Put Your Life in Order

"Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God." -Psalms 50:23


Do you live a life of praise? Or is your praise reserved for Sunday morning worship service? Whoever you are and however you live your life, God desires that you glorify Him. That is His design for your life. In the Westminster catechism, the question is posed, "What is the chief end of man?" and the response is given, "To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever."

The psalmist shows us how to live a life of praise that glorifies God: "and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God." You must put your conduct in order. Not just any order--mind you--but you must put it in the right order. If you are going to live a life that glorifies God, your conduct must be righteous.

It seems almost too obvious to say, but God is not glorified by our sin. He is not praised through our iniquity. He is praised by our obedience and righteous living. Put your life in order. Flee temptation, put away your disgusting sin, and choose to live a life that praises and glorifies God.

The One Thing The Wise Know

"Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them." -Hosea 14:9


There really is one distinguishing factor between the wicked and the righteous. The righteous know that the way of the Lord is right and they walk in them. The wicked do not know the way of the Lord and they stumble along the way of life in their sin.

So if you are seeking to be wise, understand what the way of the Lord is and walk step for step with Him. Trust in the Lord and your path will be straight (Proverbs 3:5-6), your steps will be sure (Habakkuk 3:19), and your life will be filled with the righteousness of God (Hosea 14:9). Dive deep into the Word of God and it will be to you a lamp to guide your path (Psalm 119:105) and the source of divine knowledge (Hebrews 1:1).

"Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD!" -Psalm 119:1

Planting Righteousness, Reaping Mercy

"Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you." -Hosea 10:12


It often seems that our good deeds go unrewarded and our bad deeds go unpunished. Hosea reminds us that the Lord will repay you for what you have sown. If you sow righteousness you will reap mercy and the Lord will rain down righteousness on you. If you sow wickedness the judgment of God will come down on your head.

Israel had sown wickedness. They had played the harlot with other gods. Their spiritual adultery was absolute wickedness before the eyes of God. Because of this sin, the Lord was going to send Israel into captivity. They were going to serve other nations, pull a plow, and be harnessed like oxen. They were getting what they deserved.

But the Lord still loved Israel. He called them out of Egypt. He bore them up on eagles wings (Exodus 19:4). he gave them the Word of God. He provided them with the proper instruction for worship. He provided all that they needed as they wandered through the wilderness. Even when Israel played the harlot over and over, God still loved Israel.

The Lord loves you and me in spite of our sin. Even though we play the harlot and serve other gods over and over again, He still loves us. We deserve the wrath of God. "But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" Romans 6:1-2. Let us not presume upon God's grace by continuing in sin. Let us sow righteousness that we may reap mercy and see the showers of righteousness fall from heaven on us. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Galatians 6:7-9

Divine Righteouness

“For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.” Isaiah 45:18-19

God is righteous—eternally righteous. Everything He does, everything He says, every way He deals with mankind, every decision He makes, and every purpose of His is clothed in His righteousness. This means that there are no mistakes in God. Nothing is ever wrong. Nothing is ever flawed. It is always right.

When you think about it enough, you’ll realize that this means that there is no indecision with God. God never hesitates or second-guesses anything that He has done or said. He acts definitively and rightly in every situation. That includes His placing you where you are, and making you the way you are.

We often have the tendency to think of ourselves as meaningless and worthless. We see our many mistakes and sins and think that God must have been mistaken to make us the way He did. Be encouraged—God did not make a mistake with you. He has formed you and placed you on this earth for a purpose—a righteous purpose: You are made for God’s glory.

Listen to the words of Isaiah 48:10-11: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another.”

So here you are, a human being, placed on this earth to fulfill God’s purpose—His glory. In all your failures, in all your flaws, in all your bad decisions, be encouraged that you are not a mistake. When it feels as if God is raising the temperature in the ‘furnace of affliction’, trust yourself to Him who speaks righteousness. He is refining you for His glory.