Read Psalm 119:161-168 161Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words. 162I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil. 163I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law. 164Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules. 165Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. 166I hope for your salvation, O Lord, and I do your commandments. 167My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly. 168I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.
For David the line of separation between God and God’s word was very thin. To love God is to love his word. To trust God is to trust his word. To obey God is to obey his word. God’s word, like God himself is eternal. One can never divide the two. David clearly understood that to live a life before God was to live a life that keeps the word of God.
Progressive revelation has made it known to us that God’s word is God himself. How? Because Jesus Christ is the living Word of God. For us who are in Christ that very thin line of separation between God and his word has disappeared completely.
David lived all his ways before God by obeying the word of God. In Christ, all God’s ways are alive in us as the indwelling Word of God lives through us. A life of keeping God’s precepts and testimonies is the life of Christ in us. Jesus is the obedient one, not you. Your obedience counts for nothing, for it is always half-hearted at best, never from the perfectly pure heart. But Christ in you keeps all that God demands, because he lives all his ways before God in and through us.
To live is Christ is to let Christ live out his obedience to the word through us.
You: Have you subconsciously separated Jesus from the Word?
You in Christ: How does our union with Christ require a loyalty to the Word of God? Why can we never separate the two?
Christ in you: How does a Christian let Christ live out his obedience through us? What is the role of faith in this? Of our free will?
Pray: Father, I want to live out all my ways before you, but keep reminding me that that is only possible as I submit to Christ living out all his ways through me. Amen.
To Live is Christ 