Category Archives: Holiness

Swearing Obedience (Psa 119.106)

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I have sworn, and I will perform it,
That I will keep thy righteous judgments (Psa 119.106).

Real, saving faith involves commitment to God, which arises from faith in his promises, is expressed in worship and adoration of him, and leads to obedience to his commands.1 Without such faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb 11.6). Without such fruits of faith, it is impossible to enjoy full assurance that we have eternal life (Heb 6.11; 1 John 2.3-5).

The psalmist’s holy example exudes profound commitment to God and therefore the reality of his faith. These words show that it is a good and righteous thing to swear obedience to God’s commandments. Notice their several leading thoughts.
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My Light for Living (Psa 119.105)

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Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
And a light unto my path (Psa 119.105).

David, the sweet psalmist of Israel (2 Sam 23.1), continues his magnificent psalm of praise for the sacred Scriptures as the word of God. In this verse, he uses two metaphors. The original word order of this couplet stresses the words slightly differently:

A lamp to my feet is thy word,
And a light to my path.1
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In Praise of Sacred Hatred (Psa 119.104)

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Through thy precepts I get understanding:
Therefore I hate every false way (Psa 119.104).

“Christians are not supposed to hate anything or anyone. The epitome of Christian virtue is unconditional, universal love.”1 Such are the widespread misguided beliefs of masses, both within and outside the ranks of professing believers. They think hate per se is evil, no matter what its object. If only the world could be completely rid of hatred, it would become a utopia.
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Motivation for a Righteous Life (Psa 119.101-102)

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I have refrained my feet from every evil way,
That I might keep thy word.
I have not departed from thy judgments:
For thou hast taught me (Psa 119.101-102).

We may speak of human motivation in two senses, intrinsically and extrinsically. Everyone grants that what moves a man psychologically to behave in a certain way is his aim or purpose. Belief leads to action, whatever that belief may be. A biblical worldview adds to this truism the more profound teaching that distinct from every man is the God of providence, who most holily, wisely, and powerfully preserves and governs all his creatures and all their actions (Westminster Shorter Catechism #11). While God operates secretly in the hearts of all men without coercing them to act against their will (Prov 16.9; Jer 10.23), he is nevertheless not an intrinsic part of the human nature. The Bible teaches that he hardens the reprobate, while in the case of the godly, God works in them graciously, both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil 2.13).
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Supreme Bibliophilia (Psa 119.97)

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O how love I thy law!
It is my meditation all the day (Psa 119.97).

The human heart was made to love, for it was fashioned in the image of God who is love and who has loved from eternity. Since the fall, our problem is not that love is completely absent but that we have our hearts set upon the wrong things, or upon the right things in the wrong way or degree. We love to yield to a hot temper when it arises within us; venting feels so good, at least for the moment, but this is completely evil. An example of a good and legitimate love is love of family, but even this is twisted if it becomes our supreme love.
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Christian Integrity and Honor (Psa 119.80)

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Let my heart be sound in thy statutes;
That I be not ashamed (Psa 119.80).

A recent study shows that compared to 1975, today’s high school seniors consistently think they are doing very well and have bright prospects for the future, while their actual performance on objective tests of academic achievement is considerably lower. They are proud failures! This is comparable to being high on drugs and feeling very artistic while you cannot draw a straight line.

I am afraid that this divorce between self-respect and performance has carried over into the spiritual realm, and things are perhaps even worse than before. “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness” (Prov 30.12). They think they are Christians but they are mistaken. They may even judge themselves to be quite committed Christians, but they have not understood the ABC’s of biblical spirituality.
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More Desirable than Gold (Psa 119.72)

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The law of thy mouth is better unto me
Than thousands of gold and silver (Psa 119.72).

If we really believed them, the letters we receive announcing that we have won a fortune would get our attention, but we have learned from experience about the fine print. You’ve seen it before, haven’t you?

CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE WON TEN MILLION DOLLARS
if you enter our drawing and are one of our lucky winners
(odds of winning: 1 in 100,000,000)

Our culture celebrates the god Mammon. People devote their lives to its service and will sacrifice anything for it, and so the promise of easy money is a great temptation for many.
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The Heart of the Matter (Psa 119.70)

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Their heart is as fat as grease;
But I delight in thy law (Psa 119.70).

Sincerity is not everything, but everything else without sincerity is nothing. Sincere adherents to false religions are abominable to God, and their earnestness in opposition to Him and His truth only increases their guilt. Conversely, one may say and do all the right things externally—profess Christ, be baptized, adhere strongly to the most orthodox confession of faith, serve as a church officer and volunteer for scads of worthy causes—and yet fail of God’s approval.
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Aspiring to Goodness, (Psa 119:68)

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Thou art good, and doest good;
Teach me thy statutes (Psa 119.68).

From our youngest days, we were exhorted to “be good,” and if we wanted to please our parents, we were motivated at least to try. We discovered by experience that being good wasn’t easy, and some of us became frustrated. Then we rationalized that being good is for little kids. Teenagers typically want to be cool, independent, or rebellious—anything but good! And too many adults never return to their earlier aspirations for goodness.
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Joined to the Godly

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I am a companion of all them that fear thee,
And of them that keep thy precepts (Psa 119.63).

“Birds of a feather flock together.” This truism springs from the plain fact that whenever you see a flock of birds, they are all of the same species. Isn’t that amazing in a way? Consider how many varieties there are of creatures flying through the skies, and you’ve never seen one flock made up of even two kinds, much less several! It’s the way God made them, a part of their nature.
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