O how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,
For they are ever mine.I have more insight than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.I understand more than the aged,
Because I have observed Your precepts.I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.I have not turned aside from Your ordinances,
For You Yourself have taught me.How sweet are Your words to my taste!
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!From Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.(Psalm 119:97-104)
God meant for His word to be understood and it can be understood by anyone. Furthermore, with the right attitude, we can continue to progress in our understanding, even to the point that we surpass those who might be expected to be “older and wiser” than we are. So let us consider what the psalmist said about the understanding we gain from God’s word.
We Gain Understanding From God’s Precepts
“From Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:104).
God meant for His will to be understood. His word reveals His will (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13). While we have it in written form, the men of old received it verbally. “God…spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1). Immediately after creating man, God told him what His will was for him – to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and use the plants for food (Genesis 1:27-30). He did not leave Adam to discover God’s will on his own. He wanted to be sure that Adam understood what His will was so he would know what was required of him. Through the written word, “we have the mind of Christ” today (1 Corinthians 2:16).
While God wanted man to understand His will, He was also fully capable of making His will understandable. After all, He is the Creator. The Hebrew writer called Him “the Father of spirits” (Hebrews 12:9). The spirit is our inner man – the part of us that thinks, feels, reasons, and decides. God created this. Therefore, He has a perfect insight as to how humans learn and understand. This allowed Him to perfectly craft His word so that we can learn and understand it.
Despite this, some will claim that we cannot understand the Bible, even though Paul plainly affirmed that we can (Ephesians 3:4). If we do not understand the Bible, there are a few potential reasons for it. In each of these reasons, the fault does not lie with God, but with man.
- If we fail to study His word, we will not understand the Bible. Studying the scriptures takes a diligent effort (2 Timothy 2:15). But Jesus said, “If you continue in My word…you will know the truth” (John 8:31-32).
- If we fail to appreciate the objective nature of truth, we will not understand the Bible. God’s word is truth (John 17:17) and there is only one correct understanding of it. The meaning of a particular passage is not left for us to decide; it means what God intended when He revealed it. “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar” (Romans 3:4). We must find what God intended, not what we want a passage to say.
- If we allow human ideas to influence our thinking, we will not understand the Bible. Paul wrote, “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed… See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Colossians 2:6-8). Human wisdom and tradition are contrary to the teachings of Christ. We cannot understand the Bible without abandoning these philosophies.
We can understand God’s word, but we must be honest and allow the word to grow in our hearts. In the parable of the sower, Jesus described “the good soil” as those “who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance” (Luke 8:15). We need this “honest and good heart” if we are to understand the Bible.
We Can Surpass Others
“Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Your precepts” (Psalm 119:98-100).
We must be careful not to arrogantly seek knowledge (1 Corinthians 8:1). We are also not to be arrogant against others (1 Corinthians 4:6). But we do have the ability to surpass others – not that we are in competition with them, but that we are trying our best to please God. Notice who we can potentially surpass if we continue to gain understanding from God’s word.
- “Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies” (Psalm 119:98). Knowing that His disciples were going out “as sheep in the midst of wolves,” Jesus told them to “be shrewd as serpents” (Matthew 10:16). As we face opposition, we must use “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17) to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV). Paul said, “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders…so that you will know how you should respond to each person” (Colossians 4:5-6).
- “I have more insight than all my teachers” (Psalm 119:99). The goal of any teacher imparting divine knowledge should be for the students to eventually be able to teach others (2 Timothy 2:2). Through the Scriptures, “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Therefore, we are not (or should not be) limited by our teachers. We have access to what has been revealed from “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God” (Romans 11:33-34).
- “I understand more than the aged” (Psalm 119:100). Wisdom is generally associated with age (Job 12:12). However, there are times in which the younger can teach the older (Job 32:7-9; Titus 2:1-2). We must always receive the word in humility (James 1:21). If someone is teaching from the Scriptures, we can profit from it, even if he is younger than we are.
We Must Have the Right Attitude Toward the Word
“O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97).
“How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).
In order to have the right attitude toward God’s word, we must first love God’s law (Psalm 119:97). This is necessary for salvation. Paul said those who do not have “the love of the truth” will not “be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
Second, we must meditate on God’s law (Psalm 119:97). The word must be written on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10). The times when we sit in Bible classes or listen to sermons on Sunday should not be the only times we think of God’s word. Paul said, “Whatever is true…honorable…right…pure…lovely…of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Such things are found in God’s word.
Third, we must be sustained by the word (Psalm 119:103). The psalmist described the taste of God’s word. Throughout Scripture, the word is likened to food because it strengthens and nourishes us. Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; cf. Deuteronomy 8:3).
Fourth, we must see God’s word as being good and desirable, not bitter (Psalm 119:103; cf. 19:10). This will depend on our attitude. Paul described the preaching of the gospel as being either “an aroma from death to death” or “an aroma from life to life” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). The difference was in the attitude the hearer had to the word. Those who recognized that the message was good and followed it would be saved.
We Must Keep His Word
“I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your word. I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, for You Yourself have taught me” (Psalm 119:100-102).
The Hebrew writer indicated that “practice” with the word helps train people to “discern good and evil” and prepared them to “be teachers” (Hebrews 5:12-14). God expects us to do something with His word (James 1:22) – not just anything, but to obey Him. David said, “I have observed Your precepts” and “keep Your word” (Psalm 119:100-101). Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21). We must do the will of God.
Also, the psalmist said, “I have restrained my feet from every evil way” (Psalm 119:101). God expects His people to strive to overcome sin. John told those to whom he wrote, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin” (1 John 2:1). This is the goal. We are to “consider [ourselves] to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).
David went on to say, “I have not turned aside from Your ordinances” (Psalm 119:102). Remember that the Scriptures are from God. Paul was thankful for the brethren in Thessalonica because they “accepted [the gospel] not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). We must not turn from God’s word to follow the word of man (cf. Galatians 1:6-7).
We Must Hate Every False Way
“From Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:104).
The world wants us to be tolerant toward sin and error to the point that wen cannot even call anything sin and error. Yet David said that his understanding of God’s precepts led him to “hate every false way.”
The same should be true for us. We should “hate every false way” because God hates it. The psalmist wrote elsewhere, “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; the Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit” (Psalm 5:4-6).
Furthermore, we should also “hate every false way” because sin causes souls to be lost. Sin separates man from God (Isaiah 59:2) and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). If we understand God’s word, we cannot help but hate what is false.
Conclusion
We can understand the will of God, but only through His word. We must study His word, obey it, and continue to grow in it so we can be pleasing to Him.
This entire series is available in paperback. Click on the link for more information – The Psalm of the Word: A Study of Psalm 119.
