1. Happy are the perfect of way,
Those who walk in the law of Yahweh!
2. Happy are those who keep his testimonies!
With a whole they will seek him.
3. Also, they do not do iniquity.
In his ways they walk.
4. You command men
To observe your precepts completely.
5. Oh, that my ways were established
To observe your statutes!
6. Then I will not be ashamed
When I regard your every commandment.
7. I will give thanks to you in uprightness of heart,
When I learn the judgments of your righteousness.
8. Your statutes I will observe.
You will not forsake me completely.
In the first half of this first stanza of Psalm 119, the servant of the Lord states two objective truths; those who keep the testimonies of the Lord are happy (or blessed), and the Lord has commanded men to observe his precepts. In the second half he applies these two objective truths to himself. He wants the blessedness he has spoken of in verses 1–2, and therefore, he expresses a strong desire to keep the law of God: “Oh, that my ways were established to observe your statutes!”
The blessing is to seek the Lord with a whole heart, to do no iniquity, and to walk in his ways (2b–3). He can imagine no greater blessedness than simply to be perfect of way. He adds one things to this picture of blessedness in verse 6: He will not be ashamed. That means, I think, that he will not be ashamed before the Lord.
Notice how he uses the word “observe” three times. In verse 4 he says, “You command men to observe your precepts completely. In verse 5 he expresses the desire to observe the statutes. In verse 8 he says, “Your statutes I will observe.” He moves from the confession of his obligation, to his desire to fulfill it, to a promise to fulfill it.
But he cannot do it without the Lord’s help. When he has learned the Lord’s righteous judgments, he will have to give thanks to the Lord who taught him (v.7), and his observing them will happen only if the Lord does not forsake him (v.8).
Such perfection and blessedness is possible only to Christ and to us when we are in him and he has sanctified us completely. Therefore, the psalm teaches us from the very beginning to seek our righteousness outside ourselves.