With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
This section asks how a young man can keep his way clean, then answers step by step. Here the answer turns outward: what the heart has taken in, the lips now speak.
The ESV calls them "rules." Older translations say "judgments." The Hebrew word behind both is exact:
MISH-PAHT = Judgment. The word occurs 23 times in the psalm… It means the sentence of a judge, and above all a sentence that imposes a penalty. It is therefore a judicial sentence, a decision the Lord makes.
So these are the Lord's own decisions, not the psalmist's opinions.
The order of the section matters. Verses 9 to 12 deal with a man's own path; only after that does his mouth open.
(vv. 13-16) The young man's way has been cleansed, so now he can bear testimony to others (v. 13). It comes from a heart that enjoys God's testimonies (v. 14), meditates on them (v. 15), delights in them, and keeps them in mind (v. 16).
The verse just before this one asked God for teaching. We speak only after God has taught us:
"With my lips I declare …", the verse begins. The believer may speak in "living echoes of His words …", but the Lord must first be able to speak to us, before we can tell others what He has told us. Before the Lord Jesus can send us out "to preach" He calls us first to "be with Him" (Mark 3:14). Perhaps it is good to ask ourselves: "What do I use my lips for?" Surely not for gossip? How we need to pray daily: "keep watch over the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3; Job 27:4).
One small word carries this verse: "all." The psalmist declares everything God has said, not a selection:
Service flows from confidence in God and from knowing how blessed He is, with the value we place on what God has given… Perceiving divine things, with power and value for them, is what makes us declare them. It is glorifying God. Love to others may go with this, but it is another thing. We owe it to God to declare what He is. He ought to be known, and what He is ought to be acknowledged. Then we hold nothing back: "all the judgments of Your mouth." We are filled with what God is, and with its value, and we speak it out. We may be wise for others' sake, but we value God enough to declare Him fully.
Verse 9 asked how a young man keeps his way clean. Open confession is part of the answer, and holding back carries a cost:
He has already been speaking of what he knew. He declared God's judgments — the decisions God had given about good and evil, right and wrong — and he did it faithfully, holding nothing back. What a great help this is for keeping a clean path: confessing God in all things, and committing yourself fully to all that He has made known of Himself. Indecision invites the assault of evil. It does not honour God, and He cannot honour anyone who is ashamed of Him.
Two verses earlier the psalmist stored God's word in his heart. What fills the heart is what comes out of the mouth:
Whatever is in the heart comes out through the lips, and in the life. How important then to have the heart full of the word of God! It should be so full that we have no room for the empty, foolish things of this present evil world… "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." So we can judge what is in the heart by what comes out of the mouth. The tongue is the organ of the heart — the organ of the man.
- Taught — God speaks first. He teaches His judgments, and only then can we tell others what He has said.
- Cleansed — the path is cleansed before the mouth opens. Testimony comes from a heart that enjoys and meditates on God's word.
- Spoken — "judgments" are a judge's verdicts. They came out of God's mouth before they came out of ours.
- Complete — "all" leaves nothing out. We owe it to God to declare what He is, holding nothing back.
- Guarded — confessing God in all things keeps the path clean. Indecision invites the assault of evil.
I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as [much as] in all wealth.
Psalm 119 asks early on how a young man can keep his way clean. This verse comes after that answer, and it says what a clean path brings: joy, weighed against all the riches a person could own.
The writers quoted below use an older translation of this psalm. Where the ESV says, "In the way of your testimonies I delight," they read, "I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies."
One writer reads verses 13 to 16 as one chain that starts from a cleansed way:
Verses 13-16: the young man's way has been cleansed, so he can bear testimony to others (v. 13). This comes from a heart that enjoys God's testimonies (v. 14), meditates on them (v. 15), delights in them, and keeps them in mind (v. 16).
The verse speaks of God's testimonies. One writer says where they come from, and what they are not:
Note further: these are testimonies that come from God. They are His definite declaration of His mind and will. They are not a knowledge of God that man boasts of by his own will, or his claim to know what God must be. They are the definite testimonies of God, so man is subject to them, though they also hold him up. It is not man's reasoning, or man's conscience, but the testimonies of God, His own active revelation of Himself, the speaking of His word. Faith simply receives them, and the soul is subject to them as such.
One writer ties this joy to the open confession of God, and then shows what the joy leads to:
How great a thing this is for keeping a clean path — to confess God in all things, and to give yourself fully to all that He has made known of Himself! An undecided attitude invites the attack of evil. God is not honoured in it, and He cannot honour one who is ashamed of Him. Joy in what is confessed goes with a true confession. So it follows here: "I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches." The mind, too, works on what the heart enjoys. It meditates on God's precepts, and pays attention to His paths.
Why measure this joy against riches? One writer says what God's testimonies become for the soul:
God's testimonies become the riches of the soul. Owning heaven changes this a little. Yet still, for life here below, the way of God's testimonies is joy — moral joy — as riches would be to men. There is an inward life that busies itself with these things, as well as the activity of duty. There is much in God's testimonies to feed on, digest and learn. We meditate on them, and so we have God's mind — the Holy Spirit's intention in them. So the soul is fed in delight.
One writer sets this verse beside Christ's words in Psalm 40, and then marks the limit of the comparison:
As the Lord Jesus Himself says, "I delight to do your will, O my God" (Ps. 40:8), so the believer may say, "I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches" (v. 14). The believer cannot say that he does the will of God as Christ does. But he has the same attitude toward God's Word as Christ has.
Rejoicing in the Word is not the whole response. One writer sets a second attitude beside it, then turns both into a question:
We have already seen that the Word revives us. Yes, we may rejoice in the Word "as much as in all riches"; "as one who finds great spoil"; "for they are the rejoicing of my heart" (Ps. 119:14, 162, 111). But on the other hand it is the holy Word of God that speaks with authority to our hearts and consciences. Are we "trembling" at His Word, and trying to order our lives by it? Or do we try to adjust God's Word to our behaviour when we have already departed from it to some degree?
- Cleansed — this joy belongs to a way already made clean. The path is cleansed first, and the rejoicing follows.
- Given — "testimonies" are God's own declaration of His mind and will. They are His revelation of Himself, not man's reasoning or conscience.
- Confessed — real joy goes with open confession of God. Indecision invites evil, and God cannot honour one who is ashamed of Him.
- Valued — God's testimonies become the riches of the soul, giving the heart here below what riches give to men.
- Kept — the mind works on what the heart enjoys, so rejoicing runs on into meditation. Trembling at the same Word keeps it steady, instead of bending God's Word to fit our lives.
I will meditate upon thy precepts, and have respect unto thy paths.
Psalm 119:15 sits in a section (verses 9–16) about how God's word keeps a young man's path clean. The psalmist promises two things: to turn God's charges over in his mind, and to keep his eyes on God's paths.
The psalm uses eight different words for God's word, each with its own shade. Two of them meet in this verse.
Several words are used, each meaning the law, but viewed from different standpoints. (1) Law (Torah) — direction, teaching. (2) Testimony (Eduth) — witness, testimony. (3) Precept (Piqqudim) — charges. (4) Statute (Choq) — decreed limit. (5) Commandment (Mitvah) — precept. (6) Word (Dabar) — word, matter, thing. (7) Judgment (Misphat) — judgment. (8) Way (Derek) — trodden path.
So the verse joins God's charges to His trodden path. The psalm treats that path as something to want, not to dread.
In this Psalm it is not the law of bondage, condemnation and death, but "the trodden path" of delight that the renewed man longs to take.
The mind does not wander at random. One writer links what a person enjoys to what he thinks about.
The mind, too, turns of itself to what the heart enjoys. So he meditates on God's precepts, and keeps His paths in view.
A picture from the farmyard shows what meditation does that reading alone does not.
Reading fills our minds with truth. Meditation brings that truth home to us in its full force and application. The ox does not only feed in the pastures; it also lies down to chew the cud. In the same way, we need to turn things over in our minds. It is not what we eat that nourishes us, but what we digest. If we meditate on the things of God, and get right into them so that they control us, then our profit, our spiritual growth, becomes plain to everyone.
Study and meditation look alike. They work on different parts of a person.
Meditation and study differ. Study is a work of the brain, meditation of the heart. Study puts the mind to work; meditation puts the affections to work. Study finds a truth out; meditation makes spiritual use of that truth. The one searches for the vein of gold, the other digs out the gold. Study is like a winter sun, with little warmth or influence. Meditation leaves the soul in a holy state. It melts the heart when it is frozen, and makes it drop into tears of love.
"I will" sounds like a decision made against resistance. One writer names who resists.
The devil is an enemy to meditation. He does not care how much people read and hear, nor how little they meditate. He knows that meditation settles the heart and brings it into a gracious state, and the devil is against that. Satan is content for you to be a hearing and praying Christian, so long as you are not a meditating Christian. He can stand your small shot, as long as you do not load this bullet.
The second half of the verse says where meditation has to end up. The ESV reads "fix my eyes on your ways"; the older wording this writer comments on is "have respect to your ways".
The writer expresses a determination: "I will meditate …". How important it is to be determined about keeping up a daily Bible study! Most Christians are so disorganised that they cannot find time for Bible study — or that is their excuse. We can always find time for something we really want to do! The writer then continues: "… and have respect to Your ways". It is not enough to be interested and to meditate on the Word. We should follow that by putting what we read into practice. To have "respect" is to be willing to obey the Word of God.
Both halves of the verse ask for more than a nod. The next verse names the result.
So the heart is moved to take time to meditate on God's precepts, not just to agree that they are true. It is moved to contemplate God's ways, not just to observe them (v. 15). Such delight in God's statutes will make a person remember, not forget (v. 16).
- Precepts. "Precepts" means God's charges, and "ways" means His trodden path — what He commands, and the road He marks out.
- Delight. The mind turns of itself to what the heart enjoys, so love for God's word feeds thought about it.
- Digest. Reading feeds; meditation chews the cud. It is not what we eat that nourishes us but what we digest.
- Decide. Satan can put up with a hearing and praying Christian, but not a meditating one. So "I will" is a settled determination.
- Do. Respect means willingness to obey. Meditation that never reaches practice stops halfway. The one who delights this way will not forget.
I delight myself in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word.
Psalm 119:16 ends the psalm's second section with two promises: joy in what God has laid down, and no forgetting of His word. Is remembering hard discipline, or the fruit of enjoyment?
Statutes sound like restriction. The word behind the term pictures something cut in — a fixed limit, and a call to obey.
CHUQQIM = Statute... It comes from the root to cut into, to hack, and so to engrave, to carve... It has the idea of that which is established, or definite; an appointed portion of food, or task; a definite limit... an appointed law, statute or ordinance. It is therefore a divine direction for my obedience, or to arrest disobedience. It stimulates obedience. It is the Law as a permanent record of God's will.
So the psalmist delights in something fixed, not something vague. One writer puts the result simply:
Happy the heart that finds its joy in the "statutes" of God. Remember that "statute" means a divine direction given for our obedience. What joy there is in obeying Him!
Verse 16 ends a chain of steps. It starts with a young man whose way has been cleansed.
(vv. 13-16) The young man's way has been cleansed, so he can now bear testimony (v. 13). His heart is enjoying God's testimonies (v. 14). It meditates on them (v. 15), delights in them, and keeps them in mind (v. 16).
The order in the verse matters. Joy comes first, and forgetfulness is what joy pushes out.
The section closes with a renewed experience of joy in His statutes. That joy is a sure safeguard against a bad memory.
Why should that be so? Love and memory work together, as one writer shows from ordinary life:
An affectionate hearer will not be a forgetful hearer. Love helps the memory: Can a woman forget her child, or a bride her wedding clothes? No, they love them too well; if the truths of God were this precious to you, you would think of them day and night. Sometimes a Christian has a weak memory. He cannot recall the very words he hears well enough to repeat them. Even then he keeps their power and flavour in his spirit. Dissolve sugar in wine and you cannot see it, but you can taste it. Eat food and digest it, and you will not find it as you received it. Yet it cheers the man and strengthens him, and makes him more able to walk and work than before. By that you may know it is not lost. So you may taste in his spirit the truths the Christian heard, and see them in his life.
Verse 15 shows how verse 16 becomes possible. There is a difference between agreeing a thing is true and dwelling on it.
So the heart is moved to take time to meditate on God's precepts, not merely to acknowledge them as true; and to contemplate God's ways, not merely to observe them (v. 15). Such delight in God's statutes will cause one to remember, not to forget (v. 16).
Not forgetting takes work. One writer ties it back to verse 11, where the word is hidden in the heart.
How important that we do not forget what we have read: "I will not forget your word." In verse 11 we saw the need to hide it in our hearts. To store the mind with the Word of God is the way of victory... How can the Holy Spirit bring any word from the Bible back to our memory if we have not first stored it there? Today we say of the computer that it will give you nothing but what you have first stored in its memory yourself! ... So everything really depends on our appetite for the Word of God. The writer of this psalm gives us a good example: he says he delights in the Word of God at least 8 times — see verses 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 92, 143 and 174.
The law goes by many names in this psalm. For the one who delights in it, none of them carries a threat.
Psalm 119 has 176 verses. No fewer than 174 of them mention the law of God under different names — law, commandments, precepts, testimonies, judgments, statutes, ordinances, word, way, path... Whatever name the law goes by, it is no longer condemnation and a threat of death. It is perfect delight and liberty.
- Engraved. A "statute" is something cut in and fixed. It is "a divine direction for my obedience" — a permanent record of God's will, not a suggestion.
- Meditated. Delight grows by dwelling on God's precepts, "not merely to acknowledge them as true."
- Delighted. Joy answers a fixed will. For the one who loves it, the law is "no longer condemnation" but "perfect delight and liberty."
- Remembered. That joy is "a sure safeguard against a bad memory." Love helps the memory, and "an affectionate hearer will not be a forgetful hearer."
- Stored. The Spirit brings back what you have first stored; nothing hidden in the heart is lost, even when the exact words are.