Want or Word

“Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” (Ps 119:36 AV)

It is both interesting and convicting that the writer of this Psalm juxtaposes love for the word of God against love for things.  The two cannot co-exist.  One will win out over the other.  Love for things is not the only enemy of a love for the word of God.  But it is a large one.  Covetousness is the enemy of truth.  The extreme of this principle would be the life of a hermit.  This is what the old orders of monks practiced.  The writer is not saying that minimalism is the preferred lifestyle of those who have a passion for the word of God.  God does not call us to depravity for the sake of a deeper spiritual experience.  Solomon is one to prove that wrong.  However, a love for things that do not belong to us is the enemy.  What God has not determined for our comfort or pleasure are the objects of our covetousness.  To love the word of God more than an excess of comfort or pleasure is the desire here.

Remember those school days filled with day-dreaming?  As a young boy, my mind was often on things more fun than arithmetic or history.  Spelling class was torture.  I would rather be playing in the snow or at the park hitting a baseball.  Spending warm spring days or bright winter days cooped up indoors learning dates, facts, and principles wasn’t my idea of the perfect day.  We couldn’t wait until the bell rang, and we ran outside to enjoy the freedom that play and imagination would bring.  To this day, I can remember more of the adventures my friends and I enjoyed than any single day of school.  Just outside was my ten-speed bike, chained to the bike rack, waiting for my feet and hands to connect.  There it was.  I could see it out of my classroom window.  The first bike I had was orange.  I got it at a police auction.  It was two sizes too big for me.  When that one got stolen, I saved up money to buy a brand-new green Schwinn.  Fifty years later and I still dream about that bike.  I dream that my parents stored it away and brought it out in a sad state of disrepair.  My dream is restoring that bike to its original glory.  The only dream I have of school is that I never completed required classwork and, in reality, I have to go back and finish up English class.  The things we want often disrupt the things we need.

Our writer knows the word of God is more valuable than anything he could ever possess.  This doesn’t mean he cannot possess things.  What it does mean is the desire to possess things or find pleasure in things cannot supersede his love for the word of God.  The writer is not limiting love for the word of God to mere scholastic pleasure.  Just because we faithfully read the word of God does not mean we love the word of God.  Rather, to what our writer is referring is the testimonies contained within the word of God.  The testimonies are the reasons why God does things or requires other things.   It is the reason for the revelation.  Our writer doesn’t want to limit his love for the word of God to mere knowledge of facts.  Rather, his love for the word of God goes to the very heart of the purpose for the revelation.  God gave us His word so that we can know Him, trust Him, and obey Him.  That is what the writer wants.