The Sanity of a God-Soaked Mind Text: Psalm 119:161-168
Introduction: A Rightly Ordered World
We live in an age of profound confusion. Men call evil good and good evil; they put darkness for light and light for darkness. They are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, every passing political fad, and every new demand of the sexual revolution. The reason for this chaos is simple: they have rejected the Word of God as their anchor. When you detach yourself from the only objective standard of reality, you are necessarily adrift on a sea of subjectivity. Your feelings become your guide, your appetites become your masters, and your fears become your gods.
The psalmist in this section of Psalm 119 presents us with the portrait of a man whose world is rightly ordered. His mind is saturated with the Word of God, and because of this, his emotions, his loyalties, and his actions are all aligned with reality. He is not being tossed about. He is stable, joyful, and at peace, even in the face of persecution. This is not because his circumstances are easy, but because his foundation is sure. He shows us that the Christian life is not a matter of grim, stoic duty, but one of vibrant, intelligent, and passionate delight in the truth. He fears the right thing, loves the right thing, hates the right thing, and hopes in the right thing.
This stanza, the twenty-first of twenty-two, governed by the Hebrew letter Sin or Shin, is a masterful summary of the well-ordered soul. It is a soul that has been catechized by the Word of God so thoroughly that its responses to the world are righteous, sane, and beautiful. We must understand that this is the goal of our discipleship. God is not interested in simply giving us a list of rules to follow. He is interested in transforming our hearts so that we come to love what He loves and hate what He hates. He is making us into a certain kind of person, and this passage shows us what that person looks like.
The Text
Sin/Shin
161 Princes persecute me without cause,
But my heart is in dread of Your words.
162 I rejoice at Your word,
As one who finds much spoil.
163 I hate and abhor lying,
But I love Your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise You,
Because of Your righteous judgments.
165 Those who love Your law have much peace,
And nothing causes them to stumble.
166 I hope for Your salvation, O Yahweh,
And I do Your commandments.
167 My soul keeps Your testimonies,
And I love them exceedingly.
168 I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies,
For all my ways are before You.
(Psalm 119:161-168 LSB)
A Rightly Ordered Fear (v. 161)
The psalmist begins by establishing a foundational contrast between two kinds of fear.
"Princes persecute me without cause, But my heart is in dread of Your words." (Psalm 119:161)
Here is the central issue of all of life: who will you fear? The fear of man is a snare, the Proverb says. It is a trap that paralyzes, compromises, and ultimately damns. The psalmist is facing real, tangible threats. "Princes," men with actual power to harm him, are persecuting him. And they are doing so "without cause." This is not the chastisement of a loving father; this is the unjust malice of the world. The temptation for any of us in this position would be to fixate on the human threat. We would be tempted to fear the princes, to strategize around them, to obsess over their next move.
But the psalmist has a rightly ordered heart. His fear is directed upward, not outward. He says his heart is in "dread" of God's words. This is not the cowering fear of a slave before a tyrant, but the reverential awe of a son before a holy and majestic Father. He understands that God, not princes, is the ultimate reality. Princes can kill the body, but God is the one who holds eternal destinies in His hand. Jesus tells us the same thing: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28).
This holy dread of God's Word is the beginning of all wisdom and the antidote to all worldly fear. When you are rightly terrified of offending a holy God, the threats of mortal men shrink to their proper size. The psalmist understands that God's Word carries ultimate authority and ultimate consequences. To disobey God is a far more terrifying prospect than to displease a prince. This is the secret to Christian courage. It is not the absence of fear, but the presence of a greater, truer fear.
A Rightly Ordered Joy (v. 162)
From a right fear flows a right joy. The Word that inspires awe is also the source of ecstatic delight.
"I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds much spoil." (Psalm 119:162 LSB)
This is a soldier's metaphor. Spoil, or plunder, was the great reward after a hard-fought battle. It was unexpected wealth, a sudden treasure, a life-altering discovery. This is how the psalmist views the Word of God. It is not a dry textbook or a list of obligations. It is a treasure chest. Every time he opens it, he finds riches. He finds promises that are more precious than gold. He finds wisdom that is more valuable than rubies. He finds comfort that enriches him more than any earthly treasure.
This kind of joy is not manufactured. It is the natural result of seeing the Word for what it is. When you understand that this book contains the very words of the living God, words that created the universe, words that can raise the dead, words that promise eternal life, how can you not rejoice? This is the spoil that Christ won for us on the cross. He defeated our enemies, sin, death, and the devil, and He has left us the spoils of His victory, which are all the promises of God. To read the Bible is to plunder the enemy's camp after Christ has already won the war. Every promise of forgiveness, every assurance of grace, every declaration of God's love is part of that great spoil.
Rightly Ordered Affections (v. 163)
A man whose fear and joy are rightly ordered will also find that his love and hatred are rightly ordered.
"I hate and abhor lying, But I love Your law." (Psalm 119:163 LSB)
Notice the intensity of the language: "I hate and abhor." This is not a mild distaste. This is a visceral, gut-level revulsion. And what does he hate? Lying. Falsehood. Deceit. In a world that prizes tolerance above all, this is a jarring statement. But it is the mark of a righteous man. To love the truth necessarily means you must hate the lie. As Spurgeon said, "He who does not hate the false does not love the true."
The psalmist hates lying because God hates lying. A lying tongue is an abomination to the Lord (Prov. 6:17). Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). All falsehood, from the little white lie to the grand atheistic worldview, is an assault on the character of God, who is truth. And so, in direct opposition to this hatred of lies, the psalmist declares, "But I love Your law." God's law is the embodiment of truth. It is the perfect expression of reality. To love God's law is to love the way things actually are. The world tells us that law is restrictive and that love means freedom from all constraints. The Bible teaches us that true freedom is found in loving the perfect law of liberty.
A Rightly Ordered Life (v. 164-165)
These rightly ordered internal realities, fear, joy, love, and hate, produce a rightly ordered external life of praise and peace.
"Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments." (Psalm 119:164 LSB)
The number seven here signifies completeness or perfection. This is not a legalistic requirement to set seven alarms for prayer. It means that the psalmist's life is characterized by constant, habitual praise. His praise is not reserved for when things are going well. It is a disciplined, rhythmic feature of his life. And what is the basis for this praise? "Your righteous judgments." He praises God not just for His blessings, but for His rulings. He praises God for His perfect moral standards, for the way He governs the world in justice and equity. This is a mature faith. It is easy to praise God for a sunset; it is a mark of true discipleship to praise Him for His law, His decrees, and His judgments, even when they convict us.
This life of praise, rooted in God's law, produces a profound stability.
"Those who love Your law have much peace, And nothing causes them to stumble." (Psalm 119:165 LSB)
The world seeks peace in the absence of conflict, in financial security, or in personal autonomy. But the Bible says true peace, "shalom," a deep sense of wholeness and well-being, is found in loving God's law. Why? Because God's law is the instruction manual for how human beings are designed to function. When you live in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, things work properly. When you love God's law, you are living in harmony with reality, and the result is peace.
Furthermore, "nothing causes them to stumble." This does not mean they never sin or face hardship. It means there is no "stumbling block" for them. They are not easily offended by God. When trials come, they don't accuse God of being unfair. When God's commands are difficult, they don't abandon the path. Their love for God's Word provides a sure-footed stability that the world cannot shake. They know the path, and they trust the one who laid it out.
A Rightly Ordered Hope (v. 166-168)
Finally, the psalmist shows us a rightly ordered hope, which is the engine of a faithful life.
"I hope for Your salvation, O Yahweh, And I do Your commandments." (Psalm 119:166 LSB)
Here is the biblical balance between grace and works, perfectly stated. The psalmist's hope is not in his own obedience. His hope is fixed entirely on God's salvation. He is looking to God, and God alone, to save him. This is the essence of faith. But this hope is not a passive, lazy hope. It is a hope that works. Because he hopes in God's salvation, he does God's commandments. True hope is not an excuse for disobedience; it is the fuel for it. We do not obey in order to be saved; we obey because we are saved, and because we eagerly await the final consummation of that salvation.
This obedience is not a grudging, external compliance. It is a matter of the heart, a matter of deep affection.
"My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly." (Psalm 119:167 LSB)
His very "soul," his inner being, keeps and guards God's truth. And he loves it "exceedingly." This is the goal of the Christian life, to move from "I should" to "I want to," from duty to delight. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, writing the law on our hearts.
He concludes the stanza by bringing it all together under the watchful eye of God.
"I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You." (Psalm 119:168 LSB)
This is the great doctrine of Coram Deo, living before the face of God. The psalmist's ultimate motivation for obedience is his constant awareness that he lives, moves, and has his being in the presence of a holy God. He knows that nothing is hidden from God. This is not a source of terror for him, but a source of integrity. He is not performing for an audience. He is living before his Father. This awareness that "all my ways are before You" is what keeps his fear, his joy, his love, and his hope rightly ordered. It is the foundation of a sane and godly life.
Conclusion
This passage is a diagnostic for our own souls. Is your fear rightly ordered? Do you dread displeasing God more than you dread the threats of men? Is your joy rightly ordered? Do you find the Word of God to be a treasure, a spoil to be celebrated? Are your affections rightly ordered? Do you hate what God hates and love what He loves? Is your life rightly ordered? Is it characterized by praise and a deep, abiding peace that circumstances cannot touch? Is your hope rightly ordered? Is it fixed on God's salvation, and does that hope produce joyful obedience?
The answer to all these questions is found in that final verse. The secret is to cultivate a constant awareness that all our ways are before Him. When we live Coram Deo, before the face of God, He will, by His grace and through His Word, bring every disordered part of our lives into conformity with His perfect will. He will give us a sane, stable, and joyful mind in the midst of a mad world.