An Education in Delight Text: Psalm 119:97-104
Introduction: The World's War on Wisdom
We live in an age that is drowning in information and starving for wisdom. Our culture has made a virtue of despising instruction. The very concept of law is presented as a cage, a restriction on our glorious, untamed autonomy. To the modern mind, freedom is the absence of restraint, and law is the enemy of liberty. The world tells you to follow your heart, to define your own truth, and to cast off the shackles of any authority that would dare to tell you no. This is the foundational lie of the serpent in the Garden, repackaged for the digital age: "Did God really say?"
Into this chaotic rebellion, the psalmist speaks with a clarity that is both shocking and refreshing. He does not see the law of God as a burden, but as a beloved treasure. He does not find it restrictive, but liberating. For him, the law is not a list of arbitrary rules from a cosmic killjoy; it is the very mind of God, revealed for our good. It is the architectural blueprint for reality. To love the law is to love the way things actually are. To hate the law is to declare war on reality itself, which is a war you are guaranteed to lose.
This section of Psalm 119 is a testimony from a man who has discovered the secret of true education. He has found a source of wisdom that makes him smarter than his enemies, more insightful than his professors, and more perceptive than his elders. This is not the result of a high IQ or an elite education. It is the result of a love affair with the Word of God. This is not drudgery; it is delight. This is not legalism; it is love. The psalmist shows us that the path to true wisdom, true freedom, and true joy is found in a wholehearted, all-day meditation on the perfect law of God.
The Text
Oh how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are mine forever.
I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation.
I perceive more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts.
I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word.
I have not turned aside from Your judgments, For You Yourself have taught me.
How sweet is Your word to my taste! Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
From Your precepts I get perception; Therefore I hate every false way.
(Psalm 119:97-104 LSB)
A Holy Obsession (v. 97)
The psalmist begins with an outburst of heartfelt affection.
"Oh how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day." (Psalm 119:97)
This is not the language of a student grimly memorizing formulas for an exam he dreads. This is the language of a lover. The law of God is not just true; it is lovely. It is beautiful. This love is the engine that drives the entire Christian life. Without this affection, obedience becomes mere duty, a joyless and brittle legalism. But when the heart is captivated by the beauty of God's character as revealed in His law, obedience becomes a delight.
And what is the practical expression of this love? "It is my meditation all the day." This is not a quiet time squeezed into a busy schedule. This is a constant, ongoing conversation in the mind. To meditate on the law is to chew on it, to turn it over and over, to consider its implications for every area of life. It is the habit of thinking God's thoughts after Him. When you are driving, you are meditating on it. When you are working, you are meditating on it. When you are talking with your children, you are filtering the conversation through it. The Word of God becomes the constant background music to your life, the lens through which you see and interpret all of reality.
A Supernatural Education (v. 98-100)
This loving meditation produces a wisdom that surpasses all worldly sources.
"Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are mine forever. I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I perceive more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts." (Psalm 119:98-100 LSB)
First, God's law makes you wiser than your enemies. Your enemies are cunning. They operate on principles of power, deception, and pragmatism. But the believer who is steeped in Scripture has a superior strategy manual. The law of God reveals the folly of wickedness and the enduring wisdom of righteousness. The enemy may win a skirmish through deceit, but the student of God's law understands the overarching trajectory of history and knows that justice will ultimately prevail. The law gives you a rock to stand on while your enemies are building their houses on the sand.
Second, this wisdom gives more insight than all your teachers. This is not a license for arrogance or a rebellious spirit against authority. It is a statement about the source of knowledge. A humble believer with an open Bible has more true insight into reality than a whole faculty of Christ-less PhDs. Why? Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If your teachers begin from the faulty presupposition of autonomous man, all their subsequent reasoning, no matter how brilliant, will be skewed. They are rearranging the furniture in a house that is not grounded on the foundation of God's revelation. The Christian student, by contrast, starts with the architect's blueprints.
Third, this wisdom brings more perception than the aged. Our culture used to respect the wisdom of elders, but we must be precise. Age alone does not grant wisdom. A long life lived in folly is simply an advanced degree in foolishness. A young man who has diligently kept God's precepts has a clearer grasp of right and wrong, of cause and effect, of what truly matters, than an old man who has spent eighty years chasing the wind. Wisdom is a moral category, not a chronological one. It comes from obedience to God's Word.
The Moral Spine of Wisdom (v. 101-102)
This supernatural wisdom is not merely intellectual; it is profoundly practical and moral.
"I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. I have not turned aside from Your judgments, For You Yourself have taught me." (Psalm 119:101-102 LSB)
True meditation on the Word always leads to transformation of the life. The psalmist understands that you cannot walk with God while keeping a foot in the path of evil. Loving God's Word means hating what it forbids. Notice the active nature of this: "I have restrained my feet." Holiness is not passive. It requires a deliberate, conscious effort to say no to temptation and to turn away from every path that leads away from God. This restraint is not done in order to earn salvation, but as the necessary consequence of loving the Savior. The goal is positive: "that I may keep Your word."
What gives him the power to persevere in this? "For You Yourself have taught me." This is the bedrock of Christian assurance. The ultimate teacher is not a pastor or a scholar, but God Himself. The Holy Spirit illuminates the Word, writing it on our hearts and teaching us its meaning. This is why the believer does not ultimately turn aside. His education is divine. He is not sustained by his own willpower, but by the direct instruction of the Almighty. When God is your teacher, you do not drop out of His school.
The Sweetness of the Truth (v. 103-104)
The result of this life of meditation and obedience is not a sense of weary duty, but one of profound joy and sharp discernment.
"How sweet is Your word to my taste! Sweeter than honey to my mouth! From Your precepts I get perception; Therefore I hate every false way." (Psalm 119:103-104 LSB)
Sin always advertises itself as sweet, but its aftertaste is always bitter ash. The Word of God, which the world calls bitter and restrictive, is, to the regenerated soul, sweeter than honey. This is an experiential reality. When you begin to live by the Word, you taste and see that the Lord is good. His commands are not burdensome; they are a delight. They lead to life and peace. This sweetness is the reward of obedience and the motivation for more obedience.
And this sweet taste for the truth gives the believer a finely tuned palate for detecting lies. "From Your precepts I get perception; Therefore I hate every false way." When you have tasted real, pure honey, you can instantly recognize the cheap, artificial syrup of the world. A deep love for the truth will always produce a corresponding hatred for falsehood. This is biblical antithesis. We live in a squishy, sentimental age that wants to love everything and hate nothing. But the Bible teaches us that maturity requires discernment, and discernment requires hating what is false and evil. You cannot be neutral. A love for God's way necessitates a hatred for every false way.
Conclusion: The Word Became Honey
The ultimate fulfillment of this psalm is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who loved the law of His Father perfectly. It was His meditation all the day. He was wiser than all His enemies, the scribes and Pharisees. He had more insight than all His teachers, confounding them in the temple as a boy. He obeyed perfectly, restraining His feet from every evil way, even unto death on a cross.
And for us, the Word of God is sweet because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is the honey from the rock. When we read the law, we see the character of the one who fulfilled the law on our behalf. Our love for the Scriptures is nothing less than our love for Christ Himself.
The application, then, is not to grit your teeth and try harder to be like the psalmist. The application is to fall in love with the Christ of the Scriptures. That love is cultivated through the spiritual discipline of meditation, of steeping your mind in this book. This is how you gain wisdom in a foolish world. This is how you develop a backbone of holiness. And this is how you cultivate a taste for the divine sweetness that makes all the cheap candies of the world taste like dust and ashes. Taste and see that the Lord is good.