Psalm 119:7 English Standard Version (ESV) I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.[a]

Footnotes a  Or your just and righteous decrees;

When I held my youngest daughter for the first time a nurse came in and commented: “I’ve never seen a newborn take to the father with so much comfort before.”

I loved her before she was born. I was comfortable with her and she felt right in my arms.

I think of Father God in the same manner. She had done nothing to deserve my love and we have done nothing to deserve His love, yet there it is, qualified without effort.

What struck me this morning was the OT attitude that we could not praise God with an upright heart until we achieved a proper understanding of His just and righteous decrees. Just like my newborn daughter isn’t resting in the arms of the One who loves us with comfort and security enough?

I suspect my newborn had an upright heart, she had done nothing but breathed and slept since she met me. Innocence is so sweet.

By the time we get around to reading Psalm 119:7 we have lost that innocence.

Innocence lost is never restored, at least not yet. I cannot speak for our future eternal state.

Now we are stuck in the state of consciousness that tells us we cannot praise God without an upright heart because we have not learned all His just and righteous decrees? That doesn’t seem right.

Then I remember that Jesus is the game changer. We no longer live via the old covenant rules, we live by faith in the only One who is righteous, upright in heart. Having no righteousness of my own, I live by His.

In this life my conscience is subject to His Lordship and I should not allow even my own thoughts to guilt trip me into believing I cannot praise HIm because I am not good enough.

Praise isn’t about me, it is about Him. It isn’t about what I have or have not done, but rather what He has done and is doing. I should not withhold praise because of how I feel about myself.

Romans 13:7 English Standard Version (ESV) Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Because respect and honor are listed separately we should consider them to differ in some way.

Exodus 14:4 King James Version (KJV) And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so.

The ESV uses the term glorified rather than honor. God would reveal Himself in a manner that showed Himself to be greater than Pharaoh. In modern vernacular God is a heavyweight and Pharaoh was a lightweight. While this seems rather ridiculous on the face of it, let us look to outline usage of the Hebrew word kabad; to be heavy, be weighty, be grievous, be hard

We can see the comparative nature of a person without having respect for that individual. The Kennedy Honors acknowledge the accomplishments of an artist irrespective of any moral value of the artist, only their talent. Respect is not required, only acknowledgment.

We must not disallow the ability to both respect and honor individuals. This was only to demonstrate the ability to separate the two words as was done in Romans 13:7.

The premier example of respect and honor together would be Father God having respect for the sacrifice His Son made on the Cross and then Honoring Him with a seat at the right hand throne of God, the power seat, and putting all things under His control. Not that is respect and honor combined to the highest degree.

Perhaps we are asked to show respect and honor to a lesser degree in Exodus 20:12 when He said, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

God asks this of us irregardless of any qualifying aspects of the parents. Regardless of how we feel about our parents we should not disrespect or dishonor the family name. God’s blessing comes from our adherence to the command. That should be enough cause to honor them no matter who they were.