Psalms 119:4 - Meaning and Application

We are taught here, first, to admit that we are under the strongest obligation to walk by God’s law. The tempter tries to make people think they are free to choose whether God’s word will be their rule. He wants them to think it is good, but not really necessary. That was his method with our first parents, when he made them question God’s command, “Has God really said, You shall not eat?” So we need to be firmly settled in this truth: “You have commanded us to keep your precepts,” to make religion our rule, and to keep it carefully and constantly. We are bound to obey, and we disobey at our own risk.

Second, we are taught to look to God for wisdom and grace to do this. “Oh that my ways were directed according to your statutes!” The prayer is not only that God would order all events around us so they do not hinder us, but rather help us in serving him. It is also that he would guide and shape our hearts by his Spirit, so we do not break his commandments in anything. We should ask not only that our eyes see God’s statutes, but that our hearts keep them. Notice how the desire and prayer of a good person match the will and command of a good God. “You would have me keep your precepts, and Lord, I truly want to keep them.” This is God’s will, our sanctification, that is, being made holy, and it should be our will too.

Third, we should encourage ourselves in duty by looking ahead to the comfort we will find in it. It is the clear mark of a good person that he respects all God’s commandments. He looks at the command as his pattern, aims to fit it, and feels sorry where he falls short. Whatever he does in religion, he does with a careful regard to God’s command, because it is his duty. He respects all the commandments, one as much as another, because they all come with the same authority (James 2:10, James 2:11) and all aim at the same end, God’s glory in our happiness.

Anyone who truly respects one command will have a general respect for every command, the commands of both Testaments and both tables of the law, the prohibitions and the duties, the things that govern both the inner person and the outward life, both the mind and the heart, and the commands that forbid the most pleasant and profitable sins as well as those that require the hardest and most risky duties. Those who sincerely respect all God’s commandments will not be put to shame. They will be kept from doing what leads to shame, and they will have confidence toward God and bold access to his throne of grace (1 John 3:21). They will also have a good name among people, because honesty becomes honor. And they will have peace and courage in their own souls. They will not be ashamed to examine themselves or to think honestly about themselves, because their hearts will not condemn them.

David says this from his own experience. Those who are upright can take comfort in their uprightness. If I am wicked, woe to me. But if I am sincere, then all is well with me.