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Thy statutes have been my songs. "When the Eastern traveler takes shelter from the scorching heat of noon, or halts for the night in some inn or caravansary, which is for the time the house of his pilgrimage, he takes the sackbut or the lyre, and soothes his rest with a song - a song, it may be, of war, romance, or love. But the poet of Israel finds his theme in the statutes of Jehovah. "These have been my pastime, with these I have refreshed my resting hours by the way, and cheered myself onward through the wearisome journey and across the scorching deserts of life. Not songs of old tradition, not ballads of war, or wine, or love, have supported me; but I have sung of God's commandments, and these have been the solace of my weary hours, the comfort of my rest." What is striking in this expression of the psalmist is that he makes his obligations appear as if they were, what he sincerely esteems them to be, his privilege. Here is surely an unusual thing; the man is glad to be placed under restraint, only it must be clearly seen that it is Divine restraint. "Let me fall into the hands of God, and not into the hands of man."

I. A GOOD MAN'S SONGS BEAR THEIR OWN PECULIAR STAMP. Song is the relief of life; but it is one of the most genuine expressions of life. It may be said that a man can be judged by the songs that he loves to sing or to hear sung.

1. The good man always wants to sing. Joy is one of the necessary constituents of goodness.

2. The good man wants the singing to match himself. And since his joy is in God, his singing must be about God.

3. The good man's supreme concern is loyalty and duty, and therefore his songs are about the statutes by which duty is controlled.

II. A GOOD MAN'S SONGS ARE THE EVIDENCE OF HIS GOODNESS. They surprise his fellow-men, who wonder how he can find rest and pleasure in what seems to them so dull. He could not but for that vital change through which he has passed, which we recognize in calling him "a good man."

"I thirst, but not as once I did,
The vain delights of earth to share."

1. The delight in vulgar and comic songs evidences the low, uncultured man.

2. The delight in high-class music evidences the educated taste.

3. The delight in songs whose interest lies in their religious tone and suggestion rather than in their music, evidences the renewed man. The delight in songs that encourage and inspire obedience evidences a noble sense of the Divine obligations and responsibilities that rest on human life. - R.T.

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Parallel Verses

KJV: Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.

WEB: Your statutes have been my songs, in the house where I live.