The Word of God in the Heart of Man: Loving God with all Your Being - Psalm 119:57-64 (Psalms 119:57-64)

1:26Think on that just a second. Ask it again. To what degree do you love God with all of your heart, soul, and strength? Do you love him with your entire being? This is the overarching command in Scripture, is it not? From the very beginning to Old Testament, New Testament, this is God's purpose for man. This is the commandment that sweeps them all or encapsulates them all. In Deuteronomy 6:5, God says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

2:08Our Lord Jesus reiterates this when he was asked in Matthew 22, what is the greatest commandment? Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. How are you doing in observing this greatest commandment? This is God's requirement. All the other commandments are encapsulated in this one. And how are you doing? This is the greatest command. How are you doing this morning, right now, with loving the Lord your God with all of your soul and with all of your strength? In fact, what does loving God with all of your being look like? We have sort of a fuzzy picture in our mind. Maybe we might think, yeah, I love him. I love him. I love him.

3:00But what does that really look like? And what I want to do this morning is I want to approach our text from more of a descriptive fashion this morning. The psalmist has turned a corner in this Heth stanza, and his expressions of love for God's word become expressions of love for God himself. Up until now, he's really been a man who loves God's word. We've seen that. He's expressed it over and over and over and over. And yet he turns a corner to where, in verse 57, he's able to say, the Lord is my portion. His love for God's word matures into a love for God himself. And a love for God's word will always do this. It will always mature into a love for God himself. Because the word is nothing more than a mirror in which we see the reflection of the person and personality of God. So if you love God's word, know that it's an indication of a growing love for God Himself. Because if you do not love God's Word, the bottom line is you don't love the God of the Word.

4:17And in these eight verses, we have before us a picture of a person who is on trajectory, if you will. I'll say it like that. He's on trajectory to love God with his entire being. Although he is still in process, he is still growing in his love, his love is truly exemplary. And it shows us nine characteristics of what loving God with all of your being looks like. And so, as we look at these eight verses this morning, I want to ask you eight or nine questions that will allow you to measure your love. How are you doing with loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Well, I'm going to ask you nine questions that are based upon the characteristics of this psalmist as we go through. And I'm going to ask you personal questions. To what degree do you love God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind? And I want these questions to serve as a way to gauge so that loving God gets out of the abstract and gets into the very practical and tangible, and that you will be honest with yourself this morning and measure. How do you love? Answer that question. How do I love God? Where am I with loving God with all of my heart, soul, and strength? So, first question I want to ask you: To what degree do you see God as your portion in life? To what degree do you see God as your portion in life? Word for portion is the word for share or inheritance or a possession. It speaks of Sometimes the spoils in war, as in Genesis 14, or sometimes it refers to the inheritance, as in Joshua, in Joshua 14, of the inheritance of the property allotments. As the children of Israel go into the land of Canaan, and the property is divided up.

6:22The Lord is my inheritance, my portion in life. You know, the Levites, it's important to note that the Levites had no inheritance in the land. You remember that from your history, right? Deuteronomy 18:1 says this: The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. That is, they are not to get a piece of real estate. Why? They shall have no inheritance among their countrymen. The Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. The Lord Himself. And here's this psalmist who's already in verse 54 refers to the house of his pilgrimage. He's a foreigner in a strange land. He's a pilgrim in a culture that's very hostile to the God of His faith.

7:19And he's likening himself to this Levitical priesthood. I have no portion. I have no inheritance. My inheritance is the Lord. The Lord is my portion. And look at the, he uses the word Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God, the Lord, the covenant-keeping God. He is my portion. If you look back at verse 56, this statement, the Lord is my portion, is just a continuation of what he's already said in verse 56, and it kind of develops it even more. In verse 56, he says, This has become mine that I observe your precepts.

7:58This is mine. And then he goes on here in verse 57: not only the Lord's precepts are his, but also the Lord Himself. The Lord Himself is mine. You are all I have. That's basically what He's saying. You are all I have. You are my portion in this life. You are all, and you are sufficient. You are everything, and you are more wonderful than all else. The Lord. How do you see yourself? Is the Lord your inheritance? Do you see yourself as this psalmist, a pilgrim in a strange land, a citizen of another place?

8:49Thomas Brooks said it well. He said, I would counsel every Christian to answer all temptations with this short saying, The Lord is my portion. Satan or the world shall tempt you with honors, answer the Lord is my portion. When they shall tempt you with riches, answer the Lord is my portion. When they shall tempt you with advancement and power, answer the Lord is my portion. And when this persecuting world shall threaten you with the loss of your property, answer the Lord is my portion. And when they shall threaten you with the loss of liberty, answer the Lord is my portion. And when they shall threaten you with the loss of friends, answer, the Lord is my portion. And when they shall threaten you with the loss of life, answer the Lord is my portion. If Satan should come to you with an apple as he once did to Eve, tell him the Lord is your portion. Or with the grape as he once did to Noah, tell him the Lord is your portion. Or with the change of clothes as he once did to Gehazi, tell him the Lord is your portion. Or with a wedge of gold as once he did to Achin, tell him the Lord is your portion. Or with a bag of money as he did to Judas, tell him that the Lord is your portion. Or with a crown or a kingdom as he once did to Moses, tell him the Lord is your portion.

10:23Question I have to you today is to what degree do you see God as your portion in Life. Have you come to a point in life where you realize that the Lord is all you really have? Can you say with honesty, the Lord is my portion? Second question I want to ask you: To what degree does your love for God translate into obedience? To what degree does your love for God translate into obedience? Look at verse 57, second part. I have promised to keep your words. I have promised, I have determined to keep, to maintain, to guard, to take care of your words. Your words. And incidentally, in this stanza, the psalmist sets forth those eight words. He uses all eight words for the word. Eight words for the word. And I'll just point them out as we go. But every line, he brings up these different words to describe God's word. The first one, I have promised to keep your words. The word here is the most general term for God's word, and it refers to everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God. It's the sum total of his revealed will.

11:43What the psalmist is saying is that you see his love for God, his response to God, naturally flows out of his love for him. His desire to honor God by keeping his word naturally flows out of the reality. Of his love for him. And love throughout Scripture, it's expressed in obedience to God. Jesus, if you love God, you will obey him. Jesus 14, 15 says, if you love me, or John 14, 15, Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. See, love naturally translates into obedience. The two cannot be separated. If you have obedience problems, the bottom line is you have love problems because obedience naturally flows out of love. Disobedience tells the world that you're not content with God as being your portion. When you disobey and when you continue to go your way, it's an open statement that God isn't enough. I need more than just God as my portion.

12:51A relationship with Yahweh, that's what he refers to. Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God, will involve a growing desire to be loyal to him because that's who he is. He is loyal. And so there's going to be a natural response in your walking and your growing and your love for the covenant-keeping God is for you yourself to desire to grow in your obedience to him. So the measure of your obedience is a measure of your love for God. To what degree do you love God? Third question I want to ask you.

13:31To what degree do you seek God's favor above all else in life? To what degree do you seek God's favor above all else in life? Look at verse 58. I sought your favor with all my heart. Be gracious to me according to your word. Word for sought, or I sought, it involves an intense search, a seeking to the point of being weary. And notice that expression, with all my heart. It's a very intense search, a heartfelt search. I've sought your favor. The word for favor is literally your face. I have sought your face. And what this expresses is a desire for God's presence, his smiling presence, God's smile. To what degree are you motivated by simply pleasing the Father?

14:28Favor, the presence of God. Spurgeon said it well. The presence of God is the highest form of his favor. Isn't that what the psalmist is desiring here? Isn't that what we want? We want to walk with God, and we want his smiling countenance upon us. And if you love somebody, what? You desire their presence, right? God loves you, and he desires to walk through life with you. And if you truly love him, there will be a deep, heart-level desire to walk with him. And his smiling presence, to be in his presence.

15:06Look at that expression: be gracious to me. That is an imperative appeal. Be gracious. It's like a demand. Be gracious to me. You must be gracious to me. Very forceful. Be gracious to me. Be favorably inclined to me. You must be, or all else is lost. It's a desperate plea. And what's interesting here is the psalmist, he knows his unworthiness of God's favor, yet he is bold in asking for it. Isn't that interesting? Why? He knows he's unworthy, and yet he's extremely bold in asking for God's favor. Well, why is that? Well, I'll tell you, he has faith. He understands. All his time in the word and looking at the instructions and the details and the law and the ordinances of God, it's revealed one thing to him: God is gracious, and he is good. And he has promised to be gracious and good to those who truly seek them. And so, even though he is unworthy, he can boldly ask for God's favor. That's what's given to us. That's the God of Scripture. He is gracious. Come.

16:24And so, the psalmist goes and asks according to your word. Look at that end of verse 15. 58, and that's the second word for the word. It's the word for promises. He says, you know, this is your name, Yahweh, implies that you keep your promises. And my portion is you, Yahweh. And so I know that because you are a covenant-keeping God, and you are my portion, that your promises go along with who you are, fulfilling your promises. And so he sincerely seeks God's favor above all else. And when Jesus walked this earth, you remember in Matthew 3:16, he was baptized. And he came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were open, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lightning upon him.

17:22And behold, a voice out of the heavens said, And you know it, this is my beloved Son, what? In whom I am well pleased. It's always fascinating to me as I come to that text, I stop and I pause, because you know, at that juncture, Jesus had not preached a single sermon. Jesus had not healed a single individual. He had not walked on water, he had not created matter out of nothing, he had not done any of his miracles, he had not gone to the cross, and yet the Father openly states, This is my son, in whom I am well pleased. This one. Take note of this when I am well pleased.

18:04Our Lord's desire was to please the Father. That's what drove him. That was a love that he had to please the Father. And that's a measure of your love. What degree, what motivates you in life and in your day-to-day routine, do you seek God's favor above all else? It's a measure of your love for him. Number four, I want to ask you a fourth question. To what degree are you quick to repent? What degree are you, to what degree are you quick to repent? Look at verse 59. I considered my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies. I hastened and did not delay to keep your commandments. It says, I considered, I thought through this, I thought through this carefully. Some suggest that the word actually means to weave, which would imply a tedious attention to detail. I considered, I gave a lot of thought to my ways, to my path, the way I live, the things I do, the places I go, the thoughts I have. I gave careful thought to that. And I also, in light of that, I also thought about your testimonies. I thought about my ways, and I thought about your ways. That's the third word for word, the testimonies. And that's God's self-witness of himself, his self-witness. Of who he is. It's his self-testimony. And we have that, right? We're going to hear testimonies all the time. Well, God's word is his testimony, his witness to who he is. And so here's the psalmist saying, I have considered tediously my ways, I have considered tediously your ways, and it's led me to one conclusion. I need to change my ways to fit your ways.

20:00So I turned my feet. Literally, I caused my feet to turn. It's a metaphor for changing one's way of life, repentance. It's the Old Testament picture of repentance, turning one's feet, turning one's feet. Notice he's not interested in just looking like his feet turned. No, he's not looking to, he's turning his feet. It's a heart change that results in a change in his life. Look at verse 60. Notice that he did not delay. He hastened. I hastened and did not delay. He wasted no time. There was a speed in his repentance. Did you know that delayed obedience is disobedience?

20:48To be lazy in obedience is disobedience. Listen, it is criminal when you know the right thing to do, but you hasten to do it. Hesitate to do it. It's criminal. You wouldn't act that way at work, would you? Your boss tells you to do something, not if you wanted to keep your job. You're usually quick to respond, quick to carry out your orders. So it's criminal when you know the right thing to do and you don't do it and you hesitate. But there is a great beauty in feet that are swift to repent.

21:34Great beauty. You remember Michael Johnson, the track and field star years back? He was the man with the golden shoes. That's what they called him, the man with the golden shoes. They made him some golden shoes because they were sure in the 1996 Olympics that he was going to break some records, which he did in the 200 and the 400-meter dash. In fact, some consider him one of the greatest and most consistent sprinters in the history of track and field. He had golden shoes, two golden shoes.

22:11I tell you, it's a beautiful picture. Two golden shoes that you need to put on. Speed and repentance and speed and obedience. Those are golden shoes, excellent virtues. Speed in repentance and speed in obedience. That's the psalmist before us. We all need to think carefully through our ways. And we need to tediously think about our ways. We need to tediously think about God's ways and compare them to His testimonies. The problem, many of you won't ever get that far because we're so we've got so many distractions in our world today, don't we? I mean, we're so plugged in. I mean, I can't even pump gas anymore without a video coming on. I can't even sit down in a restaurant without getting these little kiosks now, or these little video heads sitting right there on my desk. I mean, we're plugged in. I mean, at some point, turn off the radio, turn off your playlist, turn it off, and sit in quiet. Enjoy solitude. I'm concerned about this generation that always needs to be plugged in. It's almost like you can't think your own thoughts. Give it rest. Think carefully.

23:23Think about your own ways. Then, and after you have carefully thought through your ways and you've thought through God's ways, then be swift to repent and swift to keep God's commandments. Be swift. Think through and put those golden shoes on and be swift to repent and swift to obey. That brings us to the fourth word, his commandments. It's the fourth word for word here. It's the word for his orders. Keep God's orders, not man's orders, not your orders, but God's orders. And we need to turn. Our feet.

24:02And again, it's important that he didn't, the psalmist wasn't interested in looking like he obeyed God, but he genuinely turned to obey God. I think many times we get this sense, well, I want to appear as one that I love God, right? That's the way of false religion. Okay? That's not true religion. True religion is one that deals with the heart. It says, I turn my feet simply because I love you and I want to obey you.

24:33So the question to you that I have is: to what degree are you quick to repent? How are you doing so far? How's this test going for you? Do you love God with all of your heart and with all of your strength? Well, let's keep going. Let's keep going. Because I know these things are very exposing of our lack of love, aren't they? To what degree, let me ask you a fifth question: to what degree do you remember God's ways in difficult times?

25:08To what degree do you remember God's ways even in difficult times? Look at verse 61. The cords of the wicked have encircled me, but I have not forgotten your law. The cords, it refers to the cordage of a net, the ropes of the wicked. And they've already been introduced as the arrogant, those who are evil in their hearts, and they're evil towards. God and to the psalmist. And the word for encircled literally wraps around, wrapped around. So if you think about it, if I have a cord, or if I have a rope and I say I've encircled you, what does that say?

25:47You're bound, right? You're tied up. That's the idea here. In some translations, you'll see the word is bound, some it's ensnared. But it's the picture of being trapped. They caught him in their trap. And that's what he's saying. These wicked men have caught him in their trap. And if you look at the big picture of what's happening in this psalm, there's a drama that's being played out between the stanzas. In verse 23, in the Gimel stanza, it's a picture of those princes that are sitting and talking against him. And then in the Vav stanza, it's in verse 42 where he wants to give an answer to the one who is reproaching him to his face. So you go from they're talking about him to where they're now reproaching him to his face. And then in 51, the arrogant utterly deride me. They deride me. Now they are scornfully deriding him. And then here in verse 61, they have trapped him. They have trapped him. Do you see a progression? And this is going to continue going until we get to the cough section, and it's going to, his agony that's being poured out his. His soul just pours out in anguish because of these persecutors of him.

27:07But in the midst, in the midst of such difficult circumstances, the psalmist doesn't get distracted by focusing on his enemies. He doesn't get hypnotized by them. He doesn't get drawn into them, and he doesn't seek to appease them. You know, he could have ended this whole deal with these people who were persecuting you. He could have ended the whole thing by just giving in and saying, you know what, I'm going to follow your directions instead of God's directions. And the whole thing would have just gone pretty simple for him. But he didn't.

27:42The psalmist didn't want to appease man. He wanted to appease God. And so he remembers God's law. And this is the first, fifth word for word. It's the word Torah. And it's the general term for directions. He's not going to take the directions of the wicked. He's going to take the directions of God. He's going to remember them. Remember God's directions even in difficult times. And listen, friends, when cultural pressures are against you, there's a temptation to forget God's laws, isn't there? And to give in to the reproach and to give in to those who reproach and deride your way of life. It simply just makes the pain go away. It's compromise. Just let the pain go. Go away by giving in.

28:34Ask you a question. Why do you think there's so much compromise in the professing church in America today? I can tell you why. Our culture is growing more and more intolerant of God's directions for mankind. And so, what happened is many, and even on a wholesale denominational level, men and women choose to appease man and the cultural pressures than appease God by following his directions. And so, they start taking their cues about life and morality and what's right and what's wrong from society instead of from God's directions. But those who love God will remember God's law for his life. That's an expression. Remembering God even in difficult times. It's an expression of your love. Let's move on. Number six, to what degree are you thankful for God's righteousness? To what degree are you thankful for God's righteousness? Look at verse 62. At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous ordinances. Midnight, middle of the night, I shall rise. That is, I shall get up. I shall get up for the purpose of giving thanks to you and praise. I want to get up out of my bed and I want to express gratitude. I want to point out that he doesn't just simply lay in bed with his mind towards heaven. I don't know if any of you have ever done this. Wake up in the middle. Oh, Lord, thank you for Emmanuel Baptist Church. And wow, just think blessed. Lord, thank you for Pat Johnson and that wonderful praise team that he's put together. Bless them all. Right? Go back to sleep. And that's good. That's good to do, by the way, just to throughout the night, just be cognizant of God and be praying. But that's not what he gets up. This guy gets out of bed, okay? He doesn't just rouse and shoot a prayer up to God, he gets out of bed.

30:26I shall rise to give thanks to you. But notice, I mean, there's something very precious about the solitude and quietness of the middle night hours. And this psalmist, there was a loneliness and a time, a very precious time, and he got up. And notice why he thanks God there. Verse 62: Because of your righteous ordinances. Because of your righteous ordinances. And this is the sixth word for word. It's the word for judgments of equity. Your honesty. It deals with his judgments, his judicial decisions, and specifically the righteous judgments, his righteous ordinances. That is the rightness. This is what he's thankful for. The rightness of God's judgments. It's the rightness that he is thankful for. It's the order.

31:21And there's a contrast going on here between the diabolical deeds of the wicked and the righteous deeds of God. Here's the deeds of the wicked. Here's God's righteousness. Deeds. And so, this is what the psalmist is saying. He's saying, it says, as I think about their deeds and I think about who you are, I am thankful that you are a God who is completely right in all of your judgments. And you are the God who sees, you're the God who hears, and I can have hope in the future because you are a God of justice and you're not a tyrant.

31:55You ever just sat and thanked God for the rightness of his ways? There is hope, and there is something to really celebrate that God is good and he is just. Aren't you thankful the God of the universe is not crooked? Aren't you glad he's not a tyrant? I mean, he has all power. And I mean, could you imagine if he just exercised that and he was a tyrant? Life would be miserable. But there's an order, there's a beauty. Contrasted to the moral chaos of our times and our world and the fallen human condition. There is the God of order and the God of justice and the God who does right in all of his ways. And that is something we can celebrate. Ask you a seventh question. To what degree do you really love God's people? To what degree do you really love God's people? Look at verse 63. I am a companion of all of those who fear you and of those who keep your Precepts. That is, I am a companion. I am an associate, a comrade, a friend. It carries the idea of being united with someone. I am united with all of those who revere and honor you.

33:15I am a companion of all those who fear and honor you and those who are keeping your precepts. There's a participle there. Those who are keeping in the process and who revere and honor you by keeping your precepts. And that's the seventh word for the word: precepts. These are people who are keeping God's expectations for them. That's the idea of precepts. Expectations. God's precepts. His detailed expectations. And so I'm a companion, the psalmist says, for all of those who are keeping, who are diligent, who are guarding their hearts and want to walk in your precepts. It's closely related to them.

34:04Though he's alone, he's not alone, right? And though at times you may feel alone, you're not alone. There's a great cloud of witnesses, past, present, and future, who also fear the God of the universe and who are diligent to keep his precepts, not out of a sense of earning his favor, but because they have already received. It. You see, when the Lord is your portion, guess what? His people are your companions. I mean, what do we share? What do all of us here in this room share? We share our shortcomings. We have that in common, shortcomings and sin. We also share our redemption. If you're a believer and if you're in Christ, and if you are not in Christ, you can turn to him right now. Cry out to him, and he will come in and he will save you. Cry out to him.

35:06But we have our shortcomings in common. We have our redemption in common, and we have a glorified future together in common. So the love of God and the love of his people go together. It's often called the fellowship of the redeemed. And it speaks of a unity, a unity among humanity that transcends nationality, that transcends culture, that transcends our socio-economic status, that transcends our family relationships and every other barrier that separates men from each other in this fallen world.

35:50It's God's solution for the nations because we all have sinned. We all have fallen short. We all must be humbled. We all must be redeemed. And that's the work of our Savior. And that puts us all on the same level, does it not? Companions. Companions. Friends, know who your companions are. Don't shoot them down. They need you, and you need them. Warts and all. Warts and all, okay? So, what degree do you really love God's people? Eighth question.

36:34Do you see God's faithfulness all around you? To what degree do you see God's faithfulness all around you? Verse 64. The earth is full of your loving kindness, O Lord. That's that word, loving kindness, has said. It's that word that's translated many different ways because it speaks of the greatness and the incredible love of our Lord that he has towards humanity. Sometimes it's translated steadfast love, sometimes it's mercy, sometimes it's favor, unfailing love. And certainly in Hosea, it speaks of a loyalty, a loyal love.

37:13The word for full means to be filled to capacity. It also involves being ordained as Aaron's garments were ordained. And it also implies being consecrated. You remember in Exodus 40, it's the picture of the glory of the Lord filling. The tabernacle to where Moses was not even able to enter the tent in meeting because the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So, what the psalmist is saying, the earth is full of your loving kindness, O Lord. It's ordained, it's consecrated, and it's filled with your loving kindness. Do you have the eyes to see it?

37:52Even in the midst and the backdrop of sin and fallen humanity, God's loving kindness can still be seen by the pure in heart. And it's beautiful that even in this difficult setting and situation that the psalmist is going through, that he doesn't develop a cynical view on life. He sees God's loving kindness everywhere. And we can see it everywhere as too. It's in the beauty of the natural world, it's in the air we breathe, the light that shines upon us, the rain. And Lord, I am thankful that we live in Texas in November. I mean, isn't this a beautiful day? Don't you just, yes, you can clap on that one, right? Just beautiful, beautiful weather. That's a testament of the loving kindness of God. But it is especially, not only do we see God's loving kindness in the world around us, but we also see it in the world and the realm of the redeemed. There is no other realm where God's loving kindness can be so clearly seen. You know, the angelic realm has no redemption plan. They fell, they stayed fallen.

39:01But where? Where would God make himself known? Where can his loyal love be set on display for even the heavenlies? As Paul says in Ephesians 3.10, that the manifold wisdom of God is being made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. How is God going to disclose his loving kindness in the heavenlies? There's only one place he can do it, and that's in the realm of fallen humanity. Only those who are completely undeserving can the loving kindness of God truly be made known. If you have somebody who's deserving, guess what? It's not really loving kindness. It's hard, but only a lost sinner can, only in a lost sinner can the depth of God's love be revealed. That's the God of Scripture. There's no other realm where his glory and his loving kindness can be put on display except that fallen, those who completely do not deserve humanity. There he sets his love and he prepares a cross so he doesn't violate his justice, so that his justice and his mercy can meet and so that he can be just in justifying us, not on our own merits. But upon the merit of one who we have become united with, his son, who paid the price. You see, it's easy to grow cynical over the darkness of our times, isn't it? If there's a lot to be very joyful over, right?

40:47This is why in Luke 15:7, that when one sinner repents, there is rejoicing in heaven. Because not just for the sinner, yes, for the sinner, but because it reveals something about the glory of God. But it's easy to get cynical, but there is much to be joyful over. God's loving kindness is on display all around us, and it gives us an optimism. We don't have to develop a cynicism because God's loving kindness is for the pure at heart to see, as Jesus said. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. And that goes for this lifetime as well.

41:38Last question, real quick. Have you assumed the posture of a disciple? To what degree have you assumed the posture of a disciple? Look at 64, the very last. Teach me your statutes. Again, another imperative: instruct me, you must instruct me. Two imperatives in this whole stanza, right, are: number one, be gracious to me. To me and teach me your statutes. They go together. Be gracious to me by teaching me your ways so that I may walk with him, walk in them. Which brings up the eighth word for word: your statutes, your prescriptions for my life, your inscriptions and prescriptions. Help me understand them. Help me grow in obedience to them. Teach me. Be gracious to me and teach me.

42:32You see, those who see God as their portion long for God to teach them. They have recognized the blessedness of his ways and they want to know more about his ways. That's the way the love relationship with God works. So the nine questions: to what degree do you love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Do you see God as your portion in life? Does your love for God translate into obedience? Do you seek God's favor above all else in life? Are you quick to repent? Do you remember God's ways even in difficult times? Are you thankful for God's righteousness? Do you really love God's people? Do you see God's faithfulness all around you? And have you assumed the posture of a disciple? So let me come back to that original question. Do you love God? With all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. How many of you want to raise your hand to say yes?

43:38You know what I'm going to say to you, you need to put your golden shoes on and you need to make quick to repent and quick to obey and reassess, consider. I think if we're really honest with ourselves, right, we all have room to grow in these areas, don't we? We do. We do. This is the commandment of Scripture: to love the God, love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, strength. But if you say, no, I'm not where I need to be, how do you improve? I need much improvement.

44:10Then, like the psalmist, ask for God to be gracious to you and to teach you his ways. Ask God to give you a greater love for himself and for his word. And you know what? I promise you he will. No, let me rephrase that. He promises that he will. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you again for your word. Thank you for loving us and being gracious to us. Now deal with us in Jesus' name. Amen.