Commonplace –
“Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.
Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now I have kept thy word” (Psalm 119:66-67).
These two verses represent the idea of Tet or Teth, which is the potential of man, either for good or evil. Here David indicates that he had gone astray, but, then, he turned back to God.
Matthew Henry notes the following regarding these verses:
“Sin is going astray; and we are most apt to wander from God when we are easy and think ourselves at home in the world. Prosperity is the unhappy occasion of much iniquity; it makes people conceited of themselves, indulgent of the flesh, forgetful of God, in love with the world and deaf to the reproofs of the word” (Henry 572).
Thankfully, God does not leave us in this unhappy state.
“God often makes use of afflictions as a means to reduce those to himself who have wandered from him. Sanctified afflictions humble us for sin and show us the vanity of the world; they soften the heart, and open the ear to discipline. The prodigal’s distress brought him to himself first and then to himself” (Henry 572).
Works Cited
Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 119.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.
Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.
© 2025 Angela Hormberg
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