May 27, 2020 -- Psalm 119:173 -- Divine Help

Let your hand be ready to help me,

for I have chosen your precepts.

Psalm 119:173 English Standard Version

It is helpful to know that precepts are general rules given to guide or regulate good behaviour.

Last night our Men’s Bible Study listened to a teaching from Paul Tripp. As he taught from the book of Jonah he noted that the place where spiritual warfare is at its closest is in our own hearts and minds. We all want comfort rather than denying ourselves in obedience to the LORD. It is worth chewing on and considering. Still thinking about this, I realized today’s text is a wonderful complement to that teaching.

In his commentary on this verse, Matthew Henry observed: "I have chosen thy precepts. I took them for my rule, not because I knew no other, but because, upon trial, I knew no better." (As quoted in BibleWorks10). While the precepts of God are always given so that our thoughts and behaviours are guided in the most excellent pathways we are inclined to try another way. I know from experience how often I want a shortcut—but as Henry so concisely pointed out, there is no better way.

The precepts of God yield holy results.

The precepts of God guide us through the complications and landmines of our lives.

The precepts of God are always valid in every circumstance for every person in every time.

The precepts of God have been tested through-out the generations as His children seek to obey Him.

The precepts of God allow us to live in society harmoniously.

We need the hand of the Living God to help us to walk in His precepts. Though we know He has proven His ways to be perfect and true, we buck against them. Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ such help has been given. Jesus lived the precepts of God perfectly. Jesus, the Lamb of God, voluntarily took the punishment of God against our sins upon Himself so that we can be called the righteous of God. What mercy and love. What a glorious King. What a tremendous answer to this psalmist’s prayer. Help did arrive. Hope is available to all who call on the Name of Jesus.

Hear my prayer, O LORD, attend to my cry

from the ends of the earth I call out to You when my heart is overwhelmed.

Blessed Father, thank You for hearing such cries for mercy and answering in Jesus.

Spirit of Comfort, assist us to walk in the will and precepts of God, in the full assurance that our sins are forgiven by the grace of Jesus Christ. Amen.