Are You Blessed? (Part 1 of 3)

God's Word is the key that unlocks the door to God's blessing.

August 29, 2020

"ALEPH.  Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.  Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart."

Psalm 119:1-2

Part 1

Our verses for today come from the first stanza (eight verses) of the incredible 119th Psalm.  This Psalm is a gold mine of truth for the believer.  We need to look carefully at the first two verses.

“Blessed are the undefiled in the way.”
In this Psalm, twice the psalmist mentions being “blessed.”  Both times are in the 1st and 2nd verses.  This Psalm tells us of the wonders of God’s Word, and in these beginning verses, we find the door to God’s blessing.

Verse 1.

“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.”

Contrary to the world’s thinking, the “blessed, happy” ones are the ones who are “pure, sincere,” and “uncontaminated” as they journey down life’s path (Barnes).  These same Hebrew words described Job and his righteous life.

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1).

The “undefiled in the way” are the men and women who are daily doing “the law of the LORD.”  They are obedient to Him.  This is their habit of life.  Their desire is to live for the Lord!

“Many people – ancient and modern – think the life lived undefiled in the way is boring at best.  The idea is that if there isn’t any defilement in it, it therefore can’t be any fun.  Yet the one who walks in God’s word knows the true blessedness of living and enjoying an undefiled life”[1] (Guzik).

The pure life is the one that God blesses.  The only way to learn this kind of life is by being in God’s Word and learning it from Him.  He is blessed and desires to share His blessing with His children.

“We need God to show us the way to a happy life, and it is centered on being undefiled in the way.  ‘The reason we are not happy is that we sin, and the main reason we sin as much as we do is that we do not know the Bible well enough….  Apart from being instructed by God, human beings do not know how to achieve happiness’”[2] (Boice).

By our Genesis, chapter three natures that we were born with, we are already good at doing evil, it was our habit of life.  It takes an act of God, our salvation by grace, to reverse our course and lead us into the holy and undefiled life.  There, by growth in God’s Word and righteous living, we begin to discover what true happiness and contentment are.

What does it mean to “walk in the law of the LORD?”  Come by tomorrow and let’s talk more.

 

Quote:  “The heroes of faith in Hebrews 11… obeyed by faith… obedience is the pathway to holiness… no one will become holy apart from a life of faith.  Faith enables us to claim the promises of God, but it also enables us to obey the commands of God”[3] (Jerry Bridges).

 

 

 

[1] Guzik, David.  David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] Boice, as quoted by Guzik, ibid.
[3] Jerry Bridges’ quote is from his book, Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey.  Downloaded: Monday, July 20, 2020.  From: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/obedience?page=2.