So shall I keep thy law continually
For ever and ever (Psa 119.44).
The great-by-grace Jonathan Edwards believed in making and keeping resolutions. In 1722-23 before his twentieth birthday, he wrote his famous seventy, which include a promise of periodic self-examination in the light of these resolutions:
3. Resolved, If ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.
37. Resolved, To inquire every night, as I am going to bed, wherein I have been negligent – what sin I have committed – and wherein I have denied myself; also, at the end of every week, month and year.
Such a scrupulous conscience coupled with strong resolutions seems to be the evidence of God’s powerful work in the man who is now legendary, especially among Reformed believers.
David, as a Spirit-filled prophet, expresses in our text an amazing resolution that cannot be faulted, because it is also the Word of God.
The original for “keep” in this context means to observe, that is, to obey a command with diligence and detail, as in Lev 19.30.1
“Thy law” (Heb. torah) is a reference to the written revelation of Jehovah, that is, Scripture, especially in its preceptive part that gives directions and prohibitions for character and conduct. This included matters both of morality and religious observance.
“Continually” means very nearly the same thing as the original Hebrew word it translates: “characterized by continued occurrence or recurrence.”2 The psalmist is speaking of activity which will be his habitual devotion.
“For ever and ever” translates two words which both point in this context to eternity future (first word in Gen 3.22; second in Exod 15.18). Evidently David intended a time period which extended far beyond his own physical life in this world, into the time of life after death with no end—the same sense that is conveyed by the English expression when speaking religiously like this.
Let us consider three implied elements of this one wonderful resolution. David intended, then,
TO DEPEND ON THE ENABLING GRACE OF GOD
The word “so” (or, “Then,” NET Bible) is completely justified in the AV translation because of the grammatical form of the verb “keep.”3 The fulfilling of this resolution is predicated on God answering the preceding prayers, especially in 119.43, “And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,” but there have been many other humble pleas like this in the psalm (e.g., vv. 5, 10, 12, 17, 27, 32, 34-36, etc.). In other words, David knew that apart from the grace of God—His unmerited favor and constant supply of virtue in the soul—there was no hope whatsoever of being a righteous man, or living as one. David resolved to depend on God’s grace, not only for legal acceptance with Him, but also for the desire and the power to serve Him.
Without this conscious dependence upon God’s grace, no true obedience is possible. Every religious person that depends on his own free will and internal energy to live a good life is wickedly self-confident and self-righteous. A spiritually-dead sinner only swaps the baser sins of open idolatry and sensuality for those God hates even more: hypocritical worship and proud moralism.
For those who have more spiritual light but still lack saving faith, flesh-based resolutions to do right are bound to lead to frustrations of desire and fears of enduring condemnation upon the one who tries to be a good person and keep God’s commandments. There is such a thing as outward obedience from a servile fear rather than a filial love. The slave’s whip produces only eye-service, not the hearty, devoted service of a loyal son in the family.
In a true believer, faith in God’s grace is not just a momentary decision associated with conversion, but a hearty disposition to confess one’s native spiritual impotence and to pray constantly and earnestly for countless gifts of enabling grace from God throughout one’s life.
In NT terms, only when God savingly joins a dead sinner to the living Savior Christ, and only as that born again believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, do the fruits of vital godliness appear in his heart and life to the praise of the God who saves the unworthy and helpless. A true Christian, with David, resolves thus to depend on the enabling grace of God.
TO DO THE REVEALED WILL OF GOD
Saving grace comes first, but it always brings good works in its wake. “So shall I keep thy law.”
The language of this verse is very emphatic. Perfect obedience will constitute a large proportion of heavenly happiness to all eternity; and the nearer we approach to it on earth, the more we anticipate the felicity of heaven.4
True piety and joy are found in a genuine practice from the heart of God’s written precepts. “Obey the Word” is not a “legalistic” message as long as it comes in the context of a relationship with
God that is thoroughly suffused with gospel grace. Justification is by faith alone but not by a faith that remains devoid of deliberate and principled obedience to God’s Word in Scripture.
This is no less a message of the NT than the OT. Of the many texts we might cite, Titus 2.11-14 is representative:
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts [viz., infractions of moral law], we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [all commanded in the moral law]; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity [Gk. anomia, meaning lawlessness], and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works [i.e., nothing more than the righteousness the law commands and commends, even love of God and neighbor] (bracketed comments mine).
Many Christians today, because of the prevalence of false teaching, would find fault with you as unspiritual if you told them you were making a resolution to keep God’s commandments more than ever before. They conceive of spirituality in much more hazy terms: to be “filled with the Spirit” (a biblical phrase to be sure but which must be embraced in its biblical significance as well), to be prompted by love in your heart, and even just to have intensely emotional religious experiences, all things that they consider far removed from studying and applying Scripture in the countless decisions of daily living. Biblical spirituality, on the other hand, is necessarily and intimately related to what we might call commandment-obedience.
TO DIE IN LOVING LOYALTY TO GOD
“I shall keep thy law continually for ever and ever.” In heaven, everyone does and will keep eternally God’s law perfectly from the heart, but their faith and obedience begins in this life before they die. We must die in loving loyalty to God in order to awake to the glories of heaven on the other side. Another way of saying this is that those who will ultimately be saved believe the gospel before death and persevere in faith and obedience to the end of their lives. No wonder David resolved to keep God’s law continually!
Again, the NT agreement with this perspective is obvious and emphatic. There may be no more sober affirmation than that found in Rev 22.11-15, describing the state of things at the time of that momentous event of Christ’s return and beyond:
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. [Jesus speaking:] I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without [outside] are dogs [a metaphor for bad people, perhaps sexual perverts5], and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie (bracketed comments and emphasis mine).
This is not at all a denial of free grace, but a NT affirmation that a transformed life of glad obedience to God’s commandments is the outward evidence of true and saving faith that will be crowned, by the grace of God, with eternal blessedness.
Therefore, we urge everyone to make and keep this biblical resolution with God’s help: to depend on His grace, to do His revealed will in Scripture, and to die in loving loyalty to Him. May the Lord have mercy upon us, move us in this direction, and save us at last. Amen.
Notes:
1. DBL #9068.
2. MWCD, in loc.
3. “The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the negated jussive (see v. 43)” (NET Bible notes).
4. The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, in loc.
5. DBL #3264.
All rights reserved.