back. Nothing could wring the love of the service of his God out of his heart. His principle was found invincible in the hour of trial—not, however, as a native energy of his heart, but “through him that loved him.”16 Did he not speak and live the spirit of this fearless confidence, “Yet do I not forget thy law?” Daniel’s history again shows the utter impotency of secret devices to produce apostasy in the children of God. When the wicked, after many an ineffectual attempt to “find occasion or fault” were driven to lay a snare for him in “the law of his God,”1 this noble confessor of the faith continued to “kneel upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, a: he did aforetime.”2 The den of lions was far less fearful in his eyes, than one devious step from the straight and narrow path.3 Sin was dreaded as worse than a thousand deaths. He surely then could have said, “Yet I erred not from thy precepts.”

But how striking must it have been to David, in his imminent peril, to have seen the “counsel of Ahithophel”—regarded as oracular, when employed in the cause of God—now, when directed against the Church, “turned to foolishness!”4—an instance, “only one of a thousand,” of the ever-watchful keeping of the Great Head and Guardian of his Church.”5 Thus does he overrule the devices of the enemy for the establishment of his people’s dependence upon himself. “The wrath of man praiseth him,”6 and he “taketh the wise in his own craftiness.”7

But the day of difficulty is a “perilous time” in the Church. “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried.”8 Have we been able to sustain the shock in a steady adherence to the law and precepts of God?9 This is indeed the time, when genuine faith will be found of inestimable value. In such a time, David experienced the present blessing of having chosen the Lord for his God. When clouds began to gather blackness, and surrounding circumstances to the eye of sense engendered despondency—faith realized All-sufficient support; and “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”10 And is not David’s God “our God, the health of our countenance,”11 the guide of our path,12 the God of our salvation?13 Oh! let us not rest, till his confidence becomes ours, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”14

But the cross, that proves and establishes the Christian, sifts the unsound professor as chaff. Nothing but this solid principle of faith can resist either the persecution15 or the snare.16 Many desire conformity to Christ and his people in everything but in their cross. They would attain their honor without the steps that led them to it. Dread this flinching spirit. Reject it—as did our Lord—with indignation. It “savoreth not of God.” It is the voice of Satan.17 who would promise a pillow of carnal ease under our heads—a path of roses under our feet—but a path of slumber, of delusion, and of ruin.

The time of special need is at hand with us all, when we shall need substance and reality for our support—the true confidence of a living faith. Those who have never felt the nearness of eternity, can have but a faint idea of what we shall need in the hour, when “flesh and heart fail,”1 to fix a sure unshaken foot upon “the Rock of Ages.” “Watch therefore;” for you know not2 how soon you may be ready to say, “My soul is in my hand,” quivering on the eve of departure to the Judge. “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning! and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for the Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching; verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.”3

2 Comp. Judges 12:3. 1 Sam. 19:5; 28:21. Job 13:14.

3 1 Sam. 18:10, 11; 19:9, 10.

4 1Sa. 18:17; 19:11–17.

5 1Sa. 26:20.

6 The men of Keilah, 1Sa. 23:11, 12. The Ziphites, 1Sa. 23:9. 26:1

7 1Sa. 20:3.

8 1Sa. 27:1.

9 2 Sam. 15:13, 14; 17:1–3.

10 Ps 119:87.

11 Luke 23:12.

12 Ps. 22:16, 20, 21, with Isaiah 53:7

13 2 Tim. 1:7.

14 Eph. 6:13.

15 Acts 20:23, 24; 21:13.

16 Rom. 8:37.

1 Dan. 6:5.

2 Da 6: 6–10.

3 Compare Luke 12:4, 5.

4 Compare 2 Samuel 16:23, with 15:31; 17:14.

5 Isaiah 27:3.

6 Psalm 76:10.

7 Job 5:13, with 1 Cor. 3:19.

8 Dan. 12:10.

9 Da 12:51, 69. Rev. 2:10.

10 1 Sam. 30:6.

11 Psalm 42:11.

12 Ib. 48:14.

13 Ib. 68:20.

14 Ps. 56:3.

15 Matt. 13:20, 21.

16 1 Kings 13:11–19.

17 Matt. 16:22, 23.

1 Psalm 73:26.

2 Mark 13:35, 36.

3 Luke 12:35–37.

Psalm 119:110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts. 

• wicked (KJV): Ps 119:85 10:8-18 124:6,7 140:5 141:9 Pr 1:11,12 Jer 18:22 
• yet I erred (KJV): Ps 119:10,21,51,87,95 Da 6:10 Lu 20:19-26 

The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts. 

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Charles Bridges - see comment on v109

Psalm 119:111  I have inherited Your testimonies forever, For they are the joy of my heart. 

• Your testimonies: Ps 119:14,127,162 16:5 De 33:4 Isa 54:17 Acts 26:18 Col 1:12 Heb 9:15 1Pe 1:4 
• for they: Ps 119:74,92,174 19:8 Jer 15:16 1Pe 1:8 

 The psalmist repeatedly emphasizes the eternal truth of God's words (cf Jesus' words in Mt 24:35)

• Forever = Ps. 119:44; Ps. 119:89; Ps. 119:111; Ps. 119:112; Ps. 119:144; Ps. 119:152
• Everlasting = Ps. 119:142; Ps. 119:160

C Graham - It is said of some mines of Cornwall, that the deeper they are sunk the richer they prove; and though some lodes have been followed a thousand and even fifteen hundred feet, they have not come to an end. Such is the Book of God. It is a mine of wealth which can never be exhausted. The deeper we sink into it the richer it becomes.

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Charles Bridges - ‘Precious Bible! what a treasure!’ The testimonies of God—the declaration of his will in doctrine—obligation—and privilege! David had felt their value, as the stay of his soul in shaking and sifting trial.4 But how did he claim his interest in them? Not by purchase, or by merit, it was his heritage. As a child of Abraham, he was an “heir according to promise.”5 They—all that is contained in them, “the Lord himself,” the sum and substance of all, “was the portion of his inheritance.”6 Man looks at his heritage. ‘This land—this estate—or this kingdom is mine.’ The child of God looks round on the universe—on both worlds—on God himself with his infinite perfections—and says, “All things are mine.”7 My title is more sure than to any earthly heritage. Every promise is sprinkled with “the blood of the everlasting covenant,” as the seal of its blessings, and the pledge of their performance.

But not only are they my heritage:—But by my own intelligent choice I have taken them so. A blessing is it to have them. But the blessing of blessings is to have them made good—applied—sealed—made my own; so that, like the minor come to age, I take possession of my heritage, I live on it, I live in it, it is my treasure, my portion. If a man is known by his heritage, let me be known by mine. Let it be “known and read of all men,” that I count not the world my happiness, but that I take my Bible, ‘Here is my heritage. Here I can live royally—richer upon bare promises than all the treasures of earth could make me. My resources never fail, when all besides fail.8 When all earthly heritage shall have passed away, mine endureth for ever.’9

Let me not then entertain a low estimate of this precious heritage. “Heirs of promise” are entitled to “strong consolation.”10 What belongs to a joint-heir with Christ, interested in the unchanging love of Jehovah from eternity, but the language of triumphant exultation?1 The first view, as it passed before my eyes, was the rejoicing of my heart; and never could I be satisfied, till I had taken it as my soul-satisfying and eternal portion.

Need we then entreat you, believer, to exhibit to the world, that the promises of your heritage are not an empty sound—that they impart a Divine reality of support and enjoyment—and that an interest in them habitually realized is a blessed, a heavenly portion? Should your heart, however, at any time be captivated by the transient prospect before your eyes: should you be led to imagine some substantial value in this world’s treasures—you will have forgotten the peculiar pre-eminence of your heritage—its enduring character. But what are the gaudy follies—the glittering emptiness of this passing scene, in comparison with your heavenly prospects, or even of your present sources of enjoyment?

We can readily account for the affecting indifference, with which “the men of the world” barter away these treasures, as Esau did his birthright, for very trifles.2 They have no present interest in them. “They have their portion in this life. They have received their consolation.”3 But oh! how soon, having spent their all, will they “begin to be in” infinite eternal “want!”4 Yet, having no interest in this heavenly heritage, they can have no pleasure in surveying it. If, therefore, conscience imposes upon them the drudgery of casting their careless eye over it, what wonder if they should find nothing to enliven their hopes, or to attract their hearts? What communion can worldly hearts hold with this heavenly treasure? What spiritual light, as the source of heavenly comfort, can penetrate this dark recess? As well might the inhabitant of the subterraneous cavern expect the cheerful light of the sun; as the man, whose eyes and heart are in the centre of the earth, enjoy the spiritual perception of an interest in “the heritage,” of the people of God. If, however, the darkness and difficulties of the word are pleaded in excuse for ignorance; let those indolent triflers confess, now small a portion of that persevering devotedness, which has been employed in gathering together the perishing stores of this world, has been given to search into this hidden mine of unsearchable riches!

Oh, my soul, if I can lay claim to this blessed “heritage,” I envy not the miser his gold! Rather would I adore that grace, which has “made me to differ” from him; and given me a far happier and far richer heritage. But let me be daily enriching myself from this imperishable store; so that, poor as I am in myself, and seeming to “have nothing,” I may in reality be “possessing all things.”5 Let the recollection of the rich heritage of light, comfort, peace and strength, furnished in the word, be my abundant joy; and bind my heart to a closer adherence to its obligations, and to a more habitual apprehension of its privileges.

4 Ps 119:109, 110.

5 Gal 3:29.

6 Ps. 16:5.

7 1 Cor. 3:21, 22.

8 Hab. 3:17, 18. Ps. 73:26.

9 1 Peter 1:24, 25.

10 Heb. 6:17, 18.

1 Rom. 8:17–34.

2 Heb. 12:16. Gen. 25:29–34.

3 Ps. 17:4. Luke 6:24.

4 Luke 15:14.

5 2 Cor. 6:10.

Psalm 119:112 I have inclined my heart to perform Thy statutes Forever, even to the end.

NET  Psalm 119:112 I am determined to obey your statutes at all times, to the very end.

LXE  Psalm 119:112 I have inclined my heart to perform thine ordinances for ever, in return for thy mercies.

NLT  Psalm 119:112 I am determined to keep your decrees to the very end. Samekh

KJV  Psalm 119:112 I have inclined <05186> (08804) mine heart <03820> to perform <06213> (08800) thy statutes <02706> alway <05769>, even unto the end <06118>.

ESV  Psalm 119:112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

NIV  Psalm 119:112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.

ASV  Psalm 119:112 I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes For ever, even unto the end.

CSB  Psalm 119:112 I am resolved to obey Your statutes to the very end.

NKJ  Psalm 119:112 I have inclined <05186> (08804) my heart <03820> to perform <06213> (08800) Your statutes <02706> Forever <05769>, to the very end <06118>.

NRS  Psalm 119:112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

YLT  Psalm 119:112 I have inclined my heart To do Thy statutes, to the age -- to the end!

NAB  Psalm 119:112 My heart is set on fulfilling your laws; they are my reward forever.

NJB  Psalm 119:112 I devote myself to obeying your statutes, their recompense is eternal.

GWN  Psalm 119:112 I have decided to obey your laws. They offer a reward that never ends.

BHT  Psalm 119:112 nätitî libbî la`ásôt huqqeykä le`ôläm `ëqeb

BBE  Psalm 119:112 My heart is ever ready to keep your rules, even to the end.

• inclined: Ps 119:36 141:4 Jos 24:23 1Ki 8:58 2Ch 19:3 Php 2:13 
• the end: Ps 119:33,44 1Pe 1:13 Rev 2:10 

AN INCLINATION 
OF THE HEART

I have inclined my heart to perform Thy statutes - Recall that earlier he had prayed "Incline my heart to Thy testimonies" (Ps 119:36+) and this is in effect an answer to that prayer. Our natural inclination is NOT to perform God's statutes, so the psalmist's inclination to do them indicates that God is enabling him (and I think it is by the supernatural power of the Spirit, Who clearly was active in the OT, even if He was not indwelling the believers as we see in the New Covenant). 

I have inclined  (2827)(see above on klino) is in the aorist tense, 

Forever, even to the end - 

Spurgeon: I have inclined mine heart to perform Thy statutes alway, even unto the end. He was not half inclined to virtue, but heartily inclined to it. His whole heart was bent on practical, persevering godliness. He was resolved to keep the statutes of the Lord with all his heart, throughout all his time, without erring or ending. He made it his end to keep the law unto the end, and that without end. He had by prayer, and meditation, and resolution made his whole being lean towards God's commands; or as we should say in other words -- the grace of God had inclined him to incline his heart in a sanctified direction. Many are inclined to preach, but the Psalmist was inclined to practise; many are inclined to perform ceremonies, but he was inclined to perform statutes; many are inclined to obey occasionally, but David would obey alway; and, alas, many are inclined for temporary religion, but this godly man was bound for eternity, he would perform the statutes of his Lord and King even unto the end. Lord, send us such a heavenly inclination of heart as this: then shall we show chat thou hast quickened and taught us. To this end create in us a clean heart, and daily renew a right spirit within us, for only so shall we incline in the right direction.

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Charles Bridges -  The Psalmist had just been rejoicing in his privileges. He now binds himself to his obligations—and that not for a day—but even to the end. Observe where he begins his work—not with the eye—the ear—the tongue—but with the heart, “for out of the heart are the issues of life.”1 And yet this inclining of the heart to the Lord’s statutes is as much the work of God as to create a world; and as soon could “the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots,” as we could “do good, who are accustomed to do evil.”2 And David was very far from meaning that any act of his own power could turn the channel of his affections out of their natural course. But prayer, such as he had often poured out,3 sets every principle of the soul in action, and in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, he inclines his heart. Thus we do what we do; but God enables us, “preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will”4—not working without or against us, but in us—through us—with us—by us. His preventing grace makes the first impression, and his assisting grace enables us to follow.5 Weak indeed are our purposes, and fading our resolutions, unsupported by Divine grace. Yet renewing strength “is given to the waiting” Christian, even to “mount upon eagles’ wings, to run without weariness, and to walk without fainting.”6 Conscious as we are, that “without Christ we can do nothing,” it is no less true, that we “can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth us.”7 Let us exercise then the grace already given, in dependence upon a continued supply; and turning to him with freedom and delight, we shall incline our hearts with full purpose to perform his statutes alway, even unto the end. This is God’s way of quickening the dead soul to life and motion, alluring it by an inexpressible sweetness, and at the same moment, by an invincible power, drawing it to himself.

Every step indeed to the end will be a conflict with indwelling sin, in the form of remaining enmity, sloth, or unbelief. But how encouraging it is to trace every tender prayer, every contrite groan, every spiritual desire, to the assisting, upholding influence of the “free Spirit of God!”8 The continual drawing of the Spirit will be the principle to perseverance. The same hand that gave the new bias for a heavenward motion will be put forth to quicken that motion, even unto the end. ‘I can hardly hold on,’ the believer might say, ‘from one step to another. How can I then dare to hope, that I shall hold on a constant course—a daily conflict, “unto the end?’ ” But was it not Almighty power, that supported the first step in your course? And is not the same Divine help pledged to every successive step of difficulty? Doubt not then that “He is faithful that hath promised:”9 dare to be confident of this very thing, that he which hath “begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”1 And in this confidence go on to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”2

1 Prov. 4:23.

2 Jer. 13:23.

3 Jer 13:36, 37.

4 Art x.

5 Jer. 31:18.

6 Isaiah 40:31.

7 John 15:5, with Phil. 4:13.

8 See Rom. 8:26. Psalm 51:12

9 Heb. 10:23.

1 Phil. 1:6.

2 Phil. 2:12, 13.

Psalm 119:113 Samekh. I hate those who are double-minded, But I love Your law. 

• hate (KJV): Ps 94:11 Isa 55:7 Jer 4:14 Mk 7:21 2Co 10:5 
• vain thoughts (KJV): Or, "divided thoughts," {saiaphim,} or, as Gesenius renders, {bie Bneybeutigen (in ber Religion)} "ambiguities  (or indecisions) in Religion;" Luther, {Flattergeister,} "inconstant fellows;" LXX. [paranomoi,] "transgressors," Vulgate {iniqui,} "iniquitous," and Jerome, {tumultuosos,} "tumultuous."
• thy law (KJV): Ps 119:97,103 

Samekh. I hate those who are double-minded,

But I love Your law - Ps 1:1,2;19:7-11;Ps 119:16,24,35, 47, Ps 119:48, 72, 92, 97,103, Ps 119:111,113,127,159,167, 174; Je15:16

Matthew Henry Concise - Ps 119:113-120. Here is a dread of the risings of sin, and the first beginnings of it. The more we love the law of God, the more watchful we shall be, lest vain thoughts draw us from what we love. Would we make progress in keeping God's commands, we must be separate from evil-doers. The believer could not live without the grace of God; but, supported by his hand, his spiritual life shall be maintained. Our holy security is grounded on Divine supports. All departure from God's statutes is error, and will prove fatal. Their cunning is falsehood. There is a day coming which will put the wicked into everlasting fire, the fit place for the dross. See what comes of sin Surely we who fall so low in devout affections, should fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into heavenly rest, any of us should be found to come short of it, Hebrews 4:1. 

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Warren Wiersbe - Ps. 119:113 Inventory Time
 
Read Psalm 119:113-120
 
Let's take time for a spiritual inventory and ask three simple questions: What do you hate? Where are you hiding? In what do you hope? The best answers to those questions are found in Psalm 119:113 -114. "I hate the double-minded, but I love Your law. You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word."
 
What do you hate? The psalmist hated vain thoughts (Ps. 119:37). Vanity means that which is empty, false and temporary. Thoughts are important, because what you think is what you become. "As he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7). Thinking leads to doing, and doing leads to being. Sow a thought and you reap an action. Sow an action and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny. If we love God's Law, we will hate the things that are contrary to His will.
 
Where are you hiding? "You are my hiding place and my shield." Are you hiding in the Lord? Is He your Shield? Christians have enemies who want to rob us of the blessing of God. Maybe you are hurting today. Run and hide in Jesus Christ.
 
In what do you hope? "I hope in Your word." If your hope is anywhere other than in God, your future is hopeless. But if you are hoping in the Word of God, the future is secure, because God is preparing the way for you. What a glory it is to be able to hope in the Word of God.
* * *
Spiritual inventories force you to see if you are aligning with God's will and Word. Today, ponder the three questions found in these verses. Stay aligned to God's Word. (Psalm 119:113-120 Inventory Time)

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Charles Bridges - 

The fall of man has misplaced his affections. Love was originally made for God and his law—hatred for sin. Now man loves what he ought to hate,3 and hates what he ought to love.4 The work of Divine grace is to restore the disordered affections to their proper centre, and to bestow them on their right object—hating vain thoughts, and loving the law of God. Few think of the responsibility of their thoughts; as if they were too trifling to be connected with any solemn account. The enlightened soul however learns to make a conscience of his thoughts. Here is the seminal principle of sin.5 How must a radical remedy be applied.

Vain thoughts are the natural produce of the unrenewed heart, and of the yet unrenewed part of the believer’s heart. Who that “knows the plague of his own heart,” and the spirituality of the Christian walk with God, does not constantly complain of their baneful influence! The child of God longs that his “every thought may be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”6 But he “sees another law in his members, warring against the law of his mind;” so that when he would “do good, evil is present with him.”7 When he would “attend upon the Lord without distraction;”8 many times, even in a single exercise, does he forget his sacred employment. Sin seems to enter into every pore of his soul; and a cloud of vain thoughts darkens every avenue to communion with God. He would gladly say, “My heart is fixed, my heart is fixed;”9 but he finds his affections wandering, as “the eyes of the fool, in the ends of the earth,”10 as if there were no object of Divine attraction to his soul. We do not hear the worldling, or indeed the servant of God in his worldly employments, complaining of this burden. He can bring to deep, important, and anxious concerns of this world, all that intensity and fixedness of attention which the emergency may demand. Indeed the wily adversary would rather assist than hinder this concentration of mind, as diverting the soul from the far more momentous and interesting subjects of eternity. But never do the “sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord,” except “Satan comes also among them.”1

“Vain thoughts” are his ceaseless hinderances to our spiritual communion with God. Are we aware of the subtilty, and therefore the peculiar danger of this temptation? We should instinctively start from an enticement to open transgression. The incursion of defiling or blasphemous thoughts would be such a burden, that we should “have no rest in our spirit,” while they remain undisturbed within us. But perhaps neither of these temptations are so formidable as the crowd of thoughts of every kind, incessantly running to and fro in the mind; the indulgence of which, though not actually sinful in itself, yet as effectually restrains the soul from intercourse with God, as the most hateful injections. These are “the little foxes, that spoil the tender grapes.”2 Nay—the “thoughts” may be even spiritual in their nature, and yet “vain” in their tendency; because unsuitable to the present frame, and calculated, and indeed intended by the great enemy, to divert the mind from some positive duty. Who has not felt a serious thought upon an unseasonable subject, and at an unseasonable time, to be in its consequences a “vain thought”—the secret impulse of the false “angel of light,”3 dividing the attention between two things, so that neither of them may be wholly done, done to any purpose, done at all?4 If at any time “iniquity has been regarded in the heart;” if the world in any of its thousand forms has regained a temporary ascendency: or if lusting imaginations are not constantly “held in” as “with bit and bridle;” these “vain thoughts,” ever ready to force their entrance, will at such seasons, “get an advantage of us.” Restless in their workings, they keep no Sabbaths: and can only be successfully met by a watchful and unceasing warfare.

It may inded be sometimes difficult, in the midst of this contined trial, to maintain a clear sense of adoption. But this is the distinctive mark of Christian sincerity. Do we cordially “hate” them, as exceeding sinful in the sight of God,5 hurtful to our own souls,6 and contrary to our new nature?7 If we cannot altogether prevent their entrance, or eject them from their settlement, are we careful not to invite them, not to entertain them, not to suffer them to “lodge within”1 us? This active hatred is a satisfactory proof that they are not so much the natural suggestion of the heart, as the injections of the enemy of our peace. They are at least so directly opposed to our better will and dominant bias, that we may say, “If I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin, that dwelleth in me.”2 Our affliction and conflict with them prove that they dwell with us—not as welcome guests, or as the family of the house—but as “thieves and robbers.” Their indulgence constitutes our sin. Their indwelling may be considered only as our temptation. They supply indeed continued matter for watchfulness, humiliation, and resistance; yet so far as they are abhorred and resisted, they are rather our infirmities than our iniquities, and leave no stain of actual guilt upon the conscience. An increasing sense of the sinfulness of sin, and of the extent of duty, will indeed show their deeper aggravations and more persevering opposition. Still, however, even while we groan under their defiling, distracting influence in our best services, we may assure our confidence in him, who “spareth us, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him,”3 and who will ever gather up the broken parts of our prayers with merciful acceptance.

But the subjugation of this evil—even though we be secured from its condemnation—is a matter of the deepest concern. Forget not—oh, may the impression be indelible!—that it was for these vain thoughts that the Saviour was nailed to the cross. Here lies the ground of self-loathing—the quickening principle of conflict and exertion. Let the heart—the seat of this evil disease—be daily washed in the cleansing blood of Calvary; for until the corrupt fountain be cleansed, it must ever “send forth bitter waters.”4 Let it be diligently “kept,”5 and carefully filled, so that it may be a “good treasure bringing forth good things.”6 Let there be the continued exercise of that “watchfulness” “which is unto prayer,”7 combined with an unflinching adherence to plain and obvious duty. Let the temptation to desist awhile from services so polluted, that they appear rather to mock God than to worship him, be met on the onset with the most determined opposition. Once admit this suggestion, and our active enemy will pour in successive incursions of vain thoughts into our perplexed and yielding minds, to turn us back step by step in our attempts to approach to God. If, therefore, we cannot advance as we could wish, let us advance as we can. If a connected train of thought or expression fails us, let us only change—not surrender—our posture of resistance; substituting sighs, desires, tears, and groaning for words, and casting ourselves upon our God in the simple confidence of faith, “Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee. Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?”1 It is far better to wander in duty than from it. For if any duty be neglected on account of the defilement that is mingled with it, for the same reason we must neglect every other duty: and, as the final consequence, the worship of God would be abolished from the earth.

Much of our successful warfare, however, depends upon an accurate and well-digested acquaintance with our own hearts—upon a discovery of the bias of the mind in our unoccupied moments, and of the peculiar seasons and circumstances that give most power to temptation. This once known, set a double watch against those doors, by which the enemy has been accustomed to find his most convenient and unobstructed entrance.

But we must not forget the effective means suggested by David’s experience—the love of God’s law. Here rises the native enmity against God—not as the Creator, but the Lawgiver—and therefore against his law as the dictate of his will.2 Here then is the power of grace subduing this enmity. Not only I fear, and therefore through fear I keep, but I love, thy law. And ‘He that loves a holy law,’ remarks an excellent old writer, ‘cannot but hate a vain thought.’3 For if the law be the transcript of the image of God, the thoughts affectionately drawn out towards him must naturally fix the image of the beloved friend upon the mind, and by a sweet constraint fasten down the thoughts to Divine contemplation. Are we then ever winged with an elevating love to the Saviour? And do not we find our hearts start out from their worldly employments with frequent glances and flights towards the object of our desire? And will not this communion of love gradually mould the soil into a fixed delight, exciting our hatred, and strengthening our resistance of every sinful affection? Thus, as love to the law stirs up the powers of the renewed man, “spiritual wickedness” will be abhorred, conflicted with, and overcome.

Yet these defilements will remain to die with the last breathings of the old man; which though crucified indeed, and expiring, will struggle with fearful strength and unabated enmity to the end. And let them remain as humbling mementos of our unclean nature, “shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin;”4 and as enlivening our anticipations of that blessed place, where “shall in no wise enter anything that defileth;”5 where “vain thoughts,” and whatever besides might “separate between us and our God,” will be unknown for ever. Meanwhile let them endear to us the free justification of the Gospel; let them lead us daily and hourly to “the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness;”6 and enhance in our view that heavenly intercession, which provides for the perfect cleansing and acceptance of services even such as ours.

Blessed contemplation! Jesus prays not for us as we do for ourselves. His intercession is without distraction—without interruption. If we are then so dead, that we cannot, and so guilty that we dare not, pray, and so wandering in our “vain thoughts,” that our prayers appear to be scattered to the winds, rather than to ascend to heaven—if on these accounts combined, we “are so troubled that we cannot speak;”1 yet always is there one to speak for us, of whom “a voice from heaven” testified for our encouragement, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”2 With such hopes, motives, and encouragements, let us “continue instant in prayer,”3 until we pray, and that we may pray. Let us supplicate our Lord with restless importunity, that his omnipotent love would take hold of these hearts, which every moment sin and Satan seem ready to seize. At the same time, conscious of our hatred of every interruption to his service, and of the simplicity of our affection to his holy law, let us hold fast that confidence before him, which will issue in perfect peace and established consolation.

 

3 John 3:19. Rom. 1:32; 6:13.

4 Job 21:14. Ps. 14:1. Rom. 8:7.

5 Gen. 6:5. Pro. 23:7; 24:9.

6 2 Cor. 10:5.

7 Rom. 7:21, 23.

8 1 Cor. 7:35.

9 Ps. 57:7.

10 Prov. 17:24.

1 Job 1:6.

2 Cant. 2:15.

3 2 Cor. 11:14.

4 Greenham (one of the most valuable of the Puritan writers upon experimental subjects) used to bring his distractions of mind to this test—If they brought any past sin to mind for his humiliation, or any comfort to excite his thankfulness, or any instruction suitable to the present moment—he took them to be of God. But if they drew off his mind from present duty to rove after other objects, he suspected their source, and girded himself to prayer for increasing steadiness of application to the matter in hand. See his works, folio, p. 23. Being asked to account for distractions in holy meditations, he said—It was either want of preparation and sanctifying the heart by prayer before we set upon so holy an exercise, and therefore a rebuke from the Lord for our “presumption in being bold to work upon holy matters in our own strength”—or else a dependence upon a general purpose of thinking good, or restraining evil, without fastening our minds upon some particular object, but rather ‘ranging up and down,’ leaving some part of our mind and meditation void for other matters, without wholly and seriously setting on a thing propounded. When any complained to him of blasphemous thoughts, he would say—“Do not fear them, but abhor them.”

5 Prov. 24:9.

6 Song 2:15, and Scott, in loco.

7 Rom. 7:22.

1 Compare Jer. 4:14.

2 Rom. 7:20.

3 Malachi 3:17.

4 Compare 2 Kings 2:19–22. Jer. 4:14.

5 Proverbs 4:23.

6 Matthew 12:35.

7 Mt. 26:41.

1 Ps. 38:9. 56:8.

2 Rom. 8:7.

3 Steele’s Antidote against Distractions.

4 Psalm. 51:5.

5 Rev. 21:27.

6 Zech. 13:1.

1 Ps. 77:4.

2 Matt. 3:17.

3 Rom. 12:12.

Psalm 119:114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Your word. 

• my hiding (KJV): Ps 32:7 91:1,2 Isa 32:2 
• my shield (KJV): Ps 3:3 84:11 
• I hope (KJV): Ps 119:81 130:5,6 

Related Passage:

• Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. 

You are my hiding place and my shield - The Septuagint reads "Thou art my helper (boethos) and my protector I have hoped in thy words."

I wait (yachal) for Your word -  Wait is the Hebrew yahal/yachal which conveys the idea of tarrying, of confident expectation, of trust. The Septuagint has an interesting translation using the verb epelpizo which means to buoy up with hope. And it is interesting that most of the uses of epelpizo are found in Psalm 119 (no uses in NT)...

Epelpizo - 2 Ki. 18:30; Ps. 52:7; Ps. 119:43; Ps. 119:49; Ps. 119:74; Ps. 119:81; Ps. 119:114; Ps. 119:147

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Charles Bridges - 

We have seen the unremitting vigilance of the enemy pursuing the man of God in his secret retirement with painful distraction. See how he runs to his hiding-place. Here is our main principle of safety—not our strivings, or our watchfulness, but our faith. Flee instantly to Jesus.4 He is the sinner’s hiding-place, “the man,” that wondrous man, “in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”5 Yes, Jesus exposed himself to the fury of “the tempest,” that he might provide “a hiding-place” for us. The broken law pursued with its relentless curse—‘The sinner ought to die’—But “thou art my hiding-place,” who hast “redeemed me from the curse of the law, being made a curse for me.”6 “The fiery darts” pour in on every side; but the recollection of past security awakens my song of acknowledgment, “Thou hast been a strength to the poor, to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.”7 Our hiding-place covers us from the power of the world. “In me,” saith our Saviour, “ye shall have peace. Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”8 Helpless to resist the great enemy, our Lord brings us to his wounded side, and hides us there. We “overcome him by the blood of the Lamb.”9 To all accusations from every quarter, our challenge is ready, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?”10 From the fear of death, our hiding-place still covers us. “Jesus through death hath destroyed him that had the power of death.”11 Against the sting of this last enemy, a song of thanksgiving is put into our mouth, “O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”1 Thus is “the smoking flax,” which the malice of Satan strives to extinguish, not “quenched;” nor is “the bruised reed,” which seems beyond the hope of restoration “broken.”

But the completeness of our security is graphically portrayed—Thou art my hiding-place, to cover from danger—my shield,2 also to protect me in it. Either I shall be kept from trouble, that it shall not come; or in trouble, that it shall not hurt me. The hiding-place alone would be imperfect security, as being limited to one place. But my shield is movable, wherever be the point of danger or assault. I can “quench the dart” that is aimed at my soul.

But a hiding-place implies also secrecy.3 And truly the believer’s is a “hidden life,”4 beyond the comprehension of the world. He mixes with them in the common intercourse of life. But while seen of man, he is dwelling “in the secret of the Lord’s tabernacle,”5 safe in the midst of surrounding danger, guarded by invincible strength.6 Often, indeed, must the world be surprised at his constancy, amidst all their varied efforts to shake his steadfastness. They know not “the secret of the Lord, which is with them that fear him.”7 And never could he have had a just conception of the all-sufficiency of his God, until he finds it above him, around him, underneath him, in all the fulness of everlasting love—his hiding-place, and his shield. Thus in the heart of the enemy’s country “the dwelleth on high, and his place of defence is the munitions of rocks.”8

But are we acquainted with this hiding-place? How have we discovered it? Are we found in it, and careful to abide in it? Within its walls “that wicked one toucheth us not.”9 Yet never shall we venture outside the walls unprotected, but his assault will give us some painful remembrance of our unwatchfulness. And then do we prize our shield, and run behind it for constant security. Remember, every other hiding-place “the waters will overflow.”10 Every other shield is a powerless defence. Surely then the word, which has discovered this security to us, is a firm warrant for our “hope.” And therefore every sinner, enclosed in the covert of love, will be ready to declare, “I hope in thy word.”

4 Ps. 143:9. Prov. 18:10.

5 Isaiah 32:2. Col. 2:9.

6 Gal. 3:10, 13.

7 Isaiah 25:4.

8 John 16:33.

9 Rev. 12:11.

10 Rom. 8:33, 34.

11 Heb. 2:14, 15.

1 1 Cor. 15:55, 57.

2 Gen. 15:1. Ps. 3:3; 5:12. Comp. Eph. 6:17.

3 Psalm 31:20.

4 Col. 3:3.

5 Ps. 27:5.

6 Isaiah 26:1.

7 Psalm 25:14.

8 Isaiah 33:16.

9 1 John 5:18.

10 Isaiah 28:16, 17.

Psalm 119:115 Depart from me, evildoers, That I may observe the commandments of my God. 

• Depart (KJV): Ps 6:8 26:5,9 139:19 Mt 7:23 25:41 1Co 15:33 
• for I will (KJV): Ps 119:106 Jos 24:15 

Depart from me, evildoers, That I may observe the commandments of my God - Godly won't bring the evildoers down, but the converse is almost a guarantee. Thus the command for them to depart. Depart is rendered in Septuagint with the verb ekklino basically means to lean in the wrong direction, to bend out of the regular line, to bend away. In this context it is a command to turn away from. Paul uses ekklino in Romans writing " Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away (ekklino in the present imperative) from them." (Ro 16:17)

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Charles Bridges - Safe and quiet in his “hiding-place, and behind his shield,” David deprecates all attempts to disturb his peace, “Depart from me, ye evil doers.” He had found them to be opposed to his best interests; and he dreaded their influence in shaking his resolution for his God. Indeed such society must always hinder alike the enjoyment and the service of God. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”1 And can we be “agreed,” and walk in fellow ship with God, except we be at variance with the principles, the standard, and conduct of a world that is enmity against him?”2 Not more needful was the exhortation to the first Christians than to ourselves, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.”3 True fellowship with God implies therefore a resolute separation from the ungodly. Secure in the “hiding-place,” and covered with the “shield” of our covenant God, let us meet their malice, and resist their enticements, with the undaunted front of “a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”4

Not that we would indulge morose or ascetic seclusion. We are expressly enjoined to courtesy and kindness;5 to that wise and considerate “walk towards them that are without,”6 which “adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour,”7 and indeed in some instances has been more powerful even than the word itself,8 to “win souls to Christ.” But when they would tempt us to a devious or backsliding step—when our connection with them entices us to a single act of conformity to their standard, dishonorable to God, and inconsistent with our profession—then must we take a bold and unflinching stand, “Depart from me, ye evil doers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.”

This resolution gives no countenance to the self-delusive notion of maintaining an intimate connection with professed “evil doers” for the kind purpose of recommending our religion to their acceptance—a scheme, which requires a rare degree of caution and simplicity to attempt without entangling the conscience; and which, for the most part at least, it is to be feared, is only a specious covering for the indulgence of a worldly spirit. If the men of the world are to be met, and their society invited, for the accomplishment of this benevolent intention, let it be upon the principle of the Lord’s command to his prophet, “Let them return unto thee; but return not thou to them.”9 The amiable desire to “please our neighbor” is limited to the single end, that it should be “for his good to edification.”10 And whenever this end and restriction has been overlooked, it is sufficiently evident that self-gratification has been the moving principle; and that the distinctive mark of the Christian character—bearing the cross, and confessing the name of our Divine Master—has been obscured.

Sometimes, however, in the struggle of conscience, an apprehension of danger is not altogether forgotten; and the question is asked, with some trembling of spirit, “How far may I conform to the world, without endangering the loss of my religion?” But, not to speak of the insincerity and self-deception of such a question, it would be better answered by substituting another in its place. “How far may I be separate from the world, and yet be destitute of the vital principle?” Scrutinize, in every advancing step toward the world, the workings of your own heart. Suspect its reasonings. Listen to the first awakened conviction of conscience. Though it be only a whisper, or a hint, it is probably the indication of the Divine will. And never forget, that this experiment of worldly conformity, often as it has been tried, has never answered the desired end. However this compromise may have recommended ourselves, no progress has been made in recommending our Master; since his name—whether from unwatchfulness or cowardice on our part, or from the overpowering flow of the world on the other side—has probably in such society scarcely passed over our lips with any refreshment or attentiveness. Indeed, so far from commending our religion by this accommodation, we have succeeded in ingratiating ourselves in their favor, only so far as we have been content to keep it out of sight; while at the same time, our yielding conformity to their taste, and habits, and conversation, has virtually sanctioned their erroneous standard of conduct; and tended to deceive them with the self-complacent conviction, that it approaches as near to the Scriptural elevation, as is absolutely required. The final result, therefore, of this attempt to conciliate the Gospel to those who “have no heart to it,” is—that now our own consciences have been ensnared, while they retain all their principles unaltered.

It must surely be obvious, that such a course is plainly opposed to the revealed declarations of Scripture, and bears the decisive character of unfaithfulness to our Great Master. We might also ask, whether our love to the Lord can be in fervent exercise, while we “love them that hate him?”1—whether our hatred of sin can be active and powerful, while we can find pleasure in the society of those, whose life, “without God in the world,”2 is an habitual wilful course of rebellion against him?”3—whether we can have any deep and experimental sense of our own weakness, when thus venturing into temptation?—whether by unnecessary contact with the world, we can expect to “go upon hot coals,” and our “feet not be burned?”4—or, in fact, whether we are not forgetting the dictates of common prudence in forsaking the path of safety for a slippery, but more congenial, path? Is no harm to be anticipated from a wilful, self-pleasing association? Is it likely to be less dangerous to us than it was to an Apostle?5 or because we conceive ourselves to have more strength, shall we use less watchfulness, and show more presumption?

But, supposing Scripture not to determine the path of duty with infallible certainty; let this line of conduct be subjected to the impartial scrutiny of our own hearts, and of the effects, whether neutral or positively detrimental, which have resulted from it to ourselves, or to the Church. Have we not felt this fellowship with “evil doers” to be an hindrance in “keeping the commandments of our God?” If it has not always ended in open conformity to their maxims; or, if contrary to our apprehensions, it does not appear to sanction their principles, yet have we realized no deadening unfavorable influence? Has the spirit of prayer sustained no injury in this atmosphere? Have we never felt the danger of imbibing their taste, the spirit of their conversation and general conduct; which, without fixing any blot upon our external profession must insensibly estrange our best affections from God? And have we never considered the injury of this worldly association to the Gospel in weakening by an apparent want of decision “on the Lord’s side,”1 the sacred cause which we are pledged to support; and obscuring the Scriptural character of the people of God as a distinct and separate people?2 In a providential connection with evil doers, we go safely in the spirit of humility, watchfulness, and prayer; and this connection, felt to be a cross, is not likely to prove a snare.”3 But does not union of spirit with them, to whom David says, with holy determination, “depart from me,”—and to whom David’s Lord will one day say, “depart”4—prove a want of fellowship with his spirit, and an essential unfitness for communion with the society of heaven? The children of this world can have no more real communion with the children of light, than darkness has with light.5 As great is the difference between the Christian and the world, as between heaven and hell—as between the sounds, “Come, ye blessed,” and, “Depart, ye cursed.”6 The difference, which at that solemn day will be made for eternity, must therefore be visibly made now. They must depart from us, or we from God. We cannot walk with them both. ‘Defilement,’ as Mr. Cecil remarks, ‘is inseparable from the world.’7 We cannot hold communion with God, in the spirit of the world; and, therefore, separation from the world, or separation from God, is the alternative. Which way—which company—is most congenial to our taste? Fellowship will be a component part of our heavenly happiness.8 Shall we not then walk on earth with those with whom we hope to spend our eternity, that our removal hence may be a change of place only, not of company? May we have grace to listen to our Father’s voice of love, “Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord; and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty!”9

1 Amos 3:3.

2 Comp. Matt. 6:24. James 4:4.

3 Acts 2:40.

4 2 Tim. 2:3.

5 1 Peter 3:8.

6 Col. 2:5.

7 Titus 2:10

8 Comp. 1 Peter 3:1.

9 Jer. 15:19.

10 Comp. Rom 15:4.

1 2 Chron. 19:2.

2 Eph. 2:12.

3 Who are the wicked, but those that forget God? Ps. 9:17; 10:4.

4 Prov. 6:28.

5 Matt. 26:58, 69–75.

1 Compare Exodus 32:26. Judges 5:23. Matt. 12:30.

2 Compare Numb. 23:9. John 17:16.

3 Ps. 120:5, 6.

4 Matt. 25:41.

5 2 Cor. 6:14.

6 Matt. 25:34, 41.

7 Cecil’s Remains.

8 Heb. 12:22–24.

9 2 Cor. 6:17, 18.

Psalm 119:116 Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live; And do not let me be ashamed of my hope. 

• Uphold (KJV): Ps 37:17,24 41:12 63:8 94:18 Isa 41:10 42:1 
• and let me (KJV): Ps 25:2 Isa 45:17 Ro 5:5 9:32 10:11 1Pe 2:6 

Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live; And do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

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Charles Bridges - Lest the Psalmist should seem to have been self-confident in his rejection of the society of the ungodly, and determination to adhere to to his God; here, as on former occasions,10 mindful of his own weakness, he commits himself to the upholding grace of God. He does not content himself with commanding the evil doer to depart. He pleads for his God to come to him. He wants not only the hindrances to be removed, but the vouchsafement of present supporting grace. Such is our urgent continual view! Every circumstance has its temptation. Every change of condition is specially trying—and what is he in himself? unstable as water! Indeed the highest archangel before the throne stands only as he is upheld by the Lord, and may unite with the weakest child in the Lord’s family in the acknowledgment, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”1 Much more, therefore, must I, pressed on every side with daily conflict and temptation, and conscious of my own weakness and liability to fall, “come to the throne of grace” for “grace to help in time of need.”2 My plea is the word of promise, “according to thy word”—“as thy days, so shall thy strength be.”3 “Fear thou not,” is the language of my upholding God—“for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee: yea, I will help thee: yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”4 Blessed be the goodness that made the promise, and that guides the hand of my faith, as it were, to fasten upon it!

But why do I need the promise? why do I plead it? but “that I may live”—that I may know that life which is found and enjoyed “in the favor” of God?5 Nothing seems worth a serious thought beside; nothing else deserves the name. And therefore new life—“life more abundantly”6—let it be the burden of every prayer—the cry of every moment. Thus upheld by the Lord’s grace, and living in his presence, I hope to feel the increasing support of my Christian hope. Though I have just before expressed it in God’s word,—though I have “made my boast in the Lord,” as “my hiding-place and my shield,”7 yet conscious helplessness leads me earnestly to pray, “Let me not be ashamed of my hope.”

Yes—Jesus is the sinner’s hope—“the hope set before” his people, to which they “flee for the refuge” of their souls. And well may our “hope” in him be called “an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast.”8 How does the distressed Church plead with The hope of Israel, and put her God in remembrance of this his own name,9 that she might not be ashamed of her hope! And how does she—with every member of her body—eventually learn by this pleading, to say in the confidence of faith, “I know whom I have believed!”10 And is there not a solid ground for this confidence? Is not the “stone that is laid in Zion for a foundation,” a “tried stone?” Has it not been tried by thousands and millions of sinners—nay, more, tried by God himself, and found to be “a sure foundation”1 Yet still, that I may “hold fast the beginning of my confidence,” and “the rejoicing of my hope, firm unto the end,”2 I must persevere in prayer, “Uphold me according unto thy word.”

David, when left to his own weakness, was “ashamed of his hope”—“I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes.”3 At another time, when upheld in a season of accumulated trial, “he encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”4 Thus I see “wherein my great strength lieth,” and how impotent I am when left to myself. What a mercy, that my salvation will never for a single moment be in my own keeping! what need have I to pray to be saved from myself! How delightful is the exercise of faith in going to the Strong for strength! The issue of my spiritual conflicts is certain. He who is the author will ever be the upholder, of the “hidden life” in his people. It is a part of his own life, and therefore can never perish. The tempter himself will flee, when he marks the poor, feeble, fainting soul, “upheld according to the word of his God,” and placed in safety beyond the reach of his malice.5 Not, however, that, as I once supposed, my weakness will ever be made strong; but that I shall daily grow more sensible of it, shall stay myself more simply upon infinite everlasting strength; and “most gladly shall I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”6

10 Verses 8, 31. The same frame is marked—Psalm 17:4, 5.

1 1 Cor. 15:10. Compare 2 Peter 2:4.

‘Man’s wisdom is to seek

His strength in God alone;

And e’en an angel would be weak,

Who trusted in his own.’—Cowper.

2 Heb. 4:16.

3 Deut. 33:25.

4 Isaiah 41:10.

5 Psalm 30:5.

6 John 10:10.

7 Verse 114.

8 Heb. 6:18. 19.

9 Jer. 14:6.

10 2 Tim. 1:12.

1 Isa. 28:16.

2 Heb. 3:6, 14.

3 Psalm 21:2.

4 1 Sam. 30:6.

5 See 1 Peter 1:5.

6 2 Cor. 12:9.

Psalm 119:117  Uphold me that I may be safe, That I may have regard for Your statutes continually. 

• Uphold me: Ps 17:5 71:6 73:23 139:10 Isa 41:13  Joh 10:28,29 Ro 14:4 1Pe 1:5 Jude 1:24 
• That I may have regard : Ps 119:6,48,111,112 

Uphold me that I may be safe - A great prayer expressing our continual need to recall our great and total dependence upon God and His Spirit in order to live as a believer, a "Christ one", a SUPERnatural life, an abundant life. If He were not for us, all hell and corruption would prevail over us beloved! In Christ, by His grace, we are overcomers!

Spurgeon - Hold thou me up: as a nurse holds up a little child. "And I shall be safe," and not else; for unless Thou hold me up I shall be falling about like an infant that is weak upon its knees. We are saved by past grace, but we are not safe unless we receive present grace. The Psalmist had vowed to keep the Lord's commands, but here he pleads with the Lord to keep him: a very sensible course of procedure. Our version reads the word "uphold," and then "hold up;" and truly we need this blessing in every shape in which it can come, for in all manner of ways our adversaries seek to cast us down. To be safe is a happy condition; there is only one door to it, and that is to be held up by God Himself; thank God, that door is open to the least among us. 

Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Not only the consciousness of my weakness, but the danger of the slippery path before me, reminds me, that the safety of every moment depends upon the upholding power of my faithful God. The ways of temptation are so many and imperceptible -- the influence of it so appalling -- the entrance into it so deceitful, so specious, so insensible -- and my own weakness and unwatchfulness are so unspeakable -- that I can do nothing but go on my way, praying at every step, "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe." --Charles Ridges. 

Verse 117. -- Hold thou me up. Three things made David afraid. 

• First, great temptation without; for from every air the wind of temptation blows upon a Christian. 
• Secondly, great corruption within. 
• Thirdly, examples of other worthy men that had fallen before him, and are written for us: not that we should learn to fall, but to fear lest we fall. 

These three should always hold us humble, according to that warning, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." (1Cor 10:12) --William Cowper. 

Verse 117. -- Up, up above the littleness in which I have lived too long, -- above the snares which have so often caught me, -- above the stumbling blocks upon which I have so often fallen, -- above the world, -- above myself, -- higher than I have ever reached yet, -- above the level of my own mortality: worthy of thee, -- worthy of the blood, with which I have been bought, -- nearer to heaven, -- nearer to thee, -- "hold thou me up." 

God's methods of holding his people up are many. Sometimes it is by the preacher's word, when the word comes fitly spoken to the heart and conscience. May God, in his infinite condescension, enable his servants in this church so to hold you up. Sometimes it is by the ordained means and sacraments which his grace commanded. Sometimes it is by the efficacy of the Holy Scriptures, when some passage in your own room strikes the mind, Just in season; or the stay of some sweet promise comes in sustaining to your spirit. Sometimes by the simple in working of the Holy Ghost in a man's own thoughts, as he will work "Uphold me with thy free Spirit." Sometimes by the ministration of angels, -- "They shall hold thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." Sometimes by putting you very low indeed, making you feel that the safe place is the valley. There is no elevation like the elevation of abasement. Sometimes by severe discipline to brace up the heart, and strengthen it, and make it independent of external things. Sometimes by heavy affliction, which is the grasp of his hand, that he may hold you tighter. Sometimes by putting into your heart to think the exact thing that you need, -- to pray the very prayer which he intends at the moment to grant. Sometimes by appearing to let you go, and forsake you, while at the same time -- like the Syro Phoenician woman -- he is giving you the wish to hold on that he may give you the more at the last. --James Vaughan, of Brighton, 1877. 

Verse 117. -- I will have respect unto that statutes continually. I will employ myself, so some; I will delight myself, so others; in thy statutes. If God's right hand uphold us, we must in His strength go on in our duty, both with diligence and With pleasure. -- Matthew Henry. 

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 117. -- 

Upholding -- God's holding us up. It implies a danger, and that danger takes many forms. The believer's life may be described as walking in uprightness; he is a pilgrim. He needs upholding, for -- 
(a) The way is slippery. 
(b) Our feet make the danger as well as the way. 
(c) Cunning foes seek to trip us up. 
(d) Sometimes the difficulty is not caused by the way, but by the height to which God may elevate us. 
(e) The prayer is all the more needful because the most of people do not keep upright. 

Two blessed things that come out of this holding up. 
(a) We shall be safe for ourselves, as examples, and as pillars of the church. 
(b) We shall be watchful and sensitive: "I will have respect unto thy statutes continually." Without this no man is safe. 

See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 1657: "My Hourly Prayer." 
Verse 117. -- Hold thou me up, etc. 

The good man is up. 
The good man wishes to keep up. 
The good man prays to be held up. 
The good man knows that divine support is abundantly sufficient. --W.J. 

Verse 117. -- 
Dependence for the future: "Hold," etc. 
Resolution for the future: "I will have," etc. --G.R. 

IN OBEDIENCE
IS SAFETY!

That I may have regard for Your statutes continually - Notice how the protection of the Lord from spiritual danger enlivens our regard for God's Word. Sin will keep you from the Bible or the Bible will keep you from sin. 

No man will outwardly keep the Lord's statutes for long together
UNLESS he has an inward respect for them, and this will never be
UNLESS the hand of the Lord perpetually upholds the heart in holy love
-- C H Spurgeon

Spurgeon - And I will have respect unto thy statutes continually. In obedience is safety; in being held up is obedience. No man will outwardly keep the Lord's statutes for long together UNLESS he has an inward respect for them, and this will never be UNLESS the hand of the Lord perpetually upholds the heart in holy love (cp Php 2:13NLT+, Ezek 36:27+, 1Jn 4:19+). Perseverance to the end, obedience continually, comes only through the divine power; we start aside as a deceitful bow unless we are kept right by Him that first gave us grace. Happy is the man who realizes this verse in his life: upheld through his whole life in a course of unswerving integrity, he becomes a safe and trusted man, and maintains a sacred delicacy of conscience which is unknown to others. He feels a tender respect for the statutes of the Lord, which keeps him clear of inconsistencies and conformities to the world that are so common among others, and hence he is a pillar in the house of the Lord. Alas, we know some professors who are not upright, and therefore they lean to sin till they fall over, and though they are restored they are never safe or reliable, neither have they that sweet purity of soul which is the charm of the more sanctified who have been kept from falling into the mire. 

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Charles Bridges - Such is my sense of need and peril, that my only refuge lies in “continuing instant in prayer.”7 I must send up one cry after another into my Father’s ear for the support of his upholding grace. For not only the consciousness of my weakness, but the danger of the slippery path before me, reminds me that the safety of every moment depends upon my upholding faithful God. The ways of temptation are so many and imperceptible—the influence of it so appalling—the entrance into it so deceitful, so specious, so insensible—my own weakness and unwatchfulness so unspeakable—that I can do nothing but go on my way, praying at every step, “Hold thou me up and I shall be safe.” Often indeed can I remember, when “my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped:8 that I have been enabled to record, “Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.”9

How beautiful is the picture given of the Church of old, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?”10 This state of dependence was familiar to the Psalmist, and aptly delineates his affectionate, though conflicting confidence. “My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.”11 The recollection of the care of his God, from his earliest life, supplied encouragement for his present faith, and matter for unceasing praise, “By thee have I been holden up from the womb; thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.”1 We cannot wonder, then, that this confidence should sustain his soul in the contemplation of the remaining steps of his pilgrimage, and his prospects for eternity. “Nevertheless,” saith he, “I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by thy right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory.”2 And indeed the more lively my spiritual apprehensions are, the more I shall realize the Lord by the operations of his grace as well as of his providence, “compassing my path and my lying down;”3 “lest any hurt me, keeping me night and day.”4

It is inquired—how the Lord “holds up” his people in this slippery path? “Of the fulness of Jesus they all receive, and grace for grace;”5 so that “the life which they now live in the flesh, they live by the faith of the Son of God.”6 And therefore if I am upheld, it is by the indwelling of the Spirit, who supplies from his infinite fountain of life all the strength and support I need throughout my dangerous way. By his Divine influence the dispensations of providence also become the appointed means of drawing and keeping me near to my God. If, therefore, prosperity is endangering my soul, and strengthening my worldly bonds, may I not trust to the ever-watchful kindness of the Lord, to keep me low, and not to suffer me to be at ease in my forgetfulness? If the pleasures of sense, if the esteem of the world, or the good report of the church, are bringing a bewitching snare upon my soul, my God will lead me into the pathway of the cross—in the ‘valley of humiliation.’

Here, then, is the secret of an unsteady walk—the neglect of leaning upon an Almighty arm! How fearfully is the danger of self-confidence unveiled! Standing by my own strength, very soon shall I be made to feel, that I cannot stand at all. No “mountain” seemed to “stand stronger” than Solomon’s: yet when he became the very “fool” that he describes—“trusting in his own heart”—how quickly was it moved!7

Peter thought in the foolishness of his heart, that he could have walked upon the water unsupported by the arm of his Lord: but a moment’s sense of weakness and danger brought him to his right mind: “and, begining to sink, he cried, saying—Lord, save me.”8 Well would it have been for him, if his deliverance at that moment of peril had effectually rebuked his presumption. We should not then have heard from the same lips that language of most unwarranted self-confidence:—“Although all shall be offended, yet will not I:—If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise.”9 Poor deluded disciple! thou art on the brink of a grievous fall!10 Yet was he “held up” from utterly sinking. “I have prayed for thee,” said the gracious Saviour, “that thy faith fail not.”1 And thus “held up” by the same faithful intercession of my powerful friend (whose prayers are not weak as mine, “nor will he fail or be discouraged”2 by my continual backslidings,) “I” too—though in the atmosphere of danger, in the slippery path of temptation, “shall be safe”—safe from an ensnaring world—safe from a treacherous heart—safe in life—safe in death—safe in eternity. Thus does an interest in the covenant encourage—not presumption—but faith, in all its exercises of humility, watchfulness, diligence, and prayer; and in this appointed way does the Lord securely “keep the feet of his saints.”

Let me not, then, forget, either my continual liability to fall if left to myself, or the faithful engagements of my covenant God, to “keep me from falling.” While I recollect for my comfort, that I “stand by faith,” still is the exhortation most needful, “Be not high-minded, but fear.”3 “By faith I stand,” as it concerns God; by fear, as regards myself. As light is composed of neither brilliant nor sombre rays, but of the combination of both in simultaneous action, so is every Christian grace combined with its opposite, “that it may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.” Hope, therefore, combined with fear, issues in that genuine, evangelical confidence, in which alone I can walk safely and closely with God. Let, then, the self-confident learn to distrust themselves, and the fearful be encouraged to trust their Saviour; and in each let the recollection of grace and help vouchsafed “in time of need,” lead to the steadfast resolution, “I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.” However self denying they may be in their requirements: however opposed in their tendency to “the desires of the flesh and of the mind,” I take my God as the surety of my performance of them; and I desire to love them as the rule of my daily conduct, and as the very element of heavenly happiness to my soul.

7 Rom. 12:12.

8 Ps. 73:2.

9 Ps. 94:18.

10 Cant. 8:5.

11 Psalm 63:8.

1 Ps. 71:6.

2 Ps. 73:23, 24.

3 Ps. 139:3.

4 Isa. 27:3.

5 John 1:16.

6 Gal. 2:20.

7 Comp. Psalm 30:6, 7. 1 Kings 11:1–10. Prov. 28:26.

8 Matt 14:28–30.

9 Mark 14:29, 31.

10 Prov. 16:18.

1 Luke 22:31, 32.

2 Isaiah 42:4.

3 Rom. 11:20.

Psalm 119:118 You have rejected all those who wander from Your statutes, For their deceitfulness is useless. 

• trodden (KJV): Isa 25:10 63:3 Mal 4:3 Lu 21:24 Rev 14:20 
• err (KJV): Ps 119:10,21 95:10 
• their deceit (KJV): Ps 119:29 78:36,37,57 Isa 44:20 Eph 4:22 5:6 2Th 2:9-11 2Ti 3:13 1Jn 2:21 Rev 18:23 

You have rejected all those who wander from Your statutes - The Septuagint translates rejected with the verb exoutheneo which means to despise, disdain, consider of no account. Men and women made in His image come to no account when they reject His statues as the guides of their life (cf use of exoutheneo in Acts 4:11+). 

For their deceitfulness is useless - NLT = They are only fooling themselves.

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Charles Bridges - The Psalmist’s determination to keep the statutes of God was strengthened by marking his judgment on those that erred from them. And thus the Lord expects us to learn at their cost.4 The cheerful, grateful respect to his statutes marks also a difference of character indicative of a difference of state. “His saints are in his hand, or sitting down at his feet;5 his enemies are trodden down under his feet” in full conquest,6 and disgraceful punishment.7 His own people he has exalted to be “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.”8 Even now “he hath made them to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus;” and shortly will they “be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of their God;1 while the ungodly “are put away like dross” from the precious gold. “Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.”2 The same difference he makes even in chastening—upholding his own children under the scourging rod, lest they faint; but “breaking the wicked with a rod of iron, and dashing them in pieces.”3

This separation has been from the beginning; in his conduct to the two first children of men;4 and in his selection of Enoch,5 Noah,6 and Abraham7 from the world of the ungodly, “as vessels of honor meet for the Master’s use.”8 In after ages, he made Egypt “know, that he put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.”9 They were his own people, that should dwell alone, and not “be reckoned among the nations”10—a people, whom he had “formed for himself, that they should show forth his praise.”11 And the same difference he has made ever since, between his people and the world—in their character12—their way13—their exercises of mind14—their services15—their privileges16—and their prospects.17 At the day of judgment the separation will be complete—final—everlasting. “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left; and these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.”18

But mark the character—They “err from God’s statutes”—not in their minds, through ignorance; but “in their hearts”19 through obstinacy. They do not say, ‘Lord, we know not,’ but “we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.”20 It is not frailty, but unbelief; not want of knowledge, but love of sin—wilful, damnable. Justly, therefore, are they stamped as the “wicked of the earth,” and marked out as objects of the Lord’s eternal frown—expectants of “the vengeance of eternal fire.”

And is not this a solemn warning to those “that forget God”—that “they shall be turned into hell”21—to “the proud”—that in “the day that shall burn as an oven, they shall be as stubble”22—to the worldly—that in some “night” of forgetfulness, their “souls will be required of them”23—to the “hypocrites in heart”—that they “are heaping up wrath?”24 Thus does the eye of faith discern through the apparent disorder of a world in ruins, the just, holy, and wise, government of God. “Clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.”1 If the wicked seem to triumph, and the righteous to be trodden down under their feet, it shall not be always so. “The end”2 and “wages of sin is death.”3 “The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.”4

How awful, then, and almost desperate their condition! “Their deceit is falsehood;” “deceiving and being deceived”5—perhaps giving up to believe their own lie—perhaps one or another “blessing themselves in their own heart,” saying “ ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my own heart, to add drunkenness to thirst.’ ”6 What then is our duty? Carnal selfishness says, ‘Be quiet—let them alone’—that is, “Destroy them by our” indolence and unfaithfulness, “for whom Christ died.”7 But what does Scripture, conscience, nay more—what does common humanity say? “Cry aloud, spare not.”8 Awake the sleepers—sound the alarm, “Now is the accepted time—the day of salvation,”9 the moment to lift up the prayer and stretch forth the hand for plucking the brands out of the fire.”10 “To-morrow the door may be shut, never to be opened more.”11

How awful the judgment of being “put away like dross!” Look at Saul,12 when “put away”—going out, to harden himself in the sullen pride of despondency. Hear the fearful doom of Israel, “Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross; all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. Therefore saith the Lord God—Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem, as they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin into the midst of the furnaces to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury; and I will leave you there, and melt you.”13 But how should this justice of the Lord’s proceedings endear his statutes to us! It is such a sensible demonstration of their truth, bringing with it such a close conviction of sovereign mercy to ourselves—not less guilty than they! Add to this—If he were less observant of sin—less strict in its punishment as a transgression of his word—we should lose that awful display of the holiness of the word, which commends it supremely to our love, “Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it.”14

4 Ps. 58:10. Isa. 26:9. Zeph. 3:6, 7.

5 Deut. 33:3.

6 Ps. 110:1. Comp. Josh. 10:24.

7 2 Kings 9:33. Mic. 7:10. Mal. 4:3.

8 Rom. 8:17.

1 Eph. 2:6. Isa. 62:3. Comp. Matt. 13:43.

2 Jer. 6:30.

3 Isa. 57:16–18, with Psalm 2:9.

4 Gen. 4:4, 5. Heb. 11:4.

5 Gen. 5:22–24. Heb. 11:5.

6 Ge 7:1.

7 Ge. 12:1–3.

8 2 Tim. 2:21.

9 Exod. 11:7.

10 Numb. 23:9.

11 Isa. 43:21.

12 1 John 5:19.

13 Prov. 15:9.

14 Rom. 7:5.

15 Prov. 15:8.

16 Pr. 3:32, 33.

17 Dan. 12:2.

18 Matt. 25:31–33, 46. Comp. 3:12; 13:30. Mal. 3:16–18.

19 Ps. 95:10. Com. verse 21.

20 Job 21:14.

21 Ps. 9:17.

22 Mal. 4:1.

23 Luke 12:19, 20. Dan. 5:30.

24 Job 36:13.

1 Psalm 97:2.

2 Rom. 6:21.

3 Ro 6: 23.

4 Psalm 1:5.

5 2 Tim. 3:13.

6 Deut. 29:19.

7 Comp. Rom. 14:15.

8 Isa. 58:1.

9 2 Cor. 6:2.

10 Zech. 3:2. Jude 23.

11 Matt. 25:10.

12 1 Sam. 28:5–25.

13 Ezek. 22:18–20.

14 Ps 119:140.

Psalm 119:119 You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross; Therefore I love Your testimonies. 

• Thou (KJV): When Thou triest them in the refining fire, they are burnt up, fly off in fumes, or in {scorie,} which Thou sweepest away.
• puttest away (KJV): Heb. causest to cease, 1Sa 15:23 Jer 6:30 Eze 22:18-22 Mal 3:2,3 Mt 3:12 7:23 Mt 13:40-42,49,50 
• therefore (KJV): Ps 119:111,126-128 

You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross; Therefore I love Your testimonies (Ps 119:47, 48, 97,113, 119,127,159,163,167) - NLT = "All the wicked of the earth are the scum you skim off; no wonder I love to obey your decrees!" This is spoken in the past tense, but there is clearly a sense in which it will be perfectly fulfilled in the New Heavens and New Earth, which has no sin or unredeemed sinners. 

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Charles Bridges - See comment on v118

 

Psalm 119:120 My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments. 

• My flesh: Ps 119:53 Lev 10:1-3 1Sa 6:20 2Sa 6:8,9 1Chr 24:16,17,30 2Ch 34:21,27 Isa 66:2 Da 10:8-11 Hab 3:16 Php 2:12 Heb 12:21,28,29 Rev 1:17,18 

Related Passages:

Luke 12:5+  "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

Habakkuk 3:16+ I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us. 

A GOOD FEAR TO
CULTIVATE

My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments - Note double fear - God Himself and His judgments, which are a reflection of His righteous character. This reminds me of Paul's command to the saints at Philippi "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out (present imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) your salvation with fear and trembling." (Php 2:12+) Note how proper fear of God is a motivating factor in one's working out his or her salvation (aka progressive sanctification). Paul presents a similar exhortation in 2Cor 7:1+ "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness (aka progressive sanctification) in (locative of sphere) the fear of God. 

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Charles Bridges - 

The justice of God is a tremendously awful subject of contemplation, even to those who are safely shielded from its terrors. The believer, in the act of witnessing its righteous stroke upon “the wicked of the earth,” cannot forbear to cry out, “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee.”1 Thus did the holy men of old tremble even with a frame approaching horror in the presence of the Divine judgments—David trembled at the stroke of Uzzah—as if it came very near to himself,2 “Destruction from God,” saith holy Job, “was a terror to me: and by reason of his highness I could not endure.”3 Such also was the Prophet’s strong sensation, “When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones.”4 And thus, when God comes to “tread down and put away” his enemies for the display of the holiness of his character, and to excite the “love” of his people—those that stand by, secure under the covert of their hiding-place5—cannot but “take up their parable and say—Alas! who shall live, when God doeth this!”6 The children of God reverence their Father’s anger. They cannot see it (such is his “terrible Majesty!”7) without an awful fear; and this trembling at his judgments upon the ungodly covers them from the heavy stroke. Those that refuse to tremble shall be made to feel, while those that are “afraid of his judgments” shall be secure, “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the wicked.”8 “I trembled in myself,” said the Prophet, “that I might rest in the day of trouble.”9 Even the manifestations of his coming “for the salvation of his people” are attended with all the marks of the most fearful terror—as if his voice would shake the earth to its very foundation, “Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven—the earth feared, and was still; when God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth.”10

To mark this trembling as the character of the child of God, we need only contrast it with the ungodly scoffing, “Where is the God of judgment? Where is the promise of his coming? The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.”11 Thus do men dare to “run upon the thick bosses of his buckler,”12 instead of “trembling for fear of him!” This “stoutness against the Lord,”13 excites the astonishment of the hosts of heaven; so discordant is it to their notes of humble praise, “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name; for thy judgments are made manifest!”14 Such is the special acceptance of this trembling spirit, that some shadow of it obtained a respite even for wicked Ahab,15 and a pardon for the penitent Ninevites;16 while its genuine “tenderness of heart” screened Josiah from the doom of his people,17 and will ever be regarded with the tokens of the favor of this terrible God. “To this man,” saith he, “I will look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word.”1

Believers in Christ! Rejoice in your deliverance from that “fear which hath torment.”2 Yet cherish that holy reverential fear of the character and judgments of God, which will form your most effectual safeguard “from presumptuous sins.”3 The very supposition, that, if God had not engaged himself to you by an unchangeable covenant, his eternal judgments would have been your eternal portion, is of itself sufficient to mingle the wholesome ingredient of fear into the most established assurance. What! Can you look down into the burning bottomless gulf beneath your feet, without the recollection—If I were not immovably fastened to “the Rock of Ages” by the strong chain of everlasting love, there must have been my abode through the countless ages of eternity. If I had not been thus upheld by the grace, as well as by the providence, of God, I might have dropped out of his hand, as one and another not more rebellious than I have fallen, into this intolerable perdition? O God! “my flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments.”4

Thus the dread of the judgments of God is not necessarily of a slavish and tormenting character. “His saints are called to fear him;”5 and their fear, so far from “gendering unto bondage,” is consistent with the strongest assurance;6 nay even, is its fruit and effect.7 It is at once the principle of present obedience,8 and of final perseverance.9 It is the confession of weakness, unworthiness, and sinfulness, laying us low before our God. It is our most valuable discipline. It is the “bit and bridle” that curbs the frowardness of the flesh, and enables us to “serve God acceptably,” in the remembrance, that, though in love he is a reconciled Father, yet in holiness he is “a consuming fire.”10

Now, if we are under the influence of this reverential awe and seriousness of spirit, we shall learn to attach a supreme authority and consideration to the least of his commands. We shall dread the thought of wilfully offending him. The fear of grieving him will be far more operative now, than was the fear of hell in our unconverted state. Those who presume upon their Gospel liberty, will not, probably, understand this language. But the humble believer well knows how intimately “the fear of the Lord” is connected with “the comfort of the Holy Ghost,”11 and with his own steady progress in holiness, and preparation for heaven.

1 ‘A thrilling horror curdles my skin.’ The thing cannot be poetically expressed without periphrasis.—Bishop Horsley.

2 Sam. 6:6–9.

3 Job 31:23.

4 Hab. 3:16. Comp. Jer. 4:19. Dan. 4:19.

5 Ps 119:114.

6 Numb. 24:23.

7 Job 37:22.

8 Psalm 91:8.

9 Hab. 3:16.

10 Psalm 76:7–9. See the effect of a manifestation of the glory of the Saviour to the Evangelist for the purpose of special consolation and support. Rev. 1:17, 18. Compare also Daniel 10:8–17.

11 Mal. 2:17. 2 Peter 3:4. Zeph. 1:12.

12 Job 15:26.

13 Mal. 3:13.

14 Rev. 15:4.

15 1 Kings 21:27–29.

16 Jonah 3:5–10.

17 2 Chron. 34:27.

1 Isaiah 66:2, 5.

2 1 John 4:18.

3 Psalm 19:13.

4 How striking was H. Martin’s experimental apprehensions of this subject! ‘In prayer in the evening I had such near and terrific views of God’s judgments upon sinners in hell, that my flesh trembled for fear of them. The passages of God’s holy word, that proved the certainty of hell torments, were brought to me in such a way as I never before felt. I flew trembling to Jesus Christ, as if the flame were taking hold of me! Oh! Christ will indeed save me, or else I perish.’—Journals, vol. 382.

5 Psalm 34:9.

6 Comp. Hab. 3:16, with Hab 3:17, 18.

7 Heb. 12:28.

8 Heb. 11:7.

9 Heb. 4:1.

10 Heb. 12:29, with 28.

11 Acts 9:31. Compare Matt. 28:8.

Psalm 119:121 Ayin. I have done justice and righteousness; Do not leave me to my oppressors. 

• I have (KJV): Ps 7:3-5 18:20-24 75:2 1Sa 24:11-15 25:28 2Sa 8:15 Ac 21:16 Ac 25:10,11 2Co 1:12 
• leave me (KJV): Ps 37:33 57:3,4 2Pe 2:9 

Ayin. I have done justice and righteousness; Do not leave me to my oppressors - NLT = "Don't leave me to the mercy of my enemies, for I have done what is just and right." A great prayer to pray! 

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Warren Wiersbe - Ps. 119:121 The Answer Book
Read Psalm 119:121-128
I have a large library, and I've written a few books myself, but I cannot point to the books I've written or collected and say that everything in them is absolutely right. In fact, I've been embarrassed to find typographical, factual or other kinds of errors in the ones I've written. Only one book can carry an unqualified endorsement, and that is the Word of God. That's why the psalmist writes, "Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right; I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:128). All of the Bible is inspired. That means it is God-breathed. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable" (II Tim. 3:16). Inspiration is a miracle. The Spirit of God spoke through Moses, Isaiah, Matthew, Mark, Paul and others, and each put his own fingerprints on what he wrote. Yet this is God's Word.
Remember also that all of God's Word is inerrant. It is absolute truth. What the Bible says about history is correct. What the Bible says about prophecy is correct. Even what it says about science is correct, although it's not a science book. We don't test the Bible by the wisdom of men. We test the wisdom of men by the Bible. This means that we should live by all of Scripture. Jesus said we must live "by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). Every word. Oh, what you might be missing if you are not reading the whole Word of God! Because the Bible is inspired and true, we can go to it and say, "Lord, what should I do?" He has an answer for us.
* * *
The Bible is a miracle, for it is inspired by God. Live by its wisdom and truth. It leads to a miraculous life when you accept and obey it. (Psalm 119:121-128 The Answer Book) 

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Charles Bridges - There is something very solemn in the reflection, that God has set up a Vicegerent in the heart—an internal Judge, who takes cognizance of every thought, every emotion, every act—determining its character, and pronouncing its sentence. This tribunal tries every cause without respect to persons, time, place, or any circumstances, that might seem to separate it from other cases under the same jurisdiction. No criminal can escape detection from defect of evidence. No earthly power can hinder the immediate execution of the sentence. The sentence then, of this awful Judge, whether “accusing or excusing,”1 is of infinite moment. The ignorant expression, ‘Thank God, I have a clear conscience!’ is used alike by the self-righteous and the careless. The awakened sinner, however, pleads guilty to its accusations, and knows not how to answer them. Blessed be God for the revelation of his Gospel, which proclaims the blood of Jesus—sprinkling the conscience—silencing its charges—and setting before the sinner the way of peace! And now through Jesus, “the new and living way” of access to God, conscience, sitting on the throne—speaks peace and acceptance; and though sins of infirmity will remain, defiling every thought, desire and act, yet, like the motes on the face of the sun in the clearest day, they have little or no influence to obstruct the shining of the cheerful light upon the heart.2

The clearing of conscience is however connected with Christian integrity. “If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.”3 This “testimony of conscience” has often been “the rejoicing”4 of the Lord’s people, when suffering under unmerited reproach or “proud oppression.” They have been enabled to plead it without offence in the presence of their holy heart-searching God5—nay, even when in the near prospect of the great and final account, they might have been supposed to shrink from the strict and unerring scrutiny of their Omniscient Judge.6

But observe the influence of this testimony upon our spiritual comfort. David was at this time under persecution—no new trial to a child of God,7 and one that will never cease, so long as Satan has instruments at his command. But see the blessings which conscious uprightness gave to his prayers, “I have done judgment and justice; leave me not to mine oppressors.” Can my heart and conscience respond to this appeal? Then may I plead my cause before God, “Leave me not to my oppressors. Let not the proud oppress me.” Plead my cause with them. Let my righteousness be made known. Let it be seen, that thou “wilt not leave me in their hand, nor condemn me when I am judged. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me: for I wait on thee.”1 But if any deviation from the exact rule of righteousness between man and man2 has been allowed—if the world charge me as ungodly, because they have proved me unrighteous—then let me not wonder, that “the consolations of God shall be small with me;”3 nor let me expect a return of the Lord’s cheering manifestations, until the Achan has been removed from the camp,4 and by confession to God,5 and reparation to man,6 I have “given glory to the Lord God of Israel.”

But let not this appeal be thought to savor of Pharisaical pride. He pleads not merit. He only asserts his innocence—the righteousness of his cause—not of his person. Though upright before man, he ever felt himself a sinner before God. The highest tone of conscious integrity is therefore consistent with the deepest prostration of evangelical humility. The difference is infinite between the proud Pharisee and the upright believer. The Pharisee makes the appeal with undisturbed self-complacency and self-righteous pleading. The believer would ever accompany it with the Publican’s prayer for mercy.7 Instantly—in a deep conviction of need—he appends the supplication, “Be surety for thy servant for good.”8 The keen eye of the world may possibly not be able to affix any blot upon my outward profession; but, “if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities; O Lord, who shall stand?”9 The debt is continually accumulating, and the prospect of payment as distant as ever. I might well expect to be “left to my oppressors,” until I should pay all that was due10 unto my Lord. But behold! “Where is the fury of the oppressor?”11 The surety is found—the debt is paid—the ransom is accepted—the sinner is free. There was a voice heard in heaven, “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.”12 Yes, the Son of God himself became “surety for a stranger,” and “smarted for it.”13 At an infinite cost—the cost of his own precious blood—he delivered me from “mine oppressors”—sin—Satan—the world—death—hell. “It was exacted; and he answered.”14 As Judah in the place of Benjamin, he was ready to stand in my stead before his Father. “I will be surety for him: of mine hand shalt thou require him.”15 As Paul in the stead of Onesimus, he was ready to plead, before the same tribunal, “If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account; I will repay it.”16

Let this subject be ever present to my mind. Well indeed was it for me, that Jesus did not “hate suretyship.”1 Had he refused the vast undertaking, how could I have answered before the bar of God? Or had he undertaken only for those that loved him, again should I have been left without a plea. But when as my surety he has brought me under his yoke, and made me his “servant,” I can plead with acceptance before his throne, “Be surety for thy servant for good”2—for the good which thou knowest me to need—my present and eternal deliverance from my proud oppressors. And do not I need such a surety every moment? And need I be told how fully he has performed the Surety’s part? “So that I may boldly say,” “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. It is Christ that lives. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.”3

1 Rom. 2:15.

2 See Heb. 10:19–22.

3 1 John 3:21.

4 2 Cor. 1:12.

5 Samuel—1 Sam. 12:3–5. Nehemiah—13:14, 22. Job—10:7. David—Psalm 7:3–7; 18:20–24; 26:1–6. Paul—Rom. 9:1; and the Apostles—1 Thess. 2:10.

6 Isa. 38:1–3.

7 1 Peter 4:12. 2 Tim. 3:12.

1 Ps. 37:33; 25:21.

2 Matt. 7:12.

3 Job 15:11. Comp. Ps. 66:18.

4 Josh. 7:10–15.

5 Ib. 19.

6 Luke 19:8.

7 Ib. 18:9–13.

8 Comp. Psalm 26:11. Neh. 13:22, with 14—a bold testimony of integrity presented in the character of a sinner.

9 Psalm 130:3.

10 Matt. 18:34.

11 Isaiah 51:13.

12 Job. 33:24

13 Prov. 11:15.

14 Isa. 53:7. Bishop Lowth.

15 Gen. 43:9.

16 Philemon 18, 19.

1 See Prov. 11:15, last clause.

2 Compare Isaiah 38:14, where the same word is used in the original. “Be surety.” “Undertake for me.” The same plea is urged. “Let not the proud oppress me.” “O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake.” The same frame of conflict is marked, “Mine eyes fail for thy salvation,” verse 123. “Mine eyes fail with looking upward.”

3 Psalm 69:3. Rom. 8:33, 34, 1.

Psalm 119:122 Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me. 

• surety (KJV): Ge 43:9 Pr 22:26,27 Isa 38:14 Phm 1:18,19 Heb 7:22 
• let not (KJV): Ps 119:21 36:11 

Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me - NLT = "Please guarantee a blessing for me. Don't let those who are arrogant oppress me!"

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Charles Bridges - see comment on v121

Psalm 119:123  My eyes fail with longing for Your salvation And for Your righteous word. 

• Ps 119:81,82 69:3 130:6 143:7 La 4:17 

My eyes fail with longing for Your salvation And for Your righteous word - This man has an uplook, with transforms his outlook, a picture of the power of Vertical Vision, a principle that permeates the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. 

NET Note - Heb "my eyes fail for your deliverance." The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision. See the similar phrase in Ps 119:82.

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Charles Bridges - And do thine “eyes,” tried believer, begin to “fail?” So did thy Redeemer’s before Thee. He, whom thou hast been recollecting as thy Surety, when he stood in thy place burdened with the intolerable load of thy sin—bearing the weighty strokes of Infinite justice upon his soul—he too was constrained to cry out, “Mine eyes fail, while I wait for my God.”4 Listen, then, to thy deserted Saviour counselling his deserted people; “gifted with the tongue of the learned, that he should know how to speak a word in season to you that are weary”—Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.”5

That our Surety will plead for our good, doubt not. Yet “the vision is for an appointed time.”6 But shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?”7 Salvation—a gift of such comprehensive and en during blessing—is it not worth the waiting trial? Wonderful is that arrangement by which the word of grace is made the word of righteousness! God hath bound himself to us by his promises of grace which are not—yea and nay, but “yea and amen”8—under his own hand and seal. Who that has tried them, but will “set to his seal that God is true?”9 Cheering indeed is the thought, that, amidst the incessant changes in Christian experience, our hope is unchangeably fixed. We may not indeed always enjoy it; but our salvation does not depend upon our present enjoyment of its consolation. Is not the blessing as certain—yea—is not our assurance of an interest in it as clear, when we are brought to the dust under a sense of sin, as if we were “caught up into the third heaven” in a vision of glory?

In a season of desertion, therefore, while we maintain a godly jealousy over our own hearts, let us beware of a mistrustful jealousy of God. Distrust will not cure our wound, or quicken us to prayer, or recommend us to the favor of God, or prepare us for the mercy of the Gospel. Complaining is not humility. Prayer without waiting is not faith. The path is plain as noonday. Continue to believe as you can. Wait on the Lord. This is the act of faith, depending on him—the act of hope, looking for him—the act of patience, waiting his time—the act of submission, resigned, even if he should not come. Like thy Saviour, in his “agony” of desertion, “pray more earnestly.”1 Condemn thyself for the sins of which thou art asking forgiveness. Bless him for his past mercy, even if thou shouldest never taste it again. Can he frown thee from his presence? Can he belie his promise to his waiting people?2 Impossible! Nay! while he has taken away the sensible apprehensions of his love, and in its room kindled longing desires for the lost blessing; is not this to show himself—if he be “verily a God that hideth himself”—yet still “the God of Israel, the Saviour?”3 Though he delays his promise, and holds us as it were in suspense; yet he would have us know, that he has not forgotten “the word of his righteousness.” But this is his wise and effectual mode of trying his own gift of faith. And it is this “trial of faith”—and not faith untried—that will be “found to praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”4

The full consolation of the Gospel is therefore the fruit of patient, humble waiting for the Lord, and of earnest desire, conflicting with impatience and unbelief, and at length issuing in a state of childlike submission and dependence. The man who was here expressing his longing expectation for God’s salvation, was evidently, though unconsciously, in possession of the promise. Nor would he at this moment have exchanged his hope, clouded as it was to his own view, for all “the pleasures of sin,” or the riches of the world. Although at this moment he appeared to be under the partial hidings of his Father’s countenance, yet it is important to observe, that he was not satisfied, as an indolent professor, to “lie upon his face”5 in this sad condition. His “eyes failed with looking upward”—stretched up with earnest expectation to catch the first rising rays of the beaming Sun of Righteousness. He knew, what all Christians know, who walk closely with God, that his perseverance in waiting upon God would issue in the eventual fulfilment of every desire of his heart.6

But can we assuredly plead “the word of his righteousness” for the anticipation of the object of our desire? Have we always an express promise answering to our expectations, “putting God in remembrance”1 of his word? Possibly we may have been asking not “according to his will,”2 and therefore may have “charged God foolishly,”3 as if he had been unfaithful to his word, when no engagement had been pledged: when we had no warrant to build upon from “the word of his righteousness.” If, however, our petition should be found to be agreeable to his word of promise, and faith and patience hold on in submission to his will, we must not, we cannot, suppose, that one tittle that we have asked will fail. Whether the Lord deliver us or not, prayer and waiting will not be lost. It is a blessed posture for him to find us in, such as will not fail to insure his acceptance, even though our request should be denied. An enlivening view of the Saviour is in reserve for us; and “the word of righteousness” will yet speak, “This is the rest, wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing.”4 To every passing doubt and rising fear, oppose this word of his righteousness.

But let me bring my own heart to the test. Am I longing for the manifestation of God? Surely if I am content with what I already know, I know very little of the unsearchable depths of the love of Christ; and I have abundant need to pray for more enlarged desires, and a more tender enjoyment of his Divine presence. If faith is not dead, yet it may have lost its conquering and quickening vigor. Let me then exercise my soul in diligent, careful, patient waiting upon God, equally removed from sloth and frowardness—and I shall yet find the truth of that consoling “word of his righteousness,” “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.”5

4 Comp. Ps 22:1–3.

5 Isaiah 50:4, 10.

6 Hab. 2:3.

7 Luke 18:7, 8.

8 2 Cor. 1:20.

9 Josh. 23:12. Psalm 111:8, with John 3:33

1 Luke 22:44.

2 Isaiah 30:18; 49:23.

3 Isaiah 45:15.

4 1 Peter 1:7.

5 Joshua 7:10.

6 Fox tells us of Mr. Robert Glover, martyr at Coventry, two or three days before his death, overwhelmed with the prospect of martyrdom, and mentioning to a friend his earnest supplication for the light of God’s countenance, yet without any sense of comfort. His darkness continued up to the period of his arriving within sight of the stake, when suddenly his whole soul was so filled with consolation that he could not forbear clapping his hands and crying out, ‘He is come—he is come.’ He appeared to go up to heaven in a chariot of fire, exhibiting little or no sensibility of his cruel death. Was not this the “word of his righteousness” to one whose “eyes failed the looking for it?”—Fox’s Acts and Monuments, 1555.

1 Isaiah 43:26.

2 1 John 5:14. James 4:3.

3 Job 1:22.

4 Isaiah 28:12; also 30:15.

5 Psalm 97:11. The same plea under similar circumstances of conflict is urged, Psalm 143:1.

Psalm 119:124 Deal with Your servant according to Your lovingkindness And teach me Your statutes. 

• Deal: Ps 119:41,76,77,132 Ps 51:1 Ps 69:13,16 79:8 103:10 130:3,4,7 Da 9:18 Lu 18:13 2Ti 1:16-18 
• teach: Ps 119:12,26 143:10-12 Ne 9:20 

Deal with Your servant according to Your lovingkindness (hesed/chesed/heced) And teach me Your statutes - Another great prayer. Unless the Spirit opens our eyes and teaches the Word, the Word is veiled to our natural mind (Lk 24:45+, cf 1Cor 2:14+).

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Charles Bridges - 

A sense of mercy, and the privilege of divine teaching, were the earnest of the Lord’s “salvation” for which “the eyes of his servant were failing,” and for which he was waiting in dependence upon the sure “word of his righteousness.” And indeed these two wants daily press upon every “servant” of God as matter for earnest supplication. Both are intimately connected. A deeper sense of mercy will bind us more strongly to his statutes;6 while a more spiritual teaching in the statutes will humble us in a sense of sin, and consequent need of mercy.7 As it respects the first—if there is a sinner upon the earth, who needs the special mercy of God, it is his own “servant.” For as the Lord sees abundantly more excellence in his feeblest desire, than in the professor’s most splendid external duties; so he sees far more sinfulness and provocation in the workings of his sin, than in the palpably defective services of professors, or in the open transgression of “the wicked of the earth.” Let him scrutinize his motives, thoughts, and affections, even in his moments of nearest and happiest approach unto his God; and he will find such defilement cleaving to every offering, with all the aggravations of mercy, light and knowledge, vouchsafed, that the confession of his soul, when comparing himself with his fellow-sinners, will be “Of whom I am chief.”1 And therefore, as a “servant of God,” I can only come before him upon the ground of “mercy.” For my best performances I need an immeasurable world of mercy—pardoning—saving—everlasting mercy; and yet by the blood of Jesus I dare to plead, “Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy.”

But then I am ignorant as well as guilty; and yet I dare not pray for teaching—much and hourly as I need it—until I have afresh obtained mercy. These two blessings lead me at once to the foundations of the Gospel—in the work of Christ, and the work of the Spirit—mercy flowing from the blood of the Son2—teaching from the office of the Spirit.3 “Mercy” is the first blessing, not only in point of importance, but in point of order. I must know the Lord as a Saviour, before I can go to him with any confidence to be my teacher. But when once I have found acceptance for my petition, “Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy”—my way will be opened to enlarge my petition—yea, once and again to repeat it, “Teach me thy statutes. Give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies”—that I may know with intelligent conviction, walk, yea, “run in the way of thy commandments”4 with an enlarged heart. For let me never forget, that I am “redeemed from the curse” only—not from the “service of the law”—yea, redeemed from its curse, that I may be bound to its service.5 And does not my especial relation to my God as his servant, furnish me with a plea for his acceptance?6 For when this “earth is full of his mercy”—much more may I, as belonging to his house, plead for the special mercy of his teaching7—his own covenant promise8—so needful for his servant, who desires to know, that he may do, his will.”9

But if I am the Lord’s servant, how did I become so? Time was (let me be ashamed and confounded at the remembrance of it) when I was engaged for another master, and another service.10 But his sovereign grace called me from the dominion of sin—from the chains of Satan—from the bondage of the world, and drew me to himself. “His I am—and him I serve.”1 His service is my highest privilege: his reward of grace is my glorious hope. “If any man serve me,” saith my Master, “let him follow me: and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor.”2 As his servant, therefore, I cast myself with confidence upon his mercy, and expect to be “dealt with according to that mercy.” Nay—I shall be denied nothing that I “ask according to his will.” For he has condescended to call me—not “his servant,” but “his friend”3—yea more, to call himself “my brother.”4

Lord! thou hast shown me this great favor and grace to make me “thy servant.” I would be thine forever. I love thy service too well to wish to change it; yet must I mourn over my dulness, my backwardness in doing thy will, and walking in thy way. Oh! “teach me thy statutes” more clearly, more experimentally! “Give me understanding” to discern their heavenly sweetness and their holy liberty, that I may live in a more simple and devoted obedience to them, until I come to see thy face, and to be “thy servant” in thy heavenly temple, “no more to go out.”5

6 Ps 116:12–14.

7 Jer. 31:19.

1 1 Tim. 1:15.

2 Eph. 1:7.

3 John 14:26; 16:13.

4 Ps 119:32.

5 Gal. 2:19. Luke 1:74, 75.

6 Ps 119:94. Ps. 143:12.

7 Ps 119:64.

8 Heb. 8:10.

9 Ps 119:33, 34; 86:11; 143:8, 10.

10 Rom. 6:16, 20. Titus 3:3.

1 Acts 27:23.

2 John 12:26.

3 Jn. 15:15.

4 Jn. 20:17. Heb. 2:11, 12.

5 Rev. 7:15; 3:12. The Annals of the Reformation furnish a beautiful record of George of Anhalt—a godly young prince, of twelve years old. ‘He put up constant and fervent prayer to God, beseeching him to bring his heart under the power of the truth; and often, in the privacy of his cabinet, he exclaimed, with tears—Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes. His prayers were answered. Under strong conviction, and constrained to action upon it, he fearlessly ranged himself on the side of the Gospel.’—D’Aubigné’s History of the Reformation, Book v. ch. 6.

Psalm 119:125  I am Your servant; give me understanding, That I may know Your testimonies. 

• I am Your servant: Ps 119:94 86:16 116:16 Ro 6:22 
• give me understanding: Ps 119:34,66 2Ch 1:7-10 2Co 3:5,6 2Ti 2:7 Jas 1:5 3:13-17 
• That I may know Your testimonies. : Ps 119:11,18,19,29 Pr 9:10 14:8 

PRAYER FOR
UNDERSTANDING

I am Your servant - I am you ''ebed, your bondservant. Would you call yourself a bondservant of Christ? The Septuagint translates ''ebed with doulos describing one bound to another in servitude and conveys the idea of the slave's close, binding ties with his master, belonging to him, obligated to and desiring to do his will and in a permanent relation of servitude. In sum, the will of the doulos is consumed in the will of the master. A bondservant is one who surrendered wholly to another’s will and thus devoted to another to the disregard of his own interest. Paul and Timothy were not their own but had been bought with the price of the blood of Christ. They were now the property of our Lord Jesus Christ and were His slaves exclusively. No man can serve two masters (Mt 6:24+). Paul and Timothy had been slaves of Sin (see note on "the Sin") by their birth into Adam's likeness, but now they are slaves of Christ by their new, second birth. They had no will of their own, no business of their own, no time of their own and were acting for their Master, Christ; dependent upon Him and obedient to Him.

Bondservant was a name applied to many in the Old Testament, even the Messiah, so it was used particularly of godly men:

1). Abraham Ps 105:6, 42, Ge 26:24 , Jos 1:2 
2). Job     Job 1:8; 2:3; 42:7,8 
3). Joshua  Jos 24:29; Jdg 2:8 
4). David Ps 89:3, 20;Ps18:1 Je33:21,  Eze 34:23, 2Sa 3:18, 7:5, 7:8, 1Ki 8:24, 8:25,26 1Ki 11:14, 1Ki 11:32,34,38, 1Ki 14:8, 2Ki 19:34, 2Ki 20:6, 1Ch 17:4,7, 2Chr 6:15,16, Isa 37:35 , Jer 33:21,22,26,  Ezek 34:23,24,37:24,25   (1Ki 8:28 Solomon called himself a servant but God did not!)
5). Eliakim Isa 22:20 
6). Zerubbabel Hag 2:23 
7). Caleb Nu 14:24 
8). Moses Nu 12:7,8, Lxx = therapon; 2Ki 21:8, Mal 4:4 latter two uses in Lxx = doulos
9). Isaiah Isa 20:3 
10) Israel (Jacob)...the land  Isa 41:8,9,44:1,2 ,44:21 ,45:4 ,49:3 ,Jer 30:10, 46:27,28, Eze 28:25 
11). Messiah: Isa 42:1,19,43:10, 49:5,6, 52:13,53:11, Zech 3:8 (Branch)  
12). Nebuchadnezzar Jer 25:9, 27:6, 43:10

Give me understanding - A good prayer to pray frequently!  A command, not like we can command God to do something, but reflecting our desperate desire for Him to answer. 

Understanding (discern, consider) (0995)(bin/biyn) conveys the same idea as our word discrimination. It entails the idea of making a distinction as in 1Ki 3:9 where Solomon ask God for the ability "to discern (bin/biyn) between good and evil". Many of the OT uses of bin/biyn are translated "understanding," an understanding which is the result of comparative "study" or "mental separation".

Septuagint = Sunetizo (aorist imperative)  not found in NT - means actively to cause to understand or in passive to be given insight. It is notable that 7 of the 16 uses in the Septuagint are in Psalm 119 and most are a plea to God for understanding! How important is this prayer? That's rhetorical of course. It is clearly very important, even vital for a bondservant to know His Master's will. All uses of sunetizo Neh. 8:7; Neh. 8:9; Neh. 9:20; Ps. 16:7; Ps. 32:8; Ps. 119:27; Ps. 119:34; Ps. 119:73; Ps. 119:125; Ps. 119:130; Ps. 119:144; Ps. 119:169; Dan. 8:16; Dan. 9:22; Dan. 10:14

That I may know Your testimonies - The purpose of praying for understanding. Knowing His testimonies is knowing Him. Testimonies (05713) is from word denoting permanence or from root "ud" meaning return or repeat, do again which conveys the idea of witness by reiteration, emphatically affirms the testimony. A Witness refers to someone who will be accepted to bear a true testimony in various situations for various reasons.

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Charles Bridges - see comment on v124

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Integrity—Is It Possible?

Give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies. — Psalm 119:125

Today's Scripture: Psalm 119:121-128

Samuel DiPiazza, CEO of a major public accounting firm, co-authored a book on building trust in the business world. The book proposes a spirit of transparency, a culture of accountability, and a people of integrity. But in an interview in Singapore, he noted there is one thing the book cannot teach—integrity. “Either you have it or you don’t,” he said.

Is he right? In our world of shifting standards, can integrity be acquired by those who don’t have it? The answer is found in our unchanging standard—God’s Word, the Bible.

David the psalmist did not head a multinational corporation. But he did rule over a kingdom, and he was serious about doing what was right. He recognized how easy it is to slide down the slippery path of unethical behavior simply because it seems advantageous.

So David asked God, “Teach me Your statutes” (Ps. 119:124). “Give me understanding,” he said, “that I may know Your testimonies” (v.125). David hated “every false way,” and based his life on the principle that “all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right” (v.128).

No one is born with godly character. But by studying God’s Word and listening to His Holy Spirit, we can learn to hate falsehood and love integrity. By:  C. P. Hia (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

For Further Study
How can faith flourish in a hostile work environment? Read Daniel: Spiritual Living In A Secular Culture on the Web at www.discoveryseries.org/q0724

The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out. —Macauley

Related Resources: 

• Integrity - A Whole Heart
• Daniel - Man of Integrity
• Are You Entangled?

Psalm 119:126 It is time for the LORD to act, For they have broken Your law. 

• time (KJV): Ps 9:19 102:13 Ge 22:10,11,14 De 32:36 Isa 42:14 
• to work (KJV): That is, "to take vengeance," as {asah} signifies, Jer 18:23; Mal 3:17, by an ellipsis of the noun.  When infidels, profligates, and Pharisees, "make void the law of God," generally, then it is time for God to arise to vindicate His own honour and maintain His cause among men.
• they (KJV): Jer 8:8 Hab 1:4 Mal 2:8 Mt 15:6 Ro 3:31 4:14 

It is time for the LORD to act, For they have broken Your law. 

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Charles Bridges - If I desire a more spiritual understanding of the revelation of God, how can I but mourn to witness its awful neglect and contempt? It seems as if the ungodly not only sin against it, but would drive it out of the world.6 They make it void—denying its power to rule, to annul its power to punish. Oh! let us cherish that distinguishing feature of the Lord’s people, “sighing and crying for all the abominations of the land,”7—that we cannot hear or see the name of God dishonored, without feeling as for our Father’s wounded reputation.8 Can we suffer the world quietly to go on their course? Must we not throw in our weight of influence, whatever it may be, to stem the flowing torrent: and when (as, alas! is too often the case) all efforts are unavailing, carry the cause to the Lord, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work?” This deprecation does not contradict the law of love which requires us to love, pray for, and to bless our enemies;1 for the Lord’s people are not angry for their own cause, but for His. David had no regard to his own honor, but to God’s law. He had not injured his enemies. He had labored to “overcome their evil with good.”2 He had often wept for their sins,3 and prayed for their conversion.4 But all was in vain. ‘Now, Lord, take the rod into thine own hand, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work.” ’ This was true zeal—zeal of the Spirit, not of the flesh. How gracious is our God in permitting his servants thus to plead with him, and, as it were, to give him no rest, until5 “he shall arise,” and work, and sit upon the throne of the kingdoms of the earth!

But why does he not break out with some overpowering manifestation of his power? They are “his sword and rod” for the chastening of his people,6 to discipline their watchfulness into constant exercise.7 They are the trial of their faith—believing the Lord’s justice against apparent inconsistency,8 and of their patience “waiting the set time of deliverance.9 Thus they become a profitable ministry for the Church—and this valuable end accomplished, God works his own work upon them,10 and “will avenge his own elect speedily.”11

Meanwhile—waiting for this “little while,” let us “live by faith.”12 Let us be found on the Lord’s side—laboring for sinners—pleading with their hardness and rebellion in our Master’s name, and for our Master’s sake. Let all the weight of personal exertion and influence, consistent example, and wrestling supplication, be concentrated in “coming to the help of the Lord against the mighty.”13 Let us see to it, that, if we cannot do what we would, we do what we can.14 And if at last overborne by the torrent of ungodliness, we shall find our refuge and rest in pleading with our Lord for the honor of his name—“Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.”15 “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.”16 Often, when He has seen “it time for him to work,” have his judgments made the earth to tremble. “Sodom and Gomorrah” have “known the power of his anger, and are “set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”17 And when his “time to work” is fully come, what is all the resistance of earth and hell, but as “setting the briers and thorns against him in battle?” “I would” saith he, “go through them. I would burn them together.1” A word—a frown—a look—is destruction. “He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?”2 Or “who hath resisted his will?”3

But what shall we say of that stupendous work of his hand, by which—when men “had made void his law”—when no restrictions could bind, no forbearance win them—when he “saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor, therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness, it sustained him?”4 Surely, if we could conceive the hosts of heaven to have taken up this expression of ardent concern for the glory of God, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work”—they could little have thought of such a work as this—they could never have conceived to themselves such an unlooked-for, combined display of power, justice, and mercy. To set at nought then this work—is it not to refuse all hope—all remedy? To persist in “making void the law” after so magnificent an exhibition of Almighty working—must it not expose the transgressors to reap the fruit of their own obstinacy, and to prepare to meet him as their Judge, whom they refuse to receive as their Saviour? Nor must they wonder, if the Lord’s people, with a holy indignation against sin, and fervent zeal for his glory, should appeal to his faithfulness for the fulfilment of his judgments, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.”

6 Exodus 5:2. Psalm 12:4.

7 Ezekiel 9:4.

8 What a Christian ought to feel under these circumstances, let us learn from the following extract of the diary of the saintly Martyn. Upon hearing at Shiraz, in the course of his disputations, some reproach of his Saviour’s name, he writes thus:—‘I was cut to the soul by this blasphemy. In prayer I could think of nothing else but that great day, when the Son of God should come in the clouds of heaven, “taking vengeance on them that know not God,” and convince men of all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him.’ (We might almost think that this verse was upon his mind at this moment.) ‘Mirza Seid Ali perceived that I was considerably disordered, and was sorry for having repeated the verse, but asked what it was that was so offensive. I told him, that I could not endure existence if Jesus were not glorified; that it would be hell to me if he were to be always thus dishonored. He was astonished, and again asked the reason why. ‘If any one pluck out your eyes,’ I replied, ‘there is no saying why you feel pain. It is feeling. It is because I am one with Christ, that I am thus dreadfully wounded.’ On his again apologizing, I told him, ‘that I rejoiced at what had happened, inasmuch as it made me feel nearer me Lord than ever.’ It is when the head or heart is struck, that every member feels its membership.’—Martyn’s Life, p. 420, 8vo edition.

1 Matt. 5:44.

2 Ps. 35:11–14.

3 Ps 119:136, 158.

4 Ps. 83:16.

5 Isaiah 62:7.

6 Ps. 17:13, 14. Isa. 10:5, 6.

7 Ps. 59:11.

8 Ib. 73:16–18.

9 Rev. 13:10.

10 Isaiah 10:12.

11 Luke 18:8.

12 Heb. 10:37, 38.

13 Judges 5:23.

14 Mark 14:8.

15 Ps. 74:18; also 10, 11, 22.

16 Gen. 6:3.

17 Jude 7.

1 Isaiah 27:4.

2 Job 9:4.

3 Rom. 9:19.

4 Isa. 59:16.

Psalm 119:127 Therefore I love Your commandments Above gold, yes, above fine gold. 

• I love (KJV): Ps 119:72 19:10 Pr 3:13-18 8:11 16:16 Mt 13:45,46 Eph 3:8 

Therefore - Term of conclusion, based on the truth in Ps 119:126 that divine judgment is imminent, this truth motivates his loyalty to God's law.

I love Your commandments Above gold, yes, above fine gold - Gold perishes. Gold corrupts many a heart. God's Word endures. God's Word heals and edifies. There is simply no comparison between gold and God (exception 3 identical letters!)

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Charles Bridges - Therefore I love thy commandments. Yes—shall they not have double valuation in mine eyes, for the scorn and reproach which the world cast upon them? They count them dross—I love them above gold—yea, above fine gold. This hope, confidence, and idol of the worldling,5 the love of which has been the ruin of thousands,6—is not the commandment of God more to be desired than it?7 “The merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. It is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto it.”8 Here has the Lord unlocked to us his golden treasure, and enriched our souls with “the unsearchable riches of Christ.”

This image brings the miser before us. His heart and treasure are in his gold. With what delight he counts it! with what watchfulness he keeps it! hiding it in safe custody, lest he should be despoiled of that which is dearer to him than life. Such should Christians be: spiritual misers: counting their treasure, which is “above fine gold;” and “hiding it in their heart,”9 in safe keeping, where the great despoiler shall not be able to reach it. Oh, Christians! how much more is your portion to you than the miser’s treasure! Hide it; watch it; retain it. You need not be afraid of covetousness in spiritual things: rather “covet earnestly”1 to increase your store: and by living upon it, and living in it, it will grow richer in extent, and more precious in value.

But have I through Divine grace been enabled to withdraw my love from the unworthy objects, which once possessed it; and to fix it on that which alone offers satisfaction? Let me attempt to give a reason to myself of the high estimation in which I hold it as infinitely transcending those things which the world ventures their all—even their temporal happiness—to obtain. “Therefore I love the commandments of God above gold: yea, above fine gold”—because, while the world, and my own heart have only combined to flatter me, they have discovered to me my real state, as a self-deceived,2 guilty,3 defiled4 sinner before God: because they have been as a “schoolmaster to bring me to Christ”5—the only remedy for sin, the only rest for my soul. “I love them;” because they have often supplied wholesome reproofs in my wanderings; and plain directions in my perplexity. “I love them:” because they restrict me from that which would prove my certain ruin; and because in the way of obedience to them, the Lord has “accepted me with my sweet savor.”6 Should I not “love them?” Can “gold, yea, fine gold,” offer to me blessings such as these? Can it heal my broken heart? Can it give relief to my wounded spirit? Has it any peace or prospect of comfort for me on my death-bed? And what cannot—what has not—what will not—the precious word of God do at that awful season of trial? O my God, I would be deeply ashamed, that “I love thy commandments” so coldly—that they are so little influential upon my conduct—that they so often give place to objects of comparative nothingness in thy sight. O that my heart might be wholly and habitually exercised in them, that I may find the “work of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever?”7

5 Job 31:24.

6 1 Tim. 6:9, 10.

7 Psalm 19:10.

8 Prov. 3:14, 15.

9 Verse 11. Augustine tells us of himself, that while a Manichee, he slighted the Scripture for the plainness of its style, which appeared to him (from a false standard of criticism) not to be compared with the dignity of Ciceronian eloquence. (Visa mihi est indigna scriptura quam Tullianæ dignitati compararem. Confess. lib. iii. cap. 5.) But after his blessed acquaintance with Christ, though Tully was still read with pleasure, yet this thing alone, said he, abated his former interest—that the name of Christ was not there. Lib. 3:4.

1 1 Cor. 12:31.

2 Rom. 7:9.

3 James 2:10.

4 Rom. 7:14.

5 Gal. 3:24.

6 Ezek. 20:41. Comp. Isa. 64:5.

7 Isa. 32:17.

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London music student Richard Steel prized the old violin that had once been his grandfather's. One day Richard tried to help a bus driver who couldn't get close to the curb because of a barrier. Putting aside his old violin, he removed the obstacle. But then the driver, unable to see the books and the violin, drove over them. 

The crushed books could be replaced. And the old violin, though valued for sentimental reasons, could be replaced too--or could it? 

As Richard examined his splintered instrument, inside he found the signature of Stradivarius, the greatest of all violin makers. The old violin was a priceless and irreplaceable masterpiece. The Sotheby auction firm estimated that it had been worth more than $700,000. 

Many families pass treasured Bibles from one generation to the next as spiritual heirlooms. But these treasures are often treated as mere antiques while their pages go unread and their promises remain unclaimed. The message of salvation goes unheeded. Its true value is never realized. 

The Bible is more than just a record of long-ago events and ancient wisdom. It is the Book that bears God's signature. It is His message of truth and grace to us. Let's not neglect it. Let's read it, believe it, and obey it. --VCG  (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Thy Word is like a deep, deep mine,
And jewels rich and rare
Are hidden in its mighty depths
For every searcher there.
-Hodder

Many people store the Bible on the shelf instead of in their heart.

Psalm 119:128 Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything, I hate every false way. 

• I esteem (KJV): Ps 119:6 19:7,8 De 4:8 Job 33:27 Pr 30:5 Ro 7:12,14,16,22 
• all things (KJV): {Kol,} "all" seems to have been omitted by all the versions, except the Chaldee; which reads simply, "all thy precepts;" and this renders the text more perspicuous and unembarrassed.
• and I (KJV): Ps 119:104,118 

Therefore  - Another term of conclusion. NLT = "Truly, each of your commandments is right. That is why I hate every false way."

I esteem (piel perfect) right all Your precepts concerning everything -  To hold the Bible in high esteem is the mark of a true saint. It should be more precious to us than any earthly treasure.

The Bible is a banquet table, not a snack tray

Henry Morris -  Every Scripture is true and right without exception and we should hate every teaching which suggests otherwise!

I hate every false way - And the best way to detest or hate the false way is to know the true way so that we can readily perceive a false way or false teaching! 

I love Your truth, O Lord,
The Word which You have given;
Its precepts shall my soul delight
On earth as well as heaven. |
-Bosch

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Charles Bridges - The general contempt of religion acts upon the Christian’s judgment no less than upon his affections. Is wickedness breaking loose, to make void the law? Therefore he esteems it to be right. His judgment—instead of being shaken—is more determined. How beautiful is it to see the leaven of grace pervading the whole man! In the fervor of his heart he “loves the commandments even above fine gold;” but yet his “love will abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.”8 His is an intelligent and universal regard to them—“esteeming all the precepts concerning all things to be right.” This constitutes his separate and exclusive character. He is readily known from the thoughtless worldling. But his difference from the professor, though really as marked in the sight of God, is far less perceptible to general observation. Consisting more in the state of heart, than in any external mark of distinction, it is often only within the ken of that eye, whose sovereign prerogative it is to “search the heart,”1 and to “weigh the spirits.”2

Many profess to “esteem the precepts to be right,” so far as they inculcate the practice of those moral virtues, of which they may present some faint exhibition, and demand the abandonment of those sins, from the external influence of which they may have been delivered. But when they begin to observe the “exceeding breadth of the commandment”3—how it takes cognizance of the heart, and enforces the renunciation of the world, the crucifixion of sin, and the entire surrender of the heart unto God; this searching touchstone separates them from the Church, and exposes to open day the brand of hypocrisy upon their foreheads. “Herod did many things.”4 And so the enemy still will allow a partial subjection to the precepts. But—as he well knows—one sin holds us his captive as well as a thousand. The wilful contempt of one precept is the virtual rejection of all. All, therefore—not many—is the Christian’s word. He fails in some—yea, in all—but all are the objects of his supreme regard—every duty, and every circumstance and obligation of duty5—the evangelical as well as the moral precepts—teaching him to renounce himself in every part (his sins as a source of pleasure, and his duties as a ground of dependence): and to believe in the Son of God as the only ground of hope.6 He never complains of the strictness of the precepts; but he is continually humbled in the recollection of his nonconformity to them. “Every way,” however pleasing to the flesh, that is opposed to the revealed will of God, is “hated,” as “false” in itself, and “false” to his God This “godly sincerity” will apply to every part of the Christian Directory. So that any plea for the indulgence of sin (as if it admitted of palliation, or was compensated by some surplus duty, or allowed only for some temporary purpose) or any wilful shrinking from the universality of obedience—blots out all pretensions to uprightness of heart. If holiness be really loved, it will be loved for its own sake; and equally loved and followed in every part.7 By this entire “approval of things that are excellent,” we shall “be sincere and without offence unto the day of Christ.”8

O my soul, canst thou abide this close test? Hast thou as much regard to the precepts, as to the privileges of the Gospel? Is no precept evaded, from repugnance to the cross that is entailed to it? Is no secret lust retained? Art thou content to let all go? If my hatred of sin is sincere, I shall hate it more in my own house than abroad; I shall hate it most of all in my own heart. Here lies the grand seat of hypocrisy. And therefore may the great Searcher of hearts enable me to search into its depths! May I take the lamp of the Lord to penetrate into its dark interior hiding-places of evil! May I often put the question to my conscience, ‘What does the Omniscient “Observer of men” know of my heart?’ Perhaps at the time that the Church hold my name in esteem, the voice of conscience, as the voice of God, may whisper to me, “That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”1 Some false way, yet undetected within, may keep me lifeless and unfruitful in the midst of the quickening means of grace. Let me look into my house—my calling—my family—my soul; and in the course of this search how much matter will be found for prayer, contrition, renewed determination of heart, and dependence upon my God! “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! I will keep thy statutes; O forsake me not utterly.”2 And oh! let my spirit be wounded by every fresh discovery of sin. Let my soul bleed under it. But specially and instantly let me apply to the “fountain opened for sin and uncleanness.” Here let me wash my soul from the guilt of sin, and regain my peace with God. And to him, who opened this fountain, let me also repair for a large supply of spiritual strength. May his power and grace sharpen my weapons for the spiritual conflict, until every secret iniquity is overcome, and forever dispossessed from my heart!

And just as sin—besides its guilt—brings its own misery; so does this whole-hearted purity carry with it its own happiness. Can I forget the time when, under Divine grace and teaching, I made a full presentment of myself3—when I began to estimate myself as a hallowed, devoted thing—sacred—set apart for God? Was not this the first sunshine of my happiness? Nor was this offering made with momentary excitement, notional intelligence, forced acquiescence, or heartless assent. My judgment accorded with the choice of my heart. All was right in his precepts. All that was contrary to them was abominable. And will not this form the essence of the happiness of heaven, where every aspiration—every motion—every pulse of the glorified soul—in the eternity of life—will bear testimony to the holiness of the service of God?4

8 Phil. 1:9.

1 Jer. 17:10.

2 Prov. 16:2.

3 Verse 96.

4 Mark 6:20.

5 Luke 1:6.

6 1 John 3:23. John 6:29.

7 2 Cor. 7:1.

8 Phil. 1:10.

1 Luke 16:15.

2 Verses 5, 8.

3 See Rom. 12:1.

4 Rev. 15:3.

Psalm 119:129 Pe. Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul observes them. 

• testimonies (KJV): Ps 119:18 139:6 Isa 9:6 25:1 Rev 19:10 
• doth (KJV): Ps 119:2,31,146 25:10 

Your testimonies are wonderful - The Hebrew word pele' is used every time (out of 13 total) in the context of God's acts or words (exception is Lam 1:9).

J Todd - Some look upon the Bible as a garden of spices, in which you may walk, and at your leisure pluck the flowers and gather the fruits of the Eden of God. But this does not accord with my experience. I have found it more like a mine, in which you must dig and labor, the wealth of which is not to be obtained without labor,—a mine rich in gold and precious things, but it must be wrought day and night in order to produce them.

Therefore (term of conclusion) my soul observes them - Since they are wonderful his soul, the seat and center of his inner life (similar to meaning of "heart") keeps them. Wonderful testimonies kept lead to a wonderful life! 

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Warren Wiersbe - Ps. 119:129 A Perfect Book
Read Psalm 119:129-136
Have you ever faced the problems of dullness, darkness and dryness? Certain days come to us that are simply dull. There may be sameness and tameness about them. And sometimes we have to go through periods of darkness, and we wonder what in the world God is doing. Or we experience dryness--we are so spiritually dry, hungry and thirsty.
What is the answer to dullness? The Word of God. "Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them" (Psalm 119:129). Life cannot be dull when we read and obey the Bible. It has a way of taking the ordinary things of life and making them wonderful. When our minds and hearts are filled with Scripture, everything we see appears different.
What is the answer to darkness? "The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple" (v. 130). Entrance means the opening up, the expounding, the unfolding of God's Word. As Scripture is explained to us, it illuminates us. If you find yourself in darkness today, read your Bible, and it will give you light.
What is the answer to dryness? Sometimes we feel so dry and needy. "I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for Your commandments" (Psalm 119:131). The Word of God is like fresh air when we feel smothered, like water when we are parched, like food when we are famished.
* * *
If you are having a dull, dark or dry day, turn to the Word of God. Its truths will brighten your soul, and its promises will encourage you. God designed the Bible to meet your needs. So when the discouraging days come, feed your mind and heart with the Word. (Psalm 119:129-136 A Perfect Book)

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Charles Bridges - Can the professor make this acknowledgment? He knows only the letter—the shell, which excites no interest. Yet hidden from his eye is an unsearchable depth, which will make the believer a learner to the end of his life. Even he, who “was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter,”1 was brought to this adoring contemplation. “O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”2 Every way indeed is this revelation worthy of him, the first letter of whose name is “Wonderful.”3 It lays open to the heaven-taught soul, what “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man.”4 Think of the Creator of the world becoming a creature—yea, “a curse for”5 man. Think of man—guilty and condemned—made just with God by a righteousness not his own.6 Think of God bringing out of the ruinous fall more glory to himself, and more happiness to man, than from his former innocence—in the display of his mercy—the glory of his justice, and the investment of sinners—not, as before, with a creature’s righteousness, security, and reward, but with his own righteousness,7 guardianship,8 and glory.9 Think how “the way into the holiest of all is” thus “made manifest.”10 Think how abounding grace is the death as well as the pardon of sin11—the present as well as the everlasting life of the soul.12 These are among the stupendous discoveries of the sacred book, that bow the humble and reflecting mind to the confession, “Thy testimonies are wonderful!” Let us therefore join with the Apostle, in “bowing our knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”—that we “might be able to comprehend with all saints” (for, blessed be God! the privilege is common to all his people) “what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height: and to know the” unsearchable “love of Christ,”13 “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”14

And how delightful is the recollection of these “testimonies” being our “heritage forever!”15 For they are not less “wonderful” in their practical fulness, than in their deep unfathomable mysteries of love. Such is the infinite enlargement of this “heritage,” that he, who foreknew every thought that would find an entrance into the minds of his people, has here secretly laid up seasonable direction and encouragement for every, even the most minute, occasion and circumstance of need. Here again is wrapped up, in words fitted by wisdom to receive the revelation, all that intercourse between God and man, throughout all ages of the Church, which is treasured up in the vast unsearchable depository of the Divine mind and purpose. Can we then forbear repeating the exclamation, “Thy testimonies are wonderful?”

But it is not enough to ‘adore the fulness of Scripture:’16 We must seek to imbibe and exhibit its practical influence. Holy admiration of the “testimonies” will kindle spiritual devotedness to them, “Therefore doth my soul keep them.” The stamp of Divine authority upon them, while it deepens our reverence, commands our steady and cheerful obedience. To keep them is our privilege, no less than our obligation; and in this path we shall delight to persevere to the end.

But how affecting is the thought of the mass, who look at these wonders with a careless or unmeaning eye, unconscious of their interesting import! They pass by the door of the treasury, hardly condescending to look aside into it: or only taking a transient glance, which comprehends nothing of its inexhaustible stores. “I have written to them,” saith the Lord, “the great things of my law: but they are counted as a strange thing.”1 But far more wonderful is it, that we, enlightened, in answer to prayer,2 with “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation”3—should often be so indifferent to the mysteries of redeeming love here unfolded before us, and should experience so little of their practical influence! Oh! let the recollection of our indolence, and want of conformity to them, never cease to humble us. Let us not enter into the testimonies as a dry task, or an ordinary study; but let us concentrate our minds, our faith, humility, and prayer, in a more devoted contemplation of them. Every such exercise will extend our view of those parts, with which we had conceived ourselves to have been competently acquainted: opening a new field of wonders on every side, far beyond our present contracted apprehensions.4

And can any joy be imagined so sublime as the adoring contemplation of this revelation? It reflects even to angels a new and glorious manifestation of their God.1 It engages their every faculty with intense admiration and delight.2 And while they behold and worship with self-abasement, their obedience is lively. “With twain he” (the seraphim before the throne) “covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.”3 Thus may we study the same lessons, and with the same spirit! May our contemplation humble us in the dust, and animate us in the service of our God! “Thy testimonies are wonderful; therefore doth my soul keep them.”

1 2 Cor. 12:4.

2 Rom. 11:33.

3 Isa. 9:6.

4 1 Cor. 2:9.

5 John 1:1–3, 14, with Gal. 3:13. Phil. 2:6–8.

6 Rom. 3:19–22.

7 Jer. 23:6. 1 Cor. 1:30.

8 John 6:39; 10:28. Col. 3:3, 4.

9 John 17:21–24. Rev. 3:21.

10 Heb. 9:8, with 10:19, 20.

11 Rom. 5:20, with 6:1–6.

12 John 4:14; 6:57; 14:6, 19.

13 Eph. 3:14, 18, 19.

14 Col. 2:3.

15 Ps 119:111.

16 ‘Adoro plenitudinem Scripturarum,’ was the exclamation of Tertullian—‘in which posture of holy admiration,’ said the deeply learned and pious Dr. Owen, ‘I desire my mind may be found while I am in this world.’

‘What do I not owe to the Lord for permitting me to take a part in the translation of his word? Never did I see such wonders, and wisdom, and love, in the blessed book, as since I have been obliged to study every expression; and it is a delightful reflection, that death cannot deprive us of the pleasure of studying its mysteries.’—Martyn’s Life, p. 271. The same testimony was given by a kindred spirit employed in the same work. Shortly before his death, Dr. Buchanan, giving to a friend some details of his laborious revisions of his Syriac Testament, suddenly stopped and burst into tears. On recovering himself, he said, ‘I am not ill, but I was completely overcome with the recollection of the delight which I had enjoyed in this exercise. At first I was disposed to shrink from the task as irksome, and apprehended that I should find even the Scriptures fail by the frequency of this critical examination. But so far from it, every fresh perusal seemed to throw fresh light on the word of God, and to convey additional joy and consolation to my mind.’ ‘How delightful,’ observes his biographer, ‘is the contemplation of a servant of Christ thus devoutly engaged in his heavenly Master’s work, almost to the very moment of his transition to the Divine source of light and truth itself!’

1 Hosea 8:12.

2 See verse 18.

3 Eph. 1:17, 18.

4 Augustine found this so experimentally true, that he tells us, ‘that though he should with better capacity and greater diligence study all his life-time, from the beginning of his childhood to decrepit age, nothing else but the Holy Scriptures; yet they are so compacted and thickly set with truths, that he might daily learn something which before he knew not.’—Aug. Epis. To this truth the late venerable Antistes Hess set his seal at the age of eighty-six, when he informed a young missionary to the Jews, that ‘for seventy years the word of God had been the daily object of his unremitting researches; and that still he discovered in it new traces of the mysterious love and wisdom of God.’—Jewish Expositor, Nov. 1825.

1 Eph. 3:10.

2 See 1 Pet. 1:12.

3 Isa. 6:2.

Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. 

• Unfolding -   Ps 119:105 Pr 6:23 Isa 8:20 Lu 1:77-79 Ac 26:18 2Co 4:4,6 Eph 5:13,14 2Pe 1:19 
• Gives: Ps 19:7 Pr 1:4,22,23 9:4-6 Ro 16:18,19 2Ti 3:15-17 

SPIRITUAL LIGHT
FROM SPIRITUAL WORDS

The unfolding of Your words gives light: Pr 29:13 Ps 19:8, Ex 4:11: Scripture give satisfactory light to the mind upon every subject treated; and speedily communicates more useful knowledge to the simplest believer, taking them from spiritual immaturity as a baby who can't talk (1Co 3:1) or take solid food to a mature man (Heb 5:12-14), to full stature (Ep 4:13), to Christlikeness. The word succinctly & accurately uncovers more on the the most important concerns of mankind than all the acutest philosophers have been able to develop through successive ages. 

Unfolding (06608)(pethach from pathach = open wide) means revelation, formally, opening, unfolding,     disclosure of knowledge or an understanding of something difficult. Figurative extension of opening or doorway of an entrance. 

LIGHT = JESUS > Jn1:9, Jn 3:19, 20, 21, Jn 8:12, 9:5, 2Ti 1:10 Isa 9:2 Mal 4:2 

It gives understanding to the simple.  Job 33:16,17 2Co 4:6 Ac16:14 2Cor 3:14,15,16 Rev 3:18 2Cor 3:14,15,16 Rev 3:18 JOB 33:16,17 Isa 29:10-14, Jn 8:12 

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Charles Bridges - ‘So “Wonderful are thy testimonies,” gracious God, that even by touching as it were only their threshold, “the entrance of thy words giveth light and understanding unto” my heart. The study commenced in simplicity and prayer, opens an “entrance” to the first dawning “light” of the word into the soul; often only sufficient to make darkness visible, but still “shining more and more unto the perfect day.”5 Indeed all the spiritual light known in this dark world has flowed from the word, forcing its “entrance,” like the beams of the sun, upon the opening eyes of “a man that was born blind.” It is a most striking instance of Divine condescension, that this word—so “wonderful” in its high and heavenly mysteries—should yet open a path so plain, that the most unlearned may find and walk in it.6 Indeed the entrance of the word into unintellectual and uncultivated minds, often gives an enlargement and elevation of thought which is the earnest of the restoration of man to his original glory, when doubtless every mental as well as spiritual faculty was “filled with all the fulness of God.”7 So astonishing is the power of this heavenly light, that from any one page of this holy book, a child or even an idiot, under heavenly teaching, may draw more instruction than the most acute philosopher could ever obtain from any other fountain of light! Nay—he may acquire a more intelligent perception of its contents, than the student, untaught by the Spirit of God, who may have devoted to its study the persevering industry of many successive years. For very possible is it to be possessed of all the treasures of literature, and yet to remain in total ignorance of everything that is most important for a sinner to know.8 The Apostle’s paradox unfolds the secret, “If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.”1 We do not mean to disparage human wisdom; but it is the pride of wisdom, so opposed to the simplicity of the Gospel, which prevents us from “sitting at the feet of Jesus, and hearing his word.” It makes the teacher instruct in “the words of man’s wisdom,” rather than in the knowledge of “Christ and him crucified;”2 and hinders the learner from receiving Christ in the light and love of the truth.

It is painful to remember how much light may be shining around us on every side, without finding an “entrance” into the heart. “The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”3 Not only the pride of human reason, but the love of sin, shuts out the light, “Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.”4 And thus because “the eye is evil, the whole body is full of darkness;” and “if the light that is in them is darkness, how great is that darkness!”5 Most awful is the view given us of the conflict between the contending powers of light and darkness—“The god of this world blinding the eyes of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them”—the Almighty God resisting his hateful influence, and shining into the hearts “of his people, ‘to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”6 How necessary is it to watch vigilantly against the pride that “rebels against the light,”7 and the indifference that neglects to cherish it!’ How much more “entrance” would have been given to the word, and consequently how much clearer would have been the diffusion of light in the soul, were we as earnest and diligent in secret prayer for heavenly teaching, as we are accustomed to be in the public hearing of the word!

But the enthusiast is not satisfied with the light of the word. The delusion of his own heart dreams of a light within—an immediate revelation of the Spirit, independent of the word. It cannot however be safe to separate the light of the Spirit from the light of the word. The word indeed moves in subserviency to the Spirit; but the light of the Spirit is nowhere promised separate from the word. If it does not always guide directly by the word; yet it is only manifested in the direction of the word. The word is in the matter, if not in the mode; and, though the Spirit may by immediate light direct us to any path of duty, yet it is invariably to that path, which had been previously marked by the light of the word. Thus the Spirit and the word conjointly become our guide—the Spirit enlightening and quickening the word—and the word evidencing the light of the Spirit. Nor will their combined influence ever leave the church of God, until she has joyfully and completely entered into Immanuel’s land, where she shall need no other light, than that of the glory of God, and of the Lamb, which shall shine in her forever.1

But—Reader—rest not satisfied with whatever measure of light may have been hitherto vouchsafed. Seek that the word may have “an entrance ministered unto you abundantly.” The most advanced believer is most ready to acknowledge, how much of the word yet remains unexplored before him.2 Cultivate the disposition of simplicity—the spirit of a “little child”3—willing to receive, embrace, submit to, whatever the revelation of God may produce before you. There will be many things that we do not understand; but there is nothing that we shall not believe. “Thus saith the Lord—” is sufficient to satisfy reverential faith. To this spirit the promise of heavenly light is exclusively made, “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The meek will he guide in judgment; the meek will he teach his way.”4 It is beautiful to see a man, like Solomon, endued with enlarged powers of mind5—acknowledging himself to be a little child;6 afraid of trusting in his own light; and seeking instruction from above. But never will a proud unhumbled mind know the benefit of this Divine instruction. To such a student, the Bible must ever be a dark book; since it is its very design to destroy that disposition which he brings to the inquiry. That knowledge, therefore, which is unable to direct our way to heaven—nay, which by closing the avenues of spiritual light, obstructs our entrance thither, is far more a curse than a blessing. Far more glorious is the simplicity of the word than the wisdom of the world.

“In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said; I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.”7

5 Prov. 4:18.

6 Isaiah 35:8.

7 Eph. 3:19. Comp. Col. 3:10.

8 ‘A very extraordinary thing,’ said one, ‘if I, who have read the Bible over and over in the original languages, have studied it day and night, and have written criticism and comments on it—a very extraordinary thing that I should not be able to understand that meaning in the Scriptures, which is said to be so plain, that a “wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err” in the discovering of it.’ And so it is extraordinary, until we open the Bible; and there we see the fact explained. The man who approaches the word of God in his own wisdom, shall not find what the “fool” will discover under the teaching of Divine wisdom. “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent;” and “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.”—Cecil’s Remains.

1 1 Cor. 3:18.

2 Compare 1Cor. 2:1–4.

3 John 1:5, “apprehended it not.”—Scott. “Admitted it not.”—Campbell.

4 John 3:19, 20.

5 Matt. 6:23.

6 Comp. 2 Cor. 4–6.

7 Job 24:13.

1 See Rev. 21:23.

2 See the testimonies cited in the notes on the preceding verse.

3 Matt. 18:3.

4 Ps. 19:7; 25:9.

5 1 Kings 4:29–34.

6 1Ki. 3:7.

7 Luke 10:21.

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J C Philpot - The word “simple” means literally something which is not folded or twisted together.  But owing to the treacherous and desperately deceitful heart of man, all, without exception, in a state of nature are the reverse of this.  All their plots and contrivances for worldly profit or fleshly pleasure are tangled and complicated; and they are continually twisting together some thread or other of carnal policy.  But when God the Holy Ghost begins the work of grace upon the souls of the elect, He proceeds (if I may use the expression) to untwist them.  He takes hold of that rope which Satan and their own hearts have been twisting together for years, and He untwists it throughout its whole lenght, so as to leave the strands not intertwined as before, but riven, separated, and torn from each other.  The light that shines into the soul out of the fulness of Jesus discovers to a man the tortuousness, the crookedness, the complicated deceit and hypocrisy of which he is guilty.  A man then is made “simple,” when the folds and rumples of his heart are shaken out, and he is brought to see and feel that God looks into him; that His eye penetrates into every recess of his bosom; and that there is not a thought in his heart, nor “a word in his tongue, but the Lord knoweth it altogether.”  This character is aptly represented by Nathaniel.  He had gone through this untwisting work in his soul.  He had been under the fig-tree, and whilst kneeling and praying there, the eye of God looked into him, and just as a flash of lightning runs, in a moment, through a coil of wire, so, when the eye of God looked into Nathaniel’s soul, that instantaneous flash unravelled and untwisted the devices of his heart, and made him a simple man before him—“an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile.” Ears from Harvested Sheaves.

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James Hastings - THE OPENING OF GOD’S WORD

         The opening of thy words giveth light;
         It giveth understanding unto the simple.—Ps. 119:130

1. THE section of the psalm in which the text occurs is a gem of spiritual beauty. In verse after verse we are led through the deep places of religious faith and love, and the Psalmist guides our feet like one conversant with the holiest secrets of the spiritual pilgrim’s way. His thoughts are perennial, and his words sound like the utterance of a believing soul here and now in this present generation.
“God’s word is wonderful, mysterious.” It holds a great mystery which is an offence to the pretentious intellectualism of the wise, but in this very wonderfulness the obedient soul finds rest. Through obedience comes fuller knowledge. “God’s word opens.” And fuller knowledge creates fuller trust and devotion. For “the light grows with the opening of the word,” and in it there is no darkness at all. New light produces new longing, a more eager “panting” of the spirit for the word of God. The longing for God’s word quickly reveals itself as a longing for God Himself, a hungering for His mercy and love. In the vision of God’s face the desire for purity of life is intensified and the soul pleads for deliverance from the “dominion of iniquity.” Then the man rises into full consciousness of his privilege as one of God’s freemen, whom no power shall enslave and no fetters shall bind. “The oppression of man shall not hold him in bondage.” And so he stands in the gladness of spiritual strength while God’s face “shines upon him” like the sun from heaven. Living in God’s light, his heart, like God’s, becomes full of compassion for a sinful world. As the Son of God in later days wept for the sins and woes of Jerusalem, so this ancient Psalmist says: “Mine eyes run down with rivers of water, because they observe not thy law.”
2. The object of Christian faith may be compared to a jewel enclosed in a casket. The jewel is the Lord Jesus Christ; the casket is the Bible. Now, we believe that a man may possess the jewel who has never seen the casket, or who has got it in his hands in an imperfect and broken form. There is such an efficacy in the Lord Jesus Christ, such a fitness in Him for the sins and sorrows and wants of poor fallen humanity, that the Holy Spirit of God can bring Him home to the soul with saving power by a small portion of knowledge. A single Gospel, a single Epistle, a Psalm such as the Twenty-third, or a verse such as “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” if explained simply and brought home by God’s Spirit, may become God’s power unto salvation. The Bible came to men in fragments, piece after piece, through many generations, and a fragment of it still does its proper work. It has a principle of life that is complete in its separate parts, and you may see all its truth in one text, as you can see all the sun’s image in one drop of dew in a flower. This is a wise, Divine arrangement, which may reassure some who fear they are losing Christ, when the question is about the meaning of some parts of the Bible. If a man were so driven about on seas of difficulty that he could have only a board or broken piece of the ship, it would “bring him safe to land.” Nevertheless, the care and completeness of the casket are of very great moment. Our salvation may be gained by one word about Christ, but our edification, our Christian comfort and well-being, depend on the full word of Christ. Whenever He is set forth, however dimly, there is something for us to learn, something needful to make us thoroughly furnished unto every good work. Here the Bible may be compared, not to a casket enclosing a jewel, but to a piece of tapestry on which a figure is inwoven. If it be mutilated, or the golden threads that meet and intermingle be torn and tarnished, we lose, so far, the complete image of truth that is the inheritance of the Church of Christ—the inheritance which the Apostle thus describes: “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

¶ Bartholdi’s statue of “Liberty Enlightening the World” occupies a fine position on Bedloes Island, which commands the approach to New York Harbour. It holds up a torch which is lit at night by an immense electric light. The statue was cast in portions in Paris. The separate pieces were very different, and, taken apart, of uncouth shape. It was only when all was brought together, each in its right place, that the complete design was apparent. Then the omission of any one would have left the work imperfect. In this it is an emblem of Holy Scripture. We do not always see the object of certain portions; nevertheless each has its place, and the whole is a magnificent statue of Christ Jesus, who is the true “Liberty Enlightening the World,” casting illuminative rays across the dark, rocky ocean of time, and guiding anxious souls to the desired haven.

I THE LIGHT HID

1. The word of God is not a book. There are plenty of Bibles in the world to-day. Indeed there never was a time when so many were distributed. The printing presses of Christendom fairly groan with the innumerable volumes. Nor is the word of God preaching. Churches abound and times of prosperity see them built and rebuilt in ever more magnificent form. The greater the wealth of the community and the more easy and abundant its luxury, the more gorgeous become its churches, the more elegant their ritual, and the more eloquent their preaching. The word of God is the voice of God in a man’s soul. As the Saviour put it: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” That is the voice which, through whatever channel it comes and in whatever words it declares itself, becomes the compelling voice in a man’s heart, awakening him to a new consciousness of his relations to his Maker.

2. The word of God is a living word, addressed to men, and it brings the power of God Himself along with it. God did not wait to speak to men until they had advanced so far that they were able to provide themselves with some kind of record of what He said. Far back in the infancy and childhood of the human race, God condescended to men in their weakness and frailty, spoke to them and made Himself intelligible, and lodged the incorruptible seed in their hearts. All the epistles in those days were living epistles, and the living word of God was not written down, but passed like fire, with all its power to quicken and redeem, from heart to heart.

3. No book can adequately express God’s word. What God had to say to men, what God at last actually did say to men, was something too great for human words to record. “God,” we read in the Bible itself, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” “By his Son”—revelation was consummated in Christ. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us … full of grace and truth,” and Christ, in all the fulness of His grace and truth, is God’s last word to man. Could anybody produce an adequate record of Christ? Could any words that man could use ever tell all the wonderful meaning of that manifestation of God? Evangelists, after they had done their best, declared that half had never been told. You remember how the last of them, John, says at the end of his Gospel, after he had tried to tell everything: “The world itself would not contain the books that should be written.” No human word, the most wonderful or searching or patient, could ever tell out for men everything that God meant when He sent His Son to save the world.

¶ You do right to call it “The Book,” but you must not forget that it is a book. It has the limitations of a book, the mistakes of a book, the obscurities of a book, the impotence of a book. And while it is the treasury of the most profound and unquestionable and authoritative in books, it is still only a book. There is something more than the Book. There is a life, a living passion, a moulding faith, a lifting hope; and they are greater than the Book.

¶ What is a word, a sentence, a book, a library? What are all libraries? A mere peep into the inexpressible. The best writers know this, and are not surprised if they find out their most important things in between the lines, and the best readers soon learn where to look for them. The best speakers know this, and feel when all is done that they have left their most impressive thoughts unspoken because they are unspeakable. However, the best hearers understand perfectly well, perhaps better than if they had been spoken. The poets know best how to use language. They often express their most inexpressible, or evanescent thoughts by means of repugnant, or somewhat paradoxical epithets; as, for example, Coleridge when he says:

         The stilly murmur of the distant sea
         Tells us of silence.

The belief that it is easy to speak plainly on these great subjects is at the bottom of nearly all the mistakes which divide men in religion, and, it may be added, of nearly all the scepticism which has ever existed.

4. Multitudes are unconscious of the highest truths, incapable of them. They lack a sense, the sublimest sense of all, the faculty to discern the reality of the Divine and eternal. Clever enough in the arts of this life, they are stone-blind to the higher. Standing beneath the visible world, patent to us all, is an invisible underworld of atoms, ether, colours, and subtle movements, which only the disciplined sense of the scientist can detect and measure; all around us is another world of beauty, music, and poetry, perceived and appreciated only by those possessed of the artistic sense; and again, above us is a supreme world of which God is the everlasting light and glory, a realm evident only to those whose senses are exercised in holy thought, constant purity, and willing obedience.

We say that the eye creates half that it sees: but no eye is nearly so creative as a blind one; and the proud critic, knowing nothing as he ought to know, enlarges copiously and confidently on his speculations. It is the astronomy of the blind. Competent on questions of the lower spheres, these talkers are of no account in regard to the reality and blessedness of personal godliness. Their astronomy is the veriest superstition set forth in the language of philosophy. The least in the Kingdom of God is greater than these. Only men born again see the eternal light clearly and steadily. Only as we experience the truths Divine do we comprehend them. Only as we do the will of God in daily obedience do we know the doctrine. As Carlyle puts it: “He who has done nothing has known nothing.” Then do we see light in God’s light, and know the secret of the world, of life, of the future when we believe in our heart and obey in our life.

      That Thou art nowhere to be found, agree
      Wise men, whose eyes are but for surfaces;
      Men with eyes opened by the second birth,
      To whom the seen, husk of the unseen is,
      Descry the soul of everything on earth.
      Who knows Thy ends, Thy means and motions see;
      Eyes made for glory soon discover Thee.

¶ Not very long ago The Times newspaper contained a correspondence on the desirableness of science lecturers making their great themes more clear to the ordinary audience. In defence the lecturers maintained that it is almost impossible to make lucid the problems of nature to listeners so entirely destitute of knowledge and sympathy as the majority are. More difficult still is it for certain minds to grasp mathematical or metaphysical problems. How completely the ungifted and undisciplined stand away from the mysteries of music! While Glinka was writing his immortal work, his wife complained before everyone that “he was wasting ruled paper.” The obtuse content themselves with the sarcasm that “music is a noise costlier than other noises.” And as to the arts, the critics declare that genuine work is unintelligible to the crowd. “The beautiful is what your servant instinctively thinks is frightful.”

II THE LIGHT REVEALED

“The opening of thy words giveth light.” When the book is opened, the light streams forth. The term translated “giveth light” is a transitive verb which means “to cause to shine.” The direct object of the verb may be supplied by using any term which will indicate the lover of God’s word. “The opening of God’s Word maketh the attentive heart to shine.” That is, the Word of God gives light by enkindling the light of truth within our souls. It is the same word that is used concerning God in the 135th verse—“Make thy face to shine upon thy servant.” As His face shines upon us, He makes our hearts shine back upon Him and upon the world. He does not illuminate our path mechanically, but sets His light within us livingly. He uses us, not as passive reflectors of His brightness, but as burning and shining lights.

1. We must learn to open the book. If God has given us a heavenly Word, a Divinely communicated Word, the first thing we should do is to learn diligently to understand that Word. If God has spoken, then our greatest business is to try to understand what God has said. Suppose a great prince or a great sage spoke words of wisdom, and a thoughtless, foolish person rushed in and began to babble his inanities, instead of trying to understand the wisdom of the counsellor, what would you think? You would probably think more than you would like to say. Are we any better, if, when God has spoken, and in the face of that utterance, instead of setting ourselves in lowliness to understand His great message, we go on babbling our own little passing speculations? We are people of many books to-day, and we speak of our fathers sarcastically as “men of one book.” There is no objection to many books, but we would do well to get back to the one, and to understand something more of the great mystery of Divine love which God has revealed to us.

¶ Mr. Moody tells us in an amusing way of his own experience: “I used at one time to read so many chapters a day, and if I did not I thought I was cold and backsliding, but, mind you, if a man had asked me an hour afterwards what I had read, I could not have told him—I had forgotten nearly it all. When I was a boy I used to hoe turnips on a farm, and I used to hoe them so badly to get over so much ground that at night I had to put a stick into the ground so as to know next morning where I had left off.” That was somewhat in the same fashion as much Bible reading. A man will say: “Wife, did I read that chapter?” “Well,” she says, “I don’t remember”; and neither of them can recollect. Now, there is no sort of merit or profit in that sort of Bible reading; no blessing comes with it. It is of no more use than galloping through so many columns of advertisements or so many pages of the dictionary. If the Scriptures are to profit us, we must ask, as we read, “What does this mean? What does it teach? What lesson may I learn from it? Does it suggest prayer? Does it prompt praise? Does it prescribe duty?” It would be well if all of us might sometimes be pulled up in our reading by the question, “Understandest thou that which thou readest?”

2. The more we study the Word, the more freely the light breaks upon us. “The opening of thy words giveth light” means not only that God’s Word gives light, but that this light grows with the growing revelation or understanding of the Word. As the Word opens before the soul the Divine shines forth from it more clearly, and the glory of the God it exhibits becomes more wonderful. The more we understand the Word, the more we see of God. The deeper we go into the revelation, the nearer we get to the blaze of the eternal Light.

¶ A friend of mine visited Mr. Prang’s chromo establishment in Boston. Mr. Prang showed him a stone on which was laid the colour for making the first impression toward producing the portrait of a distinguished public man, but he could see only the faintest possible line of tinting. The next stone that the paper was submitted to deepened the colour a little, but still no trace of the man’s face was visible. Again and again was the sheet passed over successive stones, until at last the outline of a man’s face was dimly discerned. Finally, after some twenty impressions from as many different stones, the portrait of the distinguished man stood forth so perfectly that it seemed to lack only the power of speech to make it living. Thus it is with Christ in the Scriptures.
¶ A Hindoo gentleman, holding a high office in the Presidency of Bombay, told me a few years ago that during his vacation he was anxious to read with his son for an hour or two daily a book of high moral and spiritual influence. He thought of many, and at last decided to take the Book of Psalms. “We treat it,” he said, “like any other book; we investigate questions of authorship, we try to discover the circumstances in which each psalm was written, we separate the purely Jewish elements from those of more general interest and importance, we try to discriminate between what is human and faulty, and what is lofty and spiritual. By doing this we seem often to hear the voice of God speaking in our hearts, showing us the way of truth and duty, and calling us to higher aspirations and efforts.” The man who said this to me was not a Christian. It shows us what hope there is in presenting our Scriptures to non-Christians in the right way, and how true it is that these Scriptures possess a universal adaptation to the human spirit.

III THE LIGHT UTILIZED

1. “It giveth understanding unto the simple.” We all know what it means to have the intellect enlightened. Everywhere we are encountering new knowledge. The sciences are all new, the practical affairs of life are conducted on new methods, with new instruments and, we may also say, with new purposes. We live not only on a new continent, but in a veritable new world. Enlightenment of the understanding seems at times the single, all-important necessity. All our great system of schools and colleges and universities is to the one end of providing this enlightened understanding for the growing generation; and we summon the young people to every sacrifice to attain to the enlightenment which is so much needed. We are charmed when we come upon any indication of what it holds in store for them.

¶ When Professor Agassiz came to America and made his first journey westward from the sea-coast, he sat all day in the train looking out of the window, for everywhere he quickly discovered what no one else had seen—signs of the action of the great glaciers of the ice period upon the surface of the continent. Every rounded hill, every pond in Massachusetts, every undulation in the levels south of Lake Erie was to him the proof of the theory of the Ice Age as he had held it. And these indisputable signs of a great geological epoch had laid openly before the eyes of generations of men who had been blind to see them. The record of geological history was written on the very face of the continent, and up to that hour no one had read it. With what excitement he turned the leaf of the great story! With what interest he told what he saw! With what open-eyed wonder people responded to the new teaching! We want enlightened intelligence in matters of religion. There are truths as new, as important, and as interesting in regard to revelation, and in regard to the Bible. We may well pray that the Church everywhere, and all believers, may have as a gift of God, enlightenment of their understanding.

¶ India has a venerable civilization, such as it is, and sacred books which contain a great deal of wisdom and beauty; but the Light of Asia has never brought enlightenment to the millions who receive it. With all the intellectual glory of ancient Greece, popular education was a thing unknown. Rome trained her people to war and plunder for the aggrandizement of the State. Certain of the slaves were educated to teach their master’s sons, but the plebeian multitude were poor, ignorant, and despised. Let the intellectual status of the people of Russia, Italy, Spain, or even France be compared with that of the people in Germany, England, or the United States, and how significant are the facts which appear.

2. But if we need enlightenment of the intellect, we need still more the dew of heaven upon the heart. The heart is the man, and the man must be reached if the work of God is to go forward. Sadly we discover that the enlightenment of the intellect goes but a short way in changing the character. Character rests upon decisions of the will, the abiding purposes of life, and these are determined primarily by the feelings. It is therefore the enlightenment of the heart, the stirring up of the feelings, the opening of the deep wells of the soul, and the appeal to the essential nature of the man himself that alone answers the call of God, and that alone can make men free, in the large sense of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The mere accumulation of knowledge is like the stuffing of the stove with fuel—it remains as cold and dead as the iron itself until the fire is kindled, which alone can transform it, and set free its imprisoned energies.

This is the unique triumph of God’s word that it recreates the soul, and changes the unrighteous into the image of Christ. No other power on earth has been able thus to renew the spirit of man. But this word of God renews its power in every generation. Into the dark soul its light enters, and in the lowly spirit the fire of God burns with inextinguishable blaze. In God’s light we see light, and the enkindled soul communes with the glory of God. In Christ Jesus the fallen one rises to be a new creation, and hears a holy voice cry, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.”

¶ This characteristic has been splendidly manifest in the propagation of the gospel in foreign lands. The hindrances to the exercise of this power are enormous among the devotees of false religions. Custom, tradition, sentiment, imagination, and all the vast conservatism of social forces, are arrayed against the incoming of the light of the Gospel. The feeble groundwork of truth upon which the false superstructure is reared has an ancient influence which counts for much. Yet, wherever the Word of God gets an opportunity, its results are similar to those which we have ourselves experienced. In Africa, India, China, and the islands of the sea, men and women rise to the same childlike assurance of pardon and peace in Jesus Christ, and confess in the common language of Christian faith the light-giving and life-giving virtue of the Word of God. The people that sat in darkness have seen a great slight, and that light is the Son of God.

¶ The other day I was reading a story of a Frenchman who was being entertained by a Christian chief in one of the Pacific Islands. The chief had a Bible, which the Frenchman sneered at, saying that in Europe they had got past that. The chief led his guest out of the house, showed him where they used to cook and eat their meals in cannibal days, and clinched everything by saying, “My friend, if it had not been for that Book, I should have been dining upon you now.”

3. Understanding comes only to the simple-hearted: “Unto the simple.” A simple person is often supposed to be a person who has no understanding or wisdom. But here “simple” means sincere, honest—a person who has a right aim, a right eye. What says the Saviour of such? “If thine eye be single”—rendered sometimes “simple”—if thine eye be simple, “thy whole body shall be full of light.” There is the entrance of God’s word. “But if thine eye be evil,”—if it be double, if it be hypocritical, if it be deceitful,—“thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!” And how gracious it is of God, how merciful, that He should put the condition of our receiving the inward light, not upon intellectual and moral capacity. What if He had rested it on intellect, on philosophy, on science, or rank, or natural power of intellect: if He had promised it to the man who could muster different languages, or solve profound and difficult problems! But, so far from this, it is just the reverse; for this is what the Spirit of God tells us of His work, “Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence”; and, it is added, “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

¶ A teacher eminent in scientific research in describing the wondrous beauty and the mysterious structure of a leaf, has said that any tyro can see the facts for himself if he is provided with a leaf and a microscope. But how helpless would the tyro be if he had only the leaf, and not the microscope! The leaf would be perfect in all its parts, it would contain rare beauty of form, colour, and structure, though the tyro was ignorant of it, and had not a microscope to see it. Without the aid of a microscope, a scientific teacher even could not see the mysterious substance, the strange movements, and the beautiful structure of the leaf. The optical instrument is as necessary for the intelligent as for the ignorant, for the scientific as for the uneducated. If a man were to examine the leaf, without the aid of the instrument, and declare his inability to see any inner beauty, form, and structure in the leaf, the simple answer would be that these are things which can only be microscopically discerned. Now this is not merely the teaching of scientists, it is the teaching of the Apostle. Spiritual things can be seen and known only by a spiritual mind—a mind aided and strengthened by the higher power of vision which the Spirit of God imparts.

¶ There was a literary woman who stood high among book critics. One day in reviewing a book she said, “Who wrote this book? It is beautifully written, but there is something wrong here and there!” She proceeded to criticize with a good deal of severity. Some months afterwards this lady became acquainted with the author of the book, fell in love, and married him. She took the same book again and said, “What a beautiful book! There are some mistakes here and there, but they ought to be overlooked.” The book was just the same as it had been before, but the critic had changed. When she began to love the author it changed her attitude toward the book. So it is with us and the Bible. People do not love the Bible because they do not love Christ.

Psalm 119:13 I opened my mouth wide and panted, For I longed for Your commandments. 

• opened: Ps 119:20 Ps 42:1 Isa 26:8-9 1Pe 2:2 
• I longed: Ps 119:40,162,174 Heb 12:14 

Related Passages:

Psalm 119:20  My soul is crushed with longing After Your ordinances at all times. 

Psalm 42:1  For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. 

Isaiah 26:8-9 Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD, We have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.  9At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 

1 Peter 2:2  like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

ARE YOU HUNGRY OR
THIRSTY SPIRITUALLY?

I opened my mouth wide and panted - Like a newborn baby (1Pe 2:2) or like a baby bird opening to the food the mother brings home (watch these baby birds open wide!)

For (term of explanation) I longed for Your commandments -  Longed for in the Septuagint is epipotheo used in a similar context in 1Pe 2:2+. 

THOUGHT - Does this passage picture your hunger for God's Word? If not it could be because you have unconfessed sin as described in 1Pe 2:1. Unholy thoughts, words or deeds will always blunt your desire for God's holy Word! Get right (1Jn 1:9+) and then get reading (His Word).

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Charles Bridges - When the “wonderful” character of God’s “testimonies” is apprehended; and when their “entrance has given light to the soul:” something far beyond ordinary affection and desire is excited. A thirsty man—burning with inward heat on a sultry day, and “opening his mouth, and panting” for some alleviation of his thirst—is a fine image of the child of God intensely longing for the attainment of his object. Or, if we suppose before us the man nearly exhausted by the heat of his race, and “opening his mouth, and panting” to take in fresh breath to renew his course; so would the believer “rejoice;” like the sun, to “run his heavenward race.”8 He cannot satisfy himself in his desires. The motions of his soul to his God are his life and his joy. It is a spring of perpetual motion beating within—perpetual because natural—not a rapture, but a habit—a principle, having indeed its faintings, and its sickness, but still returning to its original spring of life and vigor. It seems as if the soul could never draw in enough of the influences of the spiritual life. Its longings are insatiable—as if the heart would “break with”1 the overpowering strength of its own desires, until at length wearied with the conflict, the believer “opens his mouth, and pants” to fetch in a fresh supply of invigorating grace. He enjoys “a little reviving”2 in his Lord’s commandments; enjoying the Lord himself as his well-spring of refreshment.3

Hear the man of God elsewhere giving, or rather attempting to give, expression to his “pantings.” “As the heart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for thee; my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. I stretch forth my hands unto thee; my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land.”4 Thus did Job “open his mouth, and pant.” “O that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even unto his seat!”5 And the church—pouring out her heart before the Lord, “With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.”6 St. Paul also describes the same intenseness of his own desire, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”7 But amidst all these examples, and infinitely beyond them all—behold the ardor of our blessed Master in his work. Such was the “panting” of his heavenly desire, that, when “wearied with his journey,” and “sitting at Jacob’s well,” he forgot even his natural want for his thirsty frame, in the joyous conversion of a lost sinner to himself.8

And thus must our affections be fully engaged.9 The soul must be kept open to heavenly influence; so that, when the Lord touches us with conviction, inclines our hearts to himself, and constrains us to his service, we may be ready to “exercise ourselves unto godliness,”10 in receiving, cherishing, and improving the heavenly “longing after his commandments;” and may “open our mouths, and pant” for more advanced progress in them. We look not so much to the quantity, as to the activity of faith; always at work, stirring up a holy fire within, for the utmost stretch of human attainment; like men of large projects and high determinations, still aspiring to know more of God, both in the enjoyment of his love, and in conformity to his will. And shall we be ashamed of these feelings? Shall we not rather be deeply humbled, that we know so little of them—encouraged, if we have any springing of them—alarmed, if we be utterly destitute of their influence? Shall we not be “opening our mouth, and panting,” when any new path of service is opened before us? For if we are content to be strangers to this “longing” after God—this readiness for duty; what else can be expected, but “sliding back from the Lord by a perpetual backsliding?”1 Growing in sin, declining in love, and gradually relinquishing the habit of prayer, we shall shortly find little attaching to us but the empty name—Christianity without Christ. The world will despise these exercises as enthusiasm, the distemper of a misguided imagination. But is it—can it be—otherwise than a “reasonable service,”2 as well as a bounden obligation, to give up our whole desires to him, who is alone worthy of them? There can be no evidence of their sincerity, unless they are supreme.

But let union with Christ, and the life flowing from him, be the constant spring of this holy ardor. Thus shall I enjoy a more habitual influence of his love—that all-constraining principle, which overcomes all my complaints of coolness and deadness of heart, and fills me with panting and longing in his service. But am I ready to shrink from this elevated standard? If my heart is drawing back, let me force it on. Let me lay my command, or rather God’s command upon it. Let conscience do its office, until my heart is brought into actual and close contact with this touchstone of my spiritual prosperity. What then—let me ask myself—is the pulse of my desires after spiritual things? What exercises of grace do I find in them? What improvement of grace do I derive from them? Do I pant, thirst, long, after the enjoyment of heavenly pleasure? Do I mourn over, and conflict with that indolence and indifference, which so often hinders my race? Oh! let me be found a frequent suppliant at the throne of grace; bewailing my dulness, yet “stirring up” my faith “to lay hold on”3 my God; seeking for larger views of the Gospel, a warmer experience of its promises, a more intense appetite for its enjoyments, and a more devoted attachment to its service. Surely such desires will issue in the confidence of faith. “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness.”4

8 Ps. 19:5. For another illustration, see Job 29:23.

1 Ps 19:20.

2 Ezra 9:8.

3 See on Ezra 9:20.

4 Ps. 42:1; 63:1; 143:6.

5 Job 23:3.

6 Isaiah 26:9.

7 Phil. 3:12–14.

8 John 4:6, 31–34.

9 ‘Be always displeased with what thou art, if thou desirest to attain to what thou art not; for where thou hast pleased thyself, there thou abidest. But if thou sayest, ‘I have enough,’ thou perishest. Always add—always walk—always proceed. Neither stand still, nor go back, nor deviate.’—Augustine.

10 1 Tim. 4:7.

1 Jer. 8:5.

2 Rom. 12:1.

3 Isaiah 64:7.

4 Psalm 63:5

Psalm 119:132  Turn to me and be gracious to me, After Your manner with those who love Your name.    (PRAYER)

• Look (KJV): Ps 119:124 25:18 Ex 4:31 1Sa 1:11 2Sa 16:12 Isa 63:7-9 
• as thou usest to do unto those (KJV): Heb. according to the custom toward those, Ps 106:4 2Th 1:6,7 

 Turn to me and be gracious to me, After Your manner with those who love Your name - Another great prayer. 

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Charles Bridges - The highest ardency of holy desire is no ground of satisfaction before God. Nor does the believer in his most elevated moments forget his proper character—always a sinner—needing mercy every moment—in every duty. His prayer for mercy therefore suitably follows his exalted expression of love, “Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me” Mercy is indeed secured to him beyond the powers of earth and hell to despoil him of it; but the comfortable sense of this mercy is vouchsafed only according to the earnestness of his desires, and the simplicity of his faith. And this is indeed a blessing, with which no earthly source of satisfaction can compare.1 What are all the riches of the world without it, but splendid poverty, as little able to supply the place of Jesus in the soul, as the magnificent array of the starry firmament is to compensate for the absence of the sun? It is night with the child of God—Egyptian night—“darkness which may be felt,”2 until his Sun appear to chase away his gloom—until his Lord hear his cry, “Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me.”

To have this portion of “those that love the name” of God, is, then, the grand object. To have our offering, as Abel’s was,3 accepted with God—to walk as Enoch walked,4 with God—to commune with him as Abraham5 and Moses6 were privileged to do—to be conformed with the holy Apostle7 to the death of Christ—in a word, to be interested in all the purchase of a Saviour’s blood—“this is the heritage of the Lord’s servants,” this is the “one thing that we have desired of the Lord, and are seeking after,”8—“this,” with the dying Psalmist, “is all our salvation, and all our desire.”9 “Remember me then, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people; O visit me with thy salvation; that I may see the good of thy chosen; that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation; that I may glory with thine inheritance.”10

And yet, alas! how often has the power and deceitfulness of sin cast us into so lifeless a state, that we are not only living without the enjoyment of this portion, but at rest without it; scarcely knowing or caring whether the Lord look on us or not! Can we wonder, that our holy, jealous God, should “hide himself,”11 and “go, and return to his place?”12 His next manifestation will probably be in the way of sharp conviction, making us to feel our distance, our coldness, our barrenness; awakening us to search into the cause; and, in the contrast of our sad condition with those who are walking in his favor, again bringing forth the cry, “Look thou unto me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.” The prayer of humility, earnestness and perseverance, though it may be tried awhile, will surely never be forgotten.13 If therefore we cannot yet “sing in the ways of the Lord,”14 yet let us not cease to mourn after him, till he look upon us, and “satisfy us with his mercy.”15 And oh! let us remember, that there is but one way, through which one gracious look, or one expression of tender mercy, can visit our souls. Let our eyes and heart then be ever fixed on Jesus. It is only in this his “beloved” Son that the Lord can look upon us, so as not to “behold iniquity in us.” But we “are complete in Him.”1 Here then let us wait; and when this our prayer has received its answer in the Lord’s best time—whether it be in “the goings of our God in the sanctuary,”2 or in the more secret manifestations3 of his love—now then, Christians, “arise, and shine.”4 Let it be known, that you have been on the mount with God, by the lustre of your face, the adorning of your profession, before the world.

Lord! since our looks to thee are often so slight, so cold, so distant, that no impression is made upon our hearts; do thou condescend continually to look upon us with mercy and with power. Vouchsafe us such a look, as may touch us with tenderness and contrition, in the remembrance of that sin, unbelief, and disobedience, which pierced the hands, the feet, the heart of our dearest Lord and Saviour.5 Oh! for that contrite spirit, in which we shall enjoy the look of thy special favor!6 Oh! for a glimpse of thy love, that will put our spiritual enemies to shame!7 Oh! for that sunshine of thy countenance, which brings present salvation to out souls!8

1 Psalm 4:6, 7.

2 Exod. 10:21.

3 Gen. 4:4.

4 Ge. 5:24.

5 Ge. 18:17–33.

6 Exod. 33:11. Deut. 34:10.

7 Phil. 3:10. Gal. 2:20.

8 Psalm 27:4.

9 2 Sam. 23:5.

10 Psalm 106:4, 5.

11 Isaiah 57:17.

12 Hosea 5:15.

13 Comp. Isa. 30:18. Hab. 2:3.

14 Ps. 138:5.

15 Ps. 90:14.

1 Comp. Numb. 23:21. Eph. 1:6. Col. 2:10.

2 Psalm 68:24.

3 Matt. 6:6. John 14:21–23.

4 Isaiah 60:1.

5 Comp. Luke 23:56

6 Isaiah 66:2.

7 Psalm 86:17.

8 Ps. 80:19.

Psalm 119:133 Establish my footsteps in Your word, And do not let any iniquity have dominion over me.   (PRAYER)

• Establish my footsteps: Ps 119:116 17:5 32:8 121:3 1Sa 2:9 
• do not let any iniquity: Ps 19:13 Ro 6:12-14 7:23,24 Mt 6:13

Related Passage:

Ps 119:38 - Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You. 

A GREAT PRAYER
FOR SANCTIFICATION

Establish my footsteps in Your word - One of my favorite prayers especially in concert with Ps 119:38. Establish is Hiphil Imperative. We don't command God but the command expresses our desperate need and desire.  The psalmist is in essence making a request of the Almighty. We are all prone to wander and Lord we feel it. Here's my heart take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above. Where you "walk" (walk used as a picture of one's general conduct of life in the NT and also apropos here) reflects what you truly believe, especially where you walk when no one but God sees you. It's interesting that the psalmist did not say establish my eyes in Thy word...how easy it is to look at the Word and then go away forgetting what kind of person e were (Jas 1:22-24+). We must prove (a command in the present imperative calling for us to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) ourselves doers & not merely hearers lest we deceive ourselves (and sin is deceptive Heb 3:13+ and entangling and enslaving Jn 8:34). Do not walk in the counsel of the wicked because before long you will be standing in the path of sinners and eventually even seated with the scoffers! Oh, the inevitable downward, destructive pull of our old sin nature, even resident (albeit crucified Ro 6:6+, cf Ro 6:11+) in those who are born again. Wage war valiant soldiers of the cross (see 1Pe 2:11+). The night is almost over and the day of His glorious return is at hand (Ro 13:12+). So fix your hope on the One above (Heb 12:2+) the things above (Col 3:2+) lest you become entangled in the affairs of the things below ("everyday life" 2Ti 2:4+)

This is one of the Lord’s customary mercies to his chosen—“He keepeth the feet of his saints.” By his grace he enables us to put our feet step by step in the very place which his Word ordains. This does not stop short of perfect holiness, neither will the believer’s desires be satisfied with anything beneath that blessed consummation.

And do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. :Hiphil Impf:   This is the negative side of the blessing. We ask to do all that is right, and to fall under the power of nothing that is wrong. Believers pant for perfect liberty from the power of evil, and being conscious that they cannot obtain it of themselves, they cry unto God for it.

Here is a NT Parallel Passage

(Ro 6:11-14+) Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  12 Therefore do not let sin reign (present imperative with a negative  see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting (present imperative with a negative  see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present (aorist imperative  see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 

Sin (Sin = Principle in Ro 6:1-11) allures us with false promises of grandeur. Its real intent is to control and rule our lives. A person can have only one type of relationship to sin -- slave to master. The alternative is to let God's Word rule our lives.

The Christian life is a “walk,” a day at a time and a step at a time (Ps 119:1, 3, 45). The Word directs our steps, both for walking and for running (Ps 119:32). Note the prayers in [Ps 119:35,116,117]. As we pray for guidance, the Lord answers through His Word.

Have dominion (07980)(shalat) essential idea of root = to exercise autocratic control over = to have one's way  with anyone.  To dominate, govern; by impl. to permit=have mastery over, have rule, have dominion, give (have) power. The basic meaning of the root is well illustrated in Neh 5:15, in which the officials serving under the government of Judah before Nehemiah acted  in a tyrannical, self-serving, domineering way  with the people in imposing heavy burdens of  taxation on them. The people were powerless to  resist.

Baker - to domineer, to be master of. In the simple form, it takes the connotation of ruling. This can be ruling over people (Neh. 5:15; Eccl. 8:9); or possessions which one has been given control of (Eccl. 2:19). It can also mean to obtain power or to get mastery over something. Examples of this would be how sin can have power over a person (Ps. 119:133); or people can have power over each other (Esth. 9:1). This verb is also used in the causative form, meaning to give power (Eccl. 5:19[18]; 6:2). In these contexts, God gives people power over their lives, possessions, honor, and wealth. God is the only legitimate source of power, and all power flows from Him. (Complete Word Study Dictionary – Old Testament) 

TWOT - The essential idea of this root is "to exercise autocratic control over," "to have one's way with" anyone. It appears with its derivatives fifteen times in the Hebrew and thirty-two times in the Aramaic, where the meaning is similar to the Hebrew. Akkadian and Arabic use the root in similar fashion. (The Arabic word "Sultan" is formed from the same root.) In Ugaritic, shlyṭ is used as an epithet of ltn (Leviathan). The basic meaning of the root is well illustrated in Neh. 5:15, in which the officials serving under the government of Judah before Nehemiah acted in a tyrannical, self-serving, domineering way with the people in imposing heavy burdens of taxation on them. The people were powerless to resist. In Psalm 119:133, the psalmist prays that iniquity shall not have dominion over him. He wants to be firmly established in the Word of God so that he can be free from the terrible tyranny of sin. In a slightly modified sense the verb appears in Eccles. 2:19, with the meaning "to exercise control over" the fruit of one's labor. The causative force of the Hiphil is seen in Eccles. 5:18 and Eccles. 6:2 with the sense "empower." In the one passage God gives a man riches and wealth with the power or ability to enjoy them, whereas in the other, he has riches and wealth but lacks the power to enjoy them. (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament)

Gilbrant - Occurring eight times in the OT, this verb, as is generally true of its cognates, conveys abusive "dominance." Nehemiah contrasts in Neh. 5:15 his reign as provincial governor under the Persians with his predecessors' reigns. Those before him abused the people, taking more than the required taxes. Further, even their subordinates "lorded over the people," abusing the negligible power they should have possessed. The verb is used four times in Ecclesiastes, twice in the imagery of the pointlessness of accumulating wealth, since after a person dies, someone else will rule the wealth, whether they be idiots (Ecc. 2:19) or total strangers (6:2). Ecclesiastes 8:9 indicates that the abuse of the weak, in which one person lords over another person in order to humiliate the weaker one, is a great evil. Finally, among the few things which are certain in life is that Yahweh grants a person material things to lord over and use for enjoyment (5:19). The verb is employed twice in Esther 9:1, where the irony of the reversal of events surrounding Purim is celebrated. On the precise day that the foes of the Jews in the Persian world were about to gain the power to lord over and abuse the Jews, the Jews instead gained the power to lord over their enemies. The final occurrence of this verb is found in Ps. 119:133 where the psalmist begs in this verse that Yahweh order his steps to keep him from harm: "Let not any iniquity have dominion over me." (Complete Biblical Library Hebrew-English Dictionary)

In Ps 119:133, the psalmist prays that iniquity shall not have dominion over him. He  wants to be firmly established in the Word of God  so that he can be free from the terrible tyranny of  sin. In a slightly modified sense the verb appears  in Eccl 2:19, with the meaning "to exercise control  over" the fruit of one's labor.  The causative force of the Hiphil is seen in  Ec5:18, 6:2 with the sense "empower." In  the one passage God gives a man riches and  wealth with the power or ability to enjoy them,  whereas in the other, he has riches and wealth  but lacks the power to enjoy them. 

Seven Uses - control over(1), domineered(1), empowered(2), exercised authority(1), gain the mastery over(1), gained the mastery over(1), have dominion(1), mastery over(2). Neh. 5:15; Est. 9:1; Ps. 119:133; Eccl. 2:19; Eccl. 5:19; Eccl. 6:2; Eccl. 8:9

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Charles Bridges - 

Order9 my steps in thy word; and let not any iniquity have dominion over me

To expect the favor of the Lord without an habitual desire of conformity to his image, is one among the many delusions of a self-deceiving heart. It is the peculiar character of the Christian, that his desires are as earnest for deliverance from the power as from the guilt of sin. Having therefore prayed for acceptance, he now cries for holiness. For even could we conceive the Lord “to look upon him” with a sense of his favor, he would still feel himself a miserable creature, until he had received an answer to his prayer, “Let not any iniquity have dominion over me.”

But it is often difficult to distinguish the power of temptation from the prevalence of sin, and thus precisely to ascertain, when “iniquity” may be said to “have dominion over us.” Is it not, however, the influence of temptation—not acting upon the mind, but admitted with consent into the heart? It is this actual consent of the will, obtained by the deceitfulness and solicitations of sin, that marks its real “dominion.” Light, knowledge, and conscience, may open the path of holiness; but while the will—the sovereign power in the soul—dissents, the reigning power of sin continues undisputed. Much care, however, much singleness, and a most jealous scrutiny of the springs of action, are required, accurately to determine the bias of the will, and consequently the “dominion of iniquity.” The perplexed conflicting soul may mistake the rebellion for the “dominion of iniquity”—its continued impression upon the heart for its ruling sway. On the other hand, a constrained opposition of conviction may present some hopeful symptoms of deliverance, while the dominant principle is still unshaken. The present resolution to any particular act of sin may be weakened, while the love and habit of it remains unaffected. Sin is not always hated, when it is condemned, or even forsaken: nor are duties always loved in the act of their performance. The opposition to sin, which the awakened superficial professor considers as his evidence of uprightness of heart, is often only the unavailing resistance of a natural enlightened conscience to the ruling principle of the heart. The light and power of conscience may do much in condemning every known sin, and in restraining from many; in illustrating every known duty, and insisting upon the external performance of many; while yet the full “dominion of iniquity” is undisturbed. Were not Ahab and Judas as completely under this “dominion” after their repentance as they were before?1 Did not Balaam, with all his knowledge—and the young ruler, with all his natural loveliness and semblance of sincerity—“lack that one thing”—a heart delivered from the “dominion of its own iniquity?”2 Yet it is not occasional surprisals, resisted workings, abhorred lusts, nor immediate injections of evil and blasphemous thoughts; but only the ascendency of sin in the affections that proves its reigning power. The throne can admit but of one ruler; and therefore, though grace and iniquity may and do co-exist within, they cannot be co-partners in one sovereignty. Yet forget not that every sinful indulgence is for the moment putting the sceptre into the hands of our worst enemies. The setting up of an usurper is the virtual dethronement of the rightful sovereign. The subjection to sin is therefore the rejection of Christ.

How inestimably precious is the thought, that deliverance from this cursed dominion is inseparably connected with a state of acceptance with God! The man who enjoys the unspeakable blessing of pardoned iniquity, is he “in whose spirit there is no guile.”3 He has a work done within him, as well as for him. His Saviour is a whole Christ—“made of God unto him Sanctification and” complete “Redemption,” as well as “Righteousness.”4 He comes to the cleansing fountain,5 as the double cure of his iniquity—equally effectual to wash from its power as from its guilt.

But let us duly estimate the value of David’s preservation. He had been used to “hide the word in his heart,” as his safeguard against sin,6 and from his own experience of its power he had recommended it to the especial attention of the young.7 Yet the recollection of his continual forgetfulness and conscious weakness, leads him to turn his rule into a matter of prayer—Order my steps in thy word—implying, that if his steps were not ordered, from want of their keeping, iniquity would regain its dominion. And who of us have not daily need of this ruling discipline? Without it, all is disorder. Our scattered affections need to be “united” in one central principle,1 under the direction of the word. The universal influence of this rule also is so important. The word not only cheers our path, but orders our steps.2—Every act—every duty—are as steps in the heavenward path—guarding us from the devious paths on either side, beset with imperceptible danger, and spread with the fowler’s snare. And what a blessed path would this be for us, if we had singleness and simplicity always to “look right on, and straight before us!”3 But alas! we are often only half roused from our security. The word is forgotten; or there is an unreadiness to receive its Divine impressions. Our own wisdom is consulted: and, “or ever we are aware,” “iniquity” regains a temporary “dominion over us.”

Now I would ask myself—What do I know of this godly, careful walk? Am I frequently during the day looking upward to my heavenly guide; and then looking into his word as my direction in the way; and lastly, considering my heart and conduct, whether it is “ordered in the word?” The man, who has “the law of God in his heart,” alone possesses the security, that “none of his steps shall slide.”4 When I take therefore a step into the world, let me ask—Is it “ordered in God’s word,” which exhibits Christ as my perfect example; so that, walking after him, and following in his steps, I may be able to frame my temper and habits according to this unsullied pattern?

But let us mark, how fully is this prayer warranted by the special promise of the Gospel, “Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”5 The law stirred up sin, and gave it increased power; while it left us to our unassisted exertions to subdue it. We watch, pray, and strive against it: yet, alas! it mocks our efforts—rages, yea, tyrannizes more than ever.6 But it is the cross of Calvary, that gave the child of God his first right view of sin, that first made him loathe it, that first enabled him to contemplate a holy God without fear, and even with confidence.—This—this alone subdues his pride, rebellion, enmity, selfishness. In him that hung there, we trust as an Almighty conqueror; and we are made ourselves “more than conquerors through him that loved us.”7 His very name of Jesus8 marks his office, his crown, his glory. Here therefore—not in doubts and fears—not in indolent mourning for sin—here lies the appointed means of present relief—the only hope of final victory. “Iniquity” even when subdued, will struggle to the last for “dominion:” but looking to and living on Jesus, we have the victory still. The more clear our view of Jesus the more complete is our victory. Supplies of continual strength will ever be vouchsafed to restrain the “dominion of iniquity,” and even to “keep under” its daily risings; except as they may be needful for the exercise of our graces, and be eventually overruled for the glory and praise of our faithful God.

9 ‘Set straight my steps.’—LXX. ‘Firmly direct.’—Ainsworth.

1 1 Kings 21:27; 22. Matt. 27:3–5.

2 2 Peter 2:15. Mark 10:21, 22.

3 Psalm 32:1, 2.

4 1 Cor. 1:30.

5 Zech. 13:1.

6 1 Cor. 15:56.

7 Ps 119:9.

1 Psalm 86:11.

2 Ps 119:105; 17:4; 19:11. Prov. 6:23.

3 Prov. 4:25.

4 Psalm 37:31.

5 Rom. 6:14, with 12

6 Ib. 7:8. 1 Cor. 15:16.

7 Rom. 8:37.

8 Matt. 1:21.

Psalm 119:134 Redeem me from the oppression of man, That I may keep Your precepts.   (PRAYER)

• Ps 119:122 56:1,2,13 105:43-45 Eze 11:17-20 36:24-27 Lu 1:74,75 Ac 9:31 

Redeem me from the oppression of man, That (term of purpose) I may keep Your precepts.  

 

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Charles Bridges - “Many are the afflictions of the righteous,”1 from external as well as from internal enemies—not only from their own “iniquity,” but “from the oppression of man.” Yet “man is only the Lord’s hand and sword,”2 and he can only move under the overruling guidance of our Father’s wisdom and love. Not indeed that the believer would (except in submission to the will of God)3 desire his “deliverance” from this trouble on account of personal pain and distress; but he sometimes finds peculiar circumstances of trial an unavoidable hindrance in the service of his God. And his conviction sends him to the throne of grace: and there he never makes interest in vain. “He cries unto the Lord because of the oppressors: and he sends a Saviour, and a great one: and he delivers him.”4

The power of faith is indeed Omnipotent. Mountains are removed from their place, or they become “plains before”5 it; “or the worm” is enabled to “thresh them, and beat them small, and make them as chaff.”6 Often is the Christian strengthened to overcome the most formidable opposition, and to “profess a good profession before many witnesses,”7 who are “watching for his halting.”8 The grace of Christ will make the hardest duty easy! and the love of Christ will make the sharpest trials sweet: yet, where in the continued exercise of faith the obstacles to conscientious service remain unmoved, (as, for instance, a child of God restrained in the fetters of a worldly family from a free and avowed obedience,) we may lawfully pray, that the providence of God would deliver from the oppression of man, that we might keep his precepts.

A time of deliverance, as well as a time of persecution, has proved a season of extraordinary prosperity in the church of God. When “the Churches had rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria,” they “were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.”9 And thus in individual experience, whatever be the benefit of persecution, yet the weariness of a long protracted conflict is often more than flesh and blood can bear; and which he who “knoweth our frame,”10 will not refuse to look upon, and remove, in answer to the prayers of his afflicted people.11 At the same time, our proneness to self-indulgence, and our natural inclination to shrink from discipline—as needful as our food—require this prayer to be presented with exceeding caution and self-jealousy. There is great danger, lest, in our eagerness to escape from the difficulties of our path, we should lose the important benefit intended by them. We must therefore accompany the petition for deliverance with a sincere purpose to “keep God’s precepts.”12 For how many have exposed the unsoundness of their own hearts, when the supplicator has been heard, the deliverance granted, and the promise of obedience been forgotten!

Fellow-Christian! have your circumstances of trial ever dictated this prayer? How then have you improved your liberty, when the answer has been vouchsafed? Has the “way of escape made” for you been kept in grateful remembrance?1 Has the effect of your “deliverance” been visible in an increasing love and devotedness to the Lord’s service? Oh! let a special Ebenezer be set up to mark this special achievement of prayer.2 Let the mercy be connected with the sympathy of our “faithful and merciful High-Priest, who being himself touched with the feeling of your infirmities” has pleaded for your succor and release.3 And be encouraged henceforth to tread the ways of God with more firmness and sensible stay, “having your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.”4 But remember—the blessing of the cross is lost, if it does not issue in a song of praise—if we have not taken it up as a token of fatherly love. At all times the safest and shortest way to peace, is to let God use his own methods with us; to live the present moment to him in the situation in which he has placed us; not dreaming of other circumstances more favorable to our spiritual prosperity; but leaving ourselves, our difficulties, our discouragements, in his hands, who makes no mistakes in any of his dispensations—but who orders them all, that they may “turn to our salvation, through our prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”5

1 Psalm 34:19.

2 Ps. 17:13, 14.

3 See the example of David, 2 Sam. 15:25, 26; and of David’s Lord, Luke 22:42

4 Isaiah 19:20.

5 Matt. 21:21, 22. Zech. 4:7.

6 Isaiah 41:14, 15.

7 1 Tim. 6:12.

8 Jer. 20:10.

9 Acts 9:31.

10 Psalm 103:14.

11 Psalm 135:3. 1 Cor. 10:13.

12 Luke 1:74.

1 Comp. 2 Chron. 32:22–25, with Psalm 9:13, 14.

2 1 Sam. 7:12.

3 Heb. 4:15; 2:18.

4 Eph. 6:15.

5 Phil. 1:19.

Psalm 119:135 Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes.    (PRAYER)

• Make (KJV): Ps 4:6 80:1,3,7,19 Nu 6:25,26 Job 33:26 Rev 22:4,5 
• and teach (KJV): Ps 119:12,26 Job 34:32 35:11 36:22 Lu 24:45 

Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes. 

 

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Charles Bridges - If the Lord “deliver us from the oppression of man,” and “make even our enemies to be at peace with us;”6 still, if we are in spiritual health, we shall be restless and uneasy, until he “make his face to shine upon us.” And in the Scripture revelation of God, “dwelling between the cherubims,”7 and therefore on the mercy-seat8—with the “rainbow,” the emblem of “the covenant of peace,” “round about the throne,”9 as if to invite the access of sinners, from every quarter—have we not full warrant to plead, “Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth; stir up thy strength, and come and save us? Turn us again, O God; and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.”10 Others we see eagerly asking, “Who will show us any good?” Alas! they will discover in the end, that they have “spent their money for that which is not bread, and their labor for that which satisfieth not.”11 The believer’s incessant cry is—Let me see “the King’s face.”12 This is a blessing worth praying for. It is his heart’s desire, his present privilege, and—what is infinitely better—his sure and everlasting joy. “They shall see his face.”1

It is both important and interesting to mark the repetitions—always new—in this beautiful Psalm. David had just before prayed, “Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me.”2 Perhaps another passing cloud had passed his sky. Again he darts up the same prayer, “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant.” Such cries in the mouth of this holy servant of God, must have been most hopeless petitions—nay, the expression of the most daring presumption,—had he not been acquainted with the only true way of access to God, joyfully led to renounce every other way, and enabled diligently to improve this acceptable approach to his God. Indeed whatever obscurity may hang over the question relating to the faith of the Old Testament believers, their confidence at the throne of grace shows them to have attained a far more distinct perception of Christian privilege, through the shadowy representations of their law, than is commonly imagined. Else how could they have been so wrestling and persevering in their petitions; overcoming the spirit of bondage, and breathing out the spirit of adoption in the expression of their wants and desires before the Lord? The prayers of the Old Testament church are not more distinguished for their simplicity, spirituality, and earnestness, than for their unfettered, evangelical confidence. When they approached the footstool of the Divine Majesty, with the supplications, “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant”—“Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth”—it was as if they had pleaded, ‘Reconciled Father, thou that sittest upon a throne of grace—look upon us!—Abba. Father, be gracious to us!’

Many, however, seem to despise this child-like confidence. They go on in heartless complaining and uncertain apprehensions of their state; as if doubting was their life, and as if they might rest upon the presumption, that the “shining of God’s face upon them” is not indispensable to their salvation. But will they then be content to “be saved, yet so as by fire,” instead of having “an entrance ministered unto them abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour?”3 Is it enough for them to be just alive, when “the things that remain,” from want of being duly cherished, “are ready to die?” If they can be safe without a conscious interest in the favor of God, can they be so without the desire for it? Is not this assurance attainable? Is it not commanded?4 Is it not most desirable? This cold contentment clouds the integrity of their profession. For God’s real people are living habitually either in spiritual enjoyment, or in restless dissatisfaction. Their dark seasons are times of wrestling supplication5—seasons of deep humiliation,6 tenderness of spirit,7 and constant waiting upon God,8 until he “makes his face to shine upon his servants.” They can dispense with ordinary comforts. But it is death to be without him. “All their springs are in him.” They estimate their happiness by the shining—and their misery by the clouding—of his face. This is the true principle of assurance, even if this most important blessing be not sensibly enjoyed.

How then stands the case between us and God? From ourselves originates the mist, which darkens the shining.1 His sovereign free grace blots the cloud away.2 We raise the mountains of separation.3 The Almighty power of our great Zerubbabel removes them.4 To ourselves then be all the shame. To him be all the praise!

But how may we realize more constant sunshine? Apart from the hindrances just alluded to, others are mainly to be found in mistaken or contracted views of the Gospel. Hence, therefore, the value of enlarged apprehensions of the Gospel of the grace of God—of its fulness, satisfying every claim, and supplying every want—of its freeness, unincumbered with conditions, and holding forth encouragement to the most unworthy—of its holiness, restraining the hindrances to enjoyment—and of its security, affording permanent rest in the foundations of the covenant of grace. The life of faith will thus be maintained in more full contemplation of Jesus, and renewed reliance upon him; and walking in closer communion with him, our hope will be enlivened with the constant sense of reconciliation and love.

We need not wonder at the Psalmist’s persevering determination to seek “the shining of the Lord’s face.” This high privilege is connected no less with the Christian’s public usefulness than with his personal enjoyment. For who is most likely to win others to the love of the Saviour, and to the service of God—to enliven the drooping soul, or to recover the backslider? Is it not he, who lives most in the sunshine of the Gospel, and who therefore has most to tell of its heavenly joy? But you say, ‘My heart, alas! is so cold and barren, my affections so languid, my desires so faint, my sky so often clouded. I do not forget that I am a child; but a child in disgrace is too often my dishonorable character and wretched condition.’ Then exercise your faith in going where David was wont to go. As a penitent child, “arise, and go to your Father”—“only acknowledge your iniquity”5—tell your complaint before him—resort much and often to him; be importunate; be patient; plead the name6 and merits of Jesus; and you will not, you cannot, plead in vain; you will once more walk happily, holily, as well as confidently, in the light of your Father’s countenance. And in marking more carefully his gracious dealings with your soul, you will be kept from formality, hardness, and despondency.

But we cannot expect this shining, save in the paths of God;7 and he who looks for comfort, while careless of duty, is only the victim of his own delusions. Well, therefore, does the child of God—longing for higher enjoyment, and learning more of his own ignorance, add his petition, “Teach me, thy statutes.” And he that taught us this petition, will himself, according to his promise, be our teacher in the way of holiness.1 And if, under his teaching, in the pathway to glory—our God “makes his face to shine upon us,” what more want we to beguile the toil and weariness of the way? And if one beam of his countenance, though but dimly seen through this sinful medium, exceeds the glories of ten thousand worlds—what will it be to live under the perpetual cloudless “shining of his face!”

Believer! does not this prospect invigorate every step of your journey? Your Lord is at hand. Soon will he appear to gladden with his inexpressible smile every soul that is in readiness for him. Oh! seek to realize his approach, and with holy aspirations and joyful expectancy respond to his welcome voice, “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly: Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”2

6 Prov. 16:7.

7 2 Kings 19:15. Psalm 99:1. Ezek. 10:1–5.

8 Exod. 25:17–22, with Rom. 3:25.

9 Rev. 4:3.

10 Ps. 80:1–3.

11 Isaiah 55:2, with Psalm 4:6.

12 Comp. Prov. 16:15.

1 Rev. 22:4.

2 Ps 119:132.

3 Comp. 1 Cor. 3:15. 2 Peter 1:11.

4 See 2 Cor. 13:5. Heb. 6:11. 2 Peter 1:10.

5 Ps. 88:1–3; 130:1, 2.

6 Lam. 3:20–22. Micah 7:9.

7 Lam. 3:31–40.

8 Psalm 40:1–3; 130:5, 6. Isaiah 8:17; 50:10.

1 Isaiah 57:17.

2 Isa. 44:22.

3 Isa. 59:2.

4 Zech. 4:7.

5 Jer. 3:13.

6 John 14:13, 14.

7 Ib. 21–23. Isa. 64:5. Gal. 6:16.

1 Ezek. 36:27.

2 Rev. 22:20.

Psalm 119:136 My eyes shed streams of water, Because they do not keep Your law.

• Ps 119:53,158 1Sa 15:11 Jer 9:1,18 13:17 14:17 Eze 9:4 Lu 19:41 Ro 9:2,3 

Related Passages:

Ezekiel 9:4  The LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.”

Luke 18:10-14+ Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

2 Corinthians 7:10 “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” 

PRAY FOR THE 
GIFT OF TEARS!

My eyes shed streams of water, Because they do not keep Your law - The old Puritans used to pray for the "gift of tears." When was the last time you (I) shed even one tear over your (my) sin? Conviction of sin is portrayed in the words My eyes shed streams of water,

“My sins, my sins, my Saviour,
How sad on Thee they fall.”

Oswald Chambers - Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses a man’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God—“against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.” The marvels of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven man who is the holy man, he proves he is forgiven by being the opposite to what he was, by God’s grace. Repentance always brings a man to this point: I have sinned. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says that and means it. Anything less than this is merely remorse for having made blunders— the reflex action of disgust at himself [and a further expression of self-love and “worldly sorrow which brings death”].The entrance into the Kingdom is through the panging pains of repentance crashing into a man’s respectable goodness; then the Holy Ghost, Who produces these agonies, begins the formation of the Son of God in the life. The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way about. The bedrock of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a man cannot truly and fully repent when just he chooses [lest he or she become prideful of their own “repentance”]; repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for “the gift of tears.” If ever you cease to know the virtue of repentance, you are in darkness. Examine yourself and see if you have forgotten how to be truly and deeply sorry [without excuse or blame-shift].

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Charles Bridges - If the Lord teaches us the privileges of his statutes, he will teach us compassion for those who keep them not. This was the mind of Jesus. His life exhibited one, whose ‘heart was made of tenderness.’ But there were some occasions, when the display of his compassion was peculiarly striking. Near the close of his life, it is recorded, that, “when he was come near, and beheld the city”—“beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth”4—but now given up to its own ways, and “wrath coming upon it to the uttermost,” he “wept over it.”5 It was then a moment of triumph. The air was rent with hosannahs. The road was strewed with branches from the trees, and all was joy and praise.6 Amid all this exultation, the Saviour alone seemed to have no voice for the triumph—no heart for joy. His omniscient mind embraced all the spiritual desolation of this sad case; and he could only weep in the midst of a solemn triumph. “Rivers of waters ran down his eyes, because they kept not his law.”

Now a Christian in this as in every other feature will be conformed to the image of his Lord. His heart will therefore be touched with a tender concern for the honor of his God, and a pitying concern for those wretched sinners, that “keep not his law,” and are perishing in their own transgressions. Thus was “just Lot” in Sodom, “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.”7 Thus did Moses “fall down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread nor drink water, because of all their sins which they had sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.”8 Thus also Samuel, in the anticipation of the Lord’s judgments upon Saul, “grieved himself, and cried unto the Lord all night.”1 Ezra, on a similar occasion in the deepest prostration of sorrow, “rent his garment and his mantle, and plucked off the hair of his head and of his beard, and sat down astonied until the evening sacrifice.”2 And if David was now suffering from the oppression of man,3 yet his own injuries never drew from him such expressions of overwhelming sorrow, as did the sight of the despised law of his God.

Need we advert to this tender spirit, as a special characteristic of “the minister of the Lord?” Can they fail in this day of abounding wickedness—even within the bounds of their own sphere—to hear the call to “weep between the porch and the altar?”4 How instructive is the posture of the ancient prophet—first pleading openly with the rebellion of the people—then “his soul weeping in secret places for their pride?”5 Not less instructive is the great apostle—his “conscience bearing witness in the Holy Ghost to his great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh.”6 In reproving transgressors, he could only write to them “out of much affliction and anguish of heart with many tears,”7 and in speaking of them to others, with the same tenderness of spirit, he adds, “Of whom I tell you even weeping.”8 Tears were these, of Christian eloquence no less than of Christian compassion.

Thus uniformly is the character of God’s people represented—not merely as those that are free from, but as “those that sigh and that cry for all the abominations, that be done in the midst of the land.” They—they alone—are marked out for mercy in the midst of impending, universal ruin.9 The want of this spirit is ever a feature of hardness and pride—a painful blot upon the profession of the Gospel.10 How wide the sphere presenting itself on every side for the unrestrained exercise of this yearning compassion! The appalling spectacle of a world apostatized from God, of multitudes sporting with everlasting destruction—as if the God of heaven were “a man that he should lie,”11 is surely enough to force “rivers of waters” from the hearts of those who are concerned for his honor. What a mass of sin ascends as a cloud before the Lord, from a single heart! Add the aggregate of a village—a town—a country—a world! every day—every hour—every moment—well might the “rivers of waters” rise to an overflowing tide, ready to burst its barriers. We speak not of outward sensibility (in which some may be constitutionally deficient, and the exuberance of which may be no sign of real spiritual affection) but we ask—Do we lay to heart the perishing condition of our fellow-sinners? Could we witness a house on fire, without speedy and practical evidence of our compassion for the inhabitants? And yet, alas! how often do we witness souls on the brink of destruction—unconscious of danger, or bidding defiance to it—with comparative indifference! How are we Christians, if we believe not the Scripture warnings of their danger? or if, believing them, we do not bestir ourselves to their help? What hypocrisy is it to pray for their conversion, while we are making no effort to promote it? Oh! let it be our daily supplication, that this indifference concerning their everlasting state may give place to a spirit of weeping tenderness; that we may not be living, as if this world were really, what it appears to be, ‘a world without souls;’ that we may never see the Sabbaths of God profaned, his laws trampled under foot, the ungodly “breaking their bands asunder, and casting away their cords from them,”1 without a more determined resolution ourselves to keep these laws of our God, and to plead for their honor with these obstinate transgressors. Have we no near and dear relatives, yet “lying in wickedness—dead in trespasses and sins?” To what blessed family, reader, do you belong, where there are no such objects of pity? But be it so—it is well. Yet are you silent? Have you no ungodly, ignorant neighbors around you? And are they unwarned as well as unconverted? Do you visit them in the way of courtesy or kindness, yet give them no word of affectionate entreaty on the concerns of eternity? Let our families indeed possess, as they ought to possess, the first claim to our compassionate regard. Then let our parishes, our neighborhood, our country, the world, find a place in our affectionate, prayerful, and earnest consideration.

Nor let it be supposed, that the doctrine of sovereign and effectual grace has any tendency to paralyze exertion. So far from it, the most powerful supports to perseverance are derived from this source. Left to himself—with only the invitations of the Gospel—not a sinner could ever have been saved. Added to these—there must be the Almighty energy of God—the seal of his secret purpose—working upon the sinner’s will, and winning the heart to God. Not that this sovereign work prevents any from being saved. But it prevents the salvation from being in vain to all, by securing its application to some. The invitations manifest the pardoning love of God; but they change not the rebel heart of man. They show his enmity; but they slay it not. They leave him without excuse—yet at the same time—they be applied—without salvation. The moment of life in the history of the saved sinner is, when he is “made willing in the day of the Lord’s power,”2—when he comes—he looks—he lives. It is this dispensation alone gives the Christian laborer the spring of energy and hope. The palpable and awful proofs on every side, of the “enmity of the carnal mind against God,” rejecting alike both his law and his Gospel, threaten to sink him in despondency. And nothing sustains his tender and compassionate interest, but the assurance of the power of God to remove the resisting medium, and of his purpose to accomplish the subjugation of natural corruption in a countless multitude of his redeemed people.

The same yearning sympathy forms the life, the pulse, and the strength of Missionary exertion, and has ever distinguished those honored servants of God, who have devoted their time, their health, their talents, their all, to the blessed work of “saving souls from death; and covering a multitude of sins.”1 Can we conceive of a Missionary living in the spirit of his work—surrounded with thousands of mad idolaters, hearing their shouts, and witnessing their abominations, without a weeping spirit? Indignant grief for the dishonor done to God—amazement at this affecting spectacle of human blindness—detestation of human impiety—compassionate yearnings over human wretchedness and ruin—all combine to force tears of the deepest sorrow from a heart enlightened and constrained by the influence of a Saviour’s love.2 This, as we have seen, was our Master’s spirit. And let none presume themselves to be Christians, if they are destitute of “this mind that was in Christ Jesus;”3 if they know nothing of His melting compassion for a lost world, or of his burning zeal for his heavenly Father’s glory.

Oh! for that deep realizing sense of the preciousness of immortal souls, that would make us look at every sinner we meet as a soul to be “pulled out of the fire,” and to be drawn to Christ;—which would render us willing to endure suffering, reproach, and the loss of all, so that we might win one soul to God, and raise one monument to His everlasting praise! Happy mourner in Zion! whose tears over the guilt and wretchedness of a perishing world are the outward indications of thy secret pleadings with God, and the effusion of a heart solemnly dedicated to the salvation of thy fellow-sinners!

4 Psalm 48:2.

5 Luke 19:41. Comp. Matt. 23:37, also Mark 3:5.

6 Comp. Luke 19:36–40.

7 2 Peter 2:7, 8.

8 Deut. 9:18, 19.

1 1 Sam. 15:11, 35.

2 Ezra 9:3, 4.

3 Ps 119:134.

4 Joel 2:17.

5 Jer. 13:17.

6 Rom. 9:1–3.

7 2 Cor. 2:4.

8 Phil. 3:18. Comp. Acts 20:19.

9 Ezek. 9:4.

10 1 Cor. 5:2

11 Numb. 23:16.

1 Psalm 2:3

2 Ps. 9:3.

1 James 5:20.

2 ‘My God! I feel the mournful scene;

My bowels yearn o’er dying men;

And fain my pity would reclaim,

And snatch the fire-brands from the flame

But feeble my compassion proves,

And can but weep where most it loves;

Thine own all-saving arm employ,

And turn these drops of grief to joy.’

3 See Phil. 2:4–7.

Psalm 119:137 Tsadhe. Righteous are You, O LORD, And upright are Your judgments. 

• Ps 99:4, 103:6,145:17 De 32:4 Ezr 9:15 Ne 9:33 Jer 12:1 Da 9:7,14 Ro 2:5 3:5,6 9:14 Rev 15:3,4 16:7 19:2 

Related Passage:

Ps 145:17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds. 

Daniel 9:7 “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day–to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.

Tsadhe. Righteous are You, O LORD, And upright are Your judgments. 

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Warren Wiersbe -  Ps. 119:137 Tried and True
Read Psalm 119:137-144
 
Whenever we buy appliances, we want a guarantee that they're going to work efficiently. So we look for those special seals of approval that indicate the product has been tested. Similarly, when we buy food at the store, we want to be sure that the ingredients are safe for consumption.
 
God's Word has been tested and found true. It is guaranteed. "Your word is very pure [refined]; therefore Your servant loves it" (Psalm 119:140). It has gone through the furnace. Gold ore is put into a furnace to be tested. The assayer wants to know if it's really gold; likewise with silver. As we read through the Bible and through Church history, we find that the Word of God also has been through the fire. Abraham tested it and found that it was true. He left his home without knowing where he was going, but he had the Word of God, and God saw him through. Moses also tested the Word of God during those 40 years in the wilderness. Furthermore, when we read the Psalms, we see the furnaces that David went through. What was he doing? Testing the Word of God.
 
The Bible has been tested and has passed the test. Therefore, it can be trusted. It's pure, void of falsehoods. All the people who have trusted the Lord throughout history can say, "You can lean upon the Word of God."
* * *
Have you tested the Word of God in your own life? You may be going through the furnace right now. If so, remember that one reason you endure such difficulties is so you will discover that the Word of God is pure, refined and trustworthy. Test the Word for yourself and find that it is true. (Psalm 119:137-144 Tried and True)

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Charles Bridges - The advancing Christian learns to adore the awful perfections of his God, and to acknowledge his righteous character and government, even when “his ways are in the sea, and his paths in the great waters.”1 “Clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.”2 We have already brought out the unvarying testimony of his people to the righteous character of his afflictive dispensations.3 Even from haughty Pharaoh was a similar acknowledgment extorted.4 Adonibezek also, under the blow of his hand, cried out, “As I have done, so God hath requited me.”5

Yet in this path “we walk by faith, not by sight.”6 Often in Providence “his footsteps are not known.”7 We cannot trace the reasons of the Divine mind. We must wait, and “see the end of the Lord,” when the disjointed pieces shall be compacted into one complete texture and frame-work. “At evening time it shall be light.”8 Much more in the dispensations of grace do we hear the voice,—“Be still, and know that I am God.”9 Doubtless he could give his grace to all as well as to some. Yet none have a claim upon him. Is it not his to do what he will with his own? “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?” “shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”10 Thus much is plain—enough to silence cavil, and justify God—grace is freely offered to all. Man’s own will rejects it, and leaves him without excuse.11 Effectual grace is withheld from none, but those who deserve that it should be so. None are forced to sin. None are condemned without guilt.12 Therefore when we stand upon the ocean’s brink, and cry—“Oh! the depth!” are we not constrained to the adoring acknowledgment, Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments. And if this be our praise, even while “we see but as through a glass darkly, and know but in part,” how much more, in the world of unclouded day, when we shall see “face to face, and know even as we are known”13—shall we sing with reverential joy “the song of the Lamb—Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints!”14

The young Christian, however, less able to grasp those deeper apprehensions, exercises himself chiefly in His more engaging perfections of long-suffering, goodness, and love. It is therefore a satisfactory evidence of growth in grace, when our habitual contemplation of God fixes upon our minds the more full and awful displays of his character; and we gather from thence an increase of light, peace, humility, and consolation. But the cross of Calvary harmonizes to our view at once the most appalling and the most encouraging attributes. Though his own declaration—that “he will by no means clear the guilty”1—seemed to present an insurmountable barrier to the purpose of mercy; yet, rather than the glory of a God of love should be obscured, or his righteous law should be mitigated, “he spared not his own Son”2—he “made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us.”3

And do not we naturally argue from his nature to his testimonies? If he be righteous, nothing unrighteous can come from him. His testimonies therefore are his lively image—like himself—righteous and very faithful—requiring nothing impossible—nothing unsuitable—perfect love to God and man4—“our reasonable service,”5 no less our privilege than our duty to render. None that are blessed with a spiritual apprehension of their nature, and are conformed and framed to them, will hesitate in setting their seal to the inscription, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good!”6

But let us take care to exhibit the practical influence of our contemplations of the character and government of God. The unconverted—far from understanding or subscribing to our acknowledgment—complain, “The ways of the Lord are not equal.” “My punishment is greater than I can bear.”7 And so opposed are the “righteous judgments of God” to the perverseness of corrupt nature, that even with the child of God there is much murmuring within, that needs to be stilled—much repining to be hushed—much impatience to be repressed—many hard thoughts to be lamented, resisted, and banished. Did we believe more simply, how much more joy would there be in our faith, and readiness in our submission! How clearly would our experience show, that the Lord is upright; he is our rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him!”8 In returning, then, “and rest shall we be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be our strength.”9 In the submissive acknowledgment of the Lord’s dispensations, “our peace” will flow “as a river;”10 more deep and extensive as it approaches the ocean, and fertilizing our souls with an abundant harvest of spiritual peace and enjoyment.

1 Psalm 77:19.

2 Ps. 97:2. Comp. Deut. 32:4.

3 Ps 119: 75.

4 Exod. 9:27.

5 Judges 1:7. Comp. 2 Chron. 12:6.

6 2 Cor. 5:7.

7 Psalm 77:19.

8 Zech. 14:7.

9 Psalm 46:10.

10 Matt. 20:15. Rom. 9:19. Gen. 18:25.

11 Matt. 23:37. John 5:40.

12 Rom. 11:33.

13 1 Cor. 13:12.

14 Rev. 15:3.

1 Exod. 34:7.

2 Rom. 8:32.

3 2 Cor. 5:21.

4 Matt. 22:37–39.

5 Rom. 12:1.

6 Ps. 19:9. Rom. 7:12.

7 Ezek. 18:25. Gen. 4:13.

8 Psalm 92:15.

9 Isaiah 30:15.

10 Isa. 48:18.

Psalm 119:138 You have commanded Your testimonies in righteousness And exceeding faithfulness. 

• testimonies: Ps 119:86,144  Ps 19:7-9 De 4:8,45 
• faithfulness, Ps 119:75 

Related Passages:

Psalm 19:7   The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. 

Lam 3:22-23 The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.  23They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 

You have commanded Your testimonies in righteousness And exceeding faithfulness - TLB = I am indignant and angry because of the way my enemies have disregarded your laws.

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Charles Bridges - See comment on v137

Psalm 119:139 My zeal has consumed me, Because my adversaries have forgotten Your words. 

NET  Psalm 119:139 My zeal consumes me, for my enemies forget your instructions.

NLT  Psalm 119:139 I am overwhelmed with indignation, for my enemies have disregarded your words.

ESV  Psalm 119:139 My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget your words.

NIV  Psalm 119:139 My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore your words.

KJV  Psalm 119:139 My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

• zeal: Ps 69:9 1Ki 19:10,14 Joh 2:17 
• consumed me  or, cut me off
• because: Ps 53:4 Mt 9:13 12:3-5 15:4-6 21:13,16,42 22:29 Ac 13:27 Ac 28:23-27 

My zeal has consumed me, Because my adversaries have forgotten Your words. 

Guzik - The more the enemies of the Psalmist rejected the word of God, the more he was determined to be zealous for those words. He would make sure that he honored the word of God even if others did not. Zeal implies energy and action. The appreciation of the Psalmist for the word of God was not passive. The living and active word of God brought forth a living and active response from the Psalmist. “Thus we see every man is eaten up with some kind of zeal. The drunkard is consumed with drunkenness, the whore-monger is spent with his whoredom, the heretic is eaten with heresies. Oh, how ought this to make us ashamed, who are so little eaten, spent, and consumed with the zeal of the word! . . . Oh, what a benefit it is to be eaten up with the love and zeal of a good thing!” (Greenham, cited in Spurgeon)

Poole - “They have forgotten thy words, i.e. despise and disobey them; which in Scripture use is oft called a forgetting of them, as the remembering of them is oft put for loving and practicing them.” 

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Charles Bridges - Such was David’s high estimation of the testimonies of his God, that his spirits were consumed with vehement grief in witnessing their neglect. He could bear that “his enemies” should forget him; but his “zeal” could not endure that they should “forget the words of his God.” Zeal is a passion, whose real character must be determined by the objects on which it is employed, and the principle by which it is directed. There is a true and a false zeal, differing as widely from each other, as an heavenly flame from the infernal fire. The one is fervent disinterested affection, expanding the heart, and delighting to unite with the whole empire of God in the pursuit of a good, which all may enjoy without envious rivalry. The other is a selfish, interested principle, contracting the heart, and ready to sacrifice the good of mankind, and even the glory of God, to its own individual advantage.1 Were its power proportioned to its native tendency, or were it to operate extensively in an associated body; it would end in detaching its several members each from their centre; in disuniting them from each other; and, as far as its influence could reach, crumbling the moral system into discordant atoms. Too often does this baneful principle exemplify itself in the church—either in an obstinate opposition to the truth of the Gospel,2 or in a self-willed contention for its own party.3 “This wisdom descendeth not from above; but is earthly, sensual, devilish.”4 How much also of that misguided heat, that spends itself upon the externals of religion,5 or would “call fire down from heaven” in defence of fundamental truths, may be found among us, exposing its blind devotees to our Master’s tender rebuke, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of!”6

Often also do we see a distempered counterfeit zeal, disproportioned in its exercise, wasting its strength upon the subordinate parts of the system and comparatively feeble in its maintenance of the vital doctrines of Christ.7 Thus it disunites the Church by adherence to points of difference, instead of compacting the Church together by strengthening the more important points of agreement. Often again, by the same process in practical religion, are the “mint, anise, and cummin” vehemently contended for; “while the weightier matters of the law”8 are little regarded.

Widely different from this fervor of selfishness, is that genuine zeal, which marks the true disciple of our Lord. Enlightened by the word of God, and quickened into operation by the love of Christ, it both shines and warms at the same moment. It is indeed the kindled fire of heavenly love, exciting the most tender desires and constant efforts for the best interests of every child of man, so far as its sphere can reach; and bounded only by a consistent regard to the general welfare of the whole. Thus earnest and compassionate in its influence, awakened to a sense of the preciousness of immortal souls, and the overwhelming importance of eternity, it is never at a loss to discover an extended sphere for its most vehement and constraining exercises. While it hates the sins that pass on every side before its view, it is all gentleness to the sinner; and would gladly weep tears of blood over those who are deaf to the voice of persuasion, could such tears avail to turn them from their iniquity. But, knowing all human unassisted efforts to be insufficient, it gives to the world its protest against the abominations which it is too feeble to prevent; and then hastens to the secret chamber to pour out its wrestling desires in the tenderness of our Master’s intercession, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”1

Such was the zeal of the ancient Lawgiver, whose spirit (though, as it regarded his own cause, “meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth,”2) “waxed hot”3 on witnessing the grievous dishonor done to his God during his absence on the mount. At the same time, (as if more clearly to distinguish the holy burning from the heat of his own spirit,) how fervently did he plead his people’s cause in secret before his God, as he had manifested his concern for the honor of his God before the congregation!4 Surely he could have taken up this language, “My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.” Burning with the same holy flame, the great Old Testament Reformer bore his testimony against the universal prevalence of idolatry; making use of the arm of temporal power,5 and of the yet greater power of secret complaint,6 to stem the torrent of iniquity. The same impulse in later times marked the conduct of the Apostles; when, “rending their clothes, and running in among” a frantic multitude of idolaters, by all the power of their entreaties “they were scarcely able to restrain the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.”7 On another occasion the great Apostle, forgetting “the goodly stones and buildings” that met his eyes at Athens—found “his spirit stirred up in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.”8 In another city “was he pressed in spirit”9 by the intensity of his interest for the souls of his fellow-sinners, and his Master’s work.

Yet this is not a heat that wastes itself without a proportionate object. The truth of God is the grand object. Not one atom of its dust shall be lost. For its fundamentals—all consequences must be hazarded10—yea, life itself—if need be—sacrificed.11 Nor does this fervor expend in strong impulses that wear out without fruit. It is a constant affection in “a good thing.”12 Nor is it an undisciplined burst of warm feeling, but a sober controlled exercise of Christian judgment. The Apostle—with his inexpressible abhorrence of idolatry, yet remained in the midst of it for two, perhaps three, years—faithfully employed in his Master’s work; yet waiting for the fittest time of open protest against Diana’s worship.13 So admirably is “the spirit of power and love” disciplined by “the spirit of a sound mind.”1

But, “compassed about, as we are, with so great a cloud of witnesses”2 let us yet turn aside to look unto One greater than all—to One, whose example in every temper of Christian conduct affords equal direction and encouragement. Jesus could testify to his Father, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”3 He was ever ready to put aside even lawful engagements and obligations, when they interfered with this paramount demand.4 Yet was his zeal tempered with a careful restraint from needless offence. Rather would he work a miracle,5 and retreat from publicity,6 than seem to give occasion to those that might desire it. And if we bear the stamp of his disciples, without rushing into offence in the waywardness of our own spirits, while rejoicing to have our own “names cast out as evil,”7 we shall at the same time be tender of any reflection on the name of our God, as of our dearest friend and benefactor. We shall feel any slight of his honor as sensitively as a wound to our own reputation; nor shall we hesitate to thrust ourselves between, to receive on ourselves any strokes that may be aimed at his cause.8 This combined spirit of self-denial and self-devotedness, kindles the flame, which “many waters cannot quench, neither can the floods drown.”9 ‘I could bear,’ said holy Brainerd, ‘any desertion or spiritual conflict, if I could but have my heart burning all the while within me with love to God, and desires for his glory.’10 It is indeed a delightful exercise, to “spend and be spent” in the service of Him, who for our sakes was even consumed by the fire of his own zeal.11

However, the surest evidence of Christian zeal is—when it begins at home—in a narrow scrutiny, and “vehement revenge” against the sins of our own hearts.12 Do we mourn over our own forgetfulness of God’s words? Are we zealous to redeem the loss to our Saviour’s cause from this sinful neglect? And do we plainly show, that our opposition to sin in the ungodly is the opposition of love? And is this love manifested to the persons and souls of those whose doctrines and practice we are constrained to resist, and in a careful restraint from the use of unhallowed “carnal weapons” in this spiritual “warfare?”13

Perhaps the weak, timid child of God may be saying, ‘I can do nothing for my God. I suffer his words to be forgotten, with little or no success in my efforts to prevent it. Are you then making an effort? Every work done in faith bears fruit to God and to his church. You may not see it. But let your secret chamber witness to your zeal; and the Lord “will not be unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love.”14 He will even strengthen you for your dreaded conflict—the open confession of his cause—“For he hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty.”1 Or, should peculiar trials restrain the boldness of your profession, you may be found in the end to have made as effectual resistance to the progress of sin by your intercession before God, as those who have shown a more open front in the face of the world.

1 Matt. 23:15. Gal. 6:12, 13.

2 John 16:2. Rom. 10:2, 3. Gal. 1:13, 14. Phil. 3:6.

3 Gal. 4:17.

4 James 3:15.

5 Matt. 15:1, 2; 23:25.

6 Luke 9:54, 55.

7 Rom. 14:1–6.

8 Matt. 23:23.

1 Luke 23:34.

2 Numb. 12:3, 13.

3 Exod. 32:19.

4 Ex 32:30–32.

5 1 Kings 18:17–40.

6 1Ki 19:10.

7 Acts 14:13–18.

8 Ib. 17:16.

9 Ib. 18:5.

10 Gal. 2:5.

11 Acts 20:24. Phil. 2:17. Rev. 12:11.

12 Gal. 4:18.

13 Acts 19:10; 20:20, 21.

1 2 Tim. 1:7.

2 Heb. 12:1.

3 Ps. 69:9, with John 2:17. Isa. 59:17.

4 Luke 2:49.

5 Matt. 17:24–27.

6 John 6:15.

7 Luke 6:22. Acts 5:41.

8 Ps. 69:9. Rom. 15:3. Comp. Ps. 89:50, 51.

9 Cant. 8:7

10 Brainerd’s Diary. Edwards’ Works, iii. 107.

11 Luke 12:50.

12 Comp. 2 Cor. 7:11. Rev. 3:19.

13 See 2 Cor. 10:4. James 1:20.

14 Heb. 6:10.

1 1 Cor. 1:27.

Psalm 119:140 Your word is very pure, Therefore Your servant loves it. 

• pure: Ps 119:128 Ps 12:6 Ps 18:30 Ps 19:8 Pr 30:5 Ro 7:12,16,22 1Pe 2:2 2Pe 1:21 

Related Passages:

Psalms 119:128 Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything, I hate every false way. 

Psalms 12:6   The words of the LORD are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times. 

Psalms 18:30  As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the LORD is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. 

Psalms 19:8  The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 

Proverbs 30:5  Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. 

Your word is very pure (Heb. tried, or refined) - Gold has need to be refined; but thy word is purity itself, reflecting the holiness of Jehovah's character and government, and requiring and leading to purity of heart and life.

Therefore Your servant loves (Lxx = agapao) it - Therefore is a term of conclusion. The conclusion is based on the purity, perfection and infinite worth of the Word of God. Something so valuable is worthy of our wholehearted love, our daily devotion, our continual consumption! We are not advocating Bibliolatry, but love of the Word of God that prompts love of the God of the Word Who would graciously give us such a priceless, eternal gift (cf Mk 13:31+, Luke 21:33+). You do realize His Word is His love gift to us don't you? Does your daily (not monthly) time in His Word demonstrate that you truly love it? If you love someone, you want to spend time with them. It is simply that simple! Are you spending time in His Word or just spending time, spinning your wheels, wasting your time, the time of your life? If so then God has a good antidote for this spiritual illness in Psalm 90:12 "So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom." (cf THIS TIME OF PRESENTATION  - 2 Cor 5:10+) Notice Moses' prayer is not to number our years but our days. We celebrate birthdays, but should celebrate days, for each is a gift from God and we need His wisdom as to how to best redeem the time of our lives each day (Eph 5:16+). Are you making your days (even better, your minutes) count (for eternity - cf Mt 6:19-21+ - v21 begs question - "Where is your treasure?") or are you just counting your days (minutes)? The former will yield an abundant harvest of spiritual fruit throughout eternity (DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT STATEMENT? IT IS TOTALLY BIBLICAL - cf Jn 15:16NLT), while the latter is lost forever down the the corridors of time (See Redeem the Time).

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Charles Bridges - The Psalmist’s love for the law of his God may account for the “zeal” he felt on account of its general neglect. All other systems of religion (or rather of “philosophy falsely so called”) allure their disciples by the indulgence of carnal lust or self-complacent pride. The word of God outweighs them all in its chief excellence—peculiar to itself—its purity. “Every word is very pure2—tried to the uttermost” in the furnace, and found to be absolutely without dross.3 Its promises are without a shadow of change or unfaithfulness. Its precepts reflect the holy image of their Divine Author. In a word it contains ‘truth without any mixture of error for its matter’4—“Therefore thy servant loveth it.”

‘No one but a true servant of God can therefore love it, because it is pure; since he who loves it must desire to be like it, to feel its efficacy, to be reformed by it.’5 The unlettered believer cannot well discern its sublimity; but he loves it for its holiness. The mere scholar, on the other hand, admires its sublimity—but the secrets which it reveals (such as the pride of the natural heart struggles to conceal) forbid him to love it.6 Its purity, which is the matter of love to the one, excites enmity in the other. From “the glass” which shows him “his natural face”—his neglected obligations—his fearfully self-deluded state—and his appalling prospects—he turns away in disgust. The indulgence of sin effectually precludes the benefit of the most industrious search into the word of God. The heart must undergo an entire renewal—it must be sanctified and cleansed, yea, be “baptized with the Holy Ghost,”7 before it can discern, or—when it has discerned—can love, the purity of the word of God.

Witness the breathings of Brainerd’s soul in this holy atmosphere, ‘Oh that my soul were holy, as he is holy! Oh that it were pure even as Christ is pure; and perfect, as my Father in heaven is perfect! These I feel are the sweetest commands in God’s book, comprising all others.’8 ‘Oh how refreshing’—exclaims the beloved Martyn—‘and supporting to my soul was the holiness of the word of God! Sweeter than the sweetest promise at this time, was the constant and manifest tendency of the word, to lead men to holiness and the deepest seriousness.’9

The valuable end for which we “desire this word” is, “that we may grow thereby,”1—grow in purity of heart and conduct; learning to shrink from the touch of sin; “cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”2 Our “esteem” for it—“more than our necessary food”3—will be in proportion to our growth in grace, an evidence of this growth, and a constant spring of holy enjoyment.

An additional excitement to love its purity is the exhibition of that purity imbodied in our perfect pattern in Him, “who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.”4 For the habit of beholding the Saviour with the eye of faith in the glass of the word, conforms us to his image.5 But be it ever remembered, that its holiness can have no fellowship, and communicate no life, except in its own atmosphere. Oh! for a larger influence of the Spirit of God upon our souls, that we may enjoy the purifying delights of the word of God; that we may live in it, live by it, to the glory of our dear Redeemer, and to the edification of his Church!

2 Prov. 30:5. Ps. 19:8.

3 Prayer Book translation. Comp. Ps. 12:6.

4 Locke.

5 Bp. Horne in loco.

6 See John 3:20.

7 Matt. 3:11.

8 Edwards’ Works, 3:171.

9 Martyn’s Life, pp. 206, 207.

1 1 Peter 2:2.

2 2 Cor. 7:1.

3 Job 23:12.

4 Heb. 7:26.

5 Com. 2 Cor. 3:18.

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Handle with Care - In an excavation at Jerusalem, archeologist Gabriel Barkay uncovered a small copper scroll with writing on it from the Bible. This fragment of Scripture was brittle and tarnished with age. Barkay took it to his laboratory and worked with unbelievable patience and delicate care to unroll it without destroying it. 

Dated around 400 BC, the scroll was a very important find because it contained the earliest written Hebrew name for God, Yahweh (or Jehovah). Apparently the scribe who copied it had broken with the practice of never writing that sacred name. Always before, because of their reverence for its holiness, Jewish scribes had felt unworthy to pen that special name. 

The Bible is God's holy, inspired, infallible Word, and we must handle its truths with the same care Barkay gave to his discovery and the same reverence the copyists gave to God's name. Scripture comes to us from God's heart. Therefore, we must guard its message with integrity by "rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). We must respect its every word. To take Scripture out of context or twist its meaning to serve our purposes or justify our own opinions is to dishonor God's Word and His name. 

Let's always handle the Word of God with care. --D C Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

The Bible stands, and it will forever
When the world has passed away;
By inspiration it has been given--
All its precepts I will obey.
--Lillenas

Open your Bible prayerfully, read it carefully, and obey it joyfully.

Psalm 119:141  I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts. 

• small (KJV): Ps 22:6 40:17 Pr 15:16 16:8 19:1 Isa 53:3 Lu 6:20 9:58 2Co 8:9 Jas 2:5 
• yet do (KJV): Ps 119:109,176 Pr 3:1 

I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts. 

 

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Charles Bridges - Evidently David did not love the word for selfish gain. “Small and despised” was his condition, when the Lord first looked on him.6 it was also the reproach, which in the height of his glory he endured for the name of his God.7 “Yet—stripped and destitute as he might be—did he not forget his precepts.” The remembrance of his God was a cheering encouragement to his faith in his lowly condition;8 and no less his support in the far greater trials of his prosperity. Thus habitually did he realize the unspeakable privilege of an ever-present God!

The objects of the Lord’s sovereign choice,9 whom he has stamped as a “peculiar treasure unto him above all people,” and whom at the day of his approaching he will bring forth as the “jewels”10 of his crown—are most frequently in their worldly condition11—always in the eyes of the world,12 and in their own estimation,13—“small and despised.” And yet pride and hypocrisy in the natural heart will sometimes assume this character for selfish ends. This language of humility is not unfrequently in the mouth of the professor, to enable him to maintain “a name to live” in the church of God. But are those, who call themselves “small and despised,” willing to be taken at their word? Are they content to be despised by those, whose esteem this “voluntary” spurious “humility” was meant to secure? Do they really believe themselves to be what they profess—false, vile, mean, deceitful creatures? Have they any experimental knowledge of the depth of inner wickedness—that God could open door after door in “the chamber of imagery” to confound them with the sight of greater, and yet “greater abominations?”14 When, therefore, they “take the lowest place,” do they feel it to be their own place? Or does not the language of self abasement mean in the eyes of God—‘Come see how humble I am?’1

Christian! think not these self-inquiries unnecessary for the cautious scrutiny of thine own heart. A self-annihilating spirit before men, as well as before God;—to feel “small and despised,” when we have a reputable name in the Church—is a rare attainment—a glorious triumph of victorious grace—usually the fruit of a sharp affliction. This was the spirit of Brainerd—that meek and lowly disciple of his Master, who would express his astonishment, that any one above the rank of “the beasts that perish” could condescend to notice him.2 But if we are small and despised in the estimation of men, let us think of “Him, whom man despiseth—Him whom the nation abhorreth.”3 Never was such an instance of magnanimity displayed, as when Pilate brought out the blessed Jesus, arrayed in the mockery of royalty, and with the blood streaming from his temples; and said, “Behold the man!”4 Then was there a human being, sustaining himself in the simple exclusive consciousness of the favor of God, against the universal scorn of every face. This was independence—this was greatness indeed. With such a pattern before our eyes, and such a motive touching our hearts, we may well account it “a very small thing, that we should be judged of man’s judgment.”5 What upheld “the man Christ Jesus,” will uphold his servants also. “He committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.”6 Must we not desire to “know the fellowship of his sufferings”—yea, to rejoice in the participation of them?7

Christian! dost thou love to be low, and still desire to be lower than ever? “Small and despised” as thou art in thine own eyes, and in the eyes of the world, “thou art precious in the eyes of him” who gave a price “for thy ransom”—infinitely more precious than “Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba,”8 and who will suffer “none to pluck thee out of his hands.”1 Many may rebuke thee; many may scorn thee: even thy brethren may treat thee with contempt; yet thy God, thy Redeemer, will not depart from thee, will not suffer thee to depart from him; but will put his Spirit within thee, and bring forth his precepts to thy remembrance, that thou mayest keep them, and many a sweet supporting promise for thy consolation. Therefore, “fear not, thou worm Jacob: I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”2

6 1 Sam. 16:11.

7 2 Sam. 6:20.

8 1 Sam. 17:34–36.

9 Exod. 19:5.

10 Mal. 3:17.

11 1 Cor. 1:27–29. James 2:5.

12 1 Cor. 4:9–13.

13 Ps. 40:17. 1 Cor. 15:9. Eph. 3:8.

14 Ezek. 8:5–15

1 ‘Many hypocrites make great pretences to humility as well as other graces. But they cannot find out what a humble speech and behavior is, or how to speak and act, so that there may be indeed a savor of Christian humility in what they say or do. That sweet humble air and mien is beyond their art, being not “led by the Spirit,” or naturally guided to a behavior becoming holy humility by the vigor of a lowly spirit within them. And therefore they have no other way, but to be much in declaring that they are humble, and telling how they were humbled to the dust at such and such times, and abounding in very bad expressions about themselves,—such as—‘I have a dreadful wicked heart,’—‘Oh! this cursed heart of mine,’ &c. Such expressions are very often used—not with a heart broken—not with the tears of her that “washed Jesus’s feet with her tears”—not as “remembering and being confounded, and never opening their mouth because of their shame when God is pacified,” (Ezek. 16:63,) but with a light air, or with Pharisaical affectation.’—Edwards on Affections, part iii. sect. vi.

2 ‘God feeds me with crumbs. Blessed be his name for anything! I felt a great desire that all God’s people should know how mean, and little, and vile I am, that they might see I am nothing, that so they might pray for me aright, and not have the least dependence upon me. I could not bear to think of Christians showing me any respect. I saw myself exceedingly vile and unworthy; so that I was ashamed that any one should bestow any favor upon me, or show me any respect.’—Brainerd’s Diary.

3 Isa. 49:7. Comp. Psalm 22:6.

4 John 19:5.

5 1 Cor. 4:3.

6 1 Peter 2:23.

7 Phil. 3:10. 1 Peter 4:13.

8 Comp. Isa. 43:3, 4, with Acts 20:28.

1 John 10:28.

2 Isaiah 41:14.

Psalm 119:142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth. 

• Thy righteousness (KJV): Men, as Bp. Horne observes, may decree wickedness by a law; or they may change their decrees, and with them what is right to-day may be wrong to-morrow; but the law of God is righteousness, and it is truth, to-day and for ever.
• an everlasting (KJV): Ps 119:144 36:6 Isa 51:6,8 Da 9:24 2Th 1:6-10 
• and thy (KJV): Ps 119:151 19:9 Joh 17:17 Eph 4:21 

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth. 

 

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Charles Bridges - The Psalmist, in the midst of his trials, could not “forget the precepts,” while he maintained so just a perception of their exalted character. His mind at this time seems to have been filled with the contemplation of the righteous government of God. He therefore repeats his adoration,3 not as applied to any particular instance—but as distinguishing the general character of His administration from “everlasting.”

But on whom is this government appointed to rest? Think of our Immanuel—the human brow encircled with Divine glory—the crucified hands wielding the sceptre of the universe—Him, whom they mocked as the king of the Jews, seated on his own exalted throne—“King of kings, and Lord of lords!” “The government is upon his shoulder: and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”4 How delightful to join Jehovah himself in the ascription of praise—“Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom!”5 How glorious also to praise that everlasting righteousness—the ground on which the administration of his Church is framed—which Jesus “brought in,” and “which is unto all them that believe;”6 which, when once clothed with it, is our infinite glory and reward!

“Every ordinance of man” is connected only with time. The Divine government has a constant reference to eternity, past and to come. “And I heard,” said the enraptured disciple, “the angel of the waters say; Thou art righteous, which art, and wast, and shalt be; because thou hast judged thus.”7 Every instance, therefore, of his righteous administration, is that display of the Divine character, which constrains the adoration of heaven.8 “One cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” His “law”—the manifestation of his “righteousness,”—“is the truth.” “Thy word is true from the beginning! and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.”9

This truth is the law of righteousness, which Jesus bound himself to “fulfil”10—to which he “came to bear witness”11—and to which he commended his people to his Father as the means of their sactification,1 for what else is holiness, but the influences of truth, digested and practically imbodied in the life and conduct? There may be fragments of truth elsewhere found—the scattered remnants of the fall. There may be systems imbued with large portions of truth deduced from this law. But here alone is it found perfect—unsullied. How carefully, therefore, should we test, by this standard every doctrine—every revelation;2 receiving with implicit subjection all that is conformed to it;3 rejecting with uncompromising decision whatever will not abide the fiery trial.4 Most careful also should we be to preserve its unadulterated simplicity.5 Even the most seemingly trifling infusion of fundamental error is the grain of poison cast into the food, and making it “a savor of death unto death.” Such was the error of the Galatian Church—“another Gospel, yet not another”6—not deserving the name—not putting ordinances in the stead of Christ: an error too gross to beguile a Christian profession—but what is far more subtle, and equally destructive, mixing them with Christ; thus impairing the integrity of the foundation, paralyzing the springs, poisoning the sources of life, yea, converting life itself into death.7 Let this church stand out as a beacon to our own—as a much-needed warning to each of her members.

But in a more general view, let us adore the Divine revelation, as bearing so full an impress of a “God that cannot lie”—of a “covenant ordered in all things” beyond human contrivance, “and sure” beyond the possibility of a change.8 How many dying testimonies have sealed the truth of the precious promises! Joshua,9 Simeon,10 and a “cloud of witnesses with which we are compassed about,”11 have “set to their seals that God is true”12—that “all the promises of God are in Christ Jesus yea and amen,”13—that “all are come to pass unto them, and not one thing has failed thereof.” Equally manifest is the truth of his threatenings. Hell is truth seen too late. Those on the right hand and those on the left, at the great day of God, will combine their testimony to the declaration of the “Faithful and True Witness,”14—“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”15

3 Comp. Ps 119:137.

4 Isaiah 9:6, 7.

5 Psalm 45:6. Heb. 1:8.

6 Dan. 9:24. Rom. 3:22.

7 Rev. 16:5.

8 Isaiah 6:3.

9 Ps 119:160.

10 Matt. 3:15.

11 John 18:37.

1 John 17:17.

2 1 Thess. 5:21. 1 John 4:1.

3 Acts 17:11, 12.

4 Isaiah 8:20. Gal. 1:8, 9.

5 2 Cor. 2:17; 4:2.

6 Gal. 1:6, 7.

7 Gal 4:9–11; 5:1–4.

8 Titus 1:2. 2 Sam. 23:5.

9 Josh. 23:14.

10 Luke 2:25–29.

11 Heb. 12:1.

12 John 3:33.

13 2 Cor. 1:20.

14 Rev. 3:14.

15 Matt. 24:35.

Psalm 119:143 Trouble and anguish have come upon me, Yet Your commandments are my delight. 

BGT  Psalm 118:143 θλῖψις καὶ ἀνάγκη εὕροσάν με αἱ ἐντολαί σου μελέτη μου

LXE  Psalm 119:143 Afflictions and distresses found me: but thy commandments were my meditation.

KJV  Psalm 119:143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights.

NET  Psalm 119:143 Distress and hardship confront me, yet I find delight in your commands.

CSB  Psalm 119:143 Trouble and distress have overtaken me, but Your commands are my delight.

ESV  Psalm 119:143 Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight.

NIV  Psalm 119:143 Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight.

NLT  Psalm 119:143 As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.

NRS  Psalm 119:143 Trouble and anguish have come upon me, but your commandments are my delight.

NJB  Psalm 119:143 Though anguish and distress grip me your commandments are my delight.

NAB  Psalm 119:143 Though distress and anguish come upon me, your commands are my delight.

YLT  Psalm 119:143 Adversity and distress have found me, Thy commands are my delights.

GWN  Psalm 119:143 Trouble and hardship have found me, but your commandments still make me happy.

• Trouble: Ps 119:107 18:4,5 88:3-18 116:3 130:1 Mk 14:33,34 
• yet : Ps 119:16,47,77 Job 23:12  Joh 4:34 

GOD'S COMMANDMENT
CURE FOR DISTRESS

Trouble (tsar; Lxx - thlipsis) and anguish (matsoq; Lxx - anagke) have come upon me (Lit - found me) - This describes most of us at some time in our life! So this is a good passage to memorize and meditate upon! 

Yet Your commandments are my delight (shaashuim) - Praise God for this term of contrast, YET,  a small "hinge word" which opens a door into green pastures and quiet waters of God's perfect commandments. If we delight in them, we find them sweeter than honey and they restore our souls and enabled by God's Spirit we delight to obey them, walking like Jesus walked, so that we might please our Father in Heaven. The Septuagint translate delight with the noun melete (see cognate meletao) which means meditation, study, giving attention or thought to. The Septuagint adds the nuance that when we are in distress, we should delight in God's Word, meditating upon it, giving it our full attention. That's Jehovah Rapha's prescription for trouble, anguish and distress! 

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Delight (08191)(shaashuim from shaa = to take delight in) means delight (that which gives great pleasure, satisfaction and joy). Baker - A masculine plural noun meaning delight. It often describes the delight given to the one who follows God's teachings, laws, and testimonies (Ps. 119:24, 77, 92, 143, 174). Wisdom, in creation, was constantly God's delight (Prov. 8:30, 31). It is used figuratively in the phrase a delightful plant, a pleasant plant to refer to God's pleasure in the people of Judah (Isa. 5:7); likewise Ephraim was God's pleasant child (Jer. 31:20), His dear son (kjv). (The Complete Word Study Dictionary – Old Testament) 

Distress (04689)(matsoq from tsuq = to constrain, bring into straits, press upon, great external pressure) means anguish (= agonizing physical or mental pain; torment, misery), distress, stress, straits. Note in 4 of the 6 uses matsoq clearly refers to hardships and anxiety especially brought on from disobeying the Lord (Deut. 28:53, 55, 57; Jer. 19:9). THOUGHT - Oh to hear this truth and heed this truth, so that the next time we are tempted to commit flagrant, willful disobedience, we recall matsoq to our minds!!! But praise God for Ps 119:143 where the psalmist was in anguish (makes you think this was David writing Ps 119), but was relieved by delighting in God's commandments! The NLT paraphrases it "As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands." Amen and amen! 

Gilbrant - The masculine noun, mātsôq, is derived from tsûq, "to press upon." The verb has a number of cognates which connote "narrow," "tight." The KJV, therefore, often translates mātsôq as "straits" or "straitness," referring to a place of great distress. Mothers would be forced to eat their own children if they disobey and forsake his commands. In a time of "distress" that enemies would bring Israel when they found themselves under God's curse, such atrocities would occur (Deut. 28:53-59). When David hid from King Saul in the cave of Adullam, 1 Sam. 22:2 states that men who were in distress joined forces with him. (Complete Biblical Library)

Matsoq - 6v - anguish(1), distress(5). Deut. 28:53; Deut. 28:55; Deut. 28:57; 1 Sam. 22:2; Ps. 119:143; Jer. 19:9

Deuteronomy 28:53+  “Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, during the siege and the distress (Lxx - stenochoria = narrow place, figuratively, as the restrictiveness and pressures brought on by inner or outer problems) by which your enemy will oppress you.

Deuteronomy 28:55+  so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress Lxx - stenochoria = narrow place, figuratively, as the restrictiveness and pressures brought on by inner or outer problems) by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns.

Deuteronomy 28:57+ and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress Lxx - stenochoria = narrow place, figuratively, as the restrictiveness and pressures brought on by inner or outer problems)  by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns. 

1 Sa 22:2 (see commentary)  Everyone who was in distress (matsoq; Lxx - anagke) , and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him. 

Psalms 119:143  Trouble and anguish have come upon me, yet Your commandments are my delight. 

Jeremiah 19:9  “I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”’ 

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Charles Bridges - Christian! expect not unmixed sorrow or uninterrupted joy as your present portion. Heaven will be joy without sorrow. Hell will be sorrow without joy. Earth presents to you every joy mingled with grief—every grief tempered with joy. To be accounted “small and despised” does not comprise the whole of your trials. Like the great apostle, you must expect not only “trouble” without, but “anguish” within.16 Others may not have it.17 But your Saviour engages, “You shall.”1 To all his people he has not meted out the same measure. Some have rebuke. Some have a scourge. But all have the cross—and this a daily cross2—not a single or an occasional trial—but a life of trial—constant contradiction to the will—constant mortification of the flesh. And this takes hold of us. We cannot escape from it. Should we wish to escape it? This discipline, as Luther observes in his own way (and who was a better calculator in this school?) is more necessary for us than all the riches and dignities of the whole world. And the exercise of faith and patience in the endurance will bring more honor to God and profit to ourselves than a life of ease and indulgence. The instruction of the rod delivers us from its curse, and brings a substantial and enriching blessing.3

But how precious is the sympathy of Jesus—“in all things made like unto his brethren”—enduring trouble and anguish inconceivable to human apprehension, “that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest to succor his tempted people!”4 How does it lift up our head amid the billows, when in communion with our Lord we can call to mind, that his sorrow was for the sake of his dear purchased people; that they might drink their lighter cup bereft of its bitter ingredients!

The Psalmist did not find that the Lord afflicted him to leave him in misery, but rather to increase his happiness. The precepts which he had not forgotten,5 were now his delights. The scriptural records of the trials of the Lord’s people bear similar abundant testimony to the inexhaustible resources of support in the Book of God; and they “are written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”6 The child of God, whose thoughts are habitually occupied in the word, will always find it to be his food and light, his joy and strength; witnessing within, the presence and power of God, even where its sensible comfort may not be enjoyed.

But specially is affliction the time that unfolds the delights of the word7, such as more than counterbalance the painful trouble and anguish of the flesh. Such cheering prospects of hope and deliverance does it set forth! Such mighty supports in the endurance of trial does it realize! Truly the experimental power of the word in keeping the soul alive—much more than this—cheerful—sustained—established8—is there any blessing like this—the fruit of the cross? Can we mourn over that cross, that brings so gainful a harvest? The bitterness of the cross then best realizes the delights of the commandments. But never does the believer more “rejoice in tribulation,” than when the “trouble and anguish which take hold of him” is for the love he bears to the name of his dear Lord.9 Persecution for his sake, far from appalling him, only endears his service to his heart. It is in his eyes—not a penalty endured, but a privilege conferred, “to suffer for his name’s sake.”1

But contrast the condition of the child of God and the follower of the world in the hour of affliction. The one in the midst of his troubles drinks of the fountain of all-sufficiency: and such is his peace and security, that, “in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.”2 The other, “in the fulness of his sufficiency is in straits”3 David could look upward, and find the way of escape in the midst of his trouble: but for Saul, when “trouble and anguish took hold of him,” no source of comfort opened to his view. “God was departed from him, and was become his enemy.”4 It was therefore “trouble” without support; “anguish” without relief,—“trouble and anguish;” such as will at length “take hold of” them that forget God, when nothing will be left, but the unavailing “cry to the mountains and the hills to fall upon them, and cover them.”5 Thanks be to God for deliverance from this fearful prospect! Thanks for the hope of unfading “delights,” when earthly pleasures shall have passed away! The first sheaf of the heavenly harvest will blot out the painful remembrance of the weeping seed-time which preceded it.6 The first moment of heaven will compensate for all the “troubles and anguish” of earth; and these moments will last throughout eternity. “Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him,”7 eternally well.

16 2 Cor. 7:5; 1:8.

17 Psalm 55:19; 73:3–5

1 John 16:33. Comp. Acts 14:22. 1 Thess. 3:3. 2 Tim. 3:12. Rev. 7:14.

2 Luke 9:23.

3 Psalm 94:12.

4 Heb. 2:17, 18.

5 Ps 119:141.

6 Rom. 15:4.

7 Verse 92.

8 Deut. 8:3. Matt. 4:4.

9 Acts 5:41.

1 Phil. 1:29. One of the witnesses for the truth, when imprisoned for conscience’ sake in Queen Mary’s persecution of the Church, is said to have thus written to a friend:—‘A prisoner for Christ! What is this for a poor worm? “Such honor have” not “all his saints.” Both the degrees which I took in the University have not set me so high as the honor of becoming a prisoner of the Lord.’ Philpot, again, could say of his prison—‘In the judgment of the world we are in hell; but I find in it the sweet consolations of heaven.’ So also holy Bradford—“My prison is sweeter to me than any parlor, than any pleasure I have had in all my life.’

2 Ps. 32:6.

3 Job 20:22.

4 1 Sam. 28:15, 16.

5 Rev. 6:16.

6 Ps. 126:5, 6.

7 Isa. 3:10.

Psalm 119:144  Your testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live. (PRAYER)

• righteousness (KJV): Ps 119:138,152 Mt 5:18 1Pe 1:23-25 
• give me (KJV): Ps 119:34,66,73,169 2Co 4:6 1Jn 5:20,21 
• understanding (KJV): Pr 10:21 Isa 6:9,10 27:11 Jer 4:22 Da 12:10 Ho 4:6 Mt 13:19 Joh 17:3 

Your testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live. 

 

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Charles Bridges - What deep—weighty—impressive thoughts were exercising the Psalmist’s mind! He had just marked the happy influence of the testimonies upon the believer’s heart. Now he again recurs to their righteousness—as the Divine administration—not subject to the incessant variations of the human standard—but everlasting—of unalterable obligation—binding us unchangeably to God, and God to us. His creatures can virtually make them void by their rebellion;9 but they cannot change their character, or shake their foundation. Nay—themselves shall be the instruments of their fulfilment. Every word shall be established either by them as his obedient servants, or in and upon them as rebel transgressors. What solemn weight therefore is due to this Divine standard! It seems now to be trampled under foot; but its “righteousness”—inflexible in its demands, and unalterable in its obligations—will ere long assert its sovereignty over the world, when every other standard shall have passed away. It will be the rule of the Divine procedure at the great day of decision. When the “great white throne” is set up—when “the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books are opened, and another book is opened, which is the book of life; and the dead are judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works”1—the acknowledgment will be made throughout the universe of God, “The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting.” How glorious is the confidence of being dealt with in that great day upon an everlasting foundation of righteousness?2

But this view of the Divine “righteousness,” and “everlasting” obligation of the testimonies, naturally suggests the prayer for a more spiritual, enlightened, and experimental acquaintance with them. Often before had the petition been sent up.3 But who can cry too often or too earnestly? One ray of this “understanding” is of far higher value than all the intellectual or speculative knowledge in the world.4 If its first dawn exhibits the infinite difference between light and darkness—if prayer for it implies a measure already received, still—Give me understanding—will be the cry—not of the “little child” whose spiritual perception is just opening—but of the “father, who has known him that is from the beginning.”5 ‘Let me know the holiness of thy “testimonies”—their extent—their perfection—their intimate connection with every part of my daily walk—with the restraint of my inclination, the regulation of my temper, the direction of every step of my path. And indeed the more devoutly we study them, the more shall we feel our need of supplication for Divine teaching, to give us more adoring and thankful views of the government of God, and to subjugate our cavilling disposition to the humbling influence of faith.’

The principle of spiritual and eternal life flows from the enlightened perception of the testimonies of God. “Give me understanding, and I shall live.” For “this is life eternal, that we might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”6 His testimonies are the revelation of himself. If then we “have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things,”7 our knowledge of them will become more spiritual in its character, more experimental in its comforts, and more practical in its fruits. And thus, “the life of God in the soul” will invigorate us for higher attainments in evangelical knowledge, and more steady advancement in Christian holiness. But how infinitely do we live below the full privilege of knowing God in his testimonies! Christians of a Scriptural standard are “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded.”8

And then—what will it be at the great consummation; when our God of love will have put his last hand to his glorious work; when the mark of all our aims—the term of all our hopes and desires—all that we have so long labored for—so earnestly panted after—so restlessly pursued—when all shall be attained? Then indeed we shall live a life worthy of the name—not as now under the shadowed glimmerings—but under the immediate full-eyed glory of his light and love; having escaped forever the deadliest of all dangers—sin—the very deadliness of death itself.

9 Ps 119:126.

1 Rev. 20:11, 12.

2 Acts 17:31.

3 Ps 119:33, 34, 73.

4 Jer. 9:23, 24.

5 1 John 2:13, 14.

6 John 17:3.

7 1 John 2:20.

8 Phil. 3:13, 15.

Psalm 119:145 Qoph. I cried with all my heart; answer me, O LORD! I will observe Your statutes.  (PRAYER)

• cried (KJV): Ps 119:10 61:1,2 62:8 86:4 102:1 *title Ps 142:1,2 1Sa 1:10,15 Jer 29:13 
• I will (KJV): Ps 119:44,106,115 

Qoph. I cried with all my heart; answer me, O LORD! I will observe Your statutes. 

M. Henry - Supplications with the whole heart are presented only by those who desire God's salvation, and who love his commandments. 

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Warren Wiersbe - Ps. 119:145 Sacrificing Sleep
Read Psalm 119:145-152

Would you rather have the Word of God than sleep? Don't misunderstand me. We need sleep. In fact, the Bible makes it clear that God expects us to take care of our bodies, and sleep is part of that care. But the psalmist says that he would rather have the Word of God than sleep. "I rise before the dawning of the morning, and cry for help; I hope in Your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word" (Psalm 119:147,148).
Imagine being married to a person who gets up early in the morning to cry out to God and hope in His Word. Then late at night he's still awake, reading and meditating on the Scriptures.
Jesus also was up early in the morning, praying and meditating on the Word. And on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus, Moses and Elijah were discussing Christ's plan to die in Jerusalem. Peter, James and John were there, but they were asleep (Luke 9:32). They slept through perhaps the greatest Bible conference ever held on earth!
I'm afraid some of us have done the same thing. We've slept through the blessing. For God to bless us through His Word, we have to start each day with it. Do you set your alarm clock early enough in the morning to read the Bible? Sure, that extra half hour in bed would be pleasant. But like the psalmist, we need to say, "I'm going to anticipate the dawning of the morning. I want to spend time with God and meditate in His Word."
* * *
Sacrificing sleep to meditate in the Word of God is not a loss; it's an investment in your spiritual life. The Bible contains blessings you can use the rest of the day. Let it be the key that opens and locks your day. (Psalm 119:145-152 Sacrificing Sleep)

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Charles Bridges - 145. I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord: I will keep thy statutes 146. I cried unto thee: save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies

This is indeed the “pouring out of the soul before the Lord”1—“a beautiful and encouraging picture of a soul wrestling with God in a few short sentences, with as much power and success as in the most continued length of supplication. Brief as are the petitions, the whole compass of language could not make them more comprehensive. “Hear me.” The whole heart is engaged in the “cry.” “Save me,” includes a sinner’s whole need—pardon, acceptance, access, holiness, strength, comfort, heaven, all in one word—Christ. Save me—from self, from Satan, from the world, from the curse of sin, from the wrath of God. This is the need of every moment to the end. “I cried unto thee”—What a mercy to know where to go! The way of access must have been implied—though not mentioned—in these short ejaculations. “Hear me”—must have been in the name of the all-prevailing Advocate. “Save me”—through him, whose name is, Jesus the Saviour. A moment’s interruption of our view of Jesus casts, for the time, an impenetrable cloud over our way to God, and paralyzes the spirit of prayer. Prayer is not only the sense of guilt, and the cry for mercy, but the exercise of faith. When I come to God, I would always bring with me the blood of Christ—my price—my plea in my hand. He cannot cast it out. Thus am I “a prince, that hath power with God and prevail.”2 Here is the warrant to believe, that my God does, and will hear me. Here is my encouragement to “look up”3—to be “watching at his gate”4—like the cripple at the “beautiful gate of the temple—expecting to receive somewhat of him.”5 Not a word of such prayer is lost. It is as seed—not cast into the earth, exposed to hazard and loss6—but cast into the bosom of God—and here—as in the natural harvest, “he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”7 The most frequent comers are the largest receivers—always wanting—always asking—living upon what they have, but still hungering for more.

With many, however, the ceremony of prayer is everything, without any thought, desire, anxiety, or waiting for an answer. These slight dealings prove low thoughts of God, and deep and guilty insensibility;—that the sense of pressing need is not sharp enough to put an edge upon the affections. But are none of God’s dear children, too, who in days past never missed the presence of God, but they “sought it carefully with tears”—now too easily satisfied with the act of prayer, without this “great object of it—the enjoyment of God?”1 Perhaps you lament your deficiencies, your weakness in the hour of temptation, your indulgence of ease, your unfaithfulness of heart. But is your “cry” continually ascending “with your whole heart?” Your soul would not be so empty of comfort, if your mouth were not so empty of prayer. The Lord never charges presumption upon the frequency or extent of your supplications; but he is often ready to “upbraid you with your unbelief,”2 that you are so reluctant in your approach, and so straitened in your desires—that you are so unready to receive what he is so ready to give—that your vessels are too narrow to take in his full blessing—that you are content with drops, when he has promised “floods,”—yea “rivers of living water,”3—and above all, that you are so negligent in praising him for what you have already received.

We must not lightly give up our suit. We must not be content with keeping up duty, without keeping up “continued instancy in prayer”4 in our duty. This alone preserves in temptation. Satan strikes at all of God in the soul. Unbelief readily yields to his suggestions. This is the element in which we live—the warfare of every moment. Will then the customary devotion of morning and evening (even supposing it to be sincere) suffice for such an emergency? No. The Christian must “put on the whole armor of God;” and buckle on his panoply with unceasing “prayer and watchfulness in the Spirit.”5 If his heart be dead and cold, let him rather cry and wait, (as Luther was used to do,) till it was warm and enlivened. The hypocrite, indeed, would be satisfied with the barren performance of the duty. But the child of God, while he mourns in the dust, “Behold I am vile!”6—still holds on, though sometimes with a cry, that probably finds no utterance with his lips;1 that vents itself only with tears, or “groanings that cannot be uttered.”2 And shall such a cry fail to “enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth?” “The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.”3

But why is the believer so earnest for an audience?—why so restless in his cries for salvation? Is it not, that he loves “the statutes” of his God; that he is grieved on account of his inability to keep them; and that he longs for mercy, as the spring of his obedience? “Hear me; I will keep thy statutes. Save me; and I shall keep thy testimonies”—a most satisfactory evidence of an upright heart. Sin can have no fellowship with the statutes. As saved sinners, they are our delight.

Lord! thou knowest how our hearts draw back from the spiritual work of prayer; and how we nourish our unbelief by our distance from thee. Oh pour upon us this “Spirit of grace and supplication.” “Teach us to pray”4—even our hearts—“our whole hearts”—to “cry unto thee.” Give us the privilege of real communion with thee—the only satisfying joy of earth or heaven. Then shall we “run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge our hearts.”5

1 1 Sam. 1:15.

2 Gen. 32:28.

3 Psalm 5:3.

4 Prov. 8:34.

5 Acts 3:5.

6 Matt. 13:3–7.

7 2 Cor. 9:6.

1 ‘The great object of prayer should constantly be the enjoyment of God; and however inadequate the believer’s conceptions may be, yet he has a distinct idea of his object; so distinct that you can never impose upon a real saint by offering him something else in the room of it. He knows what he wants; and he knows that this or that is not the thing which he wants.’—Augustine, Epistle 121.

In the same Epistle he very judiciously recommends the use of short and quick ejaculations, (like these under consideration,) rather than long protracted supplications, unless the mind be in a fervent frame; in which case the petitions, as he justly observes, may be indefinitely prolonged, without incurring the censure implied in Matthew 6:7.

2 Mark 16:14.

3 Isaiah 44:3. John 7:38.

4 Rom. 12:12.

5 Eph. 6:13–18. ‘The violence of temptation stupefies me,’ said Luther on one occasion, speaking of his own experience, ‘that I cannot open my mouth. As soon as ever it pleases God that I can lift up my heart in prayer, and make use of Scriptural expressions, it ceases to prevail.’—Milner, vol. v. p. 484.

6 Job 40:4; also 42:5, 6.

1 Exodus 14:15. 1 Sam. 1:13. Neh. 2:4.

2 Rom. 8:26.

3 Psalm 6:8; 38:9.

4 Luke 11:1.

5 Ps 119:32.

Psalm 119:146  I cried to You; save me And I shall keep Your testimonies. (PRAYER)

•  I shall keep (KJV): or, that I may keep, Ps 119:134 Jud 10:15,16 Mt 1:21 Tit 2:14 3:4-8 

A PRAYER FOR
SALVATION

I cried to You; save me And I shall keep Your testimonies. 

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Charles Bridges - See comment on v145.

Psalm 119:147  I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.

• I prevented (KJV): That is, I anticipated, or rose before, the morning dawn; and was before hand with the light itself. Ps 5:3 21:3 42:8 88:13 130:6 Isa 26:9 Mk 1:35 
• hoped (KJV): Ps 119:74,81 56:4 130:5 Heb 6:17-19 

A GOOD PRAYER TO
PRAY EACH MORNING - HELP!

 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.

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Charles Bridges - 147. I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word. 148. Mine eyes prevent the night-watches, that I might meditate in thy word

The Psalmist here brings before us not only the fervency, but the seasons of his supplication. Like Daniel he had set times of prayer—“three times a day.”6 Yet did not this frequent exercise satisfy him, without an habitual “waiting all the day upon his God.”7 Prayer was indeed his meat, and drink, and breath. “I give myself unto prayer.”8 His sketch of the “blessed man, delighting in the law of his God, and”—as an evidence of this delight—“meditating therein day and night”9—unconsciously furnished an accurate picture of himself. For early and late was he found in the work of God; “preventing the dawning of the morning” for prayer, and again, “the night-watches, that he might meditate in the word.” But to look above the example of David to David’s Lord; surely “it was written” most peculiarly “for our learning,” that Jesus—after a laborious Sabbath—every moment of which appears to have been spent for the benefit of sinners; and when his body, subject to the same infirmities, and therefore needing the same refreshment with our own, seemed to require repose—“in the morning, rising up a great while before day, went out, and departed into a solitary place and there prayed.”10 On another occasion, when intensely engaged in the service of his Church, and about to lay her foundation in the choice of her first ministers, did his eyes prevent the night-watches. “He continued all night in prayer to God.”1

So long as the duty only of prayer is known, we shall be content with our set seasons. But when the privilege is felt, we shall be early at work, following it closely morning and night.2 While, however, family and social exercises are refreshing—while the tabernacles of the Lord are amiable in our view, and we delight to “wait at the posts of his doors,”3 yet it is the lonely, confidential intercourse with our God—“the door shut”—the Church as well as the world excluded—that makes our closest walk with God.4 Secret prayer is most likely to be true prayer. There is no true prayer without it. It was the “garden” prayer—separate even from his own disciples—that brought special support to the fainting humanity of Jesus.5 And if he needed this perfect retirement, whose affections were always fixed upon their centre, what must be our own need, whose desires are so unstable and languishing! And how cheering is his succoring sympathy, knowing as he does experimentally the heart of a secret, earnest pleader! Such doubtless were David’s cries—penetrating no ear, but his Father’s—yet delightful incense there.6

But to see the King of Israel, with all his urgent responsibilities, “sanctifying” such frequent daily seasons “with the word of God and prayer”—how does it expose the insincerity of the worldling’s excuse, that the pressing avocations of the day afford no time for the service of God! It is not, that such men are busy, and have no time for prayer; but that they are worldly, and have no heart to pray. The consecrated heart will always find time for secret duties, and will rather, as David, redeem it from sleep, than lose it from prayer.7

And does not the uniform experience of the Lord’s people warrant the remark—how much our vital spirituality depends upon the daily consecration of the first fruits of our time to the Lord? How often are opportunities for heavenly communion during the day unavoidably straitened! But “the night watches” and “the dawning of the morning” afford seasons free from interruption, when our God expects to hear from us, and when “the joy” of “fellowship with him” will be “our strength”8 for active service, and our keeping from many a worldly snare. What a standard of enjoyment would it be, with our last thoughts in the night watches, to leave as it were our hearts with him, and to find them with him in the morning, awaking as with our hearts in heaven! Surely the refreshments of our visits to him, and his abidance with us, will often constrain us to acknowledge—“Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”1 The thoughts of God were clearly the first visitors to David’s waking mind;2 and to this may be ascribed his habitual success in realizing his presence throughout the day. Our lukewarmness and our want of spiritual enjoyment may often be traced to that morning indolence (which the zeal of the ungodly3 might put to shame) which not only throws the business of the day into confusion, but also consumes the time in self-indulgence or trifling, which should have been given to sacred intercourse. For—not to speak of the seasonableness of the early hours for devotion—the very exertion made to overcome “this lust of the flesh,” and to steal a march upon the demands of the world, is an exercise of self-denial, honorable to God, “that shall in no wise lose its reward.” No remembrance of the past will be so refreshing at a dying hour, as the time redeemed for communion with God.

And, even should there be no actual enjoyment, at least let us honor God by expectancy. “I hoped in thy word!”4 There can be no exercise of faith in the neglect of prayer; but the ground of faith, and that which gives to it life, hope, and joy, is the view of God in his word as a promising God. Therefore when his Providence opens no present encouragement, let us seek it in his covenant. To “hope in his word is to build up ourselves upon our most holy faith,”5 and to lay all our desires, all our cares, all our weights, and burdens, upon a solid unsinking foundation.

Well, therefore, were David’s “night-watches” employed in “meditation in the word.” For, in order to stay ourselves upon it in time of need, it must occupy our whole study, thought, and love. Instability of faith arises from a want of fixed recollection of the promises of God. This superficial habit may suffice for times of quietness; but amid the billows of temptation we can only cast “anchor sure and steadfast” in an habitual and intelligent confidence upon the full, free, firm promise of the word. Let it therefore be the food of our meditation, and the ground of our support, when our suit seems to hang at the throne of grace without any tokens of present acceptance. Often will it lift up our fainting hands, and supply strength for fresh conflict, and the earnest of blessed victory. The ground is always sure for faith. May the Lord ever furnish us with faith enough for our daily work, conflict, consolation, and establishment!

6 Psalm 55:17, with Daniel 6:10.

7 Psalm 25:5.

8 Ps. 109:4. ‘But I prayer,’ Heb.—all over prayer—always ready for prayer—at all seasons, besides the frequency of set times of communion—one whose life is a continual prayer—“prayer without ceasing.” 1 Thess. 5:17.

9 Ps. 1:2.

10 Mark 1:21–35.

1 Luke 6:12–16.

2 Psalm 5:3; 88:13. Isaiah 26:9.

3 Psalm 84:1. Prov. 8:34.

4 Matt. 6:6.

5 Luke 22:41–43.

6 Psalm 56:8; 141:2. Prov. 15:8. Cant. 2:14.

7 Most instructive is the example of Mr. Cadogan, as recorded by his admirable biographer. ‘Feeling strongly that he must walk with God in secret at any rate; when he had company, he would often retire from them into his study, rather than omit his accustomed waiting upon his God. Often has he been found there, when most of the family were gone to rest, surprised on his knees by the domestic who usually took care of the house.’—Cecil’s Life of Cadogan.

Perhaps in an observation once made to an excellent minister, the importance of the truth may furnish an apology for the quaintness of the dress:—‘If you did not plough in the closet, you would not reap in the pulpit.’

8 Neh. 8:10.

1 1 John 1:3.

2 See Ps. 139:17, 18.

3 Exod. 32:6. Isa. 5:11. Mic. 2:1.

4 One of Melancthon’s correspondents describes Luther thus:—‘I cannot enough admire the extraordinary cheerfulness, constancy, faith, and hope of the man in these trying and vexatious times. He constantly feeds these gracious affections by a very diligent study of the word of God. Then not a day passes in which he does not employ in prayer at least three of his very best hours. Once I happened to hear him at prayer. Gracious God! what spirit and what faith is there in his expressions! He petitions God with as much reverence, as if he was in the divine presence; and yet with as firm a hope and confidence, as he would address a father or a friend. ‘I know,’ said he, ‘thou art our Father and our God; and therefore I am sure thou wilt bring to nought the persecutors of thy children. For shouldest thou fail to do this, thine own cause being connected with ours, would be endangered. It is entirely thine own concern. We, by thy providence, have been compelled to take a part. Thou therefore wilt be our defence.’ Whilst I was listening to Luther praying in this manner, at a distance, my soul seemed on fire within me, to hear the man address God so like a friend, and yet with so much gravity and reverence; and also to hear him, in the course of his prayer, insisting upon the promises contained in the Psalms, as if he were sure his petitions would be granted.’—Milner’s History, vol. v. p. 565. Again referred to in Scott’s Continuation, vol. i. p. 77. Was not this an illustration of David’s confidence—I hoped in thy word?

5 Jude 20.

Psalm 119:148  My eyes anticipate the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word.

• eyes (KJV): Ps 119:62 63:1,6 139:17,18 La 2:19 Lu 6:12 
• the night watches (KJV): The ancient Jews divided the night into three watches of four hours each, beginning at six o'clock in the evening; before the last of which, "the day break," or "morning watch," as the LXX. and Vulgate read, the Psalmist was awake.

My eyes anticipate the night watches,

That I may meditate on Your word. (Ps 119:15, 23, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148): The ancient Jews divided the night into three watches of four hours each, beginning at six o'clock in the evening; before the last of which, "the day break," or "morning watch," as the LXX. and Vulgate read, the Psalmist was awake.

Meditation (see in depth discussion) is to the soul what digestion is to the body. To meditate means to “turn over” God’s Word in the mind and heart, to examine it, to compare Scripture with Scripture, to “feed on” its wonderful truths. In this day of noise and confusion, such meditation is rare but so needful. Meditation is impossible without memorization (READ THAT AGAIN! BELIEVE IT! THEN MEMORIZE, MEMORIZE, MEMORIZE!). Reading the Bible without meditating on it is like eating without chewing. 

We must read Scripture every day
    And meditate on what God said
    To fight temptation from the world
    And live a life that's Spirit led.
--Sper

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Charles Bridges - See comment on v147.

Psalm 119:149  Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your ordinances. (PRAYER)

• Hear (KJV): Ps 5:2,3 55:2 64:1 
• according unto (KJV): Ps 51:1 69:16 109:21 Isa 63:7 
• quicken me (KJV): Ps 119:25,40,154,156 

Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness;

Revive me, O LORD (Ps 69:32 71:20 80:18 85:6 119:25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159 138:7 143:11 Isa 57:15 Hos 6:2 Hab 3:2): 

According to Your ordinances.

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Charles Bridges - 149. Hear my voice according unto thy loving-kindness; O Lord, quicken me according to thy judgment

In the eyes of the world, David appeared “in all his glory,” when seated on his throne, and surrounded with the magnificence of his kingdom. But never did he appear so glorious in the sight of God, as when presenting himself as a suppliant before the mercy-seat, seeking an audience of the King of kings, only to send up reiterated cries for quickening grace. And do not I need the same grace every moment, in every duty? Does not “the gift of God within me” need to be daily “stirred up?”1 Are not “the things that remain” often “ready to die?”2 Then “Hear my voice, O Lord; quicken me.”

But to urge my suit successfully, I must “order my cause before God;” I must “fill my mouth with arguments.”3 And if I can draw a favorable plea from the character of my judge—if I can prove that promises have been made in my behalf, these will be most encouraging earnests of a successful issue. Now David had been so used to plead in cases of extremity, that arguments suited to his present distress were always ready at hand. He now pleads with God for quickening grace, on the ground of his own loving-kindness and judgment. Can he “deny himself?”

And with what “full assurance of faith,”4 may I ask to be heard on account of that transcendent proof of “loving-kindness” manifested in the gift of God’s dear Son5—not only as his chiefest mercy, but as the pledge of every other mercy6—and manifested too at the fittest time7—“according to his judgment”—after the inefficiency of the power of reason8 and the sanctions of the law9 to influence the heart, had been most clearly displayed! And what a plea is it to ask for quickening influences, that this is the very end for which this gift of loving-kindness was vouchsafed,10 and that the gift itself is the channel, through which the quickening life of the Godhead is imparted!11 Could I ask for this grace on any other ground than loving-kindness? All ground of fitness or merit is swept away.12 On the footing of mercy alone can I stand before him.1 And how is my faith enlivened in retracing the records of my soul from the beginning—how he “betrothed”2—how he “drew me with loving-kindness!3 May I not then cry, “Oh! continue thy loving-kindness?”4 And not less full is my conviction of his judgment, in dealing wisely and tenderly with me, according to his infallible perception of my need. Left to my own judgment—often should I have prayed myself into evil, and asked what it would have been my curse to have received.5 But I have learned, that the child must not be guided by his own will, but by his father’s better mind—nor the patient by his own humor, but by the physician’s skill. Truly, even the Lord’s corrections have been in judgment!6 And in the thankful remembrance of them my confidence for the time to come is established! Gladly will I “set to my seal,” that “the Lord is a God of judgment;” and that “blessed are they that wait for him.”7 He knows not only what grace is needed, but at what time. Not a moment sooner will it come; not a moment later will it be delayed. ‘As thou wilt, what thou wilt, when thou wilt,’8—is the expression of faith and resignation, with which all must be committed to the Lord, waiting for the end, in humility, desire, expectation. And if in pleading my suit for an hearing “according to his loving-kindness” my poor, polluted, lifeless petitions should find no liberty of approach; may I be but enabled to direct one believing look to “the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne!”9 and I will not doubt that my feeblest offering shall come up as a memorial before God.

1 2 Tim. 1:6.

2 Rev. 3:2.

3 Job 23:4.

4 Heb. 10:22.

5 John 3:16.

6 See Rom. 8:32.

7 See Gal. 4:4.

8 Comp. 1 Cor. 1:21.

9 Comp. Jer. 31:31–33.

10 John 10:10. 1 John 4:9.

11 1 John 5:11.

12 Ezek. 36:32.

1 Eph. 2:7. Titus 3:4.

2 Hosea 2:19.

3 Jer. 31:3.

4 Psalm 36:10.

5 Ps. 106:15.

6 Jer. 10:24.

7 Isaiah 30:18.

8 Thomas à Kempis.

9 Rev. 5:6.

Psalm 119:150  Those who follow after wickedness draw near; They are far from Your law.

• draw nigh (KJV): Ps 22:11-13,16 27:2 1Sa 23:16 2Sa 17:16 Mt 26:46,47, for from, Ps 50:17 Job 21:14 Pr 1:7,22 28:9 Eph 2:13,14 

 Those who follow after wickedness draw near; They are far from Your law.

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Charles Bridges - 150. They draw nigh that follow after mischief; they are far from thy law. 151. Thou art near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth The imminent danger in which David was living10 quickened his cries to his God. Often does the Lord permit this pressing trial. Seldom—but in extremity—are our graces brought to their full exercise. Confidence is then shaken from man, and established in God.11 For now it is that we enjoy our God as “a very present help in trouble,”12 and our dependence on his “commandments” is a “true” and solid foundation of comfort to our soul. An awful character indeed is it of the ungodly. “They are far from God’s law”—and that not from ignorance, but from wilful enmity. This is God’s witness against them;13 and they are not ashamed to consent, that “this witness is true.” No wonder, therefore, that those that “are far from God’s law” should “draw nigh to follow after mischief.”14 But if “they draw nigh,” the Lord is nearer still. “I am thy shield”1—saith he to his distressed child—who echoes back the promise in the cheerfulness of faith, “Thou art my hiding-place, and my shield: and I hope in thy word.”2 Elisha knew the power of this shield, when he quelled the alarm of his terrified servant. He beheld them “draw nigh that follow after mischief,” but the eye of faith assured his heart; and when “the Lord opened the eyes of the young man,” he too was enabled to testify, “Thou art near, O Lord!”3

But near as the Lord is to his people as their outward shield, is he not yet nearer still, as dwelling in their hearts? Here is “his temple,”4 his desired habitation—like Zion of old, of which he said,—“This is my rest forever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.”5 This is the dwelling, which, once possessed of its Divine Inhabitant, will never be left desolate.

Our spiritual enemies, like David’s persecutors, are ever present and active. The devouring “lion,”6 or the insinuating “serpent,”7 is “nigh to follow after mischief;” and so much the more dangerous, as his approaches are invisible. Nigh also is a tempting, ensnaring world; and nearer still a lurking world within, separating us from communion with our God. But in turning habitually and immediately to our strong hold, we can enjoy the confidence, “Thou art near, O Lord.” Though “the High and Lofty One, whose name is holy;”8 though the just and terrible God, yet art thou made nigh to thy people,9 and they to thee,10 “by the blood of the Cross.” And thou dost manifest thy presence to them in “the Son of thy love.”

Indeed to the Son himself, the nearness of his Father’s presence was a source of consolation and support, when “they drew nigh, that followed after mischief.” “He is near,” said he—“which justifieth me: who will contend with me? let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? So they all shall wax old as doth a garment: the moth shall eat them up.”11 “Behold,” said he to his affrighted disciples, as his hour drew near, “the hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered every one to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.”12 And thus his people in earthly desolation flee to the promises of their God; and in the recollection of his faithful, ever-present help, “set to their seal,” that “all his commandments are truth.” The mischief intended for them only proves, that “Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”1

But may the Lord not only be brought near in our interest in him, but may we be kept near in communion with him! Let our hearts be sacred to him. Let us be most careful to watch against any strangeness with this beloved Friend, and to cultivate a drawing cordiality and closeness in our walk with him. If our character is formed by the society in which we live, what “treasures of wisdom and knowledge” should we find, what a spirit of unbounded love should we imbibe—by a nearer and more constant intercourse with him; willing as he is to impart himself freely, inexhaustibly unto us! In a backsliding state, we must expect to lose this heavenly nearness.2 In a state of darkness, it is the exercise of faith, to believe that unseen he is near; and the practical influence of faith will lead us to speak, and pray, and think, and praise, as “seeing him who is invisible.”3 In a state of enjoyment, let us anticipate the time, when he will be ever near to us.

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”4

10 Psalm 57:4.

11 2 Cor. 1:9.

12 Psalm 46:1.

13 Ib. 50:17. Comp. Prov. 1:22, 25, 29.

14 ‘He cannot brook the child that hateth the father; he cannot mind the servant that careth not for the master. If ye were of the world, the world would love you; ye should dwell quietly. There would be no grief, no molestation, if the devil dwelt in you, (which God forbid.) He would not stir up his knights to besiege your house.… but because Christ dwelleth in you, (as he does by faith,) therefore stirreth he up his first-begotten son, the world, to seek how to disquiet you, to rob you, to despoil you, to destroy; and perchance your dear Father, to try to make known to you and to the world, that ye are destinate to another dwelling than here on earth, to another city than man’s eyes have seen at any time, hath given, or will give power to Satan or to the world to take from you the things which he hath lent you; and by taking away, to try your fidelity, obedience, and love towards him, (for ye may not love them above him,) as by giving that ye have, and keeping it, he hath declared his love towards you.’—Bradford’s Epistles—Fathers of the English Church, vol. vi. pp. 58, 59.

1 Gen. 15:1.

2 Ps 119:114.

3 Comp. 2 Kings 6:14–17.

4 2 Cor. 6:16.

5 Psalm 132:13, 14, with Eph. 2:22.

6 1 Peter 5:8.

7 Rev. 12:9.

8 Isaiah 57:15.

9 Col. 1:20.

10 Eph. 2:13.

11 Isaiah 40:8, 9.

12 John 16:32.

1 Psalm 5:12.

2 Song. 5:2–6.

3 Heb. 11:27.

4 Rev. 21:3.

Psalm 119:151  You are near, O LORD, And all Your commandments are truth.

• near (KJV): Ps 46:1 75:1 139:2 145:18 De 4:7 Mt 1:23 
• all (KJV): Ps 119:138,142 

GOD IS NEAR
HE HAS NOT MOVED

You are near, O LORD, And all Your commandments are truth - The point is we meet Him in His Word. These words are not just written words but they are actually works spoken from the heart of our Father to His children (2 Ti 3:16, 17+). When the Word speaks, God speaks. And then you truly experience the nearness of Jehovah, the Great I Am. So if you don't feel close to the omnipresent God today, ask yourself a simple question - WHO MOVED? (Read Hebrews 13:5+).

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Charles Bridges - See comment on v150.

Psalm 119:152  Of old I have known from Your testimonies That You have founded them forever.

• testimonies: Ps 119:144,160 Ps 89:34-37 Ps 111:7,8 Ec 3:14 Lu 21:33 

Related Passages:

Psalm 119:144 Your testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live. 

Psalm 119:160 The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting. 

Ecclesiastes 3:14  I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.

Of old I have known from Your testimonies That You have founded them forever - "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. " (Lk 21:33+)

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Charles Bridges - The truth of the commandments, which the Psalmist had just asserted, was an everlasting foundation. He stated it not upon slight conviction. But he knew it—and that not recently—but as the result of early consideration—he had known it of old. It is most important to have a full certainty of the grounds of our faith. How else can we have that “good thing—a heart established with grace?”5—how “continue in the faith grounded and settled?”—how “kept from being moved away from the hopes of the Gospel?”6 Praised be God! We feel our ground to be firm. As God is the same, so must his testimonies be.7 We cannot conceive of his promising without performance, or threatening without effect.8 They are therefore expressly revealed as a firm foundation, in express contrast with this world’s fairest promise.9

But let us mark this eternal basis of “the testimonies.” The whole plan of redemption was emphatically “founded forever.” The Saviour “was foreordained before the foundation of the world.”10 The people of God are “chosen in Christ before the world began!”11 The great Author “declares the end from the beginning,”12 and thus clears his dispensations from any charge of mutability or contingency. Every event in the Church is fixed, permitted, and provided for—not in the passing moment of time, but in the counsels of eternity. All God’s faithful engagements with his people of old are “founded forever” upon the oath and promise of God—the two “immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie.”1 May we not then “have strong consolation” in venturing every hope for eternity upon this rock? nor need we be dismayed to see all our earthly stays, “the world, and the lust, and the fashion of it—passing away” before us.2 Yet we are most of us strangely attached to this fleeting scene, even when experience and divine teaching have instructed us in its vanity: and it is not until repeated proofs of this truth have touched us very closely, in the destruction of our dearest consolations, that we take the full comfort of the enduring foundation of God’s “testimonies,” and of the imperishable character of their treasure.

Now let me realize the special support of this view in a dying hour, ‘I am on the borders of an unknown world;’ ‘but “my hope that maketh not ashamed,”3 at this moment of peril is as “an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast;” and in the strength of it I do not fear to plunge into eternity. “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day.”4 I know—not his sufficiency merely, but his All-sufficiency. I know his conquering power over the great enemies of my soul. I know that he has “spoiled the principalities and powers”5 of hell, of the strength to triumph over his ransomed people. I know also, that he is “the Lord; he changeth not;”6 his word changes not: his testimonies abide the same: “I have known of old, that he has founded them forever.” ’ Thus we look for the removing of those “things which are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”7 The scoffer may say,—“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do!”8 Let God himself give the answer—“Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.”9

5 Heb. 13:9.

6 Col. 1:23.

7 Ps. 89:34; 111:7–9.

8 Numb. 23:19.

9 Isaiah 40:1–8.

10 1 Peter 1:20. Comp. Rev. 13:8.

11 Eph. 1:4. 2 Tim. 1:9.

12 Isaiah 46:9, 10

1 Heb. 6:16–18.

2 1 John 2:17. 1 Cor. 7:31.

3 Rom. 5:5.

4 2 Tim. 1:12.

5 Col. 2:15.

6 Mal. 3:6.

7 Heb. 12:27.

8 Psalm 11:3.

9 Isaiah 51:6.

Psalm 119:153  Look upon my affliction and rescue me, For I do not forget Your law. (PRAYER)

• Consider (KJV): Ps 119:159 9:13 13:3,4 25:19 Ex 3:7,8 Ne 9:32 La 2:20 5:1 
• for I (KJV): Ps 119:16,98,109,141,176 

Look upon my affliction and rescue me, For I do not forget Your law.

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Warren Wiersbe - Ps. 119:153 Plead My Case
Read Psalm 119:153-160
 
Nobody enjoys going to court. I once was a character witness in a court case, and it wasn't fun. How much worse it must be for the accused. But if you must stand trial, it's good to know that somebody is there to plead your case. This is what the psalmist talks about when he says to the Lord, "Plead my cause and redeem me; revive me according to Your word" (Psalm 119:154).
 
The greatest Advocate we have is God. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31). During the week we may go through difficulties. People may lie about us, and uncomfortable situations may arise because people don't like us. Sometimes we are misunderstood and criticized. You may be going through such an experience today. But God is with you in the trials of life. When you and I are on trial, He pleads and defends our case.
 
He can handle the dispute. When we pray to God and say, "Plead my case," He goes to work. He also can accomplish our redemption, our deliverance. We are not going to be found guilty, and we are not going to be put in jail. God sets His people free in the difficulties of life.
 
God can overcome your discouragement. When you've been through a tough experience, you feel discouraged and let down. But God lifts you above discouragement with His reviving power.
 
Today, Jesus is pleading your case in heaven. He is your Heavenly Advocate and your High Priest. He gives you the grace to stay away from temptation and sin. But if you sin, you can go to your Advocate. He will forgive you, cleanse you and plead your case.
* * *
When others create difficulties for you, let God handle your dispute. He will deliver you and lift you above your discouragement. Likewise, Jesus will plead your case before the Father and forgive you (Psalm 119:153-160 Plead My Case)

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Charles Bridges - 153. Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy law

Another note of the child of sorrow! Hated by the world1—vexed by his restless enemy2—chastened by his God3—burdened with his “body of death,”4—what else can he do but cry, Consider my affliction? How manifestly is this world not our rest, but our exercise for rest! Well is it that our “days are few,” when they are so “evil.”5 But how could we hold on as we do—had we not our Saviour’s pitying heart and Almighty help? The want of this sympathy was the overwhelming sorrow, that well nigh “broke his” sorrowing “heart”—“I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.”6 This depth of trial combined with every other part of his unknown sufferings to make him “such an High Priest as became us,”7 “touched with the feeling of our infirmities;”8 “considering our afflictions:” and “in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.”9 With what sympathy did he “consider the affliction” of his people in Egypt! “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and I know their sorrows.”10 At a subsequent period, “his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel”11—a cheering example of that compassionate interest, with which, “in all his people’s afflictions he is afflicted.”12 Well may his people take encouragement to pray, “Consider mine affliction.” “Now, therefore, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us.”13

Yet is he not only sympathizing to consider, but mighty to deliver. “Who is this glorious” conqueror with his “dyed garments” of victory—“travailing in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness—mighty to save.”14 Such did the noble confessors in Babylon15—such did Daniel in the den of lions16—find him, fully justifying their unwavering confidence in his love and power. And what age of the Church has been wanting in testimony, that “the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations,”17 and that “he that hath delivered, doth deliver, and will even to the end deliver?”18 The consciousness that “we do not forget his law,” is our plea, that he would “consider our affliction and deliver” us;19 and is of itself an evidence, that the affliction has performed its appointed work. Let me then expect in mine affliction the fulfilment of his gracious promise, “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will deliver him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.”1 In the midst of my trials I would prepare my hymn of praise for his kind consideration and faithful deliverance—“I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities, and hast not shut me up in the hand of the enemy; thou hast set my feet in a large room!”2 Let me then remember my affliction, only as it may be the means of increasing my acquaintance with my tender and Almighty Friend. Poor and afflicted as I may be, let me be more poor and afflicted still, if I may but have fresh evidence that he “thinketh upon me”3—that he “considers my affliction,” and in his own gracious time and way will “deliver me.”

154. P

1 John 15:19.

2 Job 1:7. Luke 22:31. 1 Peter 5:8.

3 1 Cor. 11:32. Heb. 12:10, 11.

4 Rom. 7:24; 8:23.

5 Gen. 47:9.

6 Psalm 69:20. Comp. 22:11.

7 Heb. 7:26.

8 Heb. 4:15.

9 Heb. 2:18.

10 Exod. 3:7; also 2:25.

11 Judges 10:16.

12 Isaiah 63:9.

13 Neh. 9:32. Comp. Psalm 132:1.

14 Isaiah 63:1.

15 Dan. 3:17, 25–28.

16 Da. 6:23, 27.

17 2 Peter 2:9.

18 2 Cor. 1:10.

19 The same plea is often urged in this Psalm, verses 94, 173, 176.

1 Psalm 91:14, 15.

2 Psalm 31:7, 8.

3 Ps. 40:17.

Psalm 119:154  Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word. (TRIPLE PRAYER)

• Plead (KJV): Ps 35:1 43:1 1Sa 24:15 Job 5:8 Pr 22:23 Jer 11:20 50:34 51:36 Mic 7:9 1Jn 2:1 
• quicken (KJV): Ps 119:25,40 

REDEEM ME 
AND REVIVE ME!

Plead my cause and redeem me - 

Revive me according to Your word - Ps 69:32 71:20 80:18 85:6 119:25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159 138:7 143:11 Isa 57:15 Hos 6:2 Hab 3:2

Charles Spurgeon: In the last verse he had prayed, “Deliver me,” and here he specifies one method in which that deliverance might be vouchsafed, namely, by the advocacy of his cause. In providence the Lord has many ways of clearing the slandered of the accusations brought against them. He can make it manifest to all that they have been belied, and in this way he can practically plead their cause. He can, moreover, raise up friends for the godly who will leave no stone unturned till their characters are cleared; or he can smite their falsehood, and thus the righteous will be delivered without the striking of a blow. Alexander reads it, “Strive my strife, and redeem me”—that is, stand in my stead, bear my burden, fight my fight, pay my price, and bring me out to liberty. When we feel ourselves dumb before the foe, here is a prayer made to our hand. What a comfort that if we sin we have an advocate, and if we do not sin the same pleader is engaged on our side. Quicken me. As the soul is the center of everything, so to be quickened is the central blessing. It means more love, more grace, more faith, more courage, more strength, and if we get these we can hold up our heads before our adversaries. God alone can give this quickening; but to the Lord and giver of life the work is easy enough, and he delights to perform it. According to thy word. David had found such a blessing among the promised things, or at least he perceived that it was according to the general tenor of God’s Word that tried believers should be quickened and brought up again from the dust of the earth; therefore he pleads the Word, and desires the Lord to act to him according to the usual run of that Word. What a mighty plea is this.

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Charles Bridges - Oppressed as the Psalmist appeared to be by the weight of his affliction, he is at no loss where to apply for help. He carries his righteous cause to him, who “stilleth the enemy and the avenger”4—“Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me; say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.”5 Thus must we throughout our warfare maintain “the patience of hope,”6 waiting for the Lord, “until he plead our cause, and execute judgment for us.”7 If there is an accuser to resist,8 “we have an Advocate” to plead,9 who could testify of his prevailing acceptance in the court of heaven, “Father, I thank thee, that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me alway.”10 Our Redeemer does indeed “plead our cause” successfully for our “deliverance;” when but for his powerful advocacy we must have stood speechless in the judgment—helpless, without any prospect of acceptance. Awful indeed was the cause which he had to manage. Our adversary had the law on his side. We could not deny the charge, or offer satisfaction. We could neither “stand in the judgment,” nor flee from the impending wrath. But at that moment of infinite peril, our cause was pleaded by a “Counsellor”11 who never was nonsuited in court, who brought irresistible pleas, and produced satisfaction that could not be denied. The voice of deliverance was heard in heaven—“Deliver them from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.”12 This ransom is no less than the price of his own “precious blood,” “shed for many for the remission of sins”13—a ransom, which has merited and obtained eternal “deliverance”14 for his people, and which still pleads for the expiation of the guilt, which attaches to their holiest services, and defiles their happiest approaches to their God. When, therefore, Satan accuses me: yea, when my own heart condemns me, I may look upward to my heavenly Advocate—“Plead my cause and deliver me.”1 “O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. Thou wilt answer, O Lord, my God.”2

Poor trembling sinner! take courage. “Your Redeemer is mighty—he will thoroughly plead your cause,”3 and leave no charge unanswered. But you say, ‘How know I that he speaks for me?’ Yet if not for you, for whom does he speak? Who needs an advocate more than you? He pleads indeed nothing favorable of you; but much, very much, for you. For he pleads the merit of his own blood, “that taketh away the sin of the world”4—even that great sin of “unbelief,” of which his Spirit is now “convincing”5 you; and which you are now made to feel, lament, and resist, as the bitterest foe to your peace. And does he not “ever live to make intercession for you?” Why then hesitate to apply the certain and consoling inference, that “he is able to save to the uttermost?”6 Why discouraged by the sight of sin, temptation, backsliding, difficulty, and fear, arising before you on every side; when, after you have taken the most extended view of the prospect of sorrow, this one word “uttermost” goes beyond it? If you feel it hard to believe, send up your cry—“Help thou mine unbelief.”7 Only do not dishonor him by wilful despondency; and do not add the sin of disobedience, in delaying this moment to come to him.

After all, however, even while exercising faith in our heavenly Advocate, we must mourn our sluggishness in his service. Well, therefore, do we accompany our pleading for deliverance with the supplication—“Quicken me.” Every moment’s perseverance depends upon this Divine supply. Blessed be God for the sure warrant of expectation—“According to thy word!” Here we shall receive not only the living principle, but its lively operation; not only the fire to kindle the lamp, but the oil to feed the flame. For he that is our Advocate to “plead” for us, and our Saviour to “deliver” us, is also our quickening Head, filled with “the residue of the Spirit” to “revive his work.” Thou “hast ascended on high, and hast received gifts for men: yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.”8 Do we therefore want a heart to pray, to praise, to believe, to love? Let us only look to an ascended Saviour, sending down the life-giving influence from above, as the purchase of his blood, the fruit of his intercession; and our hope will be enlivened, our faith established, and the graces of the Spirit will abound to the glory of our God.

4 Ps. 8:2.

5 Ps. 35:1–3.

6 1 Thess. 1:3.

7 Micah 7:9.

8 Zech. 3:1. Rev. 12:10.

9 1 John 2:2.

10 John 9:41, 40.

11 Isaiah 9:5.

12 Job 33:24.

13 1 Peter 1:19. Matt. 26:28.

14 Heb 9:12.

1 ‘The word translated “deliver me,” is taken from the office of a redeemer or next of kin amongst the Israelities, to whom it belonged to redeem the inheritance, or ransom the person, of his impoverished or enslaved relative; and also to be his patron and defender against injustice and oppression, and the avenger of his blood, if he was slain.’—Scott. The use therefore of this word in the original, in this verse, naturally points the believer’s attention to him, who is indeed near of kin to him, and has combined all the offices of the ancient redeemer in his one beloved person; and therefore at once illustrates and warrants the view that is here given of the passage.

2 Isaiah 38:14. Psalm 38:15. Margin and P. T.

3 Jer. 50:34.

4 John 1:29.

5 Jn. 16:8, 9.

6 Hebrews 7:25.

7 Mark 9:24.

8 Psalm 68:18.

Psalm 119:155 Salvation is far from the wicked, For they do not seek Your statutes. 

• Salvation (KJV): Ps 18:27 Job 5:4 Isa 46:12 57:19 Eph 2:17,18 
• for they (KJV): Ps 10:4 Job 21:14,15 Pr 1:7 Lu 16:24 Ro 3:11 

YESHUA IS FAR
FROM THE WICKED!

Salvation is far from the wicked - Salvation is yeshua, JESUS - see Jesus vs Yeshua.

Salvation (help, deliverance) (03444) (yeshua see note on related word " Yehoshua/Jehoshua") is from a root in Arabic = "make wide" or "make sufficient' sarar = "narrow," = "be restricted" or "cause distress." The idea of wide connotes freedom from distress and ability to pursue one's objectives. It means to move from distress (enemies, natural catastrophe, plague or famine, sickness) to safety which requires deliverance. Generally deliverance comes from some an outside source. The one who brings deliverance is known as the "SAVIOR." Yeshua may be used in everyday life free of theological overtones at a well Moses saved daughters of Reuel (Ex 2:17) but generally has strong religious meaning. And so we read Yahweh wrought deliverance - God of our salvation Ps 68:19-20. Yeshua can also describe salvation through human agents empowered by God. While the NT idea of salvation is primarily forgiveness of sin, deliverance from sin's power and defeat of Satan, the OT only begins to point in this direction. And so in the OT the majority of references to salvation speak of Yahweh granting deliverance from real enemies and out of real catastrophe.

For they do not seek Your statutes - Jesus gives a similar declaration of even those people who claim to know God - notice the parallel with do not seek Your statutes in verse 23 where Jesus says in fact they continually (present tense) practice lawlessness (and lawlessness is sin! 1 Jn 3:4+). 

Mt 7:21-23+ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does (present tense = habitually, NOT PERFECTION BUT "DIRECTION") the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many (NOT FEW - MANY TODAY ARE DECEIVED THINKING THEY KNOW GOD AND ARE HEADED TO HEAVEN BUT WILL END UP IN HELL! THIS IS THE TRAGEDY OF TRAGEDIES!) will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE (present tense)  LAWLESSNESS (AND "PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT" IN THIS CASE MAKES THEM PERFECTLY LOST FOREVER!).’

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Charles Bridges - How striking the contrast!—how awfully destitute the condition! They have no one to consider their affliction—no one to deliver them—no one to plead their cause. Indeed, all the misery that an immortal soul is capable of enduring throughout eternity is included in this sentence—“Salvation is far from the wicked.” The full picture of it is drawn by our Lord himself, “The rich man died and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”1 The present enjoyment of “salvation” is “far from the wicked.” “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”2 Their common employments are “sin.”3 Their “sacrifice is an abomination.”4 Their life is “without Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world.”5 But who can tell the curse of eternity, with this “salvation far from them?” To be eternally shut out from God—from heaven! To be eternally shut in with the enemies of God, and the heirs of hell! Fellow-christians—look from what ye have escaped—what ye were, when “ye were sometimes afar off”—what ye would have been now and forever, had ye not “in Christ Jesus been made nigh by the blood of Christ:”6 and then “if you hold your peace, the stones will immediately cry out” against you.7

But whence this inexpressibly awful condition of “the wicked?” Is not “salvation” offered to them? Are they shut out from hope, and sternly refused an interest in the covenant? Oh! no; it is their own doing, or rather their own undoing. Would they but seek the ways of God, they might plead for deliverance; yea, they might have a prevailing Advocate to plead their cause, and deliver them. But now salvation is far from them, because “they are far from God’s law.”8 It does not fly from them—but they fly from it. Every act is a stride of mind, more or less vigorous in departure from God. Nay—such is their pride, that “they will not even seek his statutes.”9 They “desire not the knowledge of his ways. They say to God—“Depart from us;”10 God therefore will say to them, “Depart from me.”11 They say to Christ, “We will not have this man to reign over us;” He will say of them, “Those mine enemies, that would not I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”12 It is not then so much God that punishes them, as they that punish themselves. Their own sin—the necessity of the case—punishes them. They “will not come to Christ, that they might have life:”1 “so that they are without excuse”—die they must.2

But who are “the wicked?” Alas! this is a melancholy question, as involving within its sphere so much that passes for amiable, virtuous, and lovely, in the estimation of the world. Not to speak of those, whose name is broadly written upon their foreheads; it includes “all that forget God,”3 however blameless their moral character, or their external Christian profession. It is determined upon immutable authority—it is the decree of our eternal Judge—“If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his;”4 and if none of his, then it follows in unavoidable consequence, that “salvation is far from him.”

Oh! could we but persuade such of their awful state. Oh! could we awake them from their death-like—deadly sleep—slumbering on the brink of ruin! on the borders of hell! But they are impaled in their own self-esteem, or in the favorable comparison drawn between themselves and many around them; forgetting that the rule, by which they will be judged, is not the world’s standard of moral rectitude, but the statutes of a holy, heart-searching God; forgetting too, that all may be decency without, while all is corruption within. Let them test their hearts by an honest and prayerful scrutiny of the statutes; and while they must confess themselves guilty before God, a sense of danger would awaken the hearty cry for salvation5 which would not then “be far from them.”6 For “the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him; he will also hear their cry, and will save them.”7

O thou Almighty Spirit, whose power is alone able to “turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,”8 “raise up thy power, and come among us;” “rend the heavens, and come down;”9 rend the hearts of sinners, of the ungodly, the moral, the naturally amiable, the self-righteous. “Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O Lord.”10

1 Luke 16:22, 23, 26.

2 Isaiah 57:21.

3 Prov. 21:4.

4 Ps. 15:8.

5 Eph. 2:12.

6 Eph. 2:13.

7 Luke 19:40.

8 Psalm 73:27.

9 Ps. 10:4.

10 Job 21:14.

11 Matt. 7:23; 25:41

12 Luke 19:18, 27.

1 John 5:40.

2 Matt. 23:37, 38.

3 Psalm 9:17.

4 Romans 8:9.

5 Acts 16:30.

6 See Psalm 85:9.

7 Psalm 145:18, 19.

8 Luke 1:17.

9 Isaiah 64:1.

10 Psalm 83:16.

Psalm 119:156  Great are Your mercies, O LORD; Revive me according to Your ordinances. (PRAYER)

• are thy (KJV): Ps 51:1 86:5,13,15 1Ch 21:13 Isa 55:7 63:7 
• quicken (KJV): Ps 119:149 

Great are Your mercies, O LORD;

Revive me according to Your ordinances - Ps 69:32, 71:20, 80:18, 85:6, 119:25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159 138:7, 143:11 Isa 57:15 Ho6:2 Hab 3:2)

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Charles Bridges - 156. Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord; quicken me according to thy judgments

It is most cheering to pass from judgment to mercy—from the awful state of the wicked, to adore the mercies of God to his own people. We were naturally no better than they. The most eminent saved sinner looks on himself with wonder—“Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”11 Never will he lose the remembrance—“Who maketh thee to differ?”12 To mercy—rich mercy alone—we trace the distinction between those that are “quickened,” and those that remain “dead in trespasses and sins.”13

But let us mark the features of this mercy. How great in extent! Estimate its greatness by the infinite debt which it blots out1—the eternal ruin from which it saves2—the heavenly crown to which it raises.3 Trace it to the mind of God—that first eternal purpose of mercy, which sets us apart for his glory.4 Mark it in that “time of love,” when his mercy rescued us from Satan, sin, death, and hell, and drew us to himself.5 As soon might we span the arch of heaven, as fully grasp the greatness of his mercy.6 And then how tender is it in its exercise! Such was the first beam of mercy that “visited us.”7 Such has been the continued display. So natural as from a Father.8 So yearning, “as one whom his mother comforteth!”9 Such a multitude of those tender-mercies! The overflowing stream follows us through every step of our wilderness journey. The blessing compasses us about, abounds towards us, keeps us steadfast, or restores us when wandering, and will preserve us to the end. Happy are we—not in the general perception—not in the hearsay report10—but in the experimental enjoyment of it. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”11 But what poor returns have we made for this infinite love? Surely the petition for quickening grace suits us well. This was the constant burden of David’s prayer. For he was not like many professors, who can maintain their assurance in a lower and careless walk. No; he was a believer of a very high standard; desirous, not only of proving his title to the blessing, but of living in its habitual and active enjoyment.

Often as this petition has been brought before us, in the course of this psalm, it is too important ever to be passed over. Let us at this time use it for the purpose of individual self-inquiry. In what respects do I need quickening grace? Are my views of sin, and especially of the sin of my own heart, slight and superficial? Do they fail in producing humility, abasement, tenderness of conscience, circumspection of conduct? If it be so, “Quicken me, O my God!” Does my apprehension of a Saviour’s love serve to imbitter sin to me? to crucify sin in me, to warm and enliven my heart with love to him, and zeal in his service? If I am convicted of coldness to such a Saviour, and sluggishness in such a service, I need not pray—“O Lord, quicken me!” And how do I find it with regard to prayer itself? Are not my prayers general—unfrequent—wandering? Is not service too often constrained, a forced duty, rather than a privilege and delight? “O Lord, quicken me!”

Yet many Christians, through a mistaken perception, know not when they have received the blessing. They have looked for it in strong and sensible excitement; and in defect of this they sink into despondency. Whereas the solid influence is independent of sensations, and consists in a tender sensibility of sin—spiritual appetite for the Gospel—active energy in Christian duties, and continual progress in heavenly exercises. But under no circumstances must the evil of a dead and drooping state be lightly thought of; obscuring as it does the difference between the believer and the worldling, or at least between the believer and the formalist. O believer, you have great need to carry your complaint again and again unto the Lord: “Quicken me—quicken me—according to thy judgments”—according to those gracious promises, which are the method of thy proceedings, and the rule of thy dispensations of grace. You cannot be too earnest to welcome the breathings of the Spirit, or too cautious that your indolence resists not his Divine impression. When he quickens you with his influence, do you quicken him with your supplications—“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south: blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.”1 Persuade—entreat—constrain his stay. Enlivened by his energy, how happy, and in your own sphere how useful, a member of the Church of Christ you may be found! Your soul will be invigorated—your graces strengthened—and your affections elevated—in humble, cheerful, steady dependence upon the Saviour, and in daily renewed devotedness to his service. The more the spiritual life is thus “exercised unto godliness,” the more delightfully will you realize the active service and everlasting praise, which will constitute the perfection of heavenly enjoyment.—“His servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face.”2

11 Zech. 3:2.

12 1 Cor. 4:7.

13 Eph. 2:1, 4, 5.

1 Isaiah 43:22–25; 1:18.

2 Psalm 86:13.

3 Rev. 1:5, 6.

4 Eph. 1:4–6.

5 Ezekiel 16:6–8.

6 Psalm 103:11. Isaiah 55:8, 9.

7 Luke 1:78.

8 2 Cor. 1:3. Psalm 103:13.

9 Isaiah 66:13.

10 John 4:42.

11 Psalm 103:1–3.

1 Song. 4:16.

2 Rev. 22:3, 4.

Psalm 119:157  Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, Yet I do not turn aside from Your testimonies.

• Many (KJV): Ps 3:1,2 22:12,16 25:19 56:2 118:10-12 Mt 24:9 26:47 Ac 4:27 
• yet do I (KJV): Ps 119:51,110 44:17 Job 17:9 23:11 Isa 42:4 Ac 20:23,24 1Co 15:58 

Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, Yet I do not turn aside from Your testimonies.

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Charles Bridges - 157. Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy testimonies

David’s experience is common to us all. “Many indeed are our persecutors and enemies.” This is a solemn cost. Let those who are setting out in the Christian course count it well. From neglect of our Lord’s rule of scriptural calculation,3 many seem to begin well; but they have been “hindered”4—they turn back; they are zealous, but inconsiderate; warm-hearted, but ignorant of themselves, their work, and their resources. They were allured at first, perhaps by an interest in the Gospel—some delusive excitement of love to the Saviour—the picture of the “paths of pleasantness and peace,”5 or the joys of heaven. But the cross was out of sight and out of mind. But this promise of ease and happiness was no less foolish and unwarrantable than that of a soldier, utterly forgetful of his profession, and who should promise himself peace at the very time that he was called out to the wars. Surely, if like God’s ancient people, we begin our road in sunshine, it is well to be provided against the storms, which will soon overtake us.6 We would say therefore to all—specially to sanguine beginners—Let your course be commenced with serious consideration, and jealous self-scrutiny. Beware of hasty determinations. See to it that your resources are drawn, not from your own resolutions, or from the sincerity and ardor of your love; but from the fulness that is treasured up in Jesus for your present distress. Feel every step of your way by the light of the sacred word. If you expect Christian consistency to command the esteem of an ungodly world, you have forgotten both your Master’s word and example,1 and you will soon be ready to exclaim—“Many are my persecutors and mine enemies.” For if their hostility is not always active, the enmity “is not dead, but sleepeth.” If, however, their unexpected surprisals and inveteracy should daunt you in the conflict, you are again forgetting the word of cheering support in the most awful crisis—“My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”2 Thus the word of God will be “the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.”3 Presumption is cast down, self-confidence is humbled, and the trembling simplicity of dependence upon an Almighty arm is upheld and honored.

Count then upon the difficulties, that beset the heavenly path. You will never pluck the Rose of Sharon, if you are afraid of being pricked with the thorns which surround it. You will never reach the crown, if you flinch from the cross in the way to it. Oh! think of the honor of bearing this cross. It is conformity to the Son of God. Let the mind be deeply imbued with the remembrance of his daily cross of suffering and reproach; and we shall gladly “go forth without the camp, bearing his reproach,” yea—even “rejoicing, if we are counted worthy to suffer shame”4 with him and for him. Indeed what is our love, if we will not take up the cross for him? How can we be his followers without his cross?5 How can we be Christians, if we are not confessors of Christ before a world that despises his Gospel?

But a steady consistent profession is no matter of course. The crown, is not easily won. “Many are our persecutors and our enemies.” Persecution to the false professor is an occasion of apostasy;6 to the faithful servant of Christ, it is the trial of his faith,7 the source of his richest consolations,8 the guard of his profession,9 and the strength of his perseverance.10 It drives him to his God. He casts himself upon his Saviour for immediate refuge and support; and the quickening influence which he had just been seeking, enables him to say—“Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.” Thus did the great Apostle, at the time when his “persecutors were many,” and human help even from his friends had failed him, maintain an unshaken confidence in the service of his God. “At my first answer”—he tells us—“no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me”11 David himself often acknowledged the same principle of perseverance under similar trial—“Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be, which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. But Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory and the lifter up of my head. O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.”1

But have we never taken a devious path in “declining from the Lord’s testimonies,” to escape the appointed cross? Do we never shrink from “the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth, by reason of the enemy and the avenger?” Can we always in the integrity of our heart appeal to an Omniscient God—“All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant; our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death?”2 This profession is not the foolish confidence of boasting; but the fulfilment of the covenant promise—“I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from me.”3 So beautifully does the promise of perseverance connect itself with the duty of persevering! And so clearly in this, as in every other way, does the “wrath of man” (“howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so”) praise God!4 How glorious is the display of the power of his grace in the constancy of his people! like the rocks in the ocean, immovable amidst the fury of the waves; like the trees of the forest, “rooted and established” by every shaking of the tempest! Must not the world, in witnessing the total defeat of their enmity against the Lord’s people (or rather its eventual results in their increased prosperity,) be constrained to confess to the honor of God, “Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel—What hath God wrought?”5

3 Luke 14:28–33.

4 Gal. 5:7; 3:3.

5 Prov. 3:17.

6 Exodus 15:1; 16:1–3.

1 John 15:20.

2 2 Cor. 12:9.

3 2Co. 6:7.

4 Heb. 13:13. Acts 5:41.

5 See Matt. 16:24.

6 Ib. 13:20, 21.

7 1 Peter 1:6, 7.

8 Matthew 5:10–12. Acts 13:50–52. 1 Peter 4:12, 16.

9 Matt. 10:16. Phil. 2:14–16.

10 Acts 20:22–24.

11 2 Tim. 4:16, 17.

1 Psalm 3:1–3; 140:7.

2 Ps. 44:16–19.

3 Jer. 32:40.

4 Comp. Isaiah 10:7, with Psalm 76:10.

5 Numbers 23:23.

Psalm 119:158  I behold the treacherous and loathe them, Because they do not keep Your word.

• Ps 119:53,136 Eze 9:4 Mk 3:5 

I behold the treacherous and loathe them, Because they do not keep Your word.

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Charles Bridges - 158. I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word

We shall not tire in listening to this repeated expression6 of the Psalmist’s tenderness for the honor of God. No trouble from his “many persecutors and enemies” came so near to his heart as the sight of the dishonor and contempt of God’s word. The glory of God was dearer to him than life. Oh! that every recollection of this tried servant of God might deepen this special mark of acceptance upon our too cold and indifferent hearts!7 Our joys and sorrows are the pulse of the soul. A fellowship with the joys of angels over repenting sinners8 will be accompanied with bitterness of godly sorrow over the hardness and impenitency of those, who “keep not the word of God.”

But even here we need much and earnest prayer in order to obtain a clear perception of our real principles. Sin is so subtle in its nature and workings, that it insinuates itself into our holiest desires, and often so far interweaves itself into the graces of the Spirit, as greatly to mar their beauty, and obstruct their operations. How often is zeal for the honor of God mingled with the unhallowed fire of our own spirit?1 True zeal is indeed a precious fruit of the Spirit, whose other name is love—active, self-denying, compassionate love for sinners. ‘Let me never fancy I have zeal,’ said a Christian of a very high order, ‘till my heart overflows with love to every man living.’2 If then we are really under its holy influence, we shall lose no opportunity of active exertions on behalf of wretched “transgressors;” and the limits of our zeal will be only the limits of a fallen world. Especially within our own sphere shall we employ all our labors and pains to stem the tide of unrighteousness, “saying unto the fools—Deal not foolishly—How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?”3

But the fervency of zeal will express itself in something more difficult than personal service. We can often warn and plead with transgressors, when we are sinfully backward in sending up sighs and cries on their behalf; and in presenting these poor lepers by faith to that great and good Physician, whose “power present to heal”4 has been so abundantly manifested. This is indeed zeal of rare attainment through our own unbelief; but it brings its own rich blessing to the soul; because it is the zeal of the compassionate Jesus; who, though he looked round on sinners with anger, “being grieved for the hardness of their hearts,”5 did not forget to plead on their behalf, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”6 It was the zeal and love of him who identified his Father’s interest with his own, that he endured the reproaches cast upon him in his bosom.7 And should not the members feel, when the Head is wounded?8 Should not we consider every dishonor done to Jesus as a shaft piercing our own breast? Can we bear to “behold” all around us united in a conspiracy against the honor and—if it were possible—against the life, of our dearest friend and benefactor, and not be painfully “grieved?” Yet genuine “grief” must begin with our own hearts—“all of us mourning, every one for his iniquity.”9 The wickedness of others will stir up the conviction within our own consciences, “I do remember my faults this day.”10 And when once we begin the enumeration, where shall we end? “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults!” “Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord.”1

6 Compare Ps 119:53, 136.

7 See Ezekiel 9:4–6.

8 Luke 15:10.

1 See Luke 9:54, 55.

2 Martyn’s Life, p. 192.

3 Psalm 75:4. Proverbs 1:22. Ezekiel 33:11.

4 Luke 5:17.

5 Mark 3:5.

6 Luke 23:34.

7 Psalm 69:9, 20, with Rom. 15:3.

8 Celerinus, in Cyprian’s Epistles acquaints a friend with his great grief for the apostasy of a woman through fear of persecution, which afflicted him so much, that at the feast of Easter (the queen of feasts in the primitive church) he wept night and day, and resolved never to know a moment’s delight, till, through the mercy of God, she should be recovered.

9 Ezekiel 7:16.

10 Genesis 41:9.

1 Psalm 19:12; 143:2.

Psalm 119:159  Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness. (PRAYER)

• Consider: Ps 119:97,153 2Ki 20:3 Ne 5:19 13:22 
• Revive me: Ps 119:88 

Consider how I love Your precepts - (Ps 1:1,2;19:7-11 119:16, 24, 35, 47, 48, 72, 92, 97,103, 111,113,127,159,167,174 Je15:16): The way you treat your Bible is the way you treat Christ. To love Him is to love His Word. The Word is a delight (Ps 119:16, 24, 16, 35, 47, 70) and not a disappointment; we rejoice to read it (Ps 119:14, 162).

Revive me, O LORD - Ps 69:32 71:20 80:18 85:6 119:25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159 138:7 143:11 Isa 57:15 Hos 6:2 Hab 3:2):

According to Your lovingkindness - According to Your hesed/chesed/heced, Your  faithful love in action which refers to God's lovingkindness expressed in His covenant relationship with Israel (His "loyal love" to His "Wife" Israel [cp Hos 2:18, 19, 20-see note, Is 54:5, Je 31:32] = His "loyalty to covenant"). God's hesed His denotes persistent and unconditional tenderness, kindness, and mercy, a relationship in which He seeks after man with love and mercy (cp God immediately seeking man Ge 3:9, who was immediately hiding Ge 3:8 trying to cover their shame Ge 3:7 - contrast God's lovingkindness manifest by spilling blood to provide skins to cover their shame! Ge 3:21). Hesed expresses both God’s loyalty to His covenant and His love for His people along with a faithfulness to keep His promises.

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Charles Bridges - 159. Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O Lord, according to thy loving-kindness

“Love for the precepts,” such as this Psalm describes, is a distinguishing characteristic of a child of God. “The transgressors” neither “love the precepts,” nor desire “quickening” grace to keep them. For though not “grievous”2 in themselves, they are too strict, too humbling for the unrenewed, proud worldly heart.3 Love therefore to them—not being the growth of the natural man—must be “a plant which our heavenly Father hath planted”—a witness of the Spirit of adoption, and the principle of Christian devotedness. And how encouraging is the recollection of the Lord’s readiness to “consider how we love his precepts!” “I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”4 Thus also did he challenge “the accuser of the brethren, to consider his servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil.”5

But while love of the precepts realizes the full confidence of the Lord’s consideration, the consciousness of its imperfection and scanty measure will always prevent us from urging it as the ground of acceptance. Christian! you know not—or at least you allow not—the proud boast—“God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are.”6 No, rather—your constant cry to the end is “Quicken me.” Your plea is not merit—but mercy. Not that you deserve to be helped, because you “love the precepts:” but you desire and trust to be helped—“according to thy loving-kindness.” And what must be the loving-kindness of a God of infinite love! Only do not sit still, and wait for the breezes of his love. Rather call to the “north wind to awake, and to the south wind to blow,”7 to fill your sails, and urge you on. God—his word, his works, his perfections, his holiness; Jesus—his pity, his love, his grace—is your delight, your chief delight; yet how infinitely is it below the scriptural standard of privilege, attainment, and expectation!

Under the painful influence of straitened desires and heartless affections, how refreshing is it to mark the springs of life flowing from “the loving-kindness of the Lord!” Yes, indeed—he is the overflowing spring of his Church. Every mercy is his grace. Every holy suggestion is his influence. The least thought of our Christian progress, proceeding from our own resources, opens the door of fearful departure from God. And yet such is the self-deceitfulness of the heart—that, in the very act of professing to “rejoice in Christ Jesus,” the Omniscient eye traces a “confidence in the flesh.”8 The real dependence is on the “mountain that stands strong,” not on “the favor that makes” it so.1 Even our first father, in his original unimpaired strength, could “not quicken his own soul.”2 Can we wonder that the fallen nature, even though partially upheld by Divine power, is changeable and unstable? The most advanced Christian needs the supply to the end, as much as he did in his first stage of infantine weakness. And will he not continue to need it throughout eternity, in every exercise of adoring service, as well as for his active existence?

But when we ask for this quickening, are we expecting, as we ought to be, a large answer to our prayer?3 Or are we “limiting our God” by the scanty apprehensions of our poor faith? Remember, he is glorified—not in possessing, but in dispensing his gifts.4 If we really expect his blessing, can we be satisfied without it? It is not our unworthiness but our unbelief, that stops the current.5 Would that we gave him full credit for his exuberant flow of free, rich, ceaseless mercy!

Blessed Jesus! we plead thy promise to be filled.6 We have life from thee; but give it us “more abundantly”7—as much as these houses of clay—as much as these earthen vessels—can contain. Our taste of thy love, and our knowledge of its unbounded fulness—encourage our plea to ask thee still for more—“Quicken us according to thy loving-kindness.” Often as the Psalmist had repeated his prayer for quickening grace,8 it was not a “vain repetition.”9 Each time was it enlivened with faith, feeling of necessity, and ardent affection; and should we, in the consciousness of our weakness and coldness, offer it a hundred times a day, it would never fail of acceptance.

2 1 John 5:3.

3 Compare Jer. 6:10.

4 Genesis 18:19.

5 Job 1:8.

6 Luke 18:11.

7 Song. 4:16.

8 Phil. 3:3.

1 Psalm 30:7.

2 Ps. 22:29.

3 Ps. 81:10.

4 John 14:13.

5 Matt. 13:58. Mark 6:5.

6 Matt. 5:6.

7 John 10:10.

8 Nine times is this petition urged, Ps 119:25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159.

9 Compare Matt. 6:7.

Psalm 119:160 The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting. 

• The sum of Your word is truth Ps 119:86,138 Pr 30:5 2Ti 3:16 
• And every one: Ps 119:75,142,144,152 Ec 3:14 Mt 5:18 

The sum of Your word is truth - (NIV = all, NKJV = entirety)(the beginning) - from the beginning, i.e., “every word from Genesis (called so by the Jews from its first words, ‘In the beginning’) to the end of the Scriptures is true.” The whole body of revelation is truth. “Thy Word is nothing but truth” [Luther].

Sum (07218)(ro'sh) means head, crucial part of the body containing the brain stem and other most crucial sensory input parts such as eyes, mouth, ears, etc. Ge 3:15; 40:19; Ps 74:14. Source, beginning point from which a spatial extension occurs Ge 2:10) The sum, a large amount of items or entities (Ps 139:17). 

Septuagint - Principality (746)(arche)refers to the commencement of something as an action, process, or state of being.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852) emphasized the importance of THE TRUTH: "If truth be not diffused, error will be. If God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy. If the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will. If the power of the gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land...corruption and darkness will reign."

And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting - Note note some but every one! 

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Charles Bridges - 160. Thy word is true from the beginning; and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever

The “loving-kindness and the truth of God” were two heavenly notes, on which “the sweet Psalmist of Israel” loved to dwell10—his “loving-kindness”—in giving, and his “truth” in fulfilling—his gracious promises. Indeed the displays of his truth—whether to his Church collectively, or to his people individually—have always been every way worthy of himself. Often has his word seemed on the eve of being falsified, clearly with the design of a brighter and more striking display of its faithfulness. The very night previous to the close of the four hundred and thirty years, Israel was, to all human appearances, as far from deliverance as at any former period. But “the vision was for an appointed time:” nothing could hasten, nothing could delay it;1 for “it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even the self same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.”2 At a subsequent period, the family of David appeared upon the point of extinction, and as if the promise of God would fall to the ground: but to exhibit “the word of God3 as true from the beginning,” a providential, and almost a miraculous, interference was manifested. When Athalia destroyed all the seed-royal of the house of Judah, Joash was stolen away, put under a nurse, hid in the house of the Lord six years, and in God’s appointed time brought forth to the people, as the fulfilment of the express promise of God—“Behold the king’s son shall reign, as the Lord hath said of the sons of David.”4 “Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.”5

And thus have many of his own people been tempted in seasons of despondency to “charge God foolishly.”6 But who of them has not afterwards, in some unexpected deliverance, “set to his seal”—“Thy word is true from the beginning?”7 “The Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left.”8 And how do these recollections put to shame the suggestions of unbelief, and strengthen our confidence in the prospect, or even in the present endurance, of “manifold temptations!”

The full acknowledgment of the truths of God’s word is the ground of all our peace and comfort. The believing reception of the testimony opens to us a free access to God.9 We stand before him self-condemned, and yet believe that “there is no condemnation.”10 “The Spirit beareth witness” to and “with our spirits,” that “this God is our God, forever and ever”—unto death,11 in death,12 and through eternity.13 In this simplicity of rest upon the testimony, we go to our God, like Abraham, in sensible hopelessness, but in assured confidence, “strong in faith, giving glory to God.”14

Many, however, have been so used to indulge the pride of their own reasonings, that they scarcely know how to read the book of God without cavilling. If they believe while it is in their hands, they are not prepared to give a reason of their faith. They have ventured into conflict with the enemy with unproved armor, and so have been shaken and troubled. Or perhaps their faith does not reach to the whole testimony, and therefore being partial only, is not genuine. For if we do not give full credence to all, we do not give true credence to any. We do not receive it on the authority of God, but only so far as our reasoning can explain it, or our will may approve it. What need then have we to pray for a teachable simplicity of faith—not asking—‘What thinkest thou?’ but “How readest thou?” In this spirit we shall hold our anchor on solid ground; and should we again be “tossed with the tempest,” we shall look to him, who stilleth the storm, and there shall be “a great calm.”1 Confidence simply built upon the word of God will endure the storm of earth and hell.

Yet we may loosely believe all, while we practically believe none. The generalities of truth have no influence without an individual application. The summary look of acquiescence will miss all the solid blessing of a reverential and experimental faith. But to find—as the woman of Samaria found—that ‘it is all true’—because it answers to our convictions, our wants, and our feelings2—to know that the promises are true, because they have been fulfilled in us—this is tasting, feeling, handling—this is indeed blessedness—this makes the word unspeakably precious to us—“a treasure to be desired.”3 To have the witness in ourselves, that “we have not followed cunningly-devised fables,” but that it is “a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”4—this indeed is “life from the dead.” Oh! how should we seek thus to receive the word “with much assurance!”5 The Israelites were not satisfied with inquiring respecting the manna—“What is this?”6—or with discovering that it had descended from heaven; but they gathered it each for himself, and fed upon it as their daily bread. Nor will it be of any avail to us to prove beyond contradiction, and to acknowledge with the fullest assurance the truth of God’s word, unless we thus embrace it, and live upon it as our heavenly portion. Faith alone can give this spiritual apprehension, “He that believeth hath the witness in himself.”7 But if the word be the truth of God “from the beginning,” it must be eternal truth in its character and its results; like its Great Author in every particular, “enduring forever.” “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven; Thy faithfulness is unto all generations.”8 Here is the rock of my confidence. How could I rest my hope on any salvation, that did not proceed from the primary, unchangeable, eternal mind? What assurance could I have elsewhere, that the grand plan might not be defeated by some unexpected combination? Whereas every heart of reliance in his faithfulness establishes more firmly his title to my confidence, and strengthens the soul into a habit of intelligent vigorous faith.

Lord! give unto us that “precious faith,” which makes the acknowledgment of the “truth of thy word from the beginning,” and its “endurance forever,” the spring of continual life and consolation to our souls.

10 See his character described—“Good and upright is the Lord,” Psalm 26:8—and mark these perfections pleaded in their combined connection with his purposes of grace—“Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham”—“mercy” in the original grant—truth in the subsequent ratification and performance. Micah 7:20. Compare Luke 1:72, 73.

1 Hab. 2:3.

2 Exodus 12:41.

3 Compare 2 Sam. 7:16.

4 2 Chron. 22:10–12; 23:3.

5 Psalm 107:43.

6 Job 1:22.

7 Gen. 42:36, with 48:15, 16.

8 Deut. 32:36. Comp. 2 Kings 14:26, 27.

9 Eph. 3:12.

10 Rom. 3:19; 8:1.

11 Ro. 8:16. Psalm 48:14.

12 Psalm 73:26.

13 Rev. 21:3.

14 Rom. 4:19, 20.

1 Mark 4:39.

2 John 4:29.

3 Prov. 21:20.

4 1 Tim. 1:15.

5 1 Thess. 1:5.

6 Exod. 16:15, margin.

7 1 John 5:10.

8 Ps 119:89, 90.

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THUMBS UP
The entirety of Your Word is truth. —Psalm 119:160

Pandora, a website available in America, New Zealand and Australia, is one of the musical marvels of the internet age. It helps users create their own personal radio station by allowing them to customise their music. It plays a song and users then click a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ sign to indicate whether or not they like it. The users end up with only a grouping of songs that they like.

Unfortunately, sometimes we do that with the Bible too. People may choose some Scripture passages they especially like and ignore others, and so they ‘customise’ it to their preferences. The psalmist looked at God’s Word this way: “The entirety of Your Word is truth” (Ps. 119:160). And the apostle Paul told Timothy, a young pastor, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable” (2 Tim. 3:16).

The Scriptures were important to Jesus (Matt. 5:17-18), but He looked at them differently than the religious leaders of His day. To Him, “You shall not murder” was on the level of being “angry with [a] brother without a cause” (vv.21-22). Far from customising Scripture, He was concerned about the motivation of people’s hearts in applying all of it.

As we read all of God’s Word, we’ll know Him more deeply and desire to honour Him. Marvin Williams (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR BIBLE, ASK GOD TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND IT.

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Proclaiming The Truth

Read: Psalm 119:145-160

The entirety of Your Word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. —Psalm 119:160

Have you noticed that lies are being paraded before us in an endless, morals-destroying stream? Daniel Webster (1782-1852) predicted this when he stated, “If truth be not diffused, error will be. If God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy. If the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will. If the power of the gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, . . . corruption and darkness will reign.”

We must proclaim the truth—truth found in the teachings of God’s Word. The psalmist declared, “The entirety of Your Word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever” (Ps. 119:160). Those timeless truths are needed in our world today. For example, we must proclaim the truth that as sinful people we need God’s forgiveness (1 Jn. 1:6-7). We must proclaim the truth that Jesus is the only Savior (Jn. 14:6).

As we stand against the tide of corrupt messages being printed and broadcast without restraint, we must proclaim the truth, promote the truth, and live the truth.

Truth is undeniable. Proclaim it in love and watch it make a difference in people’s lives.By Dave Branon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Lord, give us courage to speak out
Against the evils of our day;
For only when the truth is known
Will sinners see a better way.
—DJD

To proclaim the truth, you must know the One who is the truth.

Psalm 119:161 Shin. Princes persecute me without cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your words. 

• Princes (KJV): Ps 119:23,157 1Sa 21:15 24:9-15 26:18 Joh 15:25 
• my heart (KJV): Ps 4:4 Ge 39:9 42:18 2Ki 22:19 Ne 5:15 Job 31:23 Isa 66:2 Jer 36:23-25 

Shin. Princes persecute me without cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your words - (Isa 66:2,v5, Pr 28:14 Ps 119:161 Ezra 9:4, 10:3): 

Ryrie on Ps 119:161-168  - The psalmist has awe, joy, love, and praise for God's Word. 

Matthew Henry - Those whose hearts stand in awe of God's word, will rather endure the wrath of man, than break the law of God. By the word of God we are unspeakable gainers. Every man hates to have a lie told him, but we should more hate telling a lie; by the latter we give an affront to God. The more we see the beauty of truth, the more we shall see the hateful deformity of a lie. We are to praise God even for afflictions; through grace we get good from them. Those that love the world have great vexation, for it does not answer what they expect; those that love God's word have great peace, for it outdoes what they expect. Those in whom this holy love reigns, will not perplex themselves with needless scruples, or take offence at their brethren. A good hope of salvation will engage the heart in doing the commandments. And our love to the word of God must subdue our lusts, and root out carnal affections: we must make heart work of it, or we make nothing of it. We must keep the commandments of God by obedience to them, and his promises by reliance on them. God's eye is on us at all times; this should make us very careful to keep his commandments. 

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Warren Wiersbe -  Ps. 119:161 A Treasure to Win
Read Psalm 119:161-168
 
"I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure" (Psalm 119:162). When do we find great treasure or spoil? Usually after a battle. Thus, this verse indicates that Bible study involves a battle or conflict that starts with our own flesh.
 
The flesh and the natural mind don't want to be disciplined enough to read and study the Word of God. Of course, the world doesn't want this either. The world wants us to ignore Scripture and believe its own lies and vain thoughts. And Satan hates the Bible. He will do anything he can to keep us from reading, studying, meditating on and obeying the Word of God.
 
So the Bible can become an arena for conflict. Sometimes I'll be reading it and think of something that needs to be done, or I'll see a book out of place on my shelf and want to get up and fix it. The Devil puts distractions all around me to keep me from winning the battle of studying the Word of God.
 
Scripture is indeed a treasure to win. And sometimes there is a battle that must be fought first to win it. But there is also a joy to experience. "I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure." It's beautiful to think your way through a portion of Scripture, to meditate, study and pray and then see the treasure that is revealed. Bible study enriches our lives. It not only helps you understand the Word but also enables you to become more like the Author.
* * *
The Devil rages a battle against believers who read and study the Bible. Why? Because when you study the Word, you become more like Jesus. If you win the battle, you will gain the spoils. Let the Word enrich your life. Win the treasure and experience the joy of Bible study. (Psalm 119:161-168 A Treasure to Win)

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Charles Bridges - 161. Princes have persecuted me without a cause; but my heart standeth in awe of thy word

So contrary are the principles of God and the world! God chastens his people for their sin.1 The world persecutes them for their godliness.2 So it has been from the beginning,3 and will continue to the end.4 David had before mentioned his persecutors as many.5 Now he tells us, that they were like those of David’s Lord, the princes of the earth.6 In both cases, however, was it confessedly without cause.7 Had it been with cause, it would have been his shame.8 Now it was his glory.9 In the former case it would have been his own—here it was his Master’s—cross.

His awe of God’s word was the gracious restraint to his own spirit.10 And this godly fear has always marked the people of God. Witness Joseph,11 Moses,12 Nehemiah,13 and the Jews,14 and the three Babylonish captives.15 Josiah also obtained a special mark of acceptance.16 For the man “that trembleth at God’s word,” whether he be found on the throne or on the dunghill, is the man “to whom the Lord will look.”17 And certainly where—as with David—the wrath of princes and the wrath of God are weighed against each other—who can doubt, but that it is better to incur the persecution of men by a decided adherence to the word of God, than the wrath of God, by declining from it?

Our Saviour, “knowing what was in man,” had clearly forewarned and fore-armed his disciples against these difficulties.18 The trial at the first onset proved too hard for them; Peter’s “heart stood in awe” of the “persecuting princes,” and in a moment of temptation he disowned his Master:19 but when “the Spirit of power”20 was poured from on high, such was the “holy awe,” in which himself and his brethren “stood of God’s word,” that they declared, in the face of the whole council—“Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. We ought to obey God rather than men.”21 ‘I fear God,’ Colonel Gardiner used to say, ‘and I have nothing else to fear.’

Indeed the spirit of adoption—the Christian’s distinguishing character and privilege—produces an awe of God, a dread of sinning against the tenderest Father, of grieving the dearest Friend. And this awe of God will naturally extend to his word: so that we shall be more tenderly afraid of disregarding its dictates, than the most faithful subject of breaking the law of his beloved Sovereign. There is nothing slavish or legal in this fear. It is the freedom and the holiness of the Gospel; the very soul of religion; the best preservative of our joys and privileges; and the best evidence of their scriptural character. We shall find, with David, this principle a valuable safeguard against the richest allurements, or the most powerful reproach of men, to “go beyond the word of the Lord to do less or more.”1

But what must be the state of that heart, where the word of the great God—the Creator and Judge of the earth—commands no reverence! Could the sinner hear a voice from heaven, addressed distinctly to himself, would he dare to reject it? Yet “we have a more sure word, whereunto we do well that we take heed;”2 that we receive it with silent awe, bow before it with the most unlimited subjection, and yield ourselves entirely to its holy influence.3 But if it does not stand infinitely higher in our estimation than all—even the best—books of man, we have no just perception of its value, nor can we except any communication of its treasures to our hearts. The holiness of God is stamped upon its every sentence. Let us then cherish an awe of this word—“receiving it”—not as a common book, “not as the word of man; but as it is in truth, the word of God,”4 in the true spirit of Cornelius and his company—“Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.”5

1 Isa. 27:9.

2 John 15:19.

3 Gal. 4:29.

4 2 Tim. 3:12.

5 Ps 119:157.

6 Ps 119:23. 1 Sam. 18:8, 28, 29, with Ps. 2:2. 1 Cor. 2:8.

7 1 Sam. 24:17; 26:21. John 15:25. Matt. 26:59, 60. Comp. Dan. 6:4, 5.

8 Ps 119:39. 1 Peter 2:20; 3:17; 4:15.

9 Ps 119:46. 2 Sam. 6:22. Matt. 5:10–12. 1 Peter 4:14.

10 1 Sam. 24:6.

11 Gen. 39:9.

12 Heb. 11:27.

13 Neh. 5:15.

14 Ezra 9:4; 10:3.

15 Dan. 3:16–18.

16 2 Chron. 34:26, 27.

17 Isa. 66:2.

18 Luke 12:11, 12.

19 Matt. 26:69–75.

20 2 Timothy 1:7.

21 Acts 4:19, 29; 5:29.

1 Nu 22:18.

2 2 Peter 1:19.

3 The Jews’ frontispiece to their great Bible is Jacob’s expression of fear and astonishment upon his vision of God at Bethel—“How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” ‘So ought we,’ as Dr. Owen remarks upon this, ‘to look upon the word with a holy awe and reverence of the presence of God in it.’

‘I would advise you all, that come to the reading or hearing of this book, which is the word of God, the most precious jewel, and most holy relic that remaineth upon earth, that ye bring with you the fear of God, and that ye do it with all due reverence, and use your knowledge thereof, not to vain glory of frivolous disputation, but to the honor of God, increase of virtue, and edification both of yourselves and others.’—Cranmer’s Judgment of Scripture, p. 20.

4 1 Thess. 2:13.

5 Acts 10:33. On this particular a hint from a heathen may not be unworthy of our remark. “Ehud said to Eglon, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.” Judges 3:20.

Psalm 119:162 I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds great spoil. 

• rejoice (KJV): Ps 119:72,111 Jer 15:16 
• as one (KJV): 1Sa 30:16 Pr 16:19 Isa 9:3 

I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds great spoil - Poor soldiers were made rich from the spoil left by the defeated enemy. The riches of the Word do not come easy; there must first be that spiritual battle against Satan and the flesh. But it is worth it.

Wiersbe -  Scripture is indeed a treasure to win. And sometimes there is a battle that must be fought first to win it. But there is also a joy to experience. "I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure." It's beautiful to think your way through a portion of Scripture, to meditate, study and pray and then see the treasure that is revealed. Bible study enriches our lives. It not only helps you understand the Word but also enables you to become more like the (Prayer, Praise and Promises)

Spurgeon: I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. His awe did not prevent his joy; his fear of God was not of the kind which perfect love casts out, but of the sort which it nourishes. He trembled at the word of the Lord, and yet rejoiced at it. He compares his joy to that of one who has been long in battle, and has at last won the victory and is dividing the spoil. This usually falls to the lot of princes, and though David was not one with them in their persecutions, yet he had his victories, and his spoil was equal to their greatest gains. The profits made in searching the Scriptures were greater than the trophies of war. We too have to fight for divine truth; every doctrine costs us a battle, but when we gain a full understanding of it by personal struggles it becomes doubly precious to us. In these days godly men have a full share of battling for the word of God; may we have for our spoil a firmer hold upon the priceless word. Perhaps, however, the Psalmist may have rejoiced as one who comes upon hidden treasure for which lie had not fought, in which case we find the analogy in the man of God who, while reading the Bible, makes grand and blessed discoveries of the grace of God laid up for him, -- discoveries which surprise him, for he looked not to find such a prize. Whether we come by the truth as finders or as warriors fighting for it, the heavenly treasure should be equally dear to us. With what quiet joy does the ploughman steal home with his golden find! How victors shout as they share the plunder! How glad should that man be who has discovered his portion in the promises of holy writ, and is able to enjoy it for himself, knowing by the witness of the Holy Spirit that it is all his own.

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Charles Bridges - 162. I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil

The “awe” in which we should “stand of God’s word,” so far from hindering our delight in it, is, as we have just hinted, the most suitable preparation for its most happy enjoyment.6 In receiving every word of it as the condescending message from him, before whom angels veil their faces, we shall “rejoice at it, as those that find great spoil.” Often had David found “great spoil” in his many wars;7 but never had his greatest victories brought him such rich spoil, as he had now discovered in the word of God. The joy in this treasure (like that of the church at the advent of Christ,1 described by this figure) evidently implied no common delight. If then the saints of old could so largely enrich their souls from their scanty portion of the word; must not we, who are favored with the entire revelation of God, acknowledge, “the lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places; yea, we have a goodly heritage?”2

This expressive image may remind us, that the spoils of this precious word are not to be gained without conflict: Here “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.” Our natural taste and temper revolt from the word. Our indolence indisposes for the necessary habitual effort of prayer, self-denial, and faith. But still “the violent do take the kingdom by force.”3 No pains are lost—no struggle ineffectual. What great spoil is divided as the fruit of the conflict! What abundant recompense is in reserve for the “good soldier of Jesus Christ, who is determined, in Divine strength, to “endure hardness,”4 until he overcomes the reluctance of his heart for the spiritual duty! It is not a sudden flash, or impression upon the imagination; but the conqueror’s joy in spoiling the field of conflict—solid and enriching. Sometimes indeed (as in the Syrian camp5) we find the spoil unexpectedly. Sometimes we see the treasure long before we can make it our own. And when we gird ourselves to the conflict, paralyzed by the weakness of our spiritual perceptions and the power of unbelief; many a prayer, and many a sigh is sent up for Divine aid, before we are crowned with victory, and as the fruit of our conquest, joyfully appropriate the word to our present distress.

But from a cursory, superficial reading of the word of God, no such fruit can be anticipated. When therefore the flesh or the world have deadened our delight, and taken from us this “great spoil,” should we not arm ourselves for a repossession of it? Should we be unaffected by our loss? Oh, then, since there are such treasures found and enjoyed in this field of conflict, let us not lose our interest in them by the indulgence of presumption, heartlessness, or despondency. Before we attempt to read, cry to the Lord, under the sense of utter helplessness to perform one spiritual act, for his powerful help and Almighty teaching. Then we shall persevere with unconquerable and unwearied vigor, and not fail to share in the blessed spoil of victory, views of a Saviour’s dying love—an interest in the precious blessings of the cross—“great spoil”—“unsearchable riches.”6

6 Ps. 112:1. Acts 9:31.

7 At Ziklag—1 Samuel 30:19, 26–30 From the children of Ammon—2 Samuel 12:20.

1 Isaiah 9:3.

2 Psalm 16:6.

3 Matt. 11:12.

4 2 Tim. 2:3.

5 2 Kings 7:8.

6 Eph. 3:8.

Psalm 119:163  I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law. 

• hate (KJV): Ps 119:29,113,128 101:7 Pr 6:16-19 30:8 Am 5:15 Ro 12:9 Eph 4:25 Rev 22:15 

 I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law. Ps 119:47, 48, 97,113, 119,127,159,163,167,

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Charles Bridges - 163. I hate and abhor lying; but thy law do I love

We can neither “stand in awe of God’s word,” nor “rejoice at it,” unless we abhor all contrary ways. And here lies the spiritual conflict. For so opposed are our natural affections to the character and will of God, that we love what God hates, and we hate what God loves. Our new principle and bias, however, as directly falls in with the dictates of God’s law, as before we had revolted from it. “Lying” is now “hated and abhorred” as contrary to “a God of truth;” and the “law” is now “loved” as the reflection of his image, and the manifestation of his will. David had before prayed to have “lying ways removed from him” and a love for the law of God imparted.1 His utter detestation shows, that these ways had been removed, and a renewed inclination to the law granted to him.

To have avoided “lying,” and to have practised the law, might have been sufficient for the regulation of his outward conduct. But his was the religion of the heart—not meant only to control his actions; but to renew his habits, motions, tempers, and taste. He would not therefore only refrain from lying, or manifest a disinclination to it—he must “hate and abhor”2 it as hell itself. Nor was external conformity, or approval of the law, his standard; he must “love” it. If sin was counted common, fashionable, venial, profitable, or pleasant; if contempt was cast upon the law of God—this stopped him not. Every sin—though only a hairbreath deviation from the rule—was in his eyes hateful, defiling, damning. He would “resist unto blood, striving against it.”3 Every act, desire, and habit of conformity, with whatever shame it might be attended, was his delight. Such—Christian—should be our standard. Lord! humble us in the daily sense of deviation and defect. Vouchsafe to us larger desires, growing conformity to thy perfect rule.

Well had it been for Eve and for her children, had she turned from the tempter’s lie with this strong determination.4 But—“Ye shall not surely die”—has from that fatal moment been a most effectual instrument in captivating unwary souls. So plausible is it in itself, so agreeable to our natural inclinations, that it is readily cherished, even where the first contact with temptation assures the wretched victims, that its “deceit is falsehood.” But they do not “hate and abhor it:” they do not flee from it, as a concern for the honor of God and their own safety would lead them; and therefore justly are they “given up to believe it,”5 as the fruit of their delusion, and the punishment of their unfaithfulness. Oh! if we are ever tempted by the flattery and allurements of the world, let us only mark the opposition of their standard, taste, maxims, and pursuits to the truth of God, and we shall turn away with hatred and abhorrence.

The “overseers of the purchased flock”6 of Christ—yea, all “who earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”1—will anxiously watch any deterioration of doctrine or principle—any deviation from the simplicity of the Gospel, and brand it as a lie. “I have not written unto you,” said the venerable Apostle, “because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?”2 How does the great Apostle teach us to look at the adulteration of the doctrine of grace before referred to3—a system not of faith, but of fear—not of joy, but of slavish awe—not of confidence, but of doubt—palsying the springs of life; withering—blighting—chilling—the glow of love; “entangling again the free-born children of God in a yoke of bondage!”4 The champion of the faith would not tolerate it for a moment.5 And he bids his people hate and abhor it—even though from an angel’s mouth—as the beguiling lie of the great “corrupter” of the Church.6 Equally would he have us abhor the licentious abuse of the Gospel—flowing from the same source—“Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid!”7

After all however—this verse must include an abhorrence of the literal sin of lying in all its forms. A lie is so gross a sin, that we might be disposed to spiritualize this expression, rather than to analyze some of the plausible shapes, in which the sin may be detected in our own profession. Exaggeration—a false gloss—a slight deviation (hardly perceptible) from the straight line—excuses for faults made to one another, which we dared not make to God—want of accuracy in relating what we hear—all these are forms of lying to be shunned, hated and abhorred by the man, who is really “walking in the light, and having fellowship with God,”8 as much as the more palpable falsehoods, with which the world abounds, which it excuses, and even boasts of.

Believer! would you have your hatred and abhorrence of every kind of lying yet further deepened? Would you summon every passion of the soul—“indignation, vehement desire, zeal, revenge”9—against it? Then learn to “abhor” it, not only as your enemy, but as God’s.10 Pray that the arrow of conviction may be dipped in the blood of Christ; and then, however deep and painful be the wound, it cannot be mortal. Mortal indeed it will be to the sin, but healing to the soul. Pray that your hatred of sin may flow from a sense of reconciliation; for never will it be so perfect, as when you feel yourself sheltered from its everlasting curse.11 To lie before your Saviour as his redeemed sinner, and to wash his feet with your tears of contrition, will be your highest and happiest privilege on this side heaven. In this spirit and daily posture you will most clearly manifest the inseparable connection of a hatred of lying ways with a love for the law of God.

1 See Ps 119:29.

2 Under this “hated and abhorred lying” he intended to include, not only those more or less direct deviations from truth, of which he had himself been guilty, (with Abimelech, 1 Sam. 21:2—twice with Achish, 1 Sam. 21:13; 27:10,) but, as we before remarked, whatever in any shape, or form, or degree, is inconsistent with the truth of God. Compare on verse 22.

3 Heb. 12:4.

4 Gen. 3:4–6.

5 2 Thess. 2:11.

6 Acts 20:28.

1 Jude 3.

2 1 John 2:21, 22.

3 Page 298.

4 Gal. 4:31; 5:1.

5 Gal. 2:4, 5.

6 Gal. 1:8, 9, with 2 Cor. 11:2–4.

7 Rom. 6:1, 2.

8 1 John 1:5–7.

9 2 Cor. 7:11.

10 Comp. Psalm 139:21, 22.

11 Comp. Ezekiel 16:63; 23:28; 20:43.

Psalm 119:164 Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous ordinances. 

• Seven times (KJV): That is, probably many times, or frequently, as the term seven frequently denotes; but Rabbi Solomon says that this is to be understood literally; for they praised God twice in the morning before reading the decalogue, and once after; twice in the evening before the same reading, and twice after; making in the whole seven times. Ps 119:62 55:17 
• because (KJV): Ps 48:11 97:8 Rev 19:2 

Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous ordinances. He labored perfectly to praise his perfect God, and therefore fulfilled the perfect number of songs. Seven may also intend frequency. Frequently he lifted up his heart in thanksgiving to God for his divine teaching in the Word, and for his divine actions in providence. With his voice he extolled the righteousness of the Judge of all the earth. As often as ever he thought of God’s ways, a song leaped to his lips. At the sight of the oppressive princes, and at the hearing of the abounding falsehood around him, he felt all the more bound to adore and magnify God, who in all things is truth and righteousness. When others rob us of our praise it should be a caution to us not to fall into the same conduct towards our God, who is so much more worthy of honor. If we praise God when we are persecuted, our music will be all the sweeter to him because of our constancy in suffering. If we keep clear of all lying, our song will be the more acceptable because it comes out of pure lips. If we never flatter other people we shall be in the better condition for honoring the Lord. Do we praise God seven times a day? Do we praise him once in seven days?

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Charles Bridges - 164. Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments

David had just spoken of his fear, joy, hatred and love. He now expresses his love in praise. And indeed it is the mixture of praise with prayer, that makes this Psalm so complete an exhibition of Christian experience. Early and late, and habitually throughout the day, have we seen this man of God “give himself to prayer.”1 But his “spirit of supplication,” in strict conformity with the Apostolical rule, was ever mingled “with thanksgiving.”2 Indeed, self-love—the sense of want—may prompt us to pray. But love to God is the spirit of praise. The neglect therefore of this service is robbing God, no less than ourselves. Not that he needs it, but that he deserves and desires it. Not that it brings any merit to us, but that it strengthens our dependence, and elevates our love. If then we feel it to be “good,3 comely,4 and pleasant,”5 it will be as needless to define its frequency, as to prescribe the limit of our service to a beloved friend, to whom our obligations were daily increasing. The casuistry of love would answer all the entangling scruples of a bondage system. We should aim at living in praise,6 as the element of our souls, the atmosphere of our enjoyment, our reward more than our duty—that which identifies our interest with heaven, and forms our meetness for it.

Young Christians indeed sometimes unwarily bring themselves into “bondage,” in forcing their consciences to a frequency of set times for duty, intrenching either upon outward circumstances or the weakness of the flesh. Our rule of service, though not measured by our indolence, yet should be accommodated to those legitimate daily engagements, which, when “done as to the Lord,”7 form as real and necessary a part of our religion, as the more spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise. To observe any particular time (beyond the Sabbath, and “the morning and evening sacrifice,”) because it is the time—however wearied our spirits may be, or however immediate obligations may interfere, is to forget the weighty instruction of one well qualified to speak, “Bodily exercise profiteth little;”8 and we must “go and learn what that meaneth, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”9 Growth in grace will however gradually mould our profession into habitual intercourse with God. As our views become more solid and settled, each duty of the day will find its proper place, our services will become more free, and our obedience more evangelical.

But the formalist considers “seven times a day”—to be an infringement of the sacred canon—“Be not righteous overmuch.”10 He pays his customary service twice a-day; he says his prayers, and his praises too; and his conscience slumbers again. And alas! there are times of slumber, when we little differ from him. Oh! Let us be alarmed at every symptom of such a state, and “find no rest to our spirit,” until we have regained some measure of this frame of hearty and overflowing praise. If there be a heavenly nature, there must be a heavenly work. Tongue and heart should be set on fire by love. Thus we will go to our work—whatever it may be—and sing at it.

But the Christian sometimes feels, that he has no heart, and—he almost fears—no right to praise. Having no sensible token of love to call him forth, his harp “hangs upon the willows;” nor does he care to take it down, even to “sing one of the Lord’s songs in this strange land.”1 But how many have found with Bunyan—‘When I believe and sing, my doubting ceases!’ “Meat cometh out of the eater”—cheering rays out of the darkest cloud. Endeavor, therefore, to bring to mind some spiritual, or even temporal, mercies. Or, if recollection fails you, open your Bible; turn to some subject of praise, such as the song of the Angels at the birth of our Saviour,2 or the song of the Redeemed to the honor of the Lamb.3 Have you no part or interest in it? Do you not need the Saviour? Can you be happy without him? Then inquire, and feel, and try, whether you cannot give “thanks unto God for his unspeakable gift.”4 Peradventure your notes may rise into praise, and in the excitement of praise, prayer will again mingle itself with its wonted enjoyment. It is your sinful folly to yield to that continual depression, which unfits you for the exercise of your duties and your privileges. How fully do our Liturgical services elevate and sustain the elevation of the soul heavenwards! Language better adapted for strengthening its feeble aspiration will not readily be found; consecrated as it is in the remembrance of its acceptable use by a throng of the Lord’s favored people during successive generations, now united to the general assembly above, and worshipping with everlasting acceptance “before the throne of God and the Lamb.”

The Lord’s righteous judgments in his word are a constant matter for praise. Such light, food, and comfort! Such a strong hold of God! Such a firm hope to anchor on! Such a clear rule to walk by! Truly the distinguishing favor of this gracious gift stirs up the song—“Praise ye the Lord.”5 Add to which—the righteous judgments—his decrees and declarations respecting his Church—occupied the Psalmist’s “midnight,”6 as well as his daily, song—“O Lord, thou art my God”—said the enraptured prophet in the name of the Church—“I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name;7 for thou hast done wonderful things: thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Inscrutable indeed they may sometimes appear: and opposed to our best prospects of happiness; yet the language of faith in the darkest hour will be—“We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”8 But neither “seven times a-day” nor “seventy times seven,” will satisfy us in heaven Then our song—even “the song of Moses and the Lamb—will still be the “Lord’s righteous judgments;”1 and for this ever “new song” the harps of God will never be unstrung, and never out of tune, throughout an eternity of praise.2 But a moment, and we shall be engaged in this heavenly employ—no reluctancy of the spirit—no weariness of the flesh. Every moment is hastening on this near—this cheering—this overwhelming glorious—prospect. Blessed be God!

1 See on Ps 119:147, 148.

2 Phil. 4:6. Seven times. Comp. Prov. 24:16.

3 Psalm 92:1.

4 Ps. 33:1.

5 Ps. 135:3.

6 Ps. 34:1; 71:8, 14. Luke 24:53.

7 Col. 3:23. Eph. 6:7; 5:20. Heb. 13:15.

8 1 Tim. 4:8.

9 Hosea 6:6, with Matt. 9:13; 12:7.

10 Eccles. 7:16.

1 Ps. 137:2, 4.

2 Luke 2:13, 14.

3 Rev. 5:12.

4 2 Cor. 9:15.

5 Ps. 147:19, 20, 56:10.

6 Ps 119:62.

7 Isa. 25:1.

8 Rom. 8:28.

1 Rev. 15:3, 4; 16:7.

2 Rev. 4:8.

Psalm 119:165 Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble. 

• Great: Pr 3:1,2,17 Isa 32:17 Isa 57:21  Joh 14:27 Ga 5:22,23 6:15,16 Php 4:7 
• nothing causes them to stumble, Isa 8:13-15 28:13 57:14 Mt 13:21 24:24 1Pe 2:6-8 

Related Passage:

Isaiah 57:21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

GOD'S SECRET OF
LASTING PEACE

Those who love Your law have great peace - Peace is not a theological precept (it is but it is more), it is a True Person, Christ Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Glory. Hallelujah!

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Philippians 4:7+ And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Spurgeon - This verse deals not with those who perfectly keep the law (for where should such people be found?), but with those who love it, whose hearts and hands are made to square with its precepts and demands. They are ever striving with all their hearts to walk in obedience to the law, and though they are often persecuted they have great peace; for they have learned the secret of the reconciling blood, they have felt the power of the comforting Spirit, and they stand before the Father accepted. They have many troubles, and are likely to be persecuted by the proud, but their usual condition is that of deep calm?a peace too great for this little world to break. And nothing shall offend them, or, "shall really injure them." Offenses must come, but these lovers of the law are peacemakers, and so they neither give nor take offense. That peace which is founded upon conformity to God's will is a living and lasting one, worth writing of with enthusiasm, as the psalmist does here. Spurgeon, C. H. (1993). Psalms. 

MacDonald - The Word gives peace in a world of turmoil and safety from the power of temptation. The verse doesn't mean that believers are immune from sorrow or trouble, but rather that by obeying the law, they avoid the pitfalls of sin. (BBC)

And nothing causes them to stumble - Of course believer will fall into sin from time to time, but it is not to the point of our ruin.

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Charles Bridges - 165. Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them

Here is the happiness of a child of God summed up in one word—peace. Looked at with an eye of sense, slighted by the world, and often chastened with “the rod of affliction,” he is an object of pity. But look at him with the eye of faith—he loves the law of his God, and his heritage is peace. Every feature of the covenant bears some resemblance to its nature: full of grace, peace, and love. Two of the agents are fitly represented by the lamb and the dove—emblems of peace. The tendency of its principles “is first pure, then peaceable.”3 Its present enjoyment—privilege—peace—“great peace.”4 Its end will be universal—eternal5 peace.

Christian! Have you not discovered the connection of peace with love for the law—the whole revealed will of God?6 Looking at it as the law of truth—was not its disturbance of your peace of self-satisfaction and self-delusion the first step to the attainment of solid peace? You learned to see yourself as God sees you. Every fresh view humbled you more deeply. Your dissatisfaction exercised you in an anxious and diligent search for true peace. And then, looking at it again as “the law of faith”—here is your ground of peace laid open. Your way to God is clear—your acceptance free—your confidence assured—your communion heavenly. “Being justified by faith, you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;” yea—you are “filled with peace, all peace in believing.”7 And have you not equal reason to “love this law” as a law of obedience? Here is your question answered—“Lord! what wilt thou have me to do?”8 Let “this word dwell in you richly in all wisdom;” and it will be your daily directory of life and conduct. You will “delight in it after the inner man.”9 Walking in the light of it, you will go on to the full enjoyment of peace. “Taking” cheerfully your Saviour’s “yoke upon you, and learning of him, you will” ever “find rest unto your soul.” “All his paths are peace.”10

Professor! what do you lose by your indulged indifference to the law of God? Conscience tells you, that you are a stranger to this peace—this “great peace.” A secret root of idolatry cankers the principles of peace. Notions will not bring it. Nothing but vital godliness—the “love for God’s law”—“the truth received in the love of it”—will realize the blessing.

Young Christian! be not disheartened, though your “love to the law” be so weak, interrupted, clouded, that sometimes you fear, that you have no love at all. Do you not mourn over its coldness? Do you not desire to love? Seek to know more of the constraining influence of the love of Christ. If your chariot wheels now, like those of the Egyptians, drive heavily; you will then move like the chariots in the prophet’s vision, “upon wheels and upon wings.”1 At least you are on the way to peace. Stir up the habit of diligent faith; be active—be more earnest in dependence on the Lord. Soon will he visit you with his cheering sunshine,2 and bless you with his heavenly peace. “The Lord is your shepherd;” and dwelling near the shepherd’s tent, “you shall not want.”3 Nothing comes to you without his appointment; and whatever he takes away was only what he had first given, and leaves you nothing but to say—“Blessed be the name of the Lord!”4 Whatever he lays upon you is infinitely less than you deserve, and with the fatherly design “to do you good at the latter end.”5 Whatever he gives you is peace, “great peace”—“perfect peace;”6 and though at best, as to its actual enjoyment, it is only a checkered gift, linked with “this world’s tribulation,”7 yet as the earnest of that “peace, into which the righteous shall enter, when taken away from the evil to come”8—it is an incalculable blessing.

The steadfastness of our profession is a most important fruit of this blessing—“Nothing shall offend them.”9 The daily cross,10 the humbling doctrine,11 the fiery trial12—which, by offending the professor, detect the unsoundness of his heart—these are the principles of strength and consolation to the faithful lover of God’s law. Those “had no root in themselves,” who were stumbled by “tribulation or persecution.”13 Hence there was no love in their hearts; consequently no peace in their experience, and no stability in their course. The frequency of such cases in a day of profession is a most painful subject of observation. A course of religion, commenced under the impulse of momentary excitement, is like “a reed shaken by the wind.” The first breath of the storm beats down all resolutions, that were not formed upon the conviction of utter helplessness, and in entire dependence upon Divine grace.14 Light without love ends in fearful ruin.15 Genuine love to the law alone keeps the soul—a love of no common character—a devoted, persevering attachment. The claim of the law is above every other. Everything—even life itself—if need be—must be sacrificed for it.16 And when it has been thus embraced on a fair calculation of its cost, from a deep sense of its value, and with a spiritual perception of its character and application to our necessities—there will be no stumbling block.

Indeed genuine love will prove our safeguard against all grounds of offence. The doctrine of the total depravity of man is objected to; but “love to the law of God”—moulding our minds into its heavenly impression—will remove all ground of offence. The pride of man’s wisdom revolts from the doctrine of the cross, and the freeness of the grace of God. But we love it as a part of the “law of faith.” It suits our case. It answers our need—and therefore here also “nothing offends us.” Thus whatever be the hinderance—whether from Satan or himself—whether from the enmity of the world or the inconsistencies of the Church—the believer, while he mourns over these things, is not offended at them, or at the Gospel through them. He has learned a more Scriptural standard, and to exercise a more discriminating judgment. “Love to the law of God” enables him—instead of being “tossed to and fro” in doubtful perplexity—to “make straight paths for his feet.”1 If his cross be grievous, he seeks from the Lord a quiet spirit; and thus, “in patience possessing his soul,” he finds “the yoke easy, and the burden light.”2 His difficulties exercise and strengthen his faith, and add fresh testimony to the faithfulness of the promise. Whether therefore his way be dark or light, his soul is at peace. In the enjoyment of his Saviour’s love, he has the witness in his own heart, that “the work of righteousness”—of “love to the law of his God”—“shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever.”3

3 James 3:17.

4 Isa. 11:6–9. Comp. 2:4.

5 Ps. 37:36. Rom. 2:10.

6 Isa. 43:4.

7 Rom. 5:1, 10, 11; 15:13.

8 Acts 9:6.

9 Rom. 7:22.

10 Matt. 11:29. Prov. 3:17.

1 Comp. Exod. 14:25, with Ezek. 1:15, 23.

2 Mal. 4:2.

3 Psalm 29:11; 35:8; 23:1.

4 Job 1:21.

5 Deut. 8:16.

6 Isaiah 26:3.

7 John 16:33.

8 Isa. 57:1, 2.

9 ‘To them is no stumbling-block.’—Ainsworth.

10 Mark 10:21, 22.

11 John 6:60, 65, 6.

12 Matt. 13:21.

13 Mark 4:17.

14 Comp. John 15:5. 2 Cor. 12:9.

15 2 Thess. 2:10–12.

16 Rev. 12:11.

1 Hebrews 12:13, with Proverbs 4:25–27.

2 Luke 21:19. Matt. 11:30

3 Isaiah 32:17.

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Perfect Peace

Read: Psalm 119:161-168 

Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble. —Psalm 119:165

Have you ever been in a situation where you thought you were about to die? Several years ago, a veteran missionary was in a plane that was circling over St. Louis and unable to land because of poor visibility. As the plane’s fuel supply ran low, he jotted down—just in case—his last will and testament. He wrote, “There is peace, perfect peace. . . . Life with Christ is the way to live. In this hour there is assurance—there is God underneath all the uncertainties of human existence. So I rest in God.”

If you or I were in some crisis which gave us not only opportunity but also the incentive to reflect on our basic beliefs, what would we want to leave behind as our final testimony? Would it be a strong, clear witness to the reality of God, the certainty of the Savior’s presence, and the peace-giving sufficiency of divine grace?

In times of turbulence or tranquility, do you know the peace that the psalmist expressed when he wrote, “Great peace have those who love Your law”? (Ps. 119:165). Have you experienced the reality of Jesus’ words, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you”? (Jn. 14:27).

Trusting the Lord is indeed the best way to live. It is likewise the only way to die without fear.By Vernon Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Oh, the peace I find in Jesus,
Peace no power on earth can shake,
Peace that makes the Lord so precious,
Peace that none from me can take.
—Beck

When we keep our mind on God, God keeps our minds at peace.

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Keeping On Course

Read: Psalm 119:161-168

Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble. —Psalm 119:165

Two men had been out deep-sea fishing when night began to fall. As they headed back toward land, the more experienced seaman got sleepy and turned the helm over to his friend. The veteran sailor pointed out the North Star and said, “Just keep the boat going in that direction.”

The man had not been at his task very long before he too fell asleep. When he awoke he was thoroughly confused. He shook his friend frantically and shouted, “Wake up and show me another star! I’ve run clean past that first one!”

Many people today are looking for something new to guide their lives because they’ve lost sight of God’s standard. They regard the Bible as a relic from the past. But God’s laws are just as relevant and practical now as when He first gave them.

His standards are more constant than the North Star and as unfailing as the law of gravity. They are not arbitrary rules like the traffic laws that tell us whether to drive on the right side of the road or the left.

To violate God’s commands brings destruction to individuals and chaos to society. But to observe His words brings this comforting result: “Great peace have those who love Your law” (Ps. 119:165). By Haddon W. Robinson (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Forever, O Lord, is Thy Word
Established and fixed on high;
Thy faithfulness unto all men
Abideth forever nigh.
—Sellers

God's Word is the compass that keeps you on course.

Psalm 119:166  I hope for Your salvation, O LORD, And do Your commandments.

• Lord (KJV): Ps 119:81,174 130:5-7 Ge 49:18 
• and done (KJV): Ps 4:5 24:3-5 50:23  Joh 7:17 1Jn 2:3,4 

I hope for Your salvation, O LORD - Hope is not "hope so," but "hope sure," and is rendered in the Lxx with prosdokao which means literally to look forward toward, to wait for, to look for, to anticipate. It means to give thought to something that is in the future and the context indicates whether one does this looking/waiting in a hopeful sense, with a longing, with fear (wait with anxiety, live in suspense), or in a neutral state of mind. It describes the attitude saints should have as anticipating, waiting with watchfulness, being in expectation.

And do Your commandments.

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Charles Bridges -  166. Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments

The “great peace” connected with “the love of God’s law,” is at once the fruit of faith, and the motive of obedience. And the enjoyment of it leads the man of God to give renewed expression to his faith and devotedness. “Faith, which worketh by love,”4 is no less the characteristic of the Old, than of the New Testament Church. For mark here the principle and the object of faith—“I have hoped for thy salvation”—and the practical influence of faith—I have “done thy commandments.” “Walked not believers always in the same spirit? Walked they not in the same steps?”

Faith is the exercise of the soul in a sense of need, in desire, and in trust. Faith goes to God on the ground of the promise—hope in the expectation of the thing promised. Thus hope implies the operation of faith. It appropriates to itself the object of faith. The power to take hold of the promises of faith, and to stay our souls upon their “everlasting consolation,” is the energy of “a good hope through grace”—such as “maketh not ashamed.”5 Conscious unworthiness may give a trembling feebleness to the hand of faith, but the feeblest apprehension of one of the least of the promises of the Gospel assures us of our interest in them all. Why may we not set all the fulness of the covenant before the weakest as well as before the strongest believer, and proclaim to both with equal freedom the triumphant challenge—“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Who is he that condemneth?”1 Every believer is alike interested in the Gospel of grace. “There is no difference” in the righteousness of the Gospel, which is “the righteousness of God”—nor in the imputation of it, which is “unto all and upon all”—nor in the subjects,—which is them that believe—nor in the means of its application, which in all cases is “by faith of Jesus Christ”—nor in the need of the blessing—“All have sinned” without difference. All therefore are justified without difference.2 The only difference regards the strength or weakness of the faith, by which the righteousness is more or less distinctly appropriated, and its consequent blessings enjoyed. No soul however can sink into perdition, that grasps the promise of Christ with the hand of faith, be that hand ever so weak and trembling; though, if the promise did not hold us more firmly by its unchangeableness, than we hold it by our faith, who could ever attain the blessing?

Not indeed that our interest in the Gospel is transient or uncertain. For though the perception of it may be often interrupted, yet is it not still in the Bible—in the covenant of God—in the heart of God? And is it not constantly renewed in the exercise of faith? The repetition of the same act of faith is therefore equally necessary every moment, as at the first moment of our spiritual life. Whatever be our standing in the Gospel, faith will always realize to the end the same hope for God’s salvation. Indeed, the neglect of the cultivation of its habitual exercise materially weakens its operation in great emergencies. Let it then be regarded as the breathing of the soul. Let it be constantly exercised in the successive occasions of need; and we shall enjoy its clear light and active influence upon occasions, where its special energy is required.

Now is not this sometimes your experience? You are distressed by an unsuccessful struggle with wandering, defiling imaginations. You know the promise, and the remedy. But “the shield of faith” has been laid by. You have therefore to seek it, when you want it at hand for the present moment; and thus you lie powerless, at a distance from the cure, instead of being able to bring your sin at once to Jesus—“Lord, this is my trouble; this is the ‘plague of my heart;’ ‘but speak the word only, and thy servant shall be healed.” ’3 Thus the indolent neglect of the quickening principle greatly impairs its powerful energy, and the “confidence and rejoicing of hope”4 flowing from it. “If the life in the flesh is” not “a life of faith on the Son of God,” no solid rest or acceptance can be known.

But on what ground is this “hope for the Lord’s salvation” built? On his faithfulness, not on our sincerity; on his promises—not on our frames; on his unchangeableness, not on our constancy.1 It is built—not on the work of grace in us, but on the work of Christ for us—a work, which has satisfied every claim, provided every security, and pledged all the Divine perfections on our behalf—a work so finished and complete, that all the difficulties of salvation on the part of God are removed; and the sinner, finding no hinderance in the way but himself, is warranted, though covered with guilt and defilement, to apply for full, immediate, and unconditional forgiveness. What then hinders the instant reception of the privilege, but disbelief of the record? It is this which dares to “make God a liar;”2 which therefore must not, as is too often the case, be lamented as an infirmity (except, indeed, in cases of constitutional weakness;) but watched, prayed against, and resisted, as a deep and aggravated sin. The present enjoyment of the blessing is indeed often marred by looking at the fruits of faith (contrition, love, diligence, &c.) as prerequisites for believing, instead of looking to the object of faith, to put away our sin, and to produce these fruits in us. This not only binds our sin upon us, but robs God of his honor; and, whilst it restrains his blessing on our souls, reflects upon His wisdom and grace, who has laid the foundation of a sinner’s hope on his own dear Son,3 irrespective of any warrant of faith in himself. We want to be enlivened with sensible comfort, as a ground for our believing in Christ; or, if we look for it from faith, it is from faith, as an act (in which respect it is no more a proper ground for comfort than any other grace,) instead of looking for it from the object of faith. Thus we not only lose the peace and joy we are seeking, but we lose it by our mistaken way of seeking it.

The fulness of Christ, and the promises of God in him, are the only basis of a full assurance of salvation: and this basis is equally firm at all times, and under all circumstances. “Ye are complete in him.”4 Your title is as perfect—your interest as secure, as ever it will be at the day of “the redemption of the purchased possession.”5 Awakened sinner! let not then a sense of unworthiness paralyze your faith. As a guilty sinner, you are invited. As a willing sinner, you are welcome. As a believing sinner, you are assured. Why hesitate then to “lay hold on eternal life?” Is it presumption in the drowning man to attempt to swim to the rock of safety? Why then should not the sinking soul cast itself upon the “Rock of Ages?” “Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation.”

Believer! “Behold!” saith the Lord, “I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” “Hold fast your confidence and the rejoicing of your hope.”6 This is of no trifling importance. An established confidence ought to result from, and to witness to, your interest in the Lord’s salvation.1 For without it, you have no relief from the spirit of bondage; no enlargement in duties; no enjoyment of privileges: no “growth in grace, and in the knowledge of the Saviour;” no honored usefulness in the Church of God: the “things which remain will be ready to die.”2 Rest not, then, satisfied with an occasional gleam of light and joy, while your horizon is overcast with doubts and fears. Waste not time in heartless complaints, that would be far better employed in a vigorous habit of faith. Live above frames and feelings upon this glorious truth—“Christ has undertaken for me.” He lives, and reigns, and pleads for every sinner that trusts in him. Exercise your dependence upon him in importunate and persevering supplication. “Give all diligence”—at all times—in all ways, private and public—“instant in season and out of season.” Thus, “an entrance into” the joy, peace, and glory of “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour will be richly ministered unto you.”3 You shall be released from the prison-house of despondency, and shall breathe the free atmosphere of adoption and heavenly love.

But remember, that this “assurance of hope,” even in its weakest and lowest influence, is a practical principle—“I have done thy commandments.” “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”4 All obedience that springs not from this source is of a low and legal character; the fruit of self-will, self-righteousness, self-sufficiency. Evangelical obedience can only flow from Evangelical faith and hope. Love to Christ catches fire from the perception of his love to us. Without this perception, all is weariness, toil, and travail of soul in his service; duty, not privilege; constraint, not delight; conscience, not love. Hence the most assured believers will be the most devoted servants of their Master. “The joy of the Lord”—“the joy of faith,” of acceptance, of communion—“is their strength.”5 They live by faith; and as they believe, they love; they deny themselves; they lay themselves out for their Master’s work; they conquer all that oppose their progress.

We cannot, therefore, “do his commandments” without “a hope for his salvation.” For only in proportion as we have assured our title to the promises of the Gospel, can we take hold of them, plead them, or experience their support. When, therefore, our hope is indistinct, we are almost left to our own unassisted resources; and our course will probably end in “perpetual backsliding.” Active devotedness flows from assured acceptance.6 Where there is no certainty, there can be little love, little delight, little diligence. Let us walk in sunshine, and we shall work cheerfully and honorably for God.7

Keep then the eye fixed on Christ as the ground, and on obedience as the evidence, of our hope. Thus will our own confidence be more established; and others, beholding in us the power of our Christian hope, will be led to say—“We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”1

4 Galatians 5:6.

5 2 Thess. 2:16. Rom. 5:5.

1 Rom. 8:33, 34.

2 Rom. 3:22, 23.

3 Matt. 8:8.

4 Heb. 3:6. 14.

1 Heb. 6:17, 18.

2 1 John 5:10.

3 Isaiah 28:16.

4 Col. 2:10.

5 Eph. 1:14.

6 Rev. 3:11. Heb. 3:6

1 See Heb. 3:6. Whose house are we—if we, &c. ib. 14.

2 Rev. 3:2.

3 2 Peter 1:5–11.

4 1 John 3:3.

5 Neh. 8:10.

6 See 1 Cor. 15:58.

7 Comp. Isa. 6:6–8.

1 Zech. 8:23. We conclude with giving a full and Scriptural view of the principles and character of Christian assurance. That a full sense of acceptance with God grounded upon the Divine testimonies is attainable—there can be no doubt. The “covenant ordered in all things and sure—(2 Sam. 23:5.) offers ample warrant for the most assured confidence. The promises of this covenant are full, free, multiplied; adapted to all possible diversity of cases—attested by the oath and seal of God for this declared end—“the full assurance of hope,’ and the “strong consolation” of his people. (Heb. 6:11–18.) The instructions of our Lord and his Apostles had the same blessed purpose in view. (John 15:11; 16:33; 1 John 5:13.) The design and efficacy of his atonement—as contrasted with the weakness of the legal services—was, to make his people “perfect as pertaining to the conscience.” (Heb. 9:9, with 10:14.) Under both dispensations has this sense of appropriation and conscious security been maintained. (Job 19:25. Psalm 18:1. Cant. 2:16; 7:10. 2 Tim. 1:12. 1 John 4:16; 5:19, 20.) Its basis is ground common to all. (Rom. 8:35, 38, 39, with 31–34.) The want of it is evidently reproved. (2 Cor. 13:5.) Exhortations are given to press forward to it. (Heb. 6:11. 2 Peter 1:10.) Faith, (Eph. 1:13. Heb. 6:17, 18.) Obedience, (Isaiah 32:17; 48:17, 18; 64:5; John 14:21–23. 1 John 2:3–5; 3:24.) The fear of God, (Psalm 25:14.) Love, (1 John 3:14, 18–21; 4:12.) Diligence, (Heb. 6:11. 2 Peter 1:5–11.) Perseverance, (Hos. 6:3.) on our part; Affliction, (Zech. 13:9.) The gift of the Spirit, (Rom. 8:16. 1 John 3:24; 4:13.) on God’s part—are the means of its attainment. Active devotedness. (Isaiah 6:6–8.) Support in temptation, (Job 19:21–25.) in suffering, 2 Tim. 1:12.) and in the prospect of eternity, (2 Cor. 5:1. 2 Tim. 4:6–8.) are its blessed results.

It is evidently, therefore, our Father’s will, that his children’s complete acceptance should not be with them a matter of present uncertainty. He intends—not only that they should reach heaven at last, but that heaven should commence on earth in a state of conscious security and peace—not only that they should have eternal life, but that they should know that they have it. (1 John 5:13.) The Gospel—instead of forbidding this privilege—warrants, produces, and establishes it; for the conviction of the professor, the excitement of the slumbering, and the encouragement of the weak.

Yet we must not so identify assurance with faith, as to conclude all that are destitute of it to be unbelievers. It springs indeed from faith, and can grow upon no other root. All the practical principles connected with it are the fruits of faith. “The promise of the Spirit,” by whom the privilege is applied, “is received by faith.” (Gal. 3:14.) The want of assurance also is, in fact, a want of faith. It is the soul seeking “confidence in the flesh,” instead of “rejoicing in Christ Jesus.” The revolting view of its own sin, unconnected with the covering of the atonement, produces despondency instead of assurance. Whereas, on the other hand, a clear apprehension of the doctrines of the Gospel is always a ground for the exercise of faith, and a means of establishing Christian confidence.

And yet, unless we separate between the principle, and the conscious interest in the objects of faith, we shall, in a spirit of evangelical self-righteousness, rest our salvation—not upon faith as a means of laying hold of Christ, but upon some feeling or sensation of our own mind. Besides the Old Testament saints occasionally lost their consciousness of the Divine favor—that is, their assurance (Job 13:24; 19:11. Psalm 13:1; 31:22; 77:7–9; 88:7, 14–16); while “the root of the matter”—the root of faith—was still “in them.” With the disciples—while they were ingrafted by faith, as living branches of the true vine—the privilege of assurance was prospective. (John 15:1–5, with 14:20.) Faith, as a means of salvation does not seem necessarily to imply an appropriating interest in the Gospel. (John 1:49, 50. Acts 8:37. Rom. 10:9. 1 John 5:1.) The Apostles exhort to assurance those “who had obtained like precious faith with them.” (2 Peter 1:1–10.) They write to sincere believers, that they might be assured believers—plainly distinguishing between believing unto life, and “knowing that we have life,” and defining assurance to be rather the strengthened exercise, than the essential principle of faith. (1 John 5:13.) They separate again between faith as the result of hearing, and the sealing of the Spirit, i.e. assurance—as the consequence of faith (Eph. 1:13); as also between “the things that are freely given to us of God,” and our knowledge or perception of them by the Spirit of God. (1 Cor. 2:12.) And is our knowledge of these free gifts always distinct? Have we no part in them, till we have fully cleared up our interest in them? And does the right of the heir depend upon his consciousness of the validity of his title?—The “command” instantly to” believe on the name of Jesus Christ,” is indeed as binding upon us all, as any part of the Decalogue. (John 6:28, 29. 1 John 3:23.) But as faith is the means of obtaining forgiveness (Acts 10:43; 13:38, 39; 26:18.)—if it be supposed to imply a persuasion of forgiveness, it would involve the absurdity of believing that we are accepted, that we may be accepted. Thus forgiveness would be made to precede faith, instead of being the result of it. Again—as faith is the instrument, by which we are ingrafted into Christ, (John 15:4.) and brought into this state of acceptance, we must have faith, before we can be in this state—consequently before we can have assurance that we are in it. Faith therefore must be supposed separable from, and antecedent to, assurance. Thus also—if assurance be correctly defined—“knowing whom we have believed,” (2 Tim. 1:12.)—consciousness supposes the previous exercise of faith on its object—that is—faith preceding assurance.

Now do many of the exercises of faith recorded in the Gospels exhibit distinct marks of assurance. Sense of need, desire, use of the appointed means, and a spirit of dependence mainly characterized the applicants for the Saviour’s mercy—Doubts of his willingness (Matt. 8:2, 3.) or his ability (Mark 9:22.) often mingled themselves with the sincere workings of faith. Our Lord himself seemed to consider the centurion’s case as an exception. (Matt. 8:8–10.) Seldom did dependence amount to certainty; and appropriation was generally rather the result than the principle of the application.

“The assurance of faith”—as it properly respects a dependence upon the record—is indeed the essential principle of Christian life. But “the assurance of hope”—a conscious interest in the record—the real privilege of assurance—seems to be a distinct and separable idea. The truth of the record—“Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out”—may be implicitly received; yet a consciousness of coming, or of having come, may be much obscured by negligence, self-righteousness, indistinct perception of the acts of faith, or the power of unbelief in some of its various forms. Consequently, there will be doubt of an interest in the record—a want of assurance. For the Bible is not “the Lamb’s Book of Life”—the register of the elect of God. No man can, therefore, bring from thence a direct testimony of his personal salvation. His character—not his name—is in the record. The declaration is—“He that believeth”—not any particular individual mentioned by name—“shall be saved.” No man is commanded in the first instance to believe that Christ died for him individually—but for such as he is—for the unworthy, the guilty, the condemned, the perishing. This is the warrant of his own application, the event of which will—ultimately, if not immediately—be appropriation and assurance.

We are deeply convinced, that a lowered exhibition of this precious doctrine and inestimable privilege has greatly deteriorated the standard of Evangelical religion. The objections against it are founded in ignorance or misconception. Instead of savoring of presumption, it is the very principle of humility. It is the reception of the divine testimony without reasoning or disputation. Whereas doubting may be justly considered (to use an anomalous term) proud humility. For does not the doubt on account of our unworthiness, imply a secret dependence on worthiness as a ground of acceptance? Nor again, does assurance militate against the influence of godly fear—which was never meant to impair the certainty of our faith, but to guard us against carnal security and self-confidence. We work out our salvation “with fear and trembling,” upon the ground of assurance—that is upon the appropriating confidence of God “working all our works in us.” (Phil. 2:12, 13. Isaiah 26:12.) The assured hope of the Gospel is the principle—not the hindrance—of godly fear. (Heb. 12:28.) Indeed we must consider this doctrine, scripturally stated, to be the life of present privilege, and the spring of practical devotedness. Where, therefore, it is defectively set forth—or scarcely set forth at all—or guarded with an over-anxious care against abuse—the privilege is but little known, and the springs of active love are weak and uncertain. And thus believers too often, in a languid and highly sinful state of unbelief, acquiesce in a feeble exercise of this vital principle, indolently yielding up all effort for a vigorous and healthy habit of faith. They go about their duties, like an expiring person about his work; agitated about the business of the moment: while the desirableness of health and strength, the Physician and the remedy, are given up in despondency. Their case is perfectly recoverable by due attention to the appointed means, and to the real nature and symptoms of their disease. Yet they sit down in the miserable and degrading conclusion, that their powers are paralyzed; and though they may preserve the notion of spiritual life, and the hope of salvation at last; yet they think they must be content to be feeble, comfortless, and unprofitable.

Much injury has also arisen from restricting the privilege of assurance to the maturity of Christian experience. Does not the Apostle place it at the very threshold of the Gospel, when he wrote to “little children—because their sins were forgiven them for Christ’s name’ sake?” (1 John 2:2.) And ought we not, after the inspired pattern, to “desire every one to give diligence,” in pressing towards this mark? (Heb. 6:11.) Diligence—as the habit of faith—is the appointed mean: sloth—as the fruit of unbelief—the main hindrance to its attainment. (Heb. 6:11, 12.) It is undoubtedly the equal and common privilege of the youngest as well as the oldest member of the family of God; and (though unbelief, sloth, or backsliding may for a while preclude the enjoyment of it) it is linked to the first, as well as to any successive exercise of faith—to its most trembling, as well as its most collected, act. (Acts 13:38, 39.) Indeed the first genuine act of faith is at least as strenuous as any subsequent act; and perseverance in this act, where the hand is trembling, is often the characteristic of the greatest decision, courage, and maturity. All, therefore, should be exhorted to assurance; nor should the youngest be satisfied without the attainment of it. Many realize it at a very early stage of experience. And where they fall short of it, it is not from defect in the object, or in the warrant—but in the mean. The exhibition of the work of Christ is not appropriated with that simplicity, which brings with it “joy and peace in believing.” See Acts 8:5, 8, 39; 16:34. 1 Thess. 1:6.

We cannot, however, absolutely identify faith and assurance. Adoption into the family of God “by faith” (Gal. 3:26.) does not, as we conceive, depend upon, nor is it in all cases connected with, consciousness of this relation. A child may be fully assured of his interest in the family, and title to the patrimony. But while an infant—when his relation and interest were as complete as at any subsequent period—he had no such consciousness. And thus many of the dear children of God have no consciousness that they are so; yet they cry, they long, they walk—or they try to walk—as children; and so they evince that they are children. Or (to use another illustration) we may have light sufficient to distinguish objects, and to guide us on our way; while yet we do not see clearly, and therefore cannot possibly be conscious that we see clearly. What judgment, we may also ask, must we form of those distressing cases of constitutional infirmity, the characteristic of which is not so much positive unbelief, (though the symptoms may present a mixture of this principle) as a want of mental power (often sudden and unaccountable,) to apprehend the objects of faith in any distinct Gospel relation? They cannot be seen in their true light and bearing· The spiritual optics, though not destroyed, are greatly obscured; so that the eye of sense and natural conscience fills the retina of contemplation with its own false views. This is a very different case from spiritual indolence, or want of laboriously distinct statement—that is—where the view of the elementary materials is clear, and wants only the exercise of industry in the arrangement of them. This is the state of a person in a swoon—not of a corpse. The principle of life is not extinct, though the consciousness of it is wholly wanting, and may continue so for some time.

If, again, assurance be the essential principle of faith, then faith can never be conceived in an imperfect state, or connected with any variation of growth or declension, or of spiritual intelligence. All that are destitute of it, must also be in a state of unbelief. We have therefore to account for the strange anomaly of unbelievers, “knowing the plague of their own hearts,” hating sin, separate from the world, and renewed in heart, temper, life, and conduct. For such unquestionably are many, who—though kept in bondage by their doubts and fears, and far from having attained a conscious interest in Christ—are yet (upon this supposition) bringing forth the fruits of faith upon the root of unbelief! Is not this a stumbling to the unconverted? Is it not rather “despising” than cherishing “the day of small things?” Is it not “breaking” rather than binding up “the bruised reed?” Let us pray for faith to receive and to exhibit “the fulness of the blessing”—“the high calling” and consequent responsibilities; but let us not shut the “little ones” out of the camp. Like Jacob of old—and after the pattern of a more wise and tender shepherd than he—we must “gently lead those that are with young.” (Gen. 33:13, 14. Isaiah 11:11.)

The Scripture seems therefore fully to warrant the distinction prevalent among the Puritan divines—that assurance is “necessary to the Christian—for his well-being, not for his being;” for his consolation and establishment, not for his salvation. For our own part—though we would not scruple to say, “He that believeth not shall be damned,” (Mark 16:16.)—we dare not say, ‘He that is not assured shall be damned.’ There can be no peace without some conscious liberty to call God our own. And to be satisfied without the exercise of freedom, is to rob God and ourselves. Yet let not the trembling soul conclude too hastily against itself, from the want of this assurance. Let him search into the grounds of his confidence. Let him appropriate the testimony in simplicity. Let him yield to it the obedience of faith; and let him not doubt, but that in the Lord’s best time and way; he will be able to record his profession of trust—I know whom I have believed. (2 Tim. 1:12.)

Psalm 119:167  My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly.

• soul (KJV): Ps 119:6-8,97,111,159 Joh 14:21-24 15:9,10 Heb 10:16 
• and I love (KJV): Ps 40:8 Ro 7:22 

 My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly.

I LOVE THEM: 

• Ps 1:1,2;19:7-11;Ps 119:16,24,35,47,
• Ps 119:48,72,92,97,103,
• Ps 119:111,113,127,159,167,174;Jer. 15:16).

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Charles Bridges - 167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly. 168. I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee

Those only, who have hoped in the Lord’s salvation, can express this joyful delight in his precepts. The Christian does not acknowledge the popular separation of duty and privilege, according as it may be constraint or indulgence to his inclination. Every part of his walk identifies these terms of distinction. If it is his duty it is no less his privilege, to love the precepts. Nothing holds him to them—nothing enables him thoroughly to keep them, but love. All resolutions, vows, cevenants, would be as ineffectual to bind him, as the green withs to fasten the giant.1 David had not “done the commandments” from constraint; but “his soul kept them;” yea, he “loved them exceedingly.”2 Indeed, the bias of the new nature to “keep the precepts,” is as prevalent as that of the old nature to break them. Once the believer would have wished the law of God blotted out of the universe, or at least exchanged for a more indulgent dispensation. But now that it is written in his heart, even its restraint is delightful to him; and as he gains a clearer intimacy with it, and a closer discernment of its spirituality, he “loves it exceedingly.” Not one indeed of the “precepts or testimonies” does he “keep” as he ought, and as he desires; but there is not one of them, that he does not delight in, and most anxiously desire to fulfil. Thus every feature of the Divine image is inwrought in the soul—beautiful in its place and proportion; and all other graces grow in connection with love to the testimonies.

Nor let our consciousness of daily failures restrain this strong expression of confidence. The most humble believer need not hesitate to adopt it ‘as an evidence of grace—not as a claim of merit.’3 This frequent repetition4 marks the godly jealousy of the man of God—mindful of his own self-deceitfulness and manifold infirmities—“giving” careful “diligence” to “make his calling and election sure.”5 David knew himself to be a poor sinner; but he was conscious of spirituality of obedience, “exceeding love” to the word, and an habitual walk under the eye of his God—the evidences of a heart (often mentioned in the Old Testament6) “perfect with him.” ‘Christ alone kept the old law, and he enables us to observe the new.’7

This active love to the word should be cultivated on the principle of our public walk before God. We must not study the Scripture merely for our present gratification, or to furnish materials for our Christian intercourse. We ought rather, from every step in the history of Christ, as well as from the more finished course of instruction in the Epistles, to be gathering some help to “set the Lord always before us,”1—realizing the interest that he takes in us, and his presence with us as our Father, Governor, Teacher, Comforter, Friend.

Now, let us ask—Do our “souls” thus “keep the Lord’s testimonies” habitually, perseveringly? Does conscience testify, that, with all our defects and sinful mixture, they are uppermost in our minds; that our love rises above the worldly rules of expediency, prudence, or the example of those around us—(the too common measurement of scanty obedience)—as if it could never burn with sufficient fervor in his service, “who loved us, and gave himself for us?”2 Why, then, should we shrink from this acknowledgment of “simplicity and godly sincerity?” If we are ready to own, that “without Christ we can do nothing;” that his Spirit “has wrought all our works in us;3 that by the grace of God we are what we are;4 that our hope of acceptance is grounded only upon the finished work on the cross—why should we refuse to confess the grace of God in us? Yet we must not forget, that allowed unfaithfulness, neglect of secret prayer, impurity of motive, or any “iniquity regarded in the heart”—though they will not loosen the ground of our hope—will obscure the comfort of our Christian confidence. How beautiful is that princely spirit, which will not serve the Lord “of that which doth cost us nothing;”5 that not only longs for holiness as the way to heaven; but loves heaven the better for the holy way that leads to it, and for the perfect holiness that reigns there eternally!

But never let us lose sight of the recollection, that “all our ways are before God!” that every act, every thought, every desire, every word, is registered by conscience as his vicegerent, and laid up in his book of remembrance! Well would it be for us, if we walked less before men, and more “before God;” if in secret, in business, at home and abroad, we heard the solemn voice—“I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be thou perfect.”6 We may be unreprovable in the sight of men, while it is a mere artificial walk, grounded upon base external principles—a “walking after the flesh”—not before God. Even the engagements of active duty may be the subtle snare of the great enemy to divert us from intense personal religion; to spoil the hidden walk of communion with God, by concentrating the mind upon a more public, and, apparently, a more useful walk. Thus too often the vital principle of religion sinks into a stated formal habit. “Walking with God”7 is the secret spring of the Christian. Walking before God is the manifestation and the exercise of the hidden principle. For in all things, private as well as public, the most trivial as well as the most weighty, to have our eye fixed in dutiful reverence upon the Omniscient, Omnipresent eye of Jehovah—what solemnity would it give to our whole behavior! what influence would it have upon our public professions, our general conversation, our secret duties! We should be energetic in “serving our own generation by the will of God;1” and yet while walking before men, should be truly “walking before God”—all our ways before him—“done in his sight as to him”2—and accepted in his favor.

When, therefore, I am about to venture upon any line of conduct, let me consider the watchful eye, that pierces into the deepest recesses of my thoughts, and brings, as it were, to daylight my principles, my motives, and my ends. Above all, let me ever recollect, that he, “before whom are all my ways,” is He that hung upon the cross for my sins. Let me then walk, as if he were standing before me in all the endearing obligations of his love. Oh! do not I owe him sacrifice for sacrifice, heart for heart, life for life? Then surely I cannot be dead, insensible, sluggish in keeping his precepts. I cannot forbear to show this practical proof of my love to him.3 Let not, then, the fear of legality make me neglect this privilege of “keeping the commandments” of my beloved Master and Lord. Let me live under the solemn recollection—“Thou, God, seest me;”4 and in the joyful assurance—“Thou, God, lovest me;”5 and his ways will be to me holiness, happiness, heaven.

1 Jdg. 16:7–9.

2 Verses 48, 97, 127.

3 Bishop Horne.

4 Thrice in these three successive verses.

5 2 Peter 1:5–10.

6 Compare ver. 1, Margin; 2 Chron. 15:17; 16:9; 2 Kings 20:3. The import of the term is limited and explained by the word “upright” united with it, Job 1:8; Psalm 37:37. The Scripture use of the word perhaps refers rather to our desires than our attainments. (compare Phil. 3:12–15); and in general seems to mark Christian maturity, as contrasted with the weakness of the babe, and the inexperience of the young man in Christ. Compare the use of the same word τελειος in 1 Cor. 2:6; 14:20. Heb. 5:14.

7 Bishop Horne.

1 Psalm 16:8.

2 Gal. 2:20.

3 Isaiah 26:12, with John 15:5.

4 1 Cor. 15:10.

5 2 Sam 24:24.

6 Gen. 17:1.

7 Gen. 5:24; 6:9.

1 Acts 13:36.

2 Eph. 6:7.

3 John 14:15.

4 Gen. 16:13, with John 1:48.

5 Jer. 31:3, with John 13:1.

Psalm 119:168  I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You.

• for all my (KJV): Ps 44:20,21 98:8 139:3 Job 34:21 Pr 5:21 Jer 23:24 Heb 4:13 Rev 2:23 

I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You.

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Charles Bridges - See comment on v167

Psalm 119:169  Let my cry come before You, O LORD; Give me understanding according to Your word.

• Let my cry (KJV): Ps 119:145 18:6 2Ch 30:27 
• give me (KJV): Ps 119:144 1Ch 22:12 2Ch 1:10 Pr 2:3-5 Da 2:21 Jas 1:5 

Let my cry come before You, O LORD; Give me understanding according to Your word.

Ryrie's note on Ps 119:169-176  The Word affects the mind (v. 169), the mouth (vv. 171-172), the will (v. 173), the emotions (v. 174), and the conscience (v. 176). 

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Warren Wiersbe - Ps. 119:169 A Chain Reaction
Read Psalm 119:169-176
 
Let me tell you about a spiritual chain reaction that has the power to transform our lives. It begins in Psalm 119:169: "Let my cry come before You, O Lord; give me understanding according to Your word." Prayer leads to understanding. This is the first part of the chain reaction. Do you pray for understanding as you read your Bible? Do you pray, "Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law" (Ps 119:18)?
 
Next, understanding leads to freedom. "Let my supplication come before You; deliver me according to Your word" (Psalm 119:170). The psalmist asks for the freedom that comes from the truth of God. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). The greatest bondage in the world is the bondage to lies. If you believe a lie, you are in slavery; but if you believe God's truth, you live in freedom.
 
The third stage in this spiritual chain reaction is found in Psalm 119:171: "My lips shall utter praise, for You teach me Your statutes." Freedom leads to praise. When we understand the statutes of God, we can sing. Knowing His Word makes us want to praise Him.
 
Finally, praise leads to witnessing. "My tongue shall speak of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteousness" (Psalm 119:172). As a result of our witness, people may come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
* * *
Read the Word of God and pray, and let the Spirit begin this life-transforming chain reaction in your life 
(Psalm 119:169-176 A Chain Reaction)

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Charles Bridges - 169. Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord: give me understanding, according to thy word. 170. Let my supplication come before thee; deliver me according to thy word

We mark David here, where he always loved to be,—a supplicant at the throne of grace. Many had been his “cries and supplications.” His petition now is—that they may “come near before his Lord.” Oh! that our wants of every moment were felt with the same pressure, and carried to the Lord with the same faith, earnestness, humility, and perseverance! Richness of expression, and fluency of utterance, are the mere shell and shadow of prayer. The life of prayer is the “cry” of the heart to God. The eloquence of prayer is its earnestness. The power of prayer is that which cometh, not from education, or from the natural desire of the man; but that “which is from above”—“the spirit of supplication”—“the spirit of adoption.” The urgency of present need calls for instant prayer. The soul is at stake; the enemy is within the walls—perhaps within the citadel. Oh, what a privilege to know that we have “a strong habitation, whereunto we may continually resort”—to be able to remind the Lord—“Thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress!”1

But then we must see, that our “cry comes before—comes near before the Lord;” that nothing blocks up the way, or interrupts the communication. If we are believers, the way is open; “the middle wall of partition is broken down.” Oh, let us be excited to greater nearness of communion! “Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,”2 why should we be backward to come? Had we not seen the way marked by this blood of sprinkling, we should (if we have had any sight into our own hearts) no more have dared to take one step into the awful presence of God, than to rush into the devouring flame. If, in a moment of extremity, we had felt, that we must pray or perish, we should have had no boldness to open our mouths before God,—much less expect that our “supplication would come near before him,” had we not been “made nigh by the blood of Christ.”3 But what an amount of privilege is it, that this way to God is always open—that, as members of Christ, we stand in the sight of God as pure as Christ is pure—that we have not only “access” but “access with confidence”4—yea, with the same confidence as the Son of God himself! For the Father is never weary of delighting in his dear Son, or in those who are one with him. If he, therefore, takes our names into the holy place—if he offer sacrifice and incense for us, and sprinkle us with his blood—“in him we are complete,”5—“in him,” therefore, let us “glory.”6 “Having an high-priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.”7

But where we feel as if we did not, could not, reach the throne of grace, “is there not a cause?” Our distance from God must be traced to a deeper origin than the dulness and insensibility of our hearts. The real difficulty of prayer, and indeed the actual inability to pray, arises in many, and probably in most, cases, from an indistinct perception of the way of access. We must admit this, not only in those who are totally ignorant of Christ, but also in the cases of weak, unestablished, or negligent Christians. Through ignorance of the fulness and freeness of the Gospel in the one, and indulgence of sin or secret unwatchfulness in the other, the way of access (only perceptible by the eye of faith) becomes obscured, the desire faint, the spiritual strength weakened. And instead of the acknowledgment—“The Lord hath heard the voice of my supplications,”8 we have the mournful complaints—“My soul cleaveth to the dust—oh that I were as in months past!”9 It must be so; for prayer without faith is a heartless ceremony in the spirit of bondage. That which gives to it life and acceptance is the believing apprehension of Christ.1 The ignorant and self-righteous may find it a matter of course (as easy as it is fruitless) to bow their knee in the form of prayer. But the light, that darts in upon the awakened conscience, reveals something hitherto unknown of God and of themselves, and shows the ground of confidence for a self-condemned sinner, to be a matter of the deepest mystery, and most amazing difficulty. Such a confidence, however, God has laid open to us. We cannot honor him more than by making use of it. All that come in the name of Jesus are welcome; why, then, penitent sinner, should not you be welcome? The throne of grace was raised for sinners such as you. You cannot want larger promises, or a better plea. You come, not because you are worthy, but be cause you are bid, to come. Take the command, and lay it upon your conscience. Christ is your only way to God. Faith is the act and exercise of coming to Christ. Faith, therefore, will bring you to God, if you have not hitherto come; or restore you to God, if you have wandered from him.

But there may be a secret departure from God even in the engagement of active service, or in the exercises of social religion. For if these duties are substituted for secret communion with God, “the things that remain in us will be ready to die;”2 ordinances will fail to enrich; Christian fellowship will bring no refreshment; and the soul, while blessed with the abundance of means of grace, “in the fulness of its sufficiency will be in straits.”3 Indeed, if our affections and feelings are moved in social exercises, and are cold and insensible when we are alone with God, it is a bad symptom of our state. What then do we know of the comforts of the closet? Do we pray, because we love to pray, or only because our consciences constrain us to the duty? Does the Lord mark those secret transactions with himself, that manifest our hearts to be really drawn to him? Is it any pressing business of our soul’s salvation, that brings us to God? Are our services enlivened with spiritual manifestations of Christ? It is possible long to continue in the outward course of duty: and yet not one of our prayers to “come near before the Lord.” We have not come in the appointed way; and therefore we have not really come at all. Or if the name of Christ has been affixed to our prayers, it has been as a component part of a formal system, not as an exercise of dependence in seeking acceptance with God.

But it may be, that we have backslidden from God, in a habit of indulged coldness or wilful iniquity. Now if we would expect “the candle of the Lord again to shine upon our heads, and his secret to be upon our tabernacles,”4 we must rest satisfied with nothing short of the full restoration of our privileges. We must return to the Lord with deepened contrition in his appointed way, and wait for him to look upon us, and once more to “let our supplication come near before him.” He had “gone, and returned to his place, till we acknowledged our offence, and sought his face;”1 and he is now sitting on a “throne of grace,” waiting “that he may be gracious.”2 Again and again, therefore, let us fall down at his feet, and never cease to pray, until we feel that our “cry and supplication come near before him,” and spiritual “understanding of our case, and deliverance” from our danger, are vouchsafed. As a God of wisdom and yearning mercy, we may trust him to “perform all things for us.”3 Let him then judge for the time and means of our deliverance. Only let it be according to his own word of faithfulness, and we shall yet praise him.”4

It is beautiful to observe the oil of the Psalmist’s faith feeding the flame of his supplication. Every petition is urged upon the warrant of a promise—“according to thy word.” The promises were the very breath of his supplication; exciting his expectation for a favorable answer, and exercising his patience, until the answer should come. Though in possession of so comparatively small a portion of the blessed book, he seemed always to find a word for the present occasion; always able to show to his God his own hand and seal. Alas! sometimes with the whole word of God before us, we are at a loss to appropriate one of its innumerable promises to the present emergency. Yet with all our contracted views of the covenant, still our interest in it is not denied. Such is the condescension of our tender Father that he accepts even the stammering language of faith in his children! The cry, “Abba Father”—“though” (as Luther sweetly expresses it) “it is but a cry, yet it doth so pierce the clouds, that there is nothing else heard in heaven of God and his angels.”5 And how delightful is the thought, that God’s elect—as they will shortly be gathered a countless multitude around the heavenly throne6—so do they now hold spiritual communion with each other, while “they cry day and night”7 before their Father’s throne of grace! True it is—we understand not one another’s tongues. Yet does our loving Father understand us all. Nor do our different dialects cause any confusion in heaven; but rather unite and form one cloud of incense, ascending with continual acceptance and delight in his presence. Ineffable is the delight, with which our Beloved enjoys that communion with his people, which he purchased with his own blood—“O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rocks, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.”8

1 Psalm 71:3.

2 Heb. 10:19, 20.

3 Eph. 2:13.

4 Eph. 3:12. Esther had “access” to the King—but not “with confidence”—Esther 4:16.

5 Col. 2:10.

6 Isaiah 45:25.

7 Heb. 10:21, 22.

8 Psalm 6:9.

9 Ps 119:25. Job. 29:2.

1 Heb. 4:14–16; 10:19–22.

2 Rev. 3:2.

3 Job 20:22.

4 Job 29:3, 4.

1 Hosea 5:15.

2 Isaiah 30:18.

3 Psalm 57:2.

4 Ps. 42:11.

5 Luther on Gal. 4:6. And again—“This little word, Father, conceived effectually in the heart, passeth all the eloquence of Demosthenes, Cicero, and of the most eloquent rhetoricians that ever were in the world. This matter is not expressed with words, but with groanings; which groanings cannot be uttered with any words of eloquence, for no tongue can express them.”

6 Rev. 7:9.

7 Luke 18:7.

8 Song. 2:14, also 4:11.

Psalm 119:170  Let my supplication come before You; Deliver me according to Your word.

• deliver me (KJV): Ps 119:41 89:20-25 Ge 32:9-12 2Sa 7:25 

Let my supplication come before You; Deliver me according to Your word.

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Charles Bridges - See comment on v169

Psalm 119:171  Let my lips utter praise, For You teach me Your statutes.

• my lips (KJV): etc. Or, more literally, and accordant with the context.  "My lips shall pour forth (tabbanah) praise; for (kee) thou hast taught me thy statues." Ps 119:7 50:23 71:17,23,24 

Let my lips utter praise, For You teach me Your statutes.

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Charles Bridges - 171. My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes

How happy is it to bring to God a heart as large in praise as in prayer! The answer of the supplication for spiritual understanding and deliverance naturally issues in the sacrifice of praise. Guilt had sealed David’s lips, while living in sin, and restrained alike the utterance of praise and prayer. But when awakened to a sense of his sin, how earnest were his cries!—“Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.”1 And if guilt or unbelief has made us dumb, his petitions will tune our hearts to the “songs of Zion.” When the Lord has taught us in his statutes the revelation of himself—as having given his dear Son for us and to us, “the tongue of the dumb is made to sing,”2—“Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!”3

And do I not remember “the time of love,” when I was “a brand plucked out of the fire”—a redeemed sinner—a pardoned rebel—destined for a seat on the throne of God—indulged with a taste, and assured of the completion of heavenly bliss? This was a work worthy of God—a work, which none but God could have wrought. What mercy is this! Everlasting! Unchangeable! Let me cast myself daily upon it; yea, let me bury myself in it! What gratitude is demanded! “My lips shall utter praise, now that he has taught me his statutes.” “O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.”4

Again—I seemed to have sunk beyond all help. No means, no ministers, no providences, could reach my extremity. All were “physicians of no value;”5 tried and tried again, but tried in vain. But “in weakness” thoroughly felt “strength was made perfect.”6 The threatening clouds were dispersed; the breaches were healed; the veil of unbelief was rent. “The right hand of the Lord had brought mighty things to pass”7—“He hath spoken unto me, and himself hath done it;”8 and it is “marvellous in our eyes.”9 Let my stammering “lips utter praise.” What a display of power! It is the spark preserved in the ocean unquenched, the drop in the flames unconsumed—the feather in the storm unshaken. “Who is a God like unto thee!” “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.”10

And again—I was perplexed in a dark and bewildered path. Every dispensation appeared to frown upon me. One dark hour had blotted out all the recollections of my former comforts; and it was as if I never could, never should, rejoice again. But little did I think how the Lord was “abounding towards me in all wisdom and prudence”11—how his arrows were sharpened with love—how he was “humbling me, and proving me, to know what was in my heart,”1 and in the moment of chastening was speaking to me—I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord: thoughts of peace; and not of evil, “to give you an expected end.”2 What a display of “wisdom!” “My lips shall utter praise;” for if I “should hold my peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”3

The thought what I was before my conversion—what I have been since—what I am now-overwhelms me with shame and with praise. “Lord, how is it that thou shouldst have manifested to me, as thou hast not unto the world?” “Who am I, O Lord God, that thou hast brought me hitherto!” And how much more “that thou hast spoken of thy servant for a great while to come!”4 For thou hast prepared for me a happy eternity in thy unclouded presence. Should not then my praise be bubbling up as from a fountain5—pouring forth as from a rich treasure house?6 Should not my instrument—if not always employed—be always kept in tune?7 Yes—when I am most deploring my sins, never let me fail to thank the Lord, that he has not taken away his truth utterly—that he has left me clinging to some twig of hope, instead of leaving me to find—what many who look very calm have found—the depth of this precipice of despair. And has not the time been with you—believer—when you have been almost ready to give up all for lost, and to say, “Evil be thou my good,” and when the thought flashed light and comfort, ‘While I am struggling between despondency and rebellion, and too hard—too cold—too discouraged to look up, my blessed Saviour is pitying and succoring me in my struggle. Then let me put off despair at least till to-morrow’—and before to-morrow’s dawn the cloud was swept away.

Ought not we then to glorify our Saviour—a privilege as high as to enjoy him—nay—the very means of increasing our enjoyment of him, in the active excitement of my love, and every grace for his sake. Let not the enemy rob me, as too often he has done, of my high privilege. Let me prize secret prayer. Let me be separated from an ensnaring world. Let me dread separation from my God—and if ever estranged from him, let me never rest, until by “receiving the atonement,” always presented and accepted on my behalf, I once more walk in the light of his countenance. Let me then fix the eye of my faith, weak and dim as it may be, constantly upon Jesus. He must do all for me, in me, by me. He must “teach” me more and more of “the statutes” of my God, that my heart may be delightfully engaged with “my lips in uttering his praise.”

1 Psalm 51:12, 15.

2 Isaiah 35:6.

3 2 Cor. 9:15.

4 Isaiah 12:1.

5 Job 13:4.

6 2 Cor. 12:9.

7 Psalm 118:16, prayer-book version.

8 Isaiah 38:15.

9 Psalm 118:23.

10 Micah 7:18. Psalm 115:1.

11 Eph. 1:8.

1 Deuteronomy 8:2.

2 Jer. 29:11.

3 Luke 19:40.

4 2 Sam. 7:18, 19.

5 Psalm 46. M. R.

6 Matt. 12:34.

7 Psalm 57:7; 108:1.

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Tender Heart - Without a heart for God, we cannot hear God's Word. Proper understanding of spiritual truth is not dependent on a keen intellect but on a tender heart, a heart that is "humble and contrite of spirit, and which trembles at My Word." (Isa 66:2) We don’t as much need physical eyes to read the Bible, as we need the spiritual eyes of our heart enlightened to love the Author. The story is told of a poor, blind French girl who obtained a Braille copy of Mark and learned to read it with her fingers. But eventually her fingers became so calloused she could no longer distinguish letters and words. In desperation for the Word, she cut the calluses in an attempt to restore the sense of touch, but sadly the scarring had the opposite effect. Faced with the reality that she must give up her beloved Book, with weeping she pressed the Braille copy of Mark to her lips, lamenting “Farewell, farewell, sweet Word of my Heavenly Father!” To her surprise, she discovered that her lips were even more sensitive to touch than her fingers had been! And from that moment on she "read" the Bible with her lips, and doubtless offered praises like the psalmist who cried "Let my lips utter praise, for You teach me Your statutes." (Ps 119:171)

Psalm 119:172  Let my tongue sing of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness.

• tongue (KJV): Ps 119:13,46 37:30 40:9,10 78:4 De 6:7 Mt 12:34,35 Eph 4:29 Col 4:6 
• for all thy (KJV): Ps 119:86,138,142 Ro 7:12,14 

Let my tongue sing of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness.

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Charles Bridges - 172. My tongue shall speak of thy word; for all thy commandments are righteousness

To speak of God and for him, will be the desire and delight of him, whose heart and lips have been taught to “utter praise.” Yet alas! how seldom is “our conversation seasoned with grace!”1 So much of this poor world’s nothing! So little of Jesus! If only five minutes can be redeemed for prayer—for Scripture—or for thought—let it be seized as an inestimable jewel. If we can pass five minutes less in foolish or ensnaring company, secure the advantage. If vain words are flowing up from the bottom, look on the restraint that represses them from our lips as a triumphant mercy. This active energy of Christian discipline will communicate a fragrance to our conversation, most acceptable to our Beloved Lord;2 and will make our “lips” enriching,3 feeding,4 and instructive5 to his church. And truly when we see how hardly men judge of him—how they count his “commandments grievous,” and his ways “unequal,”6 it will be delightful to bear our testimony, that “all his commandments are righteousness”—restraining the power of sin, and conforming the soul to his image.

“Lord, open thou my lips, that my tongue may speak of thy word.” Honor me, O my God, by helping me to show, that “all thy commandments are righteousness.” In our own atmosphere, and our own spirit, how often do we pour out our words without waiting on the Lord for unction and power—speaking of the things of God without his presence and blessing! Were we living fully in the atmosphere and breathing of prayer—enriched with habitual meditation in the word—how much more fluent would our tongue be to speak of his word “to the use of edifying!”7 It would be made really our own—known experimentally—and then how cheering, how enlivening the conversation of the man of God! His “light so shines before men, that” they are constrained to “glorify his Father which is in heaven.”8

Perhaps, believer, supposed inability, natural bashfulness, or want of seasonable opportunity may restrain your lips. But under most unfavorable circumstances something may generally be said or done in the service of God. And whilst it is well carefully to watch against the “talk of the lips, which tendeth only to penury;”9 beware, lest, through the scrupulous tenderness of conscience, “Satan get advantage” to shut the mouth of the faithful witnesses of God, and thus to weaken that cause, which it is your first desire to support.10 Guard against the influence of unbelief. Bring your weakness and inability daily to the Lord. Let any dreaded inconsistency of profession be searched out, examined, and lamented before him, and opposed in dependence on his grace; but never let it be made a covering for indolence, or supply fuel for despondency. Consider how your interest in a Divine Saviour makes your way open to bring all your wants to him. Be encouraged therefore to ask for the Spirit of God to guide your lips: that a poor weak sinner may be permitted to “show forth the praises of Him,” who is surrounded with all the Hosts of Heaven.

When however our silence has arisen from the too feeble assistance of our natural carelessness and indolence, the recollection of many important opportunities of glorifying our Saviour, lost beyond recall, may well excite the prayer—“Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God; and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.”1 Oh! to have the preciousness of souls deeply impressed upon our hearts! Oh! for that compassionate love, that would never suffer us to meet a fellow-sinner, without lifting up our hearts to God on his behalf: making an effort to win his soul to Christ: and manifesting an earnest desire for his salvation! What loss is there to our own souls in these neglected opportunities of blessing the souls of others! For never do we receive richer fruit to ourselves, than in the act or endeavor to communicate to others. The heart becomes enlarged by every practical exercise of Christian love. Yet much simplicity—much unction from above—much tenderness of heart—much wisdom combined with boldness—is needed in our daily conversation, that we may “make manifest the savor of the knowledge of Christ in every place;”2 and specially—that our very desires to bring sinners to the Gospel may proceed—not from a goading conscience, much less from pride and vain glory—but from the pure source of love to Christ and to our fellow-sinners. For even if we are as “full of matter” as Elihu3 was, nothing will be said for God—nothing, that will “minister grace to the hearers,” unless the influence of the Divine Spirit fills our hearts,4 as “a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life,”5—a blessing to all around us.

1 Col. 4:6.

2 Song. 4:11.

3 Prov. 10:20.

4 Ib. 5:21.

5 Prov. 15:7.

6 Ezek. 18:25.

7 Eph. 4:29, with Col. 3:16.

8 Matt. 5:16.

9 Prov. 14:23.

10 It was an excellent saying of Archbishop Usher, when in the society of his friends—‘A word of Christ before we part.’

1 Psalm 51:14.

2 2 Cor. 2:14.

3 Compare Job. 32:18–20.

4 Comp. Eph. 5:18, 19.

5 John 4:14.

Psalm 119:173  Let Your hand be ready to help me, For I have chosen Your precepts.

• Let (KJV): Ps 119:94,117 Isa 41:10-14 Mk 9:24 2Co 12:9 Eph 6:10-20 Php 4:13 
• for (KJV): Ps 119:30,35,40,111 De 30:19 Jos 24:15,22 1Ki 3:11,12 Pr 1:29 Lu 10:42 

Let Your hand be ready to help (see notes on 'azar translated here in the the Lxx with sozo - save, help, deliver) me, For I have chosen Your precepts.

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Charles Bridges - 173. Let thy hand help me: for I have chosen thy precepts

David, having engaged himself to a bold profession of his God, now comes to seek his needful supply of “help.”—“Let thine hand help me.” And if we may “come to the throne of grace,” that we may find “grace to help in time of need,”6 when should we not come? For is not every moment a “time of need,” such as may quicken us to flee to the “strong tower,” whither “the righteous runneth, and is safe?”7 Besieged without; betrayed within: “wrestling against flesh and blood,” and yet not against flesh and blood only;8 disputing every inch of ground, yet often discouraged by the little ground we seem to gain; surely we need all the help of Omnipotence to sustain us in the tremendous conflict. We may plead our “choice of his precepts,” in looking for his “help.”9 David had before “taken the testimonies of God as his heritage”10—including all the precious promises of the Gospel, extending to every necessity of time, and to every prospect for eternity. He now confesses his obligation—“in choosing the precepts—a happy choice—the influence of the Spirit upon his heart.1

This choice is the distinctive mark of the Lord’s people2—the exercise of a well-instructed and deliberate judgment—prompt obedience in the simplicity of faith. It is the choice of all the precepts—no other than the voluntary acknowledgment of our baptismal obligations. Many carnal suggestions offer themselves, the moment that the purpose is forming into the choice. “The things that were gain to us,” and which now must be “counted loss for Christ,”3 (should we allow their weight in the balance at this crisis) will bring much hesitation and perplexity. Conferences “with flesh and blood” are most subtle hindrances to Christian determination.4 ‘What will the world say? If I go too far, I shall give offence; I shall lose all my influence—and blast all my prospects of eventual benefit to those around me. The apprehension also of losing the affection, and of incurring the displeasure, of those whom my heart holds dear, is most fearful. And then, this sacrifice is too costly to make; that pleasure too hard to resign.’ Such thoughts—the injections of the tempter—are ever at the door; and even when effectual resistance is offered, the struggle is often most severe. But it is such a mighty help in this conflict, when one desire has taken sole possession of the heart—“Lord, what wilt thou have me to do;”5 when we are so crucified to worldly influence, whether of pleasure, profit, fear, or esteem, as to be ready to act upon the resolution—“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh.”6 Now the heavenly beauty of the religion of the Gospel breaks in upon us.

Experience of our own weakness, and of the great power of the world, is gradually preparing us for victory over it. We shall then most specially find our happiness in losing our own will; and our Master’s cross will be a delightful burden—like wings to a bird, or sails to a ship—assisting, instead of retarding, our course. The more we trust to his help and guidance in everything, the more we shall be able to do, and the more delightful will his service be to us.

The want of a determined choice is the secret of the halting profession that prevails among us. A compromise is attempted with the world. “The offence of the cross” begins to “cease.” A middle path of serious religion is marked out, divested of what is called needless offensiveness—forgetting, that the religion that pleases the world will never be acceptable with God; nor can the religion that pleases God be ever accommodated to the inclination of the world. Oh! we shall do well to consider, whether the way of “the Lord’s precepts” may not be found too hard, too strait, too unfrequented—whether we are prepared to brave the pointed finger and whispered scoff of the ungodly—and, perhaps, the mistaken opposition of beloved friends.1 Often has the profession of Christ been hastily taken up and relinquished.2 He that wishes to abide by it, must daily learn this lesson—“Without me ye can do nothing:”3 and, in conscious helplessness, he will often breathe the cry—“Let thine hand help me.”

Nor is this petition needful only in the first determination of this choice. In the growing and more decided conviction of its superior happiness, and in the daily endeavor to live in it, we shall find increasing need for the same acknowledgment of helplessness, and the same cry for support. Dependence is a principle of deep humility and mighty energy. The thought that we are entering into the work in the Lord’s strength is a great stay. Blessed indeed is that helplessness, that makes us lie in the bosom of our Saviour, supported and cherished. Blessed be God for the “help laid” for us “upon one that is mighty;”4 so that our insufficiency and all sufficiency are visible at one glance; and “when we are” most “weak, then are we” most “strong!”5 “They that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, ‘Fear not, I will help thee.”6

6 Heb. 4:16.

7 Prov. 18:10.

8 Eph. 6:12.

9 Ps 119:94.

10 Ps 119:111.

1 See Ezek. 11:19, 20.

2 Isaiah 56:4.

3 Phil. 3:7.

4 Compare Gal. 1:16.

5 Acts 9:6.

6 2 Cor. 5:16.

1 Compare Luke 14:26.

2 Comp. Matt. 8:19, 20.

3 John 15:5.

4 Psalm 89:19.

5 2 Cor. 12:10.

6 Isaiah 41:12, 13. Compare the whole passage, verses 10–16.

Psalm 119:174  I long for Your salvation, O LORD, And Your law is my delight.

• longed (KJV): Ps 119:81,166 Ge 49:18 2Sa 23:5 Pr 13:12 Song 5:8 Ro 7:22-25 8:23-25 Php 1:23 
• and thy law (KJV): Ps 119:16,24,47,77,111,162,167 1:2 

I long for Your salvation, O LORD - (Jesus' ) salvation (YESHUA) O LORD - Long for = eagerly awaiting for Lord see this same eagerness in OT saints at the time of the Lord's birth for they were "looking for the redemption of Jerusalem" see notes on Lu 2:38+. For salvation see notes on Psalm 119:155

Henry Morris - At the end of his long testimony, the psalmist expresses his deep longing for the completion of his "salvation." Hebrew yeshua, could be rendered "Jesus." By inspiration he was praying for the coming of the Savior, who would fulfill all the Scriptures that had been his lifelong delight. How awesome is the eternal Word of God!

And Your law is my delight - Jer 15:16+ "Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. "  It is interesting that the Lxx translators chose to translate sha'shua' = "delight"  by using the word "melete" in the following passages (Ps 119:77, 92, 143,174). The point is that this repeated use of melete (see notes on the cognate verb meletao) for sha'shua' conveys the thought that meditation on God's Word is one's delight! What a beautiful picture. 

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Charles Bridges - 174. I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord; and thy law is my delight

Before we close this Psalm, let us dwell once more upon this word—salvation. Common as is its use, to the believer it has a constant freshness and an infinite meaning. Do we wonder at his longing for it? Look at its fulness—including all the mercy of the everlasting covenant. Look at its ground—that work of Calvary’s cross once “finished,”7 and leaving nothing to be filled up or improved; standing out in all its glorious completeness; constraining the admiration, and encouraging the confidence, of the chief of sinners; but wholly disclaiming all assistance from the most eminent saint. Look at its simplicity—not keeping the sinner aloof from the Saviour—not hedging up or bewildering the open freeness of his path, but bringing him immediate peace and joy in resting upon the great atonement of the Gospel.8 Mark its unchangeableness—independent of and above all frames and feelings, so that, while “walking in darkness” we can “stay upon our God,”9 expecting salvation even from the hand that seems ready for our destruction10—leaving it to our heavenly Father to frown or to smile—to change as he pleaseth from the one to the other—and looking at every aspect of his countenance, as only a different arrangement of the same features of ineffable paternity; and the different, suitable, and seasonable expression of unchangeable covenant love.

Is not this an object for the longing of the soul, that feels its own pressing wants, and sees in this salvation an instant and full supply? This longing marks the character of evangelical religion—not merely duty, but delight. The mind wearies in the continued exertion for duty; but it readily falls in with delight. Duties become privileges, when Christ is their source and life. Thus every step of progress is progress in happiness. The world’s all to the believer is really nothing. It presents nothing to feed the appetite, or quench the thirst of an immortal soul. Indeed the creatures were commissioned to withhold consolation, until every desire was concentrated in the single object, “Thou, O God, art the thing that I long for”1—until the sinner has found rest in the answer to his prayer—“Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.”2 And now he enjoys his earthly comforts, “as not abusing them,”3 because he loves them as God would have them loved, and longs for his salvation above them all. This is true religion—when the Lord of all occupies that place in the heart, which he fills in the universe—There he is “All in all.” Here the believer cries—“Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee?”4 O what a privilege is it to have him in heart, in thought, and in view; to be rejoicing in his presence; and to be longing for a more full conformity to his image, and for a more lively enjoyment of his love! If this be but earth, what must heaven be! This longing is a satisfactory evidence of the work of God.5 It exercises the soul in habitual contemplation of the Saviour, in nearer communion with him, and supreme “delight in his law.” Such desires will be unutterably increased, and infinitely satisfied ‘in the fruition of his glorious Godhead.’6

But the Lord often brings this charge against his professing people—“Thou hast left thy first love.”7 The principle is not dead, but the energy is decayed. Human nature is prone to apostasy. Slumber unconsciously steals upon the soul. Faith is not in habitual exercise. The attraction of the Saviour is not set forth. His love is not meditated upon. The soul is satisfied with former affections to him. There is little heart to labor for him. The means of communion with him are slighted; the heart, naturally becomes cold in spiritual desires, and warm in worldly pursuits; and too often without any smitings of conscience for divided love.

Some professors, indeed, consider this declension of affections to be a matter of course. The young convert is supposed to abound most in love, and, as he advances, his fervor gradually subsides into matured judgment. Those indeed, who “have no root in themselves,” lose their lively affections, and their religion with them.8 But surely the real principle of love cannot decay; that is, our esteem of God cannot be lowered: our “longing for his salvation” cannot languish; our delight in its enjoyment cannot diminish, without guilt and loss to our souls. He claims our love,1 and it is most unreasonable to deny him his own. He is the same, as when we first loved him. Then we thought him worthy of our highest love. Do we now repent of having loved him so much? Have we found him less than our expectations? Can we bestow our heart elsewhere with stricter justice, or to better advantage? Do not all the grounds of our love to him continue in full force? Have they not rather increased every day and hour? What would an indulgent husband think of incessant and increasing attentions repaid with diminished affection? Oh! let us be ashamed of our indolence, and “remember” the times, when our longings for his salvation were more intense; when our communion with him was more heavenly: when we were ready to labor and suffer for him, and even to die to go home to his presence. Let us “repent” with deeper contrition, and “do our first works;”2 never resting till we can take up afresh the language of delight—“I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord.”

Some, however, of the Lord’s dear children are distressed in the conscious coldness of their spiritual affections. But if it be a mark of the decay of grace to “lose our first love,” it is at least a mark of the truth of grace to mourn over this loss. There is always a blessing for those “that hunger and thirst after righteousness.”3 These restless desires are the beating pulse of the hidden life; and if there be not always a sensible growth of desire and enjoyment, there may be (as with the trees in winter) growth at the root, in a more fixed habit of grace and love, in a deeper spirit of humility, and in a more established self-knowledge and simplicity. Yet the shortest way of peace will be to look off from our “longing for this salvation,” to the “salvation” itself.4 For nothing is more desecrating to this great work—nothing is more paralyzing to its saving power, than the incorporating with it the admixture of our own experience as the ground of hope. The most Christian feelings must find no place at the foundation. Indeed their continual variation renders them, especially in the hour of temptation, very uncertain. Yet amid all this fluctuation, Christ may always be safely trusted. While, therefore, our coldness humbles us before him, let not brooding despondency cover his precious cross from view. Let not our eyes be so filled with tears of contrition, as to obscure the sight of his free and full salvation. “Looking” singly “unto Jesus” as our peace and our life, is at once our duty, our safety, and the secret principle of our daily progress heavenward. We shall but realize the perception of our own emptiness in the contemplation of his unbounded fulness.

But the connection between “longing for salvation,” and “delight in the law,” is at least an incidental evidence, that right apprehensions of “salvation,” must be grounded upon the word or “law of God;” and that a religion of feeling is a religion of delusion. Our delight is not only in his love, but in his law. And so practical is Christian privilege, that longing for salvation will always expand itself in habitual delight in the law: which in its turn will enlarge the desire for the full enjoyment of salvation. All spiritual desire therefore, that is not practical in its exercise, is impulse—excitement—not—as in this man of God—the religion of the heart—holiness, “delight.”

Would that this beautiful Psalm might quicken us to be followers of him, who evidently knew so much of the heavenly joys of religion! Why should we not, why do we not, determine to know as much of God as we can? Why are our “longings for his salvation” so transient and so few? The religion of thousands who bear the name is of a very different stamp—empty instead of solid—withering instead of profitable—insipid instead of delightful. If there be any exercise, it is only “the door turning upon hinges”1—movement without progress—their heads stored with knowledge, but no unction in the heart—“ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”2

But the soul that really longs shall “not be ashamed of its hope.” Even to taste the present fruits—though it be but a taste—in a sense of reconciliation, liberty of access, a beam of the love of Jesus in the heart, is unutterable enjoyment. It strengthens the soul for endurance, of trials, and for a devoted, self-denying, obedient service. But there are heights and depths of Divine love yet unexplored.3 He who has vouchsafed large apprehensions of them to others, “is rich in mercy to all that call upon him.”4 The fountain of everlasting love is ever flowing, ever full; and he who commands us to “open our mouths wide,” has promised, “I will fill them.”5 After all, however, the grand consummation is the object to which these longings for salvation stretch with full expansion. The fulness6 and likeness of God7—the complete and everlasting deliverance from sin8—the glorious “manifestation of the sons of God”9—the coming of the Lord.10 Then—not till then—will they be fully and eternally satisfied. Praised be God! “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”11

Lord of all power and might! create in our souls a more intense “longing for thy salvation,” and a more fervent “delight in thy law.” And as our “longings for thy salvation” increase, oh! nail us to the doorposts of thy house, that we may be thy happy servants forever!

7 John 19:30.

8 See Acts 2:37–47; 8:5–8, 39; 16:31–34. 1 Thess. 1:6.

9 Isaiah 50:10.

10 Job 13:15.

1 Psalm 71:4. P. T.

2 Ps. 35:3.

3 1 Cor. 7:31.

4 Psalm 73:25.

5 See Neh. 1:11.

6 Collect for Epiphany.

7 Revelations 2:4.

8 See Matt. 22:20, 21.

1 See Prov. 23:26.

2 See Rev. 2:5.

3 Matt. 5:6.

4 See Hebrews 12:2.

1 Prov. 26:14.

2 Tim. 3:7.

3 Eph. 3:18, 19.

4 Rom. 10:12.

5 Psalm 81:10.

6 Eph. 3:19.

7 Psa. 17:15. Phil. 3:20, 21.

8 Rom. 8:23. 2 Cor. 5:1–8.

9 Rom. 8:19–21.

10 Rev. 22:20.

11 Rom. 13:11. ‘This salvation has been the objects of the hopes, the desires, and longing expectation of the faithful, from Adam to this hour; and will continue so to be, until he, who hath already visited us in great humility, shall come again in glorious majesty, to complete our redemption, and take us to himself.’—Bishop Horne. Compare also Scott in loco.

Psalm 119:175  Let my soul live that it may praise You, And let Your ordinances help me.

• Let my (KJV): Ps 9:13,14 30:9 51:14,15 118:18,19 Isa 38:19 
• and let thy (KJV): Ps 119:75 Isa 26:8,9 Ro 8:28 1Co 11:31,32 2Co 4:17 

Let my soul live that it may praise You, And let Your ordinances help me.

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Charles Bridges - 175. Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee: and let thy judgments help me

There must be life in order to praise; for how can the dead speak? Yet is it as natural for the living soul to praise, as for the living man to speak. And is not the life that the Psalmist is now praying for, the salvation for which he was longing? The taste that he has received makes him hunger for a higher and continued enjoyment; not for any selfish gratification, but that he might employ himself in the praise of his God. Indeed, the close of this Psalm exhibits that pervading character of praise, which has been generally remarked in the concluding Psalms of this sacred book.”1 Yet he alone is fitted for this heavenly exercise, of whom it has been said—“This my son was dead, and is alive again.”2 And how will he, who has “looked to the hole of the pit whence he was digged,”3 who has been awakened to a sight of that tremendous gulf, from which he is but “scarcely saved,”4 long to give utterance to the effusions of a praising heart! How will he cry for the quickening influence of “the Lord and Giver of life,” to stir him up to this delightful privilege! Praise springs from prayer—“Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee.” When the breathing of “life into our souls” enlivens our services, we become, in the noblest sense, “living souls.”5

Too often, however, the consciousness of inconsistency, carelessness, and unspirituality, damps our song. But let every recollection of our sin be accompanied with an humble yet assured confidence in the Lord’s pardoning grace. The abominations of a desperately wicked and unsearchably deceitful heart may well lead us to “abhor ourselves in dust and ashes.”6 Yet in the lowest depths of abasement, the Saviour’s blood, applied to the conscience, “cleanseth from all sin.”7 He who once “passed by us, and saw us polluted in our blood, and said unto us, when we were in our blood, Live;”8 still “holdeth our souls in life”9—covering our daily infirmities, and maintaining our everlasting acceptance before God.

But while the song of praise dwells on our lips for life thus freely given, let us guard against all hinderance to its growth and influence. For if the life within waxes low, praise will be dull and heartless; but when the assured believer cries with acceptance—“Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee”—see how his spirit kindles with holy fire—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!”10 The work of praise is now his nature, his element, his delight. No wonder, then, that he continues his cry for the daily renewal of his spiritual life, that he may return to this sweet antepast of heaven—“Let my soul live.” And, indeed, this life—the more it is known, the more will it form the constant matter for prayer. For what besides makes existence tolerable to a child of God? The mere actings of a sickly pulsation can never satisfy him. Considering how much nearer he might live to God than he has yet known, he longs for more vigorous influence of the Divine principle. In his most active enjoyments, his insufficiency for this sacred work presses upon him, and stirs up petition for help—“Let thy judgments help me.” Give me such an enlightened apprehension of thy word—of thy character—of thy perfections as the God of my salvation, as may furnish abundant matter for unceasing praise; so that my daily exercise may be, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”1

1 Ps 119:164, 171, 172. The last six Psalms are for the most part throughout the breathings of praise. They were probably written at the close of life, and may be considered as striking indications of a soul ripening for glory. As the perfumes of Arabia Felix are said to exhale their odors in the neighboring provinces; so it is no marvel if, as “the sweet Psalmist of Israel” drew near to the happy country, he should have inhaled its atmosphere of praise.

2 Luke 15:24.

3 Isaiah 51:1.

4 1 Peter 4:18.

5 Gen. 2:7.

6 Job 42:6.

7 1 John 1:7.

8 Ezek. 16:6.

9 Psalm 66:9.

10 1 Peter 1:3. ‘It is sufficient for me’—said Luther—triumphing in the very heat of conflict—‘that I have a precious Redeemer—a powerful High Priest—my Lord Jesus Christ. I will praise him as long as I have breath. If another will not join me in praising with me, what is that to me?—D’Aubigne’s History of the Reformation, Book iv. ch. 1.

1 Ephesians 5:20.

Psalm 119:176  I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, For I do not forget Your commandments.

• gone astray (KJV): Isa 53:6 Eze 34:6,16 Mt 10:6 15:24 18:12,13 Lu 15:4-7 Joh 10:16 1Pe 2:25 
• seek (KJV): Song 1:4 Jer 31:18 Lu 19:10 Ga 4:9 Php 2:13 Jas 1:17 
• for I do (KJV): Ps 119:61,93 Ho 4:6
• Isa 53:6; 1Pe2:25 cp. Lu15:4

 I have gone astray like a lost sheep;. Gotthold one day saw a farmer carefully counting his sheep as they came from the field. Happening at the time to be in an anxious and sorrowful mood, he gave vent to his feelings and said: Why art thou cast down, my soul? and why disquieted with vexing thoughts? Surely thou must be dear to the Most High as his lambs are to this farmer. Art thou not better than many sheep? Is not Jesus Christ thy shepherd? Has not he risked his blood and life for thee? Hast thou no interest in his words: "I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand"? Jn10:28. This man is numbering his flock; and thinkest thou that God does not also count and care for his believing children and elect, especially as his beloved Son has averred, that the very hairs of our head are all numbered? Mt10:30. During the day, I may perhaps have gone out of the way, and heedlessly followed my own devices; still, at the approach of evening, when the faithful Shepherd counts his lambs, he will mark my absence, and graciously seek and bring me back. Lord Jesus, "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments." 

seek Your servant, F he recognizes the need of the Chief Shepherd to watch over his going out & his coming in.  The psalmist devoted the longest of the Psalms to the praise of God's Word. Then he concluded by acknowledging that one as devoted as he was only a sinful lost sheep whom God needed to seek. Knowing God's Word is a strong weapon against temptation (v10), but we must also obey God's Word. None of us does this perfectly. We all sin.

or I do not forget Your commandments

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Charles Bridges - 176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep: seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments

The native disposition to wander from the fold is constant ground for prayer for the help of the Lord’s judgments—to give us clearer light and preserving principles. Yet our need of this safeguard opens to us a most humbling truth. Who can gainsay the testimony from the mouth of God—that “all we like sheep have gone astray?”2 But how afflicting is the thought, that this should not only be the description of a world living without God, but the confession even of God’s own people! And yet where is the child of God, that does not set his own seal with shame to the confession—I have gone astray like a lost sheep? “Who can understand his errors?” If he be not found—like Peter—in the open path of wandering—yet has he not need to cry, “Cleanse thou me from secret faults?”3 Is he never led away by sense, fancy, or appetite? If the will be sincere, how far is it from being perfect! And only a little yielding—bending to the flesh—giving way to evil—who knoweth what may be the end of this crooked path? Who knoweth what pride—waywardness—earthliness may be working within, even while the gracious Lord is strengthening, guiding, comforting his poor straying sheep? That they should ever wander from privileges so great—from a God so good—from a Shepherd so kind! What can induce them to turn their backs upon their best Friend, and sin against the most precious love that was ever known, but something, that must, upon reflection, fill them with shame! The blame is readily cast upon the temptation of Satan, the seductive witcheries of the world, or some untoward circumstances. But whoever deals honestly with himself must trace the backsliding to his own heart—“This is my infirmity.”1 And have we replaced what we have wilfully yielded up, with anything of equal or superior value? May it not be asked of us—“What fruit have ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed; for the end of those things is death?”2

But there is no enjoyment, while distant from the beloved fold. It is as impossible for the child of God to be happy, when separated from his God, as if he were in the regions of eternal despair. He has not lost—he cannot wholly lose—his recollection of the forsaken blessing. In struggling weeping faith, he cries—“Seek thy servant.” ‘I cannot find my way back;3 the good Shepherd must seek me. Once I knew the path; but now that I have wandered into bye-paths, I am no more able to return, than I was to come at first. I have no guide but the Shepherd whom I have left.’ How cheering then in his office character!—“Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out: as a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the dark and cloudy day.”4 Cannot I set my seal to his faithful discharge of his office—“He restoreth my soul?”5

If I want further encouragement to guide my steps homeward, let me think of his own description of his tender faithfulness, and compassionate yearnings over his lost sheep; not showing it the way back to the fold, and leaving it to come after him; but “laying it upon his own shoulders, and bringing it home:” all upbraidings forgotten; all recollections of his own pains swallowed up in the joy, that he hath “found the sheep which was lost.”6 Let me remember the express commission, that brought the Shepherd from heaven to earth—from the throne of God to the manger, and thence to the garden and cross, “to seek and to save that which was lost.”7 Let me see upon him the special mark of “the good shepherd giving his life for the sheep.”8 Let me observe this sacrifice as covering the guilt of my wanderings, and opening my way to return—yea drawing me in the way9—surely I may add to my contrite confession the prayer of confidence—seek thy servant. I cannot for bear to plead, that though a rebellious prodigal, I am still “thy servant,” thy child: I still bear the child’s mark of an interest in thy covenant. Though a wanderer from the fold, “I do not forget thy commandments.” Nothing can erase thy law, which was “written in my mind and inward parts”10 by the finger and Spirit of God, as an earnest of my adoption—as the pledge of my restoration. What man writes is easily blotted out: what God writes is indelible. Let me then lie humbled and self-abased. But let me not forget my claim—what has been done for me. Thus again I hope to be received as a “dear” and “pleasant child;”1 again to be clothed with “the best robe,” to be welcomed with fresh tokens of my Father’s everlasting love,2 and to be assured with the precious promise—“My sheep shall never perish, and none shall pluck them out of my hand.”3

Such, Christian reader, would be the application we should make of this verse to ourselves; and such a penitent confession of our backslidings, united with a believing dependence on the long-tried grace and faithfulness of our God, would form a suitable conclusion to our meditations on this most interesting Psalm. We would unite the publican’s prayer with the great Apostle’s confidence; and while in holy brokenness of heart we would wish to live and die, smiting upon our breast, and saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner:”4 the remembrance of our adoption warrants the expression of assurance, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day.”5 Yet, as it regards the experience of David, is there not something striking, and we had almost said, unexpected, in the conclusion of this Psalm? To hear one—who has throughout been expressing such holy and joyful aspirations for the salvation of his God, such fervent praises of his love, that we seem to shrink back from the comparison with him, as if considering him almost on the verge of heaven—to hear this “man after God’s own heart,” sinking himself to the lowest dust, under the sense of the evil of his heart, and his perpetual tendency to wander from his God, is indeed a most instructive lesson. It marks the believer’s conflict sustained to the end—the humility, and yet the strength of his confidence—the highest notes of praise combining with the deepest expressions of abasement—forming that harmony of acceptable service, which ascends “like pillars of smoke”6 before God. And thus will our Christian progress be checkered, until we reach the regions of unmixed praise, where we shall no more mourn over our wanderings, no longer feel any inclination to err from our Shepherd’s presence, no more experience the wretchedness of distance from him, or the difficulty of returning to him—where we shall be eternally safe in the heavenly fold, to “go no more out.”7 For “he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them; they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat; For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”8

2 Isa. 53:6.

3 Psa. 19:12.

1 Psa. 77:10.

2 Rom. 6:21.

3 ‘Domini, errare potui; redire non potui’—was Augustine’s true and humbling confession.

4 Ezek. 34:11, 12.

5 Psalm 23:3

6 Luke 15:4–6.

7 Lk. 19:10.

8 John 10:11.

9 Isaiah 53:5, 6.

10 Jer. 31:33.

1 Jer. 5:20.

2 1 Peter 2:4, 2:5. Luke 15:22, 23.

3 John 10:28.

4 Luke 18:13.

5 2 Tim. 1:12.

6 Song. 3:6.

7 Rev. 3:12.

8 Rev. 7:15–17.