Psalm 119:9797 Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day. (ESV)
David starts this section off with a loud praise – “Oh, how I love Your law!” Do we feel this way about God’s word? Do we meditate on it all day? This is not non-Christian meditation, like transcendental mediation, or yoga, focused on the self, or the experience alone, or “inner light,” or, most absurdly, nothingness. This is Christian meditation – focusing on God’s truth, and His glory.
Psalm 119:9898 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me. (ESV)
God indeed works wondrous things in us through His law, showing us that the knowledge of this world is nothing. We are indeed wiser than our enemies through the power of His spirit, but we should be careful, lest we become prideful.
Psalm 119:9999 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your testimonies are my meditation. (ESV)
How great is the temptation to pride here, too? And yet, there is truth. We have more understanding than our teachers, if we meditate on God’s testimonies, and they do not. But it is only because they are the testimonies of God that we have more understanding – not because of ourselves.
Psalm 119:100100 I understand more than the aged,
for I keep your precepts. (ESV)
David understood his proper place in history. He understood his place measured against “the ancients.” He knew what they did not – God’s word. It is amazing to us to think about David’s rule, and who he would have considered “the ancients,” since there weren’t (relatively) that many people before him! To put it into perspective, David ruled starting around 1010 BC. This is about 250 years before the approximate birth of Homer, and almost 700 years before Alexander conquered Egypt.
Psalm 119:101101 I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word. (ESV)
Keeping God’s word is not just a matter of doing the things He says, it’s also not doing the things He says not to do – in other words, restraining our feet from every evil way.
Psalm 119:102102 I do not turn aside from your rules,
for you have taught me. (ESV)
God, through His word, teaches us His judgments. And it is amazing that God teaches us Himself, through the power of His Spirit, who illumines us to the truth of His word.
Psalm 119:103103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth! (ESV)
My wife and I tease each other a little while she is doing Bible study. She will be reading something, and come across a particularly moving or thoughtful verse. She will read it to me, and say “That’s a good one!” To which I invariable respond, “Yeah, let’s keep that one!” But David is indeed true – God’s words are sweeter than honey to our mouth. They are sweet to our taste, and we love them dearly.
Psalm 119:104104 Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way. (ESV)
Is there any way to gain understanding of truth other than through God’s law? No. It comes not through meditation. Not through personal insight. Not through our own thought or rationality. Not through “new understanding” of scripture that everyone else seems to have missed for the past 2,000 years. Not through “new revelation” in the form of new quasi-religious texts from false prophets. Truth comes only through God’s word. And His word, properly understood, causes us to hate every false way.
Father, we thank you for your truth, and for the understanding that comes from Your precepts. Amen.