Walk Before Me

God. Just like the sun and everything on earth is affected by its heat, the commands of the Lord search the heart and the conscience is affected by the “heat” to the point that the soul is revived.

Let’s read on, “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” I don’t know about you, but it makes me a little uneasy when someone is walking right behind me. I have a tendency to worry or wonder what might be going on behind me. Not that I am paranoid or anything like that, it’s just that I am not comfortable with walking before someone. Here the Psalmist describes a delight in the ways of the Lord. In fact there is not one oppressive or negative thought mentioned in connection with the Law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear or rules of the Lord. The Psalmist is not worried or wondering about his relationship with the Lord; he delights in walking before Him. Someone who walks before Him will not view these things as burdensome but rather a pure delight. The reward is not material things like gold and honey; the reward is salvation and spiritual growth.

You might be saying to yourself, “Wait! What about being blameless?” We haven’t even talked about that yet. “Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression”, the Psalmist reveals. This is what it takes to be declared blameless: “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!” First, we need to understand that we cannot be the discerner of our own sin. We must rely on the law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear and rules of the Lord to be our standard. Anything less than God’s standard is sin in itself. Secondly, we must realize that God’s standard WILL search out your hidden faults. This is the interceding work of Jesus declaring us innocent. Third, we must be held back from arrogant deliberate sins so that they do not rule over us. You cannot be blameless and innocent of great transgression while living in deliberate rebellion against God’s standard.

Finally, whose strength is highlighted in the last few verses? We need El Shaddai to declare us innocent, to keep us back from sin and to let not sin rule over us. It’s only by His power that we can agree with the Psalmist in saying – “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Are you walking before Him?