Psalms 119:2

Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.

The best pursuit

I. The pursuit specified.

1. The object proposed. They “seek” God--His enlightening truth--His pardoning mercy--His sanctifying grace--His indwelling presence--His communicable fulness--and His eternal fruition beyond the grave (Psalms 17:15; Romans 2:7).

2. The conduct described. “With the whole heart”--not hypocritically and lukewarmly; but with all the powers and energies of the soul, the understanding, the will, the conscience, and the affections; supremely, above every other object; diligently, in all the means of salvation; immediately, without delay, or procrastination; earnestly, with zealous and undivided hearts; continually, being faithful unto death, etc. (Psalms 27:4; Isaiah 55:6; Jeremiah 29:13, etc.).

II. The obedience required.

1. It must be regulated by His Word, the only perfect and infallible standard of Christian faith and practice.

2. It must be conformable to His will. The Divine testimonies must be kept in our memories--in our affections--and in our practices. We must keep them sincerely, not in name and profession only; believingly, in the exercise of a lively and vigorous faith; affectionately, from a principle of love filling and ruling the heart; universally, having impartial respect unto all His commandments; faithfully, through all opposition, and indefatigable perseverance in well-doing (1 Corinthians 15:58).

III. The happiness enjoyed.

1. They have blessed enjoyments. They are blessed with inconceivable peace--unspeakable joy--the testimony of a good conscience, and the witness of the Holy Spirit.

2. They have blessed anticipations. The present holiness is an earnest of their future blessedness. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)

Right use of the Bible

A workman has the plan of the house he is to build; but he must use plumb-line and spirit-level and foot-rule if he is to build securely. The engineer has his beautiful engine, his marvellously constructed piece of mechanism; but it is useless to him unless it is joined up with the lathe it is to turn or the loom it is to work. Your electric generating station is a place of wonder and mystery, a marvel of skill and knowledge; but it is useless if it is only kept to look at and wonder about; it only becomes effective as the electricity generated there is carried to your electric motors for power, to your filaments of carbon for light. And what we so often forget is that, in the same way, the Gospel of Jesus is of no practical use to us while we keep it isolated from our daily life; it is no use in a book, or in theological syllogisms; it only becomes of use as it becomes the power of God in our daffy lives. We must take it as the guide of our daily conduct, as the inspiration of thought and emotion, as the determining factor in our daily actions, as the light to lead us along life’s dark and difficult ways, As the food upon which the soul is nourished it must affect all our thought and feeling, speech and action; it must penetrate to the remotest corners of our life and give form and colour and character to every experience. (B. A. Millard.)