With Uprightness of Heart (Part 1)

Psalm 119:7 reads, “I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.” In this verse we find three ingredients. First, we find the ingredient of praising the Lord. Second, we find the ingredient of an upright heart. Third, we find the ingredient of God’s true and righteous Word. Furthermore, in this verse we find a progression to these three ingredients. Although we encounter the ingredient of praising the Lord first in the sentence, it is actually the last ingredient in the progression of thought. The opening portion of this verse speaks of praising the Lord our God “with uprightness of heart.” Indeed, in order to so praise the Lord our God, we must first possess the ingredient of an upright heart. In fact, in order for our praise to be acceptable unto the Lord our God, it must flow out of an upright heart. So then, in the progression of thought “uprightness of heart” must come before acceptable praise unto the Lord. Yet the closing portion of the verse then proceeds to reveal the means to such “uprightness of heart,” saying, “When I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.” Indeed, the ingredient of an upright heart comes only as and after we learn the righteous truths of God’s Holy Word. In fact, God’s true and righteous Word is the very foundation for an upright heart. An upright heart can only be built upon the foundation of God’s righteous Word. So then, in this series of messages, let us consider the relationship of God’s righteous Word to an upright heart and the process to develop “uprightness of heart” through the truth of God’s righteous Word.