From today’s readings, I’ve been shaken a bit by a fresh reminder that God will send even lying spirits from heaven to accomplish his long-range plans on earth (1Kings 22:19-23). And that just set me up for a fresh remembrance that the battle we are engaged in because of the worldly and cultural chaos around us — and make no mistake, we are engaged — is not simply against “flesh and blood, but against . . . the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Yet, it’s the thirteenth stanza of the songwriter’s 22-verse love song about the word of God that I find myself hovering over, this morning.

Oh how I love Your law!
       It is my meditation all the day.
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
       for it is ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
       for Your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
       for I keep Your precepts.
I hold back my feet from every evil way,
       in order to keep Your word.
I do not turn aside from Your rules,
       for You have taught me.
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
       sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through Your precepts I get understanding;
       therefore I hate every false way.

(Psalm 119:97-104 ESV)

Wiser than my enemies . . . more insight than my teachers . . . greater discernment than the aged . . .

That’s the songwriter’s claim. That’s my food for thought.

And from where does this “more than” wisdom, insight, and discernment come from?

Through Your precepts . . . From what God has spoken. The written word and the living Word (John 1:1-3, 14; Hebrews 1:2). The word before me, the Word within me.

And how does this “more than” wisdom, insight, and discernment come about?

You have taught me . . . The Trinity in action. God speaks, the Son embodies, the Spirit illuminates.

And my part? Well, in some measure, and to some degree, I grow in understanding. I grow in wisdom, better able to recognize and out maneuver the enemy. And I increase in insight, my mind increasingly more attuned to things above and not as clouded by things below. And I discern more deftly, able to recognize the lying spirits. Because I’m infused with the living Word, instructed by the Spirit through the written word, I grow in confidence as I engage in the battle, more adept at wearing “the belt of truth” and wielding “the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:14, 17b).

Wiser. With more insight. With greater discernment.

Because . . . Oh, how I love Your law!

Because . . . Your words are sweet, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Because . . . that’s where understanding comes from.

Only by Your grace.

Always for Your glory.