97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
102 I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
The commandments of God provide great wisdom and benefit to those who will embrace them.
We delight in every word that God has communicated to us through 66 books of Old and New Testaments. While we do not claim perfect knowledge concerning the truth of God’s law, we find great depths of wisdom there. It doesn’t matter how many times we’ve heard the words of John 3:16 or Exodus 20:1-18. Every word rings of solid truth. Every sentence is sweet to the taste, and we never grow tired of the words of truth.
Verse 97.
This verse accurately describes the heart of the true believer. With the Apostle Paul, he says, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man” (Rom. 7:22). If this be the case, of course, he cannot be suffocating under the condemnation of the law. He knows his acceptance with God and the forgiveness of sins, and he sees the law of God as the way of life.
The unbeliever hates God’s law because he wants to be a law unto himself. Moreover, he does not want to feel condemned by the law and thereby be forced to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness. When unbelievers attend the “First Church of Unbelievers” in any given town, they will reject any preaching of the law of God outright. They will insist on hearing “grace” sermons that avoid all mention of God’s laws that may convict them of their sins and drive them to seek salvation in Christ. This antithetical view of the relationship of grace and law has done immeasurable damage to the modern church.
Yet, true believers are attracted to the preaching of the law of God. They will meditate on these laws throughout the week and especially work to apply the law to themselves in every minute detail of their lives.
Verses 98-100.
These verses speak of the wisdom of God’s commandments. Where is the wisdom in the welfare program that President Lyndon B. Johnson initiated for the inner cities in America in the 1960s? Powerful men concluded that the Marxist schemes of redistributing wealth by government power would solve the problem of poverty. Now, forty years later, the problems are far worse, as over 70% of the children born in these inner cities are born outside of wedlock (up from 25% in the 1960s). Anybody who has read the Bible would know that biblical charity is local, voluntary, and relational. The Bible also forbids the civil magistrate favoring the poor in any way (Ex. 23:3, 30:15, etc). A Sunday School child would be a hundred times wiser than the great powerful leaders in Washington D.C., as long as he holds to the truths of the Bible.
Familiarity with the commandments of God enables us to make wise decisions that yield far better results in the long run. History will always vindicate the man who sticks with the laws of God. He will prove himself to be wiser than his enemies and smarter than the smartest professors that teach Marxist economics in the universities.
The 19-year-old homeschool graduate who believes the testimonies of God contained in Genesis 1, is wiser than his erudite professors who believe that a rock (inanimate matter), evolved into a human being in four billion years. These college professors cannot provide a mechanism, they have no evidence, and they have never repeated the process in a laboratory, but they will do their best to shame the few Christian students in the classroom out of a supernaturalistic view of origins. As long as these young students believe the truths of Scripture, they will be wiser than their teachers.
Verses 101-102.
The evil way is incompatible with God’s law. The two cannot mix. Should a man decide to feed his flesh by indulging himself in a habit of on-line pornography, he will spread weed killer on the tender plants of God’s Word laid down in his heart. It is practically impossible to be completely absorbed in an ungodly culture that does not fear God and still walk in God’s ways. As young teens sit and watch movies all week long that only give men glory, their eyes glaze over on a Sunday morning as the pastor gives God the glory in his message. The words of God’s truth and God’s law will mean very little to them. They will not keep the Word of God because they are enculturated into an evil way.
But why are some true to God’s ways while others are not? Why does the Psalmist understand more than the ancients? His teacher is the Holy Spirit of God Himself (verse 102). This is the only possible explanation, if there is anybody who can steer straight in such a crooked world.
Verses 103-104.
There are those who read the Bible because somebody told them it would be good for them, and then there are those who read the Word because it is attractive to them. There are also different sources of drinking water made available, depending on the situation in which we find ourselves; sometimes chlorinated tap water, sometimes sewer water, and sometimes fresh mountain spring water. The latter is greatly valued by the discriminating taste. The same can be said of reading material. Not all written work is of equal purity and value. The discriminating taste cries out for the purity of God’s Word.
As the tastes of a man become well- tuned to the quality of God’s wisdom, he begins to recognize the foul flavor of sewer water and the evil nature of worldly deceptions. His loves are honed, and so are his hatreds. A man is marked by his loves and hatreds. To say that hatred is incongruous with a life of virtue, moderation, and tolerance is itself a deception and a ruse. The godly man hates sin, even the socially-accepted sins, and he hates the churches that preach tolerance toward these sins. On the other hand, the wicked churches hate the churches that encourage hatred of sin and sinful institutions. So, you see, everybody hates something, and it is our loves and hatreds that define us.
1. Above all, it is keeping the precepts of God that will turn us into wise and understanding persons. Mere head knowledge and book learning does not, of itself, produce character and wisdom. Rather, it is focused, concentrated, and disciplined obedience to God’s commands that produces true character.
2. The incompatibilities of God’s ways and the world’s ways are seen everywhere today. We cannot maintain the priorities of the worldly crowd while at the same time maintaining the priorities of the Kingdom. We cannot seek fame, while at the same time seeking to do the humble work of the Kingdom. We cannot conform to the lifestyle of an ungodly crowd of companions Monday through Saturday and wholeheartedly experience authentic worship with God’s people on Sunday.
Is the reading and the preaching of the Word of God “sweet” to the taste for you? Maybe this isn’t a word you would ordinarily use. If everybody attending worship was so drawn to the Word like children drawn to a sweet shop, there would be a palpable excitement and universal appreciation for the service.
1. Why does the believer love God’s law?
2. As this man internalizes the commandments and testimonies of God, he becomes wiser than three different groups of people. What are they?
3. What other Psalm refers to meditating on the law of God both day and night?
4. Why is it dangerous to preach sermons that carefully avoid all mention of God’s laws?
1. Have our tastes been trained to enjoy God’s Word? What do we find sweet to the taste?
2. What are the “false ways” that we have come to hate? How does the world attempt to deceive people?