Re:Verse passage – Psalm 119:1–16 (day seven)
Verse 1 & 3: Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! …who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!
Enoch and Noah walked with God and also Abraham was commanded to walk in God’s ways. We as believers can choose to walk in darkness or walk in the light (see 1 Jn 1:5–7): 5 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Our “Christian walk” as it is called, has everything to do with a right-standing before a Holy God. Do you know anyone who walked with God so closely that “he was no more, for the Lord took Him” like it was with Enoch? It seems that we in these modern times are hardly walking. Rather, I think we are stumbling or crawling. The grace of God must be carrying us and we have not yet learned to walk with God at all! I often read about saints of old and missionaries that gave their lives and I want to emulate their faithfulness and devotion. It is easy to become discouraged instead of encouraged when we compare ourselves with the heroes of the faith. We misunderstand the finished work that Christ has accomplished and mistakenly believe that we still need to contribute something.
Earlier in my life, I became familiar with an author, Watchman Nee, who in one of his books entitled: “Sit, Walk, Stand”, examines the book of Ephesians and instructs the believer in the proper order of spiritual things. There is a comparison with natural things and he makes the logical connection that, one cannot walk before he first sits and learns how. In the Christian life we must learn to walk in God’s ways. To do that we must be made to sit at the feet of the Master. The book of Ephesians mentions “walking” 8 times. The verses in the beginning of the book instruct us that we are made to first “sit with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).” Here is a quote from the second chapter of his book,
“We have sought to make it clear that Christian experience does not begin with walking, but with sitting. Every time we reverse the divine order, the result is disaster. The Lord Jesus has done everything for us, and our need now is to rest confidently in Him. He is seated on the throne, so we are carried through in His strength. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that all true spiritual experience begins from rest.
But it does not end there. Though the Christian life begins with sitting, sitting is always followed by walking. When once we have been well and truly seated and have found our strength in sitting down, then we do in fact begin to walk. Sitting describes our position with Christ in the heavenlies. Walking is the practical outworking of that heavenly position here on earth.”
“Christ-in-us” is the message of the New Testament, but especially Ephesians and Colossians. Our relationship with the Lord is based on a New Covenant which isn’t based upon our ability to obey the Law. Thank you Jesus we can be made righteous, faithful, and blameless based upon the covenant-keeping Savior who finished the work of atonement on the cross and now sits at the right hand of the Most High “reminding” His Father of how He has perfectly “walked on our behalf.” Jesus walked blamelessly and now we who have trusted in Him can also be blameless before a Holy God. We have done no wrong in God’s eyes because Jesus Christ lives in us. Jesus perfectly obeyed the Law of the Lord and so have all those In-Christ who are children born of His Spirit.
Keep walking in His ways.
Byron Pitts, Minister of Missions and Evangelism
P.S. – if anyone wants to go witnessing downtown after church. Meet me in the Great Hall at 12:35.
