Staying in

DEVOTION

PSALMS

STAYING IN

Ps 103

103:1 Of David.

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the LORD, O my soul ,and forget not all his benefits —  3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: 8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children — 18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. 21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. 22 Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the LORD, O my soul.

NIV

Well it does look like we are having to camp out here at least another day because we sure did not get far our first day. Now we know that we will live in an attitude of praise to the LORD, let us look at his works. What does it mean that he works righteousness? Here we thought he was righteousness, which he is, but how is this working of righteousness play out and especially along with justice. The Hebrew word translated righteousness has multiply meanings depending on the context in which it is used. It is used as rightly governing, to judge as a ruler, the righteous attitude of God, what is ethically right, as vindication as in justification and salvation, used of God, but when it is used of people it can mean prosperity. So we have our choice, or not because of the context. The Lord works justification and salvation for the oppressed. Maybe that is it, but then it could also mean the Lord works prosperity for the oppressed. Yet it could be the LORD works righteous acts for the oppressed. But who are the oppressed and what or who is oppressing them? It would make sense that Satan is the oppressor and that sin is what oppresses people. Then his acts of righteousness, his justification and salvation work toward those who are oppressed by sin, and frees them from that sin because he satisfied his own justice by sending Jesus to take our sin upon the cross. Surely the Psalmist was not aware of all that, but God was as he inspired the words of the psalmist. All that is followed to demonstrate how God works that righteousness and justice among the oppressed. He showed his ways to Moses. He demonstrated his deeds among the people. God is practice and slow to anger, he works his righteousness and justice among his creation. Yes, he accuses sin, and maybe even the sinful, but he has made his ways known to Moses and there is a way to not be accused. In fact, he is not going to always accuse, and we know that is because there was a time he took our sin, he forgave our sin, as Jesus was on the cross. God abounds in love, he loves us so much he gave his only son so that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.  For this reason he does not treat us as we deserve because of our sin. He does not repay us for our wrongdoing, he works his righteousness and justice in our lives. A friend, who goes by J.D. made a great observation about our sin being removed as far as the East is from the West. If we were to fly a plane from the South to the North we would eventually be going South again as we passed over the North Pole. But if we flew east we would never ever start flying west, nor if we flew west, then never would we begin to fly east. That is how far they are from each other, which is how far our sin has been removed. The clue in all this is that it is for those who fear the Lord, who revere him, who worship him, who say to their soul, “Praise the LORD, and Praise his holy name”. We have to remember that we came from dust and to dust we will go, as far as our earthly body. In relationship to eternity our life span is but a blip on the screen. A friend, David, made a comparison of our lifespan as to a cable that ran around the world a thousand times, with our lifespan being just a scratch, and that was most likely too much. We are here today gone tomorrow. Yet is seems many want to make their mark somehow on the earth. In the grand scheme of eternity we can see how futile that thinking is. What is of the utmost importance in life is in the keeping of the covenant of God. This is not living perfectly, or completely free of all sin, or being the best “Good Christian” . This is making sure we give praise and honor to our Lord, and that we accept his righteous act toward us, Jesus, and we stay in Jesus, we do not deny Jesus, we remain in him. We do not get distracted by the world and go about living out our own plans, ambitions, goals and desires. We are his people and he is our Lord and that means we do his bidding, whatever that may be. We all have been called in some way to serve him, to be a part of his kingdom and to live as kingdom citizens. We obey his precepts. We stay in Christ.