Taught By God – Psalm 119:33-40

ה HE [1]

“Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your Law. Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.” Psalm 119:33-34

David earnestly prayed that God would teach him. Although he had prophets, wise men, and priests around him, and was well instructed in God’s Law, he wanted a personal relationship with God. He wanted God, by His Spirit, to speak to him because as Elihu exclaimed in Job 36:22, “Who teaches like Him?” [2]

In John 3:2, a highly educated leader of Israel acknowledged that Jesus was a good teacher. He said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God...”

In Matthew 7:28-29, when Jesus concluded His “Sermon on the Mount,” people were astonished at His teaching because He taught as one having authority and not as the scribes. While other teachers had the Scriptures, they lacked a relationship with the God of the Scriptures. When Bible teachers have a high estimation of themselves without a personal relationship with God, they usually misinterpret His Word. Jesus modeled for us what a close relationship with God the Father looks like. Jesus derived His interpretation of God’s Word directly from God. Thus, Jesus was indeed a good shepherd. He did not lead His followers astray.

1 John 5:20 declares, “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true.”

In John 1:38, when Jesus noticed two men following Him, He said to them, “What do you seek?” They replied, “Rabbi” (Teacher), “where are You staying?” Those who loved to learn, loved to be with Jesus. Jesus taught by day and by night. He was always ready to teach.

David wanted to learn the way of God’s statutes. He wanted to know how to apply God’s Word to his life and how to live by it. He wanted to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice as Isaiah 30:21 says, “This is the way, walk in it.” [3]

David prayed for understanding to keep God’s Law. God has given us minds that are capable of understanding many things, but when it comes to understanding spiritual things, we need the Holy Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 2:14, we read, “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

How did David prophesy so accurately about Messiah? In 2 Samuel 23:2, he declared, “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me. His word was upon my tongue.” God’s Spirit helped David to know things about God that he could otherwise not have known.

In 1 Corinthians 2:12, we read, “We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

The Holy Spirit helps us to understand and act on the Law of God. In Acts 5:32, Peter told a group of religious leaders that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God. The Holy Spirit helps people who want to align their words and deeds with God’s to do so.

“Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness.” Psalm 119:35-36

In Philippians 2:13, Paul wrote, “It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” David asked God to “make” him walk in path of His commandments. He had the will to do so. He delighted in God’s commandments, but without the good shepherd’s guidance, his heart would go astray. Therefore, he asked the Lord to incline his heart to the testimonies of the Lord rather than to covetous thoughts.

In Romas 7:15, Paul shared with us, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” In Romans 7:22, he testified, “I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man.” His dilemma was that he delighted in God’s Word but his sin nature wanted to rule his life. Only God’s Spirit could give Paul the edge over his sinful nature.

In Ezekiel 36:27, the Lord promised us, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” And in Romans 8:14, Paul wrote, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” How do we walk in the path of God’s commandments? We do so by the power and leading of the Holy Spirit.

David prayed, “Incline my heart to Your testimonies.” He asked God to curb him in the right direction. God’s commandments are like guardrails that keep us from falling off a cliff to our death. God gave us His commandments to guide and protect us not to withhold something good from us. In Genesis 3:4, the devil suggested to Eve that God’s commandment kept her from being like God. No, God’s commandments are like warning labels on poisonous substances. In Deuteronomy 6:24, Moses wrote, “The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.

“Incline my heart... not to covetousness.” This sounds like a line out of the Lord’s Prayer. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” In 1 Timothy 6:10, Paul wrote the following words to his disciple Timothy, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Keeping God’s commandments keeps us from running with the devil, and from reaping sin’s evil consequences.

“Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken me in Your way.” Psalm 119:37

Many years ago, Adria Star taught me that Psalm 119:37 in the King James Version of the Bible has the letters TV in it. “Turn” begins with the letter “T” and “vanity” begins with the letter “V.” The New King James Version of this text is, “Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way.” So much of what is on TV is vain and worthless. Those who walk wisely will not let a TV spew blasphemy and vulgarity into their homes.

David prayed for God’s restraining grace to keep him from worthless pursuits and hasten him to walk in God’s way. [4] Who is the way to God? In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the WAY... no one comes to the Father except through Me.” We avoid sin and bear good fruit when we abide in Jesus.

“The honors, pleasures, and riches of this world are all passing vanities.” [5] The more frequently that we feast our eyes upon worldly pleasures, the more apt we are to become enslaved to them. They draw our affections away from God and away from the spiritual food that our soul needs to stay healthy.

In Job 31:1, Job made a covenant with his eyes to not look lustfully upon a young woman. In Jude 1:18, the Lord warned us that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. Godly people do not like to be looked at as an object of someone else’s selfish sinful desire. Jesus sets sin’s captives free, but whosoever is enslaved by it, must hate it, and bring it to Jesus. Ask Him to forgive it and rebuke. It is evil.

David wanted to be kept from anything that would keep him from God. He prayed, “Quicken me in Your way.” In other words, “Inspire me to make good use of my time, talents and treasure. In Hebrews 12:1-2, it is written, “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

“Establish Your Word to Your servant, who is devoted to fearing You.” Psalm 119:38

In Isaiah 57:15, it is written, “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose Name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.’” In Matthew 5:3, Jesus said, ““Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Those who realize their desperate need of God, and pursue Him, receive His help.

Sometimes we suffer setbacks due to persecution, but in 1 Peter 5:10, we read, “The God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”

In 1 Peter 4:19, the Lord encourages us who suffer according to the will of God to commit our souls to Him in doing good. He is a faithful Creator. And in 1 Peter 5:6-7, the Spirit of the Lord says, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

God’s Word establishes us His servants, and helps us to remain faithful to bringing to Him glory.

“Turn away my reproach which I dread, for Your judgments are good.” Psalm 119:39

David did not want the mockings of his enemies to occupy his mind. Evil words are like poison. When they enter us, they hurt, and they poison our perspective of God, ourselves and others. In Acts 2:4, 4:8, 4:31, 13:9, 13:52, the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and their words conveyed life to their listeners.

Others in Book of Acts were filled with evil. In Acts 5:3, Satan filled the heart of Ananias and he died soon thereafter. In Acts 5:17, the Sadducees were filled with indignation. In Acts 13:45, certain Jews were filled with envy, and as a result they blasphemed, contradicted and opposed the work of the Gospel. In Acts 19:29, an entire city was filled with confusion due to their devotion to the false goddess Diana.

In John 6:63, Jesus said: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”

In Psalm 1:1-2, David wrote, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

In Colossians 3:2, Paul advised us to set our mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

“Behold, I long for Your precepts. Revive me in Your righteousness.” Psalm 119:40

David declared his love for the Word of God. He knew who God was and what God is like because He read and dialogued with other believers about God’s Word. Like Paul in Philippians 3:14, he pressed toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God.

David prayed for revival. “Revive me in Your righteousness.” When God’s Spirit placed in Him a desire to rightly know God, he cried out to God, “I long for Your precepts.” He verbalized to God his heart’s desire. Have you ever done that when nobody else was around? You said to God aloud, “I long for You!” “Revive me in Your righteousness!” “The God who creates a holy longing in our hearts is faithful to satisfy that longing.” [6] Praise the Lord!


[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 33–40 start with the ה HE, and this exact pattern continues sequentially all the way through the final letter, Tau (ת).

הוֹרֵ֣נִי יְ֭הוָה דֶּ֥רֶךְ חֻקֶּ֗יךָ וְאֶצְּרֶ֥נָּה עֵֽקֶב׃
הֲ֭בִינֵנִי וְאֶצְּרָ֥ה תֽוֹרָתֶ֗ךָ וְאֶשְׁמְרֶ֥נָּה בְכָל־לֵֽב׃
הַ֭דְרִיכֵנִי בִּנְתִ֣יב מִצְוֺתֶ֑יךָ כִּי־ב֥וֹ חָפָֽצְתִּי׃
הַט־לִ֭בִּי אֶל־עֵדְוֺתֶ֗יךָ וְאַ֣ל אֶל־בָּֽצַע׃
הַעֲבֵ֣ר עֵ֭ינַי מֵרְא֣וֹת שָׁ֑וְא בִּדְרָכֶ֥ךָ חַיֵּֽנִי׃
הָקֵ֣ם לְ֭עַבְדְּךָ אִמְרָתֶ֑ךָ אֲ֝שֶׁ֗ר לְיִרְאָתֶֽךָ׃
הַעֲבֵ֣ר חֶ֭רְפָּתִי אֲשֶׁ֣ר יָגֹ֑רְתִּי כִּ֖י מִשְׁפָּטֶ֣יךָ טוֹבִֽים׃
הִ֭נֵּה תָּאַ֣בְתִּי לְפִקֻּדֶ֑יךָ בְּצִדְקָתְךָ֥ חַיֵּֽנִי׃

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

[2-6] Material developed, added to and edited from Matthew Henry’s Commentary