Something Revealed

Reading this morning from Psalm 128 and I read this stirring verse, verse 1.

Happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. (NRSV)

In the Psalms, there is a poetic form called parallelism where two things are set beside each other and compared. They are either opposites or they are things that are presented as equals. In this verse, two ideas - "fears the Lord" and "walks in his ways" are set as equal parallelisms. The one works hand in hand with the other.

The fear of the Lord is a position of heart, a reverence for God.

To walk in His way is an active status of life, observing God's direction for us.

In the mind of the Psalmist, the outside has to match the inside. And vice versa.

What I realized is that my outside reveals my inside on so many different occasions. The way I react to tough conversations and situations, the way I act when I am living out of my true and legitimate center, the way I treat people when I am tired and my walls are down are the signposts of what beasts truly dwell in the wildness of my heart.

The longing of God for His people is for a people whose inside would match their outside - who would "keep His commandments" not out of guilt or coercion but because in their hearts they know Him to be the God who "brought them up out of Egypt."

If we have been rescued, redeemed, and forgiven then our actions should reflect our reverence for God in our hearts. If we walk the path God lays out before us, we will be sustained on the journey only if our hearts are placed in a right posture before Him.

This is a work in progress. For you - what is revealed about your heart through your actions? Vice versa?