Psalm 119.7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.

Here, the psalmist portrays the happy and joyful life as he learns to know God's righteous laws. As he learns, he praises God with an honest heart. Each time we gain insight into God's Word, we want to thank and praise God. As the Word opens up for us, we are filled with joy and thanksgiving. As we come to know the word of God, we must praise God with an upright heart.

This verse tells me that in one way a disciple of Jesus is never fully taught or trained. God's righteous laws and commandments stand firm for they cannot be changed, but there is more wisdom and insight in the Word than our natural eye sees. Walking with God is a lifelong learning. It is easy to read and understand the commandment in a legal and literal way. Then we think we know everything, just by quoting the word. When we live with God, we discover that the commandment is much deeper than we first thought. We gain new insight and new wisdom. Our learning and coming to new insight is a work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Spirit should teach us all things and lead us to the whole truth. When we learn what his righteous laws mean, we are filled with thanks and praise.

Here the psalmist uses the seventh term for the Word of God: Your righteous rules. "Your righteous laws" were formerly translated with: Your righteous judgments. It is the Hebrew word "mispat" used here. This word is used many times in the Bible and comes from the word "shapat" which means to rule, govern, take decisions. Mispat is then this decision, this judgment that is made and which is an interpretation of the law. The verdict says what the law suggests. God's judgment is God's righteous rules. It is something that has been decided. Something we need to do. But also something we can learn to understand more and more.

“I will give my thanks to you from a heart of love and truth. And every time I learn more of your righteous judgements.” (TPT)