Psalm 119:7-8

"I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me."

Psalm 119:7-8 (ESV)

These two verses are honestly challenging verses to review and think of ways that I can study them. But as I've sat reading the verses over and over again I think I have a better understanding the psalmist motivation behind his words.

"I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn you righteous rules."  I don't know about you, but I don't think I've ever praised or thanked anyone for the rules they gave me.When we have rules for something we may not always like them or want to follow them. Face it, we humans, just don’t like rules. But as I dug deeper and really thought about what it could mean to want to praise the Lord for his rules, I came to a better understanding of what the psalmist was saying. You’ll just have to hang in with me, because I probably thought about it too much but hey, when you study the Bible and apply it to your life, it’s never too much.

First things first, we know that we are sinners. That is an undisputed fact, Adam sinned when he disobeyed a rule that God had set in place and he brought sin into the world. And eventually we come to the place where Moses is given the law; he’s given the 10 Commandments, in order that we should keep them and be good right? But in actuality Paul says in Romans 7:7 “…yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.” The commandments and the law were not set in place so that we can show how good we are by following them, like the Pharisees tried to do. Rather, the law actually shows us that we are sinners. If we break the law we sin, and James 2:10 says “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for it all.” You’re probably thinking, how can I have an attitude of praise when you are telling me I’m a sinner? Just wait, there’s more.

And here it is, if we don’t sin, then we have no need for a savior and no need to be saved. This is where our praise comes in. We can praise the Lord for the commands He has given because we know that by them we are sinners, and because of that He sent His Son to be our Savior. Christ was our sacrifice our penalty was paid by Him. And not only that but we can have eternal life! “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23. We should praise the Lord for the commands He has given because by them we know we are sinners, we’ve been given a savior and through Him we can have eternal life. You see, our sin, our failing to follow the law of the Lord works to glorify the Lord and bring him honor because of His gracious sacrifice of His Son on the cross. So we need to praise Him for all He is and all He has done, by just giving us His commands.

And finally verse 8, “I will keep your statutes, do not utterly forsake me.” The Lord will never leave us nor will He forsake us. Even in our sin we will not be forsaken, because we have been forgiven. We should still strive to keep the statutes He has set in place but we can be comforted knowing that we will not be forsaken by the Lord no matter how small or great the sin.

Abba Father, I will praise you for your righteous laws because by them I know that I’m a sinner, but I also know that you graciously sent your precious Son as a sacrifice for my sin, and through Him I will live forever with You. I can praise you also because I know that You will never leave me, nor forsake me even when I sin and run from you. In your precious name, Amen!