I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep Thy righteous judgments.
The psalmist’s solemn resolution
I. The object of the psalmist’s purpose was to keep the righteous judgments of God. This implies--
1. Labouring to get a true knowledge thereof; to understand aright what God has been pleased in His wisdom and goodness to reveal to us.
2. Receiving the truths thereof in the love of them, and submitting to all that God has declared, as being worthy to be received by us
3. Treasuring them up in our minds, and there labouring to preserve them, as we would something valuable which we were afraid of losing.
4. Living under the influence of them; not being carried down by the torrent of the times; not making custom the rule and model of our conduct.
II. The nature of the psalmist’s purpose: that is, in what spirit or temper of mind such a purpose may be supposed to have been formed.
1. The psalmist meant to express his serious purpose.
2. It was not a hasty but a deliberate purpose.
3. The determination before us is not the language of self-confidence, but a proper humble purpose and resolution.
4. This resolution has nothing in it of the spirit of procrastination and putting off: there is no mention made of any future, time when he would devote himself to this work. (S. Knight, M. A.)
The power of virtuous resolutions
Solemn resolutions and vows have always been considered as powerful means of enabling men to abstain from vice and to practise virtue. Philosophers, as well as divines, have acknowledged their influence, and recommended it to their disciples, to form them with care. False religions, as well as the true religion, enjoin them, in order to determine their votaries to steadiness in those practices which they inculcate upon them. What then is the nature of that influence and power which may justly be ascribed to virtuous resolutions?
I. A resolution of virtue lays us under an obligation to be virtuous. It binds the soul with a bond (Numbers 30:2). To depart from evil and do good is the proper business of man. To resolve upon it is our highest wisdom; it is necessary to our present peace and to our future happiness. In proportion to its importance is the baseness and the ignominy of inconstancy in pursuing this course after we have resolved upon it.
II. A virtuous resolution impels us to virtue by rendering it an object and aim to us. This sets it in our eye as what must be practised, as what must not be on any account neglected, as the centre in which all our thoughts, and views, and exertions must ultimately terminate: this gives the whole soul a prevailing and habitual bias to it, and predisposes us to resist every temptation to vice, and to embrace every opportunity for virtue.
III. A virtuous resolution contributes to our practising virtue by rendering the practice of it agreeable to us. This is the natural consequence of that habitual bias which resolution impresses on the soul. When a temptation occurs, it excites the vicious passion to which it is addressed; this passion produces an aversion to the virtue which opposes it; but the general determination to all virtue, which resolution has impressed, combats this aversion, reconciles us to the restraint of inclination, renders it an easy yoke, to which we submit with cheerfulness, and which we persist in bearing with alacrity and joy.
IV. A virtuous resolution has great influence on our improvement by putting us on the diligent use of all the means necessary for fulfilling the resolution. The means of holiness are clearly revealed: careful study of the Divine law, fervent prayer for the Divine assistance, circumspect vigilance against evil, unwearied diligence in every good action which opportunity permits; these are the direct and immediate instruments of virtuous improvement.
V. Virtuous resolution instigates us to virtue by suggesting the motives to it, keeping them in our view, and fixing our attention on them. Duty, honour, utility; enjoyment in life, and comfort in the hour of death; present peace and eternal happiness; conscience, gratitude, hope, and fear; all conspire in urging us to holiness. Before their combined force all the most specious pleas of vice must vanish. Lessons:
1. Since virtuous resolutions are such powerful instruments of virtuous practice and improvement, we ought to form them with the greatest sincerity, firmness, and care.
2. Having sincerely resolved to practise universal holiness, let us diligently and faithfully fulfil the resolution.
3. We may learn to judge whether or not our virtuous resolutions be properly formed end properly maintained. If they fortify your sense of obligation; if they keep you habitually attached to holiness as the one thing needful; if they strenuously resist the corrupt propensities of the soul; if they prompt you to use the means of improvement with uniform diligence; if they render you forward to recollect and to dwell upon the motives to virtue; they have not been formed in vain. (A. Gerard, D. D.)