The tenth stanza of Psalm 119 is the yodh stanza, the Hebrew letter Jesus referred to when he said, “Until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matt. 5:18). The yodh is a mere dash of a letter. But we must see that in Psalm 119 the yodh section does not deal with trifles. On the contrary, like the stanza before it and the stanza following, it deals with the afflictions that come into the life of the trusting child of God. 

Psalm 119, verses 65-88, explore the second of five uses of affliction in the believer's life—that is, suffering that is corrective—because this is what the writer says God did with him. God sent affliction into his life as a divine corrective to direct him into right paths so that he might know and obey God's Word. As the writer explores in stanza nine, this answer to the purpose of God in suffering has two parts. 

This idea of portion is what lies behind the key verse of this stanza. The writer is saying that, like the Levites, he wants his portion of divine blessing to be God himself, since nothing is better than that and nothing will ever fully satisfy his or anyone else's heart but God himself. To possess God is truly to have everything. 

We can summarize this stanza of the psalm by noting that it deals with three kinds of love: 1) God's love for us disclosed in his provision of salvation, which the writer speaks of finding; 2) our love for God, which is implied in the matter of obedience; and 3) love of God's commandments, which results in our wanting to tell others about them (vv. 47, 48). Do you tell others about God's commands and God's love? It is a measure of your love for God whether you tell others or do not. If you love God and thus also love the Word, how can you not tell others about him?

The first of these three stanzas concentrates on God's love, which is the most wonderful of his attributes and certainly a fitting place for the psalmist to begin. Surprisingly, it is the first stanza in which he speaks of God's love. And not only that, it is also the first stanza in which he speaks of God's salvation. The two words occur together in verse 41: "May your unfailing love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise."