Psalm 119:2

Psalm 119 goes on in the second verse to describe those who are blessed or happy.

Psalms 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

They are genuinely happy who do two things: they keep God’s testimonies and they seek Him with the whole heart. As noted in the introduction, the word testimonies is one of the various words describing the word of God, the Scriptures. First of all, what is it to keep His testimonies?

Keep – To have regard, pay attention to, observe. To pay attention or regard to; to observe, stand to, or dutifully abide by (an ordinance, law, custom, practice, covenant, promise, faith, a thing prescribed or fixed, as a treaty, truce, peace, a set time or day.

The blessed souls pay attention to God’s word. They do not ignore their Bible. They read it and listen to it preached. They dutifully believe and practice what the Bible teaches. They defend the Bible. Of course, in order to keep the testimonies, it is imperative that one have the testimonies. It is pretty hard to keep something you don’t have. Duh! I thought I would throw some slang in there to give you a break from my rather lofty style of writing.

The God Who gave us His words has promised to preserve them.

Psalms 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

Anyone who follows my teaching knows that I believe that the A.V. 1611 or the King James Version of the Bible is the pure, preserved word of God in the English language. I consider myself blessed to have God’s testimonies and my greatest happiness is found in keeping them.

The blessed souls are also those that seek God with the whole heart. God will not be sought half-heartedly. This was one of the Lord’s chief complaints against Israel.

Jeremiah 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.

God considers it pretence if you are not seeking Him with your whole heart. You may profess to be entirely devoted to God, but in reality you have something else that you are devoted to that competes with your pursuit of the Lord. It may be your educational goals, your professional goals, your financial goals, your family, your social life, or your pleasures. These things are all fine in their place so long as they are always subordinate to seeking the Lord to please Him and to do His will. If you are struggling with a divided heart, then this prayer is a suitable one for you to pray:

Psalms 86:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

One who seeks God with a united heart seeks God with his whole heart. His heart is not divided.

Observe that seeking God is connected by the word and to keeping His testimonies. God will be sought on His terms! Keeping God’s testimonies is essential to seeking God with the whole heart. And this pertains to things we might consider unimportant. The man who seeks God with his whole heart considers nothing God has said as indifferent or unimportant. When David at first attempted to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, the ark was carried on a cart drawn by oxen. When the oxen shook the ark, Uzzah put for his had to steady the ark and God smote Uzzah for it. Uzzah did not have authority from God to touch His ark. Furthermore, the ark was supposed to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites, not on a cart drawn by oxen. David later recognized his error as the following passage shows:

1 Chronicles 15:11 And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab,
12 And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it.
13 For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.

How the ark was carried might seem trivial to us. Many would reason that as long as the ark got to Jerusalem that was all that mattered. But God had commanded that the ark be carried by the Levites and He would tolerate no deviation from His order of doing business. And David connects this with seeking the Lord. So do not talk about seeking God with your whole heart, unless you are willing to do anything and everything that God says the way He says to do it.

Lastly, you are indeed blessed if you are keeping God’s testimonies and seeking Him with your whole heart because these are evidences that you have the Spirit of God within you and that God has given you a new heart.

Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Jeremiah 24:7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

Psalm 119:1

With a prayer for the blessing of Almighty God we are now ready to begin our verse by verse meditation of Psalm 119 starting, of course, with the first verse of the first section entitled Aleph.

Psalms 119:1 ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

As noted in the introduction, the first three verses of Psalm 119 are not prayers. They are rather statements regarding the effect of the scriptures on the lives of those who obey them. Verse 1 pronounces them blessed who are undefiled in the way. It goes on to describe those who are undefiled in the way as those “who walk in the law of the LORD.” Let’s begin with considering what it means to be blessed.

Blessed – Enjoying supreme felicity; happy, fortunate.

The word blessed translates the Hebrew word esher which means happiness. It is rendered happy in Deuteronomy 33:29; 1Kings 10:8; Psalm 127:5; 144:15; 146:5; Proverbs 3:13; 29:18.

Thus our psalm opens up by introducing us to that one thing that all men claim to want and to seek and that is to be happy. Sadly, however, most men seek happiness in the wrong way. But our verse points to the way in which men can find happiness.

In order to understand what it is to be blessed, we need to grasp what it is to be happy. For this we will examine the dictionary definition of happy.

Happy – Coming or happening by chance; fortuitous; chance. Having good ‘hap’ or fortune; lucky, fortunate; favoured by lot, position, or other external circumstance.

Now the scriptures teach that a man can be happy even when he is not favoured in his external circumstances. His happiness does not depend upon chance happenings in his life, but upon something much deeper. So we look further in the definitions and we light upon this one.

Happy - Having a feeling of great pleasure or content of mind, arising from satisfaction with one’s circumstances or condition; also in weakened sense: Glad, pleased

This more agrees with the overall teaching of scripture regarding happiness. Happiness does indeed have something to do with things that happen and with circumstances. But Biblical happiness lies in how we deal with those happenings and circumstances. The following verses will demonstrate the meaning of happiness as Psalm 119 presents it.

Luke 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

Observe from this passage that one can be blessed or happy even in adverse external circumstances.

1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

James 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

If in the midst of want and adversity you can experience great pleasure and contentment of mind, you are blessed or happy indeed. Paul obviously experienced such blessedness as he could both be “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

Our psalm opens with pronouncing them blessed or happy who are undefiled in the way. First of all, they are in the way. As we noted in the introduction, the way refers to the course of life and conduct God has set before us to pursue. This definition of the way is confirmed in this verse as it goes on to describe those in the way as those who walk in the law of the LORD. To better understand this, consider the definition of walk.

Walk – To journey, move about, esp. on foot. fig. Chiefly in religious use, after Bible examples: To conduct oneself, behave (ill or well, wisely or unwisely). Sometimes with reference to a metaphorical ‘path’ or ‘way.’

Those who are in the way are those whose conduct is regulated by the law of the Lord. They move about in life under the direction of that law. In other words, they live their lives according to the teachings of the Bible, doing what it commands and avoiding what it forbids. The truly happy souls are those who are in that course of life that God has prescribed in His law.

Now observe that they are undefiled in that way. They are undefiled as they conduct themselves according to God’s commandments. Their reasons for keeping God’s commandments are pure. They do not obey God to be seen of men, or to acquire money, prestige, and power for themselves. They keep God’s commandments out of a sincere conviction that this is indeed the right way to live and they want to live that right way. Their goal is to please God, not merely to please themselves. And they endeavour to keep God’s commandments purely, just as He has delivered them. They do not mix God’s commandments with the inventions of men. They are undefiled in the way.

In conclusion, consider just how blessed or happy they are that are in the way. Isaiah vividly describes their blessedness.

Isaiah 35:8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Those who are undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord, are walking in “The way of holiness.” They are living clean since the unclean have no access to this way. They are “wayfaring men,” that is, they are men on a journey. This world is not their home. They are “just a passing through.” They are “marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God,” their eternal home. Since “they shall not err therein” they can be sure they are doing the right thing no matter what else may go wrong in their lives. Satan, the roaring lion, cannot devour them as long as they remain in this way since “no lion shall be there.” Those that walk there are "the redeemed" of the Lord. Christ has died for them and secured the forgiveness of all their sins.

Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

The happiness that those in this way experience is an everlasting happiness with perfect joy and perfect health at the end. Indeed, “blessed are the undefiled in the way.” This, dear reader, is the way to true and lasting happiness.

Psalm 119: Introduction, Part 3

We continue this meditation by taking up the other five words that are used in Psalm 119 to describe the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures are also referred to in this psalm as truth and righteousness.

Truth – Something that is true. True statement or account; that which is in accordance with the fact. That which is true, real, or actual (in a general or abstract sense); reality; spec. in religious use, spiritual reality as the subject of revelation or object of faith.

Righteousness – Justice, uprightness, rectitude; conformity of life to the requirements of the divine or moral law, virtue, integrity.

God’s words are truth and righteousness. They are factual in their content and they are always right. There is nothing false or unjust about them. If you believe them you will believe the truth. If you follow them you may be assured that you are doing the right thing. They will never mislead you or betray you.

God’s words are also called His testimonies.

Testimony – 1. Personal or documentary evidence or attestation in support of a fact or statement; hence, any form of evidence or proof. 4. In Scriptural language (chiefly in O.T.). a. sing. The Mosaic law or decalogue as inscribed on the two tables of stone. b. pl. The precepts (of God), the divine law.

God’s words provide documentary evidence to support God’s claims about Himself and His works. We often quote the Bible to prove the Bible. This is not circular reasoning when you consider that the Bible is made up of sixty-six books written by some forty different authors over a period of some 1500 or more years. Therefore, the Bible is a collection of documents that all attest to the same facts. The Scriptures are God's testimonies. He Himself attests to His commandments and He cannot lie. The very integrity of God is at stake as to their truth and righteousness.

Then the Scriptures are called the way.

Way – Course of life or action, means, manner. A prescribed course of life or conduct; the law or commandments (of God); also in pl.

The commandments of God set forth the course of life and conduct that God wills for us to pursue. Simply put, to keep the commandments of God is to do the will of God. It is to be “in the way.” To break God’s commandments is to be “out of the way.”

Deuteronomy 11:28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

Romans 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said that He is the Way (John 14:6). He perfectly obeyed all the commandments of God given in the Old Testament. He fulfilled the law of Moses and took it out of the way establishing the New Testament in its stead. The commandments of the law of Christ in the New Testament are the way for us today. By following the teachings and example of Christ and His apostles you will be in the way.

And lastly God’s words are referred to in this psalm as His judgments.

Judgment – Divine sentence or decision; spec. a misfortune or calamity regarded as a divine visitation or punishment, or as a token of divine displeasure. In various Biblical uses, chiefly as rendering of Heb. mishpit, in its different uses. A (divine) decree, ordinance, law, statute.

These commandments or laws of God’s word are the judicial decrees of the sovereign Judge of the world. By these laws we are to judge ourselves and others, and by them we shall be judged. This brings to mind the words of our Lord Jesus Christ:

John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

There is no escaping the words of God. You may ignore the Bible today, but you will not be able to ignore it then. If you are concerned about how you will fare in the coming Day of Judgment, I would suggest that you deal with the Scriptures now after the pattern that will unfold before us as we consider Psalm 119.

Psalm 119: Introduction, Part 2

In today’s meditation, we continue with our introduction to Psalm 119. Recall that the theme of this Psalm is the written revelation of God, the scriptures. With the exception of four verses, the entire psalm consists of prayers revolving around the word of God. Hence, the psalm is dealing with the subject of verbal communication. We communicate with God by means of prayer and God communicates with us by means of His written words.

In order to give a general overview of the message of this Psalm, I shall define all of the ten words used in this psalm for the scriptures. We begin with the word word, which is used in the singular and in the plural in this psalm.

Word - Speech, utterance, verbal expression. Religious and theological uses. a. A divine communication, command, or proclamation, as one made to or through a prophet or inspired person; esp. the message of the gospel. The Bible, Scripture, or some part or passage of it, as embodying a divine communication.

The Scriptures are the written speech or communication of Almighty God. If you want to know what God has to say, read the scriptures. Have you ever been in a situation and said, “What is the Lord trying to tell me?” The Lord is not trying to tell you anything. God has already told you what He wants you to know and that communication is found in His written word. By reading God’s word we hear what God has to say to us.

The Scriptures are also called God’s law, commandment(s), precepts, and statutes. Observe how these words are used to define each other.

Law – A rule of conduct imposed by authority. Divine law. The body of commandments which express the will of God with regard to the conduct of His intelligent creatures.

Commandment – An authoritative order or injunction; a precept given by authority. esp. A divine command.

Precept – An authoritative command to do some particular act; an order, mandate. A general command or injunction; an instruction, direction, or rule for action or conduct; esp. an injunction as to moral conduct.

Statute – A law or decree made by a sovereign or a legislative authority.

Note the words authority and authoritative used to define the above words. The scriptures set forth a body of laws or commandments that carry the authority of Almighty God. These rules of conduct are not matters indifferent. They are established by authority and will be enforced. Since God is supreme, the authority of His law is supreme. Therefore, the law of Scripture takes precedence over all other laws issued by any other authority. If the commandments of Scripture come into conflict with the commandments of men, the commandments of Scripture are to be obeyed. It is as the apostle Peter said: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

As noted already, we verbally communicate with God by prayer. Consider the definition of the word prayer.

Prayer – A solemn and humble request to God, or to an object of worship; a supplication, petition, or thanksgiving, usually expressed in words.

When we pray to God we either thank Him or we supplicate Him. Now consider the definition of supplicate.

Supplicate - To beg, pray, or entreat humbly; to present a humble petition.

When we communicate with God, we are to do so as humble beggars, who are beholden to God for His favours. Since God is the source of all the good that we enjoy, we also thank Him when we pray. We do not command God’s favours; we rather humbly ask for them. But from the above definitions we see that when God communicates with us, He does so with authority, with the right to command. So in our communication with God, we do the begging and He does the commanding. We cannot maintain a true communion with God unless we respect and submit to His authority. Take the place of a humble suppliant and yield to God’s authority by submitting to His decisions and doing what He commands, and you and God will get along just fine. Psalm 119 will demonstrate this. We will consider the other five words in our next meditation, God willing.

Psalm 119: Introduction, Part 1

I am setting out on what looms before me as a gargantuan task. I would like to devote these meditations to a verse by verse consideration of Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is one of my favourite things in the Bible to read and think about. It is the longest psalm in the Bible. It is generally believed that David is the author of this psalm, although his name does not appear in connection with it as it does others of the psalms. The theme of this psalm is the written revelation of God to man, which is elsewhere called the scriptures and which we call the Bible. This written revelation is called by ten different names in this psalm. It is called God’s law, His commandment(s), His word(s), His way(s), His judgment(s), His precepts, His statutes, His testimony or testimonies, His righteousness, and the truth.

I am aware that some of the members of the congregation I serve have the excellent exposition of Psalm 119 written by Charles Bridges. If you do not have this book, I heartily recommend it. While I will doubtless quote Mr. Bridges in these meditations, I do not intend to merely rehash what he has already written. These will be my insights into these marvelous verses garnished with insights of other writers in just the same way as I do in all of my preaching and writing.

Psalm 119 consists of 176 verses divided into 22 sections of eight verses each. Each of the 22 sections is marked off with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet beginning with the first letter aleph and going through the alphabet in order thus concluding with the last letter tau. Not knowing Hebrew, I cannot personally vouch for what I am about to say, but I have read that each verse of each section begins with the Hebrew letter that marks that respective section. This would doubtless have facilitated memorization and recall of the verses by the Hebrews.

The author of this psalm records a variety of experiences, emotions, and frames of mind in which he found himself. There is something in this psalm to speak to you wherever you are in whatever condition you may be. In this psalm we find the author experiencing the full range of human emotions. He felt joy (v. 162), peace (v. 165), longing (v. 20), fear (v. 120), horror (v. 53), sorrow (v. 136), grief (v. 158), anguish (143), and aversion (v. 163). At times he felt jubilant, enriched, and comforted (vs. 14, 162, 50, 52) while at other times he felt faint and withered, and wondered when he would be comforted (vs. 81-83). His varied emotions and frames of mind mirror our own. And yet the psalmist processes all of these experiences through the word of God. It is obvious from the psalm that the author’s relationship with God was grounded in and experienced through the word of God. Our relationship with God is also experienced through the written word of God, if that relationship is as it ought to be. If you think you are maintaining a healthy fellowship with God and yet you are neglecting your Bible, you are sadly deceived.

When one considers what the word of God provides, one can understand why the psalmist would process his varied experiences and emotions through it. According to this psalm, the written word of God provides us with blessedness (v. 2), honour (v. 6), cleansing (v. 9), delight, (v. 24), counsel (v. 24), answers (v. 42), freedom (v. 45), hope (v. 49), comfort, (v. 50), quickening (v. 50), songs (v. 54), riches (72), wisdom (v. 98), sweetness (v. 103), understanding (v. 104), guidance (v. 105), heritage (v. 111), truth (v. 142), peace (v. 165), and help (v. 175). What more could we want?

With the exception of verses 1-3 and verse 115, every verse in Psalm 119 is a prayer. Here is a collection of 172 short prayers that we can adopt. The psalmist’s life was so centered in the words of God that his prayers were for the word of God that he might learn it, obey it, and be helped by it. How much richer our spiritual lives would be if we prayed as much for our relationship to the word of God as we do for other things! Writing what others have said of this psalm, Matthew Henry said: “He that shall read it consistently, it will either warm him or shame him.” Doubtless we will find that true as we consider it together.

From what we have observed thus far, it may be said that the major theme of this psalm is verbal communication with God.

Communicate – To give to another as a partaker; to give a share of; to impart, confer, transmit. spec. To impart (information, knowledge, or the like); to impart or convey the knowledge of, inform a person of, tell.

By means of prayer we communicate with God. We tell God about ourselves, our problems, our wants, and what we are doing. We share ourselves with Him, both the good and the bad. By means of the Holy Scriptures God communicates with us. He tells us about Himself, what He is like, what He does, and what He requires of us. Such communication is indispensable to healthy relationships on a human level between spouses, families, brethren, and friends. And such communication is equally indispensable to a healthy relationship with God. This Psalm will teach us how to maintain communication with God.

Writing of this Psalm Charles Spurgeon said:

“It is loaded with holy sense, and is as weighty as it is bulky. Again and again have we cried while studying it, ‘Oh, the depths!’ Yet these depths are hidden beneath an apparent simplicity, as Augustine has well and wisely said, and this makes the exposition all the more difficult. Its obscurity is hidden beneath a veil of light, and hence only those discover it who are in thorough earnest, not only to look on the word, but, like the angels, to look into it.”

As I dive into these verses I fully expect to also cry, “Oh, the depths!” And as I pore over them, I shall keep an eye out to behold the Lord Jesus Christ as He is certain to show Himself here as in all the other Scriptures. For He said:

John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Next time, God willing, we shall continue to take an overview of this psalm by considering the definitions of the various words it uses for the scriptures. In the meantime, I hope this introduction will whet your appetite for a more in-depth consideration of this psalm. Do earnestly pray God’s blessing upon me as I attempt to walk you through this sacred ground. I trust through God that these meditations may prove a blessing to you.