Four Ways to Treat God’s Word (Psalm 119)

What if your love for God could be traced, line by line, through your love for his Word? We walk through Psalm 119 with four searching questions—do you love Scripture, memorize it, understand it, and apply it—and discover how a prayerful posture turns pages into pathways. From the warmth of old letters that meant more because of who wrote them, to the grit of hiding verses in your heart, to a humble plea for open eyes, this conversation connects the psalmist’s ancient song to modern souls who want to live straight in a crooked age.

We slow down on Psalm 119:11 and the power of memorization, not as a contest but as protection. Then we linger over Psalm 119:18, where honest confession clears the fog and real insight arrives. Finally, Psalm 119:105 reframes guidance: the Bible is a lamp for your feet, not a stadium light for your five-year plan. You get enough light for the next faithful step. Along the way, a vivid story about rebuilding a crooked fireplace becomes a blueprint for spiritual formation—when the master stays on site, the wall stands true. Scripture is that master builder, aligning our desires, decisions, and daily habits to God’s plumb line.

If you’re weary of quick takes and vague inspiration, this is a call back to the basics that actually work: love the Author, treasure the text, pray for clarity, and act on the light you have. Expect practical takeaways you can start today, plus a renewed hunger to keep going tomorrow. Listen, share with a friend who needs steady footing, and leave a review to help others find this study. Ready to choose one verse to memorize this week and one step to take today? Subscribe and journey with us.

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Learn More: https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/the-christians-compass

Chapters

• 1:57 Measuring Love For God’s Word
• 2:44 Psalm 119: Theme And Structure
• 4:13 Four Convicting Questions Introduced
• 4:41 Do You Love God’s Instruction
• 6:00 Do You Memorize Scripture
• 7:01 Do You Seek Understanding
• 8:49 Do You Apply What You Learn
• 10:19 The Lamp For The Next Step
• 13:19 Building Straight Lives By The Word
• 13:37 Closing Blessing And Resources

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 1:37

A true measure of our commitment to the Lord is our love for His Word. Here's some questions for you to consider as we get started today. Do you desire to know the Bible and live it out? Do you store it up in your heart as a treasure? Do you use it as your guide in daily life? Do you meditate on it and delight in it? All four of those questions are rooted in God's instructions for how we're to treat his word. Here's Stephen Davy to teach you more.

SPEAKER_00: 2:14

Many years ago I wrote in the fly leaf of my Bible, either this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. Well, that idea comes right out of Psalm 119 as we've begun our wisdom journey through this great psalm. Well, at 176 verses, this happens to be the longest psalm in the inspired hymnal of Israel, the book of Psalms. And now, although this is a long psalm, the theme is very clear and powerfully presented. It's all about the need we have in our lives for the Word of God. The Holy Spirit inspired the psalmist to use eight different synonyms to refer to God's Word. And as I mentioned in our last session, the study guide for today's lesson is available. If you're a crew member, you can call us to find out how to become one. We've given a brief definition for all eight synonyms because each of them sort of carry a little different nuance. I call it a different flavor, so to speak, for God's word. There's another aspect that we need to emphasize here because it's highlighted throughout this psalm. This psalm happens to be a prayer. In fact, 255 times the psalmist actually directs his thoughts concerning God's word back to the Lord in prayer. If you want to add freshness and vitality to your prayer life, beloved, just start praying your way through Psalm 119. Now, as we take a closer look at this Psalm, I want to structure our thoughts around four questions. Frankly, I find these to be convicting questions in my heart and life about how I treat God's word, and I want to present them to you. We need to answer these four questions just like this anonymous poet is going to answer them in this psalm in his own life many years ago. So here's the first question. Do you love the instruction of God? What I mean is this do you love God's word? Over here in verse 167, the psalmist says it this way My soul keeps your testimonies. I love them exceedingly. Why would this be important? Well, when you love God's word, it's revealing that you actually love the author of God's Word, the Lord Himself. When I was dating my wife back in college days, we didn't have cell phones, we didn't have computers. We corresponded the old-fashioned way. You know, we used a mailman and wrote each other letters. And let me tell you, we we kept the post office in business. Now I have to admit, Marcia was much better at writing than I was. She'd write a page and I'd write a couple sentences, but I really loved getting her letters. Why? Well, because I loved letters no, I loved her. And I wanted to hear from her. And I would read every word in her letters carefully. Well, in the Bible, you're essentially looking at God's letters written to you. And if you love him, well, you're gonna love his word. The next, you know, rather convicting question is this Do you memorize the Word of God? Back here in verse eleven, you have the announcement of this psalmist's decision here, where he writes, I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Now, as a little boy, I memorized this verse from the King James Bible that said, Thy word have I hidden in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. The idea of hiding or storing has the idea of protecting in the Hebrew language. And let me tell you, if your heart is filled with Scripture, your life will not be filled with sin. As I've said before, this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. Now here's a third convicting question, and it's provoked again by this great psalm. Do you want to understand God's word? Well, the psalmist uh illustrates the proper response to this question here in verse 18, where he writes, Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. The phrase here for open my eyes comes from the Hebrew root word that means to make naked. It was a common practice back in the ancient days to take captured enemies and literally strip them down naked and then march them into exile. We can imagine how humiliating that experience uh would be. And the Israelites would know firsthand what this what this meant. The same expression is used of Noah back in Genesis chapter 9 and verse 21 as he lay uncovered or literally naked in his tent. So in this verse, the psalmist is asking God to strip him down in humility, to lay bare his sinful heart. Again, he says, Open my eyes, he's praying. In other words, he's saying, Take off the blinders of sin, so that I through confession and cleansing can behold wondrous things out of your law. You see, a godly believer doesn't come to the Bible to find a verse to defend their actions, whatever they want to do. He comes with humility. And he says, I'm going to stand spiritually naked, as it were, before you. I want you to tell me what I need to do. I'm not hiding anything from you. Well, here's the fourth and final convicting question. Do you really want to apply the truth of God's word? Maybe you're an older believer and you've been waiting to see if I would make reference to this well known verse over here, verse 105. Here's what it says. You know what that means? That means if you take God's word out of your life, all you've got is pitch black, empty darkness without any direction in life. But give God's word entrance into your life, and it brings with it light. Now I want you to have in mind not this powerful spotlight that can, you know, shine a hundred feet away. This is a reference to a little handheld lamp made of clay that was common in ancient days. I have one in my study dating back to the days of Abraham. And you know what it did? It cast light just far enough to take the next step. Likewise, God's word, it doesn't light up next week or next year. It'll give you the light you need for just the next step. I had someone tell me some time ago that he didn't like my preaching because I took the word of God too seriously. Well, he didn't realize it, but as far as I was concerned, that was a wonderful compliment. I remember when my my uh parents purchased a little piece of land. I was a teenager. They bought a few acres out in the country and they built a small one-story home. My missionary father was trying to save all the money he could, so he hired a friend who served as a general contractor, and they saved every penny they could in the construction of this little house. When the flooring finally was put in, I had come home from my first year of college. A mason crew had come over and they'd laid the hearth, and they'd begun to build up the fireplace there in the family room. Well that night my father and I went over to see the progress, and the fireplace was built up about halfway to the ceiling by the time we arrived, and as we stood there looking at it, we just sort of leaned to one side. It looked crooked to us. Well my dad called the contractor who came over. He walked in and looked at it and he said it's crooked. Well, we thought it was. The next day he had his crew tear it back down to the hearth and start over. Well, we came back that evening and walked in immediately and looked there into the family room and what they'd done, and again it had been built up just a little higher than it had been the day before. But as we stared at it, we just sort of leaned in the other direction. The contractor was called and he came over, looked at it, and said, Well, what do you know? It's it's crooked again. He called his crew, and the next day he had them tear it all the way down to the flooring this time and start over. A couple days later, my father and I went over and we walked right in to look at that fireplace. And by this time it had been finished and it was all the way up to the ceiling and and all tied in, and this time it was perfectly straight. I overheard my father talking to the contractor that afternoon, and he said to him, you know, they got it crooked the first two times. What made the difference the third time? And the contractor kind of laughed and said, Well, Keith, uh, you know, we're trying to save every penny we can, and so I had hired a young, inexperienced crew to to set the brick. But then the contractor said, The third time, however, I stayed behind. I worked with them myself. Beloved, let me tell you that uh the Bible you've been given is sort of like that divine contractor. God has left this behind, so to speak, to help you and me build a life that's straight and true and pure and right. We don't need to be concerned about taking it too seriously. What we need to be concerned is is the fact that we we perhaps might not be taking it seriously enough. So let's treat it right. Let's love the word, let's memorize the word, let's study the word to understand it, and then let's make sure we're following the word as we build our lives to glorify our God. Well, until next time, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

SPEAKER_01: 13:38

Thanks for listening to The Wisdom Journey with Stephen Davey. To learn more about us and access all of our Bible teaching resources, visit wisdomonline.org. Our phone number is 866-482-4253. And you can email us at info at wisdomonline.org. Stephen developed this daily program to help you know what the Bible says, understand what it means, and apply it to your life. So please join us next time to continue the wisdom journey.