Psalm 119:97-104 מ (Mem)
a journey through Psalm 119
Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.
I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.
I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
(Psalm 119:97-104 ESV)
The Perfect Teacher
Most people have distinct memories of a favorite teacher. What pushes a good teacher into favorite status? More often than not, the subject is secondary in importance to the teacher’s enthusiasm and genuine care for the students. Madeleine L’Engle noted that good teachers understand that they are not teaching subjects, but children (156). She goes on to say,
“Subjects can probably be taught better by machines than by you. But if we teach our children only by machines, what will we get? Little machines. They need you, you as persons… So I know, with a sense of responsibility… that what I am is going to make more difference to my own children and those I talk to and teach than anything I tell them” (L’Engle 156).
If the best teachers are those who see their students as “persons,” then what better teacher could there be than the One who created us? And what better text than the one authored by the Creator about Himself?
Thomas Manton wrote, “Who is the author of Scripture? God. What is the matter of Scripture? God… What is the end of Scripture? God. Why was Scripture written, but that we might everlastingly enjoy the blessed God” (Spurgeon 3949). The Bible that we hold in our hands or read on a screen contains the precepts that should rule our lives; the Holy Spirit works in us to transform knowledge into wisdom. Peter wrote,
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire“ (2 Peter 1:3–4).
The psalmist understood the power of God’s word for things pertaining to life and godliness. His obedience made him wise.
The Diligent Student
Good teachers inspire their students to work hard in their learning. A class where students are motivated to excel because they know the teacher delights in their successes is a place where learning is pleasurable, even when it is hard.
The same can be said for the psalmist. There is no question that he endured hardships, but his focus and daily meditation were fixed on the word of God. In this section of Psalm 119, the psalmist lists the benefits of daily meditation on the Lord: wisdom, understanding, and a desire to obey so that he might continue to taste the sweetness of Truth. Daily meditating on the testimonies of God allowed him to recognize false ways and teachings. Centuries later, John wrote to the early church, “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us“ (1 John 3:24).
The psalmist is clear, however, that learning requires diligence in holding his feet from every evil way and not turning aside from God’s rules. He did not learn godly behavior to impress anyone, but only to demonstrate his love for God’s law. He considered God to be his teacher, and he consistently meditated on his lessons so that he would avoid sin. Spurgeon said, “God’s instruction has a practical effect—we follow his way when he teaches us; and it has an abiding effect—we do not depart from holiness” (3951).
We who love God desire to please him, in much the same way we once wanted to please our favorite teachers. We spend time in deep study of the Bible, learning what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise so that we might meditate on these things (Philippians 4:8). Like the psalmist, when we immerse ourselves in the testimonies of the Lord, we learn to hate what is false because we love the truth so completely, and our lives begin to reflect the sweetness of God’s word.
Post from 2020:
Why study scripture? Why does the psalmist say that he loves God’s law and commandments? Why should we continually read and meditate on the Word of the Lord?
We read, study, and meditate on God’s Word because we live in a broken world where people do what is right in their own eyes. The only way to know what is good and pleasing to the Lord is to study His words. In an uncertain world, the only truly unchanging thing is God, and we learn His work and will and way in His Word.
Knowing scripture well allows us to recognize the false narratives of current culture, especially the ones that seem good on the outside, but are bent on destruction. There’s an old story that must be in every seminary course on sermon illustrations that compares learning the truth of scripture to a banker handling money. The more real money bankers handle, the more quickly they recognize counterfeit cash. The kinds of counterfeit money may change, but it never feels quite like the real thing. The counterfeits of cultural relativism may change seasonally, but God’s Word, like His character, remains the same forever.
A NOTE:
Psalm 119 is too rich and too vast to leave to my own thoughts. Six years ago I was content to share my personal responses as I navigated the events of the summer of 2020, but since then, I have learned to frame my responses in light of scholarship and thoughtful research.
Psalm 119 is also too rich and too vast to delve deeply into centuries of scholarship for anything less than a multi-volume publication, the scope of which is beyond a simple devotion on Substack. For this project, then, I have decided to limit my external references to a few trusted sources that will be listed in the “References and Resources” at the end of each article. Primarily, I will rely on the wisdom of Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s treatment of Psalm 119 in The Treasury of David: The Complete Seven Volumes, the NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, and Blue Letter Bible online for its translations. Bible Gateway has extensive resources and I will include those as I use them.
References and Resources
Blue Letter Bible. Sowing Circle, 1996–2025, www.blueletterbible.org. Accessed 13 Apr. 2026.
Coogan, Michael D., et al., editors. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 2018.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2001. Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com.
The Holy Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2015.
L’Engle, Madeleine. A Circle of Quiet. HarperSanFrancisco, 1972.
*Spurgeon, Charles H. The Treasury of David: The Complete Seven Volumes. Hendrickson Publishers, 2004. Kindle ed. (Note: A hard copy in three volumes is available here.)
Walton, John H., and Craig S. Keener, editors. NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. Zondervan, 2019. (Note: the NRSV is out of print, but the NIV is available here, and the NKJV here.)
*I cannot recommend this text highly enough. Each page’s wisdom demands reflection and return to the Scriptures.