SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 9/9/2012 7:18:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Read
the Instructions
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
119:73-80
Message
of the verses: “73 Yodh. Your hands
made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your
commandments. 74 May those who fear You see me and be glad, Because I wait for
Your word. 75 I know, O LORD, that Your
judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. 76 O may Your lovingkindness comfort me,
According to Your word to Your servant.
77 May Your compassion come to me that I may live, For Your law is my
delight. 78 May the arrogant be ashamed,
for they subvert me with a lie; But I shall meditate on Your precepts. 79 May those who fear You turn to me, Even
those who know Your testimonies.80 May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, So that I will not be
ashamed.”
In this section the psalmist mentions several ministries of the Word
that are a must in the life of the person who is a faithful child of God.
We
learn about ourselves (v. 73): “73
Yodh. Your hands made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may
learn Your commandments.”
In a day when some women think that
having a child is their choice and that the little person growing in their womb
is not a person until it has been born we read in this verse that God is the
one who makes us and He is the One who fashions us.
The Bible is our instruction manual,
for the Bible is the only book that tells us the truth about where we came
from, and why we are here, what we are to do to succeed in our life, and we
also learn from it where we are going.
Two places are spoken of in the Word of God as to where people are
headed when they leave this earth, and two people are described in the Word of
God: “’He who believes in the Son has
eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on
him.’” (John 3:36) Let us look a bit closer to some verses that
go along with the first paragraph that I have written in this section: “13
For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give
thanks to You, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul
knows it very well. 15 My frame was not
hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the
depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed
substance; And in
Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as
yet there was not one of them. 17 How
precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still
with You.”
When we look around at the people in
the world and see what they think about where they came from and what they are
doing here we must have compassion for them, for they do not understand the
only truth that is available on this earth and that is the Word of God, for it
shows what the world and its people are really like for the real world and the
real people are presented in the pages of the Bible. James speaks of how the Bible is a mirror in
which we can see ourselves: “22 But
prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude
themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like
a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away,
he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the
perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a
forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he
does. 26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not
bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to
visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by
the world.”
We
become a blessing to others (vv. 74 & 79): “74 May those who fear You see me and be
glad, Because I wait for Your word.” “79 May those who fear You turn to me,
Even those who know Your testimonies.”
As believers we are to help others,
to have compassion on others, to be patient with them and if they are not
believers then we are to tell them of the hope that we have: “1Pe 3:15
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone
who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with
gentleness and reverence.”
We
receive God’s best in our afflictions (vv. 75-78 & 80): “75 I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are
righteous, And that in
faithfulness You have afflicted me.
76 O may Your lovingkindness comfort me, According to Your word to Your
servant. 77 May Your compassion come to
me that I may live, For Your law is my delight.
78 May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; But I
shall meditate on Your precepts.” “80 May my heart be blameless in
Your statutes, So that I will not be ashamed.”
We only have to look at the book of
Job to see that life is difficult and that we must accept the hand of God both
in the pleasant times and the not so pleasant times. (Look at Job 2:1-10 and also Phil. 4:10-13). “10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that
now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned
before, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in
whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble
means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance
I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having
abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him [Christ] who
strengthens me.” Philippians 4:11b have
been seen on my SD’s many times as we learn to be content in all circumstances
like Paul learned and he learned it from difficult circumstances like Job
learned it too. The Word of God is what
sustained both of these two saints and it also sustained the psalmist too, and
we must remember it can sustain us too.
Psalm 119:105 shows us that the Word of God is light to us to help us
not to stumble down the wrong path. Dr.
Wiersbe points out “that we have the love of God to comfort us and the promises
of God to encourage us. We may not
delight in our circumstances, but we pray that God will use them to spread the Gospel
and glorify His name (Phil. 1:12-16).
The enemy attacks us, but we turn to the Word and find the help that we
need. Our determination in Christ is
that we not to be ashamed. God’s decrees
are perfect and they come from His loving heart (33:11), so we have nothing to
fear.
When all else fails, read the
instructions.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: It is
good advice that Dr. Wiersbe gives here in stating that we need to read the
instruction manual.
I have mentioned that I am
reading a book that is about what D. L. Moody says about spiritual leadership
and in that book I found that one of the chapters speaks of reading the Word of
God and tells how much Moody studied. He
says that we need to continue to study the Word of God so that we can have more
things to tell others from what we have learned. We as humans tend to forget things so this is
another reason to continue to read and study in order to replenish what we have
forgotten.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Continue to read and study the instruction manual.
Memory
verses for the week: 1Cor. 13:1-4
1
If
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have
become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy,
and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to
remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my
possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do
not have love, it profits me nothing.
4
Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is
not arrogant.
9/9/2012
8:13:46 AM
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