Charles Bridges writing on Psalm 119.
Come, Christian pilgrim, and beguile your wearisome journey heavenward by “singing the Lord’s song in this strange land” (Psalm 137.4). With the statutes of God in your hand and in your heart, you are furnished with a song every step of your way [see Psalm 23]. How delightfully does this song bring before you Him – who, having laid down His life for you, engages Himself as your provider, your keeper, your guide, your faithful and unchangeable friend! Such a song, therefore, will smooth your path and reconcile you to the many inconveniences of the way, while the recollection that this is only the house of your pilgrimage and not your home and that “there remains a rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4.9) will support the exercise of faith and patience to the end. How striking the contrast between the wicked who forsake the law [see verse 53] and the Christian pilgrim, who makes it the subject of his daily song and the source of his daily comfort. Yes, these same statutes, which are the yoke and the burden of the ungodly, lead the true servant of the Lord from pleasure to pleasure and, cherished by their vigorous influence, his way is made easy and prosperous. Evidently, therefore, our knowledge and delight in the Lord’s statutes will furnish a decisive test of our real state before Him.
From: An Exposition of Psalm 119 by Charles Bridges; reprint (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974), pp. 133-134. Comment on Psalm 119.54. First published in 1827.
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