Psalms 119:12 Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
The Psalmist gives praise to God when he states: “Blessed art thou, O LORD.”
Consider the definition of bless as it pertains to our blessing God.
Bless - To hold or call holy; to extol as holy, divine, gracious. To extol, praise, or adore (God) as holy, worthy of reverence, esp. with an added notion of thanksgiving or acknowledgement of gracious beneficence or goodness.
When the Psalmist acknowledges God as blessed, he is telling God that He is holy, gracious, and worthy to be praised. God is so holy, gracious, and great, that it is an act of worship just to admit He is thus. We worship God when we acknowledge His glorious attributes. Our brother Greg Ohly did this in our service last Sunday as he began the opening prayer by listing off to the Lord several of His divine attributes. In so many words he was saying, “Blessed art thou, O Lord.” On the other hand, to ascribe to a creature the attributes that pertain only to God is to worship the creature, which is idolatry. God alone is blessed in the way that we are considering the word bless. Only God is holy in the sense of being essentially and necessarily holy. God is holy of Himself. Hence we read:
Revelation 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy:….
Any holiness that we have is a holiness that God imparts to us. It is not a holiness we have of ourselves. And since God is essentially, supremely, and perfectly holy, He is the most happy of all beings. God is indeed blessed!
Now our psalmist desires a blessing from this blessed One and that is the blessing of being taught by Him His statutes. What better teacher could there be than the blessed God? And what better instruction could be given than the statutes of the blessed God? It stands to reason that the most supremely happy Being is the one that can best teach us how to be happy, and this He does in His statutes. Indeed, the blessed God is a great teacher. When He became incarnate in flesh in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, He was known among men as Master or Rabbi, which are titles for a teacher.
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
John 1:38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?
Now God utilizes instruments when He teaches us. He does not sit across from us and carry on a discussion, as He did when He was among us on earth. Neither does He Himself audibly speak His lessons into our ear. God teaches us through the Scriptures, which Paul tells us are “profitable for doctrine” (2Timothy 3:16). Doctrine is defined as the action of teaching or instructing. When you are reading and studying your Bible, God is teaching you and you can learn a great deal by that means. But God also uses other means to teach us. God uses tribulation to teach us patience (Romans 5:3), and He uses chastening to correct us (Proverbs 3:11-12). Fathers are commanded to bring up their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Christ has given His church pastors and teachers to teach us (Ephesians 4:11). As we sing in our service to God we are “teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16). Older women are commanded to teach certain things to the younger women as it respects their character and their duties to their husbands and children (Titus 2:3-5). And then all believers are to be teachers of one another in that they are to comfort, edify, admonish, and exhort one another.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
Romans 15:14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
All of these are so many instruments used by God to teach us His statutes. So when you come to church this Sunday, come with a prayer to the blessed God to teach you His statutes. And when you have been taught in the service, look beyond the pastor or whoever else may have taught you and bless God for His goodness in teaching you. If your parents taught you well, then thank God for using them to teach you. If a brother admonishes you and saves you from doing something foolish, thank God for using that brother to teach you. And continue to pray to God to teach you His statutes. He is the ultimate Teacher and nobody can teach like Him, as saith the Scripture!
Job 36:22 Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him?
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