This post is written by Charity Dera and is published as a companion to Unit 7, Session 3 of The Gospel Project for Adults Vol. 3 (Spring 2022): From Conquest to a Kingdom.
Psalm 119 illuminates the beauty and glory of God’s good Word. The psalmist continually speaks of the delight he finds upon engaging both with Scripture and the God of Scripture. The psalm begins by outlining the profile of the person who is made happy by walking in the way prescribed by God’s instruction. Upon reading Psalm 119:1-16, it is tempting to render the psalmist’s description of the happy person who keeps God’s Word and decrees—a person who does nothing wrong (verse 3)—as discouraging. How is it even possible to do such a thing? Are we called to be perfect?
No and yes.
Our Imperfection
On one hand, no—we are as imperfect as imperfect gets. We don’t seek God, we don’t desire God and our relative “goodness” to one another’s deeds is no goodness at all (Romans 3:11-12). We look at ourselves and deem our hearts better than another because our mess-ups don’t look like another person’s. We attribute different measures of judgment to someone else’s failures, but seem to justify our reasoning when challenged to apply those same measures to our own mistakes.
Ultimately, we fail to recognize that we also have messed up miserably in the sight of God and are deserving of His judgment. Though we may demonstrate glimpses of virtue that resemble God’s character which points to our image-bearer identity, we have tainted His image with our sin. No matter how hard we try to walk in God’s perfect ways, our efforts are in vain. If we can imagine the happiness of the individual described in Psalm 119:1-2, our default state is the exact opposite, as our lives are marked by the sorrow of sin and death.
Transformed into the Image of Christ
God knew full well our imperfect state, but sent His Son to save us so that through faith, we would be transformed into the image of His perfect Son. God never intended for us to be like the Pharisees who, like white washed tombs, were scholars of God’s Word on the outside but still dead on the inside, as they rejected the heart of God’s law and ultimately, Christ Himself (Matthew 23:27-28).
God is calling us to trust in His Son who, as the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), perfectly delighted in God’s law and was Himself the Word made flesh (John 1:14). He did everything right. He knew perfectly God’s righteous standard and lived a life in step with that standard (Matthew 5:17). He never deviated off the path of righteousness to pursue His own will (Luke 22:42). He never gave in to temptation though tempted at all points (Hebrews 4:15). He, quite literally, did nothing wrong as there wasn’t a sinful bone in His body.
Yet, though His delight was full in His Father, He traded the happiness that resulted from being in eternal communion with the Godhead, for the fullness of our sorrowful sin and deserving death (Isaiah 53:3). His entire being wore the sorrow that was inherent to us as a garment, so that we could have the opportunity to wear His happiness by being reconciled to the Father.
Striving for the Perfection of Christlikeness
For this reason, our aim should always be perfection, as we are called to be perfect as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Jesus wants us to continually walk in sanctification, holiness, and obedience, constantly looking to the One who is ultimately perfect. By looking to God’s Word as a mirror, we are able to see our imperfections with renewed clarity, but we are also able to see the reflection of Christ smiling back at us, extending His hand as an invitation to overshadow our imperfections, remove our shame, and offer us Himself.
In light of Christ’s finished work, we should not see Psalm 119 as a discouragement, but rather an encouragement. We are more than capable of genuinely delighting in God’s Word because it is Christ who resurrects our dead spiritual state and makes us alive to the wonders of His Word and promises. He is the One who awakens our affections and He is the One who enables us to lovingly obey Him. May we seek to obey God’s Word and to pursue it with ultimate delight, but even more so, may it point us to greater faith in the One whom all of Scripture is about—Christ Jesus Himself.
Charity Dera is a disciple of Christ, wife to Fenol, and mom to Landon. She attends Living Faith Bible Fellowship in Tampa, Florida, where she serves and worships. Charity is the author of Good Girls Hidden Sins: Shining the Light on the Darkness.
