Psalm 119:137-144 NASB
Righteous are You, O Lord,
And upright are Your judgments.
You have commanded Your testimonies in righteousness
And exceeding faithfulness.
My zeal has consumed me,
Because my adversaries have forgotten Your words.
Your word is very pure,
Therefore Your servant loves it.
I am small and despised,
Yet I do not forget Your precepts.
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
And Your law is truth.
Trouble and anguish have come upon me,
Yet Your commandments are my delight.
Your testimonies are righteous forever;
Give me understanding that I may live.
He is Fully Righteous
Jesus Christ, our Lord, our
Redeemer, is fully righteous. He is completely pure, totally unselfish, fully
giving of himself to meet our legitimate needs. He always has our best interest
in mind, and he does whatever will draw us closer to him in sweet fellowship
and surrender to him and to his will.
His Word, the Holy Bible
(Genesis to Revelation) is our guidebook, our instructions, our manual for
daily living. Yet, we are not under the Old Covenant ceremonial and
purification laws found in some of the Old Testament books, but we are to
follow the law of love, which fulfills the commandments of God. And, love does
no harm to its neighbor, but only what is for his good.
Jesus Christ is the Living
Word, and He is Love, so his Law is also Love. But, this love is not like human
love. This is divine love, which prefers what God prefers, which is what is
holy, righteous, pure (unadulterated), selfless, submissive and obedient to the
Lord and to his instructions to us, his church.
So, if we love God’s Word,
then we will follow what it says, but again, we are under the New Covenant, so
we follow the teachings of Jesus and those of the NT apostles and all of the
biblical instructions of the Old Testament which are repeated in the New
Testament for us, the church.
If we truly love God and His
Word, it will also grieve us when those who know the Word of God refuse to do
what it says. It will grieve us when those within the church who call
themselves Christians live as enemies of the cross of Christ and in direct
opposition to the truths of scripture. And, it should especially grieve us when
the leaders of such church congregations dilute the truths of scripture to make
them more appealing to human flesh. And, this should lead us to have much zeal
to have the truth be made known.
Yet, when we do love the Word
of God, and we are grieved when it is misused and forgotten, even within the
congregations of the churches, and we speak the truths of God’s Word, we will
be rejected and even hated. And, that rejection may come from within the
church, not from without. Yet, remember here who Jesus’ greatest persecutors
were. They were the people of his own faith and the leaders of the temple of
God. They were also Jews.
Psalm 119:161-168 NASB
Princes persecute me without cause,
But my heart stands in awe of Your words.
I rejoice at Your word,
As one who finds great spoil.
I hate and despise falsehood,
But I love Your law.
Seven times a day I praise You,
Because of Your righteous ordinances.
Those who love Your law have great peace,
And nothing causes them to stumble.
I hope for Your salvation, O Lord,
And do Your commandments.
My soul keeps Your testimonies,
And I love them exceedingly.
I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies,
For all my ways are before You.
We Have Great Peace!
When we are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake, because we love the Word of God, and so we hold to its
truths, and we speak its truths, we are not to let that undo us. It should not
change who we are or what we do. We should never back down out of fear of being
mistreated or excluded. But, it should encourage us to be all the more faithful
in following God’s Word in our own lives, and in spreading the truths of God’s
Word to others so that they, too, can know our Lord and follow him in obedience
and in surrender to his ways.
I give a hearty “Amen” to the
part here where it says “I hate and despise falsehood, but I love your law.” We
are not talking about ceremonial or liturgical laws, though. We are talking
about loving the law of love, which is pure, holy and righteous. Thus, one does
not make a practice of sinning by committing adultery, fornication, cheating,
stealing, lying, and killing, etc.
And, we are talking about
hating all that is false, such as manipulations, twisting of scripture,
half-truths (half-truth gospels), deceptions, misleadings, etc., which are
intended to lead people to what is a lie, and for the purpose to lead them away
from their pure devotion to Christ to following after the ways of the flesh.
Or, they are intended to cover-up sin so as to deceive, so the one creating the
falsehood can continue in his sin.
Sometimes, they are also for
the purpose to slander others to make oneself look good by comparison, or to
redirect blame to someone else in order to take the blame off of oneself, in
order to deceive, manipulate and control.
Those who love the Law of
Love (the Word of God) have great peace. Amen to that one, too! For, if we love
the Word, we will obey the Word, and with obedience comes much peace. For, we
are doing right instead of wrong, we are enjoying sweet fellowship with our
Lord and with other believers who also love the Word of the Lord. There is no
greater peace than being in a right relationship with our Lord, following his
lead, and doing what He says.
Psalm 119:169-176 NASB
Let my cry come before You, O Lord;
Give me understanding according to Your word.
Let my supplication come before You;
Deliver me according to Your word.
Let my lips utter praise,
For You teach me Your statutes.
Let my tongue sing of Your word,
For all Your commandments are righteousness.
Let Your hand be ready to help me,
For I have chosen Your precepts.
I long for Your salvation, O Lord,
And Your law is my delight.
Let my soul live that it may praise You,
And let Your ordinances help me.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your
servant,
For I do not forget Your commandments.
Songs of Praise & Adoration
When we love our Lord and His
Word, we will walk with him in his love, and in obedience and surrender to his
perfect will for our lives. And, because of our relationship with our Lord, and
all that He has done for us, we will desire to give him praise, and to sing
songs unto him.
I love the old hymns (most of
them), and I love many modern day hymns (songs), too, which give praise, honor
and glory to God. I love spiritual songs which glorify and magnify our God and
which also minister to our spirits with words of comfort, encouragement, and
instruction, too, in how we ought to walk in the ways of the Lord. I love
scripture put to music, for it helps me to remember the scriptures better in my
mind.
The Lord uses hymns and
spiritual songs often throughout the day in my life to teach me his ways, to
remind me of his truths, to comfort and strengthen my heart, and as prayers to
pray back to him which he wants me to voice to him. So, I am very thankful for
the gift of song for through song the Lord helps me to be strong when I am
weak, to give praise when I am in tears, and to keep walking in faith when
fears assail me.
The following song (hymn) is
very old, but still very true. It was one that I learned as a child and was one
of my favorites when I was a young person. The Lord put this song in my mind
again this morning, for it is a song of worship and praise and adoration of our
Lord. But, not only that, but it is a reminder to us, his people, that HE is
the one we are to cherish and honor with our lives. He is to be regarded as
fully worthy above all else, and none other is to ever surpass him in our
hearts, in our minds, and in our lives.
Fairest Lord Jesus
Anonymous/Unknown, pub.1677
v. 1-3 tr., pub.1850, v. 4 tr. by Lilian Stevenson
v. 5 tr. by Joseph A. Seiss, 1873
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all
nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.
Fair are the meadows, fairer still the
woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.
Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the
moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines
purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.
All fairest beauty, heavenly and
earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.
Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the
nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine.
*copyright status is public domain
Sunday, August 5, 2018 –
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for who you are, and for all that you have done for us,
your people. We give you honor and praise!
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