Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the LORD. Psalm 118:19
When I was studying on praise this morning, I found this verse in Psalms and it struck me with David’s bold statement. He asks God to open the Gates of Righteousness and expressed his willingness to enter in. Several hundred years before the birth of Christ, David was longing for the time when the gates of righteousness would be opened to Mankind. He anticipated the time when he and all men and women would be able to not just long to be righteous, but would be able to experience and live it!
If we read through the entire psalm we find that David was rejoicing in God’s goodness and faithfulness to forgive and strengthen and protect His People. Yet his heart yearned to be able to actually enter in to a fully righteous life that would be pleasing to God. We see this as we continue reading and find him rejoicing in "the stone that the builders rejected" becoming the "chief cornerstone." Although he could never, in his present life, experience the complete righteousness of soul that Christ would present for man with his coming, he looked forward to it and hungered for it. This was the LORD’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.
David had experienced the impossibility of living a righteous life without the heart change that Christ’s regenerating work would bring about and the in filling power of Christ’s Salvation. And because of that he recognized the marvelous work Christ would perform with His Death on Calvary. He yearned to be able to enter into that righteous life.
I think of us many times today, when the Lord must work with us, while we wrestle with conviction and sometimes even refuse to walk in righteousness because it simply doesn’t "suit" us or we find it "too hard." What excuse do we have? We have the gates of righteousness open to us and the power to enter in! David didn’t need a pastor to coax him to repentance or a congregation to pray for him. He yearned for what we have freely available to us! He said "Open the gates and I will go through them!
Doesn’t it make you feel pretty petty in your experience to know how you quibble sometimes? It does me.
When I was studying on praise this morning, I found this verse in Psalms and it struck me with David’s bold statement. He asks God to open the Gates of Righteousness and expressed his willingness to enter in. Several hundred years before the birth of Christ, David was longing for the time when the gates of righteousness would be opened to Mankind. He anticipated the time when he and all men and women would be able to not just long to be righteous, but would be able to experience and live it!
If we read through the entire psalm we find that David was rejoicing in God’s goodness and faithfulness to forgive and strengthen and protect His People. Yet his heart yearned to be able to actually enter in to a fully righteous life that would be pleasing to God. We see this as we continue reading and find him rejoicing in "the stone that the builders rejected" becoming the "chief cornerstone." Although he could never, in his present life, experience the complete righteousness of soul that Christ would present for man with his coming, he looked forward to it and hungered for it. This was the LORD’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.
David had experienced the impossibility of living a righteous life without the heart change that Christ’s regenerating work would bring about and the in filling power of Christ’s Salvation. And because of that he recognized the marvelous work Christ would perform with His Death on Calvary. He yearned to be able to enter into that righteous life.
I think of us many times today, when the Lord must work with us, while we wrestle with conviction and sometimes even refuse to walk in righteousness because it simply doesn’t "suit" us or we find it "too hard." What excuse do we have? We have the gates of righteousness open to us and the power to enter in! David didn’t need a pastor to coax him to repentance or a congregation to pray for him. He yearned for what we have freely available to us! He said "Open the gates and I will go through them!
Doesn’t it make you feel pretty petty in your experience to know how you quibble sometimes? It does me.
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