I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.

Choosing the Path of Truth

My Thoughts

This morning, my thoughts are with Israel and I ask for every Christian who loves the Lord to lift up the nation of Israel to the Lord in prayer for her safety and that through this time the Lord’s name will be glorified.

As much as David hated deceit and untruthfulness, he was determined to follow the path of truth in God’s laws and statutes. Like Mary in Luke 10, he chose the good part, and as Jesus said, “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Even though David sought God with all of his heart, there was still a need for him to study the word, and his way was to set God’s commands before him and use them as a model to strive for; he put them first and foremost in his mind and heart.

The text discusses Psalm 119:30, which emphasizes David’s deliberate choice of the “way of truth,” reflecting a commitment to God and His judgments. Various commentaries highlight the necessity of conscious choice in one’s spiritual journey, warning that neglecting God’s laws leads to deviation from the truth. David sets God’s judgments before himself as a guiding principle, suggesting a close relationship with Scripture. Ultimately, the emphasis is on the importance of choosing a life aligned with God’s word and righteousness.

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 30, 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:

Charles Spurgeon

“I have chosen the way of truth.” As he abhorred the way of lying, so he chose the way of truth: a man must choose one or the other, for there cannot be any neutrality in the case. Men do not drop into the right way by chance; they must choose it, and continue to choose it, or they will soon wander from it. Those whom God has chosen in due time choose his way. There is a doctrinal way of truth which we ought to choose, rejecting every dogma of man’s devising; there is a ceremonial way of truth which we should follow, detesting all the forms which apostate churches have invented; and then there is a practical way of truth, the way of holiness, to which we must adhere whatever may be our temptation to forsake it. Let our election be made, and made irrevocably. Let us answer to all seducers, “I have chosen, and what I have chosen I have chosen.” O Lord, by thy grace lead us with a hearty free will to choose to do thy will; thus shall thine eternal choice of us bring forth the end which it designs.

“Thy judgments have I laid before me.“ What he had chosen he kept in mind, laying it out before his mind’s eye. Men do not become holy by a careless wish: there must be study, consideration, deliberation, and earnest enquiry, or the way of truth will be missed. The commands of God must be set before us as the mark to aim at, the model to work by, the road to walk in. If we put God’s judgments into the background, we shall soon find ourselves departing from them.

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Enduring Word

Your judgments I have laid before me: This is how the psalmist was able to choose the way of truth: He was in a close relationship with the word of God. (David Guzik)

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Albert Barnes

I have chosen the way of truth – Among all the paths of life, I have selected this. I prefer this. I desire to walk in this. Religion is, wherever it exists, a matter of preference or choice; and the friend of God prefers his service to the service of the world.

Thy judgments – Thy statutes; thy laws.

Have I laid before me – I have set them before my mind as the guide of my conduct; I have made their observance the end and aim of my life.

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John Gill

I have chosen the way of truth,…. Christ, who is the way and the truth, the true way to God and to eternal happiness; and to choose him is to choose the good part, which shall never be taken away; and which choice is made, not by the free will of man, as left to itself, but under the influence and by the direction of the Spirit and grace of God; whereby a soul sees a preferableness in Christ to every thing else, and which determines the choice of him: or, “the way of faith,” as the Targum; the doctrine of faith, particularly the doctrine of justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ; also each of the truths of the Gospel, a way in which believers walk with pleasure and by choice; as being preferable to, and more desirable by them, than thousands of gold and silver;

thy judgments have I laid [before me]; to be looked at continually, as being exceeding amiable and lovely, and having a strong affection for them; and as a copy to write after, and a rule to walk by.

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Matthew Henry

Observe,

I. That those who will make anything the purpose of their religion must first make it their serious and deliberate choice; so David did: I have chosen the way of truth. Note,

1. The way of serious godliness is the way of truth; the principles it is founded on are principles of eternal truth, and it is the only true way to happiness.

2. We must choose to walk in this way, not because we know no other way, but because we know no better; nay, we know no other safe and good way. Let us choose that way for our way, which we will walk in, though it be narrow.

II. That those who have chosen the way of truth must have a constant regard to the word of God as the rule of their walking: Thy judgments have I laid before me, as he who learns to write lays his copy before him, that he may write according to it, as the workman lays his model and platform before him, that he may do his work exactly. As we must have the word in our heart by an habitual conformity to it, so we must have it in our eye by an actual regard to it upon all occasions, that we may walk accurately and by rule.

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Miscellaneous Quotes

I have chosen the way of truth.” Here you have the working of a gracious soul. This is more than sitting and hearing the word, having no objection to what you hear. Such hearing is all that can be affirmed of the generality of gospel hearers, except we add that none are more ready to be caught by false and easy ways of salvation, for they assent to all they hear. The man of God strikes a higher and more spiritual note—he goes into the choice of the thing; he chooses the way of truth; and he cannot but choose it; it is the bent of his renewed nature, the effect indeed of all he has been pleading. How act we? The way of truth is all that God has revealed concerning his Son Jesus. The willing heart chooses this way, and all of it; the bitterness of it, the self denial of it, as well as the comfort of it; a Savior from sin as well as a Savior from hell; a Savior whose Spirit can lead from prayerlessness to godliness, from idleness upon the Sabbath day to a holy keeping of that day, from self seeking to the seeking of Christ, from slack, inconsistent conduct to a careful observance of all the Lord’s will. Where God’s people meet, there such will delight to be. O for such to abound among us!—John Stephen.

In all our religious exercises, let deliberation precede our resolution, and consideration usher in determination. David did so; and therefore he says here, “I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.” Indeed, he cannot but resolve upon, and make choice of, the way of piety, who layeth before him the goodness, the rectitude, and pleasantness of the way. When the prodigal considereth with himself how well his father’s servants fared, he thinketh of, yea, determines to go home: “I will arise and go to my father.”—Abraham Wright, 1661.

I have chosen.” No man ever served the Lord but he first made choice of him to be his Master. Every man, when he comes to years of discretion, so as to be master of himself, advises with himself what course he shall take, whether he will serve God or the world. Now all the saints of God have made this distinct choice; we will serve the Lord, and no other. Moses when both stood before him, the pleasures of Egypt on the one hand, and God and his people with their afflictions on the other, he chose the latter before the former, Heb 11:25. So David saith he did, “I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me;” for to choose, is, when a thing lies before a man, and he considers and takes it. So Joshua, “I and my house will serve the Lord.”—John Preston, (1587-1628) in “The Golden Sceptre held forth to the Humble.” 1638.

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Cross-References

Psalm 16:8 (KJV )

⁸ I have set the Lord always before me:

Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Joshua 24:15 (KJV )

¹⁵And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Psalm 119:173 (KJV )

¹⁷³ Let thine hand help me;

For I have chosen thy precepts.

Proverbs 1:29 (KJV )

²⁹ For that they hated knowledge,

And did not choose the fear of the Lord:

Deuteronomy 11:18–20 (KJV )

¹⁸Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ²⁰And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

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Closing Thoughts

Luke 10:38-41 NKJV

38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.

39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.

40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.

42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

ד DALETH

My soul clings to the dust;
Revive me according to Your word.

I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.

Make me understand the way of Your precepts;
So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.

My soul melts from heaviness;
Strengthen me according to Your word.

Remove from me the way of lying,
And grant me Your law graciously.

I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.

I cling to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not put me to shame!

I will run the course of Your commandments,
For You shall enlarge my heart.