Psalm 119: 97-104

Psalm 119 is called the Alphabet of Divine Love, the Paradise of all Doctrines, the Storehouse of the Holy Spirit, and the School of Truth.

The Theme for Psalm 119

is

The Word of God

 97.  Oh, how I love Your law!  It is my meditation all day.  

 98.  You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for

        they are ever with me.

 99.  I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are

        my meditation.

100.  I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts.

101.  I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep Your 

         Word.

102.  I have not departed from Your judgments, for You Yourself have taught 

         me.

103.  How sweet are Your Words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

104.  Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false 

         way.

97.  Oh, how I love Your law!  David must express his love, and in making the attempt, he perceives that it is inexpressible.  He cries, Oh, how I love Your law!  We not only reverence but also love the law.  We obey it out of love, and even when it chides us for disobedience, we love it none the less.  The Law is God's Law, and therefore it is our love.  We love it for its holiness, and we want to be holy.  We love it for its wisdom, and we study to be wise.  We love it for its perfection, and we long to be perfect.  Those who know the power of the gospel perceive an infinite loveliness in the Law as it is fulfilled and embodied in Christ.

It is my meditation all the day.  This was both the effect and the cause of his love.  David meditated in God's Word because he loved it, and then he loved it more because he meditated in it.  He could not have enough of it, so ardently did he love it.  All day was not long enough for thinking on it.  His morning prayer, his noonday thought, and his evening songs were from the Holy Scripture.  The more you are into God's Word the more familiar you become with it.  Familiarity breeds affection, and affection seeks greater familiarity.  When You law and my meditation are together all day, the day grows holy, devout and happy, and the heart lives with and to God.


98.  You through Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies.  The commands  were his books, but God was his teacher.  The letter can give knowledge, but only the divine Spirit can make one wise.  Wisdom is knowledge put to practical use.  Wisdom comes from obedience, "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine" (John 7:17). We learn not only from promise, doctrine, and sacred history but also from precept  and command.  From the commandments we gather practical wisdom that best enables us to cope with our adversaries.  Our enemies are renowned for subtlety.  It is useless to try to match them in craft and cunning, "For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light" (Luke 16:8).  We must go to another school and learn from a different instructor.  Then by uprightness, we will baffle fraud.  By simple truth, we will vanquish deep laid scheming, and by open candor, we will defeat slander.  A thoroughly straightforward person, devoid of all policy, is a terrible puzzle to a diplomatist, who will suspect the straightforward person of a subtle duplicity through which he, the diplomatist, cannot see, while the straightforward person, indifferent to the other's suspicions and holding to the even tenor of his way, baffles the diplomatist.  Those who are taught of God have a practical wisdom that malice cannot give to the crafty; while harmless as a dove, they exhibit more than serpent's wisdom.

For they are ever with me.  David was always studying and obeying the commandments; they were his choice and constant companions.  If we wish to be proficient, we must be indefatigable.  If we keep the wise law ever near, we become wise, and when our adversaries assail us, we will be prepared with the ready wit that lies in having God's Word at our fingertips.  As a soldier in battle must never lay down his shield, we must always have the Word of God in our minds.  It must always be with us.


99.  I have more understanding than all my teachers.  With meditation, we preach to ourselves, and therefore come to have more understanding.  Disciples of Christ, who sit at His feet, are often better skilled in divine things than doctors of divinity.  For Your testimonies are my meditation.  This is the best method of acquiring understanding.  We may hear the wisest teachers and still remain fools, but if we meditate on the sacred Word we will become wise.  There is more wisdom in the Lord's testimonies than in all man's teachings, even if they were gathered into one vast library.  This one Book outweighs all the rest.

David does not hesitate to speak the truth concerning himself for he is innocent of self consciousness.  In speaking of his understanding, he extols the law and the Lord, not himself.


100.  I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts.  The men of old age and the men of old time were outdone by the holier and more youthful learner.  David had been taught to observe the Lord's precepts in heart and life.  He had the Word with him and so he outstripped his foes.  He meditated on it, and so he outran his friends.  He practiced it, and so he outshone his elders.  The instruction derived from Holy Scripture is useful in many directions, superior from many points of view, and unrivaled everywhere and in every way.  As our soul boasts in the Lord, we boast in His Word.  The ancients are held in high repute, but what did they know compared to what we perceive in the divine precepts?  "Old is better,"  says one. But the oldest of all is the best of all, and what is that except the Word of the Ancient of days.


101.  I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your Word.  There is no treasuring the Holy Word unless there is a casting out of all unholiness.  David zealously watched his steps and put a check on his conduct;  He had restrained his feet.  No evil way could entice him. He knew that if he went astray in the one road, he had left the way of practical righteousness; therefore, he avoided every false way.  The by-paths were smooth and flowery, but he knew they were evil, and so he turned his feet away and held to the straight and thorny pathway that leads to God.

Where there is real holiness,  there is holy hatred, detest and indignation against all ungodliness and wickedness.  I have restrained my feet from every evil way. Why? That I may keep Your Word.  "Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore, I hate every false way.  The good that David got by divine precepts stirred his hatred against every false way."  A holy person knows that all sin strikes at the holiness of God, the glory of God, the nature of God, the being of God, and the Law of God. 


102.  I have not departed from Your judgments, for You Yourself have taught me.  Lest it should seem that David ascribed the praise of godliness to himself, or that it came from any goodness in him, he gives all the glory to God.  He states that because God taught him he could not refuse being taught.  Here, we learn that whenever we stand, or whenever we have fallen and then rise and repent, it is God that teaches us.  God never leaves us to ourselves. Now David was taught by ordinary teachers, and he reverenced them, but the reason he profited from them, he says, is because of God.  Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God must give the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). William Cowper, 1566-1619

God's instruction has a practical effect; we follow His way when He teaches.  It also has an abiding effect; we do not depart from holiness.  If we begin to depart a little, we can never tell where we will end.  The Lord brings us to persevere in holiness by abstinence of sin.  But whatever the method, He is the worker of our perseverance.  To Him be all the glory.


103.  How sweet are Your Words to my taste.  David not only heard God's Word, but he also fed on them; they affected his palate as well as his ear.  God's Words were divinely sweet to God's servant.  God who put the sweetness in them, had prepared His servant's taste to discern and enjoy them.  David makes no distinction between promises and precepts, or doctrines.  They are all included in God's Words; all are precious in his esteem. 

Sweeter than honey to my mouth!  He not only fed on God's Words but also spoke the Word and instructed others.  This gave him an increased delight.  When the psalmist fed on it, he found it sweet, and when he witnessed, it became sweeter.  How wise to keep the Word on our palate by meditation and on our tongue by confession.  If it is not sweet to our taste when we think about it, it will not be sweet to our mouth when we talk about it.

At this moment, there is nothing in the whole world so much to be desired as certain words, such as words of love, words expressive of infinite love.  Treasures, pleasures, and honors of earth, what are they?  My unsatisfied soul cries, "Give me Words."  Give me Words to know the love God has toward me;  Words declaring the unchangeable attachment of the Savior to me; Words purifying my heart, making me bolder in prayer, and showing me the blissful future; Words that will give life to my dead powers and change me from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. (George Bowen, 1873)


104.  Through Your precept I get understanding.  God's direction is our instruction.  Obedience to the divine yields wisdom of mind and action.  We are wise if we obey, and we grow wise by obeying.  Therefore, I hate every false way.  Because he had understanding and because of the divine precepts, David detested sin and falsehood. Until sin is hated, it cannot be subdued. True hearts are not indifferent to sin falsehoods. They love the truth and so hate the lie. They set their faces against all error of doctrine and wickedness of life.  Those who love one sin are in league with the whole army of sins.  We must have neither truce or parley with even one of these Amalakites, for the Lord has made war on them from generation to generation. And so must we.  It is good to be a hater of no living being, but of every false way.  Self-will, self-righteousness, worldliness, pride, unbelief, and hypocrisy are all false ways and must not only be shunned but also abhorred.

The final verse in this section marks a great advance in character.  It shows that the man of God is growing stronger, bolder, and happier. He has been taught by the Lord so that he discerns between the precious and the vile. And while he fervently loves the truth, he intensely hates falsehood.  May all of us reach this state of discrimination and determination, that we may greatly glorify God.

Taken from the Treasury of David - comments by Charles Spurgeon



97. Oh, how I love Your law! David must express his love, and in making the attempt, he perceives that it is inexpressible. He cries, Oh, how I love Your law! We not only reverence but also love the law. We obey it out of love, and even when it chides us for disobedience, we love it none the less. The Law is God's Law, and therefore it is our love. We love it for its holiness, and we want to be holy. We love it for its wisdom, and we study to be wise. We love it for its perfection, and we long to be perfect. Those who know the power of the gospel perceive an infinite loveliness in the Law as it is fulfilled and embodied in Christ.

It is my meditation all the day. This was both the effect and the cause of his love. David meditated in God's Word because he loved it, and then he loved it more because he meditated in it. He could not have enough of it, so ardently did he love it. All day was not long enough for thinking on it. His morning prayer, his noonday thought, and his evening songs were from the Holy Scripture. The more you are into God's Word the more familiar you become with it. Familiarity breeds affection, and affection seeks greater familiarity. When You law and my meditation are together all day, the day grows holy, devout and happy, and the heart lives with and to God.


My thoughts on verse 97...

It is so true that the more you study and meditate on God's Word, the more familiar you become with it, familiarity breeds affection, and affection seeks greater familiarity. 

John 1:1 tells us Jesus is the Word of God. In John 6: Jesus referred to Himself as the Bread of Life, the true Manna from heaven.  He has told us that in order to have life we must feed on Him daily just as the Israelites had to feed on one day's portion at a time. Jesus explained in (John 6:62-63) that after He ascended back to heaven He would send the Holy Spirit. The Spirit would give life; the flesh counts for nothing.  Then He said, the words I have spoken to you, they are spirit and they are life. Romans 8 tells us how to become dead to the flesh and alive to the Spirit.

The Lord's Prayer reminds us we need our daily Bread.  God's Word is our food, our daily supplement, our nourishment to give us a vital spiritual life. The Holy Spirit is also vital for our spiritual growth because He takes God's Word and makes it become alive for us, causing it to strengthen us, encourage us, and to give us hope. He works from within us to empower and enable us... and to do so much more.  Feeding on God's Word daily increases our appetite and increasingly makes us hungry for more. It never gets old no matter how many times you read it, because we always find something we seemed to have missed or overlooked before.  It is the most exciting Book there ever was, or ever will be.  When the Author is God, Himself, how can it be otherwise?


I find that while reading a passage of God's Word (6-9 vv or more), and asking the How, Who, Why, When, What, and Where questions, and what the therefore is there for, what was the author's intention and who was he speaking to, and what was the culture at the time, and other questions, we will get a more accurate interpretation of the passage in context.  Then we can ask ourselves how this would apply to our life today. What can we learn from this?

~Annie~





This just keeps getting better and better...


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