Psalms 119:97-112: a reflection

97How I love your law! It is my meditation all day. 98Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for your commandments are always with me. 99I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. 100I understand more than the aged, because I have kept your precepts. 101I have kept my feet from every evil way, that I might observe your word. 102I have not turned away from your ordinances, for you have taught me. 103How sweet are your promises to my taste, more than honey to my mouth! 104Through your precepts, I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. 105Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path. 106I have sworn, and have confirmed it, that I will obey your righteous ordinances. 107I am afflicted very much. Revive me, LORD, according to your word. 108Accept, I beg you, the willing offerings of my mouth. LORD, teach me your ordinances. 109My soul is continually in my hand, yet I won’t forget your law. 110The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I haven’t gone astray from your precepts. 111I have taken your testimonies as a heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. 112I have set my heart to perform your statutes forever, even to the end.

The psalmist speaks of God's word not as a burden or a mere duty, but as something he loves and delights in: How I love your law! It is my meditation all day. And again: How sweet are your promises to my taste, more than honey to my mouth! He does not merely obey God's word; he loves it, meditates on it constantly, finds it sweeter than honey, takes it as the joy of his heart. His relationship to God's word is one of love and delight, not grudging obligation; he treasures it as a delight, not endures it as a duty.

Notice the psalmist's love for and delight in God's word. He does not speak of God's law as a heavy burden he must bear; he speaks of loving it, meditating on it all day, finding it sweeter than honey, taking it as the joy of his heart. His obedience flows from love and delight, not grudging duty; he treasures God's word because he loves it. The word is not a set of rules he endures, but a delight he savors, sweet to his taste, the joy of his heart. He loves what God has spoken, and delights to dwell on it, and his obedience is the fruit of that love.

That is worth taking to heart, for we too are invited to love and delight in God's word, not merely obey it as a duty. We can treat God's word as a burden, a set of rules to be obeyed grudgingly, a duty to be endured; but the psalmist loved God's word, delighted in it, found it sweeter than honey, meditated on it all day. There is a way of relating to God's word not as grudging duty but as love and delight, treasuring it as a joy. Do not treat God's word merely as a duty to be endured; learn to love it and delight in it, as the psalmist found it sweeter than honey and the joy of his heart. Learn to love and delight in God's word, treasuring it as sweeter than honey and the joy of your heart, rather than treating it as a grudging duty, as the psalmist meditated on it all day out of love; for God's word is meant to be loved and delighted in, not merely endured, and obedience flows most gladly from a heart that treasures what God has spoken.

Lord, the psalmist speaks of your word not as a burden or a mere duty, but as something he loves and delights in: how I love your law! It is my meditation all day. And again: how sweet are your promises to my taste, more than honey to my mouth! He does not merely obey your word; he loves it, meditates on it constantly, finds it sweeter than honey, takes it as the joy of his heart. His relationship to your word is one of love and delight, not grudging obligation. Show me the psalmist's love for and delight in your word. He does not speak of your law as a heavy burden he must bear; he speaks of loving it, meditating on it all day, finding it sweeter than honey, taking it as the joy of his heart. His obedience flows from love and delight, not grudging duty. The word is not a set of rules he endures, but a delight he savors. He loves what you have spoken, and his obedience is the fruit of that love. Take that to my heart, for I too am invited to love and delight in your word, not merely obey it as a duty. I can treat your word as a burden, a set of rules to be obeyed grudgingly, a duty to be endured; but the psalmist loved your word, delighted in it, found it sweeter than honey. There is a way of relating to your word not as grudging duty but as love and delight. Keep me from treating your word merely as a duty to be endured; help me learn to love it and delight in it, Lord, as the psalmist found it sweeter than honey and the joy of his heart.