And I will delight myself in thy commandments,
Which I have loved (Psa 119.47).
By “saints” we mean nothing more or less than real Christians, sincere and real and persevering followers of Jesus Christ (John 8.31), such as have new hearts by the grace of regeneration or being born again (Tit 3.5; 2 Cor 5.17). Church members are presumed to be “saints by calling” (1 Cor 1.1-2), which implies that church membership should be limited to those with a credible profession of evangelical faith—historically, a characteristic doctrine of Baptists. Everyone in this world is either a saint or a sinner, and only saints should be admitted and retained as local church members.
One of the things that distinguishes saints from sinners is their relationship to Scripture, which is the Word of God. Saints delight themselves in Scripture because they love it. This is the saintly psalmist’s own testimony, and we would notice several things about his delight in the Word.
IT IS DELIBERATE
The AV rendering of the Hebrew original is very excellent and precise here, probably the best English translation possible. “I will delight myself.” Alternatives fall short:
I love your commands (CEV)
I delight in your commands (NIV)
Your commandments fill me with delight (NJB)
How I delight in your commands! (NLT)
I find my delight in your commandments (ESV)
The reason we say they fall short is that they fail to convey the form of the Hebrew verb which is reflexive—that is, directed or turned back on itself. The psalmist is not expressing simply how he feels (as in the first four alternatives), or even a personal discovery he has made (as in the fifth, though this is closer), but in a purposeful, deliberate intention on his part to do something: “I will delight myself.” This is his duty; this is his pleasure; this is his resolve. The AV captures all that in its accurate and elegant translation.
A good husband relates this way to his wife throughout their marriage, even if it spans many years. Urging godliness and marital fidelity, in language which is highly-figurative as well as stunningly literal, Proverbs exhorts husbands this way:
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice [very nearly the same sense as in our text] with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love (5.18-19).
You see, it is one thing to be in a married state, and it is quite another to delight yourself in and with your wife. To do this requires a principled and deliberate purpose followed by practical action. Whether it is the young groom whisking his bride away to a secluded honeymoon spot, or the mature husband taking his lifelong covenantal companion away to the seaside resort for a celebration of their fiftieth anniversary, he is delighting himself in his wife. And while special concentration on this delightful activity cannot in the nature of things be constant, he habitually rejoices in her all day long. She is never far from his thoughts, no matter how far away physically.
These things are an illustration of the saint’s delighting himself described here. There is little that a soul in vigorous piety loves more than to sneak away for solitude in private with his beloved God, and to His glorious voice speaking in and through the Scriptures. This is such a ravishing experience for the spiritually-healthy person that he or she need not be dragged to it half-convinced, but looks forward to it with great anticipation, as the famished to food and the parched to drink!
IT IS SCRIPTURAL
Further, “I will delight myself in thy [i.e., God’s] commandments.” Calvin said the phrase means that the psalmist held the commandments of God in such high esteem, that he experienced nothing more pleasant to him than the making of them his constant theme of meditation. By the term delight, he expresses the intensity of his love.
Sinners find this testimony unbelievable as they have no spiritual relish for God’s Word. Rather, it is a burden to them, especially the part which may be especially in view here called God’s commandments, His “thou shalt’s” and “thou shalt not’s.” Any exhortation to spiritual and moral duty and any restriction of his carnal lust, the unregenerate person finds irksome in the highest degree.
One of the most wonderful blessings God gives His elect when He finally draws them to Himself through the gospel of Christ is a profound appetite and an innate affinity for His Word in Scripture, even the commandments or what has been called the “moral law,” as summarized, for example, in the highly-significant Ten Commandments, the only part of Scripture ever to be inscribed in stone with the finger of God (Exod 31.18; 32.16; Deut 4.13). This was God’s way of dealing with Old Covenant Israel, but a new and better way was coming when God would go further and write His law on the hearts of every party to the New Covenant Israel, so that there would be a supernaturally-induced love and obedience to the very same commandments, and they would all know Him in the best sense of personal intimacy and ardent love, and all their sins (and only theirs) would be forgiven (Jer 31.31-34). Paul alluded to this when writing to members of the church at Corinth:
Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart (2 Cor 3.3).
Delighting in God’s commandments then is one of the most important tests of the new birth. You deeply and truly sympathize with 1 John 5.3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous [or, burdensome].” Like Jesus, real Christians can say, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psa 40.8).
God never [really] has our heart until He has our delight, until we willingly abstain from what may displease Him, and cheerfully practice what He requires of us; when we are grateful to obey, and other pleasures are worth nothing in comparison to this (Manton, sermon on Psalm 119.47).
Brethren, one of my greatest pastoral concerns is that multitudes of professing Christians today—probably even the majority—have never come to this point in their lives. They are mere hypocrites and need to be born again. Could you be one of them?
IT IS REASONABLE
Why did the psalmist deliberately resolve to delight himself in God’s commandments? He provides the answer plainly, “which I have loved.” He truly, deeply loved them. “The verb rendered loved expresses sincere friendship” (Plumer, in loc.). There had been a reconciliation between the psalmist, formerly an ungodly sinner, and his gracious God. The psalmist was no longer at odds with the divine revelation. The Word was no longer an indictment from the great King and Judge of all creation but it had taken the character of a love letter to him from the best Lover of his soul. Is it any wonder, then, that he would really enjoy poring over its gracious message, whether revealing God’s heart, or instructing in the great redemption plan, or directing him to walk in the blessed and narrow way, or assuring him of certain and everlasting happiness?
To use the marriage analogy again, a husband who really loves his wife is the one who will delight himself in her, and for that reason he certainly will delight himself in her. A chronic failure in delight would expose a heart devoid of love. Where love reigns, delight is inevitable and eminently reasonable.
IT IS INDISPENSIBLE
Even in a saint who has been transformed from the inside out by grace alone, this discipline of delighting oneself in the Word of God is most necessary, for to the degree it is neglected, his or her spiritual life will languish.
One great visit to the dentist’s office with a very good evaluation of your oral health can become a temptation to relax the routine of brushing and flossing your teeth, but it shouldn’t. Part of the reason you didn’t need to hear the whine and feel the vibration of that horrid drill boring through your enamel toward your molar nerves was that you had been diligent before, so why would you relax now?
The safety of the spiritual life lies in the keeping up our joy and delight in it. “Whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of our hope firm unto the end” (Heb 3.6). “Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness” (Isa 64.5) (Manton, ibid.).
Normally people do not “delight” in teeth-brushing, but from necessity they do it anyway. Isn’t the Lord kind to make one of the most important means of His grace, meditating upon His Word, also one of the sweetest experiences we can have this side of heaven? How, then, could we possibly excuse any neglect in this? As delight in Scripture is one of the surest marks of a saved person, so a total lack of this is a kind of “mark of the beast,” a sign that one is still under the power of the devil. Friends, examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith (2 Cor 13.5). If you should discover grace at work in you, let that be all the more reason to excel in this holy work. Amen.
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