Psalm 119:31

The thought in the verse for today’s mediation follows upon that of the previous verse.

Psalms 119:31 I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.

Let’s begin by looking at the meaning of the verb phrase stick to.

Stick to - To give one’s adhesion to (a doctrine, cause, etc.). To adhere, keep or hold to (an argument, demand, resolve, opinion, bargain, covenant, and the like); to refuse to renounce or abandon; to persist in. To refuse to be enticed, led or turned from; to attend unremittingly to (an occupation, course of action, work, etc.).

In the previous verse the psalmist expressed to God that he had chosen the way of truth. In the verse we consider today, the psalmist tells the Lord that he has stuck to that choice. By sticking to God’s testimonies he was sticking to the way of truth since God’s testimonies are the way of truth. The psalmist chose a course of action and adhered to it refusing to give it up. We call this stick-to-itiveness. Another word that describes this trait is the word stedfast.

Stedfast – Fixed or secure in position. Of persons: Unshaken, immovable in faith, resolution, friendship, etc. Also said of belief, purpose, or affection.

The stedfast person sticks to his faith; he stands by his decisions and commitments.

Suffer me to express my personal opinion. I love people who decide to do something and stick to it. So many people flip from thing to thing never staying very long with anything. They become easily burned out and so move on to something else thus never really achieving any degree of excellence in anything. As the old saying goes: “A rolling stone gathers no moss.” To be sure, we all try something and discover that it is not for us. Or maybe we stay with something for awhile and then give it up because we realize it is no longer serving our purposes. Everybody does that, okay? But I am talking about people for whom jumping around and never settling down to one thing is a way of life, a defining trait of their character. This is not good! Wishy-washy, indecisive, back and forth, on and off just doesn’t cut it. For once, such people need to make up their mind and stick to it.

Now when it comes to our personal growth in our relationship with God, decisiveness and stedfastness are absolutely essential.

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord….

Colossians 2:5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

The stedfast, unmoveable, stablished believer is the one who abounds in faith and in the work of the Lord. He is not stagnant. He is growing. In fact, in the following passage growth in grace is placed in contrast to falling from one’s own stedfastness.

2 Peter 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

If you fall from your own stedfastness, you don’t grow.

You choose to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to commit your life to following Him by following His commandments. Then you stick to that choice and you do not let anyone or anything turn you from it. When you do that, you can say to God: I have stuck unto thy testimonies. And being genuinely able to say that, you can then make this request: O LORD, put me not to shame.

If the Lord abandons us, we will be put to shame.

Psalms 44:9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth….

Without God’s help, we will not grow in grace and knowledge of Him. Our ignorance will shame us when the enemy attacks us and we cannot defend our position. Without the strength of the Lord, Satan and our enemy lusts will overpower us and we will succumb to temptations to sin. When this happens, the enemy will reproach us and we will be ashamed. If the Lord is not with us to deliver us, we will be put to shame. Hence, this prayer is a prayer for deliverance.

Psalms 31:1 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

But if you are sticking to God’s testimonies, you can call upon the Lord to deliver you from being put to shame and He will answer your prayer. He will deliver you. He will strengthen you. And you will go on to know Him and serve Him more and more.

Romans 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Psalm 119:30

The verse of today’s meditation from Psalm 119 presents a way that stands in stark contrast to the way mentioned in the previous verse. Verse 29 spoke of the way of lying. Today’s verse speaks of the way of truth.

Psalms 119:30 I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.

This verse explains why the psalmist prayed to God in the previous verse to remove from him the way of lying. He wanted nothing to do with the way of lying because he had chosen the way of truth. Matthew Henry had this insightful comment on the psalmist’s choice:

“Observe, I. That those who will make anything to purpose of their religion must first make it their serious and deliberate choice….”

Our eternal salvation is determined by God’s choice, not ours.

Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love….

2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation….

But when it comes to the exercise of religion, that is determined by our choice. Thomas Watson said, “Religion is not a matter of chance, but of choice.” We choose whom or what we will worship and serve, and how we will worship. And this choice of whom or what we will worship and serve will affect every other choice we make. Now, to be sure, God has chosen the way He wants to be worshipped. He wills to be worshipped according to the truth.

John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

But we make the choice as to whether we will worship God the way He wants or not.

Every day of our life is filled with all kinds of choices. But all these choices really distill to one choice: the choice of our way, the way we will think, the way we will believe, and the way we will conduct ourselves. And that way should always be determined by the truth. The choice of the way of truth will influence everything in your life. It will influence your worldview, your political beliefs, your work habits, your economic practices, your social connections, how you satisfy your appetites, and, of course, your religious beliefs and practices. Whatever other choice you may make, make sure it is governed by this choice: I have chosen the way of thy truth.

Now the next expression in our verse flows out of this choice of the way of truth: Thy judgments have I laid before me. Again, we hear from Matthew Henry:

“Observe, II. That those who have chosen the way of truth must have a constant regard to the word of God as the rule of their walking.”

God’s written word, His law, which consists of His judgments and commandments, is the truth.

Psalms 119:142 …thy law is the truth.

Psalms 119:151 …all thy commandments are truth.

John 17:17 …thy word is truth.

Having chosen the way of God’s truth, we need to have that truth ever before us if we are going to proceed in that way. Like the psalmist, we must have God’s judgments laid before us, right there in front of us so that we may follow their pattern. The lesson here is that we need to read our Bible, hear it taught, and meditate on its teaching thereby keeping it before us. Only by this means will our lives reflect our choice of the way of truth.

Nothing should be more important to you that choosing the way of truth, because Jesus Christ is the way and the truth (John 14:6). And He is the most important Being in the universe. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ the Scriptures declare:

Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

If everything, including you, exists by and for the Lord Jesus Christ, don’t you think that makes Him quite important? The choice we discuss today is the most important choice you will ever make. You will choose either the way of lying or the way of truth. The choice is inescapable.

In conclusion, I exhort you to examine yourself and the choice you have made as to how you will live your life. What way have you chosen? The way of lying? Or the way of truth? And if it doesn’t really matter to you which way you have chosen; if you don’t think it makes a big difference what you believe; if it doesn’t matter to you what Bible you read, what church you attend, what way you worship, or what preacher you hear; then I say unto you, you have without doubt chosen the way of lying.

Psalm 119:29

The verse we consider today expresses the yearning of what our Lord called “an honest and good heart” (Luke 8:15).

Psalms 119:29 Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.

The righteous God hates lying and so does a righteous man.

Proverbs 6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue….

Proverbs 13:5 A righteous man hateth lying….

The foremost desire of a righteous man is to speak, to know, and to practice the truth. This desire gives rise to the prayer of today’s verse: Remove from me the way of lying.

Commenting on the way of lying, Charles Spurgeon wrote:

“This is the way of sin, error, idolatry, folly, self-righteousness, formalism, hypocrisy. David would not only be kept from that way, but have it kept from him; he cannot endure to have it near him, he would have it swept away from his sight. He desired to be right and upright, true and in the truth; but he feared that a measure of falsehood would cling to him unless the Lord took it away, and therefore he earnestly cried for its removal.”

The righteous man does not want to be deceived. He does not want the way, the course of his life to be influenced by lies. He has an honest and good heart that is open to receiving the truth of God’s word. He wants to know, to believe, and to practice only the truth. He does not want to lie; he does not want to be lied to; and he does not want to live a lie. He will pay whatever it costs him to have the truth and he will not sell it for any price.

Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth, and sell it not….

You hear the petition of today’s verse echoed in these other prayers found in the Scriptures:

Psalms 120:2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.

Proverbs 30:7 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me….

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Observe that vanity and lies are linked together. To live a lie is to live a life of vanity, a life that is of no value or profit in the eyes of God. If the worship you practice is not in truth, it is worthless. It does neither service nor honour to God.

John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Is a characteristic of the wicked that they believe and love lies.

Proverbs 17:4 A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips….

Unregenerate men are deceived and enjoy being so.

Titus 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

The following passage describes those who will be deceived by the coming man of sin.

2 Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

These wretched souls do not love the truth and, therefore, do not believe it. They would rather have their pleasure than have the truth, even if that pleasure is in something that is not right. When they look for a church, they look for the church that they can enjoy rather than the church that will teach them the truth.

In order to be delivered from the way of lying, the psalmist prays to God: grant me thy law graciously. God’s law is the truth and as such stands in contrast to the way of lying.

Psalms 119:142 …thy law is the truth.

The psalmist wanted God to grant him His law. He wanted God’s Bible, the true text of the Scriptures. And He wanted the true understanding of that law. The psalmist no doubt had a copy of the law, but he still prayed for God to grant the law to him. It is one thing to have a Bible and it is quite another thing to know and understand it. He did not merely want the law in his hand; he wanted it in his heart. With the true understanding of the law in his heart, he would be able to discern lies when confronted with them. By this means the way of lying would be removed from him. It is by knowing the truth that we can discern truth from falsehood. It is truth that chases away error.

But observe that the psalmist prays for God to grant him His law graciously. For God to let us have His law and to give us understanding of His law, is an act of pure grace. We are like Jacob who confessed: “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto they servant” (Genesis 32:10). When God grants us His law, He is not dealing with us according to what we deserve. He is rather bestowing upon us an unmerited favour. Let us thank God for this grant of His amazing grace.

I close with this observation: If you are in the way of lying, you are in the way of the devil, who “is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44); but if you are in the way of truth, you are in the way of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Whose way do you seek to be in?