Back in September of 2019, I wrote about some things I learned as I was pursuing God as our upholding Sustainer. One of the things I said was, “One day soon I will be able to praise God from the mountaintop…” and now I’m there.

I also wrote that without valleys we would have no mountaintops and that it would be nice to be instantly zapped out of our valley to sit peacefully sipping iced tea in the warm sunshine until God calls us home. But He has a much better way. Of course, He does – He’s God!

I have rested for a while, praising Him and thanking Him for teaching me so much as He showed me how to step here, put my hand up there, step by step leading me in the climb out of my dark ugly valley. I have some scars that may never go away in this lifetime but I’m regaining my stability with each passing day.

And my Heavenly Father has begun teaching me about something I had not thought about. It is however, very interesting and…well, exciting. Even though I immersed myself in the psalms during the darkest times, I still gave no real thought to the phrase, “Thy testimonies” or “His testimonies” that I encountered there so many times.

The first thing I noticed is that the scriptures list God’s testimonies along with His Law, precepts, judgements, and statutes. That fact causes me to believe that God’s testimonies are as important as these other things we know are gravely important. Then, looking at the many occurrences of God’s testimonies in Psalm 119 alone bears witness of the importance and seriousness of keeping His testimonies.

Bible commentators use the very words listed along with His “testimonies” in scripture to define what God’s testimonies are. So, what is different about “testimonies” that warrants it being listed as an entity in its own right?

Consider a courtroom, another place where the word “testimonies” is used today. “Testimonies” are words of witness of what someone did – they are not laws, precepts, statutes, or judgements. In the same way, God’s testimonies tell us what God did in the past. God’s character becomes visible to us because of His testimonies, which always reflect His Law.

There is no doubt in my mind that conversations in Abraham’s tent and in King David’s palace focused largely on God’s activities of the past. These stories of Isaac’s birth so late in the lives of Sarah and Abraham and his nearly becoming a burnt offering on the altar of sacrifice his own father built, and Goliath felled by a boy with a sling, for instance, would have firmly established God’s testimonies in the hearts and minds of thousands of youngsters and others who did not know this Invisible God of Israel.

Things were no different in New Testament times except that the things that Jesus did as He walked this earth as a man could be added to the stories the patriarchs handed down throughout the generations. You know which stories I’m talking about. In addition to the many written in the Gospels there were those that John mentions in John 21:25, now lost to history. But we have enough of them preserved in the Bible so that we can easily see God’s character by these testimonies of His actions.

Even more recently, consider the Puritans as an example. I can easily imagine that conversations in their households and with their neighbors dwelt on God’s testimonies and the resulting understanding of His character than is common now amongst those of us who profess to be God’s children.

His testimonies were kept.

Incidents of miracles have diminished greatly up to this point in the 21^st century because we have lost awareness of this gift, and it is indeed a gift for our well-being, as the distractions in this life have multiplied exponentially. Psalm 119 reminds us of the necessity of keeping His testimonies, which if kept, will help restore the benefits of keeping God’s testimonies.

If we look back at what God has done, would it not make us expectant to see mighty acts today? It should because what He did before, He will do again.

We must return to the practice of speaking of God’s works, not only of centuries past, but in our own lives. Not much to testify that God has done a great work, or even a small one, in our own lives? I know the feeling. I had to make myself stop and think seriously about things from my whole life and realized there was more there than I thought. Kind of like that old song, “Count Your Blessings” published by Johnson Oatman, Jr. in 1897. Begin making it a point to keep God’s testimonies, speak them often, and watch the results.

“We are responsible to God for the use we make of our understandings, as well as for the exercise of our affections. There is nothing in the Word of God to justify men in believing what they like, and anyone who neglects to search out the truth commits a sin of omission…to neglect God’s testimonies, is an evil, so I add that, to neglect the precepts, is an equal evil.”

Charles Spurgeon, A Sincere Summary – and a Searching Scrutiny 29 October 1882

I was raised in church but always felt like I was missing something. Now the Word of God excites me! My curiosity enhances the pursuance of discernment. I have often felt discouraged, but not totally defeated knowing that in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.