The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting:
Give me understanding, and I shall live (Psa 119.144).
These simple statements rest on a vastly deep appreciation for profound spiritual realities. When we consider the larger biblical context of doctrine along these lines, that becomes more apparent.
THE OBJECTIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD’S WORD
As this verse continues the psalm which is mostly addressed to the Lord himself, “thy testimonies” (used 23 times in Psa 119, a word always referring to the testimony of God) is tantamount to Holy Scripture, that holy written text which has God as its Author, while penned by human instruments.
The law of God is his testimony because it is his own affirmation relative to his very person and purpose. While in the OT the written words constitute the testimony, it is the proclamation of the gospel which is the essence of the testimony in the NT.
The psalmist declares God’s testimonies to be “righteous.” Usually this means conformable to an ethical standard, but as there is no higher righteousness than God himself and the Word which is a revelation of his person and righteous will, the righteousness here highlighted is the standard by which the righteousness of all other persons, words, ideas, and actions, are to be judged. Literally the Hebrew reads, “the righteousness of are righteous/ your laws / to forever.” The words of this Holy Book are characterized by an ancient, even an eternal and unimpeachable righteousness, which far exceeds all other claimants to righteousness not emanating from God himself.
In our relativistic age, it is important to stress that this is the objective quality of God’s Word which is according to reality quite apart from any creature’s recognition or appreciation or agreement with it. The Bible is righteous as it stands. It is not merely righteous “for us” because we have faith to believe it. As God’s own righteousness is from eternity, an existential reality before his creatures ever came into being, so it is with his eternal, righteous Word.
A PERSONAL CONFESSION OF FAITH IN GOD’S WORD
Nevertheless, this is not at all to diminish the importance for each individual person to believe God’s Word, and to confess its righteousness. Indeed, for each person’s spiritual welfare, and in terms of each person’s spiritual responsibility, absolutely nothing is more important than this. Faith in God and his Word are always found together. Faith is the watershed virtue dividing the saved and the lost. The psalmist exhibits this faith in line one, when he confesses that the righteousness of God’s testimonies is an everlasting righteousness.
The believer’s saying this is so does not make it to be so; rather, because it is so, he can truly and righteously say it is so. Put another way, the objective truth of Scripture completely justifies our subjective trust in Scripture. Furthermore, it condemns the skeptic’s stubborn unbelief.
The Bible is actually true; therefore, I can rationally believe that it is true, and I must, as my ethical obligation, believe that it is true. Anything less is to exalt man’s fallible and sinful judgment to supremacy over God. That would be wicked idolatry exposing a proud heart.
THE LORD’S PREROGATIVE AND POWER TO MAKE WISE MEN OF FOOLS
The psalmist’s faith not only affirmed the righteousness of God’s Word, but the power of God’s grace to sinners, for here he prays, “give me understanding.” The very fact that he asks reveals his a priori belief that God has the power to grant what is asked of him, since we never ask anything of anyone unless we have at least some hope that they have the prerogative and power to grant our request.
The “understanding” in view here is a spiritual understanding, of course, and that which is associated with “life,” as the last word suggests.
We also naturally ask for things we know that we lack at least in some measure. The psalmist is confessing his lack of understanding in some degree, which is to say that he is confessing his spiritual folly or sinfulness. Spiritual understanding or wisdom is knowing the Lord and doing his will. The psalmist is admitting that he did not know the Lord as well as he would or should, and that his ways were somewhat foolish, not yet completely conformed to the Lord’s revealed will, his perfectly righteous testimonies. This believing soul is confessing that he is a sinner by nature and that he has much remaining sin in his heart and conduct.
Further, by turning this recognized spiritual need into a petition, he implies that the God to whom he prays is able to grant the thing requested. “Give me understanding, O Lord, though I lack it, for it is well within your power and prerogative to impart this understanding to fools at your sovereign pleasure, making whomever you wish to be wise whenever you please.”
A PERSONAL PLEA FOR SPIRITUAL BLESSING
Now, are not God’s righteous testimonies full of spiritual understanding? And have they not been a means of imparting understanding to those who now possess it? Yes, and yes, but Scripture alone is insufficient to make wise men of fools.
There must be, in connection with the ministry of the Word, a more immediate operation of God upon the sinner’s soul in order for the desired spiritual transformation to occur. Only when the Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and wields it with saving power does the sinner become a saint, the saint become a holier saint, the holier saint become a mature, complete saint, and the mature saint become finally conformed to the image of Jesus Christ when we see him.
This is the substance of the psalmist’s plea. “O God, I have your righteous Word; now take it and use it to effect a radical change in my heart and life so that I am foolish no longer, but one who knows you in truth and skilled in carrying out your revealed instructions.”
Many professing Christians will grant that God is able to advance those in spiritual life who have faith already, but they err in denying that he is able to impart saving faith unconditionally and effectively to those dead in trespasses and sins, and to do this at the guidance of his sovereign pleasure alone, apart from any consideration of what they could or would do. Such a faulty theology effectively robs God of much glory for his powerful grace. Faith is not something we manufacture ourselves and bring to God, demanding his gracious response since we have met the terms of his gospel. No! Faith itself to believe the gospel is God’s gift which he grants to unbelievers. God can bless anyone he pleases, and he does exactly that (Psa 115.3; Phil 1.29).
Yet it is man’s responsibility to plead with God for the blessings of the Spirit, as the psalmist does here. Where these pleas are sincere, urgent, and rightly-motivated, it is evident that God has already begun to grant the very things for which we are pleading. “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” (Rom 10.14a). “Give me understanding” is a plea justified and morally-required as our response to the proclamation of the good news through Jesus Christ that God saves sinners.
SPIRITUAL LIFE, THE RESULT OF DIVINE GRACE
Finally, this poetic prophet full of faith anticipates an answer to his prayer, implying a cause and effect connection: “and I shall live.” Spiritual life is primarily in view. “Lord, when you grant me understanding through your righteous Word, then the result shall be eternal life to my soul.” This is an expression of hope and spiritual assurance. Because God’s Word is righteous and promises life to all who seek the Lord and his understanding (e.g., Psa 22.26; Prov 8.17), the psalmist has a confident expectation that, as a sincere seeker, evidenced by his earnest prayer, he would experience the life promised by the Lord—not as anything deserved, but as the free gift of a gracious God. Let this understanding, confession, prayer, and blessing be ours, too.