Blessed Assurance of Grace

Psalm 119:2-3 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

If you ask most people what they think of when they hear the word testimony, they will respond in context with a description of someone giving information as a witness in a court case. Likewise, we see from our devotional verses that they are given in the context of the previous verse (one), which refers to the Lord. Therefore, we can understand this verse to say that Blessed are they that keep his [The Lord’s] testimonies.

God shows His love by blessing, which is a visual demonstration to His creation of His grace. More specifically, He demonstrates His grace through blessing to those whom keep His testimonies. In the parable of the sower, Jesus described four situations where the seed was sown, and a result was seen. He told how the first seed sown fell by the wayside and the birds came and ate it. The second seed was sown on stony ground and sprung up, but it had no roots and the heat of the day withered and killed it. The third seed fell amongst the thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, so it yielded no fruit. Finally, the fourth seed was sown on good rich soil and it grew to produce a multitude of fruit. Jesus concluded this parable by saying that the seed was the Word of God that is sown in our hearts.

God’s Word is a testimony to us. The birth, life, and death of Jesus is a living testimony of God to us. The spoken Word by the prophets and apostles is a spoken testimony of God to us. Finally, the written Word is the record of their testimony as the written testimony of God to us.

When we seek after the Lord’s testimonies, we are planting His Word into our heart. God also tells us that our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked to the point of questioning who can know it (Jeremiah 17:9). However, God does know our heart and like the seeds sown, His testimonies result in blessings in whose heart the seed remains.

In verse two, God also issues a directive that He will bless those that keep His testimonies and seek him with their whole heart. This sets up a pattern of testimonies of directives from God in Psalms that are followed by results that He will bring to pass by His blessed grace.

The result of us receiving God’s blessing by His grace is that legally, justice is served in His courtroom. It is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us and made us clean – without iniquity or its legal implication in His sight.

Furthermore, Because of God’s grace, He has empowered us to walk in His ways, not out of fear of suffering His wrath. But, motivated by His love to walk in His ways because He has delivered us from the wrath to come! We then seek to please Him because we love Him. We love Him because He first demonstrated His love for us by giving us His unspeakable gift of salvation.

Let us draw close to God, devoting time to sowing and keeping His testimonies in our heart. Let us respond in whole-hearted love by walking in His ways and demonstrating His love to others throughout our day.