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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The Boundless Word of God (Psa 119.96)

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I have seen an end of all perfection:
but thy commandment is exceeding broad (Psa 119.96).

The psalmist continues his praise of Scripture, not only because of a natural propriety in acknowledging its inherent excellence, but also because he would quicken his craving for the Word by meditating on its infinite worth. He wants to value, then desire, then ingest, and finally, benefit from the Scriptures. Godly meditation on its praiseworthiness is an indispensable means of grace.

Here the trait is Scripture’s boundlessness in comparison with all other things, for while we can appreciate the Bible in its own right, its preeminent transcendence appears more conspicuously in contrast with the limited blessings of this world.
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The Word for the Vulnerable (Psa 119.95)

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The wicked have waited for me to destroy me:
But I will consider thy testimonies (Psa 119.95).

Your mind must be absolutely fixed on God and his Word to pass through this brief time of your earthly sojourn well. The more distracted by dangers around you, the more apt you will be to lose your way, succumb to fear, and desert your charge.

The psalmist was acutely aware that he lived amidst enemies, many secluded, and all set upon his destruction. Someone said, “It is not paranoia if everyone is really out to get you.” Maybe so, but there are certain brave souls, though surrounded by enemies, who are still not paranoid (i.e., extremely fearful), but calm, trusting, and fearless. They did not become courageously faithful by obsession with the hostile crowd. Rather, they look to God, hearing his Word, and putting it into practice—however lonely they may find themselves as saints.
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My Covenant God (Psa 119.94)

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I am thine, save me;
For I have sought thy precepts (Psa 119.94).

It is superficial to ask a stranger, “Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?” If you are astute, you already know the answer, no matter whom you ask. Everyone has a “personal relationship” with Christ! Both parties are persons, and they are relating to each other in some personal way. Unbelievers are Christ’s enemies (Rom 5.10; 8.7; Col 1.21), and most would be shocked to hear that he is their enemy as well (Lam 2.5; Isa 63.10; Rev 19.11-13). That is very personal, and it exposes the sinner’s desperate need for reconciliation on both sides. God’s anger toward them must be appeased, and theirs for him replaced by grace with love. On the other hand, believers are Christ’s friends—another kind of personal relationship (John 15.13-14). A better question would be, “Do you have a special relationship with Jesus Christ?,” that is, “Does he love you more than others, and do you love him in return?”
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The Word Worth Remembering (Psa 119.93)

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I will never forget thy precepts:
For with them thou hast quickened me (Psa 119.93).

No small part of Christian piety consists of expressing holy resolutions to God with conscious dependence on his grace for the strength to keep them. As a young man freshly converted from mere nominal Christianity to a new and wonderful sense of God’s glory, Jonathan Edwards sat to draw up the first batch of his now famous 70 resolutions. These were his deeply felt spiritual aspirations founded upon the application of biblical principles to his life. Resolution lists were a common part of one’s devotional life in those days, but it is hard to imagine that many had as much God-given drive and discipline as Edwards in keeping them.
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Pleasure that Saves (Psa 119.92)

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Unless thy law had been my delights,
I should have perished in mine affliction (Psa 119.92).

There is only one way that anyone can escape being ground up in the wood chipper of life’s trials now and then thrown into the furnace of divine wrath at the end. It might surprise you to learn that the Bible teaches that the saving way is a way of great pleasure. All those who refuse the saint’s delight in this life must suffer the sinner’s despair in the life to come. God’s righteous fury will kindle upon them in an eternal flame.
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A Theological Cosmology (Psa 119.91)

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They continue this day according to thine ordinances:
For all are thy servants (Psa 119.91).

Everyone observes the natural world with religious and philosophical presuppositions, whether conscious of them or not. The prevalent notion that modern scientists are wholly objective in the analyses of their observations, and that therefore their conclusions are infallible, is, of course, a myth. This helps account for how that in many areas of scientific inquiry fashionable explanations come and go. It is not that the reality of the created order is changing, but man’s knowledge of it is growing, and his interpretation of it is as error-prone as fallen humanity itself, and also as capable of reformation and progress.
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God’s Enduring Faithfulness (Psa 119.90)

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Thy faithfulness is unto all generations:
Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth (Psa 119.90).

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) announced that “God is dead,” by which he expressed his belief that the idea of God had been so generally rejected that it no longer remained relevant as the basis for morality or explaining the meaning of life. The “God is dead” concept was popularized in America during the 1960’s and taken a step further—that not only the idea of God, but God himself, had truly died. The fruit of this kind of intellectual perversity is nihilism, a philosophy that ethical values do not exist objectively but are falsely invented, and that life is utterly without meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.1 Any right-thinking person shudders to consider the implications of all this for society. Indeed, this kind of atheism has already produced injustice and violence on a grand scale throughout the twentieth century.
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The Trustworthy Word of Our Sovereign (Psa 119.89)

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For ever, O LORD,
Thy word is settled in heaven (Psa 119.89).

Foundational to living as Christian believers is a true knowledge of God and his Word. In this verse the psalmist tersely lays that foundation, the unshakeable basis for everything else. Whatever we think, feel, and choose ought to build upon this. If we are in our right mind, all our plans will count on it, both for time and eternity. As one expressed poetically the utter stability of Scripture,

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent Word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?1

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My Hope is in God’s Faithful Love (Psa 119.88)

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Quicken me after thy lovingkindness;
So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth (Psalm 119:88).

The assurance of salvation that God’s people enjoy amidst the persecutions we suffer is not founded upon our love and commitment to God, but rather upon his to us. The only true and living God, the God of the Bible, reveals himself to be full of love and faithfulness toward his chosen ones. Christian believers can know for sure that we cannot perish, and that we shall finally be delivered from all our sins and miseries into joyous freedom and inexpressible bliss because of the Lord’s wonderful character and redeeming work for us and in us.
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