What is godliness?

 

READ Psalm 86–90

The dictionaries say that a godly person is someone who is deeply religious and shows obedience to the rules of their religion. This word is usually associated with moral uprightness, devotion to God. This morning I noticed that the psalmist says he is godly, but the rest of what he says is not at all about himself. Instead, he mostly writes about the reasons he trusts God. In other words, his godliness is more about God than himself.

Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you . . . . Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me . . . . For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name . . . . I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. (Psalm 86:2–12)

A godly person is one who is saved by God, trusts God, experiences God’s grace, depends on God, gets his forgiveness and joy from God, His help during troubles, teaching in how to walk in His truth and change in the way he thinks and acts. A godly person is thankful and wants to glorify God and not himself. Godliness is a God-thing, and points to God, not me.

A godly person stands before God like an empty vessel, crying out to be filled with God’s good things. This does not mean total passivity; godly people pray. Nor does it mean God puts them in a rose garden; godly people suffer, sometimes from persecution and sometimes when God seems to hide His face and leave us without the sense of His presence:

Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol . . . . You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you . . . . O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. (88:2–16)

A godly person understands that God is sovereign and rules all in righteousness and justice. He punishes sin but keeps His promises and does not cast away His people:

O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them . . . . The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them . . . . Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you . . . . If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. (89:8–34)

Godly people seek God in everything, knowing that He is their source of everything:

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (90:14–17)

The Lord reminds me of what He has done to give me all I need to be a godly person:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:3–4)

What a wonderful God who grants true godliness to His people!

 

Blessings Remembered

 

 

READ Psalm 86–90

This week I went through a ‘memory box’ from our storage room. It had cards, old photos, and an assortment of things saved as mementos from various events. Some of them drew a blank; I didn’t remember the occasion, like hockey game tickets and a few postcards. Others filled my mind with precious memories that sometimes brought tears, like funeral pamphlets and my children’s drawings.

Today’s reading did a similar thing. Some of the verses in these psalms brought past incidents of God’s faithfulness to mind, blessings I’d forgotten. As I read them, my heart welled with thankfulness and a sense of His care. One of the songs I sang before reading them was “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and these verses were like an exclamation point to the goodness of God who watches over me too. Others reminded me of times I cried out to God and He heard and answered my prayers, like this one:

Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me. (Psalm 86:4–7)

Others reminded me of cries for help, either grace for my own life or affirmation that those who hurt or opposed me would be dealt with:

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. (Psalm 86:11)

Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. (Psalm 86:17)

O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! (Psalm 88:1–2)

One verse stands out as the desire of my heart, my ambition for the remainder of my life: “I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 89:1)

Another passage is a reminder of the goodness of God for my family. Their spiritual lives are important to me and I want to see them walking close to the Lord. To that He also speaks, reminding me of the kind of God He is regarding the children of His people:

I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. (Psalm 89:29–36)

I’m also reminded that God is always God, that He never changes: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:1–2)

Yesterday in conversation with the adult children of my relative who died last week, we talked of his great age of 104 and agreed that we would like to make it to 100. We know that we cannot control such things, but this verse is my prayer for the days I have left: “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) I’m certain that my cousins would agree. We want to live wisely, just as we hope to live for a long time!

And the last passage that blesses me in the reading and is also my prayer — for today and always, for my family and always, and for all of God’s people: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Psalm 90:14–17)

How wonderful to know this amazing God who cares about us, who hears our prayers, and who is powerfully and lovingly able to answer them!