THURSDAY 10th
Psalm 119:57-64 – Section eight – Hebrew – HETH
‘The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I entreat your favour with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments.
Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law. At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules. I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts. The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!’
In the verses 57-60 the psalmist is declaring his loyalty to the Word of God, ‘I promise to keep your words’, ‘I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments’, and in verse 61 he says ‘I do not forget your law’, and then in verse 63 ‘I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts’, and then to sum it all up, just in case he has failed to understand or to act on some of that which he has made a promise to keep, he requests, ‘teach me your statutes!’
It is obvious that the Word of God was of immense value and importance to him, he wanted who he was and everything he did to be governed by the Word of God, he wanted to live a life that pleased God, a life that was honourable to the Word of God. He wanted his testimony to be one that portrayed that of one who was living in accord with all that God commanded and he knew that to be a recipient of the promises of God, he needed to be living in a way in which the promises could be applied.
I wonder how often we just take the promises of God for granted, without giving a thought that we need to be living in a certain way as the Children of God to be the recipients of his blessing, we cannot do as we please and expect God to bless, we cannot live double standards and expect God to bless, we cannot just choose to do what we want and expect God to bless, he blesses those who live according to the standard that he has set and the standard to which he demands.
God has set the standards out very clearly in his Word and if we choose to ignore or fail to obey then God has a right to withhold his blessing from us.May our prayer be that God will remind us of his promises and enable us to live according to his Word so that we will remain in a position where we will know his blessing upon us.