Psalm 19:7–9
‘The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.’ (v8)
A precept is a principle or rule, something that guarantees an outcome or a state of being. God’s precepts offer us refreshment, confidence, wisdom, truth, joy, vision, clarity all of which outlast time itself and ensure that we reflect God’s virtue, or so the psalmist declares! These characteristics are certainly ones I would want to be remembered by. It is by serving God with the entirety of ourselves that we access this treasure trove of human attributes.
All that’s required is that we take our stand upon God’s promise entirely, and resist the many pressures that seek to persuade us to lower God’s standards. Demanding of effort most certainly, but then every mountain is only scaled through premeditated effort. How much I want God will, as in all aspirations, depend upon the amount of perspiration I choose to invest. As we have seen from Eden onwards, God places the decision squarely in our own hands.
We may wrestle with all sorts of addictive behaviour, consistently fall foul of temptation, plumb the very depths of discouragement, yet God is neither disappointed in us nor critical of us. There will be consequences for those times when we fall from grace, but the joy of recovering our footing on the highway to heaven floods our whole being.
Life progresses and there are key points at which we revise our focus and set off towards the horizon of hope born of the love and grace of God. Every time we refocus, our resolve to follow God grows stronger.
SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER: Ps. 111:1–10; Zeph. 3:9–17; Rom. 5:6–21; 1 Tim. 6:2b–21.
AN ACTION TO TAKE: Take time to reflect upon the virtues presented in Psalm 19, and decide if these are worth making an effort to secure by God’s grace.
A PRAYER TO MAKE: ‘Lord, may the words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.’ (Ps. 19:14)
Photo by Richard Lee on Unsplash
