Faith and Patience (Ps. 119:81-88)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/10/2012 6:43:45 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Faith and Patience

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Psalm 119:81-88

 

            Message of the verses:  Today’s SD marks getting to the middle of Psalm 119, the longest psalm or chapter in all of Scripture.

 

            Kaph—Faith and Patience (vv. 81-88):  “81 Kaph. My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.  82 My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, "When will You comfort me?"  83 Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.  84 How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?  85 The arrogant have dug pits for me, Men who are not in accord with Your law. 86 All Your commandments are faithful; They have persecuted me with a lie; help me! 87 They almost destroyed me on earth, But as for me, I did not forsake Your precepts.  88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.”

 

            Jesus says the following in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.’”  As believers we can expect persecution, and in the country that I live in the name of Jesus cannot be mentioned in the schools, although it is ok to mention other religions, just not Christianity. While watching a news program last night on TV this subject came up and there are people who are rising up to do things about it, and by God’s grace this freedom will not be taken away from us, but if it is God is still God and He will care for us just as He cared for the psalmist who wrote this psalm.  The devil is out to destroy the Jewish nation, from the time that they left Egypt up until today as we see that they are surrounded by enemies in the Middle East this very day, and this will continue until he is put into chains and then put into the pit at the end of the tribulation period.  The enemies of the psalmist were the enemies of God and the enemies of those who fight against the Church today as also the enemies of God.  We must take courage for I have read the last chapter and we win!

 

            Fainting by hoping (vv. 81-83):  “My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.  82 My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, "When will You comfort me?"  83 Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.”

 

            Raymond Edman wrote “It is always too soon to quit,” and these words were true of the psalmist, for although he was dried up like a worn out wine skin his hope was still in the Lord as he awaited the Lord to care for his troubles.  The psalmist hoped in the Word of God and the God of the Word.

 

            Questing but waiting (vv. 84-85):  “84 How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?  85 The arrogant have dug pits for me, Men who are not in accord with Your law.”

 

            Hebrews 6:11-12 says, “11  And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12  so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”  Romans 15:4 say, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

 

            Next time you are waiting in a traffic jam or at a long checkout line think about this section of Scripture, and remember that it is hard to wait for things that we see, but harder to wait upon the Lord that we do not see, but place our hope and trust in.  The psalmist was questioning about his circumstances, but his hope was in the Lord.

 

            Trusting and reviving (vv. 86-88):  “86 All Your commandments are faithful; They have persecuted me with a lie; help me! 87 They almost destroyed me on earth, But as for me, I did not forsake Your precepts.  88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.”

 

            Revival is what our country needs and what I hope and pray for, and that is what the psalmist was asking for at the end of this section.

 

            There are times when our enemies spread lies about us, and that is when we are to put our trust in the Lord, and in His Word like the psalmist was doing, as seen in verse 86.  Dr. Wiersbe writes, “When the Father allows His children to go into the furnace of affliction, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat.  He knows how long and how much.  To walk by faith will bring unrest and weakness, but to meditate on the Word will bring peace and power.”  One of the founders of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, Robert T. Ketcham wrote “Your Father in heaven loves you too much to harm you, and He is too wise to make a mistake.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I see in this section the psalmist possessing faith and hope and patience along with contentment, and these are qualities that are good to have, and qualities I too need to trust the Lord to help me with, so that I can demonstrate them.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to learn contentment and to demonstrate patience, knowing that the Lord does indeed have all things worked out for my good.

 

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 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and have all knowledge, and have all fait 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 surrender my body to be burned, and 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.

 

9/10/2012 7:37:19 AM

 

           

"Read the Instructions" Ps. 119:73-80)

 

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.”  (Ps. 139:13-18)

 

            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

           

             

God Is Good, All the Time "Psalm 119:65-72)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/8/2012 12:46:27 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                   Focus:  God Is Good, All the Time

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Psalm 119:65-72

 

            Message of the verses:  “65 Teth. You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word. 66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word.  68 You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes.  69 The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will observe Your precepts. 70 Their heart is covered with fat, But I delight in Your law.  71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.  72 The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

 

            We begin Today’s SD by looking at the Ninth section in the 119^th Psalm.  We must remember that this psalm is all about the Word of God for some form of Word is found in all but three verses.  Next remember that we will see a letter in the Hebrew alphabet at the beginning of every eight verse and that all of the verses in that section will begin in the Hebrew with that letter.  You can refer to the introduction of psalm 119 to get more details about this psalm.

 

             As we begin to look at this section it is good to realize that the Hebrew word tob, which means good, pleasant, beneficial precious, delightful and right is used six times in this section.  God is good and that is one of His attributes, and because God is unchangeable, which is another of His attributes then that means that He is good all the time.  God’s Word is good and this means that God does things according to His Word, which is good.  “Turn away my reproach which I dread, For Your ordinances are good (Psalm 119:39).”

 

            God does what is good (vv. 65-66):  “65 Teth. You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word.  66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments.” 

 

            The phrase “according to” is used eighteen times in this psalm (NASB) and it is used to relate a request or a fact to the Word of God.  God will act according to the precepts, promises, and principles related in His Word.  This means that we should pray and act according to these principles.  Pray the Scriptures is a wonderful way to pray.  James tells us “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures (James 4:3).”  We have to pray in the will of God in order to get our prayers answered, and that does not mean that we tack on “in Jesus’ name, Amen” at the end of our prayers and expect our prayers to be answered.  Jesus said that when He went away that more things would get done than when He was here on earth and the reason for that is that all of those who have been born from above and are now new creations are able to do more than Jesus did while on earth and so as new creations we are to be filled with His Holy Spirit to accomplish the things that He has chosen for us to accomplish and so we are to align our will with His and then pray that He will give us the power and strength to accomplish His works through us.  I write about being in the Vine a lot, and this is what being in the vine is all about.  Jesus said in that section of John 15 these words, “’If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.’”  Again this has to be asking in the will of Jesus.

 

            God overrules evil and from it brings good (vv. 67-71):  “67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. 68 You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes. 69 The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will observe Your precepts. 70 Their heart is covered with fat, But I delight in Your law. 71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.”

 

            We can observe from this section that the psalmist had sinned, but it was probably a sin of ignorance and not a sin of that was a flagrant act of rebellion.  (See Lev. 5:17-19 or Numbers 15:28)  God must have sent some form of discipline to the psalmist in order to show His love for him “’MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; 6  FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.’” (Hebrews 12:5b)

 

            God used this discipline to bring back the psalmist into fellowship with Him.  There are times when it seems like we are being disciplined by the Lord, but cannot figure out why and so we should remember Job at that time and realize that God sometimes uses this type of action to us in order to bring maturity into our lives.  Charles H. Spurgeon said “The promises of God shine the brightest in the furnace of affliction.”  Sometimes these afflictions come from the enemies of God as we seen in verse 70 when the psalmist mentions “Their heart is covered with fat.”  God can even use this godless opposition for our good (Romans 8:28; 1Peter 1:6-9 and 4:12-19).  How can we know that this is true?  Well when we look at the worst thing that has ever happened on this earth was also the best thing that has ever happened on this earth we can better understand this.  I am of course, speaking of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory.

 

            God uses the Word to show us good (v. 72):  “72 The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.”

 

            I had a good friend of mine whom I have mentioned before, who lived most of his life in Brazil.  He was 93 years old and I believe his heart was broken because he was going to have to move back to the U.S. and although he told me that would be okay I never thought he wanted to make the move.  It was the 5^th of July that he was to move, but a couple of days later he died in a hospital in Brazil, and one of the last things he did before he died was to witness to one of the nurses about how God loved her and wanted her to be saved.  My friend and I would email back and forth a lot and when I would send him one of my Spiritual Diaries he would call them nuggets and wanted to have more of them.  I was greatly encouraged by this and it would keep me doing what I am doing. 

 

            The psalmist sees the Word of God more precious than gold and so did David, “9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. 10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward...” In a lot of ways Psalms 19 and 119 are very similar. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In the 11^th chapter of Hebrews we read about many of the great men and women of faith from the OT and here is what we read about Moses:  “24  By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25  choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26  considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.”  When we read these verses we probably don’t know how much “earthly riches” that Moses was giving up, but a few weeks ago in a sermon at our church by our youth Pastor he explained how much Moses was giving up and let me tell you now that what he gave up would probably be worth billions of dollars in today’s economy.  This is remarkable to me, but Moses was looking for a better reward than the earthly one that he turned down and this is the attitude I, as a believer should have.  In the book of Ephesians believers can better understand how rich we really are.  Dr. Wiersbe entitles his commentary on Ephesians “Be Rich.”

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember the true riches that are found in the Word of God.

 

9/8/2012 2:16:30 PM