The Way of the Righteous

Just what is the way of the righteous?

“⁵Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.”

— Psalm 37:5 (ESV)

And there you have it. The way of the righteous is to commit to the Lord and to trust Him.

As a christian, the way of the righteous is the way that I should be going. I have to strive to be righteous in hopes that I will measure up when the time comes for me in the presence of God and the judgment. I am to be committed to the LORD and trust that He leads me in the path He would have me go. I have to remember and understand that it is His will, not mine that takes we there.

“⁶for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.”

— Psalm 1:6 (ESV)

There are different paths to take in this world, and where they seem to lead to the good, it is not the way of the righteous. There is the path of positivism. There is the path of empowerment. There is the path of being good. Each of these can seem to get thing done and move you in the right direction. But, they will fade if they are not rooted in the LORD. Each of these when they come from us are simply not enough to overcome.

Now, I am not saying that it is not worth it to be positive, empowered, and good. It is certainly part of the will of God to be so. The thing that I have found in my study of God’s Word is that these are products of committing to the way of the Lord. These in and of themselves do not get us to the way of the Lord. These come from the way of the Lord. We cannot force ourselves into being righteous. I will also say that where we cannot force it, it is not a bad place to start.

When we are positive, empowered, and good we will see some results for sure. We will certainly move forward and things will fall in place for us. The thing is that it will not always fall into place and without being rooting in God, there will be limited if any staying power. As soon as things take a turn away from the direction you want them to go, there will be failure that is difficult to overcome.

The way of the Lord is full of staying power. I may get down when things do not go my way, but when I know that I can count on the goodness of God, I am able to keep going as everything is in His plan. I may not reach my destination when I wanted to, but the LORD knows that has I done so, I may have missed another opportunity that would make the destination just that much sweeter. I may experience loss as a result of life, yet I would be able to see the good that is because of it.

“The LORD knows the way of the righteous” and where I am not sure if I measure up, I have to continue to commit my “way to the Lord”. I am committing to leading a life with Him as my example. I am committing to the path He has for me. I am committing to all that comes. I have to remember that Jesus did not have it easy. He was persecuted way beyond anything any of us will experience. He worked daily to bring God’s Word to all even as He was spit on, beaten, and even killed. I may not be killed, but the way of the LORD will not be easy, yet it is worth it.

What way are you going? Are you taking the positive, empowered, and/or good way? What if you took the way of the LORD and allowed Him to provide the results?

Righteous is Being Thoughtful and Deliberate

I have a saying that I use often, “Focus on Getting it Right, Not Just Getting it Done”. I have mentioned this before here in my writing and feel as though I was lead to this saying this morning once again in my study of the word “righteous”. As I wrote before on the definition of righteous from Merriam-Webster, it is that we should act “in accord with divine or moral law”. In order to do so, I have to consider divine or moral law in my actions, and to do so means that I must first know and understand the divine or moral law and be thoughtful and deliberate in it carrying out.

Let’s consider David and Saul. Saul was no fan of David and actively sought him out to kill him. This is certainly a trying time for David and he was well within his rights to defend himself to the point of killing Saul to do so. In fact, in the passage from 1 Samuel 24, we are reminded that His enemy would be handed over to him.

“⁴And the men of David said to him, ‘Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, “Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.”’” – 1 Samuel 24:4a (ESV)

It is pretty clear here as I read, that David would be presented an opportunity to stop all the madness of pursuing to kill, by taking action in a situation given to him by the LORD. David was being pursued and found himself in the situation where he had the chance to end the situation and relax. Based on the words said, it seemed as David was presented the chance to kill his pursuer. But wait. David stopped and thought and instead took some deliberate action to avoid bloodshed and accomplish the same.

“⁴Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.” – 1 Samuel 24:4b (ESV)

What, he only cut off the corner of the robe? Well, David was acting “in accordance with divine or moral law”. Remember the commandments, thou shall not kill and love thy neighbor as thyself. David spared the life of Saul in accordance to the LORD.

“⁶He said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.’ ⁷So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.” – 1 Samuel 24:6-7 (ESV)

How often do we take hasty action based on information we have at the time and do not consider all the information that we have at our disposal. David was given information and in the moment it made sense for him to take the decisive action of killing Saul. But when he considered the rest of the information, he thought better of it and elected to act accordingly. And what did he get for his action?

“¹⁷He said to David, ‘You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. ¹⁸And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. ¹⁹For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. ²⁰And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.’” – 1 Samuel 24:17-20 (ESV)

He was declared as righteous and acknowledged for what he would become, by his very enemy none the less. Saul recognized that David was well within his rights to take the decisive action and kill him. Yet, David was thoughtful and deliberate and acted according to God’s Law and spared his life. David got it right.

I have to remember that to get it right means that I have to be thoughtful and deliberate. I have to look at and understand all of the information available and not just that which is presented in the moment. Will this make me righteous, I do not know. But it will help to ensure that I am taking actions that would be considered righteous, “in accordance with divine or moral law”.

How do you act in situations? Are you reactive with the information you have in the moment? What if you were to slow down, consider all information, and act thoughtfully and deliberately, “in accordance with divine or moral law”?

Righteous, There are Not Many

This morning I have been reminded of the fact that there are indeed not many in this world who are righteous. I am reading in Genesis of Noah and God’s destruction on the earth to rid it of the evil that had taken hold. Of all those on the earth, He identified only Noah as being righteous.

“⁵The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” and “⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” – Genesis 6:5 & 8 (ESV)

The LORD found that Noah was a man following Him. Only one man and his immediate family were to be saved.

“⁹These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” – Genesis 6:9-10 (ESV)

I do not know how many were in the world at the time, but for the LORD to only identify one to be righteous, that is quite the small percentage. I am sure that there were thousands if not hundreds of thousands and only one was determined to be righteous.

Now, let’s take a look at the percentages and translate that to this world today. If there were 100,000 people, then Noah would have been .001% of them. Think about it, with a million then there would only be 10 righteous. And a society of a billion people would only have 10,000 righteous. And with the current population of the earth being around 8 billion, that would be only about 80,000 as righteous. Now, that looks and seems like a good number of people, but consider that even if rounded to 100,00 people there would be only the city of Davenport, IA (according to the estimate of 2023 found in Wikipedia) that would considered righteous, and that is only one town among the world. And think, that is presuming a population of 100,000 along with Noah. There are not many righteous in the world. And, as much as I would like to believe I am righteous, would I make the cut with the LORD.

I have to look at my role here in this world. My role is to spread the gospel to all I come in contact with. I do not, as Noah did not, have to concern myself with all else that is going on in the world. I know that there is evil out there as did Noah. And just as he did, I am to put my head down and do the work that the LORD has for me. Noah built the ark and I am to spread the gospel. Whether or not I am righteous is not for me to decide, that is left up to and judged by the LORD. My role is simply to do the work and allow the LORD to see the work.

There are not many righteous in this world, and that is known. I do not know if I am one of them, and that is okay. I am to do the work that the LORD has for me and know that when my time is up, I will find myself in glory.

What is your understanding of your righteousness? Do you look out for yourself as if you are righteous and all others are not? What if you look at the numbers and realize that there are not many who are righteous and that only God knows their names, so you put your head down and do the work He has for you until your time is done?

Righteous Defined

This morning I am beginning to study the word “righteous” and thought it a good idea to look into the word first and then begin my study of the biblical applications.

Righteous – 1: acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin 2a: morally right or justifiable b: arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality (Merriam-Webster Online)

As I review the definition I see that to be counted as righteous, one is to be in line with God, “accord with divine or moral law”. One also is “justifiable”. I believe we have to be careful with our view of being righteous to ensure that there is a fit into those.

Someone that is righteous is not necessarily perfect. There are some that did/do questionable things and frankly may not be liked in the world. When just viewing the actions of the person, one might view them differently although they were following the will of God. Noah was a righteous man although he did build and ark and only took his family and animals allowing for the rest of the world to be wiped out. Abraham was a righteous man who was willing to kill his son. David was a righteous man and he killed a man.

Looking at the definition, and taking into account being in line with God and being justified in action, I know that each of these men above were certainly that. If you just look at the actions of them without knowing the whole rest of the story, one might see them as evil and only in line with their own wants and desires, Noah to survive, Abraham to keep his authority, and David to demonstrate his power and strength. Yet, when you look closer at the reason for their actions you see the alignment with God, Noah told by God to take only his family to start fresh in the world, Abraham demonstrating his obedience to God no matter the cost, and David to demonstrate that with God all things are possible.

I believe that we have to be more in line with God than with anything or anyone else. This alignment with God does not guarantee anything, although it is a great place to start. When aligned with God, I will find myself morally correct and justified in my actions. Will I always get it right, OH NO. But more often than not, I will.

Am I righteous, that I do not know, as only God will determine that. I will say that I do what I can to be in alignment with God. I know that my actions that are in response to God are justified in His plan and therefore I am in His will. The consequences I may experience in this world are of little concern when I consider that I am doing things in the will and as a result of follow the law of God. I will be told when I meet the LORD in heaven as to whether or not I was righteous in this world and until then it is my responsibility to following His will and striving for righteousness.

What is your understanding of the word righteous? Are you of the opinion that it is something that the world recognizes? What if you focused instead on being aligned with God as opposed to the world?