Psalms 119:59 - Meaning and Application

David had just said that he would keep God’s word (Psalm 119:57), and that was a good resolve. Here he explains how he carried it out. First, he thought about his ways. He looked ahead and considered what he should do, weighing the path of his feet, so that he might walk safely and not blindly (Proverbs 4:26). He also looked back and reflected on his past life, remembering the paths he had taken and the steps he had walked.

The phrase means a fixed, steady kind of thinking. Some think it points to an embroiderer, who carefully covers even the smallest flaw. Others think of someone settling accounts and asking, “What do I owe? What am I worth?” David was not thinking about his wealth, as the rich fool does (Psalm 49:11), but about his ways. He was not focused on what he possessed, but on what he did, because what we do follows us into the next world, while what we own must be left behind. Many people are quick to judge other people’s lives, yet never examine their own. Each person should test his own work.

Second, he turned his feet to God’s testimonies. He decided to make God’s word his rule and to walk by it. He turned away from the wrong paths he had wandered into and came back to God’s testimonies. He did not only look at God’s word, he set his feet toward it. His heart grew to love it, and his life began to follow it. Honest sorrow over sin must lead to real changes in life.

Third, he did this at once, without delay: “I made haste and did not delay” (Psalm 119:60). When God convicts us of sin, we must act while the feeling is fresh, and not wait for a more convenient time, as Felix did. When God calls us to duty, we must lose no time and do it today, while it is still called today.

David may be describing what he did every day. He thought over his ways at night, set his feet toward God’s testimonies in the morning, and quickly did whatever good his hand found to do. Or he may be describing the time when he first came to know God and true religion, when he began to put away the vanity of childhood and youth and remember his Creator. That blessed change was worked in him by God’s grace.

Conversion begins with serious thought (Ezekiel 18:28; Luke 15:17). And serious thought must end in real turning. What use is it to think about our ways if we do not quickly turn our feet to God’s testimonies?