Psalm 119:171-172
As we saw yesterday, salvation is a wonderful gift. It also has a wonderful response. Of this we read in Psalm 119:171-172 in these words: "My lips shall utter praise, when Thou hast taught me Thy statutes. My tongue shall speak of Thy word: for all Thy commandments are righteousness." Our versification explains it thus (PRC Psalter):
Instructed in Thy holy law,
To praise Thy word I lift my voice;
O Lord, be Thou my present help,
For Thy commandments are my choice.
We do well to note that here again salvation is presented as deliverance from the love of sin and not simply from its guilt and punishment. Being saved from that love of sin, we are going to praise God. Until we are saved from it by the Spirit of Christ, on the basis of His cross, we cannot praise God but will speak against Him.
The praise of God the psalmist has in mind is that He is God and that we must bow before His sovereign will. For that God's commandments are righteousness means that God is righteous. For these commandments express His will. And when He teaches us His statutes, He teaches us that He is right in demanding perfect obedience by keeping His law every step of our way.
Every time we sin, we go against God and insult Him rather than praise Him. When we sin we praise ourselves, presenting ourselves as those who may do as they please. When we by sins say that we do not love God's law, we say that we do not love God. We say that we find something wrong with God instead of praising Him as the righteous God that He is.
Bearing this in mind we can see why the psalmist prayed in verse 169 that God would give him understanding. We must be delivered from folly and cry to God to have our cry come near unto Him. For we do not deserve to be heard.
Do your prayers contain this request? Are you sincerely desirous of praising God? A mere desire to be saved from punishment is not enough. The devil and all his followers want that. Love for God will produce a desire to serve and praise God as God almighty and sovereign.
Read: Psalm 19
Psalter versification: #342:2
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Daily Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Song for Meditation: Psalter #247
Why not sing along??
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Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Daniel 4:1-37
2 Peter 1:1-21
Psalm 119:97-112
Proverbs 28:17-18
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Quote for Reflection:
"True faith confines its view so entirely to Christ, that it neither knows, nor desires to know, anything else." ~ John Calvin
Additional Info
- Date: 27-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.