97 Oh, how I love your instructions! I think about them all day long.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are my constant guide. 99 Yes, I have more insight than my teachers, for I am always thinking of your laws. 100 I am even wiser than my elders, for I have kept your commandments.
101 I have refused to walk on any evil path, so that I may remain obedient to your word.
102 I haven't turned away from your regulations, for you have taught me well.
103 How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey. 104 Your commandments give me understanding; no wonder I hate every false way of life.
105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
106 I've promised it once, and I'll promise it again: I will obey your righteous regulations.
107 I have suffered much, O Lord ; restore my life again as you promised.
108 Lord, accept my offering of praise, and teach me your regulations.
109 My life constantly hangs in the balance, but I will not stop obeying your instructions. 110 The wicked have set their traps for me, but I will not turn from your commandments.
111 Your laws are my treasure; they are my heart's delight. 112 I am determined to keep your decrees to the very end.
113 I hate those with divided loyalties, but I love your instructions.
114 You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my source of hope.
115 Get out of my life, you evil-minded people, for I intend to obey the commands of my God.
116 Lord, sustain me as you promised, that I may live! Do not let my hope be crushed. 117 Sustain me, and I will be rescued; then I will meditate continually on your decrees.
118 But you have rejected all who stray from your decrees. They are only fooling themselves. 119 You skim off the wicked of the earth like scum; no wonder I love to obey your laws! 120 I tremble in fear of you; I stand in awe of your regulations.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 119:97-120
Commentary on Psalm 119:97-104
(Read Psalm 119:97-104)
What we love, we love to think of. All true wisdom is from God. A good man carries his Bible with him, if not in his hands, yet in his head and in his heart. By meditation on God's testimonies we understand more than our teachers, when we understand our own hearts. The written word is a more sure guide to heaven, than all the fathers, the teachers, and ancients of the church. We cannot, with any comfort or boldness, attend God in holy duties, while under guilt, or in any by-way. It was Divine grace in his heart, that enabled the psalmist to receive these instructions. The soul has its tastes as well as the body. Our relish for the word of God will be greatest, when that for the world and the flesh is least. The way of sin is a wrong way; and the more understanding we get by the precepts of God, the more rooted will be our hatred of sin; and the more ready we are in the Scriptures, the better furnished we are with answers to temptation.
Commentary on Psalm 119:105-112
(Read Psalm 119:105-112)
The word of God directs us in our work and way, and a dark place indeed the world would be without it. The commandment is a lamp kept burning with the oil of the Spirit, as a light to direct us in the choice of our way, and the steps we take in that way. The keeping of God's commands here meant, was that of a sinner under a dispensation of mercy, of a believer having part in the covenant of grace. The psalmist is often afflicted; but with longing desires to become more holy, offers up daily prayers for quickening grace. We cannot offer any thing to God, that he will accept but what he is pleased to teach us to do. To have our soul or life continually in our hands, implies constant danger of life; yet he did not forget God's promises nor his precepts. Numberless are the snares laid by the wicked; and happy is that servant of God, whom they have not caused to err from his Master's precepts. Heavenly treasures are a heritage for ever; all the saints accept them as such, therefore they can be content with little of this world. We must look for comfort only in the way of duty, and that duty must be done. A good man, by the grace of God, brings his heart to his work, then it is done well.
Commentary on Psalm 119:113-120
(Read Psalm 119:113-120)
Here is a dread of the risings of sin, and the first beginnings of it. The more we love the law of God, the more watchful we shall be, lest vain thoughts draw us from what we love. Would we make progress in keeping God's commands, we must be separate from evil-doers. The believer could not live without the grace of God; but, supported by his hand, his spiritual life shall be maintained. Our holy security is grounded on Divine supports. All departure from God's statutes is error, and will prove fatal. Their cunning is falsehood. There is a day coming which will put the wicked into everlasting fire, the fit place for the dross. See what comes of sin Surely we who fall so low in devout affections, should fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into heavenly rest, any of us should be found to come short of it, Hebrews 4:1.