Hi, my name is Brad. I'm a husband, father of three awesome kids and a minister in Houston,

Texas. I've been a Desiring God Ministry partner for five years now. You're listening to

the Ask Pastor John podcast with John Piper.

Brad has a story I want to share with you in a moment, but speaking of ministers and the ministry,

if you want to understand John Piper and why he does ministry the way he does,

I think you must understand David's bold claim in Psalm 119 verse 99. I have more understanding

than all my teachers for your testimonies or my meditation. Understanding God's word rests on

personal meditation, not simply in surrounding yourself with the sharpest academic minds. This text

proved vital to Pastor John's early formation and ministry. The broader context of Psalm 119 versus

97-100 is important too. On the podcast, we talked briefly about this text one time back in

APJ 1533. There, Pastor John, you talked about why when we have so much good Bible scholarship,

we still need to be trained to study the Bible for ourselves. And on Twitter, you've cited

verse 99 a few times. Here are two of those tweets, both very provocative.

Quote, in my 20s, I knew I could not outread my liberal professors, but I took heart from

this verse that I could out meditate them. So can you? In quote, in a couple of years earlier,

you tweeted this on the same text and said, quote, one true citation from God's word may silence

a whole semester of human speculation. In quote, I was wondering, Pastor John, can you dawn your

biographical hat? Take a Bible truth and apply it to one life. In this case, apply Psalm 119 versus

97-100 to your own formation. Well, I will try. Let's read the Psalm. Not everybody knows these

verses. So they are very, very precious. And I hope they are to the folks who are listening or

will become so. So Psalm 119, 97 to 100. Oh, how I love your law. And by the way, just a little

comment here, it is not even in my notes. Torah, the word for law means basically instruction.

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