Psalm 119:9-16 – Finding delight in God’s Word

This section of the psalm begins with a question and answer: ‘How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word’ (v. 9). Maybe the writer was thinking about himself because he was a young man or perhaps he was an experienced believer, a wise teacher, giving advice to young people as to how they should live? In a sense, it does not matter because the requirement on a young person is the same. Yet we can see from the question that the young man has a responsibility for his purity and that it is possible for him to attain it. So the focus here is that the inner life of the young must be marked by holiness of heart.

The author already knows the answer to his question because he provides it in the rest of the section. What is required is a true knowledge of God’s Word. The psalmist likens himself to someone who places a guard around something that is important (9b). The guard could be a fence or a wall. The pieces of the fence or the stones in the wall are the instructions and warnings and examples found in God’s Word. So how does the psalmist do this?

First, he must have an undivided heart (v. 10). A person with divided loyalties does not please anyone. How does one cease to have a divided heart? By putting God first. If anyone else or anything else is first, the heart will be divided. But if God is first, then other relationships will slot into their appropriate places. Obedience that is credible in God’s sight must be wholehearted obedience.

Second, he memorised God’s Word – he stored it up (v. 11). The word ‘stored’ indicates that we do something today that will benefit us in the future. We store in a spiritual sense by placing God’s Word into our hearts, and there is only one way to do that – by memorisation. One benefit that comes from this activity is that we are kept from sinning through ignorance. 

Third, he wanted to be a blessing to others (vv. 12-13), by passing on to them what he had learned about God’s Word. A problem with the Dead Sea is that it does not have an outflow – the Jordan flows into it and is absorbed by the chemicals there, and the result is no life. We don’t want our spiritual lives to be stagnant. In order to prevent that occurring, we must share what we know of God’s revealed will.

Fourth, his delight in God’s Word was paramount and determined (vv. 14-16). He realised that true spiritual delight does not come from what a person has, but that it comes from pleasing God.  He had discovered that there is a path through life that brings delight to the soul, and that path is the way of God’s testimonies. His delight in them would be expressed in determined meditation on them. 

A young man is in focus in verse 9. Yet the words in this section of the psalm are not only for the young; they are for all who profess to know the Lord. The only matter that is definitely for the young is the time when they should start following in the ways of God, which is in the days of their youth. But the practice of keeping God’s Word should mark all our days, whether we are young or old.