"I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word."
Psalm 119:101
David is presenting a principle in these words that we need to know and practice. Here it is: The holy things cannot exist side by side with the unholy. In other words, borrowing from this Old Testament thought, the genuine Christian cannot hold on to Jesus Christ and to the sins of this world at the same time. With Jesus, it is “either-or,” not “both-and…!”
“I have refrained my feet from every evil way.”
David very carefully guarded where his feet would take him. He “refrained his feet.” He made careful decisions about the paths he would walk, making sure that they ended in righteousness and not sin. Why was he so careful? He had followed the wrong way one evening, and he nearly left the righteous path altogether. Now he knows that he must beware of where each path leads, and he must avoid all but the “straight and narrow way” that leads to God.
Now David could say,
“I have walked in the path which thy law marks out. I have avoided the way of wickedness, and have not yielded to the seductions of a sinful life”[1] (Barnes).
Why was David so careful where he walked?
“That I might keep thy word.”
He kept away from sin so that he “might keep thy Word.” He understood the impossibility of having two masters. It is either God or sin, not both! Now he is avoiding everything that prohibited his obedience to the Lord.
“This indicates a purpose and a desire to keep the law of God and shows the method which he adopted in order to do this. That method was to guard against everything which would turn him from obedience; it was, to make obedience to the law of God the great aim of the life“[2] (Barnes).
Believers, how about us? Do we try to dabble with both the world and its allurements, while we claim to worship God, at the same time? This can never work. We need to emulate David and avoid everything that draws us from our God so that our service and obedience to Him is the primary objective of our lives.
How would you answer these questions? Did David, “refrain his feet from sin,” so that “he could do God’s Word?” Or did he, “keep God’s Word,” so that “he could refrain from sin?”
Seems to me the correct answer is, “yes.” In his life, he did both. But in this verse, he is coming at it from the “keeping away from sin” point of view.
“Sin avoided that obedience may be perfected is the essence of this verse…” (Spurgeon).
The old-timers had a saying that makes sense for believers, “Either this Book will keep you from sin. Or sin will keep you from this Book!”
Believers, we need to “refrain our feet from every evil way,” so that “we might keep His Word.”
Quote: “You will know as much of God, and only as much of God, as you are willing to put into practice”[3] (Eric Liddell).
[1] Albert Barnes, Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] Barnes, ibid. Emphasis mine.
[3] Eric Liddell’s quote is from his book, The Disciplines of the Christian Life. Downloaded: Monday, July 20, 2020. From: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/obedience?page=2.