primaries first

Week 21  Psalm 145

I found eight things that the Lord does. Actions he takes.
But I whittled that eight-item list down to three because a) there were people in that list who practiced three specific behaviours toward the Lord and b) there were specific ways that the Lord responded to those behaviours. I was interested in the Back-&-Forth. The If-X Then-Y connection. I wanted to see a) what the actions were and b) the Lord’s reactions.
The three specific things that people did were:
• Call on the Lord
• Fear the Lord
• Love the Lord.
The Lord’s response to them was described this way:
The Lord is near to all who call on him
The Lord fulfils the desires of those who fear him. He hears their cry and saves them
The Lord watches over all who love him.
I personalized it to see what it looked like:
• What if I call on the Lord? He’s nearby
• What if I fear the Lord? He fulfils my desires & hears my appeal & he saves me
• What if I love the Lord? He watches out for me.
My what’s-in-it-for-for-me instinct is to focus on how the Lord will benefit me. But I have a sneaking-suspicion that the benefits are secondary matters. By-products. So it makes better sense to focus on the primaries: appealing to the Lord…loving the Lord…revering the Lord. There’s no point in focusing primarily on the secondaries.

Note: quotes from Psalm 145:18 19 20 (NIV)