life

Following Christ

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“May Your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, Your salvation according to Your promise;” -Psalm 119:41

Unfailing love. Steadfast love. Mercies. These are phrases used to translate this verse. The psalmist desires to see God’s love and mercy follow him all the days of his life. The treasures of salvation are: Jesus’ imputed righteousness, never-ending secure love, and fresh mercies each day. The promises of God are as certain as the rising of the sun. 

“then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in Your Word.” -Psalm 119:42

Our lives will testify to the good work God is doing in us and put our enemies to shame. Though you and I are not perfect, God’s faithfulness and power will help us live before men in such a way to silence their false accusations. If you are to be hated, let it be because you take up your cross and follow Christ. If our Master was mistreated, let us too be worthy of such honor.

Grace upon grace,

April 

Grow deeper: John 15:18-21

Enjoying our Gift

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“May Your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, Your salvation according to Your promise;

then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in Your Word.

Do not snatch the Word of Truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in Your laws.

I will always obey Your law, for ever and ever.

I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out Your precepts.

I will speak of Your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame,

for I delight in Your commands because I love them.

I lift up my hands to Your commands, which I love, and I meditate on Your decrees.” -Psalm 119:41-48 (Waw)

This is a love letter to our King. The psalmist has tasted and seen that the Lord is good. His Word is sweeter than honey. This is also a prayer for God to hold him fast especially under persecution. He prays for the Lord to never take the truth away from him. This is where he is happiest and content despite the arrows that fly around him. He will not lose heart as long as God is with him. 

We serve a loving and merciful God. He keeps His promises, reminding us of the truths we’ve been taught. He calls us not just to obey Him but to learn to delight in Him as well. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” Answer: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The psalmist is an example of how we live this out even when others turn against us. We are not deterred- God is still worthy of our worship at all times. The psalm writer is not ashamed of His God but speaks of Him whenever he has opportunity. Likewise, we cannot keep such goodness to ourselves, but must tell others what God has done through the Gift of His Son, Jesus, for our eternal redemption. By delighting in God’s wonders and His Word, sharing the Gospel and preaching it to ourselves each day, we glorify our Father and enjoy His Greatest Gift, Jesus Christ. 

Grace upon grace,

April 

Eternally His

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“Take away the disgrace I dread, for Your laws are good.” -Psalm 119:39

The disgrace he dreads is God’s judgment. The psalmist takes sin seriously. He knows God’s ways are best and longs to always obey. Yet like the apostle Paul, he still contends with his flesh, lamenting as Paul did, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). David confesses God’s laws are good and right. This singular verse can serve as a prayer for us as well, seeking God’s help to walk in His ways. Having said that, believers know their salvation is secure in Christ and we are no longer condemned (Romans 8:1). So we can echo such a prayer-verse as part of our sanctification to take off the old and put on the new nature. In this way we are being renewed day by day to reflect the glory of our Savior (2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:16-18).

“How I long for Your precepts! Preserve my life in Your righteousness.” -Psalm 119:40

What a gift to long for something good, true and holy. Without the Lord life has no meaning. God provides this desire in each of His saints but it is our responsibility to keep seeking God every day. Love blooms here. The fruit of perseverance is love. As the psalmist seeks God, he wants more of Him, longing for His Presence. He prays for the Lord to preserve his life according to His righteousness. We all want our lives to count, to know we matter in a world that seems purposeless. God dignifies our lives, our very souls, with His imprint of righteousness on us. As a king uses his signet ring to verify his signature, so God has sealed every one of His children with Christ’s blood. Our lives are eternally preserved in His. Praise Jesus!

Grace upon grace,

April

Standing on the Promises

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“Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to Your Word.” -Psalm 119:37

This verse is a suitable parallel to the previous one. Along with turning toward God, the psalmist specifically asks to turn away from things which will burn up at the end of time. He knows temporal pleasures are worthless compared to everlasting riches; satisfaction found in God alone. The psalmist values more life in God which includes an ever expanding view of who God is, enriching fellowship with the Lord and His saints; more love, faith and power gifted by the Holy Spirit. As C.S. Lewis would say, “Further up and further in!”.

“Fulfill Your promise to Your servant, so that You may be feared.” -Psalm 119:38

Could King David (likely the psalmist) be referring to the promise of God in which one day the Eternal King would come from his line (2 Samuel 7:11-16; 27-29)? We know Jesus came from David’s family tree as God fulfilled His promise. Yet another part of the promise is yet to be fulfilled. At Christ’s Second Coming He will rightfully take His Throne and cleanse the world of sin and sorrow. What an Awesome God we serve! He is to be rightly feared and will be by all at the end of Time (Philippians 2:9-11).

Grace upon grace,

April

Reference: The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

 

Disciplined Delight

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“Direct me in the path of Your commands, for there I find delight.” -Psalm 119:35

This verse builds on the previous two verses. The psalmist has prayed for teaching, understanding, and now practical guidance. Christians live out our faith in habits of holiness, not for moral discipline alone, but because of the love relationship we have with the Law Giver. The psalmist prays for help to walk in God’s ways because he, like us, cannot perfectly obey. God’s help is needed each day to fight sin and walk worthy of the calling which we have received. Living within the safe walls of His commands in peaceful fellowship with Jehovah-Shalom is a believer’s deepest joy. 

“Turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain.” -Psalm 119:36

The remedy against sin is to look in God’s Word. What does it have to say about the temptations battling for our affections? Selfish gain will only go so far in this life- it ends when we die. But to fix our desires on heavenly things, the statutes of God, will benefit us for eternity.

“Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” -Colossians 3:1-4

Grace upon grace,

April 

God’s Schoolroom

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“Teach me, O Lord, to follow Your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.” -Psalm 119:33

A scholar wants to know all his professor knows; an apprentice studies the ways of the one he works for. Yet in order to be teachable in God’s schoolroom, humility precedes learning. God will not impress His deeper truths on our hearts if we are not seeking, willing to submit no matter the costs. The difference in head knowledge and wisdom by faith is a confident peace which God blesses only His children. Atheists may read the Bible from cover to cover and have the capacity to answer every trivia question. But if the heart is unchanged then sadly the unrepentant merely scratch the surface of God’s storehouse. The psalmist knows this here, praying to learn from God as his Teacher and Master, persevering on the straight and narrow path.

“Give me understanding, and I will keep Your law and obey it with all my heart.” -Psalm 119:34

The same request is given here as in verse 33. Faith is practical and active which is why the psalmist uses language like “keep”, “follow” and “obey”. He also sees the necessity for the Lord to grow his faith with more understanding, asking God to “give” and “teach”. Verses 33 and 34 are similar but different. Verse 34 reaches deeper in asking for understanding. It is one thing to be taught and retain head knowledge. To understand what we’ve been taught shows maturity as we begin to meditate on God’s commands. Finally what we do with the truths we have heard, then studied, is where our faith grow feet. Submitting to God requires a response of obedience that develops into habits of holiness over a lifetime. But it first starts with a heart change or else our actions are nothing more than legalistic/salvation by works. This is a work of grace only God can accomplish which is why the psalmist prays in this specific order. Teach me; bless me with understanding for wisdom and discernment; then help me obey what I have learned. These verses are evidence of God at work in the psalmist. When we can pray for instruction because we desire faithful obedience, rest assured God is cultivating the fruit of your heart. 

Grace upon grace,

April 

Created to Worship

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“Teach me, O Lord, to follow Your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.

Give me understanding, and I will keep Your law and obey it with all my heart.

Direct me in the path of Your commands, for there I find delight. 

Turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to Your Word.

Fulfill Your promise to Your servant, so that You may be feared. 

Take away the disgrace I dread, for Your laws are good.

How I long for Your precepts! Preserve my life in Your righteousness.”

Psalm 119:33-40 (He)

Psalm 119 is itself a prayer. Each octave can stand alone as prayers. But even a singular verse serves as a prayer lifted up before the Throne of Grace. Personally prayer-verses are easier for me to remember than whole sections at a time. The poetical verses which compose the octave He are pleas for understanding, obedience and fulfilled promises. Why would the psalmist pray for these things? Because he knows the worth of spiritual riches compared to earthly gain. The author is also aware of the only true, good, and beautiful purpose in life which is God. To crave deeper fellowship with our Maker and Savior is to fulfill our purpose in this sin cursed existence. Seeking God makes us truly human again, worshipping whom we are created for.

Grace upon grace,

April 

Running Free

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“I run in the path of Your commands, for you have set my heart free.” -Psalm 119:32

This octave (Daleth) ends on a joyful note. It is a far cry from how the psalmist began, consumed in his sorrow. The difference between an unbeliever and a believer’s grief is hope. Hope in what or whom? The world will look to anything else but the One who created them. Their pleasures are fleeting. Deep-seated joy for a Christian occurs by placing our trust in Jesus Christ. If we know He has saved us then we have experienced His mercy and love. God’s past faithfulness to us helps us trust Him in our pain or when we don’t understand. Only God can set us free from the prisons we put ourselves in. Only He gives us the ability to run after Him to do what we were created to do all along. Running after anything less than your Maker is like living in chains. 

Life in Christ is essential to being fully human. God loves to bless His children with understanding in His ways so that we may walk in them. God blesses us with a love for holiness, a desire to persevere even when we are weary or sorrowful. Our Good God will be with us and help us to the very end (Philippians 1:6). What a wonderful work of grace!

Grace upon grace,

April 

Holding Fast

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“I hold fast to Your statutes, O Lord; do not let me be put to shame.” -Psalm 119:31

The irony is as we hold fast to the Lord, He has the better grip on us. Just as Peter could not save himself from drowning, the Lord Jesus took hold of him to save his life (Matthew 14:22-33). He will hold you fast- always. As His child He does not forsake, change His mind, or let go of us according to how we measure up on any given day. Isn’t that wonderful? To hold fast to God’s Word is the deep mystery of God’s Sovereignty and man’s will. He gives us the desire and understanding, but we must take care to cultivate this gift. It is where delight and discipline meet to fulfill our duty as His people. As we hold on to our dear Savior minute by minute through His revealed truth, He will not allow us to experience the great shame of His rejection. We are firmly His.

Grace upon grace,

April

Grow deeper: James 1:13-18

Dragon Layers

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“Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through Your law.” -Psalm 119:29

The psalmist loves what God loves and hates what God hates. Deceit is lying, either to another or oneself. Here the psalmist does not want a false view of himself and mistakenly think his spiritual condition is better than what it actually is. People deceived in this way are blinded by their own spiritual pride. The psalmist is aware of this pitfall so he prays for the Lord to help him see his inner man rightly through the lens of the law. It is a grace for God to show us our sin so that we may return to Him in confession and repentance, restored in happy fellowship. In His loving-kindness our Father does not reveal all our hideous sin nature to us at once.

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis, there is a scene in which the miserable Eustace turns into a dragon after pursuing dragon-ish (sinful) desires. Aslan restores him back into a boy by tenderly though painfully taking off many dragon layers which Eustace was not able to accomplish on his own. God prunes our hearts in a similar way, so that as His disciples we will bear fruit. Through gradual understanding of His truth, He peels off our dragon layers one by one with the goal to make us look like Christ.

“I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on Your laws.” -Psalm 119:30

The psalmist has prayed for God’s strength and grace in his pursuit of truth. Now he makes a bold declaration, a line in the sand, of where his allegiance lies. Only a changing heart can utter these words and mean it. This is the pilgrim’s banner. When we see God’s ways as good and even to be desired, instead of burdensome, His good work is taking root in us. There is sure to be fruit.

Grace upon grace,

April 

Grow deeper: John 15