Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
By them the verse means the law, testimony, statutes, commandment, fear and judgments of the Lord, including the words of Christ, which are perfect, sure, right, pure, clean and righteous to convert the soul, make wise, rejoice the heart and enlighten the eyes. They stand as the servant’s warning beacons along the whole way of life, plainly pointing out the right path, exposing wrong principles and defects of character, and calling for cleansing from secret faults and keeping back from presumptuous sins. In keeping them there is great reward both in this life and in the world to come, with a clear conscience, a heart at peace with God, and great peace that nothing can offend. That reward is freedom through Christ rather than bondage, being changed from character to character to reflect Jesus, partake of the divine nature, and escape the corruption in the world through lust. God’s promises are fulfilled on condition of obedience, for the law was given for the good and protection of His people, and obeying it is life itself and brings abundant blessing.
Terms and Psalm Setting
Moreover by them means by the law, the testimony, the statutes, the commandment, the fear, and the judgments of the Lord, which together warn the servant of God, and which include also the words of Christ, whose keeping holds the keeper abiding in His love. Along the whole way of life these place beacons of warning as well as guiding lights, plainly pointing out the right path with bright light at every step so that no one need follow crooked paths.
The verse belongs to a psalm that binds the law of the Lord to His created works. There the heavens declare the glory of God and show His handiwork, speaking day unto day and night unto night to all the earth. In nature His works continually display His glory and power and love, giving lessons of wisdom and healing, and both His natural and His moral laws bring life and happiness.
The law so set forth is perfect, converting the soul, sure, making the simple wise, right, rejoicing the heart, pure, enlightening the eyes and the understanding, clean and enduring forever, holy and just and good, true and altogether righteous. It stands unaltered in the slightest particular. It is more to be desired than gold, even than much fine gold, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.
As the Word of the living God it is the study book and the foundation for educating students and for building the life. Meditation upon it opens its treasures and proves its value in experience, and it is to be treasured in the mind, esteemed as the most valuable treasure for the mind, prized above all other knowledge, and sought with prayer for opened eyes to behold wonderful things out of the law.
Warning by God’s Word
The servant is warned by the law, testimony, statutes, commandment, fear, and judgments of the Lord, which guide away from sin toward obedience and uprightness. That warning is both protective guidance from danger and a source of blessing, for the law written in the heart shapes conduct after the divine likeness. The law must reach the conscience so that sin can be recognized and turned from, as part of wholehearted service and change of character.
Along the whole way of life that God's children must pass, the Word sets beacons of warning as well as guiding lights to keep from evil. It plainly points out the right path, with bright light shining at every step to lighten the way for those who take It is written as guide, so no one need follow crooked paths and there is no excuse for blundering work.
The warning exposes wrong principles and defects of character, showing the person just as he is, spotted, defiled, and condemned. It discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart and makes sin appear sin and become exceedingly sinful, condemning the sinner, though the sin is in the man and not in the law. Therefore transgressors find the law burdensome and want it out of the way, while the obedient delight in it. As a great moral looking glass and schoolmaster to bring sinners to Christ, the law was ordained to life but cannot remove guilt or pardon the transgressor; it shows the remedy and leads beyond repentance to the sin-bearing Saviour on the cross, while the Holy Spirit shows God's relation to all who repent.
The warning awakens to spiritual danger and calls to wakefulness about one's condition and the peril of neglecting eternal welfare. It calls to search Scripture, humble the self before God, and live out its truths in preparation for the end. It teaches the instruction needed to pray intelligently and seek cleansing from secret faults and errors. That prayer asks to be cleansed from secret faults, to be kept back from presumptuous sins so they do not have dominion, to be upright and innocent from the great transgression, and to have the words of the mouth and meditation of the heart acceptable to the Lord as strength and Redeemer.
To those who obey, the commandments are as a pillar of fire lighting and leading the way to eternal salvation, but to those who disregard them they are as clouds of night leaving them in darkness. No earthly gain of riches, honor, or pomp, which is only dross to perish, should cause wavering in allegiance, since obedience brings victory and favor and heaven is reached only through faith that advances at His voice even when the way is dark. Even all the honors and favors of the world cannot make up for one act of disobedience, which brings dishonor and disaster.
Reward in Keeping Them
In keeping them there is great reward, gained both in this life and in the world to come, for obedience leaves the conscience clear and does not condemn, and gives a heart at peace with God rather than at enmity with Him. That keeping brings life and happiness in this world and in the world to come, since the law confines to a high and noble and elevating will for present and eternal good, in which self-love and self-exaltation can have no acceptable part. It gives great peace that nothing can offend, because the commandments are a unified whole joined by love to God and love to neighbor, testing character and requiring whole service and not merely acknowledging truth or ceremonial worship or sacrifice.
The reward is being changed from glory to glory and from character to character to reflect the character of Jesus, by ever looking unto Jesus and beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, with the law written in the heart shaping conduct after God's likeness. Keeping them through the grace of Christ molds the character after the divine similitude, expresses the divine attributes, works out God's love in all dealings with fellow men, and gives the attributes of the Saviour's character. Those who keep them become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world through lust, which includes licentiousness, covetousness, desire for position, love of money, and false and unjust dealing and practices, with no fiber of selfishness cherished and no oppression practiced toward fellow men. So kept, the law enjoins loving God supremely and neighbor as self, keeping the first four precepts defining duty to the Creator and the second principle like unto the first, guiding away from sin toward obedience and uprightness and conformity to God's law, with prayer to be cleansed from secret faults and errors and to be kept back from presumptuous sins so they do not have dominion, to be upright and innocent from the great transgression.
The reward held out even to worldly wise and moneyed and wealthy and honorable men when they accept Christ is heaven valued for rest and peace and repose from all trifling and ambition and self-serving. It is the peace and happiness and joy Christ longs to bestow, His richest gifts including His robe of righteousness, a life that measures with the life of God, and large blessing from obeying Christ's words and keeping in Christ's love. It is the highest honor which the world can neither give nor take away, with lasting joy beyond anything the world can give or take away, even the life and honor Christ offers. It is a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Keeping the commandments does not put a person in servile bondage but makes free through the blood of Jesus Christ, for Christ urges obedience from love and does not demand impossible things, knowing from keeping His Father's commandments what obedience means. Loving the law brings peace, and service for God is to be deemed a pleasure and made the expression of love for Him, not drudgery or arbitrary exaction, but safety from the foe. Casting aside the law to gain freedom from restraint brings only wretchedness and misery and distress and corruption, with no peace or rest under Satan's bondage.
God's promises are fulfilled on condition of obedience to His commandments, and obedience is the condition for receiving God's promised blessings. The law was given for the good and protection of His people, as the hedge He built around His vineyard for its protection and the plainly stated laws of His kingdom giving safe and correct rules for the guidance of all as eternal justice and equity. Obeying them brings abundant blessing and is life itself to obey, kept by those who will to do His will through the grace of Christ, with no betraying of truth and no yielding to any guide but God and no swerving from His principles and no robbing of fellow men as subjects of the Lord. Living in disobedience where God's will and ways are not regarded and obeyed is a hopeless deception where the first principles of holiness are still to be learned, and no goods and cattle in this world could compensate for even one act of departing from the law of God.
The reward is found in the doing, for hearing the word of the Lord is not enough but must be followed by acting and doing the commandments, since every part of truth has a practical application to daily life requiring self-sacrificing work. That doing is especially practical benevolence by sympathy and compassionate acts toward the poor, the suffering, the unfortunate, the discouraged, and those sick with sin, telling them of the blessing found in obedience. Such service not only relieves the sufferers but brings happiness to the doer and secures health of soul and body, and those who receive and faithfully use what God has entrusted to them are blessed as they help sin-sick and needy people and can show by experience that blessing and service are linked.
Law as Righteous Standard
The law is God's great standard of righteousness, perfect in all its requirements, the foundation of His government standing forever as the immutable, unalterable standard that all must reach to be saved. God has assured over and over that it is unchangeable, and it stands firm as His throne though slighted, scorned, and rejected, unaltered in the slightest particular. By this standard every case will be decided when the books of heaven are opened and all deeds come up in review before the Judge of the universe. God requires perfect obedience today just as He required of Adam, and conformity to His standard is the only way to gain admittance into heaven.
The law enjoins loving God supremely and neighbor as self, with the first four precepts defining duty to the Creator and the second principle like unto the first, joined as a unified whole by love. It allows no fiber of selfishness to be cherished and no oppression or robbery of fellow men to be practiced, since all are subjects of the Lord. Obedience to it tests character and requires the whole service God asks, not merely acknowledging truth, ceremonial worship, or offering sacrifices. As a great moral looking glass and schoolmaster to bring sinners to Christ, it shows defects of character and reveals man just as he is, spotted, defiled, and condemned, but the sin is in the man not in the law. Ordained to life, it cannot in any way remove guilt or pardon the transgressor, but it shows the remedy and leads beyond repentance to the sin-bearing Saviour revealed upon the cross dying beneath the weight of the sins of the whole world, while the Holy Spirit shows the relation of God to all who repent of transgression.
The warning by the law and the reward in keeping it expose as false Satan's work to make the law of none effect, his claim that God has abrogated His law and that people need only believe, and the false hope that God will change to suit sinfulness. Pouring contempt on the law and refusing to obey it is folly, for the wise in heart receive commandments while the prating fool falls. Obedience to the law is the only hope of the human family, for God gave His law for the government of all human intelligences and desires men and women to obey it. Prosperity in this life and eternal interests depend on obedience, and living in disobedience is a hopeless deception where God's will and ways are not regarded and the first principles of holiness are still to be learned.
Living Out Obedience
Warned and rewarded by the law, testimony, statutes, commandment, fear and judgments of the Lord — perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true and altogether righteous, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey — the servant of God is to never fail in thanksgiving and praise, rejoicing in the Lord, praising Him in assemblies, forgetting difficulties, and praising Him for freedom from sin and for opportunity to live for the glory of His name. The same keeping brings the prayer to be cleansed from secret faults and errors, to be kept back from presumptuous sins so they do not have dominion, to be upright and innocent from the great transgression, and to have the words of the mouth and the meditation of the heart acceptable to the Lord as strength and Redeemer. That prayer is answered in sincere earnest consecration and cooperation with God so He can work through the believer, with bright light shining at every step to lighten the way for those who take It is written as guide so no one need follow crooked paths and there is no excuse for blundering work. Changed from glory to glory and from character to character to reflect the character of Jesus comes by ever looking unto Jesus and beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.
True followers of Christ are distinguished from false Christians by loving God’s commandments above gold and keeping His testimonies. When God’s commandments are despised and set aside for the commandments of men, those who have come out from the world and separated from it prize and love God’s law more strikingly, and those loyal to His commandments are more than ever bound to prize and love it. Behind that conflict Satan seeks supremacy in the last of the great controversy ending in his destruction. In the family the law is the parents’ guide and the standard of character that shows God’s righteous claims and represents His character as the pattern to shape human character. It guides solemn responsibilities and the training of children in obedience by precept and example, unaltered in the slightest particular, perfect, sure, right, enlightening, clean, true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey. By walking in its precepts parents and children are in harmony with the God of heaven, and blessing, happiness and peace in this life follow those who obey and administer it.
Faithful adherence to Jehovah’s precepts brings great reward to families and to society as the only hope of better things and the foundation of order and government. Casting aside God’s authority as a yoke of bondage in the name of liberty leads to dishonesty, theft, licentiousness, drunkenness, murder, tyranny, anarchy, bloodshed and greatest misery, as shown by infidel France rejecting God. Seeing these results leads to loving the commandments above gold and above fine gold. Keeping the way of the Lord to gain that reward requires searching the Scriptures to test whether a person is walking in sparks of his own kindling or seeking the light God has given. The adversary tempts souls to deviate from God’s way and to neglect that searching, while its warnings and promises awaken to spiritual danger and call believers to humble themselves before God and live out its truths in preparation for the end. Those who keep God’s way become vessels unto honor prepared for the Master’s use, with the grace of God advancing in the heart until they see the matchless charms revealed in Jesus.
Rightly understanding the verse means esteeming its truth as the most valuable treasure with which to store the mind and having a constant wellspring of living water and of the waters of life within. It means obeying Christ’s command to labor for the food that endures to everlasting life so as to gain right understanding of Scripture, praying Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law, and personally discovering its truth, value, sweetness, warning and reward. The psalm can be spoken about intelligently only when talents are consecrated to God, with understanding of Christ’s sacrifice bringing recognition of responsibility as His servants. That consecration includes older students who labor to acquire human arts and learning also seeking God’s wisdom and learning His divine laws, both natural and moral, which bring life and happiness in this world and in the world to come, while God’s works in nature continually display His glory, power and love in lessons of wisdom and healing for all.
By them the verse means the law, testimony, statutes, commandment, fear and judgments of the Lord, including the words of Christ, which are perfect, sure, right, pure, clean and righteous to convert the soul, make wise, rejoice the heart and enlighten the eyes. They stand as the servant’s warning beacons along the whole way of life, plainly pointing out the right path, exposing wrong principles and defects of character, and calling for cleansing from secret faults and keeping back from presumptuous sins. In keeping them there is great reward both in this life and in the world to come, with a clear conscience, a heart at peace with God, and great peace that nothing can offend. That reward is freedom through Christ rather than bondage, being changed from character to character to reflect Jesus, partake of the divine nature, and escape the corruption in the world through lust. God’s promises are fulfilled on condition of obedience, for the law was given for the good and protection of His people, and obeying it is life itself and brings abundant blessing.
Terms and Psalm Setting
Moreover by them means by the law, the testimony, the statutes, the commandment, the fear, and the judgments of the Lord, which together warn the servant of God, and which include also the words of Christ, whose keeping holds the keeper abiding in His love. Along the whole way of life these place beacons of warning as well as guiding lights, plainly pointing out the right path with bright light at every step so that no one need follow crooked paths.
The verse belongs to a psalm that binds the law of the Lord to His created works. There the heavens declare the glory of God and show His handiwork, speaking day unto day and night unto night to all the earth. In nature His works continually display His glory and power and love, giving lessons of wisdom and healing, and both His natural and His moral laws bring life and happiness.
The law so set forth is perfect, converting the soul, sure, making the simple wise, right, rejoicing the heart, pure, enlightening the eyes and the understanding, clean and enduring forever, holy and just and good, true and altogether righteous. It stands unaltered in the slightest particular. It is more to be desired than gold, even than much fine gold, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.
As the Word of the living God it is the study book and the foundation for educating students and for building the life. Meditation upon it opens its treasures and proves its value in experience, and it is to be treasured in the mind, esteemed as the most valuable treasure for the mind, prized above all other knowledge, and sought with prayer for opened eyes to behold wonderful things out of the law.
Warning by God’s Word
The servant is warned by the law, testimony, statutes, commandment, fear, and judgments of the Lord, which guide away from sin toward obedience and uprightness. That warning is both protective guidance from danger and a source of blessing, for the law written in the heart shapes conduct after the divine likeness. The law must reach the conscience so that sin can be recognized and turned from, as part of wholehearted service and change of character.
Along the whole way of life that God's children must pass, the Word sets beacons of warning as well as guiding lights to keep from evil. It plainly points out the right path, with bright light shining at every step to lighten the way for those who take It is written as guide, so no one need follow crooked paths and there is no excuse for blundering work.
The warning exposes wrong principles and defects of character, showing the person just as he is, spotted, defiled, and condemned. It discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart and makes sin appear sin and become exceedingly sinful, condemning the sinner, though the sin is in the man and not in the law. Therefore transgressors find the law burdensome and want it out of the way, while the obedient delight in it. As a great moral looking glass and schoolmaster to bring sinners to Christ, the law was ordained to life but cannot remove guilt or pardon the transgressor; it shows the remedy and leads beyond repentance to the sin-bearing Saviour on the cross, while the Holy Spirit shows God's relation to all who repent.
The warning awakens to spiritual danger and calls to wakefulness about one's condition and the peril of neglecting eternal welfare. It calls to search Scripture, humble the self before God, and live out its truths in preparation for the end. It teaches the instruction needed to pray intelligently and seek cleansing from secret faults and errors. That prayer asks to be cleansed from secret faults, to be kept back from presumptuous sins so they do not have dominion, to be upright and innocent from the great transgression, and to have the words of the mouth and meditation of the heart acceptable to the Lord as strength and Redeemer.
To those who obey, the commandments are as a pillar of fire lighting and leading the way to eternal salvation, but to those who disregard them they are as clouds of night leaving them in darkness. No earthly gain of riches, honor, or pomp, which is only dross to perish, should cause wavering in allegiance, since obedience brings victory and favor and heaven is reached only through faith that advances at His voice even when the way is dark. Even all the honors and favors of the world cannot make up for one act of disobedience, which brings dishonor and disaster.
Reward in Keeping Them
In keeping them there is great reward, gained both in this life and in the world to come, for obedience leaves the conscience clear and does not condemn, and gives a heart at peace with God rather than at enmity with Him. That keeping brings life and happiness in this world and in the world to come, since the law confines to a high and noble and elevating will for present and eternal good, in which self-love and self-exaltation can have no acceptable part. It gives great peace that nothing can offend, because the commandments are a unified whole joined by love to God and love to neighbor, testing character and requiring whole service and not merely acknowledging truth or ceremonial worship or sacrifice.
The reward is being changed from glory to glory and from character to character to reflect the character of Jesus, by ever looking unto Jesus and beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, with the law written in the heart shaping conduct after God's likeness. Keeping them through the grace of Christ molds the character after the divine similitude, expresses the divine attributes, works out God's love in all dealings with fellow men, and gives the attributes of the Saviour's character. Those who keep them become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world through lust, which includes licentiousness, covetousness, desire for position, love of money, and false and unjust dealing and practices, with no fiber of selfishness cherished and no oppression practiced toward fellow men. So kept, the law enjoins loving God supremely and neighbor as self, keeping the first four precepts defining duty to the Creator and the second principle like unto the first, guiding away from sin toward obedience and uprightness and conformity to God's law, with prayer to be cleansed from secret faults and errors and to be kept back from presumptuous sins so they do not have dominion, to be upright and innocent from the great transgression.
The reward held out even to worldly wise and moneyed and wealthy and honorable men when they accept Christ is heaven valued for rest and peace and repose from all trifling and ambition and self-serving. It is the peace and happiness and joy Christ longs to bestow, His richest gifts including His robe of righteousness, a life that measures with the life of God, and large blessing from obeying Christ's words and keeping in Christ's love. It is the highest honor which the world can neither give nor take away, with lasting joy beyond anything the world can give or take away, even the life and honor Christ offers. It is a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Keeping the commandments does not put a person in servile bondage but makes free through the blood of Jesus Christ, for Christ urges obedience from love and does not demand impossible things, knowing from keeping His Father's commandments what obedience means. Loving the law brings peace, and service for God is to be deemed a pleasure and made the expression of love for Him, not drudgery or arbitrary exaction, but safety from the foe. Casting aside the law to gain freedom from restraint brings only wretchedness and misery and distress and corruption, with no peace or rest under Satan's bondage.
God's promises are fulfilled on condition of obedience to His commandments, and obedience is the condition for receiving God's promised blessings. The law was given for the good and protection of His people, as the hedge He built around His vineyard for its protection and the plainly stated laws of His kingdom giving safe and correct rules for the guidance of all as eternal justice and equity. Obeying them brings abundant blessing and is life itself to obey, kept by those who will to do His will through the grace of Christ, with no betraying of truth and no yielding to any guide but God and no swerving from His principles and no robbing of fellow men as subjects of the Lord. Living in disobedience where God's will and ways are not regarded and obeyed is a hopeless deception where the first principles of holiness are still to be learned, and no goods and cattle in this world could compensate for even one act of departing from the law of God.
The reward is found in the doing, for hearing the word of the Lord is not enough but must be followed by acting and doing the commandments, since every part of truth has a practical application to daily life requiring self-sacrificing work. That doing is especially practical benevolence by sympathy and compassionate acts toward the poor, the suffering, the unfortunate, the discouraged, and those sick with sin, telling them of the blessing found in obedience. Such service not only relieves the sufferers but brings happiness to the doer and secures health of soul and body, and those who receive and faithfully use what God has entrusted to them are blessed as they help sin-sick and needy people and can show by experience that blessing and service are linked.
Law as Righteous Standard
The law is God's great standard of righteousness, perfect in all its requirements, the foundation of His government standing forever as the immutable, unalterable standard that all must reach to be saved. God has assured over and over that it is unchangeable, and it stands firm as His throne though slighted, scorned, and rejected, unaltered in the slightest particular. By this standard every case will be decided when the books of heaven are opened and all deeds come up in review before the Judge of the universe. God requires perfect obedience today just as He required of Adam, and conformity to His standard is the only way to gain admittance into heaven.
The law enjoins loving God supremely and neighbor as self, with the first four precepts defining duty to the Creator and the second principle like unto the first, joined as a unified whole by love. It allows no fiber of selfishness to be cherished and no oppression or robbery of fellow men to be practiced, since all are subjects of the Lord. Obedience to it tests character and requires the whole service God asks, not merely acknowledging truth, ceremonial worship, or offering sacrifices. As a great moral looking glass and schoolmaster to bring sinners to Christ, it shows defects of character and reveals man just as he is, spotted, defiled, and condemned, but the sin is in the man not in the law. Ordained to life, it cannot in any way remove guilt or pardon the transgressor, but it shows the remedy and leads beyond repentance to the sin-bearing Saviour revealed upon the cross dying beneath the weight of the sins of the whole world, while the Holy Spirit shows the relation of God to all who repent of transgression.
The warning by the law and the reward in keeping it expose as false Satan's work to make the law of none effect, his claim that God has abrogated His law and that people need only believe, and the false hope that God will change to suit sinfulness. Pouring contempt on the law and refusing to obey it is folly, for the wise in heart receive commandments while the prating fool falls. Obedience to the law is the only hope of the human family, for God gave His law for the government of all human intelligences and desires men and women to obey it. Prosperity in this life and eternal interests depend on obedience, and living in disobedience is a hopeless deception where God's will and ways are not regarded and the first principles of holiness are still to be learned.
Living Out Obedience
Warned and rewarded by the law, testimony, statutes, commandment, fear and judgments of the Lord — perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true and altogether righteous, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey — the servant of God is to never fail in thanksgiving and praise, rejoicing in the Lord, praising Him in assemblies, forgetting difficulties, and praising Him for freedom from sin and for opportunity to live for the glory of His name. The same keeping brings the prayer to be cleansed from secret faults and errors, to be kept back from presumptuous sins so they do not have dominion, to be upright and innocent from the great transgression, and to have the words of the mouth and the meditation of the heart acceptable to the Lord as strength and Redeemer. That prayer is answered in sincere earnest consecration and cooperation with God so He can work through the believer, with bright light shining at every step to lighten the way for those who take It is written as guide so no one need follow crooked paths and there is no excuse for blundering work. Changed from glory to glory and from character to character to reflect the character of Jesus comes by ever looking unto Jesus and beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.
True followers of Christ are distinguished from false Christians by loving God’s commandments above gold and keeping His testimonies. When God’s commandments are despised and set aside for the commandments of men, those who have come out from the world and separated from it prize and love God’s law more strikingly, and those loyal to His commandments are more than ever bound to prize and love it. Behind that conflict Satan seeks supremacy in the last of the great controversy ending in his destruction. In the family the law is the parents’ guide and the standard of character that shows God’s righteous claims and represents His character as the pattern to shape human character. It guides solemn responsibilities and the training of children in obedience by precept and example, unaltered in the slightest particular, perfect, sure, right, enlightening, clean, true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey. By walking in its precepts parents and children are in harmony with the God of heaven, and blessing, happiness and peace in this life follow those who obey and administer it.
Faithful adherence to Jehovah’s precepts brings great reward to families and to society as the only hope of better things and the foundation of order and government. Casting aside God’s authority as a yoke of bondage in the name of liberty leads to dishonesty, theft, licentiousness, drunkenness, murder, tyranny, anarchy, bloodshed and greatest misery, as shown by infidel France rejecting God. Seeing these results leads to loving the commandments above gold and above fine gold. Keeping the way of the Lord to gain that reward requires searching the Scriptures to test whether a person is walking in sparks of his own kindling or seeking the light God has given. The adversary tempts souls to deviate from God’s way and to neglect that searching, while its warnings and promises awaken to spiritual danger and call believers to humble themselves before God and live out its truths in preparation for the end. Those who keep God’s way become vessels unto honor prepared for the Master’s use, with the grace of God advancing in the heart until they see the matchless charms revealed in Jesus.
Rightly understanding the verse means esteeming its truth as the most valuable treasure with which to store the mind and having a constant wellspring of living water and of the waters of life within. It means obeying Christ’s command to labor for the food that endures to everlasting life so as to gain right understanding of Scripture, praying Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law, and personally discovering its truth, value, sweetness, warning and reward. The psalm can be spoken about intelligently only when talents are consecrated to God, with understanding of Christ’s sacrifice bringing recognition of responsibility as His servants. That consecration includes older students who labor to acquire human arts and learning also seeking God’s wisdom and learning His divine laws, both natural and moral, which bring life and happiness in this world and in the world to come, while God’s works in nature continually display His glory, power and love in lessons of wisdom and healing for all.