Walking Safely with God

August 6, 2025August 5, 2025Todd R 2 Comments

Many people, both Christian and non-Christian, think of obedience to God as a dreadful chore, something that robs us of our autonomy and joy. Sometimes people refuse to believe in God because they reject His requirements, and sometimes people resent God because they see Him as making them labor in futility for the perfection He requires. However, we know that salvation does not come from our obedience, but Christ’s, and through God’s grace He reveals Himself to us. Then we learn that the rules we should follow come from a God who loves us and perfectly knows what is good and bad for us – far beyond our own knowledge. Therefore, those rules become our freedom and joy when we follow them willingly. He always knows the best and right choice to make.

Psalm 119 (the longest chapter in the Bible) is a meditation on the benefits of God’s laws for us, and verses 44-45 give us a picture of those benefits:

“I will keep your law continually,
forever and ever,
and I shall walk in a wide place,
for I have sought your precepts.”

The central idea here is that when we are obedient to God, we “shall walk in a wide place,” but what does that mean? How does that benefit us?

Think about walking along a mountain path, or on stones crossing a river. Does it make a difference how wide that path is, or how big and flat the stones are? If we trip and fall on a narrow place, we may fall into a river or off a cliff. However, if we fall in a wide place on a mountain path or on a very large rock, we may scrape a knee or our hands, but the consequences won’t be as severe as falling off a cliff!

The idea of walking in a wide place brings to mind the contrast between the consequences of following our own way versus following God’s. Going our own way can not only have worse consequences now, in this world, but it can also have consequences in eternity. Never repenting of going our own way at all leads to an eternity banished from God’s presence and blessings. But even if we are saved, failure to follow God can rob others of God’s blessings for them that He intends through us and can influence our experience in heaven. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 that there are rewards in heaven for those who follow Him, as well as “loss” for not doing so. So, doing whatever we please has consequences, some of which may be eternal.

In contrast, obedience to God is like walking in a safe place, where any negative consequence is temporary, or comes with a corresponding blessing. We may get a scraped knee, but we don’t fall off a cliff, suffering permanent damage, death or other loss. Following God’s word can’t keep all bad things from happening to you, but it can limit the worldly consequences, and eliminate the eternal consequences.

Therefore, seek God’s guidance and follow it, and we “shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.”

It’s a better path to follow than any other.

Remembering God in Our Affliction

June 28, 2025Todd R 1 Comment

Dear fellow travelers,

Psalm 119 is memorable in many ways, including that it is the longest chapter in the Bible, with 176 verses. But the Psalm was also designed to be memorized in Hebrew, with 22 stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In Hebrew, each stanza has 8 lines that each begin with the same letter.

It is also memorable for its topic: a lengthy meditation on God’s law and its positive, multi-faceted qualities. The Psalm uses 8 words to describe God’s law, and all 8 appear in 5 of the stanzas while every stanza has at least 6 of them. [1]

However, in addition to meditating on God’s law, at least 7 verses also refer to affliction and/or its benefits in one way or another:

“This is my comfort in my affliction,
that your promise gives me life.” (verse 50)

“Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep your word.” (verse 67)

“It is good for me that I was afflicted,
that I might learn your statutes.” (verse 71)

“I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.” (verse 75)

“If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.” (verse 92)

“I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O LORD, according to your word!” (verse 107)

“Look on my affliction and deliver me,
for I do not forget your law.” (verse 153)

Why the repetition? By repeating the idea of affliction in this Psalm, the writer wants to make one more thing memorable: in our affliction, God is faithfully present, giving us life, teaching us, and reminding us of His goodness. His steadfast love remains, even when this broken world and our own sinful condition present endless difficulty.

The law cannot save us, and affliction in this world is difficult, but “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:28-29)

What God uses all things for, and what He has predestined, is that His people will be conformed to His holiness: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6). Even affliction, in God’s hands, contributes to our development in holiness.

As J.I. Packer sums up these verses from Psalm 119 in his book, Rediscovering Holiness, “God’s faithfulness consists in his unwillingness that his children should lose any of the depths of fellowship with himself that he has in store for them. So he afflicts us to make us lean harder on him, in order that his purpose of drawing us into closest fellowship with himself may be fulfilled.”[2]

Whatever our affliction, God will deliver us and bring us to glory. Amen.

[1] According to the Reformation Study Bible
[2] Packer, J.I. Rediscovering Holiness (1992), P. 268. I “miraculously” discovered this quote within ½ hour of posting this blog, then had to add it, and repost.