Jehovah-Tsidkenu. ‘The God Who is Our Righteousness’.

Wow. It has been almost a whole year since I wrote last. To be honest I didn’t have much to write that would be even close to uplifting. It was quite the rough spot. But you know what they say, ‘When you go through Hell, you’ll come out on fire!’

The thing that has really been on my heart is one of the many names for God, Jehovah-Tsidkenu. It translates to English as ‘The God Who is Our Righteousness’.

When you hear the word righteousness, what immediately comes to mind?

Is it something like this? ‘be right. do right. talk right. dress right. think right. right. right. right.’?

A striving for perfection?

Now there is nothing wrong with wanting to be perfect in God’s sight. He calls us to be holy as he is holy (1 Peter 1:16). But where we, and I myself, mess up in big ways is when we try to strive for perfection on our own strength and bullheadedness. We are not created to be creatures isolated from our Creator. He calls us to lean on Him and trust Him with our weak and wounded places.
See these next few verses:

Isaiah 40:29

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Isaiah 40:31

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

He is the perfect father, and goes to the corners of the earth seeking the lost, the broken, the weak. We don’t have to be perfect on our own because (Jeremiah 23:6) The Lord is our righteousness! When we are full of the Holy Spirit that was first put on the earth and in the hearts of man on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), The Living God dwells within our hearts! We are given strength and power through His spirit and His word. As the Psalmist put it:

“The statutes [law] of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” (Psalm 19:8)

This verse in itself is a whole ‘nother can of worms. But to touch on this topic just for a moment, the modern day church has to take the Bible seriously. It is not just another book written by a bunch of dead guys. It is not just a historical document of the Jewish people and their God. It is the word of GOD! It guides, encourages, restores and heals! ” He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave” (Psalm 107:20)

I encourage anyone who reads this to dig deep in the Word! Don’t just read it to say you read it. Study it. Seek out the answers to the questions you have! They are within your reach.

Until next time. CC