"Blessed Are the Balanced" (Ps. 119:161-168)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/21/2012 8:37:49 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Blessed Are the Balanced

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                  Reference:  Psalm 119:161-168

 

  Message of the verses:  “161 Shin. Princes persecute me without cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your words. 162 I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds great spoil. 163 I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law. 164 Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous ordinances. 165 Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble. 166 I hope for Your salvation, O LORD, And do Your commandments. 167 My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly. 168 I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You.”

 

  I have always said that the entire Bible is a balanced book, and as we have studied the 119^th Psalm we can see that it is also balanced, and we will see that this quality is especially true in this stanza.

 

  Respect and Rejoicing (vv. 161-162):  “Princes persecute me without cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your words. 162 I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds great spoil.”

  Let us go back to verse 23 for some insight on verse 161.  “Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes.”

 

 We see that the princes began to talk against the psalmist in verse 23, but now they are persecuting against him in verse 160.  The psalmist does not change as he continues to be strengthened by the Word of God.  The psalmist has learned as we should learn that when we fear the Lord we need to fear no one else.  We can see that the psalmist both respected and rejoiced in the Word of God at the same time.  We must learn that the joy of the Lord and the greatness of the Lord are friends and not enemies.  As the princes were trying to rob the psalmist of perhaps even his life he was growing wealthier in the Word of God.  In this world today we hear a lot about money as we have TV networks dedicated 24/7 speaking about money.  When I began my job at Ford in 1965 I was making $2.68 per hour and a nice house cost no more that $12-15 thousand dollars.  Today you can’t buy a good used car for that much money.  God’s Word is full of promises and they never lose their value, and we cannot be robbed of them.

 

  Love and Hate (v. 163):  “163 I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law.”

 

When people think about God they mostly think that God is love, and He surely is love, but God also hates sin, and the Bible teaches us that God hates divorce.  The Bible states that “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.  God hated sin so much that He had to use love to satisfy His hatred of sin, and this was accomplished by sending His Son to planet earth to become sin for us in order to give us His righteousness.  We see love and justice on the cross and for that I will be eternally thankful.  We have seen the psalmist speaking about love and hate throughout this psalm for he states that He loves God’s Law but hated every false way (vv. 97, 104, 127-128).  The psalmist states He loves God’s law but hated double-minded people (v. 113). 

 

  Praise and poise (vv. 164-165):  “164 Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous ordinances. 165 Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.”  

 

We can see praise and poise in these two verses as praise is found in verse 164 and poise is found in verse 165.  We see the psalmist praising the Lord seven times a day, but you realize that this is not a matter of pride that he writes these words, and he is not a legalist in doing this.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The legalist would set a goal and be proud that he reached it; the Spirit-filled believer sets no goal but goes beyond any goal he might have set.  Just as prayer can bring peace to our hearts (Phil. 4:4-7), so praise can bring peace as well.  Focusing on the Lord, asking for nothing, and totally lost in our praise of Him, has a way of making the problems look much smaller and the future much brighter.  But praise also helps us to have poise in our Christian walk and to not stumble (Jude 24) or cause others to stumble (1Cor. 8:13; Romans 14:13).  The singing saint is a stable saint, walking on a level path even when the enemy digs pits and sets up obstacles.”

 

  Walking and Waiting (vv. 166-168):  “166 I hope for Your salvation, O LORD, And do Your commandments. 167 My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly. 168 I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You.”

 

  Titus 2:13 is a wonderful promise that all true believers are looking forward to:  “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”  This is what all true believers are truly looking forward for we know that this is going to happen someday, as it begins with the rapture of God’s church, the bride of Christ will be taken to heaven to be rewarded for the work that they have done for the Lord while in the body.  This will happen in heaven while the world will be in the tribulation period, the last seven years of earth as we know it.  Revelation 19 shows us that we will return to the earth with our Lord at the very end of the tribulation period and then the Lord will end the war before it destroys the entire earth.  He will then separate the sheep from the goats sending the goats into hell along with the antichrist, the false prophet and the devil.  After this He will recreate the earth into something like it was at the first creation and He will reign from Jerusalem for 1000 years fulfilling His promises to the nation of Israel that are scattered throughout the OT.  The new heavens, new earth, and new Jerusalem await after the end of the 1000 year kingdom as the entire universe is uncreated (2 Peter 3:10) and eternity with the Lord begins for all those who have trusted Him for their forgiveness of sins.

 

  Now we have to keep this in balance with what we are to be doing now while on planet earth.  The reason that Peter told his readers that the earth would be completely destroyed was to encourage them to keep working.  “9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

    “11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13  But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14  Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15  and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16  as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”  A couple of comments on this passage and the first is that these were the last words of Peter that were written in the NT, for not long after he wrote these words he was crucified upside down, which followed the crucifixion of his wife as tradition tells us.  The other comment is about the word “element” and this word in the Greek means “basic building block.”  The basic building block of all the universe is the atom and we know from Scripture that the Lord holds the world together, but one day He will let loose of the world and it will all burn up in a very, very large atomic explosion.  I have been watching a 26 part series on the last days of the Second World War and at the end of that war two bombs were set off over Japan having the power of twenty thousand tons of TNT and the heat from that blast was in the millions of degrees.  These are just small bombs compared to what are now available, but all of the bombs will not produce the power or heat of when the Lord un-creates the world, and as Peter says, knowing this ought to spurn us on to good works.  Dr. Wiersbe states “But as we wait and hope, we must walk and work, for we want to be found faithful when Jesus comes (Matt. 24:45-51).  When we love His Word, we will also love His appearing (2Tim. 4:6-8) and live like those who are ready to meet their Lord (1John 2:28).”

 

  Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have always been goal oriented, and I suppose that this is a good thing up unto a point as long as it is not in a legalist way when it comes to spiritual things.  I am glad and at the same time sad (good balance) when it comes to having my toes stepped on from God’s Word.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to sincerely praise the Lord in times of troubles and temptations.

 

Memory verses for the week:  1Cor. 13:1-7

 

  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, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

 

9/21/2012 9:54:19 AM

Strength for the Journey (Ps. 119:153-160)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/20/2012 9:27:45 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  Strength for the Journey

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Psalm 119:153-160

 

            Message of the verses:  “153 Resh. Look upon my affliction and rescue me, For I do not forget Your law. 154 Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word. 155 Salvation is far from the wicked, For they do not seek Your statutes. 156 Great are Your mercies, O LORD; Revive me according to Your ordinances. 157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, Yet I do not turn aside from Your testimonies. 158 I behold the treacherous and loathe them, Because they do not keep Your word. 159 Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness. 160 The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.”

 

            We are getting to the end of Psalm 119, and it has been a great journey for us to go on. The psalmist is realizing that as he nears the end of the Hebrew alphabet that his trials would continue, and so will ours.  The psalmist still needs help from the Lord as he goes through trials, and he will draw that strength from God’s Law.  Dr. Wiersbe states that the Christian life is like the land of Canaan, for we read in Deuteronomy 11:11 these words, “’But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven.’”  (Italics added)  Yes, the Christian life is full of hills and valleys as we go to mountain top experiences and then are plunged down into the valleys of life, but God is always the same and His Word is always the same.  One of the most dangerous times in the life of the believer is after a mountain top experience, and we have to remember this so that we are not defeated after a mountain top experience.  I certainly can relate to those experiences.

 

            We see a key phrase in this section, something we have seen before and that phrase is “revive me.”  Dr Wiersbe points out that this word means “give me life, lift me up and keep me going.”  We as believers need to be revived many times in our walk with the Lord and we must remember the statement from an old Scottish Pastor who stated that “The successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”  Revival is a necessary part of those new beginnings.

 

            Revive me, for you are my Redeemer (vv. 153-155):  “Look upon my affliction and rescue me, For I do not forget Your law. 154 Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word. 155 Salvation is far from the wicked, For they do not seek Your statutes.”

 

            One way to better understand the Bible is to look at a concordance like the “Strongs Concordance,” where you can look up a word and see how it is used in different part of the Bible.  I am going to copy and paste verse 153 including the Strongs numbers and then copy and past Genesis 22:8 the same way.  “Look <07200> upon my affliction <06040> and rescue <02502> me, For I do not forget <07911> Your law <08451>.”  “Abraham <085> said <0559>, "God <0430> will provide <07200> for Himself the lamb <07716> for the burnt <05930> offering <05930>, my son <01121>." So the two <08147> of them walked <01980> on together <03164>.”  We see the number 07200 in both verses and this helps us to understand what the psalmist is saying to the Lord.  The meaning of the word is “The Lord will see to it, and that is what Abraham is saying to his son Isaac when he asks where the sacrifice is that they were going to offer to the Lord.  We know that our Lord not only sees our afflictions but will see to them, providing what is needed.  Now let us look at verse 154 and look at the word redeem: “to redeem, act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom, do the part of a kinsman.”   We know this word from the book of Ruth as Boaz was the kinsman-redeemer for Ruth, but we also know this word in the NT as Jesus Christ is our kinsman as he entered into the human family and in the crucifixion Jesus paid the price to redeem us from sin, death, and hell. The words plead [defend] ties in with the Lord Jesus Christ as our Kinsman Redeemer and He is also our Surety as seen in verse 122:  “Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me.”  Jesus is our Mediator, and He is our Advocate, who represents us before the throne of God (1John 2:1-2):  “1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”  Just as the psalmist knew that in his affliction the Lord would hear his prayer and intercede for him, we can have that assurance too.

 

            Revive me, for you are merciful (vv. 156-158):  “156 Great are Your mercies, O LORD; Revive me according to Your ordinances. 157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, Yet I do not turn aside from Your testimonies. 158 I behold the treacherous and loathe them, Because they do not keep Your word.”

 

            If we prayed to God on our own merit we would not get too far, but Jesus told His disciples, and they passed it on to us that we are to pray in the name of Jesus and we are also to pray in the help of the Spirit.  “John 15:16, “’You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.’”  Romans 8:26-27, “26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27  and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

 

            We see in this section that the psalmist was still disgusted with the way the unbelievers were living, yet their bad habits did not change his own convictions, and that is something that we need to remember when we see all the things that are going on in our country today.

 

            Revive me, for Your Word can be trusted (vv. 159-160):  “159 Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness. 160 The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.”

 

            We see the wonderful promise of verse 160 stating that God’s Word can be trusted, and that is because God can be trusted.  Dr. Wiersbe states “The totality of God’s written revelation is not just true—it is truth.”  He goes on to state “The Bible is not a magic book that conveys divine life to anyone who picks it up and reads it.  God’s living Word communicates His life and power to those who read it, meditate on it, and obey it because the love God and His Word.  When Jesus raised the dead, it was through speaking the Word (Luke 7:11-17; 8:40-56; John 11:38-44; see John 5:24), and His Word gives us life today when we find ourselves in the dust (25).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are times in my life, and I suppose in the lives of others when we look for truth.  Pilate looked for truth when Jesus was on trial before Him, and the sad fact is that he was looking Truth right in the face.  I can know for certain that when I read the Word of God that it is not just true, but it is Truth.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember that the Word of God is not just true, but is the Truth.

 

Memory verses for the week:  1Cor. 13:1-7

 

            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, 5 does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into an account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

9/20/2012 10:48:26 AM

A Primer on Prayer (Psalm 119:145-152)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/19/2012 7:45:04 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  A Primer on Prayer

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Psalm 119:145-152

 

            Message of the verses:  “145 Qoph. I cried with all my heart; answer me, O LORD! I will observe Your statutes. 146 I cried to You; save me And I shall keep Your testimonies. 147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words. 148 My eyes anticipate the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word.  149 Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your ordinances. 150 Those who follow after wickedness draw near; They are far from Your law. 151 You are near, O LORD, And all Your commandments are truth. 152 Of old I have known from Your testimonies That You have founded them forever. “

 

            In his introduction to this section Dr. Wiersbe writes “The writer prayed throughout this entire psalm, but in these verses he concentrated on prayer and cried out to God day and night.  From his experience, we receive some basic introductions about successful prayer.

 

            Pray wholeheartedly (vv. 145-146):  “I cried with all my heart; answer me, O LORD! I will observe Your statutes. 146 I cried to You; save me And I shall keep Your testimonies.”

 

            From verses 2, 10, & 58 of this psalm we learn that we must seek God with our whole heart, and in verses 34 & 69 we learn that we must obey the Lord with a whole heart.  John Bunyan wrote “In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart.” 

 

            The golden altar of incense that was in the temple represents prayer, and it is also spoken of in Revelations 8:3-4, “3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.”  This can teach us that the devotion of the heart is what ignites our prayers, and this enables us to present our requests to the Lord; we are praying wholeheartedly.

 

            We see at the end of verse 146 that the psalmist states what seems to be a bargain with the Lord when he states, “save me and I will keep Your testimonies.”  Dr. Wiersbe points out that the psalmist was “dedicating himself to God to obey Him no matter how He answers his prayers.”  He then writes, “Before we can pray as we ought, we must pray for ourselves that God will give us a heart ignited by the fire of the Spirit.”

 

            Pray without ceasing according to the Word (vv. 147-148):  “147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words. 148 My eyes anticipate the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word.”

 

            We see two important elements of successful prayer in this section.  When we read 1Thes. 5:17 sometimes we wonder how we can “pray without ceasing,” but that is the first element of successful prayer that we find here.  Dr. Wiersbe states to ‘pray without ceasing does not mean to walk around muttering prayers.  It means to ‘keep the receiver off the hook,’ so that nothing comes between the Father and us.”

 

            We see from this section that the second element of successful prayer is the Word of God, and this should not surprise us at all, for apart from the Word of God we have no idea of knowing God’s will.  We have mentioned that there may be only three verses in this entire psalm of 176 verses that do not mention the Word of God and so we must conclude that the writer was devoted to the Word of God and prayer for as you read this psalm it reminds us of a very long prayer.  Dr Wiersbe points out that “we must balance the Word and prayer in our devotional life and ministry, for all Bible and no prayer means light without heat, but all prayer and no Bible could result in zeal without knowledge.”  "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (John 15:7).” 

 

            It was evident from Acts 6:4 that the early church leaders dedicated themselves to prayer and the study of the Word, and they kept this in balance.  Dr. Wiersbe points out that “when we meditate on the Word, the Father speaks to us, and when we pray, we speak to the Father. We need both instruction and intercession if we are to be balanced children of God.”

 

            Pray as an act of Love (v. 149):  “149 Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your ordinances.”

 

            Jesus told His disciples that if you love Me you will keep my commandments and from this, we learn that love and law do go together.  I think that sometimes we think that our prayers are only like the prayer that Peter prayed “Lord save me” when he was sinking into the water, but as parents we would not only want our children to speak to us if they want something or if they have some sort of crisis, and so does our heavenly Father want this.  In this we learn that prayer is more than asking, but loving as we can see from this psalm that the psalmist had a great love for the Word of God and the God of the Word.  I have spoken many times about the 15^th chapter of John and abiding or remaining in the Lord in order to get our marching orders from the Lord, but we also will love the Lord more and more when we abide or remain in His Word and in Him, for we cannot help but love the Lord more as we study His Word, for by doing this we will better see who He is.

 

            Pray with your eyes open (vv. 150-152):  “150 Those who follow after wickedness draw near; They are far from Your law. 151 You are near, O LORD, And all Your commandments are truth. 152 Of old I have known from Your testimonies That You have founded them forever.”

 

            We see in this section that the enemies of the psalmist were drawing near and so he wanted the Lord to draw near to him.  An example of this is found in the book of Nehemiah when he and the people of Jerusalem were rebuilding the wall and the gates of the city.  Daniel had prophesied that this would be a time of trouble in the ninth chapter of his book, and Nehemiah instructed the worker to watch out for the enemies along with working on the wall.  They were to watch and pray.  We also see this when Jesus was praying in the garden and His disciples were falling asleep because they were not watching and praying.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “We are soldiers in a battle and we dare not go to sleep while on duty.”  We are to watch and pray.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I see from this section that the psalmist seems to be praying without ceasing, and we have discussed what this means.  This is something that I desire to practice for I know that I am in a battle and in order to win the battle I need to be, at all times, in touch with my Commander.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Watch and pray with my eyes open.

 

Memory verses for the week:  1Cor. 13:1-7

 

            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, 5  does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6  does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

9/19/2012 8:44:37 AM

 

             

In God We Trust (Ps. 119:137-144)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/18/2012 8:46:08 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  In God We Trust

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Psalm 119:137-144

 

  Message of the verses:  “137 Tsadhe. Righteous are You, O LORD, And upright are Your judgments. 138 You have commanded Your testimonies in righteousness And exceeding faithfulness. 139 My zeal has consumed me, Because my adversaries have forgotten Your words. 140 Your word is very pure; Therefore Your servant loves it. 141 I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts. 142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth. 143 Trouble and anguish have come upon me, Yet Your commandments are my delight. 144 Your testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live.”

 

              Romans 10:17 is a verse that is used many times to tell others about the way to be saved as it is in what some call the “Romans Road to Salvation,” but as we look more closely at Romans 10:17 we can see that if believers will follow the words of this verse our faith will be increased, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  Our faith in increased by reading, hearing, and living out the Word of God.  The Bible speaks of those with no faith, little faith, or great faith, and faith the size of a mustard seed.  Just as there is life in a mustard seed even though it is very small, so there is life in God’s Word.  Dr. Wiersbe ends his introductory commentary on this section with these words, “The message of this section of the psalm is that you can depend on the Word of God so—have faith.”

 

              God’s Word is Trustworthy no Matter What People do (vv. 137-139):  “Righteous are You, O LORD, And upright are Your judgments. 138 You have commanded Your testimonies in righteousness And exceeding faithfulness. 139 My zeal has consumed me, Because my adversaries have forgotten Your words.”

 

              We can see discouragement in the psalmist as although he has a zeal for the Word of God, not all people have this zeal.  He has told others to trust in the Word, but many have not and this is the same today as it was in the psalmist day.  Jesus Christ, the living Word of God also had a zeal for not only the Word but the temple as we see in Psalm 69:9 and in John 2:17, for because of His zeal He cleansed the temple. 

 

              A couple of years ago I was in the hospital because I had trouble with kidney stones and a doctor who had cared for this problem before ended up taking care of it again, and this was through some circumstances that I felt were arranged by the Lord and so I took the time to write a letter to him and in that letter I explained to him why I thought that our paths had crossed again, and also told him the story of how I came to know the Lord.   Yesterday I went to see him again, and things did not work out the way that I hoped they would for he did not seem to remember much about the letter that I gave to him. I have been praying for him, and still do for a very long time.  This was a great discouragement to me and so I can relate to the psalmist from this section, but I must remember like the psalmist that God will use His Word.  I can also remember that those today who are making fun of the Word of God will someday die, their books will forgotten but the Word of God will still be here.

 

              God’s Word is Trustworthy no Matter What People Say (vv. 140—141):   “140 Your word is very pure, Therefore Your servant loves it. 141 I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts.”

 

              The psalmist thinks that he is small and despised, but the words that he has written are a part of the Word of God and all those who have despised him are long gone, but he lives on in heaven with the rest of the saints.  When Jesus was talking to some of the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead He told them about the passage when God was speaking to Moses at the burning bush and God identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, therefore Jesus told the Sadducees that God was the God of the living not the dead and so from that section we can be assured that all of the saints who have died before us are now alive in heaven waiting for their glorious bodies, but those who despised the psalmist and God’s Word will someday be in the fires of hell, after the Great White Throne Judgment. 

 

              The Word of God has been tested by those who are believers and will never fail us, even though at times we are like the psalmist and become discouraged, but we can trust in the Word of God as he did.

 

              God is Trustworthy Regardless of how you feel (vv. 142-143):  “142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth. 143 Trouble and anguish have come upon me, Yet Your commandments are my delight.”

 

              Verse 142 says that God’s Word is truth as Jesus also says this in John 17:17, “’Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.’”  Jesus states in John 14:6 that He is the Truth, “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  1 John 5:6 states that the Spirit is Truth:  “This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”  Dr. Wiersbe states “The Spirit of truth wrote the Word of truth and that Word reveals the Son of God.  When your feelings deceive you into concluding that it is not worth it to serve the Lord, immediately turn to the Scriptures and delight  in your Lord.”

 

              God’s Word is Trustworthy no Matter how Long you live (v. 144):  “144 Your testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live.”

 

              The psalmist says that the Word of God will live on forever, and this is not the first time he has stated that, “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven (v.89).”  “The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting (160).” 

 

              As believers we are to build our life on the Word of God as Jesus explains at the end of His Sermon on the Mount, “24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell-and great was its fall." 28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes (Matthew 7:24-29).”  John writes these words in 1 John 2:17:  “The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

 

              We know that the Bible teaches us that our life is just a breath or we are like the flowers in the fields which are here today, but gone tomorrow, and so we must conclude that it is not so much the quantity of our life that is important but the quality of our life.  Jesus lived 33 years on this earth, and only three of those years were in ministry, “yet He accomplished a word that is eternal.”

 

              Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The psalmist teaches us throughout this wonderful psalm the importance of God’s Word and how we are to study it, memorize it, meditate upon it, and to understand the importance of it even in times when we are troubled by either outside or inside circumstances.  I need to pay more attention to God’s Word.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Two things that I have thought about for a long time that come from the Word of God and that is to be content, and also to abide in the Vine.

 

Memory verses for the Week:  1Cor. 13:1-7

 

  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 to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  3 If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and 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 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

   9/18/2012 10:15:10 AM

A Chain Reaction (Ps. 119:129-136)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/17/2012 8:29:13 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  A Chain Reaction

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  Psalm 119:129-136

 

  Message of the verses:  “129 Pe. Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul observes them. 130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. 131 I opened my mouth wide and panted, For I longed for Your commandments. 132 Turn to me and be gracious to me, After Your manner with those who love Your name. 133 Establish my footsteps in Your word, And do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. 134 Redeem me from the oppression of man, That I may keep Your precepts. 135 Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes. 136 My eyes shed streams of water, Because they do not keep Your law.”

 

  Dr. Wiersbe concludes his introductory commentary on this section with these wise words, “This section describes a ‘spiritual chain reaction’ in the life of the psalmist, one that can occur in our lives if we ponder the wonders of God’s Word.” “Just as love and hate (vv. 127-128) and joy and affliction can exist in the same heart (vv. 111, 107), so can awe and anguish.  In fact, when we begin to see the beauty and wonder of Scriptures, we also begin to understand the ugliness of sin and the cheapness of what the world has to offer.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

 

  Wonder Leads to Obedience (v. 129):  “Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul observes them.”  

 

The psalmist states that it is because of the wonder of God’s Word that he will observe the commandments that he finds in them.  This means not only is the Word of God wonderful, but the God of the Word is wonderful and that should be reason enough to obey His Word.

 

   “Obedience leads to understanding (v. 130): The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.”          

 

God’s Word is light that can come into our hearts and into our minds and when it does it brings spiritual insight and spiritual understanding as described in 2 Cor. 4:1-6, “1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, 2  but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4  in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

 

  Now let us take a look at the word “unfolding” that is used in verse 130, but it is translated as entrance in the KJV.  This word means “disclosure” and “opening up” as seen in Luke 24:32 “They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?’”  Luke 24 has the story of two disciples on the road to Emmaus and having an encounter with the Risen Lord who explains the scriptures to them and in the same way a Spirit filled Pastor will open up the Word of God to his congregation as he preaches from God’s Word.

 

  Understanding Leads to Deeper Desire (v. 131):  “131 I opened my mouth wide and panted, For I longed for Your commandments.”   

 

Let us look at Psalm 42:1-2 to help us understand what the psalmist is saying in this verse:  “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?”  Job also will give us his insight in Job 23:12, “have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.’”  It is not good for us to lose the desire for the Word of God for when we do this, we may look for substitutes that the world has to offer, and what the world has to offer is not good for us.

 

  Desire Leads to Love for God (v. 132):  “132 Turn to me and be gracious to me, After Your manner with those who love Your name.” 

 

In John 14:21-24 we learn how the child of God experiences God’s love through the Word, “21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?" 23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

 

  As we look at the different names of God in the Bible, they reveal who God truly is and to love His name means that we are loving God.  Dr. Wiersbe states that the psalmist is speaking about the covenant promises that God had given to Israel and if they would have kept them God would have blessed them and He would have exhibited to them His power and mercy, but they did not do this and they were judged by the Lord.  This is one of the things that brings fear to my heart as I look at our once great country that feared the Lord, but now there seems to be little fear of the Lord in our country.

 

  God’s Love Leads to Guidance and Freedom (vv. 133-132):  “133 Establish my footsteps in Your word, And do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. 134 Redeem me from the oppression of man, That I may keep Your precepts.”

 

 Because of the importance of this section to me I want to copy what Dr. Wiersbe has to say about it in its entirety:  “When we experience the love of God in our hearts, we keep His commandments (John 14:15), and obedience to His commandments sets us free from slavery of sin (Romans 6).  The word ‘dominion’ means ‘autocratic rule,’ but sin is not supposed to have dominion over us (Rom. 6:12-16).  But there is more: we are also set free from the oppression of people and the enslavement it can bring (v. 134).  When you are the servant of Jesus Christ, you are free from slavery to people, ‘You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men’ (1Cor. 7:23).”

 

  Freedom in Christ brings us God’s Blessing (vv. 135-136):  “135 Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes. 136 My eyes shed streams of water, Because they do not keep Your law.”    

 

When God hides His face from His people, He is disciplining them, but when God’s face shines upon His people He is giving them blessings.  My prayer for the Church in our country is that God will once again have mercy on us and send a wonderful awaking to us like He has done two times before in this country.  We need the face of God to be shining upon us in order to revive us and cleanse us from the many sins that we as a nation have committed against a holy God.  We need to seek His face in order to seek His blessing that we desperately need.  Dr. Wiersbe states that “a broken heart and a blessed heart can exist in the same person at the same time.  Jeremiah wept over the sins of a nation about to be destroyed and Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they had rejected Him.  The apostle Paul wept over lost souls as well as over professed believers in the church who were living for the world and the flesh.  If our enjoyment of God’s Word reached our hearts, then we ought to have a burden for the lost and want to try to reach them for Christ.”

 

  Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Love the Lord and Love His Word is what is coming to me from this section.  Having a love for the lost and not judging them, but trusting in God’s justice is something that I want to have as the psalmist did as he wept over those who did not keep God’s Law.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to doing His justice in the world.

 

Memory verses for the week:  1Cor 13:1-7

 

  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, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6  does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

 

9/17/2012 9:42:00 AM

 

 

Blessed Assurance (Ps. 119:121-128)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/16/2012 7:49:30 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  Blessed Assurance

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Psalm 119:121-128

 

            Message of the verses:  121 Ayin. I have done justice and righteousness; Do not leave me to my oppressors. 122 Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me. 123 My eyes fail with longing for Your salvation And for Your righteous word.  124 Deal with Your servant according to Your lovingkindness And teach me Your statutes. 125 I am Your servant; give me understanding, That I may know Your testimonies. 126 It is time for the LORD to act, For they have broken Your law. 127 Therefore I love Your commandments Above gold, yes, above fine gold. 128 Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything, I hate every false way.”

 

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that for the first time in this psalm we see the word oppressors or oppresses as they are found in verses 121, 122 & 134.  The word means that there is someone who is oppressing or taking advantage of the underprivileged in Israel which goes against the Law of the Lord that is found in Lev. 25:14, 17; Deut. 24:5-22.  Dr. Wiersbe writes at the end of his introductory commentary on this section these words, “Often, God’s people suffer oppression while the guilty go free.  When that happens, we need to remember the Lord and what He does for us.”

 

            The Lord is the Rewarder (v. 121):  “I have done justice and righteousness; Do not leave me to my oppressors.”

 

            This verse reminds me a bit of Job as he also states his case to the Lord that he was innocent of any wrong doing as the psalmist does in this section.  He wants to see those who are oppressing him to receive justice from the Lord as all believers want to see.  When God rewards His children this will be a sign to those who are not His children that there will be a day when they receive their just rewards too and that will be in the form of God’s perfect justice.

 

            The Lord is our Surety (v. 122):  “122 Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me.”

 

            I don’t see any words that are speaking of God’s Word in verses 121 & 122.

 

            Surety is seen as an example from the book of Genesis when Jacob did not want Benjamin to go to Egypt and his son Judah willingly became surety for him stating that if anything happened to Benjamin Jacob could do something to Judah’s children. The Bible teaches that we are not to be surety for another person’s debt, but it also teaches that the Jews were to lend money to other Jews without any interest charged.

 

            Jesus Christ becomes surety for those who have trusted Him as Lord and Savior, “so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant (Heb. 7:22).”  Dr. Wiersbe writes “No matter what people do to us and no matter how we feel, our Surety is secure and we remain in the family of God.  Jesus has taken the responsibility for our salvation, and He will never fail.”

 

            The Lord is our Master (vv. 123-125):  “123 My eyes fail with longing for Your salvation And for Your righteous word.  124 Deal with Your servant according to Your lovingkindness And teach me Your statutes. 125 I am Your servant; give me understanding, That I may know Your testimonies.”

 

            When people attack believers they are attacking the Lord and an example of this can be seen in the ninth chapter of Acts when the risen Lord ask Saul of Taurus why he was persecuting Him, and because Saul was persecuting the children of the Lord he was persecuting the Lord.  Now this does not mean that the Lord stops all people from oppressing His children, but when He does allow this He has a good reason for it, and will one day give justice to those doing the oppressing.  Dr. Wiersbe states, “God’s servants do not live by explanations; they live by promises.”

 

            The Lord is the Final Judge (vv. 126-128):  “126 It is time for the LORD to act, For they have broken Your law. 127 Therefore I love Your commandments Above gold, yes, above fine gold. 128 Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything, I hate every false way.”

 

            These are the verses that believer can take hold of when they are being oppressed for in these verses the psalmist is asking the Lord to act upon those who have broken His Law.  Now we know that the Bible teaches that we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but it also teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Law perfectly while He was on earth and because of this all of those who belong to Him, because they are “in Christ” have also fulfilled the Law.  The psalmist is speaking of those who are unbelievers in this section who have broken the Law of God and desires the Lord to give justice to them.  We have to remember that God’s ways and God’s times are not always the same as ours.  We see from Hebrews 6:12 that faith and patience go together “so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

 

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes with these words, “If we love the Word, we will hate the wrong paths of sinners and stay away from them.  “We do not even put one foot on the path of the wicked! (Prov. 1:13).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Loving God’s Word and not putting one foot on the path that the unbelievers tread is something that I desire to do.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue in memorizing the 13^th chapter of 1 Cor, which speaks of what love is so that I can practice real love.

 

Memory verses for the week:  1Cor. 13:1-7

 

            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, 5  does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

9/16/2012 8:26:27 AM