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.