Psalm 119:141

Psalm 119:141 “Though I am lowly and despised, I do not forget Your precepts.”
 

“Precepts” are instructions. In this case, they are God’s instructions to David. David was determined to obey God’s instructions even though they caused the world to hate him. David said he was, lowly and despised. Lowliness is a love of nothingness. When we willfully give everything to Jesus, we are left with nothing. God keeps taking away and taking away until the only thing we have left is God!
 

Once we have only God, we have everything. However, that sate of nothingness is convicting to others because it reveals Jesus. Jesus told us the world hates Him because He testifies that what it does (the world) is evil (see John 7:7). Lowliness makes the same statement. The one who is lowly is often despised because of how their life reveals Jesus, and the world hates Jesus. However, if we will remain obedient in the face of persecution, we will be saved. In Matthew 10:22 Jesus tells us this also, “All people will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
 

The one who continues to follow God’s precepts, even in the face of persecution, will be saved. Jesus was, “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” Isaiah 53:3. Yet, in the face of all that rejection, He still followed His Father’s instructions and became obedient unto death.
 

Typically, we are quick to give up doing things God’s way when persecution comes. However, if lowliness comes through obedience, and obedience is one of the most effective ways to reveal Christ, what option do we have?
 

I encourage you to take some time to meditate on this verse. As you do, ask yourself if you have a love for nothingness.  Continued.