Brothers and Sisters, consider these words from Psalm 119:
“How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart” (vs. 1-2, NASB).
Notice for a moment what these verses don’t say, where they don’t focus. They don’t say, “How blessed are those whose way was blameless in the past, who have walked in the law of the LORD. How blessed are those who have observed His testimonies, who have sought Him with all their heart.” The Psalmist doesn’t focus on the past in Psalm 119:1-2. Rather, he speaks to the present, to the now, to this moment with respect to God and his ways.
Does this mean there isn’t a special blessing for people whose lives reflect a long history of faithful obedience to God? Of course not. We could go elsewhere in Scripture to see such blessing (say, for instance, to Zechariah and Elizabeth, or Simeon, or Anna, all in the first two chapters of Luke’s gospel), but the past isn’t the focus here. Neither is the future. The focus in Psalm 119:1-2 is right now, today, this moment with God. Here we find the Matthew 6:34 horizon of the Christian life: Today.
If you’re a living human being, then you have a past with the Lord characterized by pain, sin, rebellion, shame, and guilt. Maybe your history is one that’s especially and obviously burdened by such things. Maybe the consequences of your past sin have been especially grievous, even if just in the memory. Listen, if such is the case for you, then isn’t the present-day perspective of Psalm 119:1-2 a thing of amazing freedom, amazing grace? The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come” (NASB). The same truth shows up with different words in Romans 8:1: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (NASB).
If you, by God’s grace, through your faith in Jesus, have repented of your sin and trusted Christ as Lord and Savior, then you’re on the blameless way of blessing, you’re in the way of God’s law. Walk in the blessing! Walk in the way!
If you are following Jesus Christ in obedience to him, then to you is the blessing of God’s testimonies. To you is the blessing of one whose heart loves God’s Word. Enjoy the blessing! Cherish the blessing!
Dear Christian, borrowing words of the Apostle Paul, “…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, [let us] press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). As long as it is called today, then live today in the freedom of Psalm 119:1-2.
Fix Your Mind 