I Love Them Exceedingly

“My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly”

In this Psalm, David can say that his soul keeps the testimonies of God because he loves them exceedingly. The word “exceedingly” is the word in Hebrew to express “muchness.” We might say, “my arm is very sore.” The word “very” conveys the same notion as “exceedingly.” A deep love for someone or something means a sustained effort in pleasing someone or doing something with pleasure. This is not the first time that David says in Psalm 119 that he loves God and his truth. In verse 47 he says, “I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.” You can only delight in something if you love it. In verse 48 he says, “I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.” He will honor the commandments of God because he loves them. In verse 97 he says, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” It is because he loves God’s law that he meditates on it all the time. In verse 113 he says, “I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.” He cannot tolerate double standards. His sole delight and love is the Word. In verse 119 he makes this startling statement, “All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross, therefore I love your testimonies.” God is not partial and he always keeps his Word. He will judge the wicked righteously and, because God’s law affirms that, David loves God’s testimonies. In verse 127 he says, “Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.” The most valuable possession pales in significance and value compared to God’s commandments. In verse 159 he calls upon God to, “Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.” Since David loves God’s precepts, he expects God to shower him with his love and mercy. In verse 163 he says, “I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.” Anyone who claims to love God and his Word hates lies and deception.

We live in the age of lies and falsehood. In fact, telling a lie is not viewed as a sin. Some Christians even think this way. They reason that it might be necessary to deceive in order to do something right. God hates all lies. You will search in vain in the New Testament for support texts that the apostles used deception. The apostle Paul even claimed God as his witness to his life. Paul was so concerned for truth that he told the Thessalonians when he came and preached to them that he “never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness” (1Thess. 2:5). He told the Romans to watch out for those who oppose and teach false doctrine and cause divisions because “such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve” (Rom. 16:18).

Satan is a smooth talker, isn’t he? He uses words to deceive. Words are incredibly powerful tools. They lie on the tip of our tongues waiting to spring forth when the right opportunity presents itself. Some words that we use are well thought out. Others just come out with violence and hurt. The truth is a beautiful thing. It is to be loved and treasured because it originates only in God. We live in a day when the truth is considered relative—a plaything. Keeping God’s testimonies because we love them means doing God’s testimonies. It is not paying lip service to the truth. The Christian Church is full of lip service. We say what others want to hear. Parents are afraid to confront their children in public in case others think of them as bad parents who have lost their tempers. God has given authority to parents and should not be afraid to exercise it. But witness the ineffectiveness of parents (Christian and non-Christian alike in disciplining their children). Do Christian parents actually believe God’s truth or not? Do Christian parents today actually believe in the rod of correction? There is a vital connection to the truth here. Not one parent who loves his or her child enjoys disciplining the child, but the godly parent recognizes that serious discipline opens up the way to life. Witness also the rebellion against all authority today by young people and adults. Why is this? Well, I would suggest it is because they pay lip service to the truth.

The truth is to be theology in action; otherwise, how would anyone know the truth? David doesn’t make all these statements in Psalm 119 as mere lip service. He wants God and others to see a demonstration of the truth and what it means to him. Truth is not subjective reality. That kind of reality is a reality of your own making. No, the truth is objective. Anything subjective operates on experience. This is why today the truth has become relative. It is what you make it to mean, not what it actually means. Truth is not experiential; it is propositional. Truth does not change; it is unchanging.

We confess that Scripture is truth. This is right, but Scripture does not merely claim this—it is this. David says in Psalm 119:142 that “Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.” He summarizes his view of God’s Word in Psalm 119:160 when he says, “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”

In 1 John 4:1 the apostle John urges us to test the spirits: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” How are you going to test the spirits when you cannot even see a spirit? What are these spirits like that John is referring to? I’ve never seen one, so how can I know what he means? John is not speaking about being subjective here. He never speaks like that. He tells us in verses 2 and 3 that “By this, you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” Anybody who confesses that Jesus is God in the flesh is from God. Any other confession is false. Any other confession is not true and sound doctrine. The confession that John says we must give is a declaration of belief in the truth as it is in the Bible. We test the spirits only by comparing everything we hear with what God has said in his Word.

Truth, therefore, is not subjective but is objective. It is rational and logical. The Church is founded on a confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter’s confession is a simple declaration of the truth. There is nothing subjective about it. There is no Church without Christ, but it must be “the Christ” and the “son of the living God.” Truth is particular and propositional. If the truth is subjective, then our knowledge of the truth will also be subjective. It was Calvin who insisted (rightly so) that the knowledge of God was foundational to an understanding of ourselves. But what knowledge is this? Is it what I think God should be like? No, rather, it is knowledge based on revelation. God has revealed himself, not to be debated, but to be believed and received. Scripture is God’s revelation of himself. He has spoken. God is the object of his revelation, not what we might think God should be like or how he should behave.

Our generation has no concept of truth in this way. Modern education will continue to stress the relativity of truth because we must not offend others. The Church also thinks like this. Ultimately all discipline (in the church or home) is reflective of how we view truth. We are to love the truth. This love is not subjective, but objective. A true delight in God and his Word means loving and doing the truth.