Psalm 119 English Standard Version

Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet

Aleph

1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!

4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.
8 I will keep your statutes;
    do not utterly forsake me!

There are many blessed passages in the longest of the Psalms, but it begins here.

Have the forsaken ever heard God’s statutes? A police officer once told me, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Then he let me go with a warning.

Most of us have come to an understanding that we did not keep God’s statutes after we discovered what they were. We were already guilty without anyone standing before us and setting us free with only a warning.

John 8:10-12 English Standard Version

10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

I Am the Light of the World

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Avoiding sin is no easier now than before if we do not have the Light of Life within us.

So why would Father God give us statutes and tell us to keep them if He knew we could not?

He did so in order that we might understand we cannot live without Jesus Christ in our lives. Everything in the OT about statutes and precepts had the purpose of revealing the need for our Saviour Jesus Christ.

No one will accept a gift of grace if they do not recognize the need for it.

Luke 14:27-29 English Standard Version

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

Show ourselves to be faithful to our Lord and they will still mock us. So if our choices are to be mocked for being unfaithful or being faithful, then mock me for being faithful.

One thing that occurs to me about being mocked is that we will know how others feel. It is easier to deal with a lost soul if we know where they stand.

Has life treated them so unfairly as to have been cursed without reason? It might be that something happened to them that turned their hope into sour grapes. As we deal with lost souls we will find they also have a tale to tell about how they came to a point of mocking what is right.

Are they worth the time and trouble to listen to them and discover where in life they lost hope? Our Lord says we should at least give them a chance so that after listening and understanding we might be given the chance to speak a word of truth and allow the truth to do what truth does best.

• Jeremiah 50:6
  “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.
  
• Matthew 18:12
  What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?

They do not know they are lost until someone finds them.Who is looking for them?