Your testimonies are my delight;
they are my counselors.

Psalm 119:24 ESV

Through his cries as a sojourner, his lamentation of being held in scorn and contempt by the insolent, and his remaining firmly committed to God’s Word even when princes are arrayed against him, the psalmist now concludes stanza gimel with this simple statement of the Scripture as his delight and wisdom. We will consider the first half of this verse this week.

He begins by declaring God’s testimonies to be his delight. We observed his delight twice back in beth. In verse 16, the psalmist resolved to delight in God’s statutes, and in verse 14, he exulted that God’s testimonies were his delight as much as in all riches. He is not, therefore, presenting a new idea here. This is a repetition, which in Scripture, calls us to pay attention. Thus, let us ask ourselves again whether we find our delight in God’s revelation of Himself to us? Are His Scriptures our highest joy because they lead us to God as our greatest treasure?

Of course, no repetition is ever exactly the same. As we have now seen in verses 17, 19, and 22–23, the psalmist certainly knows loneliness and opposition. Thus, our understanding of his delight in God’s testimonies should be deeper than we first observed back in verse 14. Here is a man who does not rejoice in meditating over God’s law in ease, comforting, and security. He is not an armchair theologian, who has never known the sorrow of living in this fallen world. Instead, he is one who flees to God’s revealed text as his source of delight in the midst of affliction and sorrow. Again, do you find this to be true of yourself? When facing trials and suffering, are you more likely to turn away from God’s Word or, like the psalmist, hold onto it even tighter?

May the revealed testimonies that God is God ever be our delight.