Fear, Keep, Remember

Psalm 103:17-18 was my verse for today.

“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting for those who fear him. And his justice to the children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember His precepts so as to do them. “

Mercy- kind of reminds me when we would play and when you needed to give up you cried uncle. Of course it wasn’t the same but that’s what mercy meant. Someone winning and I gave up and they let me give up. Mercy is kind of in a backwards way around the fence like that. We deserve something else and God let’s us off the hook- He lets us give up and save face – kind of. And it’s not just mercy when God feels like it, it’s mercy because from everlasting to everlasting means always and forever. But not just because God is God the equation matters if I fear Him. We often stop before we live the word fear. Fear is reverence not fright. I am not afraid of the accelerator in my car but I respect it’s power. I fear it. I don’t fear Charlie my horse, but I have a healthy respect that if he really wanted to, he could flip me off. I respect him and have him trained so he will not do that kind of thing and that I know how to effectively control his power. Justice to the children children also has a mandate that I keep His covenant. That doesn’t mean I pick and choose what I want, but that I keep, I follow, I make right what is expected in the ideals God presented called the covenant. The best one is the last one- remember his precepts. Precepts are by definition, a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought. I can remember things that are so insignificant and forget things I should remember. The Psalmist says I need to remember the things intended to help me live, love and behave better so as to do them. I have been known to call people to apologize for totally spacing out something I was to do. I didn’t write it on the calendar or on the fridge dry erase board. For me to remember something as to do it I need to make sure I put my memory on paper and then have a few reminders. In our culture people say yes, but don’t follow through. God doesn’t think that’s good enough! Remember as of to do or in NIKE terminology Just do it. So fear, keep and remember. It’s a trifecta!