I am overtaken with blessings. Deuteronomy 28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance if you obey the Lord your God (NET Bible). All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God (NASB). Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (NASB) This is an interesting verse, the one in Deuteronomy, because it’s a cause/effect verse. If I do something then I get something. If I obey YHWH then all these blessings will come to me. Being an OT verse, that means that to obey the Lord is to obey Torah. Do we actually obey Torah? Yes, I know about salvation comes from Yeshua alone, but this isn’t about salvation, it’s about shema, to hear and obey. Do I fulfill my part of this verse in order to receive the blessings promised? Skip Moen wrote about this verse a couple of times and it’s interesting to read about being “overtaken” by blessings. Read his articles here.
Psalm 119:165 Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble. Obedience to His law causes peace. Knowing His law keeps me from messing up. It’s like knowing the speed limit on a street. If I know it, I’m less likely to go too fast and get a speeding ticket. Sure, I can know it and disregard it; however, if I LOVE it, I’m probably not going to knowingly ignore what it says. There is peace in knowing that I am walking in the right path and doing what God asks of me. Sometimes I wonder if, as long as I’m obedient to God’s law, He isn’t all that concerned about the other choices. In other words, my choices are all fine as long as they are in alignment with His law. I’m not going to make decisions that break His law if I love it. And there’s a peace in knowing that. Perhaps the focus should shift from making the right choice about something to obeying His laws and commands and then weighing what I do against that standard.
This morning I am reminded to live what I speak – that God is holy and faithful. I’m in the middle of transitioning from one job (from which I just resigned) to another (where I have the signed offer, but much of the paperwork has yet to be finished), and things have just seemed to go wrong all over the place… I can’t find this paper that they need, then I have multiple accounts with different socials so I have to send in other papers explaining and proving which is me… it goes on. All of this in the midst of trying to prepare for two completely different classes than I have been working on all summer. And I find myself getting worked up, worrying, over these details. Yes, they’re important to me. But God is holy and faithful. He is in control, even if things seem chaotic. I need to remember to stop trying to hold onto things with a death-grip; I need to let go of my control (I use that term, control, loosely, as lately I don’t think I have any). I need to trust Him to work these details into place. I am not aware of the battles that go on in the unseen realms of our world. Thankfully, He has already won the war, and He is stronger than anything in this world. Psalm 119:132 Look upon me and be merciful to me, As Your custom is toward those who love Your name. Mercy is one of God’s attributes. Mercy here is favor and graciousness towards someone. Turn towards me, O God! If I turn away from someone I am angry at them; they have been condemned by me; they disgust me. How horrible when God turns away because of my sin! Yet He is full of mercy and abounding in love. As the author points out, it’s His custom, His manner, to be merciful to those who love His name. It’s part of who He is. And who loves His name? Those who are obedient to His commands (Torah). The very next verse asks for God to direct my steps according to His word and to keep sin from dominating my life. If I am obedient to Him, if I know His words, it will be much more difficult for sin (wickedness, evil, mischief) to control my life. So, I need to know His words. And I need to obey Him. The rest is up to God.
Psalm 119:57 (HETH) You are my portion, O LORD; I have said that I would keep Your words. Several things strike me as interesting about this verse. My first question was, “What is a portion? And what does it mean to be someone’s portion?” Looking at the Hebrew it says that a portion is a share, a possession, or an award (usually from God). That still seemed pretty vague, so I looked down at the entry from Gessenius’ Lexicon where it elaborated that a portion could be an inheritance or a fellowship/common possession with someone. [1] That was interesting. An inheritance suggests that the Lord, or the knowledge of Him and of how to obey Him is passed down from generation to generation – from father/mother to child. It’s part of heritage. The part about it being a fellowship or common possession emphasizes the importance of community to the Hebrew people. Knowing and serving YHWH is a precious inheritance to be shared and practiced with my community. I am not disconnected, nor am I alone. In a world of insanity, He is my place where I belong and where I can rest surrounded by friends and family who help me to walk in greater obedience to Him. The last things I looked at were the verbs in the second part of the verse because I’ve read that Hebrew verbs are either finished or not finished. There is no past or future. That being said, “I have said” is a verb that is finished. But, “I would keep” is unfinished, so it’s probably closer to “I am keeping” because it’s not something I’m going to do, it’s something that is not finished – I’ll continue to do it until it’s finished (which would be when I die). So sometime previously a decision was made to obey His words (a.k.a. His commands – which would be laid out in Torah to Moses). And this action of keeping/obeying His words is ongoing. And somehow the keeping His words is connected to God being my portion/inheritance/fellowship. Perhaps as I keep His commands, I enter into fellowship with others who also obey His commands. Obedience makes me part of a particular community because it sets me apart from the world. Then, too, I become part of the legacy and heritage of Israel, obligated to pass on what I know and how to obey to my children. I all begins with obedience – Keeping His words. Do I? Am I? Will I? [1] Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for cheleq (Strong’s 2506)“. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2010. 27 Jul 2010. <http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2506&t=NKJV >
Psalm 119:9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. This is about living, clean living. Or rather, it’s about cleaning up my life. Most people I know have something in their life that’s a mess. Heaven knows, I’ve made lots and lots of messes in my life! So, how do I clean it up? By to keep or to guard my life according to His word. In Hebrew, the word for word is dabar, and it means speech, spoken words. This isn’t just about reading the Bible (although that’s God’s written word), it’s about hearing His voice and doing what He asks. There are two important things we must do to clean our ways up, so we’re not walking through garbage every day: know His word (by reading and listening to Him) and acting on His words (to measure my life by what He says). We tend to think of knowing something as a purely cognitive practice, but if I don’t act on what I know, do I really know it? It’s easy to say I know how to obey, but if I don’t obey, do I really know what it is to be obedient? Similarly, I have the ability to go online, on my phone, or in a physical Bible to find God’s written words. This is a blessing, but it’s also a bit of a curse, in that I don’t know His words anymore. I can just look them up. They’re not written on my soul to be recalled at any time. Memorizing is not something I’m a huge fan of, especially when I can “google it”, but when it comes to God’s words I need to start trying to improve my memorization skills. However, the same question applies: if I read God’s words and “know” them but don’t obey, them how much do I really know?
Psalm 119:4-8 You have commanded us To keep Your precepts diligently. 5 Oh, that my ways were directed To keep Your statutes! 6 Then I would not be ashamed, When I look into all Your commandments. 7 I will praise You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments. 8 I will keep Your statutes; Oh, do not forsake me utterly! This is another example of the ABCBA structure! I’m running out of time this morning, but it’s there! The centerpiece: 6 Then I would not be ashamed, When I look into all Your commandments. (The rest of the verses tell how to keep from being ashamed when I realize how poorly I am able to keep God’s commands.) The “Book ends”: You have commanded us To keep Your precepts diligently. and 8 I will keep Your statutes; Oh, do not forsake me utterly! (He commands, and I obey) The climb and how to get there: 5 Oh, that my ways were directed To keep Your statutes! and 7 I will praise You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments. (A prayer to be solidly established in keeping God’s ways, as well as to learn His right decisions, which leads to praise – I have an upright heart because I keep His statutes) So, knowing and being obedient to do what God commands leads me in His way of living and lets me praise Him with an upright heart. He will not forsake me!
Numbers 22:32 The angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way was [fn] contrary to me. (the fn means that contrary is often translated reckless… interesting) Balaam asks God whether to go with Balak’s men after having already been told once that he will not curse the Israelites. God tells him to go, but is angry that he is going. That seems rather contradictory, so I imagine there’s more going on here than I realize, and it’s probably something to do with the structure of the text. Anyway, Balaam goes and the donkey refuses to go through a valley because it sees the angel that’s waiting to kill Balaam. The donkey finally speaks to Balaam and Balaam’s eyes are opened (interesting that the animal could see, but the man couldn’t – perhaps a reflection of how our assumptions and pride blind us to truth or reality). Balaam offers to turn back but the angel repeats the command that he will go but only speak the words given by God. The fact that the angel repeats God’s earlier words suggests to me that perhaps Balaam hadn’t made up his mind to be obedient and only speak the words given to him by God when he reached Balak. Maybe that’s why God was angry despite Balaam’s apparent outward obedience. Or maybe God was angry because Balaam asked again, after he had already been given an answer. Perhaps it was questioning God’s earlier leading. Lots of questions. Ultimately, one thing is clear – donkey’s don’t talk, and if one does talk you should listen. Just kidding… perhaps the point is that we examine our motivations to make sure our preconceived notions aren’t blinding us and keeping us from seeing important things.