“Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.”
Psalm 106:3
Most of the electronic gadgetry that surround us today offer a large suite of optional settings. Computers, Ipads, cell phones and X-boxes all come with default settings that can be adjusted to suit the needs of the user. At any time the user can cause his device to revert back to its default settings. Sometimes (for some inexplicable reason) our gadgets do this all on their own! When I think about the attitude and conduct of God’s people, I often wonder what our “default settings” are. When interacting with others in church or some other place where Christians are gathered, the Lord’s redeemed sometimes “adjust their settings,” displaying attitudes and conduct consistent with their Christian profession, but unlike their normal “default settings.” Once out of eyesight and earshot of our Christian family, many revert back to old modes of thought and conduct. Today’s verse passage reminds us that this ought not to be so. Our attitude and conduct ought to reflect our new, born-again nature and redeemed standing before God at all times. The first psalm tells us that it is the blessed man that delights in God’s word, making it the special object of his study and careful obedience “day and night” (Psalm 1:2). That is, the blessed man recognizes God’s word as central and foundational in all circumstances. He is a man who lives in accordance with his profession of faith, no matter where he is or who might be around. The blessed man “walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” (Psalm 1:1). James, the half brother to the Lord Jesus, desired that our own steadfastness, endurance, and constancy, would have its full effect in our lives, making us complete and lacking nothing (James 1:4). Daniel is a stellar object lesson for us. A powerful example of courage and consistency, Daniel’s “default settings” were precisely where they ought to be. Threatened with death if he prayed to any but the pagan regional ruler, Daniel “went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem . . . kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime” (Daniel 6:10). This kind of consistency is commendable just because it reflects God’s own dependable, consistent and unchanging character. “For I am the LORD, I change not,” declared the LORD through His prophet (Malachi 3:6). The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus Christ, in Whom dwells all the fullness of deity bodily, is Himself “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). May God help us to walk as our Lord walked (1 John 2:6), with unchanging, single-minded devotion to the God Who loved us first, for His glory and the good of others.
God bless and strengthen you,
Pastor John
English