In Psalm 119:110 the Psalmist declared: “The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I have not gone astray from Your precepts.” His commitment to follow God’s word even while others were trying to entrap him is an important one. Sometimes we take difficulty — and especially the oppression of others — as an excuse for abandoning what we know is right: “all’s fair in love and war”, etc.!

But the Psalmist says here that even though wicked people were oppressing him, he did not use that as an excuse to deviate from God’s word. Jesus gave us the ultimate example of that: “While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats.” (I Peter 2:23) While enduring the most weighty and undeserved persecution ever, He never went astray from His Father’s word. Let us follow in His steps, and be committed, no matter what anyone else does to us, to keep God’s word ourselves. As Paul exhorted Timothy in I Timothy 4:12, “in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe” — even when others are NOT doing so!