Psalm 19:11, “Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.”

First, go back and read the whole enchilada, all of Psalm 19:7-14. Go on…

Today we are looking at verse 11 in our quest to memorize this passage.

So, now go back and re-read the 11th.

By them and in keeping of them… “Them” is referring to the judgments of the Lord in verse 9. If the word “them” is replaced with what it is referring to, this verse could be translated to say, “Moreover by the judgments of the Lord is thy servant warned: and in keeping of the judgments of the Lord there is great reward.

Warning!

David, the king that this Psalm is attributed to, should well know the warning and the great reward that comes along with the judgments of the Lord. His predecessor, Saul, decided to not follow what God had directed (commanded/judged) when dealing with the Amalekites (see 1 Samuel 15), so God commanded Samuel the prophet to tell Saul that his rebellion “is as the sin of witchcraft, and [his] stubbornness is as the iniquity of idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (v. 23)

Ouch…

God sent Samuel to anoint Saul king over Israel, and just that quickly, the kingdom was ripped from his hands. (God even had Samuel anoint David the new king long before Saul was even deceased.) Maybe Saul should have heeded the warning…

Reward!

Here’s a related testimony from a member of my branch…

My husband and I were attending school at the time, working full time, and we had both been raised in families that taught us to believe that tithing was a commandment of God as well as something that pleased God. One Saturday evening, I was going over the finances and understood that we probably wouldn’t have enough money to make it till payday. As I discussed the dilemma with my husband, we thought that it might be wise to skip tithing first thing and wait to see how much we had leftover.

However, we quickly realized what we were doing and thought it tremendously unwise to put God last. Anyway, we wrote the check and took it to church the next morning. Even before Sunday school started, a brother walked up to my husband and said “God told me to give this to you” and handed my husband $50. (We had never let on that we might be having financial troubles to anyone but God). This act of God — and the brother, the messenger — let us know that God was pleased and that He would take care of us.

Now, go back and re-re-read the 11th verse!

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.