Psalm 119:133

Today’s verse from our meditations on Psalm 119 is a prayer that I use often for reasons that should be clear as I comment on it.

Psalms 119:133  Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

When we consider the usage of the word order in the first clause of this verse as it is applied to ordering the psalmist’s steps, the word is speaking of regulating, directing, or governing his steps.  This becomes evident by the usage of the word dominion in the second clause of the verse.  If the Lord orders my steps in His word, He will not let any iniquity have dominion over me.  To understand what the psalmist is asking we need to understand the meaning of the word dominion.

Dominion - The power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority; lordship, sovereignty; rule, sway; control, influence.

The first verse of this psalm sets forth the blessedness of those who walk in the law of the Lord.  The psalmist was one of those blessed souls in that his steps were in the word of the Lord.  His walk was regulated by the teachings of his Bible.  However, if his steps were to continue to be in the word of God, he needed the Lord to exercise a controlling influence over those steps.  In calling upon the Lord to order his steps he was submitting to God to govern him.  If he tried to order his steps on his own, he would falter.  He needed the enabling and keeping power of God in his life if he was to stay his course.

Psalms 17:5  Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.

Psalms 37:23  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

24  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

Psalms 119:10  With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

Commenting on this verse Charles Spurgeon wrote:  “By his grace he (the Lord) enables us to put our feet step by step in the very place which his word ordains.” 

Furthermore, the psalmist needed the Lord to wield a restraining influence over iniquity so that it would not gain dominion or control over him.  This dominion of iniquity to which the psalmist makes reference can refer to the iniquity that is without us and around us.  We live in a world that “lieth in wickedness” (1John 5:19).  It is called by Paul “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4).  We live “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation” (Philippians 2:15).  Considering some of the perverse policies of the civil government we live under, we could well describe this government as “the throne of iniquity.”

Psalms 94:20  Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?

How this was forcibly driven home to us just last week when the United States Supreme Court legalized same sex marriages, which, by the way, are not marriages at all since marriage by definition is between a man and a woman.  This ruling is a classic example of the throne of iniquity framing “mischief by a law.”  As Christians, we wonder how such a ruling will be used as leverage against us.  And so it is that each of us must pray:  let not any iniquity, including “the throne of iniquity,” have dominion over me.  Or to put in another way:

Psalms 25:2  O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

But a far greater threat arises from the iniquity that lurks within us seeking to wield dominion over us.  Paul described it thus:

Romans 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

23  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.

We must have nothing short of the power of almighty God restraining the evil in our flesh and giving our inward man divine strength to withstand the warring of sin in the members of our fleshly bodies.  And thus we pray regarding iniquity without and iniquity within:  Order my steps in the word; and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

We need the Lord to so order the temptations we are exposed to that they be not more than we can bear.

Matthew 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

1 Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

God has absolute sovereignty over everything, evil included.  No temptation in whatever form or from whatever source can touch us without God’s permission.  It is He that can forbid any iniquity to have dominion over us.  And if God does not intervene to restrain iniquity, it will surely have dominion over us and draw our steps away from His word.  As our Saviour said, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

This prayer is echoed in the petition our Saviour taught us to pray: 

Matthew 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

This is a prayer for the dominion of God to overpower the dominion of iniquity in our lives.

Finally, it is comforting to know that this prayer finds it ultimate answer in the grace of God.

Romans 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

God’s grace assures us that no iniquity will gain the final victory over us.  Were it left up to us under the law to overcome sin in our own strength, iniquity would be our ruin.  But thanks be to God, we are saved by grace!