"God's Green Pastures"

"The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me." (Psalms 18:20) Remembering what this Psalm is all about, and that is "A Song of Victory", we look now at victory that we have in Christ. Believing that Jesus came to die for our sins and that He rose from the grave on the third day so that we too may rise up and be with Him, we have not only a hope in what is to come, but we have the peace in knowing that our debt has been settled. As David was writing this song, he no doubt reflected back upon the victories that God had given him over the many different areas of his life; not just the fights against his enemies, but also the personal battles that were waged within his heart and mind, and the battles that took place within his own house and inner circle. We know by what we read about David's life, that he was not a perfect man; neither was he righteous enough to be considered to have clean hands, for we know that he had blood upon his hands, and that blood was from an innocent man. But, as with all sin, whether is be sins of the heart or sin that is acted out, sin is sin, and penalty for sin is death! Therefore; the reward due to David for his own righteousness should have been that of death, for God's judgement is not based upon the good that we do, but is based upon sin; sin being that which has separated us from God's presence and from having fellowship with Him. But David was a man that put his trust in God and believed that God had made a way for his sins to be removed, and that he could be made righteous before God; not based upon his own righteousness, but upon the righteousness of God. If we look at what David said right after he originally had sung this song, he made mention of something very important, and something that explains how he viewed his own righteousness. We find this song in 2 Samuel 22; then, as we read a little further, in 2 Samuel 23:5 David says, "Although my house be not so with God; yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all of my desire, although He make it not to grow". This is the green pastures that God has established for each and everyone of His children to take rest in; which is not based upon our own righteousness, or our ability to obtain righteousness; but it is based upon God's righteousness being given to us! That is why we have hands that are clean, not because that we have done anything worthy of having clean hands, but because they are washed in the blood of Christ; and now that they are cleansed, we are renewed to have perfect fellowship with God, and to lift up holy hands to our Father without feeling ashamed before Him. His green pastures are based upon the new relationship that has been established for us to have fellowship and to have a habitat where we rest in God's presence. This could only be made possible by the removal of our sins; not just covering them over, but taking them away and making us new...