Psalm 119:70

(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.)

 

"Their heart is covered with fat,

But I delight in Your law."

 

Of the arrogant who forge lies against the righteous, ‘their heart is covered with fat’, similarly the Psalmist in contrast observes Your precepts and delights in Your law.  Thinking of the testimony of Scripture, the dead go further into the deadness of their hearts, while the spiritually living go from life to delight.  The idea behind ‘covered’ is ‘insensitive’ or ‘unfeeling’.  Unfortunately we don’t have a comparable as this is the only use of the word in the Old Testament.  But I am reminded of Isaiah 6:10, Proverbs 28:14, the contrast between hardness and softness.  We see this also in Hebrews 3:13.  We need Your word and Your people to maintain hearts that are humbly soft towards You.  I am reminded also of Proverbs 1:19, and 2 Peter 2:18-19 - the promise of freedom apart from You brings utter enslavement.

 

‘Proud men grow fat through carnal luxuries, and this makes them prouder still. They riot in their prosperity, and fill their hearts therewith till they become insensible, effeminate, and self-indulgent. A greasy heart is something horrible; it is a fatness which makes a man fatuous, a fatty degeneration of the heart which leads to feebleness and death. The fat in such men is killing the life in them… How much better is it to joy in the law of the Lord than to joy in sensual indulgences.  This makes the heart healthy, and keeps the mind lowly. No one who loves holiness has the slightest cause to envy the prosperity of the worldling. Delight in the law elevates and ennobles, while carnal pleasure clogs the intellect and degrades the affections. There is and always ought to be a vivid contrast between the believer and the sensualist, and that contrast is as much seen in the affections of the heart as in the actions of the life: their heart is as fat as grease, and our heart is delighted with the law of the Lord. Our delights are a better test of our character than anything else: as a man's heart is, so is the man… When law becomes delight, obedience is bliss. Holiness in the heart causes the soul to eat the fat of the land. To have the law for our delight will breed in our hearts the very opposite of the effects of pride; deadness, sensuality, and obstinacy will be cured, and we shall become teachable, sensitive, and spiritual.’[1]


 


[1] Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Treasury of David, on Psalm 119:70, e-Sword edition, with emphasis


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