my soul keeps your testimonies; i love them exceedingly. i keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you. [psalm 119: 167-168]
“there is a difference between honesty and transparency. if you’re asked something, then you’re honest, but if you’re transparent it’s just you sharing without having to be asked. a lot of people won’t tell the truth until they are asked, but what truth are you giving up?” (relationship goals part 5, 26:43).
are you being honest or transparent with God?
how wonderful is it that our God gives us an opportunity to draw close to him despite our weakness and give us such freedom to repent and turn to him! it is time to end the after-thought prayers and instead go to God first, listen, and communicate with him in all things- he knows all of our ways, every last one.
“my soul keeps your testimonies”- the psalmist invites God into his innermost being because he understands that God designed all of the ways set out before him. the closer, the more vulnerable, he is with God, the more his dependence on God magnifies and he realizes that Godly boundaries (precepts/testimonies) provide true freedom! the veil is removed from his eyes. once the veil was removed, the psalmist understood that life was to be lived according to the more excellent way of living – God’s way.
here is the underlining message: God was there for the psalmist, and he is here for you. this passage is not about the psalmist turning to God and keeping his commands. rather, it is about a God who grants mercy and grace on his children and wants each and every last person to rely on him because he is the way, truth, and life!
but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. and we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. [2 corinthians 3:16-18]
~ angela younger