Last post I shared some of my journey in Scripture Memory. Currently…well…for about the last year, I have been working on memorizing Psalm 119 (here @ Bible Gateway). John Piper’s message on William Wilberforce was the impetus for this project.
As I mentioned in the previous post, it is much harder now for me to memorize scripture. But the exercise is rich. The effort to repeatedly go through a passage endeavoring to commit it to memory is essentially prolonged meditation on the passage. In doing so, much more is revealed than I see in simply reading through the passage.
For example, look at the first four verses:
1 How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the LORD.
2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.
3 They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways.
4 You have ordained Your precepts, That we should keep them diligently.
Do you notice the repetition? These words are repeated: way, walk, and the concept of intentional sustained obedience; “with all their heart” and “keep them diligently”.
In Hebrew poetry the second phrase is repeating the first, reinforcing, emphasizing, and clarifying the point.
So in verse 1, a blameless way is to walk in the Law of the Lord. In verse 3 to “do no unrighteousness” is to “walk in His ways.” So to walk in the Law of the Lord is to walk in His ways. The implications of this are staggering.
When we consider the way of someone, we are contemplating how they behave. How they live their life. How we observe their character played out in the way they relate to others and to the world around them.
How many times have we said, heard, or thought of someone in trying to deal or explain their behavior with something like, “Oh, that is just the way he is,’’ or “that is just like him.” It is that person’s “way”, we know what to expect because we have observed a consistency in their behavior.
What these four verses are revealing is that the Law is God’s “way”. It reflects His character. It reflects how He behaves. Thus, if we keep the Law, we are behaving as God does. We are, as it says in verse 1, blameless. Why, we are acting, behaving in a manner that is consistent with the nature and character of God.
Big problem…
There is no wiggle room. We have to do that with all of our heart and keep them diligently. The testimony of the Bible is that only one person did that, Jesus.
The good news is that through His life, death, resurrection, ascension, and immanent return we can be joined into His obedience and delivered from the reality that we do not diligently keep the Law or seek Him with all of our heart.
The other implication is that we can learn much about God by studying His Law. Because it reveals who He is, His way.
For example, look at the first four verses:
1 How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the LORD.
2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.
3 They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways.
4 You have ordained Your precepts, That we should keep them diligently.
Do you notice the repetition? These words are repeated: way, walk, and the concept of intentional sustained obedience; “with all their heart” and “keep them diligently”.
In Hebrew poetry the second phrase is repeating the first, reinforcing, emphasizing, and clarifying the point.
So in verse 1, a blameless way is to walk in the Law of the Lord. In verse 3 to “do no unrighteousness” is to “walk in His ways.” So to walk in the Law of the Lord is to walk in His ways. The implications of this are staggering.
When we consider the way of someone, we are contemplating how they behave. How they live their life. How we observe their character played out in the way they relate to others and to the world around them.
How many times have we said, heard, or thought of someone in trying to deal or explain their behavior with something like, “Oh, that is just the way he is,’’ or “that is just like him.” It is that person’s “way”, we know what to expect because we have observed a consistency in their behavior.
What these four verses are revealing is that the Law is God’s “way”. It reflects His character. It reflects how He behaves. Thus, if we keep the Law, we are behaving as God does. We are, as it says in verse 1, blameless. Why, we are acting, behaving in a manner that is consistent with the nature and character of God.
Big problem…
There is no wiggle room. We have to do that with all of our heart and keep them diligently. The testimony of the Bible is that only one person did that, Jesus.
The good news is that through His life, death, resurrection, ascension, and immanent return we can be joined into His obedience and delivered from the reality that we do not diligently keep the Law or seek Him with all of our heart.
The other implication is that we can learn much about God by studying His Law. Because it reveals who He is, His way.
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