Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Lasting Position & Limitless Perfection - Psalm 119 (part 12)

"I am Thine, save me;
for I have sought Thy precepts.
The wicked wait for me to destroy me;
I shall diligently consider Thy testimonies.
I have seen a limit to all perfection;
Thy commandment is exceedingly broad."
(Psalm 119:94-96)

I came close to skipping over jotting down any notes on these particular verses and then -"WHAM" - all of a sudden it hit me. Tagged on to the end of the "Lamedh" section of Psalm 119, right after the reminder of the settled nature of God's Word and the settling effects it has on the life of God's servant we find these three verses.

What first grabbed my attention was the covenantal language. "I am Thine...." David has done alot of crying out to God in this long Psalm. And why? Because God is his Daddy! God has entered into a relationship with David - a relationship signed and sealed in blood. Friends, through the Lord Jesus Christ, God has done so with us as well. "I am Thine!" I am God's by blood bought purchase. In view of that precious relationship I can cry out to my Father in my time of need. "Father - I belong to you, I am your child - help me!" We are, by covenant, placed in a position of lasting love - and it is an irrevocably precious place!

Earlier we saw David praying the simplest of prayers "help me." Here we see it again, "save me." Folks, you don't have to pray long to your Daddy just pray honest to Him!! "I am Thine, save me!"

The wicked lay in wait seeking to destroy the servant king. BUT David was God's and he was determined to trust himself to his Father's care. Are we doing the same? Are we in a familial relationship with the God of the universe through His Son's sacrifice on our behalf? And if so, are we resting in God to save us?

David honestly complains about the malice of his enemies but he also truthfully comforts himself in the word of God. May we do the same.

The second thing that got my attention is found in verse 96. David writes: "I have seen a limit to all perfection; Thy commandment is exceedingly broad." Honestly, I didn't get it at first and even more honestly I might not have gotten it at all had I not stopped to pull out Matthew Henry. Here are his thoughts:

"David's testimony is 'I have seen an end of all perfection.' Poor perfection which one sees an end of! Yet such are ALL those things in this world which pass for perfections. David, in his time, had seen Goliath, the strongest, overcome; Asahel, the swiftest, overtaken; Ahithophel, the wisest, befooled; Absalom, the fairest, deformed; and, in short, he had seen an end of perfection, all perfection. The glory of man is but as the flower of the grass. But God's commandment is broad, exceedingly broad."
Elsewhere David reminds us that "the law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul." In this Psalm he continues to drive that truth home. How I pray we are all riding and resting in the vehicle with him!

There is a limit to the things in this world - even to the best things - but there is no limit to the things of God. His word is eternal. His love is from everlasting to everlasting. His grace knows no bounds. His mercy knows no end. He and His Word are the purest of perfection!

Are you looking for perfection? Are you fighting and failing in your attempts to achieve perfection? There is only One who is perfect and His perfection is imputed to you by grace through faith in Christ's perfectly finished work on Calvary's cross. On that hill, His pure and perfect work was the means of perfecting your imperfection! Flee to Him with the eyes of faith fixed on what He has done and with the tears of repentance causing you to cease trying to do it on your own. By salvific adoption, your lasting position in Christ has granted you the precious privilege of being saved by His limitless perfection.

Thankful for the exceedingly broad mercies of my perfect God,
Lori

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