Psalm 119:100 | “I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.”

Using another Hebrew word, bin, the psalmist adds that he has more understanding than the elders. Age does not always equal wisdom. The young  who believe and obey the word of God may possess greater understanding than the aged who, though rich in life experience, have never learned from or submitted themselves to the Scriptures. In Psalm 119:98–100, the psalmist makes a sweeping declaration. He is wiser than his enemies, has more understanding than his teachers, and understands more than the aged. The reason is the same in every case. He has read, meditated on, and chosen to obey the law of the Lord. Spurgeon captures this beautifully: “The men of old age, and the men of old time, were outdone by the holier and more youthful learner. He had been taught to observe in heart and life the precepts of the Lord, and this was more than the most venerable sinner had ever learned, more than the philosopher of antiquity had so much as aspired to know. He had the word with him, and so outstripped his foes; he meditated on it, and so outran his friends; he practised it, and so outshone his elders.” Human opinion is unstable and ever changing. But the word of God stands firm. God’s people have read it, trusted it, and ordered their lives by it for centuries. May we never imagine that the wisdom of man can surpass the wisdom of God.