Psalm 119:13-14
"Like father, like son." So the expression goes, and very often this is true. Sons often resemble their fathers to such a degree that you do not need to ask the child who his father is. Then too fathers' mannerisms, talents, and the like show up in sons.
Now there is one instance where the son will always look exactly like the father in thinking, willing, and acting. When God the Father begets a child through His Son and His Spirit, that child will look exactly like God from a spiritual point of view. Do we not in Psalm 17:15 read, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake with Thy likeness"?
The psalmist in Psalm 119:13-14 declares a similar truth, when he writes, "With my lips have I declared all the judgments of Thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies, as much as in all riches." Did you note that what God speaks, the psalmist declares with his lips? That he rejoices in God's testimonies means that he thinks as God thinks and wills what He wills.
Therefore, if you are a child of God, this will be true also of you, not only in the new Jerusalem but also in principle in this present life. You will love what God loves, think as He thinks, will what He wills, judge to be good what He calls good. In this life already you will sing (PRC Psalter):
O blessed Lord, teach me Thy law,
Thy righteous judgments I declare;
Thy testimonies make me glad,
For they are wealth beyond compare.
In this life already you will with your lips declare all His judgments to be right. You will not go against or speak against His testimonies, but will with joy keep them. You will with your lips and walk say that you are glad to be one with Him in thought, word, and deed.
How about it? Do your words and works make plain that God is your Father? Do you find in you a delight in God's law that is above joy in earthly treasures? We were created in the image of God but fell into accepting Satan's lie and becoming his children. Do you long to awake with God's likeness and be like His holy and righteous Son?
Read: Psalm 19
Psalter versification: #322:3
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Joshua 21 ; Joshua 22:1-20
Luke 20:1-16
Psalm 89:1-13
Proverbs 13:15-16
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Quote for Reflection:
"Every day, you say, one hears the same things [in sermons]. Tell me, then, do you not hear the same things in the theaters? Do you not see the same things in the race-course? Are not all things the same? Is it not always the same sun that rises? Is it not the same food that we use?" Chrysostom (Commentary on II Thessalonians 2:5)
Additional Info
- Date: 20-April
Heys, John A.
Rev. John A. Heys was born on March 16, 1910 in Grand Rapids, MI. He was ordained and installed into the ministry at Hope, Walker, MI in 1941. He later served at Hull, Iowa beginning in 1955. In 1959 he accepted the call to serve the South Holland, IL Protestant Reformed Church. He received and accepted the call to Holland, Michigan Protestant Reformed Church in 1967. He retired from the active ministry in 1980. He entered into glory on February 16, 1998.