Introduction:
How do you become truly alive and not live as if you were dead? How do you become and stay wise and not live you life as a fool? And how do you become and stay joyful in God instead of becoming inevitably miserable in the brokenness of this world?The answer is: Meditate on the law of the Lord day and night (Psalm 1:1–3).
Transition:
Last time we were together we reflected on the first 6 verses of Psalm 19 where David challenges us to worship in and reflect on God’s creation.Essentially David says, “Push the pause button on life and look up . . . wonder, be amazed, and listen as the heavens sing to you about the glory of our Creator God.”This week David moves on from quiet reflection on Creation to the necessity for deep focus and concentration on the Divine Revelation of Scripture.
Psalm 19:7-11
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.
The point of this text is this: Because the Scriptures are the Word of the Lord and because the Word of the Lord communicates to us the truths of the One true living God, they will have an effect on us that is better than the effects of anything else we can read or study or watch or listen to.
In List Form:
I want to give this to you, first, in list form, and then we’ll deal with what each list offers us in the way of application and transformation.
Analogies of Scripture
- More refined and desirable than pure gold
- Sweeter to the heart and soul than pure honey
- A great reward
Descriptions of Scripture
- The law
- The testimony
- The statutes
- The commandments
- The fear
- The judgements
- The warnings
The Source of Scripture
- YHWH, YHWH, YHWH . . .
- Six times in total
A Note on Analogies
In vs.10-11 we see a general statement of the immense value of God's Word for us here.It’s found in the first part of verse 10 and the last part of verse 11. David says first in verse 10 that the words of God are "more to be desired than gold, even much fine gold." And then at the end of verse 11, "In keeping them there is great reward."As I did last week, I’d like to quote John Piper on this section of Psalm 19:
If you have a choice between the Word of God and GOLD, choose the Word of God. If you have a choice between the Word of God and MUCH gold, choose the Word of God. If you have choice between the Word of God and much FINE gold, choose the Word of God. The point is plain. The benefits of knowing and doing the Word of God are greater than all that money can buy.So if you are tempted to read the stock page before you read the Bible in the morning, remind yourself that this is not shrewd behavior. It's like the child who chooses the penny over the dime because it's bigger. Adults look on and shake their heads and try to teach children how to see what is really more valuable. That is no doubt the way the angels in heaven look down at childish businessmen who study the stock page before they study the Bible. There is a difference however: the benefits of the Word of God over the benefits of gold are far greater than ten to one.
A Note on Descriptions
In the opening lines of this section, David describes the Word of God in great detail.What he’s not doing is, he’s not separating the text of the Bible into sections . . . this isn’t, “We’ll Genesis through Deuteronomy is the law and that parts perfect, and Joshua through Job is the testimony of the Lord and that parts pure.”Instead, what David is doing is talking about the blessings of every section, every letter, every word of God’s inspired Word.So what are some these benefits? What is this "great reward" that verse 11 is talking about that makes meditating on the Bible so much better than much fine gold?I’ll offer them to you in three parts: life, wisdom, and happiness.
The Benefit of Life
The benefit of Scripture on our life in general is the very first thing David mentions, because it's the basis of everything else, vs.7 This is basically, life isn’t life without God. You can live your entire life dead unless you find yourself in the Living Word.“Revive” here is another word for resurrect . . . and story after story shows that the Word of God has life giving power.
- Phaitoon Hathamart described to us how it was Matthew 11:28–30 that gave him Christian life when he was a Buddhist.
- St. Augustine said it was Romans 13:13 that stunned him into life.
- For Martin Luther it was Romans 1:16.
- For Jonathan Edwards it was 1 Timothy 1:17.
Our life begins with the Word and we stay alive by the Word. If we abandon the Word of God, we die spiritually . . . the sad thing is that, very often, those who abandon the Word of God are oblivious to their terminal state.Perhaps the chief symptom of neglecting the Word of God is denial that anything is spiritually wrong with you.Only the Word of God gives the life which matters in the end. Can you imagine someone on his deathbed whispering to an attending family member, "Please, read to me the figures in my savings account. O, read to me from my portfolio." But you can all imagine yourself saying in that hour, "Read me Psalm 23. Read to me Romans 8. Read Revelation 21."
- And for the murderer Tokichi Ichii, who was converted just before his execution in Japan in 1918, it was the simple word, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He said, "I was stabbed to the heart, as if by a five-inch nail."
The Benefit of Wisdom
Which leads us to the second benefit . . . the benefit of wisdom. We benefit wisdom when we study Scripture.This in the second half of vs.7 "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple"; and the second half of vs.8 "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes."If you were in a pitch black room with no prior knowledge of your surroundings . . . would you get up and move around freely? No, of course not . . . that would be foolish.And yet, Scripture tells us that this is so often the way that we live. We stumble around in the darkness of our own hearts and minds, tripping over obstacles, falling down stairs of doubt, knocking our heads on despair, depression, hopeless, worry . . .And God’s standing there with a flashlight, holding it out for us, pleading with us to take it and use it and walk in wisdom.Scripture offers light in the darkness . . . it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path . . . use it and benefit sight . . . benefit wisdom in your walk.
The Benefit of Joy
Finally, the Word of the LORD is the best source of deepest and lasting joy. This comes out in vs.8: "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart." The Word of the LORD rejoices the heart and has an effect in our lives that compares to eating the most enjoyable thing David could think of—fresh honey straight from the comb.The Word of the LORD rejoices the heart and has an effect in our lives that compares to having an overabundance of the world’s most valuable resources and riches.We watch as the lost and dying world struggles to gain and retain these things . . . and they find tainted, deteriorating versions of these blessings at great personal cost . . . and God says, “You set your mind to pursue and to work towards foolish, empty things . . . instead, turn your efforts on Me and My Word and the benefit of life, wisdom, and joy will overflow.”
A Note on YHWH
Finally, notice that the Scriptures have these effects on us because they are the Word of the Lord.This is unmistakable from David's six-fold repetition. vs.7 "law of the Lord," "testimony of the Lord." vs.8 "statutes of the Lord," "commandment of the Lord." vs.9 "fear of the Lord," “judgements of the Lord.”Six times he uses the phrase "of the Lord," that is, of Yahweh.We’ve been driving this point home a lot recently . . . and I hope it has begun to really resonate with you (and if not don’t worry . . . I probably won’t stop anytime soon).But, the reason we have comfort, security, great joy and peace in any of the promises of the Bible is because of who these promises come from . . . because of the character and nature of our covenant God.The text of Scripture come from the God who says, "I am who I am" and there is no other, the God who created all that is and holds it in being, the God who knows all things that have ever been and that ever will be, and who understands perfectly how everything in the universe works, from galaxies to the subatomic energy. Remembering who the promise has come from is key to having our hope in the Bible. This is why, so often, the Biblical authors begin their texts by reminding us . . . this is the God of Moses, the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, the God of David, and so on.What their doing is reminding us that God is good, that God makes and keeps His promises . . . and that God is bent on reaching out to us to love us and to care for us and to be with us.
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