Jerry C. Brewer
Psalm 119 is a tribute to the Word of God. Of the 176 verses in this great Psalm, only six do not refer to the Word of God by the terms Law, Testimonies, Ways, Precepts, Statutes, Commandments, Word, Judgments, or Ordinances. In verses 6 and 117, David wrote: “Then shall I not be ashamed, When I have respect unto all thy commandments…Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: And I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.”
Today, we live in an age of rebellion and the spirit of the 1960s has reached most corners of our world. Children rebel against parents who allow them to rebel. Men rebel against civil government, and the world at large is in rebellion against God. Respect for sacred things is a forgotten principle. Paul wrote that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom. 1:18). Those two words—ungodliness and unrighteousness—describe man’s attitude and conduct toward both God and his fellow man. Ungodliness is a failure to respect and reverence the things of God and unrighteousness describes man’s treatment of his fellow man. One who is ungodly will certainly be unrighteous. There can be no respect in any area of life unless we are willing to respect God, and we will not respect Him until we are willing to respect His Word.
The words of our text indicate the deep and profound respect that David had for God’s Word, and that is what must be instilled in the hearts of men and women, boys and girls today if they are to lead upright lives and please God, and a proper respect for God’s Word begins with a proper attitude. Notice David’s attitude toward God’s Word in the following verses from Psalm 119: “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, And not to covetousness” (119:36). “Behold I have longed after thy precepts: Quicken me in thy righteousness” (119:40). “And I will delight myself in thy commandments, Which I have loved” (119:47).
To understand and respect God, the Bible must be approached as His Word, not as the product of men. That is precisely what the Bible claims for itself: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Peter said the Scriptures are not the product of men. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1:20-21).
These claims are made not only for the Bible as a whole, but the inspiration by which those men wrote extends to the very words they penned. God did not give them a thought and allow them to express that thought in their own words. Paul wrote that the thoughts of God were expressed in words chosen by the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:9, Paul quoted Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 64:4 which referred to the divine plan of salvation that was revealed through the apostles. Isaiah wrote, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). Paul then said:
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual (2:10-13).
Note the last part of that passage. Inspired men spoke in words given to them by the Holy Spirit. Their inspiration extended to the very words they spoke.
To truly respect and understand the Bible, one must approach it with the attitude that it indeed came from God and that it is a divinely inspired Book. If the Bible is inspired (and it is) then it is true. The Bible does not merely contain the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God and its inspiration extends to the very words in which it was written (2:7-13). If any part of the Bible is not inspired, then we cannot believe any of it.
