Matthew 4:4 - Self-Reliance is Self-Destruction

"From the beginning, man has always relied upon God's verbal revelation for his ethical behavior. Immediately upon creating Adam, God spoke to him concerning His ethical requirements (Genesis 2:16-19)" (Kevin Swanson, Apostate, 41).

Even Adam in his original righteousness relied upon the Word of God. Arguing by contrasting the greater to the lesser: in light of the sinful effects of the fall and the imputation of Adam's sin (cf. Romans 5:12-19), how much more are the sons of Adam behooved to rely upon the Word of God?

Pride. Human autonomy. Self reliance. Idolatry. These four are one in the same. Thus, self-reliance is self-destruction. We are creatures, so we need to have creaturely-reliance, i.e., man was created to be Word-reliant. Christ the God-man said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

Grace, Knowledge, and Obedience

"Thus the origin of knowledge is trinitarian: The Father knows all and reveals truth to us by the grace of His Son through the work of the Spirit in our hearts. Note how each person of the Trinity is involved in the knowing process (cf. 1 Sam. 2:3; Ps. 73:11; Isa. 11:2; 28:9; 53:11; Matt. 11:25f.; Eph. 1:17; Col. 2:3). Thus it is all of God, all of grace. . . . There is a "circular" relation between knowledge and obedience in Scripture. . . . It is certainly true that if you want to obey God more completely, you must get to know Him; but it is also true if you want to know God better, you must seek to obey Him more perfectly" (John Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 42-43).

Christ: Our Righteousness

From John Calvin's Institutes: Our righteousness is in Christ, and it is "imputed to us as if it were our own."

You see that our righteousness is not in ourselves, but in Christ; that the only way in which we become possessed of it is by being made partakers with Christ, since with him we possess all riches. There is nothing repugnant to this in what he elsewhere says: “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,” (Rom. 8:3, 4). Here the only fulfillment to which he refers is that which we obtain by imputation. Our Lord Jesus Christ communicates his righteousness to us, and so by some wondrous ways in so far as pertains to the justice of Gods transfuses its power into us. That this was the Apostle’s view is abundantly clear from another sentiment which he had expressed a little before: “As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous,” (Rom. 5:19). To declare that we are deemed righteous, solely because the obedience of Christ is imputed to us as if it were our own, is just to place our righteousness in the obedience of Christ. 

Duties and Events

"Providence," wrote the seraphic Samuel Rutherford, "hath a thousand keys to open a thousand sundry doors for the deliverance of his own, when it is even come to a conclamatum est ["when it is all over with us"]. Let us be faithful, and care for our own part, which is to do and suffer for Him, and lay Christ's part on Himself, and leave it there. Duties are ours, events are the Lord's." The Lord will establish His kingdom in His own time and in His own way. Our task is that of obedience to His revealed word and will (Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Communicator's Commentary Series, Vol. 19: Daniel, 80-81). 

The Psalms: Highview Architecture

An excellent summary of the overarching structure -- highview architecture -- of The Psalms.

The Torah is holy history that becomes Law only in the context of Todah, "Praise and Thanksgiving.

... 

The Canticles that were preserved in the Book of Praise [The Psalms] open with the dynamism of obedience (Psalm 1) and the expectation of the ideal King (Psalm 2). They terminate with the Hallelujah of the final apotheosis (Psalm 150) (Samuel Terrien, The Psalms: Strophic Structure and Theological Commentary, 60).

I had to look up the word "apotheosis" -- from the Greek word "to deify" -- elevation to divine status, deification, the perfect example.

Also, what a phrase! -- "dynamism of obedience" -- I love that.