Psalm 119:98-100 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. (NAS95)
This Scripture mentions three groups of people, three benefits of knowing the Word of God and three distinct levels of applying the Word to one’s life.
1.Enemies. None of us wants an enemy, but when we find we have one, we definitely want to be wiser than they are. It was the Psalmist’s experience that knowing the commands of the Lord gave him wisdom above his enemies.
In order for that to be, he had committed those commands to his memory. That is understood because he said that the commands ‘are ever with me.’
2.Teachers. Here is a student that is able to see deeper than his instructor, simply because he meditates on the Word of the Lord.
The instructor should take a lesson from this student and meditate on God’s Word as well. Time spent mulling over the Word of the Lord is not wasted time but invested time.
3.Elders. Obedience to the Word of God is better than a lifetime of experience.
Experiences can fool us if we draw the wrong conclusions from them.
God gave His Word for our good, and the one who obeys it finds that God definitely knows best.
Wisdom, insight, and understanding are the fruits of knowing, meditating on and obeying the Word of God.
As the Proverbs tell us, the beginning of wisdom is to seek wisdom.
If you have not done so in the past, begin today to give the Word of the Lord place in your day-to-day life.
Rawlin Falk is a pastor with Maple Park Alliance Church.