I choose to keep your statutes
absolutely forever.
My meditations went in one direction and then I encountered a blog post that tangentially relates to this verse. I want to call attention to that and comment, and then I’ll return to what I was actually meditating on during the day and not just for the last 10 minutes!
The article is on Crossway, and is titled Do the Psalms Contain Self-Righteous Boasting? (Psalms 7, 17, and 26). The article is extracted from the ESV Expository Commentary, Volume 5. The article bounces a bit off of C. S. Lewis’s book Reflections on the Psalms, amongst other books. The key point is to challenge the idea that some Psalms are self-righteous. I recommend reading the article, but even more reading Lewis’s book.
I bring this up to point out that there is no reason to assume that all the Psalms reflect perfect, theologically correct ideas. The Psalms tell us about the worship life of Israel, which was no more likely to be perfect in all ways than our own is. I would suggest that the most important error that the Psalms would need to avoid would be giving a false impression of the people who are praying, lamenting, praising, worshiping, and exhorting. I believe one of the greatest blessings of the Psalms is its reality.
This doesn’t mean we can’t get valid theological points in the Psalms. The Psalms are much quoted in the New Testament, and have been a great blessing to many in different faiths over the years. I believe this value is enhanced by authenticity.
This is something we should emulate in church leading and teaching. My own pastor comments most weeks about how he has to preach his own sermon to himself before preaching it to the congregation. That’s an attitude that I value, as I know him and I know this isn’t an act. This is what he believes and practices. He tells the congregation where he has failed during the week. This authenticity, rather than weakening the message as some might think, makes it much more effective.
I think we all have a story in our lives of being falsely accused, and proclaiming our innocence. We like to tell stories of when that innocence was eventually proven. Realizing that we have failures doesn’t mean we can never claim to be right, either in beliefs or in practice. Realizing our failures means we know that we are not always right, and we can be corrected. But it’s quite possible to honestly pray, “Look, Lord, I didn’t do anything to deserve this! Avenge me! Make things right again!”
Usually by the next morning we may realize that we have done more failing than we imagine, but nonetheless, we may well claim innocence, and claim to be the ones wronged, with some validity.
And that leads me to what I was actually meditating during the day. No, comments on the number of words I expend on something I only considered for a few minutes are not welcome!!
This verse states an intention that no human is likely to be able to accomplish. Keeping the whole law is a very difficult, even impossible thing to accomplish. But here’s where I look at perfectionism, and having high goals.
Perfectionism requires one to try for a goal that is never to be accomplished. “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” There’s a reason for that. Two things often happen to a perfectionist. The first is that, being certain that perfection is required, whether by God or ones own mind, the person simply decides that whatever he does is, in fact, perfect. From that perspective, one can look down on other people, rejecting all possible evidence that one is not superior. That’s one form of self-righteousness.
Alternatively, one may simply give up on trying at all. If perfection is required and I can’t attain it, why try at all? This results in carelessness and apathy.
One can also set a goal somewhere between. “I have to be this good, but not perfect for it to be acceptable.” The problem with lowering the standard is that we tend to fall below whatever point to which we have set the standard. Then we keep lowering it to make it possible.
Whether it is our own psychology at work or our belief in God’s requirements, any of these approaches can be very instructive. Failure to attain the standards we set for ourselves can attack our very identify.
But both in Israelite religion and in Christianity you have a high standard for living, but at the same time the recognition that attaining this is not humanly possible. Even when he did not attain to perfection in keeping the law, the Israelite knew that he was still one of God’s people, God’s chosen. That was who he was.
Now if you determine to keep God’s statutes forever, and plan to do it on your own, and judge yourself by your success at this enterprise, things will not go well. But once you find your identity in belonging to God, something which cannot be lost through your failures, you can make a determination, and keep right on pressing on the upward way.
After all, as this Psalm concludes in verse 176, “I have one astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant ….” Then you can confidently determine again to stay on the path. God’s got it. God’s going to get you in the end!
What should you determine to do today? What failures should you put behind you?
(Featured image generated by Jetpack AI. I particularly like the fact that it looks like the guy isn’t really connected to the mountain he’s climbing and should at any moment be falling with nothing to stop him.)
