Psalm 119 (31 of 190 notes)

27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. Give me a deep insight into the practical meaning of thy Word; let me get a clear idea of the tone and tenor of thy law. Blind obedience has but small beauty; God would have us follow him with our eyes open. To obey the letter of the Word is all that the ignorant can hope for; if we wish to keep God’s precepts in their spirit we must come to an understanding of them, and that can be gained nowhere but at the Lord’s hands. The psalmist is not anxious to understand the prophecies, but the precepts, and he is not concerned about the subtleties of the law, but the commonplaces and everyday rules of it.

So shall I talk of thy wondrous works. It is ill talking of what we do not understand. We must be taught of God till we understand, and then we may hope to communicate our knowledge to others with a hope of profiting them. Talk without intelligence is mere talk, and idle talk. When our heart has been opened to understand, our lips should be opened to impart knowledge; and we may hope to be taught ourselves when we feel in our hearts a willingness to teach the way of the Lord to those among whom we dwell.

Thy wondrous works. We see that the clearest understanding does not cause us to cease from wondering at the ways and works of God. Much of the wonder in the world is born of ignorance, but holy wonder is the child of understanding. When a man understands the way of the divine precepts he never talks of his own works. Some in this place read “meditate” or “muse” instead of talk; if we read the passage in this sense, we take it to mean that in proportion as David understood the Word of God he would meditate upon it and more. The thoughtless care not to know the inner meaning of the Scriptures, while those who know them best strive after a greater familiarity with them.

Observe the third verse of the last eight (verse 19), and see how the sense is akin to this. There he was a stranger in the earth, and here he prays to know his way; there, too, he prayed that the Word might not be hid from himself, and here he promises that he will not hide it from others.