Exposition
of Psalm 119
ב
BETH
God’s Word Brings Maturity
Ps. 119:9-16
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.
I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
What does it mean to be mature? Webster defines mature as, “Of or relating to a condition of full development.” In the physical sense, this speaks of “having completed natural growth and development” or “having achieved a low but stable growth rate” and “of, relating to, or being an older adult.” When we apply this spiritually, then, to be mature means that we have reached full development in action and attitude, that we act like an adult not a child, and that we are still growing at a stable rate. In other words, we have reached the stage in our spiritual life where our actions and attitudes are governed not by the impulses of a child but by the impetus of God through His Word.
As we look at American society, it is easy to see that it is far from mature, both spiritually and socially. It is, in fact, perhaps more immature than it has ever been in its entire history. It is self-motivated and self-indulgent in the extreme, just like children, and we have more things to feed those impulses than ever before.
How, then, can we be mature? The passage before us tells exactly how to be mature. Perhaps the most significant feature of this passage is that the psalmist mentions the young man. While this counsel certainly applies to young women, it is especially applicable to young men. It is absolutely essential that young men be mature because these are the ones who will have leadership in the home and society. While women’s liberation and egalitarianism do not like this truth, Scripture makes it clear that God has ordained men to be in leadership.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
As it was in the first stanza, how significant it is that this is again mentioned first! How many parents there are who teach their children that being “grown up” means knowing how to work, deciding what you want to do in life, how to manage money, and other things. While all that is certainly important, the most imperative of all is purity of life, to be untainted by immorality. In spite of that essential quality, however, the majority of parents miss it, often because their lives are not pure either.
Why is this first? Because youth is a time full of newfound drives and emotions, but the problem is the lack of knowledge and experience to handle them. It is in the Word of God alone that we find absolutes for moral conduct. According to one source, premarital sex among 18- to 20-year-olds is as high as 65.6 percent among girls and 63.3 among boys. Another reports that 63 percent of youth, aged 14 to 21, are sexually active. Whatever the numbers are, there’s no question that the majority thinking is that sex before marriage is okay.
But Scripture repeatedly says the exact opposite:
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. (I Cor. 6:18)
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. (I Cor. 7:2)
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence [i.e., uncontrolled passion], even as the Gentiles which know not God. (I Thes. 4:3-5)
In short, our life is not to be ruled by passion but by purity.
Our text, therefore, says that a young man should cleanse his way. The Hebrew behind way is a different word than the one used back in verses 1 and 5 (derek), but it is similar. Here we find the word ‘ōrach, which literally referred to a path, highway, or even a caravan when used in the plural. Figuratively, it “describes the path of an individual or course of life (Job 6:18)” or “the characteristics of a lifestyle, good or evil (Ps.16:11).”[1] Especially significant is that idea of a lifestyle. Every young person needs to decide early what lifestyle they are going to follow. The Hebrew behind cleanse (zākāh) means being pure or cleansed from sin, so our lifestyle had better be a clean one. Isaiah used this word, commanding God’s people, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil” (Is. 1:16). Young’s Literal Translation, therefore, renders our text, “With what doth a young man purify his path?” The answer had better be [God’s] Word.
Daniel is a graphic example of a godly young man, as he “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank” (Dan. 1:8). Please note that he “purposed” this, he deliberated chose to be clean.
Perhaps the most vivid example of all, however, was Joseph in Genesis 39:6-12. Verse 6 tells us that Joseph was a handsome fellow and became the steward of Potiphar’s house, who was the captain o Pharaoh’s guard. Potiphar’s wife took a liking to Joseph and tempted him to go to bed with here, but he refused, even to the point of avoiding even being around her. One day, with no one else around, she physically grabbed him in temptation, and Joseph literally left his outer robe behind as he ran from the house.
That is the kind of purity God demands. The first of three principles, therefore, that we would submit is:
· A sign of maturity is not being possessed by passion but being controlled by Christ.
If one cannot keep his (or her) passions under control, he is headed down the path of destruction. The only way to control those passions is to live according to [God’s] word.
With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
We return here to a principle first mentioned in the previous stanza. Let us each ask ourselves: “When was the last time I did something just because it was the right thing to do?” We did it not because we might get caught, not because someone told us not to, but just because it was right. Doing right simply because it’s right is a sure sign of maturity.
The Psalmist declares: with my whole heart have I sought thee. The Hebrew for sought (darash) means “to seek, to inquire of, to examine, to require.” As one Hebrew authority writes, “Its most important theological meaning involves studying or inquiring into the Law of the Lord (Ezra 7:10) or inquiring of God (Gen. 25:22; Ex. 18:15; Deut. 12:5; 1 Kings 22:5; 2 Kings 3:11).”[2] Of special note is Ezra 7:10: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”
What, then, is the most important thing any person (young or old) can do? Many parents tell their young people that the most important thing in life is seeking the right vocation or even seeking the right person to marry. No. Vocation, in fact, is relatively minor; it is not that big of a deal to make a living. And while marrying the right person is important, this too will become easy if we seek what’s really important. And what is that? Above all else, we must seek God and His will.
I once asked a young man, “Where are you headed after your technical training?” His answer reflects a common attitude: “Wherever the money is.” We each must ask ourselves: “What are my values? What’s really important to me?” Maturity is evident when spiritual things are the priority, when our whole heart is set on seeking the Lord, when every fiber of our being, all of our strength, is set on seeking the Lord. If we may add to our first principle:
· A sign of maturity is not being possessed by passion but being controlled by Christ.
· A sign of maturity is not being motivated by the material, but seeking the spiritual.
The Psalmist adds something else; he prays, O let me not wander from thy commandments. What a statement! As Puritan Charles Bridges wrote, “When the soul is this conscious of ‘following the Lord fully,’ there is a peculiar dread of wandering” (emphasis in the original). If we were on a path through a dense, dangerous jungle, would we want to get off the path? Certainly not, for leaving that path can easily bring us destruction as we wander without direction. Wander is the Hebrew is sagāh, a verb meaning to stray, to go astray, to err, to deceive, to wander, to make a mistake, to reel. . . . It is used frequently to describe a wandering or aimless flock, both figuratively and literally (Ezek. 34:6).”[3] Oh, how we must guard ourselves against wandering, and it is God Himself, Who must empower us not to wander. If we get off God’s path, we can end up anywhere, and no destination is good. As Spurgeon observed:
The man of God exerts himself, but does not trust himself: his heart is in his walking with God; but he knows that even his whole strength is not enough to keep him right unless his King shall be his keeper, and he who made the commands shall make him constant in obeying them: hence the prayer, “O let me not wander.”
Each one of us, especially young people, had better start each day with that prayer: O let me not wander from thy commandments. This leads us to a third principle that produces maturity.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.
I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
Again, the world defines maturity in various ways, but God says that a sure sign of it is His Word. While this Psalm is saturated with statements about God’s Word, this stanza contains a somewhat unique concentration of such statements. These verses outline no less than seven attitudes we should have toward the Word of God. While they, of course, apply to every Believer, they are especially challenging to young people, for they will mold the rest of their lives. As noted in our introduction, German commentator Franz Deiltzsch wrote of Psalm 119, “Here we have set forth in inexhaustible fullness what the word of God is to a man and how a man is to behave himself in relation to it.”[4] That is particularly true of the passage before us.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
I love John MacArthur’s comment that I once heard him make, “The more Scripture I know the harder it is to sin, because if I start to do something wrong I think of a half a dozen verses that tell me I can’t do that.” What a practical statement!
The Hebrew word translated hid (tsāphan) means to hide, to keep secret. It’s used of concealing something, often of great value, as that precious picture of when the baby Moses was hidden (Ex. 2:2-3) and when Rahab hid the spies (Josh. 2:4). Used figuratively, it speaks of “laying up in the heart,” “putting back that which we value.” The Word of God is, indeed, priceless, the most valuable thing we can own.
The Hebrew for heart (lēb) has a wide range of meanings. While it refers to the physical organ, it much more often refers to one’s inner self and nature, including the intellect, emotions, and will, that is, the human personality. So where do hide God’s Word? In our whole personality! The Word of God must govern all of us, our entire being. We find this very picture, for example, in Genesis 6:5, where “GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Everything about man in that day was evil; not a single thought, emotion, or choice was righteous.
Spurgeon well said of the Psalmist: “He did not wear a text on his heart as a charm, but he hid it in his heart as a rule” (emphasis added). While many today wear a cross around their neck, some kind of religious symbol on a charm bracelet, a bumper sticker on their car that says, “I love Jesus,” or other outward symbolism, the psalmist says he hid God’s word in his heart, that is, his whole self.
This challenges us to ask, “How much Scripture do I know? How much of it have I committed to memory?” The things we commit to memory will control our thoughts, values, and actions. We, therefore, need to memorize Scripture. There have been many methods offered to do this, but, frankly, I shy away from such “programs” because they can either be artificial or have the wrong motive behind them. I am convinced that the best approach is simply to memorize the Scripture that God lays on your heart, those verse that make the greatest impact on your heart, that is, you whole self.
Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
Spurgeon writes here:
No sooner is the word in the heart than a desire arises to mark and learn it. When food is eaten, the next thing is to digest it; and when the word is received into the soul the first prayer is—Lord, teach me its meaning.
Are you really a student of the Word? This does not mean you have to own a library of a thousand books, or know Hebrew and Greek, or study systematic theology. But is the priority in your life to grow in grace and knowledge (II Pet. 3:18)? Puritan Charles Bridges encourages us with the contrast between man’s teaching and God’s:
Man’s teaching puffeth up—God’s teaching humbleth. May teaching may lead us into error as well as into truth—God’s teaching is “the unction from the Holy One, by which we know all things” (I John 2:20). Man’s teaching may make us more learned—God’s teaching makes us more holy. It persuades as it enlightens. It draws the heart, inclines the will, and carries out the soul to Christ.
This is especially vital for young people. The habits and priorities formed now will stick with them throughout their lives. The most important life lesson they can learn now is to learn the Word of God because it will give them the answers to all the other life lessons to come.
With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
The Hebrew for declared is cephar, which is used here to mean “to tell, declare, show forth.” It’s used, for example in Psalm 78 for a father transmitting God’s truth to his children so they will in-turn pass it on to their children (cf. Deut. 6:1-7). It’s used many times for every believer declaring the mighty deeds of God (e.g., Ps. 73:28; Jer. 51:10).
The challenge to each young person is: are you a witness for Christ? Christ commissioned every Believer in Acts 1:8: “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” There is no age limit for declaring the truth.
I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.
Here is a powerful contrast. The world rejoices in material riches. As one commentator illustrates, have you ever seen the television game show The Price is Right? The wild excitement of people who win (or even get to “Come on down!” and play) is astounding.[5] They act like squealing children on Christmas morning. But we have been given riches that cannot compare with such things, yet we take them lightly and nonchalantly.
The psalmist declares that the Word of God gives more cause for rejoicing than material riches. It literally reads, “as over all riches.” As mentioned in our introduction, many believe that David penned this Psalm, and this verse provides strong evidence for that view. David was a king with incalculable wealth, but his rejoicing was in the wealth of the Word. Mark it down, the more of God’s Word you learn and know, the more you will rejoice in it. That is a guarantee.
I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
As Puritan Charles Bridges rightly observes, “Our rejoicing in the testimonies of God will naturally flow in an habitual meditation in them” (emphasis in the original).
Another marvelous verse here is Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” What is meditation? Many think it is some empty-mindedness, where one sits cross-legged on the floor, with their fingers making some odd shape, and then contemplating the sound of one hand clapping. On the contrary, the Hebrew is higgayon, which refers to the murmur or dull sound of a harp and therefore the subdued or soft playing of a musical instrument. Does that not tell us what mediation is? We can define it as quiet and concentrated thought. We should often quietly ponder the Word, concentrate on its precepts, turn it over and over in our thoughts.
Spurgeon writes here, “As the miser often returns to look upon his treasure, so does the devout believer by frequent meditation turn over the priceless wealth which he has discovered in the book of the Lord.” In contrast to the miser who picks up handfuls of gold coins and allows them to sift through his fingers as he greedily gazes upon them, we handle the priceless wealth of the Word and praise God for it.
What a lack there is of this today! Many churches are places of entertainment and sheer noise. As the old expression goes, one can’t even hear himself think. God, however, speaks in “a still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), or literally, “a sound of soft stillness,” so we must be still and listen.
So vital is the Word of God that Jeremiah wrote: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jer. 15:16). Of this verse, one writer comments:
Meditation is that exercise of mind, whereby it recalls a known truth, as some kinds of creatures do their food, to be ruminated upon, until the nutritious parts are extracted, and fitted for the purposes of life.[6]
Here we see one feeding upon the Word as though life depended upon it. Why? Because it does! Oh, let us truly meditate and feed upon the Word God.
I will delight myself in thy statutes:
Rightly so, for this follows meditation. The more involved we are with the Word, the more we will delight in it. We see this word many times in this Psalm (note v. 35), but let us for now just meditate on a few poetic lines:
As the bird delights in the seed,
So do I upon Your Word feed.
As the bee delights in the flower,
So do I long for the Word’s power.
As the deer pants for the water brook,
So do I at Your Word alone look.
As the miser delights in his silver and gold,
So do I desire only Your Word to hold.
That leads us to a final attitude.
I will not forget thy word.
What a statement to end this stanza! Note the progression of it. Surely when we are memorizing, learning, declaring, rejoicing, meditating, and delighting in the Word, we are not likely to forget it. It’s especially noteworthy that this stanza begins and ends with a mental exercise. First we memorize, and last we never forget.
If we might add to our first two principles:
· A sign of maturity is not being possessed by passion but being controlled by Christ.
· A sign of maturity is not being motivated by the material, but seeking the spiritual.
· A sign of maturity is not in wallowing in the world, but in wanting the Word.
Yes, the world defines maturity in various ways, but we will know true maturity only by purity of life, seeking the right things, and involvement with the Word of God.