Psalm 119:35

February 07, 2023

(This is an entry from a devotional commentary I am working on from Psalm 119 entitled God and His Word. The introduction can be found here, successive entries have covered the 22 sections of the Psalm, and following entries verse by verse.)

"Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,

For I delight in it."

‘Make me walk’. Despite the Psalmist’s commitment to obey (Psalm 119:33) and desire for understanding to do it (Psalm 119:34), he realizes that this was not enough. A new heart and a new spirit are required; You must cause us to walk in Your statutes and observe Your ordinances (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Romans 7:22-8:4 expresses what happens through the Gospel to move from realization to resolve to reality. ‘Make me walk’ is the Hebrew ‘דָּרַךּ, dāraḵ: A verb meaning to tread, to bend. It refers to walking on, over, or along or to pressing something with one's feet, trampling. It also takes on the sense of subduing something or someone or simply going forth. It refers to the spiritual walk in high places made possible by the Lord (Hab 3:19).’ It is battle and conquest language. Lord, You have vanquished sin and caused my soul to walk in triumphant victory over it! (Romans 8:37, Colossians 2:15, 2 Corinthians 2:14) The smell of victory follows us. This word is used of God leading us in His truth and in humility (Psalm 25:5, Psalm 25:9, see also Psalm 45:4), leading us in upright paths (Psalm 107:7, Proverbs 4:11, Isaiah 42:16, Isaiah 48:17, Habakkuk 3:19). The path of victory is the way of the believer. ‘Delight’ is the Hebrew ‘חָפֵץ, ḥāp̱ēṣ, חָפַץ, ḥāp̱aṣ: A verb meaning to delight in, to have pleasure, to have favor, to be pleased. I may not gravitate towards Your commandments naturally, but by Your transforming power I do and I remain in delight.

‘Since we are not sufficient of ourselves, our dependence must be upon the grace of God, for from him all our sufficiency is. God puts his Spirit within us, and so causes us to walk in his statutes (Eze 36:27), and this is that which David here begs. 2. That God would make him willing to do it, and would, by his grace, subdue the aversion he naturally had to it: “Incline my heart to thy testimonies, to those things which thy testimonies prescribe; not only make me willing to do my duty, as that which I must do and therefore am concerned to make the best of, but make me desirous to do my duty as that which is agreeable to the new nature and really advantageous to me.” Duty is then done with delight when the heart is inclined to it: it is God's grace that inclines us, and the more backward we find ourselves to it the more earnest we must be for that grace.’[1]

‘This is the cry of a child that longs to walk, but is too feeble; of a pilgrim who is exhausted, yet pants to be on the march; of a lame man who pines to be able to run…O thou who didst once make me, I pray thee make me again: thou hast made me to know; now make me to go…Grace does not treat us as stocks and stones, to be dragged by horses or engines, but as creatures endowed with life, reason, will, and active powers, who are willing and able to go of themselves if once made to do so. God worketh in us, but it is that we may both will and do according to his good pleasure [Philippians 2:13]. The holiness we seek after is not a forced compliance with command, but the indulgence of a whole-hearted passion for goodness, such as shall conform our life to the will of the Lord. …Is practical godliness the very jewel of your soul, the coveted prize of your mind? If so, the outward path of life, however rough will be clean,. and lead the soul upward to delight ineffable. He who delights in the law should not doubt but what he will be enabled to run in its ways, for where the heart already finds its joy the feet are sure to follow.’[2]

[1] Henry, Matthew, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Psalm 119:35, e-Sword edition

[2] Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Treasury of David, on Psalm 119:35, e-Sword edition