Psalm 119:167-168
We walk upon a very narrow pathway and may not take one step off it to the left or right. Our hands may not take hold of everything in the world. Adam sinned when his hand reached out and took the forbidden fruit. Our eyes must turn away and our ears be stopped many times in regard to many things. David should have turned his eyes away from Bathsheba. Aaron should not have listened to the people when they called for a golden calf. James warns us against a multitude of sins committed by the tongue.
But there is something deeper than the sins we see round about us. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:167, 168: "My soul hath kept Thy testimonies: and I love them exceedingly. I have kept Thy precepts and Thy testimonies: for all my ways are before Thee."
Notice that our souls must keep God's testimonies. For what the soul does will determine what the foot, hand, eye, ear, and tongue will do. Our souls must love God, or we will not walk in love and perform any deeds of love with our bodies. Therefore our souls must love God's testimonies. No man can sincerely sing these words unless and until he loves God's law (PRC Psalter):
Thy testimonies I have kept,
They are my chief delight;
Observant of Thy law and truth,
I walk before Thy sight.
It does not please God for us to put up a pious front as a Pharisee. That fills Him with anger. And God cannot be deceived. He knows what is in our souls. And He will judge us according to what He sees there.
What satisfies man's standards does not count. God is satisfied only when from the soul outward we have pure love for His law. Love for God must be in every atom of our being from the depth of our souls outward, to control us in all of our activities.
Yea, all our ways must be before God. That means also that we perform them in the consciousness of the fact that God sees them and the soul that activates them.
Read: Matthew 6:1-18
Psalter versification: #341:4
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Song for Meditation: Psalter #409
Why not sing along??
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Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 27 , Ezekiel 28:1-26
Hebrews 11:17-31
Psalm 111:1-10
Proverbs 27:15-16
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Quote for Reflection:
"… As we stand by the gap caused by the fall and disobedience of man, and discover that only Immanuel fits into the gap to save us, we know that divine wisdom so designed all things that even our sin must serve the purpose of opening the way for the coming of the Son of God in the flesh. O the depth of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" – Triple Knowledge by Herman Hoeksema (Lord's Day 7, pg. 260)
Additional Info
- Date: 13-November
Heys, John A.
Rev. John A. Heys was born on March 16, 1910 in Grand Rapids, MI. He was ordained and installed into the ministry at Hope, Walker, MI in 1941. He later served at Hull, Iowa beginning in 1955. In 1959 he accepted the call to serve the South Holland, IL Protestant Reformed Church. He received and accepted the call to Holland, Michigan Protestant Reformed Church in 1967. He retired from the active ministry in 1980. He entered into glory on February 16, 1998.