Blessed
I. A blessed life is a life wholeheartedly devoted to God’s Word; so we must seek God with all our heart and delight in His Word (Vv. 1-3)
a. The psalmist begins his praise for God’s Word by focusing on those who are blessed. They’re those whose way is blameless, who are obedient to God’s law, and who keep His testimonies. However, obedience to God’s Word is only achieved through the mechanism of God’s, unleashed and working in the lives of those who love Him and seek Him with all their heart. Only through true repentant faith in Christ, will we be compelled to seek God with our whole heart, and delight in His Word. So external obedience to God’s Word is exclusively the product of internal affection for God in Christ. This affection and obedience leads to blessing, which is a fullness or overflow of happiness, peacefulness, or contentment. Those who have this blessedness as the experience of their lives are “blameless”, or sincere, complete, and wholeheartedly faithful, to God in their way. It is the result of a life which has the Word of God as its center, and which delights in walking obediently to it by keeping God’s “testimonies”, or witness. God’s Word is His mechanism for bearing witness against the sin in our lives and world, which stand opposed to His holiness and righteousness, robs our lives of blessedness, and moves us away from Him. The promises and worries of the world, and the temptation and false enticement of sin constantly compete for the good soil in our hearts. That is why the one who lives a life of blessedness is characterized both by what they don’t do, unrighteousness, and what they do, walk in righteousness. In these opening verses, the psalmist describes how the life of blessedness is characterized by being rooted deeply in God’s Word so that He uses it to inform our conscience and lives through His truth so that the weeds of sin are slowly choked out of our lives and the fruit of the Spirit and blessedness grows in abundance. (Vv. 1-3; Deut. 6:5; Ps. 1:1-3; 37:4-5; 111:1; Jer. 29:11-13; Matt. 11:27-30; 13:3-23; 22:36-40; Gal. 3:10-14; 5:16-25; Eph. 1:3-4; Jas. 1:13-18; 1 John 5:1-5)
II. A blessed life is a life wholeheartedly devoted to God’s Word; so we must diligently pursue and obey God’s Word (Vv. 4-6)
a. God has given us His Word so that we would obey it. To keep His Word “diligently” speaks to both obeying it exceedingly, and the degree of wholehearted devotion which delights in it. But, like the psalmist, our natural ways of acting don’t conform to God’s commands for our lives. So the psalmist cries out for God’s intercession to help him keep His Word. The result of pursuing obedience to God’s Word diligently and calling out to Him to enable us to do so, is that His Word becomes a source of conviction, encouragement, and hope, instead of shame. God’s Word is given to us as His revelation of Himself, and His revealed desire for how we must live in order to enjoy His blessedness in our lives. However, our natural desire for easy blessing often motivates us to reject God’s Word wholly, or to seek to adjust or discard sections which cause us to feel conviction and shame for sin. But the reality is that we’re either holding our lives up next to God’s Word as He gives it to us, exposing our sin for what it is, repenting, trusting in Him, and experiencing blessing and life, or we’re turning a blind eye to our sin, adjusting God’s Word to justify our own fleshly desires, and experiencing guilt, shame, unhappiness, frustration, anger, depression, discontentedness, dissatisfaction, and ultimately death. Only God’s Word is able to deliver us through the storms of life in this fallen world, but often God accomplishes that by stirring up storms in our hearts through conviction in His Word. Increasing blessedness and increasing holiness are always found together. (Vv. 4-6; Prov. 3:5-8; Matt. 7:24-27; Mark 14:38; John 5:36-47; 7:15-18; 8:42-44; Rom. 6:8-18, 23; 7:15-25; 8:1-8; Phil. 3:12-16; Col. 3:1-10; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Heb. 4:12-13; 12:1-3; Jas. 1:21-25)
III. A blessed life is a life wholeheartedly devoted to God’s Word; so we must respond in thanksgiving, resolve, and trust as God’s Word and grace continually cleanses and renews us (Vv-7-8)
a. As God’s Word continually works to cleanse the psalmist’s heart, he’s moved to praise and thankfulness for God. He’s increasingly resolved to live up to the Word, and increasingly aware of his need for God’s grace to do so. So he vows to obey God’s Word in his life and simultaneously confesses his need for God to walk with him and enable him in the process. Blessedness in life requires the resolve and diligence to seek God in His Word, and the surrender, dependency, and trust to lean on His grace and promises. Then we are blessed by His Word, through His Word, and as doers of His Word, we bless the broken world around us for His glory. (Vv. 7-8; Deut. 31:6; Ps. 46:10-11; Isa. 41:10; Matt. 28:18-20; Rom. 12:1-2; Heb. 13:5)