Sin and Shin
161 Princes persecute me without cause,
but my heart stands in awe of your words.
162 I rejoice at your word
like one who finds great spoil.
163 I hate and abhor falsehood,
but I love your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise you
for your righteous rules.
165 Great peace have those who love your law;
nothing can make them stumble.
166 I hope for your salvation, O Lord,
and I do your commandments.
167 My soul keeps your testimonies;
I love them exceedingly.
168 I keep your precepts and testimonies,
for all my ways are before you.
We should note the expressions used in these verses by the Psalmist about his attitude to God's Word - he stands in awe at it (161), he rejoices in it, as in great spoil (162), he loves it, and knows its peace (163, 164), in his love, he keeps the Word (167). It is impressive, is it not, and true to deepest experience that 'reverential awe and exuberant gladness' (to use Maclaren's words) blend as the result of listening to the Word. Is not the joy ever touched with a sense of awe, that God should condescend to come to us in His Word at all? That Thou shouldst love a worm like me And be the God Thou art, Is darkness to my intellect But music to my heart. That is the awe - and it is surely expressed in such hymns as RCH 27 and 406. Then, there is the phrase 'great spoil' in 162. The thought here is that of the battlefield and of the booty that falls to the conqueror as his legitimate prize. P.M. Taylor, a former Principal of Aberdeen University and a devout Christian, once said of the Scriptures that they 'do not yield their treasures to chance enquiry'. One has to dig, and one has to fight. And the reward of victory - often battling against the sloth and disinclination of our hearts, and the indiscipline of our spirits, and our disobedience and negligence - is spoil. One thinks of Isaiah's words (25:9), 'Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him' - we knew that it would be worthwhile, but nothing like this! The other note in the section is peace (165). Maclaren says, 'The love of God's law secures peace, inasmuch as such love brings the heart into contact with absolute good, inasmuch as submission to God's will is always peace, inasmuch as the fountain of unrest is dried up, inasmuch as all outward things are allies of such a heart, and serve the soul that serves God. Such love saves from falling over stumbling-blocks and enables a man to walk firmly and safely on the clear path of duty.'