I have been reading through the book of Psalms. I haven’t put a time limit or expectation on myself, just reading through however many chapters a day or week and I will say every time I read the Lord speaks to me. I highly recommend reading through Psalms.
“I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will sing praise. I will be careful to lead a blameless life — when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart. I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil. Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him I will put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure. My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me. No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence. Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the Lord.”
Psalm 101 NIV
Lately, I pretty much always have my NIV Fire Bible open as well as my Passion Translation bible whenever I’m reading Psalms. I just find that it adds so much and can be clarifying to have both (I highly recommend multiple translations when studying!).
As I was reading this chapter today I began to feel very… bad? Unworthy, not enough, not good enough, for sure not blameless. As I was reading verses 6-7 I thought “I’m not blameless, I’m deceitful, I fail.” Then I thought “But Jesus.” I took a moment and prayed and asked the Lord to cover me, I thanked Jesus for His blood that washes away all my sins and asked that the Lord open my eyes to what He was saying in this scripture and stopped allowing the enemy to lie to me and bring on shame and guilt.
This was something new that I don’t usually realize. I took ahold of my thoughts. Even while reading the Bible I was allowing the enemy to lie to me. It makes sense though, right? He did the same with Jesus. When Jesus was tempted and tested in the wilderness the enemy twisted scripture, of course he is going to try to do the same thing with us. (Matthew 4:1-11)
I am not perfect. (Shocking, I know…)
Where I am weak, He is strong. He is greater. His power is made perfect in my weakness.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”
Romans 8:1 NIV
Before Jesus I was not blameless. Before Jesus I was deceitful, before Jesus I was an evildoer. If I try to walk in my own strength it won’t work. If I try to live as the world lives, it won’t work.
“Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him. The Lord has made His salvation known and revealed His righteousness to the nations. He has remembered His love and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”
Psalm 98:1-3 NIV
Salvation.
Jesus.
The enemy will try to lie to us even using scripture. This is why we must be good stewards of the Word and our time and must read everything in context. Psalm 101 first praises God then says “I will be careful to lead blameless life” (verse 2). Then it goes on to say how the writer will basically separate himself from the world. In the world not of it. So verses 6-8 are how I need to live, “being careful to live a blameless life.” I was reading them and applying them to my “old life”. No, I’m not perfect but I can strive to live blamelessly every day and be thankful that when I fail His blood covers all if I will just surrender and ask.
In an effort to live blamelessly remember that God will not condemn you, He will convict you. There is a difference. If you’re feeling condemnation for things that are already covered under the blood, rebuke the enemy, take captive your thoughts, then move on. If you’re feeling convicted for something you’re currently doing or have not surrendered completely, maybe you need to sit and unpack that for awhile, pray and surrender whatever it is to the Lord.
Be encouraged, friend. Surrender and submit completely to the Lord. There is freedom in surrender.
Journal Prompts:
1. Write out Romans 8:1 and meditate on that today.
2. What things come to mind when the enemy lies to you and brings up your past? Spend some time thanking God that those things are covered by Jesus blood and were taken care of at the cross.
Beautiful words! It is so true that the enemy is working overtime to steal our joy, self-worth, contentment, and focus. I love that you point out it was happening even when you were reading the living word of God. Thank You for the good reminder.
Amen!
I was reading Romans 7 today and it’s neat how it ties in with what you found in ch 6. Sometimes we do feel like the world is slipping in, but that is because we still live in an earthly body. Even Paul was annoyed by that tendency. If even Paul was distracted by the flesh, we will be too. No matter what, though, Jesus is with us through it all. Since we are covered in his righteousness, those moments when the flesh breaks through are covered too, as long as we continue to walk in His Word.
Amen!