John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:5

"Oh that my ways were established To observe thy statutes!" — Psalms 119:5 (ASV)

I wish that my ways may be directed. The original word כון, kun, is sometimes rendered as establish, and accordingly, it may seem as if the prophet were soliciting for himself the virtue of perseverance. I am rather inclined to understand it as signifying to direct; for, although God plainly instructs us in His law, the obtuseness of our understanding and the perversity of our hearts constantly need the direction of His Spirit.

Our main desire, therefore, should be for an understanding wisely regulated by the law of God, and also for a docile and obedient heart. Next, he adds, if a person carefully observes the law of God, he need have no apprehension that he will ever regret what he has done or undertaken to do.

The word respect intimates that we must not be influenced by our own designs, nor decide, according to carnal reason, what we are to do, but must at once determine that those who do not turn aside, either to the right hand or to the left, from the observance of God’s commandments, are indeed on the right path.

Those who reverently respect His law may not escape the censure of the great majority of mankind, yet the prophet declares that They shall not be ashamed, because they have a good conscience in the presence of God and the angels. With the approval of this heavenly assembly, they are well satisfied and content; for if they depended on the opinion of the world, their courage would soon fail.

He says, all thy precepts, intimating that among the snares of Satan, amid such thick darkness and such great insensibility as ours, the utmost vigilance and caution are necessary if we would aim to be entirely exempt from blame. Therefore, in all that we do, we must endeavor to have the law before us, to keep us from falling.