I start in on Psalm 119 this morning with expectation. These next 22 readings in the Psalms are among my favorite portions of my reading plan. An Ode to the Word. A Love Letter for God’s Law. One grand theme with multi-faceted implications. Saddle up your horses! Let’s do this.

But this morning, it’s the reading I just finished in Ephesians that provides a filter for the opening verses of this sweet song.

Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
       who walk in the law of the LORD!
Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
       who seek Him with their whole heart.

(Psalm 119:1-2 ESV)

Blessed are those . . .

Blessed. Who doesn’t want to be blessed? Who doesn’t want to apply and appropriate and identify with someone who God declares to be blessed?

But while I’d like to think this is me, as I chew on it, at best maybe I can think this is sometimes me. Maybe me on a good day? On my best day? Sigh . . . it’s not me.

Be honest, Pete, and your way is not blameless. And while your walk may be worthy some of the time, it’s not a walk directed by the law of the LORD all the time. While you might try and keep His testimonies, your own testimony is that you come up short way too often. As for seeking Him with your whole heart? Well, mostly? Mostly seeking Him with a whole heart? Seeking Him with mostly a whole heart? Have I sighed already?

But is this guy sitting here this morning indeed blessed? Absolutely! One hundred percent! Cue the Ephesians filter.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, . . . . to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.

(Ephesians 1:3, 6 ESV)

Blessed . . . in Christ. Christ, the One whose way is blameless, who perfectly walked in the law of the LORD.

Blessed . . . in the Beloved. The Beloved, the only begotten Son who kept the Father’s testimonies. The Beloved who could say with full confidence, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God” (Heb. 10:7), having sought God without wavering, seeking Him with His whole heart.

Jesus alone lays claim, both literally and completely, to the blessed One of Psalm 119. And I am in Him.

Because of my union with Christ, His reality is mine. Because I am in Him and He is in me, what is true of Him is true of me, as well.

I own Psalm 119:1-2 because I am not my own but am His alone. Through the finished work of the cross. Through the guaranteeing work of the Spirit (Eph. 1:14). To the praise of His glorious grace (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14).

Blessed are those . . . who are in Christ.

That would be me.

Blameless . . . even as I long to be blameless. Counted as walking in the law, even as trip and stumble along the way. Seen as seeking Him with a whole heart — a new heart — even as I fail and falter in my battle against the old heart. All because I am in Christ.

Blessed!

By His grace. For His glory.