MONDAY: Yahweh Tsidqenu - The Lord Our Righteousness

Studying the Name

Righteousness isn’t a popular word in our culture. Yet righteousness is essential to our happiness because it involves being in right relationship or right standing with God, conforming to His character, and fulfilling our responsibilities toward Him and others. But righteousness is impossible for us to achieve, no matter how much we might long for it. It comes only as God’s gift to us through faith in His Son. When we pray to the Lord our righteousness, we are praying to the one who has intervened on our behalf to restore us to His likeness and therefore to fellowship with Himself.

Understanding the Name

The Hebrew word tsedeq is usually translated as “righteousness” but can also be translated as “righteous,” “honest,” “right,” “justice,” “accurate,” “just,” “truth,” or “integrity.”

Righteousness primarily involves being in right standing with God. Righteousness fulfills the demands of relationship with both God and with others. Though people were often called righteous in the Hebrew Scriptures if they observed the Law, Jesus and the writers of the New Testament stress that righteousness is not merely a matter of outward behavior but a matter of the heart - of thoughts, motives, and desires. The goal is not merely to do what God says but to become like Him.

Key Scripture 

“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 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 Righteousness . . .This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Jeremiah 23:5-6; 31:33.

Discussion

Jeremiah reveals that the coming King will be known as “The Lord Our Righteousness.” What comes to mind when you hear the words “righteous” or “righteousness”?

What does it mean to have God’s law written on your heart?

How do you think Jesus’ sacrifice has affected your relationship with God?

What do you think it means to have “faith in His blood"?

TUESDAY - Praying the Name

Reflect On: Romans 3:10; Matthew 5:6.

Praise God: For His absolute integrity.

Offer Thanks: That God does not abandon us to the power of sin.

Confess: Any apathy about living a righteous life.

Ask God: To show you the depth of your need for Him.

WEDNESDAY - Praying the Name

Reflect On: Genesis 15 and 1 Peter 2:24.

Praise God: For His righteousness.

Offer Thanks: That God came seeking you.

Confess: Any tendency to forget what Jesus suffered for your sake.

Ask God: To increase your understanding of what Jesus has done for you.

THURSDAY - Praying the Name

Reflect On: Job 40 and 42.

Praise God: For His sovereignty.

Offer Thanks: For God’s faithfulness to you.

Confess: Any tendency to accuse God of being unjust.

Ask God: To help you to trust Him in good times and bad.

FRIDAY - Promises Associated with God’s Name

Blessings crown the head of the righteous. (Proverbs 10:6).

The memory of the righteous will be a blessing. (Proverbs 10:7).

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. (Proverbs 10:11).

The lips of the righteous nourish many. (Proverb s 10:21).

What the wicked dread will come upon them, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. (Proverbs 10:24).

Remember that righteousness from God comes through faith. (Romans 3:10-31).