“I will contemplate the path that is perfect;

When will you come to me?

I will go about with purity of heart in the midst of my house.”

(Psalm 102:2)

So how does the believer live? What does he love and what does he hate? David begins with the profound statement that he will contemplate the path that is perfect. The Hebrew word used in this context is שָׂכַל (sakal), which means to ponder something, to meditate upon an idea, or to gain insight from it. Whose way is perfect? Indeed, that belongs to God and to God alone. And thus, he is saying to us much the same as is Paul in Romans 12:2, when he speaks of learning to discern the will of God: “What is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

That may sound good to our ears, but the real question is as to whether we really strive to do this as Christians. We are bombarded by the thoughts of the world and our attention is often drawn to things earthly rather than to eternal things. Indeed, we do have obligations and responsibilities in this world, but it is very easy for us to let priority be given to the temporal. David is saying “no” to this kind of thinking. Instead of going about life thinking on worldly responsibilities (and David had many), we should be going about life thinking about eternal matters. Instead of taking a break from worldly things to think about God (worship, Bible study, etc…), we should spend the majority of our energy thinking about the Eternal One. 

That does not mean that we shirk our temporal and physical responsibilities. What it does mean is that when we are laboring to fulfill our earthly duties, we always do so from an eternal perspective. And, when we have time to rest, rest in thoughts of the eternal. We should have an eternal preoccupation that governs our work, our pleasure, our rest, our worship — that governs the entirety of our lives. Too often people come to church expecting the service to meet their needs; but church is not about our needs. It is about God’s glory (for He needs nothing). Church is only properly understood when we approach it as one preoccupied with God and His will. Yet, such is also true for the entirety of our existence. It only makes sense from a Divine perspective, not from a human one. So, contemplate the path that is perfect and, as the psalmist concludes this verse, strive to live it out in all that you do.

The language of this verse is designed to take your mind back to Deuteronomy 6:4-9. How are we to express the reality that we belong to God? We are to love Him with the totality of our being? What does this look like? We talk of God when we are in the house and when we are on our way, when we are at work and when we are at rest, we write his Word down and set it before our eyes so that we might not forget it and we order our steps so that we may obey His commands. We contemplate it in our hearts in the midst of our homes (with the implication that such contemplations will guide and affect all who dwell in our homes.

There is one little clause in this verse that causes consternation amongst some of the commentators. What does David mean when he writes: “When will you come to me?” It seems somewhat out of place when it comes to the line of thought in the first and last portion of this verse. Commonly, commentators connect these words with a plea for deliverance from his enemies. While there is great truth in that, I think that remembering that this psalm was written by David helps us to understand more deeply what he is crying out with these words.

Theologians often like to use the Latin phrase Athanasius Contra Mundum (Athanasius against the world) to describe the period of time when Athanasius stood alone defending the divinity of Christ against the Arians who had taken power in the church. At one point, Athenasius wrote: “If the world be against the truth then I will be against the world.” It was a period of time when he could only have found solace in the words of our Lord: “If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). 

If one could speak of Athenasius as being against the world, one certainly can apply that phrase to David. The surrounding nations opposed him; the descendants of Saul opposed him, members of his own family opposed him. He spent much of his life on the run in fear for his life. He penned numerous psalms during these times of crisis, trusting in God to deliver him. Yet, it is not just deliverance that David sought from God. It was comfort. And we see this in psalm after psalm, but the words of Psalm 27:4 drive the notion home in a familiar way:

“One thing I have asked from Yahweh — 

This I continually seek:

That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life

And to gaze with pleasure on the kindness of Yahweh

And to study his temple.”

Remember, David was not a priest and the physical temple had yet to be built. Thus these are not words of a hope found in the physical world, but in the presence of God eternally.

David’s understood that without the nearness of God we cannot cope in this world and we cannot stand against the waves of foes that our enemies will launch in our direction. He understood that God’s closeness is our only source of strength and hope for tomorrow. David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14) because he was truly a man preoccupied with God. Shall we not do the same?