To Know Him, To Love Him, and to Live for Him

Psalm 111

Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it.

Ezra 7:10

This past week in Sunday school we discussed a couple of words that are not very familiar for some: orthodoxy and orthopraxy. While I was reading this morning, I came across another word connected to the first two: orthokardia. All three share the same beginning, all three play an important role in our spiritual lives, and all three are found in Psalm 111.

Simply defined, orthodoxy is right doctrine, orthopraxy is right practice, and orthokardia is right-heartedness. All three are needed in the Christian life and are interwoven together. What we know about God (orthodoxy) increases our affection for Him and our right posture before Him (orthokardia). Both what we love and the truth we know shape our daily practical living (orthopraxy). In Psalm 111, the psalmist begins by praising the Lord and giving thanks to Him “with my whole heart” (111:1). He goes on to declare “Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them” (111:2). Initially, we must have a radical heart change accomplished by the power of God. Without this initial heart change, we cannot love the things of God or seek after Him. With that heart change at conversion, we begin to delight in the Lord and His works. But sometimes our delight weakens. We don’t regularly feast on His Word and so our appetite for it lessens. Orthodoxy, right doctrine, and orthokardia, right-heartedness, nourish one another. As we study more of our Lord and His Word, our delight increases. As delight increases, we want to understand and know Him more. This will lead to orthopraxy, right practice. The psalmist ends Psalm 111 with, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever” (111:10). James, in his letter, emphatically says that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). We must prove ourselves to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.

Ezra gives us a good example of these three things working together. “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Extra 7:10). We see his heart (set his heart), his mind (to study the law of the Lord)), and his practice (to practice it), all worked together. This is God’s desire for us. To know Him, to love Him, to live for Him. We all stumble in many ways in all of these areas. But, as Psalm 111 reminds us, we have a God whose works are great, splendid, majestic, wondrous, powerful, faithful, and just (111:2-7). And He Himself is gracious and merciful, holy and awesome (111:4,9). He loves to give us all we need. He will give us a right understanding of who He is. He will shape our heart and its affections toward Himself. And He will transform us and make us holy as He is holy. He is completing the work that He began in us. Let us give ourselves to Him with a whole heart and love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. May we, like Ezra, set our hearts to study His Word and to practice it.

Orthokardia-right heart

111:1-3 Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.

Lord, I pray:

▫️With my whole heart, I would give thanks to You today for all You have given me, including: Yourself, Your word, my family, my friends, my church, my circumstances, and my difficulties. I pray that as You lead me, my heart would draw closer to You and I would know You more deeply.

▫️Give me a deep delight in You and in Your works and Word. Cause this deep delight to drive me to study Your word diligently and fervently. Transform my affections so that I would delight in Your law and meditate on it day and night (Psalm 1:2), I would delight myself in You (Psalm 37:4), I would delight to do Your will, O God (Psalm 40:8), and I would delight in Your nearness (Isaiah 58:2).

▫️I would set my heart to study Your Word (Ezra 7:10) and they would become for me a joy and the delight of my heart (Jeremiah 15:16).

▫️Open my eyes that I would see how splendid and majestic are Your works.

Orthodoxy-right doctrine

111:4-6 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the inheritance of the nations.

Lord, I pray:

▫️As I study Your works, I would come to a deeper understanding of how gracious and merciful You are. Thank You for the reminders in Your Word of how kind You are. Thank You that You do not retain Your anger, because You delight in unchanging love (Micah 7:18). You have, through Your divine power, graciously granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of You. And You have granted us Your precious and magnificent promises (2 Peter 1:3-4). Help me to know You and Your magnificent promises so that I will live upon them.

▫️My study of You and Your Word would increase my fear and reverence for You. To those who fear You, there is no want (Psalm 34:9). I would be diligent to present myself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

▫️I would be in awe of the power of Your works. In the situations of my life, I would wait patiently for You to act. You are the God who works in impossible situations, and You are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ask or even think. Help me to remember Your works and Your ways that I have studied so that my heart would confidently trust in You in times of trouble.

Orthopraxy-right practice

111:7-10 The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy; they are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

Lord, I pray:

▫️I praise You that we can trust You. The works of Your hands are faithful and just. Your precepts are trustworthy. Help me to not only know Your way and will, but to perform Your will with faithfulness and uprightness reflecting Your own character. You have said that faith without works is dead. Help me to show my faith by how I live, speak, and act.

▫️You are a covenant keeping God. Your name is holy and awesome. Pour out Your grace on me that I would walk worthy of Your kingdom to which You have called me. Move in my heart and mind so that I will willingly yield myself to Your Spirit. Help me to walk by the Spirit and not carry out the deeds of my flesh (Galatians 5:16). Lead me by Your Spirit and produce in me the fruit of the Spirit.

▫️All those who practice the fear of the Lord and live according to Your wisdom have a good understanding. Through the study and the delight in Your Word, You would increase in me Your wisdom and reverence for You. “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom” (James 3:13 NASB). Fill me with Your wisdom that is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering and without hypocrisy (James 3:17). And let Your wisdom be seen in me in my good deeds.

‭‭May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Photo credit to sixteenmilesout.

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