It Starts Small

This morning we continue to look at 4 aspects of God’s righteous character. Righteous is who God is. It is not something He has, it is who He is. We have explored God is Just. (I can honestly say I have been working 50 hour weeks and when I put yesterday’s title down, I was thinking of today’s writing and not focused on yesterday.) Today we are going to focus in on what it means that God is upright and what it means in respect to righteousness.

Palm trees are visible all over Israel. They grow very tall, over 60 feet tall and they are noted for being tall and straight. The Bible uses palm trees as examples of righteousness.

The righteous thrive like a palm tree
and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.

Psalm 92:12

Here the Psalmist is saying righteous people are straight and upright like palm trees. In Song of Solomon, there is reference to the stature of a beloved as a palm tree. Ezekiel gave a description of the temple and it had numerous palm trees carved on the pillars of the court (Ez. 40:31). Palm trees speak to uprightness and fruitfulness.

God is upright. The KJV uses the phrase just and right. The Hebrew word used here is yāšār and means straight, upright, correct, right. In our scripture today we are going to look at how God’s righteousness created us in the image of righteousness.

Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.”

Ecclesiastes 7:29

God created all of us to be righteous in His image because He is righteous. The problem lies in our sinful state. Because of our crooked schemes, we have become a twisted mess and far from the creator’s purpose.

The Lord is good and upright;
therefore he shows sinners the way.

Psalm 25:8

David acknowledges God is good and morally correct. God never does anything that is morally or intentionally hurtful. When we are being corrected by Him, it can feel as though God is not fair or understanding, but because of His righteousness, the purpose is not meant to make us hurt or suffer, but it is in His righteous character that He is showing us the way. God will ALWAYS do what is in our best interest.

All of the things He does not give us is for our own good because He sees the future. God will never lead His people into sin. God will never lead His people into hurting or causing harm to others. God will never lead us into jobs, relationships, communities, situations that are not good for us.

Our scripture today reveals that God is faithful and does not wrong.

Ponder: DO you, deep down inside people God can do no wrong? DO you fully believe He has your best interest at heart? Can you trust God when He says no?

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