Monday, November 16, 2015

Thoughts on Psalm 119:1



1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way,
Who walk in the law of the Lord!


Blessed. What a marvelous word. Many ideas come to mind: Happy. Healthy (no sickness, no pain). Abundance (no lack, no need unmet). Prosperous relationships. Purpose. Passion. Protection. Guidance. Joy. Peace. Security. Confidence. Freedom. Forgiveness. Fulfillment. Love.


It is remarkable that the first word of the longest chapter in the Bible is “blessed.”


And who is blessed? Those who “are undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.”
I might say it this way: those who aren’t polluted in their thinking, but live according to the Bible.


I know what you’re thinking: “Do this. Don’t do that.” The law. A bunch of rules.
But let’s not jump to any conclusions just yet!


Let’s just read it for what it says: those who live according to the Bible - whatever that means, whatever it really looks like - they are blessed.


To get a picture of what God’s kind of blessing is, let’s look at someone in the Bible who was said to be blessed:


  • The angel said to [Mary], “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” Luke 1:28
  • Then [Elizabeth] spoke out with a loud voice and said [to Mary], “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Luke 1:42
  • Mary said, behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. Luke 1:48


The angel called her blessed. Elizabeth called her blessed. She called herself blessed.


I believe that the three greatest miracles ever (in chronological order) were: 1) Creation 2) The Virgin Birth, and 3) The Resurrection of Jesus


And Mary was directly involved in one of the three! In fact she is the only non-Deity involved in any of them!


Is it any wonder that 2000 years later Mary is still one of the most common names in the world, in honor of her? And every Christmas countless Nativity scenes are set up with a figure of her?

That is God’s kind of blessing. And those who walk in the law of the Lord are blessed!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for your insight in to the word such a blessing this morning! As for the law part it seems to be a bad word the does and donts we have always needed laws and we should probably get used to it now because God's laws are established thru out eternity. God in the New Testament or old has always given us a ta do list and not to do list.

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