Every morning I have been reading through Psalms along with another book of the Bible. This morning I came to Psalms 119. I’ve read it before, but this morning I saw it in a different light. I was struck at how much this man loved the Lord through the way he declared his obedience to God throughout the whole chapter. “With my whole heart I have sought thee,” “I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.” “I will run the way of thy commandments,” “O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” ” I forsook not thy precepts.” “Teach me the, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.” This man sought God with diligence!
Obeying God is not always the easiest thing to do. Our flesh wants to do what pleases us, and it is hard not to give in. We say we love God, but we don’t obey his every command. We say we love Him more than anyone else in the world, yet we don’t meditate on him “all the day.” The reason we are not as close to God as this man in Psalms, is because a close relationship with God requires hard work. It requires us to give up our own desires and do as God directs. It means doing things we don’t want to do. We have to diligently seek him, and no one wants to do anything that asks us to work hard.
To have a love for God that is strong and faithful, we have to be determined that we are not going to quit. We may fall, but we have to get up again! Even this man fell in his stride toward God. (“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.”) Proverbs 24:17 says, “For a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again.”
It is hard to obey God’s every command and resist the flesh, but the rewards are abundant. When we read this chapter it is clear to see that this man’s life is filled with joy. Joy that only God can give to those who love him! It is worth it! All the hard work, all the times we have to do things we would rather not do, all the times we have to make ourselves obey God in the toughest situations . . . it’s all worth it! Nothing can be more satisfying then having a close relationship with God. Go for it! For “thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.”
1 comment:
Amen! To seek a close and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is hard work....but oh, is it ever worth it!! To abide in Him and bask in His love and joy continually is more precious than anything we could ever desire!
Thank you for the post!
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