Psalm 119 (104 of 190 notes)

93. When we have felt the quickening power of a precept we can never forget it. It seems singular that the man of God should ascribe quickening to the precepts, and yet it lies in them and in all the words of the Lord alike. When the Lord raised the dead he addressed to them the word of command. He said, “Lazarus, come forth,” or, “Maid, arise.” We need not fear to address Gospel precepts to dead sinners, since by them the Spirit gives them life. The psalmist does not say that the precepts quickened him, but that the Lord quickened him by their means. Yet he prized the instruments of the blessing, and resolved never to forget them. He had already remembered them when he likened himself to a bottle in the smoke, and now he feels that whether in the smoke or in the fire the memory of the Lord’s precepts will never depart from him.