#DailyDevotion First Study & Delight In God’s Word
Psalm 119 9How can a young man keep his life pure? By living as You tell (dabar) him to. 10With all my heart I search for You. Don’t let me stray from Your commandments (mitsvah). 11I treasure in my heart what you say (imrah), so I won’t sin against You. 12Blessed are You, O LORD — teach me Your laws (choq). 13With my lips I tell of every decree (mishpat) that comes from Your mouth. 14I delight in the way of Your written instructions (edah) as much as in all kinds of riches. 15I think about how You want me to live (piqqud) and watch Your ways. 16I delight in Your laws (choq) and will not forget what You say (dabar).
This section begins with the bemah (במה) a combination of the partical ב and במה.. Remember this is an acrostic psalm so the first letter of each verse will begin a letter of the alphabet. Yesterday it was aleph. Today it is beth.
What great advice to young men. If you want to keep your life pure, by guarding/keeping the Word of the LORD. I don’t care for the translation here at this point. At this point it’s not so much how we live but keeping our eyes on the Word. The Word then will produce the life. It’s like when Jesus tells His disciples to “keep His commandments.” The main thrust there is not to do them but to keep them pure, neither adding to or subtracting from them. Then the life He wants to produce will come to pass.
There are two words for heart in the Hebrew, לֵב and לֵבָב. The first one is used here. According to one Hebrew scholar the difference between the two is the first, “A heart’s current nature, quality, condition, persuasion, or inclinations.” The second, “The action taken based on the current nature, quality, condition, persuasion, or inclinations of the heart.” (Jack Caccione) Based on this the current state of the psalmist heart is one that desires to search for the LORD. Because he always wants to search for the LORD, he petitions the LORD to keep him from straying from His commandments. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to keep God’s commands as He desires us to keep them.
In verse 11, heart is the same. It stands in parallel to what was said in the previous one. Here the state of the heart is one that treasures what God has spoken. When we do that, we won’t be sinning against the LORD. Notice again, we must keep, guard, and treasure God’s Word before we do God’s Word. The first produces the second. It isn’t the other way around.
We need the LORD to teach us what He has written down (the choq) then we can speak the decrees (misphat) the LORD has spoken. We can look all day at God’s Word, but if He does not open it to us or we resist His opening it to us, we will not understand His commands, hence this petition.
God’s written witness (edah) is worth more than all worldly riches. They give us a way (derek) to live and the regenerated heart will delight in them. I don’t like the translation of verse 15. It gives more outward action than the Hebrew does. It is pondering the details (piqqud) of the LORD’s ways (orach another word for path, way, also figuratively way of life). Now we know Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We should look deeply, ponder with all our heart what He has done for us and what He has taught us. Then we should pray the Holy Spirit to live out that Word in our lives.
So we are to delight in the written Word and not forget what He said. James says in 1:25 “But if you look into God’s perfect Word, which makes us free, and continue to do so — if you don’t merely listen and forget but do what it says — you’ll be happy as you do it.”
Merciful God and Father, give us Your Holy Spirit so we may delight in Your Word and then do what it says. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.