January 14 2020 -- Psalm 119:93 -- The Precepts of the LORD and the Fear of the LORD
/I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.
Psalm 119:93 English Standard Version
According to Deuteronomy 17:18-19 when a king is raised up in Israel, this man must write out a copy of the book of the law and read it all the days of his life. so that he may learn the fear of the LORD. King David is declaring he will not forget the precepts of the LORD—having recorded God’s law, he will read it each day. What a glorious practice this is for kings.
What are you doing so that the precepts and laws of God guide you every day? What keeps your heart in line with the will of God? When we are faithful in reading the Word of God the Spirit of God takes this Word and applies it to our hearts, to our minds and to our souls. We understand exactly what Jesus taught us: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent'“ (John 6:29). Whereas the kings of old and the prophets and priests searched out the Old Testament; we are given the glorious completion—the Old and the New Testaments which together point to Jesus Christ and in Whom we have new life.
It is important that we understand this key concept, found in Deuteronomy 17: “the fear of the LORD”. The fear of the LORD motivated the King to write such a Psalm. The Fear of the LORD inspired the king to walk in the precepts and laws, rules and judgments of God. The following quotation comes from Ligonier Ministries:
Yet the fear of the Lord described in Proverbs 1:7 is the fear of a converted person, a reverent love that understands God’s grace toward the sinner who trusts Christ and who wants to do what is pleasing to the Lord. This kind of fear recognizes the Lord’s character and His holy love. C.S. Lewis’ illustration of this love in The Problem of Pain helps us understand the kind of fear we should have toward our God. His love is not “a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way, nor the cold philanthropy of a conscientious magistrate, nor the care of a host who feels responsible for the comfort of his guests.” Instead, it is “the consuming Fire Himself, the Love that made the worlds, persistent as the artist’s love for his work and despotic as a man’s love for a dog, provident and venerable as a father’s love for a child, jealous, inexorable, exacting as love between the sexes.” This description of God’s love is thoroughly biblical and moves us to see ourselves for who we are, to look for cleansing, and to worship Him in His purity and grace (see Isa. 6:1–5; John 20:24–28).
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/fear-lord/
Ah, fellow sojourner, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, may our souls be stirred to such a vision of the majestic holiness and power of God so that our lives are lived in the whole-hearted reverence of and wonder-filled fear of the LORD. In Him alone do we have life that is rich and full now because of the cross. In the strength of the Spirit we have life that will reach through all the ages long.
Sovereign LORD, let Your precepts be our guide. Let the glorious work of Jesus Christ be our delight and song, our devotion and prayer. Spirit of God, help us to believe and so overcome the stubborn resistance of our hearts and fleshly desires. Spirit of God teach us to lean into the new, full, resurrection life that is ours in Jesus Christ—Amen.
