The psalm closes, “Your testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live.” God’s unchanging and righteous Word is where we go when we ask the Lord to give us understanding, that we may truly “live.” It is only by God’s grace in Christ that we have been raised up and resurrected from being dead in sin to being alive in Christ, in whom we trust. And we live in fellowship with the righteous and Triune God, who guides us by His trustworthy Word.

My family recently faced a very frightening and disturbing loss: our long-time auto mechanic retired. As strange as it sounds, this was really quite sad for us. Rick was not only good, he was also honest. I know nothing about cars and so a crooked mechanic could make a lot of money off of me. But Rick never took advantage of my ignorance and on numerous occasions made inexpensive repairs when much more could have been made. We didn’t have to worry, because we knew Rick as a person. He was trustworthy and had our best interests in mind.

In a similar way, when we consider Scripture and issues such as inerrancy, we must not lose the connection between our confidence in its Author and our confidence in His Word. Scripture constantly reminds us the One who is True has given us a Word that is true, and we can rest in it because we rest in Him. We need not worry that we are being misled or misinformed. Psalm 119:137-144 helps us to see this, as it powerfully connects the character of God with the character of His Word.

The first two verses declare the perfect righteousness of the LORD’s person and his judgments, and recognize the righteousness of the Word. “Righteous are You, O LORD, and upright are your judgments.” We begin by praising the Lord and recognizing His righteousness, an attribute of God in His very being and nature.  He is morally perfect and right. The Scriptures are full of statements that declare this truth. For instance, He says of Himself in Isaiah 45:21, “There is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me.” And because He is righteous in His being as the One True God, everything He does is therefore righteous and without hint of sin or imperfection. Deuteronomy 32:3-4 adds, “Proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock!  His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.” It is simply impossible for the LORD to do anything that is not righteous and upright. He is a rock – steady, sure, and unchanging in His attributes and His actions.  He does not change His essential nature as God, and so He is always righteous. Certainly the special revelation of God, His Scriptures,  would reflect the perfect righteousness of the God who gives them. To be anything less would be inconsistent with His character.

Several years ago, I made dinner for the family using a recipe I found on a random web site. The description seemed quite nice and so I made the dish according to the instructions. The results were very disappointing – “order a pizza” disappointing. I learned from that episode. I now go to recipe pages of cooks that I know and like. Alton Brown, for instance, has a tremendous recipe for Country Style Steak. When I stick to these recipes, the results are always nice and we can save pizza for another day. There is something to be said for knowing the quality of the author, which speaks to the quality of his or her product. How infinitely more relevant this is when thinking of God and Scripture.

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