More Conditions For Being Blessed - Psalm 119:3

3 They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways – Psalm 119:3

They – i.e. the blessed (vv. 1-2). Below the blessed are going to be seen from both a positive and negative perspective. First from the negative perspective --

They Do nothing wrong – Here the standard for all Christians is proclaimed. We are to arrive at a place in our earthly lives where we do nothing wrong. Of course, the thought of perfection is often viewed upon here, but this is not what the writer has in mind. Instead, the bible is encouraging believers not to be dominated or controlled by sin. We do need for our feet to be cleansed daily (John 13:10), because walking in this world will tend to get us dirty. But we are not to be swimming in the cesspool of evil. There is a big difference in getting our feet occasionally dirty and diving in and swimming in a pool of filth. The blessed ones do nothing wrong. They do not enjoy sin and they do not swim in the enjoyment of it either.

Remember these passages?

9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God – 1 John 3:9

18We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him – 1 John 5:18

Now here is a look at perfection from a positive perspective:

They walk in His ways – Keeping our lives clean by not engaging in evil is one aspect of pleasing God, doing what is right is another.

Walk – two things must be kept in mind here. First, as you are walking with God, you are walking at the same time “away” from evil. In other words, you cannot walk with God and at the same time be practicing wrong. It is like trying to serve two masters (Matt. 6:24), it is impossible. To make the loftiest choice of walking with God is also to say no to sin and turn your life from it and walk away in the opposite direction.

Second, let me ask you this? Does God know where He is going? Of course He does. Does God know what He is doing? Yes, of course. Then as you and I walk with Him, He will take us places that may seem strange, bizarre and uncomfortable. But that is the time you tell yourself, “I am going to continue to walk with God even if it means to walk with Him in the “valley of the shadow of death” (Ps. 23:4), for He is with me and I can trust Him enough to follow knowing He will always lead me in the way of everlasting.

His ways – Here is another synonym for the Word. We have come across “law” (v. 1), “statues” (v. 2), and now “ways.” This speaks of a path or direction. The inference is that there are two ways – one is wrong (man’s ways) and the other is right (God’s ways). Choose the right way (Jesus), and choose to walk in God’s ways (His teachings).

Jesus said, “If you KNOW these things, happy are you if you DO them” (John 13:17). To know and to do must be married together. To fill our heads with knowing truth and not doing it is fruitless. To do things without knowing why we are to do them is also fruitless. But to know what to do and why, and then to practice what we know is fruitful. And Jesus, like the writer here in Psalm 119, says, “Happy are you.”

Summary: The Christian life is a life that is both negative and positive: Negatively, we do nothing wrong; positively we walk in the ways of God. Doing these two things, will put us also in the company of the “blessed.”