Psalms 119:64-72

Psalms 119:64. The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray:

Prosperity had been to the psalmist like the gap in the hedge through which the sheep wander from the shepherd; but affliction had been to him like the prickly bushes that often stop the sheep from wandering still further, so he says, «Before I was afflicted I went astray:»

Psalms 119:67. But now have I kept thy word.

What a benefit, then, affliction had been to him; and what a blessing it often is to us! So, instead of dreading it, as we usually do, we ought to welcome it, and be on the look-out for the blessing which is to come to us through it. Many a child of God has joined with Dr. Watts in singing,

«Father, I bless thy gentle hand;

How kind was thy chastising rod;

That forced my conscience to a stand,

And brought my wandering soul to God!

«Foolish and vain, I went astray

Ere I had felt thy scourges, Lord;

I left my guide, and lost my way;

But now I love and keep thy Word.»

Psalms 119:68. Thou art good, and doest good;

What a delightful description this is of God and his works! Who is good? Our Lord Jesus supplies the answer, «There is none good but one, that is, God.» And his works are like himself: «Thou art good, and doest good.»

Psalms 119:68. Teach me thy statutes.

In the 25 th Psalm, David wrote, «Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way;» and here, because the Lord is good, and does good, the psalmist prays, «Teach me thy statutes.» He will teach us that which is good because he is himself good. What a blessing it is for us to have such a Teacher! How wonderful it is that God should be so condescending as to take us into his school!

Psalms 119:69. The proud have forged a lie against me:

They have kept on hammering away until they have finished the falsehood; they have «forged» it, as one forges a deadly weapon in the fire.

Psalms 119:69. But I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.

«It is no use for me to trouble about them. When they have forged one lie, they will probably forge another, and there is practically no end to that black business. It is no use for me to try to answer them; I will turn to a far more profitable occupation: ‘I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.'»

Psalms 119:70. Their heart is as fat as grease;

Insensible, lifeless; they have no conscience, no feeling; they are so proud of their prosperity that they are afflicted with fatty degeneration of the heart.

Psalms 119:70. But I delight in thy law.

What a blessing it is for us to find our fatness there, to delight in the marrow and fatness of God's law!

Psalms 119:71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

The psalmist, was so impressed with the benefits which he had derived from his afflictions, that he returned to the subject: «It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.» There is much teaching power about God's rod. He always keeps one in his school, and it is greatly needed for such dull scholars as we are. Many a child of God can repeat the psalmist's testimony: «It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.» «Thou hast whipped a little knowledge into me, and not much has come in any other way.»

Psalms 119:72. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

David had a great deal of gold and silver, far more than any of us have; but yet he thought very little of it in comparison with God's law. Many people despise gold and silver because they have not got any. The fox said the grapes were sour because they were beyond his reach. But here is a case, in which a man had as much gold and silver as he could ever want; yet he says that the law of God's mouth was better than all of it, and he was wise in saying so. For gold and silver can be stolen; riches often take to themselves wings, and fly away; even great wealth may soon be spent and gone; but God's law never leaves those who love it, nor lets them lose it. When all our spending money is gone, then is the commandment of God our treasure still. Happy is everyone who can say, with David, «The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.»