SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 8/31/2012 10:36:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm
119 PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
119:1-8
Message
of the verses: In Today’s SD we will
begin to look at this longest chapter, (Psalm 119) in the entire Bible by
looking at the first eight verses of the psalm, remembering that it is a psalm
about the Word of God.
Aleph
(vv. 1-8)—Blessed and Blameless : 1 Aleph.
How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the LORD. 2
How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their
heart. 3 They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways. 4 You have ordained Your precepts, That we
should keep them diligently. 5 Oh that my ways may be established To keep Your
statutes! 6 Then I shall not be ashamed When I look upon all Your commandments. 7 I shall give thanks to You with uprightness
of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments. 8 I shall keep Your statutes;
Do not forsake me utterly!”
In the past psalms that we have been
studying we have seen the word “blessed” on many occasions, and we see this
word in the first two verses of this psalm, but that is it we won’t see it
again and the question arises “How can we receive God’s blessing?” The psalmist states “How blessed are those
whose way is blameless, those who walk in the law of the Lord.”
When we think of the law it
sometimes frightens us even almost paralyzing us with great despair. In the book of Deuteronomy and in chapter
27:1-28:68 and also in Joshua 9:30-35 we see that the law is more cursing than
blessing, and this can frighten us.
However when we look at Galatians 3:10-13 we read, “10 For as many as
are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED
IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO
PERFORM THEM." 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is
evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." 12 However,
the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL
LIVE BY THEM." 13 Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-for it is
written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE.’” Dr. Wiersbe writes these important words
“The law is not a weapon in the hands of an angry Judge but a tool in the hands
of a loving Father, used by the Spirit to make us more like Jesus Christ.” The Word enables us to know God better and
draw closed to Him. ‘Blameless’ does not mean sinless but wholehearted devotion
to the Lord, sincerity, and integrity.
Only Jesus Christ was totally blameless in His relationship to God and
His law, but because believers are ‘in Christ,’ we are ‘holy and without blame
before Him’ (Eph. 1:4). He loves us in
our hearts (Rom. 5:5) and His Spirit enable us (Gal. 5:16-26), so His law is
not a heavy yoke that crushes us, for ‘His commandments are not burdensome’
(1John 5:3, NKJV).”
When we think of seeking God it
means much more than just reading the Word or even studying the Word, it means
hearing the voice of God in His Word.
Now don’t get me wrong it is not an auditable voice that I am speaking
of here. It also means loving the Lord
more and having a desire to delight His very heart and to please Him. We also have to surrender to Him
wholeheartedly, and this makes me think of Romans 12:1-2 and also we see this
in this psalm in verses 2, 10, 34, 58, 69, and 145. One more thing and that is that we must not
allow any rival love to enter, things like TV, sports, and other hobbies that
can creep in and actually start to become an idol in our life taking away our
devotion and love to the Lord.
We see in places of this 119th
Psalm that the psalmist had failed and that is one of the dangers and
disappointments that we too will face, and when this happens we must cry out
like the psalmist for revival or reviving that can be seen in verses 25, 37,
40, 50, 88, 93, 107 149, 154, 156, and 159.
I think that before we seek this revival from the Lord we must follow
1John 1:9, “If we confess our sins He is faithful to and righteous to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We can see in the ninth chapter of the book
of Daniel along with the 9th chapter of the book of Nehemiah that
both of these OT saints not only confessed the sins of Israel, but also their
own sins before God that caused the Lord to bring the Babylonian captivity upon
them. We have many things in our country
that are not going right in the day that we live in, and the biggest reason for
this is a spiritual reason. In reading
Joel Rosenberg’s new book “Implosion” he talks about that there were two great
“spiritual awakenings” in the United States, one which happened right before
the Revolutionary War and one right before the Civil War. He goes on to say that we are in a great need
of having another great awakening and as believers we should be praying for
this to happen.
Dr. Wiersbe gives a quote that is
in many of his books, a quote that is from an old Scottish Pastor, a quote that
has meant a lot to me because of it great meaning, he states, “The victorious Christian life is a series of
new beginnings.” A wonderful Holy
Spirit revival in the hearts of many believers today because of many getting
serious with the Lord in confessing their sins would bring about a series of
many new beginnings and could be the spark needed to start the fire of the next
great awakening in our country. Dr.
Wiersbe writes “As we cultivate an appetite for the Word (vv. 10, 20, 40, 81,
131) and feed upon it, we give the Spirit something to work with in our hearts,
and He enables us to walk in God’s paths.
If we feel ashamed when we read the Word (v. 6; see v. 80), then we have
to stop and find out why and then confess it to the Lord. If we are ashamed because of our
disobedience, then we cannot witness to others (v. 46) and we will be ashamed
of our hope (v. 116). Better to be
ashamed now and confess it than to be ashamed when we meet the Lord (1John
2:28).”
We see that the psalmist talks
about praise in verse seven and praise is good preparation for learning about
God and His Word. We see this again in
verse 12 and 171, making a point that it is important to remember. In verses
3 and 5 we see can see that our ways are not always God’s ways, and this
shows us that we need to continue to press on by faith, and by doing this God
will help us, “I shall keep Your statutes; Do not forsake me utterly”
(V.8) “Make sure that your character is
free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself
has said, "I WILL
NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,’” (Heb. 13:5).
When we read the story of Jacob,
whom God later renamed Israel, we find out that Jacob was not a spiritual
person when he ran away from home, but through his life God worked on him and
Jacob ended up to be a very godly man.
Jacob knew that God had promised not to forsake him, and this was a
reason that he moved forward in his walk with the Lord. (See Genesis 28:10-22.)
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: It was a long time ago that I read through
the 119th Psalm one evening and the word “revival” kept coming up
when I was reading it and because I knew that my life needed to be revived the
Lord used this psalm to bring about revival in my life. Upon first reading the quote from the old
Scottish preacher it has always been meaningful to me as it goes along with
what 1John 1:9 says.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Pray that God will send a third great awakening upon our land.
8/31/2012
12:08:23 PM
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