34
Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law;
Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
How to Keep God’s Law with a Whole Heart
My Thoughts
Here, David asks the Lord to give him an understanding, a spiritual discernment to recognize what was right and what was wrong, so that his love of God’s commandments would be increased. It’s one thing to know the Word of God, but we need to understand as well as to seek, to learn, remember, and treasure what God’s Word says. He asked the Lord to teach him so that his understanding would be enlightened. The same kind of understanding that 1 John. 5:20 says that Jesus gives us.
Albert Barnes, speaking of observing it with the whole heart, interprets it as “I will keep it with undivided affections; I will make it the sole guide of my life.” We should do this with everything inside of us, not only so that men can see it and give glory to God, but also do the will of God from the heart with a sincere love for the Lord.
In Psalm 119:34, David pleads for understanding from God to uphold His law wholeheartedly. Commentaries from Matthew Henry and Charles Spurgeon emphasize the need for spiritual enlightenment to truly grasp and obey divine commandments. Genuine understanding transforms the heart, nurturing a love for God’s law, and fosters consistency in obedience. David expresses a desire not merely for knowledge but for a profound insight that guides towards holiness. Spiritual discernment, they argue, is a miraculous gift contingent on recognizing one’s need for grace. In essence, divine understanding enables heartfelt and unwavering compliance with God’s precepts throughout life.
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 34, which is in the 5th section, which is called “He ה”. According to the hebrews4christians.com website, the letter Hey (“He” in several versions of the Bible) is the 5th letter of the Aleph-Bet, having the numeric value of five. The pictograph for Hey looks like a man with his arms raised. The meaning of the name “Hey” is “look” or “behold”. Hey is considered to be formed from the Hebrew letters Dalet and Yod, which can be a picture of returning to God by means of the transforming power of the Spirit. Another description is opening the door of the heart, and the picture is of the Spirit of God indwelling the believer.
………Bill
Commentaries:
Matthew Henry
How he desires to be taught, in such a way as no man could teach him: Lord, give me understanding. As the God of nature, he has given us intellectual powers and faculties; but here we are taught to pray that, as the God of grace, he would give us understanding to use those powers and faculties about the great things which belong to our peace, which, through the corruption of nature, we are averse to: Give me understanding, an enlightened understanding; for it is as good to have no understanding at all as not to have it sanctified. Nor will the spirit of revelation in the word answer the end unless we have the spirit of wisdom in the heart. This is that which we are indebted to Christ for; for the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, 1 Jn. 5:20.
He promises faithfully that he would be a good scholar. If God would teach him, he was sure he should learn to good purpose: “I shall keep thy law, which I shall never do unless I be taught of God, and therefore I earnestly desire that I may be taught.” If God, by His Spirit, gives us a right and good understanding, we shall be,
1. Constant in our obedience: “I shall keep it to the end, to the end of my life, which will be the surest proof of sincerity.” It will not avail the traveler to keep the way for a while, if he does not keep it to the end of his journey.
2. Cordial in our obedience: I shall observe it with my whole heart, with pleasure and delight, and with vigour and resolution. That way which the whole heart goes, the whole man goes; and that should be the way of God’s commandments, for the keeping of them is the whole of man.
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Charles Spurgeon
“Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law.” This is the same prayer enlarged, or rather, it is a supplement which intensifies it. He not only needs teaching, but the power to learn: he requires not only to understand, but to obtain an understanding. How low has sin brought us; for we even lack the faculty to understand spiritual things, and are quite unable to know them till we are endowed with spiritual discernment. Will God in very deed give us understanding? This is a miracle of grace. It will, however, never be wrought upon us till we know our need of it; and we shall not even discover that need till God gives us a measure of understanding to perceive it. We are in a state of complicated ruin, from which nothing but manifold grace can deliver us. Those who feel their folly are by the example of the Psalmist encouraged to pray for understanding: let each man by faith cry, “Give me understanding.” Others have had it, why may it not come to me? It was a gift to them; will not the Lord also freely bestow it upon me?
We are not to seek this blessing that we may be famous for wisdom, but that we may be abundant in our love to the law of God. He who has understanding will learn, remember, treasure up, and obey the commandment of the Lord. The gospel gives us grace to keep the law; the free gift leads us to holy service; there is no way of reaching to holiness but by accepting the gift of God. If God gives, we keep, but we never keep the law in order to obtain grace. The sure result of regeneration, or the bestowal of understanding, is a devout reverence for the law and a resolute keeping of it in the heart. The Spirit of God makes us to know the Lord and to understand somewhat of his love, wisdom, holiness, and majesty; and the result is that we honor the law and yield our hearts to the obedience of the faith.
“Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.” The understanding operates upon the affections; it convinces the heart of the beauty of the law, so that the soul loves it with all its powers; and then it reveals the majesty of the lawgiver, and the whole nature bows before his supreme will. An enlightened judgment heals the divisions of the heart and bends the united affections to a strict and watchful observance of the one rule of life. He alone obeys God who can say, “My Lord, I would serve thee, and do it with all my heart;” and none can truly say this till they have received as a free grant the inward illumination of the Holy Ghost. To observe God’s law with all our heart at all times is a great grace, and few there be that find it; yet it is to be had if we will consent to be taught of the Lord.
Observe the parallel of Psa 119:2 and Psa 119:10, where the whole heart is spoken of in reference to seeking, and in Psa 119:58 in pleading for mercy; these are all second verses in their octonaries. The frequent repetition of the phrase shows the importance of undivided love: the heart is never whole or holy till it is whole or united. The heart is never one with God till it is one within itself.
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Enduring Word
Give me understanding…I shall observe it with my whole heart: Without this understanding, the psalmist could not follow the desire of his transformed heart. We need understanding to persevere in the faith. (Guzik)
i. “The understanding operates upon the affections; it convinces the heart of the beauty of the law, so that the soul loves it with all its powers; and then it reveals the majesty of the lawgiver, and the whole nature bows before his supreme will.” (Spurgeon)
ii. The psalmist had no doubt that God had given His word to us; his only fear was that he would not understand it (or be distracted from it). Yet he was utterly confident that God had spoken and that it could be understood rightly by the prayerful heart and mind. (Guzik)
iii. “‘To the end’ means without time limit, and ‘with all my heart’ means without reservation.” (Boice)
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Albert Barnes
Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law – Give me right views of it, of its nature and obligation. It is not a prayer that God would give him the faculty of understanding or intelligence, but that he would enable him to take just views of the law. The word is the same as in Psalms 119:27, rendered there, “Make me to understand.”
Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart – See Psalms 119:2. I will keep it with undivided affections; I will make it the sole guide of my life.
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John Gill
Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law,…. A spiritual understanding; an understanding of the law, the perfection, purity, holiness, and spirituality of it; an understanding of the Gospel, and of Christ and the things of Christ; from whom grace and strength are to be had for the due observance of the law, as in his hands; which understanding must be given, and is a gift of pure, free, rich grace, to such who have it; though they cannot keep the law perfectly, as no mere man can, yet will keep it spiritually, from a principle of love and gratitude, and with a view to the glory of God and Christ, 1 John 5:20;
yea, I shall observe it with [my] whole heart; not only externally, and to be seen of men, and get applause from them; but doing the will of God from the heart, and with a good will and heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men; with a sincere affection for him, and with a single eye to his glory, Ephesians 6:6.
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Miscellaneous Quotes
“Give me understanding.” The Psalmist goes to the root of the matter; he is taught to do so by the Spirit of all teaching. He would not merely be taught, as a master would teach, but he would have his mind remolded and informed as only the Creator could do. The words imply as much. “Give me understanding“—make me to understand. Not merely did he want to know a thing—the general nature of it-but he wished to understand the beginning, the outgoing, and the end of it. He wanted to attain the power of distinction between right and wrong—spiritual discernment that so he might discern the right, and, at the same time, all that was contrary to it; he wanted understanding, that so he might know, and discern, and prize the truth, the true way of God, carefully avoiding all that would be aside from it.—John Stephen.
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Cross-References
Psalm 119:27 (KJV)
27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts:
So shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
Proverbs 2:6 (KJV)
6 For the Lord giveth wisdom:
Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
James 1:5 (KJV)
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
Psalm 119:144 (KJV)
144 The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting:
Give me understanding, and I shall live.
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Closing Thoughts
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love. 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NKJV
He ה: Divine Breath and Revelation
33
Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes,
And I shall keep it to the end.
34
Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law;
Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
36
Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
And not to covetousness.
37
Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,
And revive me in Your way.
38
Establish Your word to Your servant,
Who is devoted to fearing You.
39
Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your judgments are good.
40
Behold, I long for Your precepts;
Revive me in Your righteousness.
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