Can misinterpretation still yield good application? Noodling on that this morning.

Reading still in Psalm 119, day 18 of the 22 day, 176 verse mega-psalm, and observed something that caused me to nod my head and whisper to myself, “Amen! Thank You, Lord.”

Your promise is well tried, and Your servant loves it.

(Psalm 119:40 ESV)

Psalm 119 is a tribute to the word of God. The songwriter is moved of the Spirit to state, again and again, in way after way, the excellencies of God’s precepts and the ways in which His commandments, testimonies, and promises have impacted the songwriter’s life — often through times of trial and affliction.

So, when I first read, “Your promise is well tried” this morning, my immediate “Amen!” came from processing that as: Your promises have been really well tested in Your servants life. Claimed repeatedly. Often trusted in, desperately. Always found true, completely. Never found wanting, thankfully.

I know the sufficiency of the promises of God because I’ve drawn heavily on the promises of God. So, His promise is well tried and I love it! Amen!

But dig a little and the intent of the songwriter is more to say that God’s word is “completely pure” (CSB). That it’s been “thoroughly tested” (NLT) in the sense of a fine metal being tried. Smelted and refined such that, if possible, there’s no impurity to be found within it. That God’s word is better than fine gold.

So as I chew on it, like the psalmist, I love the Word because it is God’s perfect word. His living word. His unfailing word.

And, I love God’s word because it’s been well tried in the crucible of life’s experiences and found to be His all-sufficient word. A living word. An unfailing word.

So, I may not have connected with the right interpretation on the first swing, but it’s true, His promises have been well tried and have stood the test of time. And that’s because they are His pure and perfect promises given for all time.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

(Hebrews 10:23 ESV)

Still thinking it’s worthy of my “Amen!”

Amen?

By His grace. For His glory.