Please read Psalm 119 (176 verses)

This is by far the longest Psalm and is full of good council and profit. It focuses on the Word of God and how it can help us, teach us and guard our daily pathway as we walk with God. As we follow the law of God we learn righteousness and become upright people. The Word of God keeps us pure in speaking and doing, and guards our hearts motivation. As we choose the Word, we gain understanding and wisdom and are blameless. God’s word brings freedom, victory over enemies and comfort in the night.

The law of God brings comfort in affliction and strengthens the fainting heart. The psalmist loves the Word and values it far above any other thing that he possesses. He will not be deflected from it or taken away from it, though the wicked should bind him with ropes! The writer loves the law of God and longs for its precepts more than daily bread. He thinks on it always and it makes him wiser than his enemies. The Word of God is a lamp and a light to the pathway of life and though the enemy might try to trap him, he escapes with the power of God that he has learned.

In following the Word, the psalmist has become right and just and continually looks for the salvation of God. He longs for God, indeed, pants for God, and longs for holiness of life and victory over sin. His zeal for the Word of God has worn him out and he desires that righteousness will prevail in the world at all times. He may be lowly and despised in this world, but his comfort is in the Scripture. He rises before dawn and searches the Scripture at night that he might find the Lord and become like Him.

Deliverance from foes is also a key theme, and the writer pleads with God to give courage and the conquering of all opposition. He praises the Lord for teaching him His decrees.

Though the psalmist has strayed from the Lord, yet the Lord will give him the strength to live and find his life like the life of a lost sheep. He asks the Lord to seek him and keep him and promises that the Word of God will never be lost to him.