Lesson 19: Zealous for righteousness
 www.bible.com/bible/59/psa.119 

 137 Righteous are you, O LORD, and right are your rules.
138 You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness.
139 My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget your words.
140 Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it.
141 I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.
143 Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight.
144 Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live.
 
In these verses you will find the word righteous or righteousness in four of them. As we grow stronger in God’s word, it will give us an ever greater desire to be righteous before Him. As we read in verse 139, our zeal for righteousness will grow in our hearts. This is one of the signs by which you can know for certain you are a child of God – for righteousness is not something an unsaved person will long for.

As we read in verse 140, God’s promises must be tested and proven to be true and faithful for us to truly learn to love them and God. Our faith in Him grows as we try them, though never for our own sake (James 4:2-3). God’s righteousness will never seek glory for anyone but God. But God’s glory is reflected on those who seek Him, just as the sun is reflected on the moon.

Verse 141 is an acknowledgment of the value of our own righteousness. In ourselves we have no righteousness, and we can do nothing to bring glory to God through our own effort. But just as this verse says, our worth and value comes from knowing God and His word. His righteousness alone is right forever (verse 142), and will protect us from many troubles and anguish which would come from our failure to live in His way (verse 143).

Eternal life comes only from His righteousness. Jesus said this to us too in John 14:6 when He said He is the way, the truth, and the life.