O how love I Thy law! It is my meditation all the day…Consider how I love Thy precepts…I love them exceedingly.
—Psalm 119:97, 159, 167
There is one portion of Holy Scripture devoted to teaching us the place that God’s Word should have in our lives. It is the longest chapter in the Bible, and in almost every one of its 176 verses the Word is mentioned. Anyone who really wants to know how to study his Bible should make a careful study of this psalm. It is possible you have never read it through as a whole. Take time to read it through and understand its main ideas. If you find it difficult to do this by reading it once, read it again.
Take note of the names that refer to God’s Word. Note the verbs expressing how we should feel in regard to the Word. Count how many times the writer speaks in the past tense of his having observed and delighted in God’s testimonies. Notice how many times he expresses in the present tense how he rejoices in and esteems God’s law. Consider how, in the future tense, he vows to observe God’s precepts to the end. See how more than a hundred times he presents himself before God as one who honors His law.
Notice how the whole psalm is a prayer spoken to God. All the psalmist has to say about the Word of God is spoken to the face of God. He believes that it is pleasing to God and good for his own soul to connect his meditation on the Word by prayer with the living God Himself.
The Word of God becomes to him the inexhaustible material for having communion with God. As we gradually gain insights into these truths, we will discover new meaning from the individual verses. When we take a whole paragraph with its eight verses, we will find how they help to lift us into God’s presence. We will be lifted into the life of obedience and joy that says, “I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep Thy righteous judgments” (verse 106). “O how love I Thy law! It is my meditation all the day.”
Let us seek to have the kind of devotional life that this psalm reveals. Let God’s Word every day lead us to God. Let our prayers be followed by the vow that, as God revives, we will obey His commandments. Let all that God’s Word brings to us make us more earnest in longing to carry that Word to others.