No End

DEVOTION

PSALMS

NO END

Ps 119:105-112

105 Nun

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. 106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. 107 I have suffered much; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your word. 108 Accept, O LORD, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws. 109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law. 110 The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. 111 Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. 112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.

NIV

Day fourteen in the longest psalm. Once again we are on the path of life and rather than walking in the dark wondering what is ahead, we walk in the light of God. We know the path ahead for it leads to eternal life, to a resurrection and to the new city of Jerusalem. His word gives us that light, we do not have to wonder what is up ahead for us in this path of life. We have taken that same oath and confirm that we will follow his righteous laws, which for us is Jesus. We are not sure how much the psalmist suffered, but we have to admit we do not think we have suffered anything like him. Our life, especially in this day and age, seems much easier than the psalmist's life. Never the less, the enemy of our soul is still at large and his agenda has not changed. Perhaps his methods may change over time, but his agenda is the same. His aim is to destroy us, but the Lord is here to preserve our life. So we too willingly praise the Lord, because he does preserve our life and he teaches us his laws. Now as far as taking our life in our own hands, it seems we are guilty as the psalmist. That is when we act in a manner the old nature pushes on us, we get self-centered, we want what we want and we do what we need to in order to get what we want when we want it. Yet, even in the midst of being self-pleasured, we will not forget about God and his law. It is not that we have turned our back on him and walked away from the path. It is just that we get a little off the beaten path, so to speak. We know where the path is, and we don’t forget it is there, we just get in the woods for a moment, in the weeds, maybe picking some flowers we were attracted to, that we were tempted by. But it was a snare by the wicked one, and we have not strayed from the Lords percepts, just got a little distracted. There is no question the Lord is our heritage forever, his statutes are a joy to our heart for we know everything from the Lord is good, pure and enduring. There is no real joy outside of him. There is no joy off the path he lights for us to walk. Our heart is set on keeping his decrees to the very end. We will stay the course, we will walk the path he lights before us to the very end of our days, at which point there will no longer be an end for we will be for all eternity, where there is no end.