Mighty Counselor

DEVOTION

PSALMS

MIGHTY COUNSELOR

Ps 119:17-24

17 Gimel

Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word. 18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. 19 I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me. 20 My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. 21 You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed and who stray from your commands. 22 Remove from me scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes. 23 Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees. 24 Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.

NIV

Day three in the longest psalm. God has done good to us, he sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sin. How much more good does he need to do? Yet he continues to do good to us every day, with each breathe, he sustains us, he provides for us, he heals us, he protects us and he even directs our path so we are on the right way. How could we not obey his word? Sometimes it would seem we are blinded to the wonderful things in his law. Now of course we could, like the psalmist, be thinking of all the laws of the Old Testament. But, we have been freed from the law, we are no longer under that law, however, we have been given a new commandment. This is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, spirit and strength and to love our neighbor as our selves. Then there  is all the other guidelines, suggestions, well actually commands as to how we are supposed to live, such as getting rid of certain attitudes like anger, rage, malice, envy, jealously, contempt, lust, greed and a host of others. Then there are those attitudes we are to take on or what we are to think about, such as that which is holy, pure, lovely, righteous and just, naming only a few. But we get the idea, there are things we are to get rid of and things we are to add to our lives. So the Lord opens our eyes to these things, and we make every effort to live according to his word. Although we fail at times, we still get back up and try again. The point being is that we are strangers on earth, aliens as our citizenship is in the kingdom of God. This should mean that we are not part of this world, we do not even speak the same language, we are not in partnership with them, in league with their ideologies, philosophies, and general way of life. We have nothing in common with them.

2 Cor 6:14-18

14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common ? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."  

17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate,       says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."  18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,               says the Lord Almighty."  

NIV

What is it that we do not see about this? Have nothing in common, do not partner with the world in any way, which means in any way. What does yoked mean? This is used in the farming context of putting two oxen of unequal strength under the same yoke, the team is only as strong as the weakest oxen. But we are not oxen and therefor this word is to show us about paring ourselves with the weak unbeliever. This has mostly been taught about marriage, but it applies to far more than marriage. It applies to every aspect of life. It can apply to joining ourselves in business with an unbeliever. This would be partnering with an unbelieving company by either being a partner, or investing in their business, which is being a silent partner. We have no say as to how they use our money. We are the light, they are the darkness, we are in Christ, and they are in Belial. We are a believer, they are an unbeliever. We are the righteous and they are the wicked. How can we ever think of being involved with them in any way? We are consumed with the ways of God, they are consumed with greed, lust, envy, hatred, lies, filth, unholy, immoral things. They are rebuked because of their arrogance, they say they do not need God, man is better than that. Although all those who rule their own lives, and slander us believers, we will mediate on the Lord and his ways. His statutes are a delight to us, they bring us life, not the death which the arrogant will see. We already have this eternal life, we love the Lord and want to live according to all his ways. We cannot live in both realms, the world and the kingdom of God. We cannot ride the fence either, we have to choose to be completing in the kingdom or not. God’s way, his word is the only counselor we need. Blessed is the man who does not take counsel from the wicked. That means no advice about our way of life. Only his mighty counsel.