Here is my literal translation of this verse:
“ All the paths of YHVH [are] love and faithfulness to ones keeping His covenant and His testimonies/warnings.”
In my last post, I enjoyed pondering the truth that “All the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness.” One could read the second half of this verse and be either encouraged or discouraged: It limits all the aforementioned blessings to “ones keeping His covenant and His testimonies/warnings.” At one and the same time I feel my own heart lifted and crushed; crushed because I’m too aware I “don’t qualify,” but encouraged knowing I do. “Ones keeping His covenant?” Me? Hardly. My heart rushes on to the very next verse, “For Thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” If the Lord was to shout, “Everyone who keeps My covenant, line up over here,” I could only hang my head in shame. But at one and the same time, my heart knows it is covered in the blood of Jesus. Like Daniel, I say, “So I was left alone, …; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. Then I heard Him speaking, and as I listened to Him… a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, ‘Daniel, you who are highly favored, … do not be afraid, … peace, be strong!’ When He spoke to me, I was strengthened …” Those words always amaze me as they so perfectly desribe my own relationship with God. For myself, I don’t know how He puts up with me. Sometimes I don’t know how I put up with myself. Yet still He calls me. My heart then is deeply aware that even my ability to respond to Him is a strength He gives me. His strength is made perfect in my weakness. And coming to Him I find myself not just tolerated but deeply loved. “Daniel, you who are highly favored …” A redeemed sinner walking with God.
I suppose this “ones keeping His covenant” is simply one of the paradoxes of redeemed sinners walking with God. On the one hand, the qualification is quite absolute: “to ones keeping His covenant and His testimonies/warnings.” You either do or you don’t. That would seem painfully clear. Yet, David’s very next words are, “For Thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” Back in verse 7 he was asking, “Remember not the sins of my youth or my rebellions.” Obviously, “ones keeping His covenant” is another name for the “humble ones” in verse 9, the anavim, the crushed ones, who, in that verse, are given discernment and trained in His way. Back in verse 8, it very clearly states “He teaches sinners in His ways.”
Yet the standard is still absolute, “…to ones keeping His covenant.”
Again, I think it simply a paradox of redeemed sinners walking with God. I feel like Paul, “The Law is good and the commandment holy … but I find another law at work in my members.” I agree with God. His standard should be absolute. We should keep His covenant. And we should only expect His blessings if we do. I want to do that. I intend to do that. Yet I don’t. And I think that is where the blood of Jesus enters. I want to. I try to. Yet I fail. And the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin. So I get up and try again. I want to. I try to. Yet I fail. And the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin. So I get up and try again … It is He Himself Who beckons me to “…come boldly before the throne of grace, that I may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
So I guess I would conclude that while the qualifications given in the verse are quite stark and absolute, yet only a redeemed sinner can really understand it. It can be understood only by those who can read it with hearts already strengthened and sheltered by the forgiveness and love of redemption.
Interestingly, Spurgeon said: “Yet this is not a general truth to be trampled upon by swine, it is a pearl for a child’s neck. Gracious souls, by faith resting upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus, keep the covenant of the Lord, and, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, they walk in His testimonies.”
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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