John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:101

"I have refrained my feet from every evil way, That I might observe thy word." — Psalms 119:101 (ASV)

I have restrained my feet from every evil path, he intimates that he proclaimed war against every vice, so that he might wholly devote himself to the service of God. From this we learn the profitable lesson that, in order to keep God’s Law, we must, from the beginning, beware lest our feet step aside into crooked paths. For with a nature as corrupted as ours, amidst so many allurements, and with such fickle minds, we are in the greatest danger of being led astray. Indeed, it is a rare miracle if anyone continues in life in a right course, without turning aside in one direction or another. The faithful, therefore, need to exercise the greatest circumspection to keep their feet from going astray.

In the next verse, David commends his own constancy in observing the Law. He declares that ever since he learned from God the right way of living, he has pursued the right course. Since the way is so slippery, our feet so feeble, and our whole disposition so prone to go astray after innumerable errors, considerable effort is required on our part to avoid departing from God’s judgments. But we must pay attention to the manner of teaching to which the Psalmist refers. For though all, without exception, to whom God’s word is preached are taught, yet scarcely one in ten so much as tastes it; indeed, scarcely one in a hundred profits to the extent of being enabled by it to proceed in a right course to the end. A special manner of teaching is, therefore, highlighted here—that which consists in God’s drawing His chosen people to Himself. I have been brought, as the Psalmist might have said, into the way of salvation, and preserved in it by the secret influence of the Holy Spirit.