Are You Blameless before God?

Psalm 119:1-8

“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!   Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!  You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.  Oh, that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!  Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.  I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.  I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!”

This psalm is an acrostic poem of twenty-two stanzas, following the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; within a stanza, each verse begins with the same Hebrew letter.  Nearly every verse contains one of eight words for God’s revelation; instruction, decree, precept, statute, command, judgment, promise, and word.  The yellow highlight is important but knowing what an acrostic is will not change your life.  My strongest gift in my gift mix is exhorter, and to be honest I had to look up acrostic, it is a “mind-bender.”  I’m not sure your understanding of that will not have an impact on your life.  If you and I could apply these truths on seeking God’s blessing, it would be a life changer.

My dear friend Dr. Bill Gillham would often say, “The Christian life is not difficult to live; it is impossible.  Jesus Christ is the only one who has ever really lived the Christian life.  He is the only one who can live it today, and that is exactly what He wants to do – through you (see John 15:5 and Galatians 2:20).  Never forget this truth, the cardinal sin of mankind is independence from God, we often live by how we feel and not by the Spirit of God.  With that backdrop, shall we explore what is meant by blameless.  It might come as a shock to all who have entered into Christ are blameless before God the Father.  Jesus Christ took your sin to the cross with Him and paid your full payment.  Many a person will say, if that is true a person can live as they desire, and I have only this reply, you are 100% correct.  But, if your desires are not to allow Christ to live out His life in you, if you do not desire to be totally committed to obedience, it would be a wise thing to check out 2 Corinthians 13:5.  

As we explore Psalm 119, your going to see these words; “Precepts” and if my count is correct it is used 21 times.  The word, “Statutes”, used 21 times and the word “Word” is used in some form 23 times.  This is what I found as the difference between a Precept and a Statute, “A law is imposed by a lord only on his own subjects, and so the precepts of any law presupposes that the recipient of the law is subject to the one who is giving the law.”  If you pass the test in 2 Corinthians 13:5, then you are subject to the Statutes and Precepts found in God’s Word.

Speaking for my own action and weakness of my flesh, I often do as the apostle Paul states in Romans 7:18-21, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”  

As for myself I did a study on my kind of flesh, and learned that my flesh longed to be noticed, be first, to win, it often uses humor to get attention.  As a husband and dad, God designed me to need respect, often my actions do not earn that respect, but for my wife God tells her to respect me and me to love her even when I do not feel her respect.   Let’s close todays paper with this Key Concept from Dr. Bill, “Walking in the Spirit most often requires you to choose to walk by what God’s Word says rather than by what you feel.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice