Psalm 119:98 | “Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.”

Because the psalmist reads, treasures, and obeys God’s word, he is made wiser than all his enemies. His wisdom does not come from clever strategy or human insight, but from living under the authority of God’s eternal commandment. While the world confidently claims wisdom, Scripture exposes the absurdity of that claim. As Paul writes in Romans 1:22–23, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” When wisdom is severed from the fear of the Lord, it inevitably drifts into folly. Human wisdom rejects God and, in doing so, loses its grip on truth entirely. In contrast, the psalmist clings to the word that endures forever. God’s commandment is “ever with” him, not just nearby but continually impacting his thinking, restraining his foolish desires, and directing his steps. This continual nearness of the word gives him discernment his enemies lack. Spurgeon wisely notes, “The letter can make us knowing, but only the divine Spirit can make us wise. Wisdom is knowledge put to practical use. Wisdom comes to us through obedience.” True wisdom is not measured by how much we know, but by how faithfully we respond to what God has revealed. When his commandment both abides with us and governs our lives, he graciously grants us the wisdom we need to walk humbly before him.