Worship and Walking

When babies learn to walk it is a big deal. They take their first steps and immediately their parents put up barriers to keep them safe. Your steps must be guided or you will wander away and not even know it. One of the ways of God is that He provides a path for your steps in His word. When you trust His path rather than your own, He rewards you with Himself. He keeps you safe.

Psalm 119 is a tremendous chapter of learning the worship-walk of prayer from God’s word. It is a prayer to shape your prayers; a major highway in the direction of becoming a true worshiper. The entire psalm is a prayer. The first three verses are the only part of the chapter that is not a prayer. They are the introduction to the prayer and reveal the outcome of learning and praying this prayer for life.

“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! Psalm 119:1 – 3.

You may ask, how can a person be blameless, keep God’s word, and do no wrong? That sounds like perfection and no one is perfect, except God. Exactly! And one of the ways of God is that He gives Himself, perfection in His eyes, to those who trust Him by following His word, by seeking to know Him in His word.

Notice again in the Scripture above that being blameless, keeping God’s word, and doing no wrong is not a performance on your part, but rather a direction you walk. Not everyone has legs, but everyone is moving in a certain direction, seeking after something in life. God has provided a blessed direction if you are willing to trust Him and head His way!

The word “blameless” in verse one is the Hebrew word, taw-meem, and means complete, perfect, whole, in total accord with the truth, in perfect alignment with God. This is a description of the Lord Jesus Christ and the life He lived before the Father and the watching world around Him. Walking with Christ, following Him, pleases the Father and is in perfect alignment with His word. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

The word “law” is the Hebrew word, torah, and means instructions. These are the steps God teaches His child when they are learning to walk. Each step reveals something about God’s character. In following His instructions, you learn of Him and know Him more and more. He teaches you of Himself.

The word “keep” in verse two is the Hebrew word, naw-tsar, and means to guard closely because of the supreme value of something. It has the understanding of watching something carefully and preserving it with great care. Spending time each day in God’s word, seeking after Him in it, is what it means to value God’s word as the direction you live by and walk in. God has promised His blessing to the one who believes this promise.

The word “do no wrong” in verse three is the Hebrew word avlah, and means, wickedness. This word has built in to it the understanding of leading others astray. True wickedness is when it is shared with others causing them to fall. But the promise of God, for the person who will walk in the pathway of His word, is that they will be blessed and become a blessing for others. They will not cause others to stumble and fall, but will provide help for others to get up and go with them in the blessed way. This path of trusting God from His word is blessed by God and is offered to anyone who is willing to believe and begin moving in that blessed direction.

Today, take the first verse of Psalm 119, memorize it and meditate on how God teaches His child to walk and the direction of that path. Tomorrow, do the same with verse two. The next day, verse three. Then for the rest of the week, meditate on the introduction and promise of God for the one who will learn to walk with the prayer of Psalm 119 for life!