O that my ways were directed to keep thy
statutes!
] The psalmist, sensible of his own inability, as every good man
is, to keep the commands of God, prays for grace, direction, and
assistance in it; that the ways of his mind, his thoughts,
affections, and inclinations, might be directed to an observance
of the divine precepts; knowing he could not command his
thoughts, raise his affections, dispose his mind, and incline his
heart thereunto; and finding a backwardness to religious
exercises and spiritual duties, and that the ways and actions of
his life might be guided to the same; being sensible he could not
take one step aright without God and Christ; that the way of man
is not in himself, and that it is not in man that walketh to
direct his steps; that a good man's steps are ordered by the
Lord, and he directs his paths: besides the direction of the
word, there is need of the Spirit and grace of God, to cause a
person to walk in his statutes, and to keep his judgments, and do
them; see ( Jeremiah
10:23 ) ( Psalms 37:23
) ( Proverbs
3:6 ) ( Ezekiel
36:27 ) .