An Obedient People

“All this happened so they would follow his principles and obey his laws. Praise the LORD!” ­– Psalms 105:45 NLT

God’s lovingkindness, faithfulness, righteousness, truth and strength have been established. He is the covenant-keeping God whose word can be trusted. He is the God who calls and delivers. He has chosen His people and He has communicated His plan for them. And all along the way, He has kept His end of the bargain. So what does He expect in return? Obedience. He set them apart in order that they might live lives set apart. They were to be different. They were to live to a different set of standards – His. In Psalm 101, David makes it clear that he understood this. He knew his reign as king was to be different from that of Saul or any other king of any other nation. He said, “I will be careful to live a blameless life … I will lead a life of integrity in my own home” (Psalm 101:2). David wanted nothing to contaminate himself or his kingship. “I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. I hate all crooked dealings; I will have nothing to do with them” (Psalms 101:3 NLT). He didn’t even want to have those who disobeyed God in his presence. He knew that he was to live a life that was truly set apart, obedient to the commands of God.

God is a faithful God. He keeps His word. But He also expects His people to keep His Word as well. “The LORD swore to David a promise he will never take back: ‘I will place one of your descendants on your throne. If your descendants obey the terms of my covenant and follow the decrees that I teach them, then your royal line will never end.'” (Psalms 132:11-12 NLT). God is a faithful God, but He also expects His people to be faithful to Him. He demands obedience. And as Christ-followers we are also expected to live set-apart, obedient lives. Not only that, He has given us His Holy Spirit to make sure that we are able to do so. Because without His indwelling presence and power, we would be incapable of keeping a single letter of His Word – just like the Israelites. We can live obedient lives. We can live differently. We can live distinctively. We have the capacity. But do we have the desire? Is it a priority for us? Are we willing to remove those things from our lives that prevent us from living the lives He has called us to live? Is His faithfulness to us enough to make us want to be faithful to Him?

Father, may we be a people who understand that obedience is not an option. You require it. You demand it. You are holy and righteous. You expect Your people to live holy and righteous lives. And You have given us Your Spirit to make it possible. Yet we still live according to the flesh and according to the world’s standards too often. Open our eyes and let us see just how faithful You have been to us so that we might be encouraged to be faithful to You. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org



The Worthy God

“Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” ­– Psalms 100:3 NLT

Lovingkindness. Faithfulness. Righteousness. Truth. Strength.

These three Psalms give us a glimpse of what it means to worship God. It is less an activity than an awareness of God’s character and attributes. It is a recognition of who He is, what He has done, and what He is going to do as a result of His unchanging character. God is loving and kind. He is holy and righteous. He is powerful and completely in control. What He says He will do, He will do. He can be trusted. As we saw in Friday’s readings, He is reliable. Even when things do not appear to be going as we expected, and God seems nowhere in sight, we can trust that He is there. How? Because that is His character. It is consistent with His behavior. It is in keeping with His word. If we do not truly know who God is, we will never truly worship Him. It is the reality of HIS faithfulness that allow us to be faithful to Him. If we doubt that He can be trusted, we will not trust Him. We will doubt Him. If we do not believe His promises, we will never rest in them.

Our worship is fickle and feeble at best. It tends to be based on present circumstances. If things are going well, our God is good and we will praise Him. If things are going poorly, we begin to doubt Him and even complain about our lot in life. We even turn worship into an activity only participated in on Sunday. It has been relegated to a worship hour and a particular music style. If we enjoy ourselves in our worship service of choice, if we like the music that is sung and the message that is given, then we believe we have worshiped. But we can go through that entire process and never acknowledge God’s lovingkindness, faithfulness, righteousness, truth and strength. We can feel good, but feel nothing about or towards God. In essence, the worship service becomes more about us than Him.

These three Psalms remind us that God is to be our focus. Not because of what He is currently doing for us, but simply because of who He is. He is God and there is no one else like Him. He is God and He is completely trustworthy and true. He is God and He is powerful, capable of doing whatever He chooses to do. And if He is not doing what we THINK He should be going, He has a very good reason. If He is allowing difficulty into our lives, He is not asleep, apathetic, or impotent; He has a plan. He made us. We are His sheep. We belong to Him. He knows what is best for us. But do we trust Him? Do we believe He is strong enough to meet any and all of our needs? Do we comprehend just how much He loves us? The Psalmist reminds us that when God made a promise to David that his kingdom would endure forever, even the unfaithfulness and disobedience of the people could not alter the reality and reliability of that promise. God’s word endures. His faithfulness is unfailing. His lovingkindness is everlasting. His truth never falters. His strength never diminishes.

“Tell the nations about his splendor! Tell all the nations about his amazing deeds!For the Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise; he is more awesome than all gods.” – Psalms 96:3-4 NET

Father, so often I attempt to worship who I do not know. I try to sing the praises of a God I don’t fully understand or appreciate. I tend to sing only when I feel like it. I praise You only when I feel like You have done something for me that I deem worthy of praise. Yet You are worthy of praise all the time. You are loving and kind, righteous and holy, true all the time, and powerful to save. Help me better come to know You so that I might better worship You. Not just for what You do but just because of who You are. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org