"I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil." [Psa 119:162]

God’s word is precious; it is valuable. And it finds its value in Jesus Christ: for regarding the word, Jesus says through the Psalmist, “lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me.” [Psa 40:7] Jesus is “The Word,” [Jn 1:1] and because He is without price, the precious and prized Son of God, therefore The Word is also equally precious. Job says regarding it, “I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.” [Job 23:12] And Jeremiah, “thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.” [Jer 15:16] And David, “the law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.” [Psa 119:72] And again, “more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” [Psa 19:10] God’s word is exceedingly valuable: a treasure above all else; and chiefly, as we have said, because it reveals to us Jesus Christ, He who has been “given…a name which is above every name.” [Phil 2:9]

In our verse for today, we read of the excitement and awe of a man who has come to enjoy and love God’s word. The Psalmist writes, “I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.” God’s word presents to us spoil: spoil and reward as gold, silver, or the finest of foods. As the men of war fight and gain reward; as the farmer endures with longsuffering in order to receive fruit from the earth; as the miner digs into the hard rock and comes away with precious jewels – so too it is with God’s word, and when we come to it with faith and expectation, we may come away also with what the Psalmist described: “great spoil.” There is no depth to the treasure found in God’s word. Again and again, though we come to the same place in scripture, yet there always seems to be more. There is yet another angle to the diamond, yet another flavor not perceived before, yet a fuller and more blessed experience than we had previously thought. The knowledge of Jesus Christ, which is found in God’s word, is described by Christ Himself as eternal life. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” [Jn 17:3] The knowledge of God contains within it eternal, unending life. An eternal spring of blessings, of life, of hope, of joy.

And so, the man that makes a pursuit and study of God’s word is like one that finds great spoil. It is even like the spoil obtained from Jehoshaphat’s great victory, of which it says,

“And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.” [2 Ch 20:25]

So too is God’s word. As the king and his people went to the enemy camp over which God had given them victory, finding three days’ worth of spoil, so too because Christ has saved us and gotten us victory over our enemies, we may come to God’s word, even just one line of it, and find three days’ worth of precious spoil.

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