Psalm 119:1-8 – October 7, 2016 
Aleph.

How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart. They also do no unrighteousness; they walk in His ways. You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently. Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes! Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Your commandments. I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments. I shall keep Your statutes; do not forsake me utterly! 

How wonderful it would be to lay claim to having a blameless way, walking in the law of the Lord, observing His testimonies, and doing no unrighteousness. But I can no more make such a claim than could the psalmist even though such was his earnest desire. One of the tricks and traps of our enemy, the devil, is to bring accusation against us. He is called the accuser of the brethren for a reason (Re. 12:10). His job is to kill, steal and destroy (Jn 10:10), and he masterfully performs his job by convincing the earnest and diligent believer to doubt the genuine nature of their relationship with Jesus because of their inability to live a life of sinless perfection.

          All believers should desire a deeper, closer relationship with Jesus. We should all be dissatisfied with where we are in Christ enough to motivate us to drawer near still. But the fact that we are not as close as we desire does not mean that we have slipped out from under His protective care. We know what the psalmist did not because we dwell on this side of the resurrection where Jesus won the victory over death, Hell and the grave doing what the law could never do; and because He did we don’t have to be ashamed nor come as beggars into His presence. We are not perfect, though we strive to be so, but we can rest in the assurance that He will in no wise cast us out (Jn 6:37).

Heavenly Father, we strive to walk in perfection but our nature betrays us. We repent of our sin but our enemy reminds us and torments us. Help us to remember the grace extended to us through Your sacrifice on the cross, and even more than that, the victory won in the resurrection from the dead. Help us, therefore, to walk this day in the light of Your grace and mercy knowing as we repent we have no longer any need to be ashamed. Amen.