Psalm 119:97-104

Psalm 119:97-104

How Sweet It Is

I.                    To love God’s Word, is to live in the right direction; so we must seek wisdom, insight, and understanding through loving His Word (Vv. 97-100)

a.   The Psalmist wastes no time in setting the tone and theme for our stanza today, as he exclaims his love for God’s Word. In our culture today, we say that we love many things. It’s also readily apparent what we “love” in life because we dwell on those things, talk about them, invest our time and resources in them, and encourage other people to consider “loving” them like we do. We’re not describing how we feel about these things in terms of mushy emotions, but we’re describing our commitment to them and the value we place on them. The Psalmist has come to value and be committed to God’s Word, and as a result he meditates on it, dwells on it, and savors it at all times. He delights in God’s Word. It’s like his favorite song that plays on a loop in his mind all day, and as he dwells on God’s Word it’s like discovering a treasure over and over again. Why does he love and value God’s Word to such a great degree? Because through it, God grants him heavenly wisdom, insight, and understanding which is superior to that available in our own mind and understanding apart from Him. As crafty, manipulative, and deceitful as humanity is, the Psalmist testifies to the reality of the superiority of God’s wisdom revealed in His Word which he’s experienced in his life. He is testifying to the reality that the schemes of man will never prevail against God, and that even as we endure them in this fallen world, God’s Word grants us wisdom, and the resulting peace from it, which is perpetually and eternally with us, and profitable for living life skillfully. He also compares his insight and understanding to that of his teachers and his elders in years. The Psalmist isn’t denigrating either of those groups with his remarks, nor is he claiming to have more acquired knowledge than teachers, or more experiential knowledge than the aged. He’s pointing to the reality that the insight gained from God’s Word into Him, ourselves, and the world in which live is exceedingly more valuable, profitable, and lasting than that which we gain from our intellect or experience alone. The Psalmist has gained this wisdom, insight, and understanding through his love for, meditation on, and obedience to God’s Word. (Vv. 97-100; Josh 1:6-9; Luke 9:23-25; 10:21; 16:8; Rom. 11:33-12:2; 1 Cor. 1:18-2:16; 13:8-12; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Jas. 1:5-8)

II.                 To love God’s Word, is to live in the right direction; so we must make our choices in life by valuing God’s Word above the world (Vv. 101-104)

a.   God’s Word isn’t a collection of sage advice, good ideas, or tips for living a more successful life, they are His very Words, spoken through His chosen vessels, through which He reveals Himself, communes with us, and instructs us profitably. Knowledge only becomes wisdom when it is applied. God didn’t provide us with His inspired and inerrant Word so that we could retain the information within it; He gave it to us to teach us to do it. God calls us to submit to His Word and restrain ourselves in it. No act of shear willpower will move us to consistently act in any way or follow any guidelines in our life. We will only act on and discipline ourselves in thing which we truly love and consider valuable. The Psalmist shares with us how his love, devotion, and value of God’s Word has led him to act on it and live obediently to it. We don’t truly know God’s Word unless we do God’s Word, and we won’t do God’s Word unless we know and love the God of the Word who has revealed Himself and His love for us through our Lord Savior Jesus Christ. The Psalmist has come to know and love the God of the Word, and now every single word of God is valuable, savory, and sweet to him. Spending time with God in His Word is the closest thing to experiencing the joy and pleasure of heaven here on earth. Spending time with God in His Word by doing His Word makes His promises come alive in our hearts fresh and new. Spending time with God in His Word grants us understanding and discernment in life, which when applied, grows our desire to taste His Word and go His way, and grows our disdain for the sour understanding and direction of the world. When we’re certain of our love, devotion, and the value of God’s Word, we’ll grow to more consistently choose God’s way over the ways of the world, be increasingly more certain of the right direction for our lives, and in the midst of our uncertain, abrasive, harsh, and callous world, we’ll live an existence which glorifies God and is edifying to the world. (Vv. 101-104; Ps. 19:7-11; 34:8; Prov. 16:24; Matt. 7:13-27; 28:19-20; John 3:16; 14:21; 17:17; 2 Cor. 5:14-21; Heb. 4:12-13; Jas. 1:21-25; 1 John 5:1-5)