Psalm 119:27 NKJV
27
Make me understand the way of Your precepts;
So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.
27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
My Thoughts
Psalm 119:27 emphasizes David’s desire for a deeper understanding of God’s precepts, which he believes will lead to meditation on God’s marvelous works. David expresses a need for spiritual understanding, highlighting that knowledge should be deep and practical. By grasping God’s precepts, he aims to communicate the wonders of God’s actions, reflecting a heart receptive to divine wisdom. The commentary underscores that true understanding encourages the faithful to share their knowledge of God’s works with others. This builds up not only the one hearing but also the one who is doing the sharing. In one of the parables that Jesus gave, He said that for everyone who has, more will be given, so seek the lord and desire that deeper understanding and share, so that you will be given even more understanding.
Note: Psalm 119 is an acrostic pattern. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet; each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. Today, we’re looking at verse 27, which is in the 4th section, which is called ד DALETH. According to the hebrews4christians.com website, the letter Daleth is the 4th letter of the Aleph-Bet, having the numeric value of four. The pictograph for Dalet looks something like a closed (hanging) tent door. The bent shape of the valet symbolizes a needy person who is bent over; the meaning of the word Daleth is poor or impoverished, and it represents the lowliness of possessing nothing of one’s own. As a door, Daleth also symbolically represents the choice to open ourselves to the hope of our dreams or to remain closed off and alienated.
The eight verses of “ד DALETH” alphabetically arranged:
Verse 25. (D)epressed to the dust is my soul: quicken thou me according to thy word.
Verse 26. (D)eclared have I (to thee) my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
Verse 27. (D)eclare thou to me the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
Verse 28. (D)ropping (marg.) is my soul for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
Verse 29. (D)eceitful ways remove from me; and grant me thy law graciously.
Verse 30. (D)etermined have I upon the way of truth; thy judgments have I laid before me.
Verse 31. (D)eliberately I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, put me not to shame.
Verse 32. (D)ay by day I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
—Theodore Kubber.
……Bill
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Commentaries:
Thomas Manton
“So shall I talk of thy wondrous works.” He that is sensible of the wondrous things that are in God’s word will be talking of them. 1. It will be so. 2. It should be so.
1. It will be so. When the heart is deeply affected, the tongue cannot hold, but will run out in expressions of it; “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” When cheered and revived in their afflictions, saints are transported with the thought of the excellency of God. “Come, and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul“ (Psa 66:15). The woman, when she had found the lost groat [coin], calleth her neighbors to rejoice with her. He that hath but a cold knowledge, will not be so full of good discourse.
2. It should be so in a threefold respect: for the honor of God, the edification of others, and for our own profit.
(a) For the honor of God, to whom we are so much indebted, to bring him into request with those about us. Experience deserveth praise; when you have found the Messiah, call another to him: “Andrew calleth Peter, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias: and Philip called Nathanael and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:41-45).
(b) For the edification of others: “And thou, being converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luk 22:32). True grace is communicative as fire, etc.
(c) For our own profit. He that useth his knowledge shall have more. Whereas, on the contrary, full breasts, if not sucked, become dry. In the dividing, the loaves increased. All gifts, but much more spiritual, which are the best, are improved by exercise.
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Charles Spurgeon
“Make me to understand the way of thy precepts.” Give me a deep insight into the practical meaning of thy word; let me get a clear idea of the tone and tenor of thy law. Blind obedience has but small beauty; God would have us follow him with our eyes open. To obey the letter of the word is all that the ignorant can hope for; if we wish to keep God’s precepts in their spirit we must come to an understanding of them, and that can be gained nowhere but at the Lord’s hands. Our understanding needs enlightenment and direction: he who made our understanding must also make us understand. The last sentence was, “teach me thy statutes,” and the words, “make me to understand,” are an instructive enlargement and exposition of that sentence: we need to be so taught that we understand what we learn. It is to be noted that the Psalmist is not anxious to understand the prophecies, but the precepts, and he is not concerned about the subtleties of the law, but the commonplaces and everyday rules of it, which are described as “the way of thy precepts.”
“So shall I talk of thy wondrous works.” It is ill talking of what we do not understand. We must be taught of God till we understand, and then we may hope to communicate our knowledge to others with a hope of profiting them. Talk without intelligence is mere talk, and idle talk; but the words of the instructed are as pearls which adorn the ears of them that hear. When our heart has been opened to understand, our lips should be opened to impart knowledge; and we may hope to be taught ourselves when we feel in our hearts a willingness to teach the way of the Lord to those among whom we dwell.
“Thy wondrous works.” Remark that the clearest understanding does not cause us to cease from wondering at the ways and works of God. The fact is that the more we know of God’s doings, the more we admire them, and the more ready we are to speak upon them. Half the wonder in the world is born of ignorance, but holy wonder is the child of understanding. When a man understands the way of the divine precepts, he never talks of his own works, and as the tongue must have some theme to speak upon, he begins to extol the works of the all-perfect Lord.
Some in this place read “meditate” or “muse” instead of “talk;“ it is singular that the words should be so near of kin, and yet it is right that they should be, for none but foolish people will talk without thinking. If we read the passage in this sense, we take it to mean that in proportion as David understood the word of God, he would meditate upon it more and more. It is usually so; the thoughtless care not to know the inner meaning of the Scriptures, while those who know them best are the very men who strive after a greater familiarity with them, and therefore give themselves up to musing upon them.
Observe the third verse of the last eight (Psa 119:19), and see how the sense is akin to this. There he was a stranger in the earth, and here he prays to know his way; there, too, he prayed that the word might not be hid from himself, and here he promises that he will not hide it from others.
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Enduring Word
Make me understand the way of Your precepts: The psalmist understood that he needed more than knowledge; he also needed understanding. With both, he would meditate on God’s wonderful works. (Guzik)
i. Make me understand: “It is concerned with a deep understanding, one that goes beyond a mere understanding of the words to a profound understanding of what they reveal about the nature of God, the gospel, and God’s ways.” (Boice)
ii. “‘Teach me thy statutes.’ I think the psalmist means this, ‘My Lord, I have told thee all; now, wilt thou tell me all? I have declared to thee my ways; now, wilt thou teach me thy ways? I have confessed to thee how I have broken thy statutes; wilt thou not give me thy statutes back again?’” (Spurgeon)
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Albert Barnes
So shall I talk of thy wondrous works – The things in thy works – thy providential dealings – that are wondrous. That is, with a heart full of the subject, he could not but speak of those things – for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” See Psalms 39:2-4.
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John Gill
Make me to understand the way of thy precepts,…. The meaning of them, to have a more comprehensive, clear, and distinct knowledge of them; and to be led into the way they direct unto, and walk therein;
so shall I talk of thy wondrous works; the works of creation, providence, redemption, and grace; with more knowledge and understanding, with more spirit and cheerfulness, with more readiness and liberty, more to his own satisfaction, and for the good of others: or, “meditate on thy wondrous works”; being in the ways of God, and freed from the distractions of the world and business of it.
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Matthew Henry
David’s earnest desire of the continuance of that intimacy, not by visions and voices from heaven, but by the word and Spirit in an ordinary way: Teach me thy statutes, that is, make me to understand the way of thy precepts. When he knew God had heard his declaration of his ways he did not say, “Now, Lord, tell me my lot, and let me know what the event will be;” but, “Now, Lord, tell me my duty; let me know what thou wouldst have me to do as the case stands.” Note, those who in all their ways acknowledge God may pray in faith that he will direct their steps in the right way. And the surest way of keeping up our communion with God is by learning his statutes and walking intelligently in the way of his precepts. See 1 Jn. 1:6, 7.
The good use he would make of this for the honor of God and the edification of others: “Let me have a good understanding of the way of thy precepts; give me a clear, distinct, and methodical knowledge of divine things; so shall I talk with the more assurance, and the more to the purpose, of thy wondrous works.“ We can talk with a better grace of God’s wondrous works, the wonders of providence, and especially the wonders of redeeming love, when we understand the way of God’s precepts and walk in that way.
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The Pulpit Commentaries
Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. Exegetical of the last clause of Psalms 119:26. What the psalmist longs for is to have a perfect knowledge of God’s Law in all its breadth (Psalms 119:96) and depth (Psalms 92:5) and fullness. So shall I talk of thy wondrous works; rather, so will I muse upon thy marvels (so Kay, Cheyne, and the Revised Version). The “marvels” spoken of are “the wondrous things of God’s Law” (Psalms 119:18).
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Miscellaneous Quotes
“The way of thy precepts.” He desireth that God would, partly by his Spirit, partly by his ministers, partly by affliction, partly by study and labour, make him to have a right and sound understanding, not only of his statutes, but of the way of his statutes, that is, after what sort and order he may live and direct his life, according to those things which God hath commanded him in his law. Learn here how hard a thing it is for man overweening himself in his own wisdom, to know God’s will till God make him to know.
—Richard Greenham.
“So shall I talk.” It is a frequent complaint with Christians, that they are straitened in religious conversation, and often feel unable to speak “to the use of edifying, that they may minister grace to the hearers,” Eph 4:29. Here, then, is the secret disclosed, by which we shall be kept from the danger of dealing in unfelt truths, for “out of the abundance of the heart our mouths shall speak,” Mat 12:34. Seek to have the heart searched, cleansed, filled with the graces of the Spirit. Humility, teachability, simplicity, will bring light unto the understanding, influence the heart, “open the lips,” and unite every member that we have in the service and praise of God.
—Charles Bridges.
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Cross-References
Psalm 145:5 (KJV )
5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty,
And of thy wondrous works.
Psalm 119:34 (KJV )
34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law;
Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
Luke 18:43 (KJV )
43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
Psalm 119:125 (KJV )
125 I am thy servant; give me understanding,
That I may know thy testimonies.
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Closing Thoughts
Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:3-4 NKJV
You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength. Isaiah 26:3-4 NKJV
My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:20-23 NKJV
ד DALETH
25
My soul clings to the dust;
Revive me according to Your word.
26
I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.
27
Make me understand the way of Your precepts;
So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.
28
My soul melts from heaviness;
Strengthen me according to Your word.
29
Remove from me the way of lying,
And grant me Your law graciously.
30
I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.
31
I cling to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not put me to shame!
32
I will run the course of Your commandments,
For You shall enlarge my heart.
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