In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. ¹⁵I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. ¹⁶I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Psalm 119:14-16
It’s not hard to imagine delighting in all that wealth can buy. Worldly riches afford access to people and places, possessions, experiences, leisure, protection, safety, just to name a few. Can you imagine delighting that much in the way of God's testimonies? What delight does God's Word afford? And more important, how do we fuel such delight?
David fuels his delight by meditating on God’s law and focusing on God’s ways. We do that by reading the Bible and thinking about what it says, what it means, and the power of God behind the meaning. I was recently helped to do this by a Scripture-saturated prayer written in the 16th century by Zacharius Ursinus:
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not the good he has done to me, who forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with grace and mercy.
The Lord is merciful, patient, and of great goodness. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor does he repay us according to our offense. For as high as the heaven is above the earth, he shows his grace toward those who fear him. As far as the rising of the sun is from its setting, so far he removes our transgression from us.
As a father takes pity on his children, so the Lord takes pity on those who fear him. Who also did not spare his own Son, but has delivered him up for us all and has given us with him all things. In this way, God shows his love toward us, that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. So we will all the more be saved by him from wrath, after we have been justified by his blood. For if we are reconciled to God by the death of his Son while we were still enemies, how much more will we be saved by his life, after we have been reconciled to him. Therefore, my thought and heart shall proclaim the Lord’s praise, from now on and forevermore. Amen. (Be Thou My Vision, 57-58)
Ursinus, who helped write the Heidelberg Catechism, captured here just a few of God’s staggering promises from His Word. How could we creatures not be moved to worship after meditating on such lavish gifts given by the King of heaven and Creator of earth?
Fixing our eyes on God through His Word reveals how understated David’s comparison is. Even all the wealth of earth could never compare to the riches God has stored up for those who love Him.
May He remind us daily that though the things of earth are passing away, His Word is truth, His way is life, and His Kingdom is forever. May we delight in His Word and say with the psalmist, "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11).
For Reflection
Have you ever delighted more in the thought of owning a thing, than in meditating on God’s Word?
How does David’s comparison challenge you?
Ask God to open His Word to you and give you greater affection for His Word than for anything money can buy.