Psalm 119:97-104
Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
You, through Your commandments,
make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
I have more understanding
than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
I have restrained my feet
from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
I have not departed from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through Your precepts
I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
Everyone wants to be wise, and no one longs to be called a fool. It was this inherent desire which the Serpent used to tempt Eve in the garden of Eden, as she took note that the fruit which God had forbidden was “good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise (Gen. 3:6).” From the beginning man has sought divine wisdom, but too often our search has included every puddle and swamp which promises the pure water of wisdom, only to find it polluted and poisoned, while the spring from which undiluted wisdom flows remains untouched and ignored. The Psalmist turns our attention to God’s sufficient supply by comparing it to every other source of so-called wisdom, finding that it surpasses them all.
God’s wisdom is made available to every man through His word, which ought to be the object of our affections and thoughts. Those who ignore God’s word fail to receive His wisdom, but the one who continually meditates on the Scriptures will be proven wiser than his enemies. Even the most educated of men, though they may impart wisdom to their students, cannot rival the understanding gained from God’s word. And the wisdom of experience (he refers to the ancients, not as those from ancient times but as those who are his elders) is often based on foolish choices and failure rather than on obeying God’s commands. It is this experiential wisdom which Eve grasped and which became the curse of every one of Adam’s descendants.
In contrast, the wisdom of God’s word is better because it teaches us how we ought to walk, keeping our feet from the path of evil so that we might keep God’s law. No human teacher can be compared to the divine Author of all wisdom whose perfect instruction reveals not only His standard of righteousness, but the grace necessary to live according to His word. And as we regularly feed on His word, it transforms our appetites and then satisfies them as no earthly food can. With a sweetness that surpasses honey, the Scriptures fill our hearts and minds with God’s truth, supplying wisdom and discernment so that we may recognize the path of lies and choose what is right. If only Adam and Eve had chosen to trust in God’s word, they might have received the wisdom that comes from God, judging the Serpents lies to be just that and becoming like their Creator in understanding good and evil. And today, each of us has been given the opportunity to receive godly wisdom to discern both good and evil, if we will only meditate on God’s word.