Psalm 19:10  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11  Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

In these verses God directed David to tell us of the place of God’s Word in the saint’s life. These are very telling verses. There are too many professing Christians who are not that interested in God’s Word. They are interested in Bible discussion that is open ended. They are alright with having a discussion but not really coming to any solid conclusion. Most people want to debate and leave things open ended.

II Timothy 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6  For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7  Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

I heard a person say recently that they like to live by principles rather than rules. Rules hold people accountable. Principles are negotiable and open to interpretation. Lawyers would fit into this category. They will argue rules. They will look for loopholes in any rule on the books. Most journalists also fit into this category today. In fact most people in general fit this category.
Cain would have fit in here as well. He liked to live by principles, but not by rules. Why shouldn’t his offering of fresh garden vegetables be just as acceptable to God as Abel’s blood sacrifice? Why was God so “picky”? If Jesus would have been more accommodating, the Pharisees would never have encouraged the people to cry out, “crucify Him, crucify Him.”
Our text is building on the previous verses. God’s Word, by Its various descriptive terms is more to be desired than gold. I listened to a brief talk from a well-known financial adviser. He was encouraging people to diversify their investment portfolio. He gave an example of investing $500.00 in a certain fund and over a lifetime, that fund would grow to five million dollars. That may be true, but if the government dissolves all money and follows its current 2030 plan, that five million dollars is worthless anyway. The Bible warns of the slippery nature of mis-placed riches.

Proverbs 23:5  Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

There are men like John D Rockefeller and Bill Gates and Elon Musk and others who have become very wealthy. All they had or have is their money. John D is dead. His foundation lives on but he is dead. From all that I read about him, he died a lost man. He gave large sums of money to different religious ventures, but he never knew the true God. He wanted to be seen as a good man even though he made much of his money in very unjust ways.
God says that His Word is more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Whether a person invests in gold or silver or whatever, it is all earthly treasure that can be removed very quickly. We have much less control over earthly things than we sometimes realize. That which we lay up in heaven is eternal and cannot be taken away. It is not subject to inflation. It will never be devalued. We have talked of the perversions many times. They seek to devalue God’s Word, but the reality is that they cannot succeed in that. They are able to deceive many people who want to be deceived. However, those who are saved and led by the Holy Spirit will be led further and further into the truth.
God’s Word is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Honey has many good qualities about it. The bees work hard day in and day out to gather the pollen that they then turn into honey. It is amazing to consider God’s design in the flowers and in the bees as they work together to give us such a wonderful thing as honey and the honeycomb. However, these things are not of greater value than the Word of God. We are reminded again that the knowledge of the Creator is of greater importance than the knowledge of the created. The created is designed by God to point us to Him.
In verse 11 we are reminded further of the blessing of God’s Word. There are many warnings in God’s Word. There are many products we can purchase that have warnings associated with them. Some of the warnings are there because some people lack the ability to think and they do foolish things. The company will put a warning label on its product to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits.
God’s Word warns us of the many dangers in life. Adam was warned not to eat the fruit of one particular tree. He did not need that fruit. It was there to remind Adam to follow God’s way. Adam disregarded the warning and ate of that fruit and he became a sinner immediately. He did not need to wait to see what might happen down the road. He was immediately separated from God by his sin. He died spiritually in an instant and he began to die physically from that point on. He now had a fear of God that was not healthy. He now despised God and his wife.
We can look at that warning and we can learn of the importance of knowing the true God and of obeying Him. God tells us that when we keep His Word, there is great reward. God is not teaching works salvation here. We all know that no-one keeps God’s Word perfectly. The Hebrew word translated as “keeping” means “to guard, to observe, to give heed”.
The Bible tells us that there is only one way of salvation and that is through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible warns of the many who have gone before and ignored this important truth. All of them have perished. The Bible also warns us of the dangers of carelessness in our walk with Him. God also shows us many examples of individuals who were blessed in keeping His Word. They knew that when they sinned after salvation, they could be and would be forgiven and they would be restored to a right fellowship with the Lord. They benefited greatly from believing and following God’s way. The same is true for us today. Let us choose to know the true God and then pay attention to His Word.
Pastor Bartel