Psalm 119:101 NKJV
101
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
The Discipline of Obedience
My Notes
Scripture: “I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your word.” — Psalm 119:101 (NKJV)
My Thoughts
David’s words reveal a deliberate choice: to walk in obedience, he first had to turn away from sin. Holiness is not accidental—it is intentional. David understood that to truly keep God’s Word, he had to restrain his feet from every evil path—not just some, but every one.
The Hebrew word for “restrain” (kālā’) means to shut up, withhold, or hold back. This is not a casual resistance—it’s a firm, Spirit-led refusal to walk where sin beckons. The broad way may look green and pleasant, and many may walk it, but David saw its end and chose instead the narrow path of obedience.
There is no true reverence for Scripture without a corresponding rejection of sin. We cannot treasure the holy Word while tolerating unholy habits. If we are to keep the good, we must cast off the evil. David’s abstaining from sin was not just moral discipline but spiritual devotion. It was evidence of his desire to honor God’s Word and walk in its light.
His method was clear:
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Guard against anything that would lead him away from obedience
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Make God’s Word the aim and anchor of his life
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Consider the authority and glory of the One who gave the Word
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Walk in the way Scripture directs, and shun every other way
This kind of restraint is not legalism—it’s love. It’s the fruit of a heart that longs to be found in the way of duty, not drifting in the paths of destruction. As Psalm 17:4 says, “Concerning the works of men, By the word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer.”
We cannot approach God in worship, prayer, or service with boldness and joy if we are clinging to sin. But when we walk in obedience, we find freedom, clarity, and a deeper understanding of His Word.
Cross Reference
Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” — 2 Timothy 2:19 (NKJV)
Questions
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What “evil ways” do you need to restrain your feet from today?
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How does obedience help you understand and treasure God’s Word more deeply?
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What practical steps can you take to guard your walk and keep His Word?
Prayer
Lord, help me to restrain my feet from every path that leads away from You. Give me strength to walk in obedience, not out of duty alone, but out of love for Your Word. May my life reflect Your truth, and may my steps be guided by Your precepts. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Summary of the Commentaries
Psalm 119:101 emphasizes the importance of refraining from evil paths to maintain an adherence to God’s word. David reflects on the necessity of avoiding sin to uphold obedience to divine teachings. Noting that self-restraint is essential, commentators like Charles Spurgeon and Matthew Henry stress that true reverence for scripture involves actively shunning temptations. This abstention from wickedness is portrayed as a deliberate act driven by love for God’s law, rather than seeking approval from others. Ultimately, keeping God’s commandments is achieved through diligently avoiding behaviors that contradict them. This practice fosters spiritual understanding and strengthens one’s moral conduct.
Proverb for Today
My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them And health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:20-23 NASB1995
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 101, which is in the 13th section, which is called “Mem מ”. The website https://www.abarim-publications.com/Hebrew_Alphabet_Meaning.html defines the meaning of the letter Mem מ as: ם (mayim) means waters in the sense of a larger body (sea, ocean). It is suggested that the letter Mem מ looks like a wave. The letter Mem מ is written ם when it occurs at the end of a word, and מ when it occurs at the beginning or halfway through a word.
……..Bill
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.” There is no treasuring up the holy word unless there is a casting out of all unholiness: if we keep the good word, we must let go of the evil. David had zealously watched his steps and put a check upon his conduct—he had refrained his feet. No one evil way could entice him, for he knew that if he went astray but in one road, he had practically left the way of righteousness; therefore, he avoided every false way. The bypaths were smooth and flowery, but he knew right well that they were evil, and so he turned his feet away, and held on along the strait and thorny pathway which leads to God. It is a pleasure to look back upon self-conquests,— “I have refrained,” and a greater delight still to know that we did this out of no mere desire to stand well with our fellows, but with the one motive of keeping the law of the Lord. Sin avoided that obedience may be perfected is the essence of this verse; or it may be that the Psalmist would teach us that there is no real reverence for the book where there is not carefulness to avoid every transgression of its precepts. How can we keep God’s word if we do not keep our own works from becoming vile?
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Enduring Word
I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your word. The psalmist understood that restraining himself from evil would also help him understand God’s word better. He could better keep God’s word by staying away from every evil way. (Guzik)
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Albert Barnes
I have refrained my feet from every evil way – I have walked in the path which thy law marks out. I have avoided the way of wickedness and have not yielded to the seductions of a sinful life.
That I might keep thy word, I have avoided all those allurements which would turn me from obedience, and which would prevent a right observance of thy commands. This indicates a purpose and a desire to keep the law of God, and shows the method which he adopted in order to do this. That method was to guard against everything which would turn him from obedience; it was to make obedience to the law of God the great aim of the life.
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John Gill
I have refrained my feet from every evil way,…. Of error or immorality, forbidden and condemned by the word of God; every way that is evil in itself, or leads to evil, and in which evil men walk; and though there may be many snares and temptations to walk in such a way, yet a good man cannot allow himself to walk therein, as others do; he has not so learned the word of God; he is under the influence of divine grace, and withholds himself from it; he abstains from all appearance of evil, and lays a restraint, as upon his mouth and lips, so upon his feet, or guards his walk and conversation. This shows, that as David had an affection for the word of God, and made great proficiency in knowledge by it; so it had an influence on his life and conversation, and his knowledge appeared to be not merely speculative, but practical: his end, in laying such a restraint upon his feet, was not out of vain glory, and to gain popular applause nor through fear of losing his credit among men, nor of the wrath of God; but out of love to God, and to his word, as follows:
that I might keep thy word; such was his love to it, and his regard to the honor of it; considering whose word it was, and with whose authority it was clothed, and whose glory was concerned therein; that he was careful to walk according to it, and in the way that directed to, and shun every other way.
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Matthew Henry
1. David’s care to avoid the ways of sin: “I have refrained my feet from the evil ways they were ready to step aside into. I checked myself and drew back as soon as I was aware that I was entering into temptation.” Though it was a broad way, a green way, a pleasant way, and a way that many walked in, yet, being a sinful way, it was an evil way, and he refrained his feet from it, foreseeing the end of that way. And his care was universal; he shunned every evil way. By the words of thy lips I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer, Ps. 17:4.
2. His care to be found in the way of duty; That I might keep thy word, and never transgress it. His abstaining from sin was,
(1.) An evidence that he did conscientiously aim to keep God’s word and had made that his rule.
(2.) It was a means of his keeping God’s word in the exercises of religion; for we cannot with any comfort or boldness attend on God in holy duties, so as in them to keep his word, while we are under guilt or in any by-way.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“Refrained…that I might keep.” By doing what is right we come both to know right and to be better able to do it.
— “Plain Commentary.”
“I have refrained my feet,” etc. The word “refrained” warns us that we are naturally borne by our feet into the path of every kind of sin, and are hurried along it by the rush of human passions, so that even the wise and understanding need to check, recall, and retrace their steps, in order that they may keep God’s word, and not become castaways. And further note that the Hebrew verb here translated “refrained” is even stronger in meaning, and denotes “I fettered, or imprisoned, my feet,” whereby we may learn that no light resistance is enough to prevent them from leading us astray.
—Agellius and Genebrardus, in “Neale and Littledale.”
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Additional Cross-Reference
Psalm 19:10 (KJV)
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
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מ MEM Loving the sweetness of God’s word.
97
Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98
You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
99
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100
I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
101
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
102
I have not departed from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
103
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104
Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
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