11. When a godly person sues for a favor from God he should carefully use every means for obtaining it, and accordingly, as the psalmist had asked to be preserved from wandering, he here shows us the holy precaution which he had taken to prevent his falling into sin. Thy word have I hid in mine heart. All that he had of the Word written, and all that had been revealed to him by the voice of God—all, without exception, he had stored away in his affections. He did not wear a text on his heart as a charm, but he hid it in his heart as a rule. We must mind that what we believe is truly God’s Word; that being done, we must hide or treasure it each man for himself; and we must see that this is done, not as a mere feat of the memory, but as the joyful act of the affections.
That I might not sin against thee. Here was the object aimed at. Sinning “against God” is the believer’s view of moral evil; other people care only when they offend against people. God’s Word is the best preventive against offending God, for it tells us his mind and will, and tends to bring our spirit into conformity with the divine Spirit. No cure for sin in the life is equal to the Word in the seat of life, which is the heart. There is no hiding from sin unless we hide the truth in our souls.
A very pleasant variety of meaning is obtained by laying stress upon the words “thy” and “thee.” He speaks to God, he loves the Word because it is God’s Word, and he hates sin because it is sin against God himself. If he vexed others, he minded not so long as he did not offend his God. If we would not cause God displeasure we must treasure up his own Word.
The parallelism between the second octave and the first is still continued. Verse 3 speaks of doing no iniquity, while this verse treats of the method of not sinning. This can only be through heart-piety founded on the Scriptures.
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