Learning to Keep God's Word

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes." Psalms 119:67, 71

The 119th Chapter in the Book of Psalm is 176 verses long. If you are feeling inspired to read them all this week I believe you will be inspired and blessed greatly. 

I’m going through Psalms 119 in my Bible-in-a-year plan currently. Today I read verses 65-72. The theme of the first 72 verses is heavily laced with the desire to keep God’s Word. “Lord teach me Your statutes,” appears over and over. The verses I pasted above really jumped out to speak to me today. 

I am still a work in progress - I believe as Christians we are constantly working towards God’s Word our whole earthly existence. His work in us is not done until He graduates us to the Church Triumphant. As much as I want to confidently say to God, "now I keep Your Word," I know I am a far way off from that.

However, I can definitely see that He has used the afflictions in my life to draw me closer to Him. To learn to trust Him. To let His Words be my guide in this life. Romans 8:28 tells us that, “all things work together for good to those who love God.” So sometimes He will absolutely use our trials to grow us. Other times He may use our storms to grow others - remember, His power is made perfect in our weakness. 

I think the first thing that I really felt as I started digging into the Old Testament this year is: overwhelmed. Reading all the rules that the Israelites had to follow can make our heads spin. How can we possibly keep all of God's rules? There are way more than the basic Ten Commandments when you get to a deeper reading of the books that cover all the laws that God gave to Moses to give to God's people.

So, while we want to obey God's Words - especially the more we actively seek Him in His Word, and through constant prayer - we have the devil whispering in our ear, "you can never possibly do ALL of that, ALL of the time, for the rest of your life. Give up. Go sin, you're going to inevitably anyway. What's the point of trying if you are always going to mess up" Don't listen to his lies!

We no longer live under the Law the way God's people did before Jesus saved us. Read that again. Now read Hebrews 8:7-9 with me: "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says, "Behold the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD."" God told us in His Word the He would make a new covenant with us - because He knew we needed His grace!

One of the things that I like about the Bible-in-a-Year plan that I am on is that each day we read some OT, some NT, and some Pslams (when we run out of Pslams we will read Proverbs instead). The Old Testament is heavier on Law (and condemnation) than Gospel (grace). Conversely, the New Testament is heavier on grace/Gospel than Law/condemnation. Psalms is filled with beautiful praises and can most certainly be used to pray and worship with if you can't find your own Words. 

I have found, the best part of digging into God's Word daily, coupled with stepping up your prayer life is this: as we actively seek God, as we read about all He has done for us, His people, since Creation, our prayers shift. We become more humble. We look at the ways that the Israelites doubted and turned from God and instead of just seeing a Bible story, we see a reflection of our own behaviors. We start asking God to help us trust Him fully. We turn to Him with glory, honor, and thanksgiving for everything - good and bad. As we seek ways to please Him we find ourselves getting closer to being able to proclaim the words of the Psalm above, "But now I keep Your Word!" 

It is not about being perfect - only One Person was ever perfect, and until He returns no one else has a prayer of perfection. It is about where our hearts are. If we posture our hearts to God, asking Him - genuinely - to teach us His statutes, we will find ourselves doing a better job of keeping His Word. Pray this week with intentions of being fully open to allowing God to work in you for His glory, His purpose...if you truly "let go, and let God," you will find yourself drawn more and more to keeping His Word. Be blessed and be the blessing my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. May our Lord WOW you with His presence this week, and always.