Love For God’s Word – Psalm 119:97-104

מ MEM [1]

“O, how I love Your Law! It is my meditation all the day.” Psalm 119:97

David expresses his deep love for God’s Law! He is amazed that, despite his sinful nature and the temptations around him, God had maintained his love for the Scriptures. [2]

David’s love for God’s Word was demonstrated by how much it occupied his thoughts. We naturally think often about what we love. [3] David reflected on God’s Word because he wanted its truth to maintain his perspective of reality.

“You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep Your precepts.” Psalm 119:98-100

David started out as a shepherd. Later, he served as a court musician, and after that a military leader. He stuck with God’s commandments and they helped him to succeed where others failed. [4] In Matthew 7:24, Jesus said, “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

David kept God’s Word with him always. It was continually on his mind. A godly person carries the Bible wherever he goes—not only in his hands but also in his heart. [5] As a business owner makes every effort to keep his business going in the right direction, so David made every effort to keep his life going in the direction of God’s commandments.

The best way to grow in spiritual understanding is to obey what God has already revealed. As Jesus taught in John 7:17, those who are willing to do God’s will grow in their understanding of His truth. [6] He who loves God’s light will receive more light from God.

By studying and obeying God’s Word, David became wiser than his enemies. God gave him wisdom to discern and overcome their plans. He had peace of mind that hateful people lack.

David gained more understanding than his teachers. This may refer to the priests. Perhaps, the priests were more concerned about opinions of peers than being with God. [7]

David learned the basic commandments from “the ancients,” that is, those older than himself. However, he did not stop learning when they stopped teaching him. He grew beyond them in spiritual understanding due to his continuous obedience to God’s Word. [8]

David’s growth from spiritual infancy to spiritual adulthood is a pattern that God wants us to follow. In Hebrews 5:12-14, we read, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the Word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

God’s written Word is a surer guide to heaven than all the writings of teachers, scholars, and wise people of past generations. Those who study it, obey it, and continue in it become wise. [9]

“I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your Word.” Psalm 119:101

When David was tempted to stray from God, he turned to God’s Word. A sinful path might seem attractive and pleasant, but God’s Word says that it leads to destruction. In Proverbs 14:12, God says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” In Psalms 17:4, David wrote, “By the words of Your lips I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer.” [10]

David's purpose in avoiding sin was to remain faithful to God: “That I might keep Your Word.” He sincerely desired to live according to God’s Word. How could he approach God with confidence if he were double-minded? In James 1:6-8, it is written, “He who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

“I have not departed from Your judgments, for You Yourself have taught me.” Psalm 119:102

Remaining faithful to God during difficult times is strong evidence of genuine faith in Him. [11]

David believed that God’s judgments were worth preserving. God taught him the meaning of them. His heart probably burned within him as the Lord opened his understanding to comprehend the meaning of the Scriptures. In Luke 24:32, two disciples of Jesus said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

“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 119:103-104

The sweetness of God’s Word to David far surpassed the sweetness of earthly desserts. He wanted others to experience its taste. In Psalm 34:8, he wrote, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” The people in John 4:42 were happy that they got to hear from Christ personally. [12]

David hated false ways as much as he loved the truth. He did not try to sit on the fence between the two ways. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus taught, “No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” David’s deep distaste for sin kept his desire for truth intact. I like what Dwight L. Moody said about the Bible, “Sin will keep you from this book, or this book will keep you from sin.”


[1] From Googles sources and Bible Gateway: “Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem. It contains 176 verses divided into 22 sections, with each section named after one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Instead of just one line per letter, all eight verses in a given section begin with that specific letter. For example, verses 97–104 start with the מ MEM, and this exact pattern continues sequentially all the way through the final letter, Tau (ת).

מָֽה־אָהַ֥בְתִּי תוֹרָתֶ֑ךָ כָּל־הַ֝יּ֗וֹם הִ֣יא שִׂיחָתִֽי׃
מֵ֭אֹ֣יְבַי תְּחַכְּמֵ֣נִי מִצְוֺתֶ֑ךָ כִּ֖י לְעוֹלָ֣ם הִיא־לִֽי׃
מִכָּל־מְלַמְּדַ֥י הִשְׂכַּ֑לְתִּי כִּ֥י עֵ֝דְוֺתֶ֗יךָ שִׂ֣יחָה לִֽֿי׃
מִזְּקֵנִ֥ים אֶתְבּוֹנָ֑ן כִּ֖י פִקּוּדֶ֣יךָ נָצָֽרְתִּי׃
מִכָּל־אֹ֣רַח רָ֭ע כָּלִ֣אתִי רַגְלָ֑י לְ֝מַ֗עַן אֶשְׁמֹ֥ר דְּבָרֶֽךָ׃
מִמִּשְׁפָּטֶ֥יךָ לֹא־סָ֑רְתִּי כִּֽי־אַ֝תָּ֗ה הוֹרֵתָֽנִי׃
מַה־נִּמְלְצ֣וּ לְ֭חִכִּי אִמְרָתֶ֗ךָ מִדְּבַ֥שׁ לְפִֽי׃
מִפִּקּוּדֶ֥יךָ אֶתְבּוֹנָ֑ן עַל־כֵּ֝֗ן שָׂנֵ֤אתִי׀ כָּל־אֹ֬רַח שָֽׁקֶר׃

Historically, each letter name corresponds to a concrete object. Over time, these pictures evolved into the letters used today. For example, מ MEM was originally the symbol for water.

[2-12] Material developed, added to and edited from Matthew Henry’s Commentary