Psalm 119:127

 The verse I take up today from Psalm 119 has a special significance for me.  I have had to turn a page in my Bible to arrive at it.  It stands as the first verse in the top of the left column of the left page.  As I look over to the end of the left column on the opposite page I see verse 176 which is the last verse of Psalm 119.  So the end of this commentary that I am writing on Psalm 119 is visibly in sight.  We have only fifty verses to go.  Of course, you know how fast I can whip through fifty verses!  I jest.

In the verse that precedes the one we consider today, the psalmist spoke of those who have made void God’s law.  Today’s verse shows how this spurred an opposite reaction in the psalmist.

 Psalms 119:127  Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.

 The transition between the preceding verse and this one turns on the word therefore.

 Therefore - In consequence of that; that being so; as a result or inference from what has been stated; consequently.

The psalmist’s love of God’s commandments resulted from men making void God’s law.  The fact that men disregarded God’s law as though it were of no consequence drove him to love it.  He was not numbered among those of whom our Saviour spoke when He said:  “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12).  Our hearts are right with the Lord when the sin of others only makes us love Him and His commandments more.  The carelessness and sin of others should be our signal not to go where they are but to turn and run in the opposite direction.  Do men make void the law of God?  Then I will make sure I love and value it above the finest things this world can offer.  Maybe God’s word means nothing to them, but it means everything to me.  We should have the same reaction that Paul had when he was at Athens:

Acts 17:16  Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

Rather than being calloused by the idolatry he saw in Athens, Paul was stirred to the point of giving one of the greatest defenses ever for the existence of the one true and living God.  The ignorance of the true God that Paul witnessed in that place stirred his love and jealously for his Lord.

The love of the psalmist for God’s commandments was so great that is exceeded his love of gold, the most precious of metals.  By means of the word yea he affirmed that he even loved God’s commandments more than fine gold, the best of the best of the precious metals.

In His commandments the Lord tells us what to do.  Now if the psalmist was in possession of much fine gold, he would have been able to do most anything he might have wanted to do in this world. But he loved being told by his God what to do more than the wealth that would put him in a position to afford to do whatever he wanted.  He loved the Book that guided him through his day more than anything money could buy. There was no position in this world, no place he could live or travel to, no possession however dear, and no opportunity for fame or fortune that dazzled him more than “thus saith the Lord.”  Now that is what I call loving the Bible!  Obviously the commandments of God gained a lot more for the psalmist than the finest gold could ever gain. 

Psalms 19:10  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11    Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. 

That says it all!