Benefits of Precepts

The precepts of the Lord are right, making the heart glad; the command of the Lord is radiant, making the eyes light up.
Psalm 19:8 HCSB

As I was reading this passage, the word ‘precepts’ caught my attention. I have heard it many times.  But what, exactly, is a precept?

• Merriam-Webster Dictionary
  –  a command or principle intended especially as a general rule of action
  –  a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought
• Wikipedia
  –  a commandment, instruction, or order intended as an authoritative rule of action

…Because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My mandate,
My commands, My statutes, and My instructions.
Genesis 26:5 HCSB

A ‘precept’ is a statute, mandate, command, instruction, law, or ordinance that gives direct advice.  The precepts of the Lord will set us right if we heed them. They give us a great advantage and provide many benefits. Matthew Henry states: “The Holy Scripture…is of much greater use and benefit to us than day or night, than the air we breathe in or the light of the sun.”   Wow!

Psalm 19:11 tells us, “Your servant is warned by them; there is great reward in keeping them.”  So what are some of the benefits we receive when we pay attention to the Lord’s precepts?  Verse 8 told us they make the heart glad and the eyes light up.  Look at some other benefits listed in the following verses:

You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies,
for [Your words] are ever before me. I have better understanding and deeper insight
than all my teachers, because Your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged, because I keep Your precepts
[hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them].
Psalms 119:98-100 AMP

Every word of God is pure; He is a Shield to those who take refuge in Him.
Proverbs 30:5 HCSB

For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.
Proverbs 6:23 HCSB

Who wouldn’t want these benefits?  I certainly do!  The Lord’s precepts show us what sin is.  And they provide great and wonderful benefits. But there is one benefit these precepts absolutely cannot provide—righteousness.

For no one will be justified in His sight by the works of the law,
because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.
Romans 3:20 HCSB

On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law.
Romans 7:7b HCSB

As Galatians 2:9 (AMP) points out, righteousness comes only through faith in Jesus Christ:

For I through the Law [under the operation of the curse of the Law]
have [in Christ’s death for me] myself died to the Law
and all the Law’s demands upon me, so that I may [henceforth] live to and for God.

Christ was crucified for us.  His grace provided our acquittal.  Even so, we can honor Him by following His precepts.  We receive so many benefits by being attentive to them.

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Lord, thank You for Your amazing grace that removes all guilt from us.  Let us be more attentive to Your precepts and use them daily.  Thank You for the direct advice they provide to us and for the marvelous benefits we receive when pay heed to them. In Your Holy name I pray, Amen – It is so!