Psalms 119:111 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist speaks here with deep affection, like a true Israelite, determined to hold fast to God’s word and to live and die by it.

He first resolves to make God’s word his portion, the place where he seeks his happiness, and even where he finds it. “Your testimonies,” meaning the truths and promises of God’s word, “I have taken as my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.” His present delight in them showed that he counted the good things in them as the best things, the treasure he valued most.

He expected lasting happiness in God’s testimonies. God had made an everlasting covenant with him, so he received it as an eternal inheritance. Even if he could not yet say, “They are my heritage,” he could still say, “I have chosen them as my heritage, and I will not settle for a portion in this life” (Psalm 17:14, Psalm 17:15). God’s testimonies are a heritage for all who have received the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit who shows them they are God’s children, for if children, then heirs. This is a heritage forever, unlike any earthly inheritance (1 Peter 1:4). All the saints welcome it that way, live on it, and are able to be content with very little in this world.

He also enjoyed present comfort in God’s word: “They are the joy of my heart,” because they will be his heritage forever. It takes a heart made good by grace to see its true portion in God’s promise, not in the things of this world.

He then resolves to guide his life by God’s word and to make his choices from it: “I have inclined my heart to do your statutes.” Those who want the blessings found in God’s testimonies must also submit to the commands that go with them. We must look for comfort only in the path of duty, and that duty must be done with full willing agreement, by God’s grace, with the resistance of the heart overcome. A good man brings his heart to his work, and then the work is done well. A willing desire to do God’s will is the pleasing starting point of all obedience.

He would also keep God’s statutes always, in every part of life, in the duties of each day, in a steady walk of holiness, and on to the end without growing tired. That is what it means to follow the Lord fully.