You are my portion, O LORD; I have said that I would keep Your words. I entreated Your favor with my whole heart; Be merciful to me according to Your word. I thought about my ways, And turned my feet to Your testimonies. I made haste, and did not delay To keep Your commandments. The cords of the wicked have bound me, But I have not forgotten Your law.

At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, Because of Your righteous judgments. I am a companion of all who fear You, And of those who keep Your precepts. The earth, O LORD, is full of Your mercy; Teach me Your statutes.

A focused, in fact a very focused declaration of obedience and adherence to the Word of the Lord. The author of this Psalm, surely a post-Exilic scribe, is absolutely passionate in his declaration of love for the Commandments.

What a contrast to today. When was the last time you heard a sermon preached based on John 14:15-17 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”I'm not sure I ever have and yet it is a focal point of the Christian life.

Oops, wrong! Two others and I preached a series of 10 sermons about 15 years ago, splitting them up among us. The only one I remember speaking on was #5, “Honor your father and mother for this is pleasing unto the Lord” My mother went home to be with her Lord earlier that morning. The Lord was kind to me in allowing me to give tribute to a Godly mother.

Reading

Morning Psalm 111, Noon Psalm 119:33-40, Evening Psalm 51