“Righteous are You, O LORD,

and upright are Your judgments.” vs137

God is righteous in all that He does - when He withholds mercy, and when He gives it! He’s righteous to punish or justify the sinner. He’s righteous to give and to take away. Under God there is a time for everything. He’s righteous to humble us to bless us. He’s righteous to enrich and impoverish.

Justice is in all of God’s ways, and we are righteous by faith, when we look upon Him and say, “You are true, and every man is a liar.”

Be justified by faith: Believe the gospel and live!

Secondly, we have God given zeal; it is the new man’s character and nature:

“My zeal has consumed me

because my foes forget Your words.” vs139

The new man is in the image of Christ, who was zealous for God - overturning tables and dying on the cross. He was zealous to make God’s name known, and it offended Him that His Father was worshipped improperly.

To those selling doves He said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father’s house into a marketplace!”

His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.” [John 2:16-17]

Zeal consumed Him to cleanse the house and wash away our sins. Zeal consumed Him to teach, like it does us, as we hit the streets and the keyboards to declare the gospel! We see sinners perishing, and we are outraged - not with selfish finger pointing, but with a desire to DO SOMETHING about it.

Zeal led Mary Slessor into Nigeria, a single White woman in the 1870’s! Zeal led Amy Charmichael to scoop up child prostitutes in India, care for them, and then their mothers. Where did they get the resources and strength? Where did two single White women find the power to labor among their dark skinned brothers? It came from God Himself, inflamed by the Spirit!

All of us are zealous in Christ, but by the Spirit it is made known increasingly. The Spirit quickens us to be who we truly are, and those filled with Him do exploits.

Do not lack this zeal, but stir it up. Live for Christ and experience joy.

Thirdly, it doesn’t matter what happens to us: We remember God.

“I am lowly and despised,

but I do not forget Your precepts.” vs141

His grace has put remembrance in us, so we cannot forget. We wander, but we return. We fall, but we arise, because He reminds us. It doesn’t matter what we suffer or how we are viewed by men, we see ourselves as lowly, but it drives us to grace, as we are taught the gospel.

We are hated by our foes, betrayed by our friends, and a man’s enemies are of his own household, yet we remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead of the Seed of David [2 Tim 2:8]. We remember how He suffered but obtained the promise, even as David labored 20 years before the anointing was fulfilled. We know that after the dusk comes the dawn, and we hold on in hope.

Bless God for this persevering spirit, and be strong in the strength of grace. Christ is sufficient!

Fourthly, we have something to delight in - it is God’s will!

“Trouble and distress have found me,

but Your commandments are my delight.” vs143

We delight to do His will as did Jesus. We delight in the law and the prophets, because His commands are not grievous. Faith in Christ is good! It is right to honor God, because He pays us back, and in keeping His commands, there is reward.

It is right to love each other, for love is of God and proves that we know Him. He is with us in this task, not only supplying the power and the comfort, but also supplying results.

God’s will is ENJOYABLE when practiced, because it is Spirit empowered obedience, peace with God, and delight in uprightness.

Never look around for pleasure: it is in God’s will and thereby in God Himself.

Finally, we want understanding -not to store up knowledge and impress people, but to live for God’s glory!

“Your testimonies are righteous forever.

Give me understanding, that I may live.” vs144

We want to understand how to honor the Christ that saved us by pulling sinners from the pit. We are not reading for admiration and superficial applause; it is for consecration and sanctification - so we can do God’s will.