Psalm 119:6

Before you read this meditation make sure you have reread the meditation from last week on Psalm 119:5, as that one is of prime importance. And now we turn to our verse for this week.

Psalms 119:6 Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

I shall not define the word ashamed as I think all of my readers know altogether too well what that word means. The way to avoid being ashamed is to have respect unto all of God’s commandments. To have respect unto God’s commandments is to have regard to them, to give them attention and consideration, to have them in view. To avoid shame, our attention and consideration must be given to all of God’s commandments. We should keep all of them before us to inform our decisions and to direct our course. To not have respect to so much as one of God’s commandments, to consider any commandment as unimportant or unnecessary, is to open the door to shame. To be sure, some commandments are weightier than others, but none are to be disrespected as the following passages make expressly clear.

Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Matthew 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

You only have to break one commandment of the law to be a lawbreaker.

The following excellent comments of Charles Bridges on this verse are well worth quoting. These comments are taken from his book entitled Psalm 119.

“The Lord expects our obedience to be not only ‘diligent,’ but universal. Willing to dispense with the least of the commandments, proves that we have yet to learn the spirit of acceptable obedience. (Matt. v.19.) Grace is given and suited for all, no less than for one of them, ‘that we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.” (Col. 1.10.) One lust ‘regarded in the heart’ is sufficient to keep possession for the tyrant, however others may be restrained.”

Who are we to think that any commandment of God is unimportant or unworthy of our careful observance? To disregard or slight anything God commanded is to put your opinion against His wisdom. The commandment you are not respecting may be a little one in relation to others, but the contempt you are showing for God’s authority is huge! You may be sure that God does not take kindly to that and He will put you to shame for it. Maybe you don’t feel it today, but you will! Our first parents became ashamed after they broke the one commandment to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Saul bore the shame of losing his kingdom because he disobeyed a single commandment of God to utterly destroy all the Amalekites and their possessions (1 Samuel 15). Moses suffered the shame of not being allowed to enter the promised land because he disobeyed a single commandment regarding the rock (Numbers 20:7-13). God told him to speak to the rock and he smote it instead. Having respect unto all God’s commandment appears to be extremely important.

Yet how many think that because they keep many or even most of the commandments of God, it is no big deal if they overlook a few. The man who faithfully attends church every Sunday and gives, and yet fails to teach his children the way of the Lord will be ashamed. The same goes for the man who gives every appearance of being a devout Christian and yet does not love and cherish his wife as he ought. What of the person who professes faith in Christ who has never been properly baptized and is not a member of a true New Testament local church? Or how about the person who continues to celebrate Christmas thus violating the clear commandment to not observe pagan rites unto the Lord God (Deuteronomy 12:29-31)? Is washing of the saints’ feet something that we can take or leave with no consequence when the Saviour plainly commanded it in John 13:13-16? No amount of faithful obedience to most of the commandments will excuse disobedience to even one of the commandments.

Once we disregard one commandment, what is to keep us from disregarding others when they interfere with our agenda? Scripture clearly teaches that one act of disobedience will lead to another. As Paul put it in Romans 6:19 when speaking of the Romans before their conversion: “Ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity.” One iniquity will eventuate in another and so goes the downward spiral into a life of shame.

The way to reverse this downward spiral is to have respect unto all of God’s commandments. Give diligence to do anything and everything that God requires of you, no matter how small it may be. By this means you shall live an honourable life that will be a shining testimony before this evil world. Our goal should be to keep all the commandments of God so that we need never be shamed by a rebuke from God for disregarding any of them.

Philippians 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.