True Repentance in the Life of a Believer in Psalm 119

I sought Your favor with all my heart;

Be gracious to me according to Your word.

I considered my ways

And turned my feet to Your testimonies.

I hastened and did not delay

To keep Your commandments.

Psalm 119:58-60

These verses give us a wonderful picture of true repentance in the life of the believer.  Let's break down what we see in this picture.

1. The condition of our heart, vs 58
We see the that there is a heartfelt desire to be right with the Lord.  This is the ground of repentance, this is where true repentance must start, with a real desire to be right with God and to walk closely with Him.  It will manifest itself in a concern for one's fellowship with God.  A heart like this is fertile soil for repentance.  In Psalm 51: 17 and Isaiah 66:2 we see that this the kind of heart that curries favor with God.  Compare this to the unrepentant heart in Hosea 7:14a, and Jeremiah 8:6.

2. The consideration of our ways, vs 59
The word consider means to think on, or to examine so as to make a judgment.  In true repentance we will have looked at our ways (both as to how we live and what we think) so as to judge them.  We, like the Psalmist, will have judged how our ways line up with God's ways as His ways are the plumb line for determining if our ways match up; and it is His word that give us the knowledge and ability to do that.  This always involves an acknowledgment of where our ways (again, both living and thinking) do not line up with His.  This judging of our ways will lead to that moment when we cry out to God, "O, what have I done!"

3. The turning from our ways to His, vs 59
When we see where we are off, where our way of living and thinking have diverged from His, we will turn from our own path and turn to His.  His path is shown by His testimonies. This is truly turning from our transgressions and turning to His righteousness.  We see an example of this in Ezekiel 18:27-28.  True repentance always involves this turning from sin and turning to God (I Thessalonians 1:9-10).  See God's call to to the world for its repentance in Isaiah 45:22.

4. The hastening of our turning, vs 60
We see the sense of urgency as the Psalmist can't wait, won't delay to turn to God.  This shows the burden of the heart to be right with God, its importance to the heart of a true believer. True repentance will always include this sense of urgency to be back in God's favor.  True repentance will never be lacksadasical or luke warm regarding being right with God.  Repentance is serious stuff to a heart like this, because this is a heart that loves the Lord and craves that sweet intimate communion with Him, and does not want anything between him and his Lord.  When a heart is truly broken and contrite over its sin, it will always hasten and take the straightest path back to God as it wants to be healed from the wound of its sin.

5. The keeping of His commandments, vs 60
True repentance will always result in a renewed commitment to the word of God, and a renewed commitment of obedience to that word.  A heart that has turned from its sin, and been healed from its sin ,will be eager to follow the Lord's commands, and will take great joy in keeping those commandments.  This heart will take great delight in following after the Lord, and the Lord will take great delight in this heart (Isaiah 66:2, Psalm 37:4). 

A true believer will truly repent, and this pattern of repentance...contrition, consideration, turning, hastening, and keeping...will be true for their life.

Desensitized Christianity

We live in a time of desensitized Christianity. 

It has no discernment and no sensitivity to

the sin around it and the sin in its midst.

It is precisely because it has been desensitized,

that it has unwittingly brought the sin around

it into its midst. 

IRREVERANCE

This repost is a combination of three posts from June 2008.

We live in an irreverent society. In fact, it is in vogue to be irreverent, and in many cases the more irreverent, the better. What does it mean to be irreverent? Well, the dictionary defines the word irreverent as having or showing a lack of respect, and the thesaurus gives the word disrespectful as its synonym. We live in a time when it is hip, cool, and popular to be irreverent. However, if you examine irreverence closely, you will find at its heart is rebellion, and that is exactly what the heart of man is, rebellious. Unfortunately, like so many other things, this irreverence has made its way into the church bringing its rebellious heart along with it.


One of the culprits that has allowed this societal irreverence to make its way into the church has been the paradigm shift that has taken place over the last couple of decades in the place and purpose of the church. Where once the church was the place where believers gathered to corporately express their mutual praise, adoration, and thanksgiving, it has now become a place where unbelievers are enticed, entreated, and entertained. Where once the purpose of the church was to honor God, glorify God, and give witness to His majesty, its purpose now is to attract as many people as possible, by any means possible. Where once the focus was on God, His glory, and His holiness, the focus now is on the individual and his felt needs. In short, people no longer come to church for God, they come to church for themselves. The church has ceased to honor God and has chosen to honor man. It reminds me of Malachi 1:6  "A son honors his father, and a servant his master.  Then if I am a father, where is My honor?  And if I am a master, where is My respect? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name."

Think about it, be honest, and ask yourself these questions. Why do I go to church? For whom am I going to church? What is my motivation for going to church? Do I get disappointed if I don't get anything out of the music or the sermon? Am I focused on blessing God, being a blessing to others, or getting a blessing for myself? Am I disappointed if the music is not how I like it? Do I only like and appreciate the sermons if they make me feel better about myself or cover an area of self-improvement? Am I here to extol God, if not, then why am I here.? The church has become like Romans 1:21 where they know God, but do not honor Him as God.

Another area of irreverence in the church can be seen in the casual attitude and dress. You get the sense that people are telling God that He should, He must, and He will accept them as they are. Is this how you feel in your heart of hearts, that God should accept you like you are, without any concern of whether you are acceptable to God, whether your attitude is acceptable to God, whether your dress is acceptable to God, or whether your lifestyle is acceptable to God? Would you wear what you wear to church to a state dinner with the President? If not, why not? Would you tell the President he must accept you just like you are? So you hold the President in greater esteem than you do the God who gave His Son to secure your eternal salvation? What does this say about your attitude towards God? Listen to the words of God in Leviticus 10:3 after He slew Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, for approaching Him in a disrespectful way, "By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored." And what was Aaron's response to this as verse three ends? "And Aaron, therefore, kept silent."

When women wear tops to church that reveal their breasts or midriffs are they treating the Lord as holy? When they wear tops or pants that look like they are either sprayed on or shrink wrapped so that the whole contour of their front or backside is entirely visible leaving little to the imagination, are they doing so to honor the Lord, or to say, "Hey, look at me!" When husbands and fathers allow their wives and daughters to go to church dressed in such a manner are they honoring the Lord, or are they fearing their wives and daughters more than they fear the Lord? Isaiah 8:13 tells us, "It is the Lord of hosts whom you shall regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread." Men, what are you saying to the Lord when you come in to appear before Him dressed for the beach or the golf course? In the presence of the Lord is not a place to be "hot" or a place to chill out. By your demeanor, your attitude, or your dress are you regarding the Lord as holy? Are you showing Him the respect that is due Him, the Almighty God?

You might be thinking to yourself, "Wait a minute, you are picking on the contemporary church crowd. What about the coat and tie traditional crowd?" Honestly, they can be just as guilty. Let's look at Isaiah 29:13 "Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote."  Wearing your Sunday best, repeating the liturgy, praying out of a prayer book, and singing three hymns accompanied by an organ does not make you reverent. Much of the contemporary movement was a reaction to the lifeless, heartless, traditional service where the reverence was ritualized, not internalized. Reverence begins in the heart and its attitude towards God, and at the heart of true worship is reverence towards God. Part of why we are to gather together is to corporately revere God; and in that corporate reverence is a testimony to the greatness of this God who commands such honor and respect.


You may think that this was really an Old Testament issue, and the New Testament God of grace and love is not so harsh and demanding. Read I Corinthians 11:17-34 about the Corinthians attitude and handling of the Lord's supper. Check out verses 27-32, "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgement to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world." What was God's discipline upon members of this church (which so resembles the American church of today)? Many were weak, many were sick, and a number (obviously more than one) slept (were dead). Go read Acts 5 about God's dealings with Ananias and Sapphira. Would God do this today? Well, you might be familiar with the Waco pastor who, was electrocuted in the baptistry in front of his congregation after leading them in a prayer saying, "Surprise me, Lord. "Let not many of you become teachers, for as such, you will incur a stricter judgement."

If you noticed in the section above where I quoted from I Corinthians, the Corinthians were so spiritually dull that Paul had to tell them that the reason some were sick, or weak, or dead was because of God's hand of discipline among them. They could not see it themselves. Take a step back and take a good look at your church. Could the same thing be happening there? Has it been happening and no one has been able to see it because of the spiritual shallowness of the congregation? Could this be going on in American churches and no one is noticing?

This irreverence in the American church is not just in the worship service, but pervades every area of Christian life. Recently my family and I were at Jason's Deli one evening when another family sat down next to us. One of the men was wearing a "religious" tee shirt, and thought, I'm quite sure, that he was providing a cool witness of his Christianity with its catchy wording, as if it is the catchy wording that provides the witness. I sat there with a mouth full of turkey croissant sandwich thinking, "This guy's not serious," and slowly shaking my head at the irreverence he was projecting, all the while he was probably thinking how cool his tee shirt is because of its hip phrasing that will witness to the unchurched, for why else would he wear it. The tee shirt said, "GETTING DOWN WITH THE MOST HIGH," and went on to quote Psalm 91:1 "He who dwells in the shadow of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty." And of course it had all the fancy graphics most of these tee shirts have. Can anyone seriously think for one minute that they or anyone one else can "get down" with God, the Most High? This tee shirt pictures God as some home boy you can hang out with, dance with, crack jokes and cruise the hood with. The irony of this is that because God is the Almighty, the One and only God, the Creator of Sustainer of all that exists, the One who holds our life breath and our ways in His hand, the One to whom the angels constantly cry, 'Holy, Holy, Holy,' He is not going to be getting down with us...at any time. This, to me was the same attitude that Nadab and Abihu had, and, as we have seen, God did not get down with them, but struck them down. Look at the reverence Jesus, His own Son and fully God as well, showed to Him during His life upon this earth. This tee shirt is indicative of the irreverent attitude towards God that if rife in the American church today. Where is the respect for God as God, and all that He is as God, in the church in our land today?


Another area in Christianity that smacks of irreverence is in the books and music. I am not going to get into all the issues with the music because that should be another post series, but just listen to the lyrics, compare them with the Scriptures, and see how much of what is passing off as worship and praise is veiled irreverence. The same can be said about books, and there are way too many to mention, but I will single out one because it is such a good example. It is John Eldredge's "Wild At Heart." It is one of the biggest pieces of heresy I have ever come across, and the heresy involves the very person of God and how He is presented in this book, and the presentation of God in this book is the height of irreverence as it portrays Him as just like sinful man.

Worship is not limited to our gathering on Sunday, but is to be lived out every day as we see in Romans 12:1 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living an holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." So we see that our lives, therefore our lifestyle, should be one of worship. How does God say that we should worship Him? Psalm 2:11 "Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling." So our lifestyle, yes, our very life, should be one of reverence, filled with rejoicing and trembling. To revere is to honor, to show respect, to pay homage all because it is what is due. This is the kind of life we are to live before Him, Coram Deo, before His face. Our lifestyle should not spit in His face, ridicule Him, or present Him as less than He is or other than He is. In Romans Paul tells us to give honor to whom honor is due. Well, who is due more honor than our heavenly Father, our Great Redeemer, and our Friend. Read John 17 and see the honor, the respect, the homage the Son pays to the Father. Should we not do the same in every area of our life?

Judgement begins with the household of God. Let us examine ourselves and our own households for attitudes or displays of irreverence towards our God. Let us look at our own lifestyle, thoughts and attitudes. Let us come before our God with reverence and awe, and let all that we do reflect the high regard and esteem we hold for our wonderful Savior and our God.

God's Gladness

Thus God saves, not only for His glory, but for His gladness.  This goes far to explain why it is that there is joy (God's own joy) in the presence of the angels when a sinner repents (Lk 15:10), and why there will be "exceeding joy" when God sets us faultless at the last day in His own holy presence (Jude 24 KJV).  The thought passes understanding and almost beggars belief, but there is no doubt that, according to Scripture, such is the love of God.

J I Packer
Knowing God
Page 125

Insight into Affliction from Psalm 119

Affliction, anah in the Hebrew, is to find oneself in a stunted, lowly, humble position; and it is also the means by which God brings us to that position.  It is be brought low, to have hardships.  Afflictions are a tool in the hand of God, and are never without purpose.  The Psalmist in Psalm 119 understood this very well and shares this understanding, this spiritual insight with us, and this teaching is concentrated in verses 65-80.  Let's take a look.

This section in Psalm 119 starts out with a poignant declaration in verse 65, "You have dealt well (tob, a good thing, benefit, welfare) with Your servant according to Your word."  So he sets the stage right here by letting us know that when God deals with us, He deals with us in a good way, for our welfare and benefit.  How has God dealt with the Psalmist?  By bringing affliction upon him.  Look at verse 67, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word."  What had the Psalmist gone astray from?  The way of God, the path of life that the Lord would have Him take; and this path is taken by keeping the word of God.  It is no strange coincidence that Psalm 119:105 tells us, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  In other words, the word of God keeps Him on the right path, the path of God.

When we go astray from God's path, He is faithful, and good, and for our good and welfare will bring affliction to us so that we will return to His word, and walk according to His way; and returning to God's word and walking in His way is actually returning to God, Himself.  Let's look at a couple of examples from the OT.  First, look at Hosea 5:15 "I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me."  Next, look at II Chronicles 6:26 "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess your name, and turn from their sin when you afflict them."  In both instances God brought the affliction upon the people so that they would turn from their sin and turn to Him.  In other words, they would no longer be going astray in their sin, but would return to God and walk in His way, not their own.

Now, notice how verse 68 follows up the verse on affliction.  It states, "You are good and do good."  The Psalmist declares this after saying that he has been afflicted, and that affliction has God as its source.  He is acknowledging God's goodness in bringing affliction upon Him.  He understood it was for his good, and God was good in doing it.  Which leads us to verse 71, "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes."  What a perspective!  What Godly insight!  Through affliction we return to His path and learn His word, and by His word we walk in the path of righteousness.  This path is the path that leads to joy, and it is the path of spiritual blessing. 

This perspective and insight lead the Psalmist to this declaration in 119:75 "I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me."  Wow, this man knows His God!  He knows that God's decisions regarding Him, God's dealings with Him, God's bringing affliction upon Him, are done in faithfulness...because God is faithful to him.  He understands affliction from God always has a purpose, and it is because of His faithfulness that He brings it about.

May we also have this perspective.  May we see God's faithfulness in our affliction.  May we, with the Psalmist say not only, "It is good for me to be afflicted," but Father, I know that in faithfulness You have afflicted me."  And may affliction accomplish its God intended purpose in our life.  Amen.

This I Know

The Lord has saved me,

this I know,

for His Spirit tells me so.

The Lord sanctifies me,

this I know,

for my life tells me so.

The Lord has changed me,

this I know,

my new heart tells me so.

The Lord is merciful,

this I know,

for His blood tells me so.

The Lord is faithful,

this I know,

His provision tells me so.

The Lord is coming,

to Him I'll go,

for His word tells me so.

So many times the best truths are the simplest ones.

God's Lovingkindness in Psalm 119

Lovingkindness, hesed in the Hebrew, is one of my favorite words in the Scriptures.  It is part of the Lord's self-revelatory declaration in Exodus 34:6, where not only does the Lord declare that He possesses it, but that He abounds in it.  It is a vastly rich and nuanced word, and has a depth of meaning and a breadth of application as you can see through its use in the OT.  Read through its definition in the Word Study or Vines dictionaries and you will see what I mean. 

What makes it this way, though, is pretty simple when we boil it down to its essence.  Lovingkindness is God's love in action.  It is His love exhibited in and through His actions towards His own.  It is His strength, mercy, compassion, grace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, steadfastness, commitment, gentleness, benevolence, truthfulness, and favor towards His children, those with whom He is in covenant.  We see it expressed in the command in I John 3:18, "Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth."  God loves in deed and in truth...His love in action...and we are to love as He loves; in other words, we are to express His love through our actions.  We also see an example of this in Ephesians 2:4-5, "But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ." His love for us moved Him to be merciful to us and make us alive in Christ, despite our sinfulness.  So we see His lovingkindness toward us in His saving us.  His love was put into action to bring about our salvation, and His love was expressed through His mercy toward us.

The Psalms, especially Psalm 136 are replete with the use of lovingkindness.  It is also used seven times in Psalm 119, and I want us to go through those and see how it relates to the Word of God.

Psalm 119:41...God's lovingkindnesses (notice the plural) come to us in salvation, and that salvation according to His Word.

Psalm 119:64...The earth is full, overflowing with the lovingkindness of God.  God has built His lovingkindness into the earth and all it contains, and all that is available to man in and through His creation.  The knowledge of the Word helps us understand and appreciate all He has provided for us in this world.  Reminds me of I Timothy 6:17...God supplies us with all things richly to enjoy, and He does this through His creation, and it is part of His lovingkindness towards us.

Psalm 119:76...The comfort that His Word brings to us, in any and all circumstances, is part of His lovingkindness to us.  God wants us to be comforted and has provided that through His Word of truth.

Psalm 119:88...God's lovingkindness renews, refreshes, and revitalizes us so that we will be strengthened to keep His word.

Psalm 119:124...Not only does God deal with us according to His Word (Psalm 119:65), but dealing with us according to His Word is also dealing with us according to His lovingkindness; and in His dealings with us, He teaches us His Word.  His teaching us His Word, the taking of the Word and making it part of the fabric of our life, is His love in action towards us.  Psalm 51:6 tells us that God desires truth in our innermost being and as part of His lovingkindness towards us He takes His truth and makes it a part of us.  Wow!  What a blessing!  What a God!

Psalm 119:149...His hearing our voice is due to His lovingkindness towards us.  In another Psalm it tells  us that He inclines His ear to hear our prayer.  God's response to our prayer is in accord with His lovingkindness, and in accordance with His Word through which we are refreshed, renewed, and revitalized.

Psalm 119:159...Here the Psalmist is saying, "Lord, in the exercise of Your love for me, take into account my love for Your Word, and deal with me accordingly."  What great faith and confidence the Psalmist has in the lovingkindness of God towards him.  This is a man who knows and trusts his God.  A great example for us.

In Psalm 34:8 we are exhorted to taste and see that the Lord is good.  In Psalm 119:68 we see that the Lord is good and does good.  His goodness is expressed toward us in His acts of lovingkindness, in other words, His lovingkindness is good, and He does not withhold it from us, but lavishes it upon us.  This begins with our salvation, and will be continued in the ages to come as He shows the surpassing (which means it is more than we can comprehend) riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7). 

Father, help us to know and understand Your lovingkindnesses toward us.  Cause us to see them.  Help us to not take them for granted.  May we be grateful now and for all eternity for Your active love for us.

According to His Word...Psalm 119

Pslam 119 is a wonderfully rich Psalm, with its main theme being the Word of God.  Throughout this Psalm we are shown the benefits, the power, the richness, the faithfulness, the insight, the holiness, the value, and the significance of the Word of God in the life of the believer.  One of the key phrases in this Psalm is "according to Your Word" (or according to...one of the synonyms for the Word).  In this post we want to look at what we have "according to His Word."

119:9...His Word keeps our way pure.
Not only does it clean us when we believe (John 15:3, Ephesians 5:26) but it keeps our life pure when we obey it.

119:25...His word revives our soul.
When we are in dust spiritually, His Word renews, restores, and revitalizes our soul, and lifts us out of spiritual oppression and depression.

119:28...His word is a bulwark in times of grief.
His word is what gives strength to our soul in our times of spiritual grief, the spiritual grief that comes because of sin. (Please note that the issue in vs 25-32 is the consequence of sin; and the Word is the balm that not only heals and restores the Psalmist spiritually, but is also what puts him back on the right path.)

Psalm 119:41...His Word brings salvation.
God's lovingkindnesses are bound up in salvation, and His word is the means through which we receive the bountiful blessings of salvation. (Romans 10:17, II Timothy 3:15)

Psalm 119:58...His Word reveals His favor to us.
God is gracious to us according to His word, and we see and understand the favor He bestows upon us through that same Word.

Psalm 119:65...His Word gives us understanding of how He deals with us.
God dealings with us are always in accordance with His Word, and always for our good. (Micah 2:7)

Psalm119:76...His Word brings comfort to us.
True comfort of the soul can only come from the Word of God, and through His word we learn of His lovingkindnesses.

Psalm 119:89-91...Creations stands each day according to His command.
His Word is in command of all things, both seen and unseen. (Hebrews 1:3)

Psalm 119:107...His Word comes to our aid in time of affliction.
His Word keeps us alive, lifts us up, and strengthens us anew in times of great afflicition.

Psalm 119:116...His word sustains us.
We have hope in this life and for the life to come, because of His Word.

Psalm 119:149...God responds to our prayers according to His Word.
Spiritual renewal and rescue are granted in accordance with His word.

Psalm 119:156...His mercies are revealed through His Word.
He is the Father of mercy and God of all comfort (II Corinthians 1:3), and we learn of the greatness and innumerable number of His mercies through His Word.

Psalm 119:170...His Word is Word of deliverance.
God, who cannot lie, has given us the promise of deliverance from darkness, sink, and death; and we find this promise in His Word. (Psalm 121:7, I Peter 1:5, Matthew 10:28)

Lord, you have given us so much in Your Word, and You act in accordance with Your Word.  Help us, no, cause us, to believe it, to stand on it, to live it; and to those of us to whom You have given the charge to preach and teach Your word, may we do so with clarity, precision, and conviction.