Psalm 119: 7-11
Aleph: ...
I shall give thanks to Thee with uprightness of heart, When I learn Thy righteous judgments.
I shall keep Thy statutes; do not forsake me utterly!
Beth:
How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word.
With all my heart I have sought Thee; Do not let me wander from Thy commandments.
Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.
Psalm 119 is all about how God blesses the one who pays attention to His rules, learns them, and lives his life according to them, thinking through every choice and decision in the light of what God has said about it.
This writer realizes how beneficial it is to value God's instructions, and follow them meticulously. God has shown us in His Word everything we need to know to see how what we say and do can coordinate with how He designed things to work. When we follow the Manufacturer's Instructions to run this World, then the Earth will respond with a favorable outcome. This is how God blesses those who obey His commandments.
When we study the whole Bible, then we can see how all 66 books tell one continuous story: the story of how God made us and provided for us and met all our needs. How He showed His people how to cooperate with Him, and what His Son will accomplish, which He did, and the wonderful future He has planned for those who are His own.
When God brought His people to the land He promised to give to Abraham, He made sure that they would know how to live there to gain the greatest benefit He wanted to give them; then other Nations would see how blessed they were and come to worship God, too, instead of their idols.
But the book of Judges shows us how whenever they did obey and were blessed, they started to congratulate themselves and forget God; then others took advantage of them and took all their benefits; then they would cry out to the Lord and He would rescue them, and they would be blessed again. Over and over we see this pattern repeated, because this is how our human nature responds.
When Satan confronted Eve, he convinced her that if she ate from that particular tree, then she wouldn't need God any more, she could make her own decisions and not bother Him.
Satan is still telling Mankind the same lie. If we just put forth the effort, and use our own intelligence, we can have anything we want without submitting to God and His rules. But the methods the World has found to gain benefits are God's rules, that's why they work.
We are to ask, to seek and to knock (Matthew 7:7-8, Luke 11:9-10). When we know what God wants to give us, and we ask Him, believing that He hears us and answers us, then our faith has brought about the good result we wanted and He gets the glory (see Matthew 9:22, 29: 17:20: 21:21: Mark 5:34: 10:32: Luke 5:30: 7:50: 8:48: 17:6, 19: 18:42).
Satan has taught the World this faith principle, but subtracted God out of it, and tells people to "ask the Universe." Then they can boast of their own abilities to gain the wealth they want: they rob God of the credit and glory He deserves.
But what profit will anyone gain to have an abundance in these few days of life on this Earth, but lose out on the forever eternity God wants us to have with Him? But if someone doesn't want to be with God, then He won't force them. He has given us a will that is free to choose or reject Him and His ways.
The writer of this Psalm understands the value and worth of studying and knowing the rules and instructions of Life, and following them, obeying God in his very thoughts and attitudes and words. And he knows that God will not forsake him, because He will answer. He knows that he can live his life in integrity and purity by following His statutes. And then he will guard against wandering away from that righteous path and missing the mark.
O my Father, help me to know what You want for me and ask You for it; to seek, to look for the ways to understand how to obtain what I'm asking You for; and to knock, to do what needs to be done, as Your hands and feet in this World, promoting Your Kingdom. Then I know that You will answer me, You will show me what to do and where to go, and You will enable me by giving me the strength to accomplish the dream You have given me to fulfill.
And I will give You all the credit, all the glory for what You are doing in and to and through me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
