Ps 119.165 — Love the Law!

A Study on Psalm 119.165 — Those Who Love the Law of God

Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The Text:

Ps 119.165 (MT)
  שָׁל֣וֹם רָ֭ב לְאֹהֲבֵ֣י תוֹרָתֶ֑ךָ וְאֵֽין־לָ֥מוֹ מִכְשֽׁוֹל׃
(Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your Law; and there is no cause for stumbling for them.)

The Truth:
The main point centers around the nominal phrase: “those who love Your Law”  (לְאֹהֲבֵ֣י תוֹרָתֶ֑ךָ). Those who are committed to the Law of God, as revealed by the context of Ps 119 at large, refers to those who cherish God’s truth, His Word, His testimonies. Those who love the Word of God commit themselves to hiding it in their hearts, obeying it, meditating on it, proclaiming its glories, and walking in obedience to its demands.

And, those who truly love the Law of God have two characteristics:

1) They have abundant peace. This means that the person in love with God and His revealed Word concerning Himself has great — that is, abundant — peace. There is an internal peace, a wholeness, a complete well-being that is abundantly supplied to the person in love with God’s Word.

2) There is no cause for stumbling for them. This speaks to the reality that for the one who is loving the ordinances of God, there is nothing that comes that causes him to stumble. There is no event, no circumstance, no person, no disagreement, nor is there any thought that causes the lover of God’s Word to stumble. This is so because the man is passionately consumed with the truth of God rather than the fleeting and flickering flings that may arise here.

May it be characteristic of God’s people — who must be fervent lovers of God’s truth — to have abundant peace and also to have no cause for stumbling. As the man of God feeds upon the glorious truths of God and the marvelous mercies revealed in the Gospel of grace as manifested in the Word of God, may he have abundant wholeness, well-being, internal joy & delight. And, may he find himself so caught up in abundant peace — that only God Himself can sovereignly bestow — that there is really nothing that can cause him to stumble. No slight statement that a man may raise, no opposing situation that may occur, no disheartening event that may come about can deter the man wholly focused and eternally loving the Truth of God.


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