I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
The declaration is deliberate, a conscious choosing of the way of truth, also rendered as the way of faithfulness. That choice consists in keeping God's judgments — His ordinances and righteous decisions — continually set before the mind as a guide. They are not glanced at and forgotten but laid out in view to direct every step.
God's word in this way enters the understanding, where it is treasured and laid up in the heart. It is kept there in order not to be disregarded and in order not to sin against Him. The inward reception therefore becomes outward practice, obeying God's word and putting away sin. This is cleansing the way by taking heed to it according to God's word, and walking at liberty by seeking His precepts, with the believer cooperating with God's work within.
David exemplified this by giving God's Word precedence over the counsel of his advisers. God's law is thus to rule life, with Scripture defining right and wrong and truth and error, and its testimonies leading the mind to the Word. Those same judgments furnish the standard by which to examine one's life and to recognize the need for a changed heart and deliverance from sin. The verse also asserts the sacredness of God's law, and when proclaimed with solemn earnestness it stands as witness that the wickedness of the world has reached the point where the Lord will certainly intervene to punish transgression of His law.
The declaration is deliberate, a conscious choosing of the way of truth, also rendered as the way of faithfulness. That choice consists in keeping God's judgments — His ordinances and righteous decisions — continually set before the mind as a guide. They are not glanced at and forgotten but laid out in view to direct every step.
God's word in this way enters the understanding, where it is treasured and laid up in the heart. It is kept there in order not to be disregarded and in order not to sin against Him. The inward reception therefore becomes outward practice, obeying God's word and putting away sin. This is cleansing the way by taking heed to it according to God's word, and walking at liberty by seeking His precepts, with the believer cooperating with God's work within.
David exemplified this by giving God's Word precedence over the counsel of his advisers. God's law is thus to rule life, with Scripture defining right and wrong and truth and error, and its testimonies leading the mind to the Word. Those same judgments furnish the standard by which to examine one's life and to recognize the need for a changed heart and deliverance from sin. The verse also asserts the sacredness of God's law, and when proclaimed with solemn earnestness it stands as witness that the wickedness of the world has reached the point where the Lord will certainly intervene to punish transgression of His law.