Psalm 119:102

We continue working our way through the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Mem.  Remember?

Psalms 119:102  I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.

The thought of this verse dovetails perfectly with the thought of the preceding verse:  “I have refrained my feet from every evil way.”  The psalmist avoided every thing evil by never departing from God’s judgments.  Constant attention to God’s word is the means for refraining from every evil way.  It all boils down to this:  Get away from the Book and your feet will wander in the wrong direction.

Let’s define what it means to depart from. 

To depart from:  to leave, abandon; to cease to follow, observe, or practice.

The psalmist was constant in his obedience to God.  He had laid the judgments of God’s word before him to be his guide and counsel (Psalm 119:30), and he had not abandoned that course.  One of our greatest struggles is to remain constant since our fallen nature is so fickle and prone to go astray.

Isaiah 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

It was Shakespeare who wrote:  “O heaven! were man but constant, he were perfect:  that one error fills him with faults; makes him run through all th’ sins:  Inconstancy falls off ere it begins.”  How sadly true this is.

The psalmist attributed his adherence to God’s judgments to this fact:  for thou hast taught me.  He gave the Lord the credit for his constant obedience.  If a man is truly obedient to God’s word, the cause of that obedience must be traced back to the saving grace of God.  God by His grace gives His chosen people a new heart and a new spirit thus enabling them to keep His commandments and to keep them continually.  This is an inward instruction that the Lord gives to His people.

Ezekiel 11:19  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

20  That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Jeremiah 32:39  And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:

40  And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

Titus 2:11  ¶For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world….

Ephesians 4:20  But ye have not so learned Christ;

21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

An unsaved sinner may keep some of the commandments of God now and then for self-serving purposes, like the scribes and Pharisees who did all their works “for to be seen of men” (Matthew 23:5).  But this is not a sincere obedience that comes from a heart renewed and taught by God’s grace.  This is not an obedience that is constant to do all that the Lord has commanded.

Now if the Lord has taught us by grace in our hearts, then we can hear, understand, and profit from the outward teaching of the word of God. Without this inward instruction of the Holy Spirit the outward teaching of the word of God will never produce genuine faith and obedience. A natural man devoid of a spiritual capacity cannot receive the spiritual things of God's word.  

1 Corinthians 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

So the Lord must teach us first by His grace. Then we are ready to be taught by the men He sends to preach His word to us.  Being taught by God we can answer the call of the preached word to keep the judgments of the Lord always and to never depart from them.

In addition, we have pointed out in previous meditations that human teachers of God’s word are but instruments through which the Lord teaches us.  If we receive their message as a lesson being taught us by the Lord Himself, then we will be far more prone to heed it than if we receive it as a mere lecture by a man.  Thomas Manton said it well: 

“David was taught by his ordinary teachers, and he did reverence them; but that he profited by them he ascribes unto God.  Paul may plant, and Apollos water; God must give the increase.”    

Psalm 119:101

I am now ready to take in hand the next verse in the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Mem.

Psalms 119:101  I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

That the psalmist refrained his feet from every evil way suggests that he was speaking about the direction or way he chose to go in his life, since we proceed in this or that direction with our feet.  In order to avoid choosing the wrong direction, he refrained his feet. 

Refrain – To hold back, restrain (a person or thing) from something, esp. some act or course of action.

The idea of having to hold back or restrain a person from something suggests that the person has an urge or desire toward that something. Hence, it takes willpower to stay away from it. The psalmist maintained a strict self-control over his thoughts, words, desires, passions, and actions so that he stayed away from every evil way, whether that way was a way of thinking, a way of speaking, a way of feeling, a way of acting, a way of reacting, or even a way of worshipping. Any form of worship that is not according to God’s revealed will in His word is evil. Witness Cain who brought an offering to the Lord that was not according to His will. God pronounced that incorrect mode of worship as sin and evil. 

Genesis 4:5  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

6  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.

1 John 3:12  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.

The reason the psalmist refrained his feet from every evil way was that I might keep thy word. He restrained himself from things he desired to do just so he could be obedient to the Scriptures. He did not stay away from those things just to be healthy, or to be admired for his self-discipline, or even to gain an additional reward. He did it simply to be obedient. For the man who loves the Lord, keeping God’s word is his top priority and is itself a reward.  If you truly want to keep the word of God, that itself becomes a powerful incentive to refrain from everything evil. 

But to keep the word of God, one must refrain his feet from every evil way. No sin, no matter how small it may seem to be, can be tolerated.  The least evil if allowed to remain unchecked will eventually spread and corrupt everything else.  As the Scripture hath said:

Galatians 5:9  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

King Josiah is an excellent example of someone who refrained his feet from every evil way that he might keep the word of God

2 Kings 23:24  Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

Hezekiah cleansed his kingdom of idols for the express purpose of being able to “perform the words of the law which were written in the book.”  That is exactly what today’s verse is all about.

On the other hand, we read of the people that moved into Israel after the Israelites had been taken captive by the Assyrians.  These new settlers tried to mingle the fear of the Lord with their service to pagan gods.  It did not work.  Their fear of God was only in word.  It was empty lip service. They had no real fear of God at all.  They just served other gods and called themselves fearing the Lord, much as many people do today who say they are Christians but do not truly follow Christ.

2 Kings 17:33  They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.

34  Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel….

You cannot serve sin and the Lord together.  You serve one or the other.  It is an either/or proposition.  You cannot serve both.

Romans 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Matthew 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

You can’t love the world and love the Lord at the same time.

1 John 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Therefore, if you would serve the Lord by keeping His word – and that is the only way you can serve Him – then you must be able to say with the psalmist, I have refrained my feet from every evil way. 

Psalm 119:100

The word of God had given the psalmist the edge over his enemies and over all his teachers.  In today’s verse we see that it also gave him the edge over the ancients.

Psalms 119:100  I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

That word ancients is a plural noun and refers to old folks.

Ancient – sb. An old or aged man; a patriarch.

The Hebrew word translated ancients is zaqen and is also rendered elders, aged, and old men.  So the psalmist was speaking of men who were older than he.  Nevertheless, he understood more than they.  The same was true of Elihu, the author of the book of Job.  Speaking of Job’s three friends, all of whom were older than he, Elihu wrote:

Job 32:4  Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he.

5  When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled.

6  And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion.

7  I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.

8  But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

9  Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.

10  Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will shew mine opinion.

As a rule, older people should have more understanding than young people.  They have had more years to learn, more experience to draw from.  Yet there are times when young people know more than their elders so that their elders would do well to listen to them.  I for one understand how Elihu felt.  I remember how hard it was for me to take issue with my revered grandfather on a point of doctrine on which he was clearly wrong.  Thank God he never fell out with me over it. In fact, I preached that doctrine in his presence one time and he publicly commended me.

If there is ever a choice between the understanding of years and the understanding of the Scriptures, always choose that of the Scriptures.  Matthew Henry’s comment on this verse is insightful:  “In short, the written word is a surer guide to heaven than all the doctors and fathers, the teachers and ancients, of the church; and the sacred writings kept, and kept to, will teach us more wisdom than all their writings.”

Now the way the psalmist came by this advanced understanding was by having the word of God ever with him, by meditating upon it, and by keeping it.  If you want to increase your understanding, you need the source of it, which is your Bible (the Authorized Version of 1611); you need to bestow focused thought upon your Bible, which is meditation; and you need to keep its precepts.  Our Lord put it this way:

John 7:17  If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

The more you do the will of God, the more knowledge and understanding you will have.  Years and years of reading and study will not yield the understanding that simple obedience will.  The Lord is far more honoured by practical wisdom applied daily than a head full of speculative knowledge.    

With a Bible that is studied, believed, and obeyed, young people do not have to wait for years of experience to gain understanding.  The book of Proverbs is written for the instruction of  “the young man” (Proverbs 1:1, 4).  If a young man will apply the teachings of that single book to his life, he will save himself from a lot of the misery that can come when one learns by experience.  Experience can be a slow and painful teacher.  Benjamin Franklin wrote:  “Experience keeps a dear school, yet fools will learn in no other.”  Thomas Manton pointed out that “our experience reaches to but a few things; but the word of God reacheth to all cases that concern true happiness.” 

Now if a man has spent many years studying the Scriptures and applying what he has learned to life by keeping its precepts, such a man is a valuable resource and his understanding a thing to be sought out.  For the rule is: “Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.”

Proverbs 16:31  The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.   

With today’s verse we have cleared 100 verses of this psalm.  We have just 76 to go.  Let me pause at this point and raise an “Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us” (1Samuel 7:12).

Psalm 119:99

In today’s verse taken from the octave Mem of Psalm 119, the psalmist continues to show the edge that God’s word gave him.  In this case, it gave him an edge over all his teachers.

Psalms 119:99  I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.

We all need teachers, or God would not give them to us. 

Deuteronomy 33:8, 10  And of Levi he said….They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.

1 Chronicles 25:8  And they cast lots, ward against ward, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar.

Proverbs 4:1  Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

2  For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

3  For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

4  He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

Ephesians 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers….

The psalmist had also had his teachers, and he was not necessarily disparaging them when he wrote these words.  It was just that his understanding extended beyond what they had taught him.  No one should limit his understanding to that of the man that taught him.  It rejoices my heart when men I have taught and trained for the ministry teach me things that I have not seen before.  How do you parents feel when your children take things you have taught them and improve upon them to the point of surpassing your understanding?  When they can do that, then you know that you have taught them well.  Any student should take the things his teachers have taught him and expand on them. 

Now the psalmist states the reason why he understood more than all his teachers:  for thy testimonies are my meditation.  As he wrote in the opening of this octave, God’s word was his meditation all the day.  He devoted a great deal of focused thought to the Scriptures.  As he did so, his understanding increased.  If someone taught him something from God’s testimonies, he mused upon it, tossed it over in his mind, and thereby gained more insights into what he had been taught.  The result was that he understood what his teacher had taught him and more. But he got all this increased understanding from studying a single Book called the holy Scriptures, God’s testimonies.  Charles Spurgeon’s comment on this verse is profound:  “There is more wisdom in the testimonies of the Lord than in all the teachings of men if they were all gathered into one vast library.”  Notice that the psalmist did not get increased understanding by surfing the internet.  Of course, he did not have the internet.  Poor, unfortunate, disadvantaged soul!  Doesn’t your heart bleed for him?  I speak as a fool.  He probably didn’t even an encyclopedia to pore over.  He neither needed the internet nor a library full of books to gain increased understanding excelling that of all his teachers.  This is not to say that he read no other books besides his Bible. But it is to say that His focus was on his Bible over and above any other source of instruction.  It is astounding what a man can learn from that single book.  I quote again the old proverb:  “Beware of the man of one book.”  And you can bet the devil knows how believers gain increased understanding and he will do everything he can to distract them from the source of that understanding.  God help us!

Psalm 119:98

Today we take up the second verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Mem. 

Psalms 119:98  Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.

In this and the next two verses the psalmist shows the edge that God’s word gave him over his enemies, his teachers, and the ancients.  I appreciate the comments of Charles Bridges on these three verses:

“He became wiser than his enemies in ‘subtlety’ (Prov. i.1, 4) – than all his teachers in doctrine – than the ancients in experience.  Yet he is not speaking of his extraordinary gifts as a prophet, but of his knowledge gained by ordinary means.”

Let’s begin by breaking down the opening phrase:  Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser.  Note that it is God that made the psalmist wiser.  Wisdom is a gift that God gives.

Proverbs 2:6  For the LORD giveth wisdom….

James 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Then note that God makes a man wiser through His commandments, that is, His written word.  Recall from the previous verse that the Scriptures were the psalmist’s meditation “all the day.”  He mused over His Bible and studied it.  He endeavoured to retain what he learned from his Bible so that he could say of God’s commandments:  for they are ever with me.  He kept the word of God in his heart as well as in his hand so as to always have access to it.

Psalms 119:11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Colossians 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom….

1 John 2:14  ….. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth (continueth) in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

And because he studied his Bible and retained what he learned, the Lord made him wise in the process.  That is how a man becomes wise!  He becomes wise through learning and retaining the Book of wisdom, which the Bible is.

As a result of his meditation in God’s word, the psalmist was made wiser than his enemies.  A believer may not be wiser than his enemies when it comes to the things of this world.  In fact, the Lord generally bypasses the wise of this world in His choice of persons.

1 Corinthians 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.       

But God’s chosen people, who with the blessing of God study their Bibles, become wiser than their enemies in the things that matter most.  Those who know the will of God expressed in His commandments and who do it, have a divine hedge set about them that the enemy cannot break through. They can defy the threat of death itself to the utter confounding of their enemies who think to back them back down with that threat.  Such was the case with the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when they refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image (Daniel 3).  Such was also the case with Daniel, when he continued to pray to the God of Israel in defiance of the Persian decree that all prayers for thirty days should be addressed only to the king (Daniel 6).  Such was the case with the apostles of our Lord who underwent beatings, imprisonment, and death rather than cease to preach the Lord Jesus Christ.  They obviously knew something their enemies did not know and could, therefore, outsmart their attempts to stamp out the gospel they preached.  How many times has a humble child of God who believes, studies, and obeys his Bible been able to confound an educated enemy with a simple answer?  And even if an enemy refuses to bow to the obvious wisdom of God’s commandments, that doesn’t mean that enemy is wiser.  It just means he is a fool!  The Day of Judgment will reveal that the children of God armed with the Scriptures have outfoxed their enemies time and again.  Therefore, the gospel continues to be preached in this earth, souls continue to be converted to it, and true churches of the Lord Jesus Christ continue to exist here and there observing His ordinances as He appointed in spite of all the attempts of enemies to the contrary.  

And don’t forget the archenemy of the believer, the devil himself, who “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1Peter 5:9).  The devil is “the prince of this world” (John 14:30).  The devil is intelligent enough to deceive the whole world and marshal its vast resources for the advancement of his cause (Revelation 12:9). Yet, a little child of God can back down that mighty prince by simply quoting a Bible verse to him, just like Jesus did when that same enemy tempted Him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11).  Indeed, thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than my mine enemies. Praise the Lord!