“True Success in 2014” Love and Meditate on God’s Law
Psalm 119:97-104
INTRODUCTION What is the Meaning of Psalm 119.97-104
As we start the New Year, at least some of us here are in New Year’s resolution mode. You have likely made some New Year’s resolutions.
The history of making New Year’s resolutions began during the days Julius Caesar in the Roman Empire. In order to honor their god “Janus” they promised to do good to others.
Eventually, Christianity became the official faith of the Roman Empire. Instead of the resolutions of the unbeliever, Christians began to practice fasting and prayer on this day to focus on living for Christ in the New Year.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Puritans encouraged their people to consider the past year and the year to come. Along with these encouragements came the custom of making resolutions. They would vow to fight against besetting sins and make their talents and gifts of use for God.
So the practice of making New Year’s resolutions has godly history behind it.
And so I pulled out the journal of John Wesley to see what he said on January 1. John Wesley was an English evangelist who lived from 1703-1791. Folks were saved and many of God’s people experienced revival under his ministry. Listen to some of his entries on January 1.
1770. Monday, January 1.–About eighteen hundred of us met together; it was a most solemn season. As we did openly [affirm] that the Lord is our God, so did He affirm us to be His people.
1773. Friday, January 1.–We (as usual) solemnly renewed our covenant with God.
1776. January 1.—About eighteen hundred of us met together in London in order to renew our covenant with God; and it was, as usual, a very solemn opportunity.
1777. Wednesday, January 1.–We met, as usual, to renew our covenant with God. It was a solemn season wherein many found His power present to heal and were enabled to urge their way with strength renewed.
1783. Wednesday, January 1.–May I begin to live today! On Jan. 5th, he writes that we met to renew our covenant with God. We never meet on this occasion without a blessing; but I do not know that we had ever so large a congregation before.
Now 82 years old …
1785. Saturday, January 1.–Whether this be the last or no, may it be the best year of my life. Sunday, Jan. 2nd of that year, he writes, “A larger number of people were present this evening at the renewal of our covenant with God than was ever seen before on the occasion.
At 87 years old …
1790. Friday, January 1.–I am now an old man, decayed from head to foot. My eyes are dim; my right hand shakes much; my mouth is hot and dry every morning; I have a lingering fever almost every day; my motion is weak and slow. However, blessed be God, I do not slack my labor: I can preach and write still.
What a great testimony! He would go to be with God that same year, 1790. You can see often he led his people to gather to renew their covenant with God each year and affirm that He is their God. And he lived like each year was his last.
As an example of some good resolutions, Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions stand out as some of the most well-known. He lived from 1703 – 1758 and he wrote most of his now famous Resolutions when he was 19 or 20.
For example, #28 speaks to what we will discuss this morning…
28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.
…So he was …. Resolved, to study the Scripture to such a degree that I might easily perceive that I am growing!
So we have discussed resolutions and the journal of a godly man who led his congregation to renew their covenant with God and so let’s turn now to an inspired journal entry … to the 119th Psalm. Psalm 119.
Psalm 119 is interesting for a number of reasons. It is 2nd chapter after the middle chapter of our Bible. Very middle chapter of our Bible is the 117th psalm. That psalm happens to be the shortest chapter in the Scripture.
And the very longest chapter is the one we are in this morning, Psalm 119. As you can see at the end of the psalm it has 176 verses.
If you have a New American Standard Bible, you’ll notice different sections. For example, at the very beginning of Psalm 119, in the New American Standard Bible it has at the top an Aleph. “A-L-E-P-H” … That’s a Hebrew letter. You may even have that Hebrew letter right there.
In fact, each section of this psalm has as its label a letter from the Hebrew alphabet. And each verse in each section in the original language begins with the letter that labels that section.
For example, you can see that the first eight verses of Psalm 119 make up the first section. It has as its label Aleph. In the original language, each line begins with the letter Aleph. Or this is the equivalent of our letter “A.” Each line in this section begins with an “A.” And the next section is the same … Each line begins with the equivalent of the English letter “B.”
This is what you call acrostic.
Another interesting feature of this psalm is that it is a spiritual journal. There is a definite progression through the psalm and it makes up a series of journal entries.
Let me show you this. Verses 1-24 make up the first section. Here, the psalmist has a vision for his spiritual life. He is on the outside looking in at other people’s spiritual life.
Notice Psalm 119:1-2 1 How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the Lord. 2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.
You can see he is observing the lives of those whom he considers to be blessed or spiritually prosperous. They walk in the law of the Lord.
And he endeavors to take this blessed path for himself. Notice verse five Psalm 119:5-8 5 Oh that my ways may be established To keep Your statutes! 6 Then I shall not be ashamed When I look upon all Your commandments. 7 I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments. 8 I shall keep Your statutes; Do not forsake me utterly!
You can see that based on his observation of blessed and godly people … He wants this blessed path for himself and he endeavors to walk down this godly road in his life.
But as with any pursuit of spiritual things, there often comes roadblocks and frustrations. Verses 25-40 is the initial frustration at an attempt of living a godly life.
Now to Psalm 119:25 My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.
Drop down to verse 28 Psalms 119:28 My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word.
And he endeavors to keep his initial pursuit of godly living… In verses 41-64. He asks for a fuller salvation or a fuller deliverance to live a godly and blessed life. Notice all the statements that begin with “I will.” Verse 42, I will have an answer for him who reproaches me for I trust in your word.”
Verse 44 so I will keep your law continually verse 45 I will walk at liberty for I seek your precepts verse 46 I will also speak of your testimonies.
And now let me skip to verses 81-96 where we have the dark night of this passage. It is the midnight of Psalm 119.
Here we find the psalmist in a state of spiritual depression … Psalms 119:81-82 81 My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word. 82 My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, “When will You comfort me?”
And the solution to the spiritual depression found in Psalm 119:89-96 … He can say Psalms 119:92 If Your law had not been my delight, Then I would have perished in my affliction.
In his depressed state, as his soul is languishing he cleaves to the word of God.
And as he cleaves to the word of God in the midst of his difficult times, he comes through in verses 97-104 to have a balanced emotional life.
Verses 97-104 will be our text this morning, this section is labled Mem or roughly the equivalent to our English letter “M.”
You can see the balanced emotion in this passage. Look at verse 97, “I love your law…” but the way it ends is in verse 104, where he says “I hate every false way.”
So after experiencing a low point … a spiritual depression in verses 81-88, he finds the solution in God’s word that is settled forever in heaven in verse 89 …. In his experience, he came out of that depressed state and began clinging to the word of God. When he did that he now loves what got him through that difficult time. He can say now that he has love for God’s law and it is his constant meditation because it got him through that trial.
Let’s read Psalms 119:97-104 97 O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. 98 Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts. 101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. 102 I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, For You Yourself have taught me. 103 How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.
Now, I don’t know how you are going to measure this year. But if are one of God’s children, you should be measuring every year according to God’s perspective on that year.
So, was 2013 a successful year? How would you know? Spiritually speaking, did you have a successful year last year? Did you grow in your knowledge of God and His ways? Did you overcome sin … And grow in the discipleship within your own family?
Did you have some spiritually disappointing days … perhaps weeks or even spiritually disappointing months? God is merciful; we can praise them for that! If you confess, He will forgive.
But leaving those things that are behind now, what is going to be different this year? If you had spiritual failures last year what is it that is going to get you through this year, 2014, successfully? … Successfully in the sight of God alone.
The very thing that is going to get you through 2014 successfully is the very thing that is the theme of Psalm 119 and that is the Word of God.
So I like to preach this morning on True Success for 2014. True success for 2014 will only occur to the degree that you can think “inside” and “through” this book. To the degree that you can think inside the Bible and think through the Bible … to that degree will have a successful year.
In other words, for true success in 2014, love and meditate on God’s Word. For true success in 2014, love and meditate on God’s Word.
John Bunyan wrote on the flyleaf of his Bible, “either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.”
And you realize that the kind of success that will matter in 2014 will not come down to the amount of money your business pulls in. Success will not be measured in bettering human relationships that are outside of your control. It won’t be losing weight, getting out of debt, or eating healthier, are saving money, or getting a job, or managing your stress, or relaxing more and working less … or working more or whatever … Now, these can be good things of course, but from eternity’s perspective when God tests you … What will make 2014 a successful year?
True success will be when you can say Psalm 119:101-102 101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. 102 I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, For You Yourself have taught me.
How is it going to happen that no matter what’s going on in your life, you’re turning away from the evil path keeping God’s word and not turning away from His word but you are seeking His face in his wisdom walking living in light of His presence …
How is that going to happen?
It will happen when you can say “of a truth” with verse 97 Psalms 119:97 O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
Loving God’s word and meditating on it is what will give you a godly success that you need in 2014.
You know, last year you meditated on loved. You meditated on what you loved last year. And this year, whatever you love, you will think about. Whatever you love you are consumed with.
And it works the other way, too. Whatever you choose to think about, you will grow to love. It works both ways.
ILL: Right now, I don’t choose to think much about sports. I used to think about sports more than I do now. I used to be able to quote all of the very old famous baseball players and their statistics … Their batting averages, home runs, and RBIs.
I loved that. I chose to think about it and I grew to love it. And I loved it so I chose to think about it. It works both ways.
It’s the same way with God and His Word. The more you choose to think about God and His word, the more you will grow in your love for Him. The more you love Him, the more you will think and meditate upon Him and what He says in His word.
And what this passage teaches us is if you love and meditate on God’s word you will have four amazing benefits.
In verses 98-100, first you will have wisdom. You will have wisdom beyond your experience. A second benefit that you will have if you love and meditate on God’s word is found in verses 101-102, and that is you will have God-taught discernment. Verse 103 teaches us that you will have joy in God’s promises. Finally in verse 104, you will have a hatred for unscriptural things. You will hate things that are against Scripture as he says there at the end of verse 104 you will “hate every false way.”
The benefits of loving and meditating on God’s word are, again, wisdom beyond your experience, God-taught discernment, joy in God’s promises, and a hatred for every false way.
I would say, if you can grow in these areas, that that would a successful year! If by the end of 2014 you could testify that you are growing in your acquisition of wisdom beyond your experience and that God is teaching you discernment and joy in His promises … And you are sensing a disgust for every false way … this passage would tell you that you will have had a successful year.
How are you going to get those benefits? The answer to that of course is in verse 97 “love for God’s law and meditation on it.” To have a successful year in 2014, you need to love God’s law and meditate upon it.
Now, what is meditation? This word for meditation has the idea of being concerned or preoccupied with something. On Thursday night, we studied Psalm 1. That psalm gives two different pathways of life. Either you walk according to God’s word or you don’t.
Psalms 1:1-2 1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
In Psalm 119 of course is the journaling of one man chose to walk according to God’s word. And now, in verse 97, the man has gotten to the point by God’s grace that he can say that God’s word is his meditation all the day whereas in Psalm 1:2 …his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
His desire his delight his love and affection is directed toward the Bible. And because of that affection, he meditates on it. He thinks it through he’s pondering it.
Meditation is simply when your mouth stays shut and your head keeps talking. Biblical meditation … God-centered meditation is when your heart… in your head you are thinking about God, His works and His words.
Meditation in Scripture almost always has either God himself, God’s works in His kind providence, or His word as its direct or implied object. In other words, biblical meditation is not an emptying of your mind but a filling of your mind with God and His ways and His words.
For example, David meditates on God in Psalm 63:6 When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches,
He meditates on God’s works in Psalms 77:12 I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds.
And of course the third category is found in our passage this morning in verse 97.
APP: So how do you develop a love for God’s word? How do you develop a real affection for the Bible?
In the psalmist’s experience in Psalm 119, the Lord had delivered him from the state of depression as he clung to God’s words. And God’s word brought the psalmist out of the midnight of his soul. And because of that now in verse 97 he has an affection for God’s word.
That’s one way God can give you an affection for His word is when He sees you through a rough time and He makes you consider His word. And all the while, He shows you that His word is sufficient to get you through times of difficulty.
And if God needs to do that for us, he very well may. I can pretty much look out into our congregation this morning and look at each of our families and almost every one of us have had significant trials or difficulties at some point in 2013. There is hardly a family here who has not seen difficulty in this past year, in some way.
One of the things God was teaching you through your tough times is to cling to Him and His word. He is wanting to teach you to love His word and to meditate upon it. He is doing that so that as you do meditate upon it, you will receive the benefits that we are about to go over in this passage.
Now, barring trials, how can I develop a love for God’s Word? Well, how do you develop a love for anything?
If you have trusted Jesus Christ to save you, the Bible teaches that you have been born again. If you have repented of your sin and asked Christ to rescue you from your sin, you have received a new nature. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. And your new nature feeds on God’s words. And your new nature feeds on God’s words.
ILL: And so, for a true believer, the Bible is like a banquet you’re guaranteed to love … If you actually eat it.
Picture you and me at a restaurant and before us is all that food …. And as we look at all the various kinds of food, you turn to me and ask me, “how do I develop a love for this?”
What’s the answer to that? Eat it! Go and really eat it! Don’t just stand here and sniff the air! Get out your plate, silverware go through the line and take some samples go back to your table and actually place it in your mouth and chew on it; think about the delicate flavors and then swallow it.
But you’ve got to eat it, right? I mean, you can’t be like the kid who says to us in the buffet line … “I don’t like ice cream.” “What, you mean, you don’t like ice cream?”
And he says, “yeah …. he says…. “I got a big bowl one time and I smelled it … And I didn’t like it.” And you say to him, “well, did you eat it?” He says, “No, why should I?”
Well, eating it is the only way you’ll know if you like it! So, to ask “How do I develop a love for God’s Word” is kind of like asking “How do I develop a love for this free-every-day-all-you-can-eat buffet that’s filled with steaks and my favorite sundae?” Fellow believer, you are built to enjoy God’s Word! Your new nature must have God’s Word to thrive. But you have to actually eat it!
And this is kind of what the psalmist is getting at in verse 103 How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
So how do you eat God’s word, as it were? Meditation. You must chew over God’s word. Just like you can’t smell the ice cream and expect to enjoy it, you can’t just run your eyes across the page of the Bible and expect to enjoy it.
To really eat God’s Word requires that you think over it and through it and think inside the Scripture.
He is not more godly who can run his eyes across the most pages in the Bible. Unbelievers can read the Bible. It’s not the hearing of the greatest number of sermons …but that would help … or who can read book after book …. Or who can even memorize the most Scripture. The Pharisees had memorized the first five books of Moses.
You will grow in your love and affection for God’s word and you will grow in godliness by his grace… if you chew over and think through God’s word. Now, memorizing Scripture is a good thing. And it can lead to meditation. Someone once said “that the Holy Spirit cannot bring back to your remembrance what you don’t put in there.”
But it’s the Holy Spirit bringing it back to your remembrance that aids or even is your meditation.
So make the Bible your meditation and 2014 for true success. Just like Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
Joshua 1:8 Psalm 1:2 and Psalm 119:97 all have a duration to this meditation and preoccupation with God’s word.
Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2 have “day and night.” Psalm 119:97 has “all the day.” In other words, this is not necessarily some quiet time that you may be having. Yes it is good to have time set aside where you are studying and meditating upon God’s word. And you need to get in a routine of having regular times…
But it should also be true of you that God’s word is your meditation all the day. Can you say that when you are free in your heart, your heart constantly goes back to the Lord and to his word? Get out some Bible memory cards and put it where your eyeballs are: your dashboard, above your sink, in your bedroom …but take God’s word with you in your heart and in your pocket!
If you begin to be preoccupied with the Lord and His works, and with what he has spoken, then you will grow in your love and affection for Him and His word. He will see you through the tough times … But it is going to take time to develop a heart that is accustomed to meditation and devotion and preoccupation with God’s word.
So to experience life changing meditation and devotion toward God’s Word, try picking a passage and read it every day for a month. Perhaps there’s an area in your life that you need to focus on. Perhaps you need some motivation to pray more, then pick a passage on prayer.
Perhaps you feel like you need joy in your life…. Or another fruit of the Spirit. Do a Bible study on that particular topic and pick a passage and read through it many times. Or memorize it.
And then analyze the passage; think through it. Look up the words. Try to figure out the flow of thought. How do the verses and phrases relate to one another?
And then apply the passage. How is this going to relate to your life? If you are given over to this kind of study God’s Word, you are on a pathway to loving and meditating upon it all the day.
But if what is being said this morning is gonna go in one of your ears and out the other, if you had spiritual failures in 2013, you will likely end 2014 like you ended 2013. May 2014 be a year of success by cultivating a love for God’s word and meditating upon it all the day.
TRANS: If you do this, quickly now, you will have 4 benefits.
Number 1, you will have wisdom. Wisdom beyond your experience
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Benefit #1: Wisdom Beyond Experience (vv.98-100)
Psalms 119:98-100 98 Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts.
Notice the three people groups. Verse 98, enemies. Verse 99, teachers. Verse 100, the aged, or the elderly.
Here, the psalmist is recognizing the wisdom that he has received because he has loved and meditated on God’s word. Concerning lost people, either they are enemies, or his own teachers, or the elderly … In comparison to the lost world, the psalmist is confident that he is wiser than his enemies and has more insight than the teachers and understands more than the aged.
And notice the teachers. The teacher is assumed to be wiser than the student because the teacher has experience in studying. Clearly then, the psalmist here is a young man. He still has teachers.
Now, young people don’t get proud here. It would be very easy to take this as your life’s verse. Only if your teachers do not receive God’s Words, you can say this. If you happen to be in the public school system, and you love and meditate on God’s word you genuinely know down in your heart that you are wiser than your unbelieving teacher, even though the teacher is teaching you.
It is the same with the elderly. The aged man or woman is assumed to be wiser because he or she has experience in life. But this young man can say that he is wiser or has more understanding than the aged because he has loved and meditated on God’s word.
So here the psalmist is giving a real humble comparison with unspiritual secular people, the worldly wise.
And if you love and meditate on God’s word, you will have wisdom beyond your experience. The kind of wisdom we’re talking about is not gained through expertise in a particular field, like a teacher would have. It is not gained by merely living a long time, liked the aged.
The wisdom that we’re talking about here is a skillful use of knowledge of God, His works, and His Word.
And to best acquire this kind of wisdom is through a diligent search.
Proverbs 2:1-6 1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; 3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Just like Solomon, you must ask for wisdom and seek it with all of your heart. It is found in God alone and from his mouth. Meditate on God’s Word!
To be motivated to meditate on God’s Word, value wisdom like Prov. You should know in your heart a deep seated understanding that wisdom truly is infinitely more precious than gold.
TRANS: And God’s wisdom will lead to God’s discernment.
Wisdom beyond your years will lead to God-taught discernment.
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Benefit #2: God-Taught Discernment (vv.101-102)
Benefit number two is God-taught discernment. Psalm 119:101-102 101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. 102 I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, For You Yourself have taught me.
Because the psalmist has endeavored to meditate upon God’s word and to love God’s word, he now has the power to restrain his feet from every evil way.
He has first of all a recognition of the evil way and he also has a strong desire to remove himself from it. It is one thing to recognize the evil way but it’s quite another thing to also remove yourself from that evil way.
You will be tempted to do evil and you must have an empowered will to resist it. In 2014, to resist in the evil day, it will take more than a strong will or determination. Turning away from sin will take more than just a New Year’s resolution not to do it.
Recognizing and removing your feet from the evil path will come when you have the experience of the second line of verse 102, “for you yourself have taught me.” What you need is God-taught discernment. You need the ability not only to distinguish between the right and the wrong but you need as well the power to choose the right way.
That only comes when God himself teaches you. God will teach you as you love and meditate on his word.
This year, you will experience trial you will experience temptation and to “be able to stand firm in the evil day and having done all to stand” ….will require that God teaches you through your meditation on his word.
TRANS: And this kind of wisdom and discernment will keep you coming back for more … and you’ll be getting joy! Once you build up a treasure chest in your heart of God’s wisdom because you have been meditating upon him and his word, you will keep coming back for more because of the joy of having found the sweetest thing on earth! That’s verse 103 …
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Benefit #3: Joy in God’s Promises (v. 103)
Psalms 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
The word “words” in v. 103 can also refer to God’s promises. We’re going to take it that way here. The third benefit of loving and meditating on God’s word is joy in God’s promises.
God promises wisdom to those who ask James 1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
The glorious benefits of God’s Word is that He gives wisdom and discernment and joy when we get what he promises. And he promises wisdom to those who ask! When He makes His promises true in our life, we receive joy!
The psalmist knew from the very beginning that this was the blessed path in life. Walking the way of God’s Word … Meditating upon it, loving it and living according to it.
Psalms 119:1-2 1 How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the Lord. 2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.
TRANS: Why would you want anything else? A heart that is wise beyond your years, filled with God-taught discernment, and has joy in God’s promises will naturally hate the things that are contrary to God’s Word.
An emotionally balanced Christian will also hate every false way.
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Benefit #4: Hatred for the Unscriptural (v. 104)
There is no getting around the word for hate in this context. The word “hate” is interpreted within its context and here, it clearly refers to an emotional aversion and rejection of the ways that are contrary to God’s word. If you verse 97 if you love God’s law … And it is verse 103 sweet to your taste, yes sweeter than honey … There is a real delight in God’s word. The opposite of this is disgust and rejection of those things that are and run contrary to God’s word. You will hate Satan’s counterfeit joys and his counterfeit wisdom and you’ll stay clear of those things. But it’s not until you begin to love and meditate on God’s Word that this desire will come.
“Read your Bible pray every day and you’ll grow, Grow, GROW … that doesn’t stop when you become an adult!”
CONCLUSION What is the Meaning of Psalm 119.97-104
AW Tozer said, “Whatever keeps me from my Bible is my enemy, however harmless it may appear to be. Whatever engages my attention when I should be meditating on God and things eternal does injury to my soul. Let the cares of life crowd out the Scriptures from my mind and I have suffered lose where I can least afford it. Let me accept anything else instead of the Scriptures and I have been cheated and robbed to my eternal confusion.”
Folks, this is serious business. We must endeavor in 2014 to love God’s Word and meditate upon it. Don’t be robbed to your own eternal confusion.
“Meditate upon these things; give yourself wholly to them; that your profiting may appear to all.”
Give yourself over to God’s Word and watch your heart grow in spiritual wisdom beyond your years, God-taught discernment, joy in His promises, and an ability to reject and hate the false way.