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!

 

Grace needed in this fallen world

Numbers 2; Psalm 36; Ecclesiastes 12; Philemon

Raised by loving parents and shielded from life’s realities because of childhood illness, I grew up thinking that all people were good. By high school, a few lies and betrayals shouted otherwise, but I remember thinking that it was easier to trust everyone than trying to figure out the good from the bad. After a few more years, this naïve idea of human goodness was well on its way to the opposite extreme. I began thinking that ‘no one loves you except your parents’ — something my mother often said. However, once out from under their loving protection, I knew that some parents abused their children. That is not love.

The journey to realizing human sinfulness was a reluctant one. I wanted to think everyone had something good about them. But once I understood the high standard of ‘good’ as demonstrated in God Himself, I’ve had to face an exceedingly difficult reality. As the Bible says, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12)

The psalmist knew it. David often contrasted good and evil and prayed to God for strength to overcome evil and to protect him from evil people. He wrote:

Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil. (Psalm 36:1–4)

There are degrees of evil. Some have diagramed it this way:

Extreme wickedness <––––––––––––––– † †––––––––––––––––> mature godliness

All are sinful. Those who reject God and His offer of forgiveness may appear good or terribly wicked. Either way, they cannot be godly unless the Son of God lives in them, only goodness as people define it.

Some who trust in the Lord may start out not that much different from the rest of humanity but because Jesus lives in them, they are transformed. It is a process but godliness is His goal and by His grace, growth happens.

We have many nice neighbors who are on the far side of the cross. They are not ‘wicked’ in my eyes, yet the Lord sees differently. He knows who trusts Him and He knows those who think they are wiser than Him and go their own way.

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes the struggle of trying to make sense of life without God and finished his book with this conclusion:

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14)

I agree. I know my own ‘secret’ thoughts, the evil things I’ve wanted to do. I also know the many times I’ve gone my own way with the attitude that I know better than God. Putting it in words makes that sound so ridiculous, but such is the power of sin. It is that deep attitude of wanting to run my own life. I’m thankful for His grace to want change.

APPLY: These days, I’m hearing many cries for help and most of them are way beyond my ability to do anything. Yet I can pray. Praying in the will of God is vital and the above diagram is helpful. Each request needs discernment. What side of the cross is this person on? Does that person need to hear the gospel? Does this person need to know forgiveness and the power of God’s love? Perhaps that person is saved and God is using the trial to draw them nearer and they need grace and encouragement? Or do they need comfort and relief? Or is God dealing with rebellion? Or is He producing spiritual growth? The Holy Spirit is willing to show me how to pray. I must be willing to listen and to recognize that He knows the human heart, mine too. Lord, grant me insight as I bring to You the burdens on my heart.