Psalm 119:63

I am amazed at how comprehensive Psalm 119 is.  It covers so many different aspects of our lives.  Psalm 119 is at once the same and yet different.  The same theme recurs throughout the psalm, that theme being the written word of God, the Scriptures.  And yet that recurring theme is related to our lives in so many different ways.  The verse we considered last time took us into midnight, when most of us are asleep or trying to sleep.  Hence, our night life was addressed.  Today’s verse speaks of our social life.

Psalms 119:63  I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.

The verse turns on that word companion.

Companion – One who associates with or accompanies another; a mate; a fellow.

The psalmist chose to associate with those who fear God.  Those who fear God are also described in this verse as those who keep thy precepts.  The fear of the Lord manifests itself in obedience to His precepts.

Deuteronomy 6:2  That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

How can one truly fear the Lord if he has no regard for what the Lord commands him to do?

Now the reason the psalmist chose those who fear the Lord for his companions is that he himself feared the Lord, as he described himself earlier in this psalm: 

Psalms 119:38  Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.

Indeed, birds of a feather flock together.   The man who truly fears God can never be in complete harmony with those who do not.  There will always be something missing that binds their souls together. 

Amos 3:3  Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

While we who fear God should endeavour as much as possible to live peaceably with those who do not fear Him (Romans 12:18), we will never have the degree of fellowship with them that we have with those who fear the Lord.  For, you see, the fear of the Lord and obedience to His precepts should be that which shapes, guides, and defines our deepest, truest self.  We should be so molded by the fear of God that we would not be who we are without it.  If we are thus governed by the fear of the Lord, there will be a certain sympathy that will arise between us and others who also fear our Lord.  When we meet another God-fearing person there will be a love there, a love that is born in us by our God.

1 John 5:1  Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Obeying the Lord’s precepts is how we fear God, how we love Him, how we show that we are begotten of Him.  And when one begotten of God sees evidence in someone else that he is begotten of God, a love is shared, a potential for companionship is realized. 

Observe that the psalmist said, I am a companion of all them that fear thee.  This was the case whether he had yet met them or not.  He had a disposition to make a God-fearing person his companion whenever and wherever he met him.  It could be expressed this way:  Any friend of my Lord is a friend of mine.

Also note that the psalmist was a companion of all them that fear the Lord and keep His precepts.  He was their companion regardless of their age, their nationality, or their social status.  Paul thanked God for the Ephesians in that they, like the psalmist, had “love unto all the saints” (Ephesians 1:15).

It was conducive to the psalmist’s personal well-being and growth that he was a companion of all them that fear the Lord and keep His precepts.  Make no mistake about it.  The people you choose to associate with have an influence on you.    

Proverbs 13:20  He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

Now we cannot altogether avoid the company of those who do not fear the Lord.  We would have to go out of the world to do that.

1 Corinthians 5:9  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

10  Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

Nevertheless, the servants of our God should be our preferred company, the ones whose influence we most desire.

And permit me to add this admonition to any single believers who are seeking a spouse.  In Malachi 2:14 a man’s wife is called his companion.  A marriage is a companionship.  Now in the light of today’s verse doesn’t it make sense to seek a companion who fears the Lord and keeps His precepts?  While a believer/unbeliever mix in a marriage can be maintained in peace (1Corinthians 7:12-14), it is much to be preferred that you find someone who shares what should be most important to you, and that is your fear of and faith in the Lord God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ the Lord.  Your marriage will have its share of troubles that will stress your relationship.  There may be times when your romantic love for each other will be at a low ebb, if at all.  But when both of you fear and love the Lord and want to please Him, you will find that to be the thing that will keep you together, bear you through the storms of life, and pave the way for your marital love to be restored.  You will have something that will transcend your fluctuating romantic feelings.

This has been a longer meditation.  But the subject matter is too serious to gloss over.  It merits a thorough treatment.  I close with these beautiful words taken from the hymn The House of the Lord by Austin Lane:

You may value the friendships of youth and of age,

And select for my comrades the noble and sage;

But the friends that most cheer me on life’s rugged road

Are the friends of my Master, the children of God.

If those words do not express the sentiments of your soul, you may well consider that you are backslidden and in need of returning to the Lord.