Delightful Obedience
By Norma Miller
May 1, 2015
Read Psalm 119:1-8, 20-24
God wants us to experience His pleasure in us and His smile on us. He is not a God who is sitting there with a stick, waiting for us to mess up, but is rather a loving Father who finds great pleasure in His children turning to Him.
He has certain precepts or principles in place, that when followed, bring blessing into our lives. When we function outside of those precepts, we often experience shame.
He tells us in Psalm 119 that those whose ways are blameless are blessed. He tells us that if we keep His statutes and seek Him with all our hearts we will be blessed. If we walk in His ways He will bless us. God WANTS to bless His children, but so often, our ways prevent Him from being able to do all He would like to do in our lives.
In verse 5, the Psalmist expresses regret in that his ways are not always conducive to God's blessing and that he had experienced shame when he did not consider all of the Lord's commands. This does not mean that we will come to shame every time we mess up. God is not that kind of parent, but one who sees our hearts; but as we look to Him with a desire to learn His ways, and as we obey His commands, our hearts are upright, and He delights in us.
As our hearts are consumed with desire for our Maker and His desires for us, as our hearts delight in obeying our Father, as He desires for us, His laws for us become our delight to obey, and God redeems us from the curse of the enemy. It is when we are too proud to consider His ways for us that we run into trouble. When we are arrogant, we stray from His commands and attract curses instead of blessings.
As we delight in the Lord and what He wants for us, we can find security in that and do not need to worry about what others may say about us or what plans are made for our demise. If we know our hearts are right, what others think or say should not matter. We have peace in our position with the Father.
I am far from perfect in both obedience and in not worrying about the opinions of others, but I find peace in seeking refuge in my Father's heart, His laws for me, and the refuge He offers.
Comments - Post a Comment
« Back to Articles
