“Love” can be a very cheap word. A few years ago, I attended a concert, one of about 10,000 in the audience. At the end of the show, the performer said, “I love you all.” He didn’t know any of us and, I suspect, if we met him in the street, he’d ignore us.

Every day, we hear hollow expressions of love. But true love means a commitment to the other person. When I married, I publicly expressed that in any and every situation, until death separated us, I would stay loyal and devoted to my wife. That is the love the psalmist has for God’s Law. To love God is to love His words and to be dedicated to keeping them all.

In the next three sections (vv. 97–120), the psalmist repeatedly affirms his love for God’s laws (vv. 97, 103, 111, 112, 119). Why are they so precious to him? First, “your commands . . . make me wiser than my enemies” (v. 98). He doesn’t mean that he’s intellectually smarter than other people. Wisdom is life lived in the fear of the Lord and according to His will (Psalm 119:120; Proverbs 1:7). For example, the wise person works hard and is not lazy. The wise person speaks words that build people up, while the words of the fool cut down. The wise person knows that God’s commands for sex and marriage bring life and happiness.

All of this means that God’s wise commands give guidance for the good life that pleases God and blesses other people. The psalmist can say, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105). By contrast, the Bible portrays the world as a place of spiritual darkness (Psalm 82:5; Matthew 4:16; John 1:5; 1 John 1:6). Psalm 119:105 is not promising that God will guide us in all the decisions we have to make in life. But as the following verse makes clear (“I will follow your righteous laws”, v. 106), it’s a commitment to obedience.

In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John also told us that Jesus is “the Word” (1:1). All the laws, commands, statutes, and ordinances that the psalmist loves and trusts in to preserve his life are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. In a world of moral confusion, Jesus teaches us the good and perfect will of God. In a world of many faiths, Jesus shows us the way to God and eternal life. He is the true light that leads us.