Psalm 119:59 I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to your testimonies.… I. AS A MENTAL EXERCISE. "I thought on my ways." Religion revives the past, rouses the moral memory. 1. The supreme interest of the past is of a religious nature. What we have been intellectually or socially is of great interest. But what have been our convictions and conduct religiously? We thrill with joy or shiver with misery according to the answer we give to this question - What are our "ways"? what are we? 2. But to think upon our "ways" is difficult and repulsive. To think of good fortune in worldly speculation, success in business, formation of esteemed connections and friendships, fills us with complacent delight. But to think of a youth wasted in thoughtless frivolity or in impure pleasures, of manhood hardening itself against all religious impression, of a past whose track has been fouled with the slime of the serpent, - we turn away from this as from folly, loss, guilt, shame, and misery. 3. To think upon our "ways is necessary and salutary. Necessary to realize our sin, to a change of life, and renewal of the soul. The connection there is between thought and practice. II. RELIGION AS A PRACTICAL PRINCIPLE. And turned my feet unto thy testimonies." 1. Practical resolves should be the result of earnest thought. Fits and impulses too often precede our resolutions and efforts. But thought, deliberate and earnest, summons up the grand motives, surveys the difficulties to be conquered, counts the cost, and prays for Divine help, and should go before every effort after a change of life. 2. The great end of religion is active obedience to the will of God. True understanding of our ways brings the grand conclusion - that man's "way ought to be God's "way." We are forgiven in order to this. 3. If we are not led to this, we miss the end for which Divine intelligence was given. Reason is under an eclipse if it does not light us to this end. Conscience is a corrupted judge, bribed to betray us, if it does not pronounce this verdict. The whole nature of man suffers loss and ruin if we fail to turn our feet to the Divine testimonies. - S. Parallel Verses KJV: I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.WEB: I considered my ways, and turned my steps to your statutes. |
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