“In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.” (Psalm 119:14)
This falls towards the end of an eight verse set with a clear and simple message. Want to keep pure? Want to do right? Stay in the word, let it guard your heart, seek God with all of your being.
Knowing the word, hiding it in our hearts, are the first steps to resisting the temptation of sin. The second step is stopping and recalling the word in the hour of temptation. Praying ahead of time about known issues is where we can best find the strength to stand on the word when the stumbling block does appear.
As the psalmist, let us ask God to teach us his ways, his principles, to bind our wandering hearts to him, to instruct us in how he designed us to operate. We know he wants us to, so we can trust him to answer us and do so when we pray this prayer sincerely from the heart.
The octane also suggests value in actually reciting the word allowed. This is likely due to our ears, along with our eyes, being pathways into our hearts as well as our minds. What we hear and do not dismiss goes straight into our heart, so we should put that to advantage and feed our hearts on the nourishment of God rather than feeding on the junk of the world.
That brings us to this verse’s secret: take delight! Obey out of love, out of the joy and pleasure of operating the way God designed you to, not out of fear and drudgery and reluctance. The last two verses repeat the instructions to feast our eyes and minds upon the things of God, his instruction manual for the proper operation and function of this naturally intelligent, organic, bio-molecular machine he’s molded out of the dust of the earth and breathed life into.
Thank you, Lord, for your guidance and instructions. Open our minds and hearts to understand your word and enable us to love and delight in your ways. Strengthen us to seek you sincerely, with our whole heart and soul. We are broken and full of bugs in our weak flesh. Refresh and revive our spirits, come and heal us and restore us to normal operating conditions. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.