Psalm 119:8

Psalm 119:8

I will obey Your decrees

And so we come to the end of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the Aleph section of Psalm 119. The section ends with another good intention although its motivation is not so good! The writer intends to obey God’s decrees, the same word that is used in verse 5. God’s decrees are His rules and commands that are engraved in writing so that all may see them, and they cannot be forgotten or overlooked. His decrees are there for all to see, and the breaking of them leaves the perpetrators without excuse. If something is engraved or written down and a part of your national culture, it’s hard to argue “I didn’t know.” 

What follows is a plea from the heart, written by an honest man. He is clearly aware that there will be times when he breaks the decrees of the Lord despite his very best intentions. This is what causes him to cry out, “do not utterly forsake me.” This is a repeated cry in the Psalms, written by men who obviously considered that to be forsaken by God was an awful fate. We do well to heed their pleading. There were many occasions in Israel’s history when they turned against the Lord, disobeyed His commands and followed the pagan gods of their neighbours. Individuals did it, families did it, tribal groups did it, at times the whole nation ignored the Lord, and it never went well for any of them! With disobedience came curses, obedience brought blessing. (Deuteronomy 27-28.) 

Whilst it is clear that the same conditions may not be part of our redemption story, surely it is unwise to disobey the Lord and to turn a blind eye to His commands, the path to contentment and blessing is simple obedience, we cannot claim to follow Christ but ignore all His instructions! 

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