Psalm 66:8-12: Bless our God, you peoples, and make the voice of His praise to be heard; Who has set our soul in life, and suffered not our foot to be moved. For You, O God, have tried us; You have refined us, as silver is refined. You brought us into the hold; You laid constraint upon our loins. You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out unto abundance.
Just as silver is tested and purified in the refiner's crucible, Israel was made to pass through the fires of suffering and came forth cleansed of dross. They were nearly crushed by troubles. Then they were brought out to a place of abundance.
Malachi 3:1-4 (NASB): 1 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts. 2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.
He who gives life to our soul also refines us through suffering to produce righteousness.
Psalm 66:16-20: Come, and hearken, all you that fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul. I cried unto Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue. If I had regarded iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear; but verily God has heard; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.
When the king was in peril, he cried out unto the Lord. If he had been guilty of any wrong-doing, the Lord would not have heard his prayer. The king praises God for His mercy, not with a complacent self-justification on the score of his own righteousness. He does not regard God's hearing of prayer as due to him for his integrity, but as an act of grace for which the Divine name should be praised. - Davison, Prof. (Christian Hebraist), The Psalms I-LXXII (The Century Bible).
When we come to the Lord in prayer, we must examine ourselves to see if we are guilty of any wrong-doing first and, if so, do teshuvah (repentance) first and be reconciled to God.
Psalm 119:169-176: Let my cry come near before You, O Lord; give me understanding according to Your word. Let my supplication come before You; deliver me according to Your word. Let my lips utter praise: because You teach me Your statutes. Let my tongue sing of Your word; for all Your commandments are righteousness. Let Your hand be ready to help me; for I have chosen Your precepts. I have longed for Your salvation, O Lord; and Your law is my delight. Let my soul live, and it shall praise You; and let Your ordinances help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant; for I have not forgotten Your commandments.
The note of joy in the commandments, because of their moral perfection, is distinctively Hebraic. The king pleads three reasons for an answer to his prayers:-he has deliberately resolved to obey God's precepts; he has long been waiting eagerly for deliverance from the hindrances to obedience which surround him; his devotion has been no grudging service, but his constant delight.
Unfortunately, those who are called Christians have been taught that God's laws are to be ignored and of little worth. Obviously, they don't know the scriptures which hold them in the highest esteem. The laws of God reveal His Divine will for us and if we love Him, wouldn't we naturally want to walk in a manner that pleases Him? Yeshua never said that the commandments of God were no longer important....Read Matthew 5:17-20:
Matthew 5:17-20: 17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
"I have gone astray" The Hebrew accentuation supports the rendering: 'Should I go astray, like a lost sheep, seek Your servant.' The Psalmist may be alluding to the frailty which is part of human nature, and prays that, should he ever succomb to his weakness and err, God will speedily restore him to the fold, because His commandments are always in his mind and he longs to be obedient to them. He may, on the other hand, be using the image of a lost sheep as the symbol of forlorn helplessness and liability to attack without a protector. If he is in such a condition and at the mercy of the wicked, may God be to him like a watchful shepherd.
"I have not forgotten Your commandments" The concluding clause of the Psalm sums up its purpose, of which Oesterley gives this fine estimate: 'It is perfectly true that the main purpose of the Psalmist is the glorification of the Law, and the setting forth of the joy that he, as a truly godly man, experiences in observing its precepts; but as he constantly emphasizes, the Law is the expression of the Divine will. It is not the Law, per se, that he loves; he loves the Law because it tells of God's will; and he loves it because he loves God first.
Yeshua said:
Matthew 19:16-17: 16 And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” 17 And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Yeshua also said this in John 14:15: 15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
It is also written in 1 John 5:1-4: 1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
In the end of days, the faithful will also be keeping the commandments, for it is written in the Book of Revelation, 14:9-13: 9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” 12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
Please note that the scriptures that I use or paraphrase come from either The Psalms from the Soncino Books of the Bible, or from the NASB.
Excellent thoughts,Jesus causes us to want to do what was stated in God's law. I.E, which of the ten commandments was canceled when Jesus came? When the church gets this message (with love) then the fulfillment of Ephesians 2:15 can begin....
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