“The law of the Lord is perfect. Reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned. In keeping them there is great reward.”
– Psalm 19:7–11
Psalm 19:7–11, what I just read is one of the most beautiful descriptions of God’s word in God’s word, the way the Holy Spirit inspired the Psalmist to describe the essence of God’s word and the effects of God’s word. So what I want to do is I just want to lead us to pray in both those directions.
The essence of God’s Word is perfect.
I want us to praise God for the essence of his word, based on what his word says. So as we pray the word, we’re going to pray about the word, according to the word, as the word describes the word. Like this is just going to be word saturated praying about the essence of God’s word and the effects of God’s word. And as we pray this, just to praise God for his word. So as we pray this, just to praise God for the essence of his word and what it is.
And then for us to pray that it would have its effect, its intended effect in our lives. I’ll just say this one other thing before we pray. I think about my time with the Lord this morning. I just opened up the word with a lot of things going through my mind and a lot of, well, I won’t go into all the details, but just heavy things, my mind, and my heart.
And I read from God’s word and it was like water to my soul.
I felt like I was drinking in the desert and it tasted so good. Like amazingly good. So refreshing. And this is the effect. It’s just one of the effects of God’s word. So God, we praise you for the essence of your word. We praise you that your word is perfect. That your word is sure. We praise you that your word is right. It’s never wrong. It’s totally trustworthy. We praise you that your word is pure. It’s all together holy. It’s completely pure. It is clean.
We praise you that your words are true, true, trustworthy, faithful, right, there’s nothing false in your word. We praise you that your word is far better than gold, money. Then millions, and millions, and millions of dollars. Your word is better. It’s more valuable. It’s sweeter than any food we could put in our mouths. Your word is sweeter to our souls.
Psalm 19:7–11 Reminds Us Of The Characteristics Of the Word of God
And so we pray, Oh God, that you would revive our souls with it. Now, daily, day and night in a Joshua one kind of way. Help us to meditate on your word day and night in a way that revives our soul. Make us wise. We pray. Bring joy to our hearts through your word. Enlighten our eyes oh God, that we may see rightly. We pray that you would make us righteous according to your word. And that you would warn us through it. That you would guard us from sin and ourselves through it. You would warn us.
And that you would bring reward to our hearts and lives as we meditate on it. I think about Psalm one, blessed is the man or woman whose delight is in the law of the Lord and on your law we meditate day and night. God make us more, and more, and more a people of your word, men and women of your word, students who love your word. So that we might know all these things that Psalm 19:7–11 tells us personally, the essence of your word. And so that your word might have all of these effects in our lives on a day by day basis. We pray this according to your word in Jesus’ name amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
