The second reason why the psalmist has come to love God's law is that it has kept him on the path of righteousness. That is, it has kept him on the right path and off the wrong one. Earlier in the psalm the writer asked pointedly, “How can a young man keep his way pure?" (v. 9). He answered, “By living according to your word.” He is saying the same thing now (in verse 101), only he is stating it the other way around: “I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your laws.” In other words, it is what one of the older evangelists wrote on the flyleaf of his Bible: “This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.” 

What an uplifting stanza this is, the mem stanza! It is filled with joy and with love for God's law, so much so that there is not even a single petition in it. Can this be the same poet who was sunk in near despair just two stanzas earlier? We know the answer, of course. It is the same person exactly, and the reason for the change is precisely that for which the poet is now praising God, namely, the Bible or God's law.

Starting with the truth of the eternal or enduring character of God's Word, the psalmist then reflects on what this eternal or indestructible Word has done for him. As we noted in yesterday's study, it has done three things for the psalmist: it has rescued him in his affliction; it has renewed his nearly extinguished life; and it has saved and, he is sure, will continue to save him from the wicked persons who were trying to destroy him. 

If "faithfulness” in verse 90 refers to God's Word, then these verses are saying that because God's Word is eternal in heaven, it can also clearly be depended upon on earth. If “faithfulness” is being distinguished from God's Word, as a separate attribute of God, then they are saying that three things are eternal: 1) God's Word in heaven; 2) God's faithfulness on earth; and 3) the laws of God that, like the heavens and the earth, endure "to this day.” The laws of God will endure even longer, of course, since, as the last and summarizing verse of this section states: “To all perfection I see a limit, but your commands are “boundless” (v. 96). 

This stanza has a great deal to say about the psalmist's enemies, as if at this point his thoughts were nearly taken up with them. He has spoken of them before and will again, though they assume a far less threatening role from stanza twelve onward to the end. Here he reports that these enemies have been persecuting him (v. 84), digging pitfalls for him (v. 85) and trying to wipe him from the earth (v. 87). The last phrase is literally “in the earth," which seems pointless until we remember verse 85, which reports that his enemies were digging pits for him. That is how they wanted to get him “in the earth.” They wanted to kill him and see him buried. No wonder he has been so depressed in this stanza.