Faith-Based Discernment

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Teach me good judgment and knowledge:
For I have believed thy commandments (Psa 119.66)

“The just shall live by faith” (Hab 2.4; Rom 1.17; Gal 3.11; Heb 10.38). This great biblical statement has depths not fully comprehended by even the most mature Christian and seasoned theologian. It states succinctly some of the most profound truth about God, His creation, and our relationship with Him.

For starters, it is a solid foundation for the doctrine of sola fide, justification by faith alone. The justified one, that is, the one whom God declares perfectly righteous, having forgiven him all his sins, shall live, that is, possess spiritual life in reconciled fellowship with the God whom he had offended, through faith, trusting God and His Word concerning His Son Jesus Christ, and through faith apart from works, trusting in God’s grace to the unworthy as opposed to the self-reliance of the self-righteous sinner. For centuries faithful Bible teachers have given a unified testimony to these things in the Protestant tradition.
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God’s Gracious Faithfulness to Me

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Thou hast dealt well with thy servant,
O LORD, according unto thy word (Psa 119.65).

God intends to glorify Himself in saving His people. One of the main ways He does this is by eliciting their grateful praise for His saving acts toward them. This they offer freely to Him, without coercion, and joyfully, without grudging, because one of the inevitable effects of His saving work in them is to win their hearts as His true worshipers.
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Earth’s Abundant Mercy

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The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy:
Teach me thy statutes (Psa 119.64).

The airwaves are full of commentary on the earth—its origin, state, and end. Thoughts on the earth convey a “worldview” and ultimately, one’s religious beliefs, often even if the particular topic seems completely unrelated. Popular ideas today include evolution as a theory of origin, “the fragile earth” with man having alleged power to keep it going or ruin it as a theory of environmentalism, and for a prediction of final disaster, a nuclear holocaust or gradual “extinction of man.” These views all fundamental reject of a biblical worldview and espouse an anti-Christian secularism, even though many who hold them are professing Christians who strenuously deny the religious implications. What Paul wrote of God-dishonoring pagans also applies to modern secularists.
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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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Midnight Thanksgiving

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At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee
Because of thy righteous judgments (Psa 119.62).

The psalmist’s divinely-inspired testimony here sets forth a praiseworthy example of gratitude. These words were, in that miracle of prophetic utterance, infallibly given by the Spirit through fallible man, so that the very words of the text are as much the Word of God as if He had breathed them out of His own mouth. The result is a text with God’s own authority which is profitable for instruction, reproof, correction, and disciplined training in righteousness (2 Tim 3.16-17). Yet only if the Lord is pleased so to work in our hearts will we benefit eternally from studying it (1 Cor 2.13-16). Jesus is praying for you who believe to that end (John 17.17). May He awaken the rest of you.
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Singular Piety

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The bands of the wicked have robbed me:
But I have not forgotten thy law (Psa 119.61).

It would be easy to live as a real Christian if nearly everyone else were doing it, but standing practically alone in our commitment to God and His Word—that is an acid test of our faith.

The exact sense of the Hebrew text is difficult to ascertain, even for godly scholars, but the general drift of this verse is plain enough. It is rendered variously because they are grappling with how these specific Hebrew words should be taken here, each having somewhat different meanings depending on the context.
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Prompt Obedience

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I made haste, and delayed not
To keep thy commandments (Psa 119.60).

“Obey right away.” This is a slogan which was drilled into the minds of the children of our household from their toddlerhood. True obedience is prompt obedience. Procrastination is “soft rebellion,” insubordination wearing a thin mask. It is saying “I won’t” even when the lips do not move. A great danger of it is that we may flatter ourselves into thinking we will obey eventually, even though, without realizing it, we have no serious intention of obedience whatsoever. Then, because we can convince ourselves that we are willing to be willing later instead of now, we think we are safe from God’s displeasure. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” intentions that are never carried out. “Not to decide is to decide” (Harvey Cox). “He that saith he will be good tomorrow, he saith he will be wicked today” (James Janeway).
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My Responsibility for Righteousness

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I thought on my ways,
And turned my feet unto thy testimonies (Psa 119.59).

Two great traps keep multitudes from heaven: arrogantly thinking they are good people living a good life, and admitting they are sinners while they continue to do nothing about it. The self-righteous will be shocked to hear their doom on Judgment Day when they thought to have some positive reward; the spiritually-lazy may be shocked by their condemnation because they had wrongly believed Jesus forgives the sins of impenitents, that is, those who simply continue as they were without getting a new heart and practicing new obedience. Many of the sluggards are deluded into thinking that a momentary decision to accept Jesus is enough all by itself for deliverance from the wrath of God. It is not.
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How to Pray for Yourself

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I intreated thy favour with my whole heart:
Be merciful unto me according to thy word (Psa 119.58).

We should not pray only for ourselves, but we must not neglect praying for ourselves, whether through some false view of piety, presumption on God’s grace, or any other spiritual pitfall. God has implanted in the soul of every man a legitimate self-interest. “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church” (Eph 5.29). Otherwise the requirement to love your neighbor as yourself would be irrational. We need not worry about inadequate self-love, but inordinate self-love. I don’t know of any place where Scripture warns us of thinking too lowly of ourselves, but only too highly (Rom 12.3). Our problem is not that we lack self-esteem, but God-esteem and others-esteem.
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Owning and Obeying the Lord

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Thou art my portion, O LORD:
I have said that I would keep thy words (Psa 119.57).

Living the Christian life should never be thought of as merely keeping a set of righteous rules. Rather, it is a loving communion with God through Jesus Christ expressed in loyalty to Him and His revealed will. In John’s gospel Jesus said,

If ye love me, keep my commandments (14.15).

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me (14.21).

If a man love me, he will keep my words (14.23).

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