Struggling spiritually? Find righteousness with Jehovah-Tsidkenu: There's power in the name! (part 9)
Are you stuck in a dark “desert” or struggling spiritually? Find your righteousness in Jesus!
If you ever feel God is unfair or unjust, remember the name Jehovah-Tsidkenu, He is the Lord Our Righteousness. He is for you and not against you. Read the names over and allow the Holy Spirit to speak God’s love, peace, comfort, power, and His healing presence into your spirit.
Understanding His names is a means to understand who God is—and, in turn, how important you are to Him.
Choose to live a set apart, holy, and sanctified life for Christ and you will be blessed.
As a Christian, you are to live your life holy, set apart unto God—to be a visible example and expression of God’s love and grace. Are you striving to live a life set apart to God? God cares, loves, guides, protects and will bless you all the days of your life—if you will only allow him.
Today we learn about Jehovah-Tsidkenu: the Lord Our Righteousness.
The names of God convey the truth of His power, love, sovereignty and authority. He created you, loves you and His desire is to be intimately involved in your life. He sees you; He has a purpose for your life that is important to Him.
Are you living set apart spiritually? God wants to be with you; He blesses all who turn to Him.
The Names of God
We have been looking at different names of God that are found in scripture. The names we’ve studied so far are:
Elohim - the strong creator.
Jehovah - the self-existent One, the I Am.
Adonai - owner, master, Lord and sovereign God over all creation.
Jehovah-Jireh - the Lord will provide.
Jehovah-Rapha - the Lord who heals.
Jehova-Shalom - the Lord is peace.
Jehova-Rohi - the Lord is my shepherd.
Jehovah-Nissi - the Lord is my banner.
Jehovah-Mekoddishkem - the Lord who sanctifies.
Today we will learn the name Jehovah-Tsidkenu: the Lord Our Righteousness.
The Hebrew word Tsidkenu means righteousness, what is right and just. The name Jehovah-Tsidkenu speaks to God’s character and ways as always being perfect, just and right.
Take time to dwell upon the names of God and allow them to become personal to you. If you ever feel God is unfair or unjust, remember the name Jehovah-Tsidkenu, He is the Lord our righteousness.
God’s character is 100% just, holy and righteous. Remember there is power in the name of the Lord. I know that I have said this before, but read the names over and allow the Holy Spirit to speak God’s love, peace, comfort, power, and His healing presence into your spirit. Allow the presence of God to saturate your entire body, soul, and spirit. The presence of God will change your life if you will learn to trust him with all your heart. The Lord does not change, but you will as you become more like him. The peace, presence, and power of God will guide you in how you ought to live. Pray and study the scriptures each day; make time to worship God with all your heart. Hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ and you will be filled. Choose to live a set apart, holy, and sanctified life for Christ and you will be blessed.
God is Faithful even When We are Not
In reading the Old Testament, we learn the troubles the Israelites faced and their being taken into exile was all due to their sin and spiritual rebellion towards God. The people of God drifted away from following the ways of God. The kings who were to lead the people of God, turned and followed the ways of the other nations. The kings were supposed to shepherd and lead the people of God, but instead led the people deeper into idolatry. The people and kings of Judah should have realized the error of their ways and turned back to God when they saw the kingdom of Israel fall into exile, but they didn’t. Instead Judah’s kings continued in their sinful ways as did the people.
In all of this God was faithful even when the people were not faithful. God fulfilled his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God kept his promise of a savior that was spoken of back in Genesis. God fulfilled and reaffirmed His promise to the people of God to live in safety because He is Jehovah Tsidkenu - the Lord Our Righteousness.
The kings, who were to be the shepherds of Israel, failed. They did not lead the people of God in the ways of the Lord. God confronted the king and leaders of Judah and told them that he would raise up a king from the line of David to reign forever. Jeremiah was pointing to the savior, the righteous branch—Jesus.
‘“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. 3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord. 5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior’ (Jeremiah 23:1-6, NIV).
Turning away from God leads to spiritual darkness
It was a spiritually dark time for the Israelites during the time of Jeremiah. The kingdom of David was divided in two. The kingdom of Israel was in exile. Both kingdoms fell into physical bondage to other nations, resulting from idolatry and having spiritually turned their backs on God and worshiped other gods who were not gods at all. The more the people turned away from God and ignored the warning, the more they spiritually spiraled down deeper into adultery and idolatry. The people of God allowed the influence of the other nations to affect their worship of God.
The people of God became hard-hearted. They forgot to live a set apart life unto God before the nations of the world. Instead they were acting as every other nation: spiritually defiant towards God.
Does any of this sound familiar? Much of society today has turned away from God.
The kings of Israel and Judah lost sight of God and lived as they pleased. They became hardened to the truth of God. They chose to remain in sin and refused to circumcise or cut away and remove from their hearts those things that caused them to sin and turn from God. They spiritually aligned themselves to other gods by their actions.
The people of God were to live set apart to the Lord. The Lord was to be the banner over them. The Lord was to be their shepherd. The Lord had sanctified them and set them apart; but they were not living sanctified to the Lord.
Are you living set apart to God or spiritually aligned with something else?
Sin and rebellion:
Will spiritually blind you.
Will distract you from the reality of coming judgement.
Will cause you to become numb and calloused spiritually.
Is rooted in lies and filled with empty promises.
Is never satisfied; it does not instill true peace or love.
Only leads to death, destruction and bondage.
The Lord will judge all those who lead people astray and He will also take it upon Himself to raise up Godly shepherds to point and lead people of God in the ways of the Lord. The Lord fulfilled His promise of a righteous savior and He will gather the remnant of the people of God who were scattered. By proclaiming His Righteousness in a day that was spiritually dark, where no one was even attempting to live a righteous life, God made a clear distinction between a righteous and unrighteous lifestyle.
God’s righteousness is not based upon a sliding scale. Righteousness is not set by you or any individual or worldly standard. Righteousness has only one standard: GOD. God’s Righteousness is the standard and anything or anyone else’s ideas of righteousness fall short. In today’s society, the loudest voice attempts to become the standard, but regarding righteousness, anything other than God’s Righteousness is truly substandard under close inspection.
God’s righteousness, justice, truth, morality, and spiritual values never change. They are the same yesterday, today and forever. The same is true regarding God’s character. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is Righteous. God’s standard of righteousness is correct and it does not change.
God’s Standards Bring Us Blessing
God gave the people, and us, a standard to live by. It is found in the scriptures; it was according to the laws that God gave Moses. Over time the kings of Israel and Judah strayed further and further from God. The people were to live and obey the laws of God, and yet as the kings drifted away from serving God, so did the people. The effects of sin and spiritual compromise resulted in disobedience and rebellion towards God. The reality of the people of God living set apart and holy to the Lord became non-existent, clouded and gray. Living righteous and set apart to God became a sliding scale where true faith, obedience and righteousness became unrecognizable. The laws and ways of God had all but been forgotten for a time.
The sliding scale of morality, self-righteousness, and spiritual ignorance would be tolerated no more by God. God would soon reveal His standard of righteousness. God proclaimed blessing will come to those who believe. God proclaims that he will gather those, who He has scattered, because of their sin and bring them back to safety and blessing. God Himself is Righteous. God Himself is Jehovah-Tsidkenu: the Lord my Righteousness.
This righteousness is not one that changes according to some person’s set of values; rather it is set by God Himself. A moving set of standards will never make you happy, because it is substandard and an inadequate guide to live by.
The Israelites knew the law of God, but they were not living by it. They thought by obeying the law they were saved, but no one could fully obey the law. The law revealed sin and showed the need of a righteous savior. Jesus, the son of God is sinless. He is the righteous branch that Jeremiah spoke about.
You cannot get to heaven by the works of your hands or by your own righteousness. God sent his one and only son Jesus—the righteous branch who was crucified, died and rose again, over death hell and the grave. God has extended the righteousness of Christ to all who will believe. The righteousness of Christ is in you when you place your faith in Jesus. His blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
Christ in you is the hope of glory. God has provided a way back from sin and spiritual bondage. Know for yourself Jehovah-Tsidkenu is the Lord my Righteousness.
Suggested Praise and Worship:
