Psalm 119 God's Word on Display. Pt. 3

Good evening to all. I have one more post on Psalm 119 to share this evening. We witnessed a stunning sunset and the same god who blesses us with these visual displays of His glory is the same God who displays His glory in His word. May we seek to cultivate a thirst for His truth all the rest of our lives. 

If we walk in His ways we will avoid iniquity.

Psalms 119:3 They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

When we “walk, seek and keep” as noted in the preceding verses we will experience the Lord’s “transforming work” in our hearts.

The Psalmist says walking in His ways will enable us to avoid iniquity and stay in the God ordained path, as long as we continue walking, seeking and keeping.

“Iniquity” is that which is wrong, unjust or unrighteousness. Iniquity is a deviation from that which is right. However, the man who consistently walks in the law of God while keeping His testimonies and earnestly seeking Him with all of his heart will remain walking in God’s ways.

Notice how the word “they” is used when speaking of those who do no iniquity, or of “they” who walk in His ways.

It is encouraging to know that we are not alone in attempting to walk in the way of obedience and in personal reflection upon the wonderful working of God. Many believers are seeking ongoing sanctification and spiritual progress in their lives in order to bring honor and glory to God.

Keeping His precepts diligently

Psalms 119:4  Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

Keeping Jehovah’s precepts diligently prepares us for the battles to come.

The Psalmist now lays the last brick in a foundational wall of truth that he has been building. So far, he has shown a need to be preoccupied with walking in God’s law, keeping His testimonies, in seeking Him with our whole heart so that we avoid iniquity and  truly experience the blessing of walking in His ways. 

The emphasis seems to flow from verse four where God commanded us to do something.

The word “commanded” is a very strong word. It is used by God of Creation to direct His people. There is no wiggle room with this particular word. It is expected that the hearer will obey Jehovah and carry out His instruction to the fullest of his abilities to do so. It is the Creator commanding the creature to carry out a specific task.

Now, exactly what has our loving God commanded us to do? It is to keep His precepts. The word “keep” means the same as previously noted.  We are to carefully guard His precepts and keep them as safe as our most valued possession.

Diligence is needed

The Lord has also declared the manner in which we are to keep His precepts. We are to keep them diligently. The word translated “diligently” means to undertake this task vehemently, wholly and speedily. This task requires some immediate energy and effort on our part because when we choose to obey the Lord’s command in this particular task, we will quickly discover that there is opposition arrayed against us. 

We are in a spiritual battle and victory is 

related to our passion for God and His word

It is truly spiritual warfare that we are called to and the battle’s intensity is directly related to the level of our passion to keep His precepts and obey our God. I must expect that the devil will seek to wound, weary or waylay my passion.

When I feel sluggish in my spirit or halfheartedly follow after Christ, then the enemy has me in a place where I am rendered ineffective in serving the very God who saved me from the depths of hell. However, when I give heed to the truth of scripture and the Spirit of Christ smites me with conviction I can repent and turn again to be zealous for the Lord of Glory. 

Points to Ponder....

• Iniquity is a deviation from what God says is right. Those who walk in the ways of God will avoid iniquity.

• We are commanded to keep His precepts diligently. 

• We are soldiers of Christ engaged in spiritual warfare. The word of God which is the sword of the Spirit is our weapon. 

• Success in this battle is dependent upon diligently keeping God's Word foremost in our minds.

We can see just in the first 4 verses of Psalm 119 how important it is to read and heed the Word of God. Iniquity is all around us in the culture and we need scripture truth to resist and avoid falling into sin. Remember, when we are born again we are in a lifelong battle of spiritual warfare. We must have the sword of His word in hand ready to use in this battle between good and evil. 

Bob