Psalm 119:70 | “Their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law.”

The psalmist draws a vivid contrast between his heart and that of the arrogant. His heart is tender and loyal to God, while theirs has grown calloused and unresponsive. The Hebrew word translated “unfeeling” (taphash) appears only here in Scripture and describes a heart so thickened that it can no longer sense the truth or yield to God’s will. These proud people have no desire to obey God and no concern for those who do. Matthew Henry notes that those with fat hearts “roll themselves in the pleasures of sense.” Their comfort is in the world, not in the word. The psalmist, however, delights in God’s law. He would never exchange the joy of obedience for the empty ease of sin. While the arrogant grow dead to the things of God, the psalmist’s heart remains alive and responsive. May we never be found with hearts fattened by the pursuit of pleasure, but with hearts soft and sensitive to the Spirit of God and the truth of his word.