“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in His ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!” – Psalm 119:1-8
When was the last time you read these words and stopped long enough to consider what the LORD through David is saying here? Blessings from God are promised to those who are blameless (Hebrew= perfect), who naturally walk in the law of the LORD, who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole hearts, who do no wrong , who walk according to His Word and keep diligently His precepts…His Word.
David lays out those who are/will be blessed in these first 4 verses pretty clearly…making me wonder a few things. Who ARE these perfect people, really? Who among us naturally walks in the law of the LORD? Who are those who keep His testimonies true without adding our own opinions and desires to them? Who, in this life, does no wrong and keeps His precepts diligently? Who is he talking about? From the rest of the verses we know he doesn’t have himself in mind…yet.
As we look at verses 5-7, we see him “wishing” that he would be like these people that he has just talked about… “Oh that my ways might be steadfast…My ways will be steadfast only when I keep your statutes.” This implies that there are times that his ways are not steadfast because he doesn’t always keep God’s statutes. Then he says, “(For when I keep them and only them)… then I shall not be put to shame…I will praise you (only) when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!”(The parenthetical statements are what is implied from the Hebrew in both cases…that which would have been understood by those reading and hearing them.)
But there is a clue to who these people are that David wishes to emulate and it is found in verse 1… “Blessed are those whose way is blameless/ perfect.” (biblically this speaks of those who “stay the course of faith”…who strive to be obedient to their Sovereign.)Whenever the Bible calls for perfection we know only One person fulfilled this requirement…our Lord Jesus Christ who was both God and Man. The Bible also tells us…His children… that our perfection is found in our union with Him alone…so by virtue of His perfection (read righteousness) we fall into this category of those who are seeking to “stay the course” and that is why David is asking for strength…power…knowledge…and fear of God; so that He can stay the course and as such honor God with His life…as a man of God and as God’s King.
Jesus also talks of this perfection when He says in Matthew 5, “You therefore must be (“Must=divine directive”) perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” In Christ we are perfect and yet we are being made perfect and that is seen in and through our faith that seeks to “stay the course” to be obedient to our Sovereign. Jesus knows that this ethic is a difficult one for us.
His standards for us and the works that will glorify our Father in heaven ARE high. He also knows that we have a sinful tendency to adjust our personal standards to our own level of performance not His. Instead of seeking to “up our game”, elevate our work for the LORD, when things get hard we simply reduce the standard to something manageable. How many times have we left something untried because it seemed to hard? Or we were afraid of failure or we feared ridicule and rejection? G. K. Chesterton said once, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.”
David and Jesus are both making it clear that God’s standards never change and God’s standard is perfection…perfection that is found only in our union in Christ Jesus through His righteousness both today and the Day to come. And we tap into this perfection every time we like David pray and then act, “Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping (when I keep) your statutes! (For when I keep them and only them) Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.”
Sooo…as this week begins, let us, like David, commit this day to walk in the law/Gospel. Let us keep His testimonies. Let us seek Him with our whole heart. Let us seek to keep His precepts. Let us commit this day to praise Him with an upright heart and to keep His statutes. Then we will KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are NOT forsaken…no matter what the day may bring.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
