Psalm 34:15-16 - The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

In this Psalm we see a contrast between two types of people, the righteous and the evil. One experiences benefits from the Lord while the other receives his wrath. Think of how different the response is. For one person, God sees them and hears their cries for help. For the other, his face is against them and he even cuts off any memory of them from the earth.

There are some who would read this and feel offended that God would do such a thing. How could he respond so strongly against anyone? The problem with this response is that it doesn’t recognize the weight of sin and the penalty that each sin carries with it. Any sin, no matter how small, is an offense to a holy God. Some sins carry greater consequences in this world than others, but all sins carry the same eternal punishment of separation from God forever.

What is worse, having the world not remember you because of the evil you had done in God’s eyes, or being separated from the fountain of all love, light, goodness, kindness, peace, joy and life forever? Clearly it is far worse to lose God than it is to not be remembered by the world. So then, how does one go from being the evil person in these verses to being righteous?

The only way is through putting your faith in Jesus Christ. This means believing that he lived a life free from sin, which you cannot do. This means believing that because he was sinless, he could be the perfect sacrifice to God by taking your sin into himself on the cross and dying for it. This means believing that Jesus conquered your sin by being raised from the dead, which you also are unable to do. If you believe these things, the righteousness of Jesus becomes yours and you have a new life where you are able to live in that righteousness.

This great exchange is simply incredible and none of us deserve it. We don’t deserve this great salvation or the promise that God will keep his eyes on us to protect us. We don’t deserve to have his ear whenever we want, knowing that he hears our cries. And yet, we can know that through Christ, all of this is ours now and forevermore.

If God has made you righteous in Christ, then walk in this righteousness today. The evil that you once walked in is not compatible with the new life that you now have. It also makes little sense to go through today without acknowledging the God who made you righteous and going to him in prayer. If he is willing and able to listen to you, why not go to him? He sees you and hears you, and he loves to give strength to his weary children.

Find hope today in this righteousness that you have received, and use whatever strength the Lord provides to walk in that precious righteousness.