Walk in His Ways

Today has been a good day. I had a good session of therapy at Northern Colorado Rehab Hospital, I then enjoyed connecting with Pastor Steve Harris for lunch and then I returned home to meet up with some of my senior softball team players. They made the trip to Fort Collins after their game today in Longmont.

It was good to see Bob, Steve, Bruce, Ed and Ross. They brought me my “league championship T-Shirt” from last season. We had just ended the regular season of play when I was hospitalized. I didn’t even know we had earned that honor. I shared with them more about my journey and showed some pictures from the last year. In the picture Steve is holding a coffee cup with my new logo. I told them my plan was to be able to join them next season!

It is partly cloudy right now, but I’m going to try to get in quick trip to our pool before Debbie gets home and we go out to eat to mark our journey through this past 12 months.

BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…. “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!” Psalm 119:1-3

As I have come again to Psalm 119, the longest Psalm in the Bible, my attention was drawn to the first three verses. These serve as the preamble to what follows in the remaining 173 verses. Psalm 119 extols the value of God’s law and word, the psalmists love for the law of the Lord and the benefits of life being directed by the precepts of the Lord. All this and more unfolds through this psalm with stanzas structured according to the Hebrew alphabet.

The psalmist pronounces blessing, but it comes with a high bar. We see that in the phrases, “whose way is blameless” “who keep His testimonies, ” “who seek Him with their whole heart, “who do no wrong.” Of course we see the law of Moses laying out the prescription to deal with shortcomings as a result of human failures. As I have read through Leviticus I was reminded that if God’s people followed those laws, they wouldn’t have time to fool around with idols.

However in these verses are two important keys. One is found in the phrase, “who seek Him with their whole heart.” The other is  the phrase, “walk in His ways.” We read in the Old Testament  God’s lament concerning the failure of finding leaders whose “hearts are full devoted to Him.” Also, the concept of walking (or living) in the ways of the Lord points to more than an adherence to a level of unattainable perfection, but to a commitment to place God in the center of life.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” King David was called “a man after God’s own heart” not because of his perfection, but because of the dedication of his heart and life to walk in the ways of the Lord.

I am thankful for the New Testament provision of forgiveness through God’s grace. However, if we are not careful we can end up in the same situation from two different mindsets. The Old Testament one would be to look at God’s laws and say, “it is too difficult to attain, it doesn’t matter what I do.” The New Testament approach is to view God’s grace and say, “it doesn’t matter what I do, I’m covered by grace.” Both are equally toxic and show a failure to understand that our life is more about the issues of our heart than “following the rules.”

That is why Jesus said the greatest commandments is to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength…” When we do that we find ourselves “walking in His ways” and enjoying a life of blessing.