In today’s section of Psalm 119, verses 65-72, the focus is on goodness. Here, the word “good” appears five times in this short section. We are to “do good” (verse 65); to learn “knowledge and good judgment” [i.e., discernment] (verse 66); to know the reality that God “is good” and “does good” (verse 68); and – whether we like it or not – to recognize that God’s “afflictions” on us are “good” (verse 71). Everything God does is for our good. We are not to be like the “arrogant, whose hearts are callous and unfeeling,” even “though they smear us with lies” (verses 69-70). Instead, we are to “keep God’s precepts with all our hearts, delight in His law, and learn His decrees which are more precious than thousands of pieces of silver or gold” (verses 69-72). Interestingly, most people think that they are “good” people, but I wonder how many people actually measure their own goodness according to these simple standards of God’s “goodness?”
Yesterday in our reading from Jeremiah 42, we saw that Jeremiah warned the remnant of Judah who were left behind from the exile not to go down to Egypt. “If you do go to Egypt ... and you settle there, then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die” (verses 42:15-16). Today, in Jeremiah 43-45, we see that the remnant disobeyed God and went down to Egypt (verses 43:1-7). Chapter 44 states that – for the peoples’ disobedience and idolatry – God would “bring disaster on them; they would all perish in Egypt by the sword or from famine and become an object of cursing, horror, condemnation, and reproach … none would escape” (verses 11-14). Jeremiah details the arrogance and the impudence of the remnant – “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD” (verses 16-ff.,). Disobedience is not “good.” In chapter 45, we see God’s promise of a safe escape to Baruch, who was Jeremiah’s faithful secretary. Baruch had served well, in spite of all the hardships he endured with Jeremiah (verse 3). Whereas, by God’s judgment, many people were losing their lives, Baruch would find safety in the LORD “wherever he went” (verse 5).
In 1 Timothy 5:1-6:2, Paul admonishes Timothy about the church’s relationships to widows, elders, and slaves. The church should help support widows, who usually have low or no income and who “put their hope in God – continuing night and day to ask for His help” (verse 5). Those who “do not provide and care for their immediate family members are worse than unbelievers – having denied the faith” (verse 8). Without micro-managing the details, Paul is saying that each church should create a local system of financial support based on each widow’s need. Elders should be respected, and those who preach/teach are to be doubly honored. “Slaves” [i.e., all who are employees] are to show proper respect to their “masters” [employers], because their overseers are “devoted to their welfare.” In today’s culture, we have almost abandoned the kind of biblical respect that both employers and employees should show to each other. Without employees, the organization doesn’t exist; without employers, employees don’t have a job. Mutual appreciation goes a long way – it is “good” and for our good, and that’s what Paul is expressing here.
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