Peace of God

DEVOTION

PSALMS

PEACE OF GOD

Ps 125

125:1 A song of ascents.

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. 2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore. 3 The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil. 4 Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart. 5 But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.

NIV

The sixth of fifteen psalms of ascent for the sixth step up to the temple. There is a promise and a warning within this psalm for Israel and thus also for us. First the promise which is a mighty promise. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. Because we trust in the Lord we will not be shaken. Nothing will disturb us, nothing will cause us to fear. We are secure, steadfast, unmovable, and indestructible and we will last forever. We will endure. There is nothing which can dismantle us, dig us up and make us into flat land, we will forever be as Mount Zion, surrounded by the Lord. He surrounds us both now and forever more. In current times upon this earth, the wicked have some control over the land, the earth. Their force will upon people, they govern from self-interest and greed. Their agenda is anti-God. The warning for the people of God is not to partnership with them in any way for if we do then it might seem we have put our hand to evil. God says there scepter will not remain to which has been allotted to us. This speaks about the land of Israel for those of that day, but also speaks of the kingdom of God, the new city of Jerusalem which has been allotted to those who trust in the Lord. The wicked will not be there. But for now, we do live in an era where the wicked hold the scepter. This warning should give us enough reason to withdraw from being involved with the wicked, those who do evil with their hands. Yes, we live among them and yes, we are to speak with them, do life with them so we can talk with them about Jesus, about salvation, about the eternal things of God. But this partnering with them in their endeavors is not good. Our hearts must remain upright, rooted in Jesus. This is doing good, trusting God. If we want to know what the work of God is, what the ultimate good deed is, we merely have to read it from his own lips.

John 6:28-29

28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." 

NIV

So often we want to make a list of good deeds that will make us look like “Good Christians”. Then we also have that list of don’ts, the list of bad deeds. It is kind of a weighting contest. Do our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds? But if we simply want to have an upright heart then we do the work of God and believe in Jesus. We trust in him, our faith is in the one God sent, Jesus. It is all about faith and trust that makes our heart upright. It is not about how much we do in this life, yet we also are not supposed to sit on our hands either. The warning for us believers is in this last line of the psalm. If we turn to crooked ways, we will be banished with the evil doers. What does it mean to turn to crooked ways? If we add anything to Jesus that might be defined as crooked or perverting the gospel. The Hebrew word translated crooked means winding as not straight. This would be getting diverted from the path of God. This would be getting too close to the lifestyle of the evil doers. This would be making deeds as important as salvation. This would be adding lists of what are good and what are bad, such as the Pharisees did. Adding all sorts of extra laws or defining the laws of God by the mind of man. What it all bowls down to, is that we trust in the Lord and we want to please him so we live in accordance with his word. This is loving him with our whole being and loving our neighbor as ourselves. This will govern our lifestyle, not lists, not out of a sense of obligation, but from our love for God. Because we trust in him and him alone he gives us his peace, not as the world gives, but as he gives. We live in the peace of God.

Stand Our Ground

DEVOTION

PSALMS

STAND OUR GROUND

Ps 124

124:1 A song of ascents. Of David.

If the LORD had not been on our side — let Israel say — 2 if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us, 3 when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; 4 the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, 5 the raging waters would have swept us away. 6 Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. 7 We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

NIV,

The fifth psalm of ascent for the fifth of fifteen steps up to the temple. “If the Lord had not” is a phrase which seems need not be said, for he is on our side and he said that he would never leave nor forsake us. But the point does ring clear that without God being on our side we would be crushed by all the issues or situations of life. Looking at all the psalmist defined that which came against him it seems overwhelming. Being swallowed by flaring anger, being engulfed in a flood and being swept away by the torrent. Having raging waters knocking him off his feet and sweeping him downstream, not being able to swim against the current, being taken somewhere he did not want to be. We can see this could happen to us, if the Lord was not on our side. But he is on our side and our feet are on solid ground, in fact, being clothed with his armor, which includes having our feet fitted with the preparation for peace, which has to do with the battle sandals of the Roman soldier which had spikes on the soul. This would keep their feet from slipping in muddy or soft ground conditions, so they could stand their ground. This is us, we can stand our ground, even in the face of attack, even in the case of having men’s or Satan’s anger flare up against us. We can stand our ground even in the face of the flood of temptations which can engulf us. We can stand our ground against the torrent of troubles or problems raging toward us. We can stand our ground against the raging people who oppose the gospel and thus us. We can stand our ground against those who would tear us apart with their arguments based on human thought. We can escape all those things just as a bird. I’ll fly away, O glory, I’ll fly away. We can stand our ground because God is our help. Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. So as he is our help, his name is our help, we call upon the name of the Lord and then we can stand our ground.

Lifting Up Eyes

DEVOTION

PSALMS

LIFTING UP EYES

Ps 123

123:1 A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. 2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy. 3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. 4 We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.

NIV

The forth psalm of ascents on either the forth step going into the temple or some say this were song on the way up to Jerusalem. But why just fifteen? Again we see the concept of not looking to the world, but lifting our eyes up to the Lord, to his throne in heaven. We are his servant, his handmaiden and as such we look to his hand for our life, our needs and our all. We have nothing of our own, as a slave or servant or handmaiden. We are at his mercy, and he shows us great mercy. He does not mistreat us or abuse us, he cares for us not as servants, but as friends, even his children. We have nowhere, no one else to turn to other then him. Who else would show us that kind of mercy? Certainly not the arrogant, not those who ridicule us, not the proud would want to show us mercy. They are the very ones, the world as it were, who have contempt for us. Sure, it seems we get along with most people, but then are we telling them about Jesus Christ? Are we informing them that unless they believe as we do, they are going to hell? Do we tell them they have to be born again in order to get to go to heaven, or simply be able to seek the kingdom of God? It is most likely we are not, so that is why we get along with them and they do not show their contempt toward us or ridicule us. They may think we are much the same as them, unless we say we are not. They might even call themselves Christians, many people believe in God, but they do not live in accordance with his word. They do not live by faith, but by sight, by their own brand of religion. But in reality they are people of the world. If we spoke the truth of God, they would not agree. If we told them the only way to heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ, they would not have a problem with that, but if we said unless they are born again they will not see the kingdom of God, they may not agree. “I am a good person” “I do not harm anyone” “I go to church” “I believe in God” all sound great, but they are not the same as being a servant of the Lord, a handmaiden to Jesus. They are not the same as being a child of God, a co-heir with Jesus. Then there are those who openly oppose the truth of God, in fact openly oppose that he is the only true God. They say there are many paths to God, or that every religion has a god and that is alright. There are others who oppose the very idea of God and want all references of him removed from any public place. The proud, the arrogant, the blind, the lost, all the haters of God hate us because we stand for all that is right, all that is true, we stand for God. So if we keep silent, we live in comfort and peace with the world, but is we speak up, we might just find a different type of comfort and peace, with God instead of with the world. How can we find comfort with unbelievers? What do we have in common with them? How can we who live in the light and live in comfort with those who live in the dark? What does righteousness have in common with wickedness? No, we are aliens, strangers, and foreigners, in a corrupt land. However we are also ambassador of our Sovereign and we must speak up for him, the message he gave us to say to this land he sent us to. Although we must live in it, we also have diplomatic immunity from its laws. Not the legal laws, but the laws of the arrogant and proud, the laws of corruption, hatred, and contempt, and the laws of darkness. We live by the laws of the Lord. We look to him. We lift our eyes to the Lord.

The House of God

DEVOTION

PSALMS

THE HOUSE OF GOD

Ps 122

122:1 A song of ascents. Of David.

I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD." 2 Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem. 3 Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. 4 That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, to praise the name of the LORD according to the statute given to Israel. 5 There the thrones for judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David. 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you be secure. 7 May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels." 8 For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, "Peace be within you." 9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.

NIV

The third psalm of ascent for the third step to the temple. There are some scriptures which are plainly situational for the time of their writing, or as some scholars have said there are descriptive rather than prescriptive. Sometimes we look at this scriptures, such as this psalm and wonder, how does it apply to our lives. We know all scripture is useful for rebuking, correcting, teaching and training in righteousness so that the person of God will be fully equipped. So although, some may be considered descriptive is also prescriptive, that is, it has to apply to us as well as to the people of the time it was written. We can fully agree, especially in light of Sunday being our Sabbath day and we gather with other believers in the house of the Lord. In our post-modern culture many churches have taken on an atmosphere that does not appear to be the traditional concept of church. Some has forsaken the pew for nice padded theater style seating. Some have left the little white church with the spire for an auditorium capable of seating hundreds, if not thousands. Some have choirs and orchestras that would challenge Carnegie Hall, while others have simple praise teams. The styles and formats of today’s church vary as much as people do. But when we all gather in whatever and wherever, we gather in the house of the Lord. We can say, “It has been good to be in the house of the Lord”. When we are there, we are in fact at the gates of heaven, standing before the throne of God. We can pray for the peace of God to rest on his church, his temple, we his people, for we are the temple of the Lord. We, the people of God are his temple now. Yes, we have church buildings, but we are the house of the Lord. So whether we are in the building on our Sabbath day, or in our bodies the rest of the week, we can say’ “It is good to be in the house of the Lord”. When David said the he will say, “Peace be within you”, he was speaking of Jerusalem where the temple was. Jesus said;

John 14:27

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

NIV

We, the temple of the Lord have his peace within us. There is no war, no havoc, no turmoil, no conflict, no fear, no worry or anxiety, but only the peace of Christ. It would seem it is impossible for all those things and his peace to reside together. David asked people to pray for Jerusalem and that those who love her be secure. Once again as we pray for our Jerusalem, the new city coming down out of heaven, our eternal city, we pray for the day the Lord will come for us to take us home and in so we are secure. We find our security in Jesus, not in the world, but only in Jesus. Safe and secure and from all alarm for we have the peace of Christ within the temple of God. We are the house of God.

Keeping Watch

DEVOTION

PSALMS

KEEPING WATCH

Ps 121

121:1 A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD watches over you — the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

NIV

The second psalm of ascents on the second step of the temple. There is a repeated phrase within this psalm, “The Lord watches over you”. It is a good thing to lift our eyes to the hills, for that is where the Lord is. What good is there in looking to the ground, or in the sense of an analogy, the world? When we look down we see only humans, but when we lift our eyes to the hills, or heaven we see the Lord who is able to help us. He is the maker of heaven and earth, what is too difficult for him? If we are looking to the world surely our foot will slip, but keeping our focus on the Lord, our foot will not slip. When we lay our head on the pillow at night, he is they watching over our slumber, we can sleep in peace, free from any worry or anxiety about the morning. The Lord does not sleep, so he keeps watch over us all the time making sure we do not slip. Our standing firm is not even on our own strength for he keeps our feet firm. During the day, he is our shade, the sun will do us no harm. Well that goes against all the people who warn us about putting on sun screen to protect us from its harmful rays. The Lord has established heaven and earth and he has given us the sun and the moon, but for our benefit and he watches over us at day and at night. The Lord keeps us from all harm, period, that is final. He watches over our life, he knows our coming and going, all that we do in the now and in the forevermore. He will not abandon us, he will not forsake us, and he will always be there keeping watch. What peace that brings, and serenity floods our spirit. We can enjoy life because he is there watching over us. He is our shepherd, we will not want. He causes us to lay down in green pastures, we find rest by the still waters. All we ever need he has lead us to and keeps us safe from all harm. He restores our soul, simply by watching over us. What more could we ask for? We have the Lord watching over us. It is interesting the Hebrew word translated watching or watches means to hedge about (as with thorns) i.e.  guard, protect. We live under the protection, the guard, the watch of the Lord. He is keeping watch.

War and Peace

DEVOTION

PSALMS

WAR AND PEACE

Ps 120

120:1 A song of ascents.

I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me. 2 Save me, O LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. 3 What will he do to you, and what more besides, O deceitful tongue? 4 He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom tree. 5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar! 6 Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. 7 I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

NIV

This is one of fifteen psalms which all bear the title of “A song of ascents”. Some of them include “Of David”. Our scholars have determined these were song by the priests as they ascended the fifteen steps into the temple. It always amazes us how men of the present age can know exactly what men some two, or more, thousand years ago did. We do have historians such as Josephus who lived in the same general period from 37AD to 100 AD and wrote about those times. He was a Romano-Jewish scholar and historian born in Jerusalem and died in Rome. So maybe he made this observation about the fifteen steps and each song for each step. Although this has nothing to do with the content of the song, we just find that it is interesting to note. Who are the lying lips and deceitful tongues the psalmist seeks an answer from the Lord and for the Lord to save him from? It seems the intent of lying lips and a deceitful tongue is to create some form of slanderous falseness about the psalmist. Who can fight against slander? Slander may be the worse form of gossip and it would seem there is no defense against it. We can try to explain away this slander by refuting it and explaining we did not do or say what was said about us, but it is still out there and as gossip is can spread faster than the truth, we simple must resign ourselves to seek the Lord to save us from that slander. It may take some time, but he will punish such lips, such tongues, and such hearts. What comes out of the mouth comes from the heart. As far as the woe about living in Meshech and among the tents of Kedar, may be situational only to the psalmist. In the Hebrew, Meshech refers to the descendants of the son of Japheth, the grandson of Noah. They lived in the northern territory of Israel somewhere around what is referred to as Magog. The Hebrew word for Kedar means a son of Ishmael. To the psalmist these would be foreigners, none true Jewish peoples. There is a representation to the world we live in today. The peoples we dwell among are not real believers in Jesus Christ. They and their world are foreigners to us, they do not speak our language or have the same beliefs and customs we do. How long, O Lord must we dwell among the tents of the wicked? That would be a modern transcultural translation. How long do we have to put up with the slander about Christianity? How long do we have to endure being accused of having a closed mind, or as one ex-governor once slandered us believers by saying that Christianity is simple a crutch for weak-minded people. How long do we have to live among those who are enemies of God and all that he stands for? They slander his word, our word, and our testimonies with lies about equality toward all faiths, that America is no longer just a Christian nation, as one ex-president so stated. The world does not see Christianity as the only truth and thus they slander its validity and our unwavering faith in Jesus. How long will the Lord wait to punish such impertinence, such rudeness, such unbelief? They speak of world peace, the ever spoken mantra of candidates in beauty pageants. But they do not want peace, they want to demolish Christianity from all public forums. They war against God and his word. They war against faith in God for faith in man. They declare man is greater, he has more power in his environment then God. They are a warring peoples who use slander, lies, and falsehoods as their weapons. But we are a people of peace, for we have been given the peace of Jesus. We do not war against them, we do not slander them, we have compassion on them, and we want them to see the light of truth, to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. We have been told and believe we should pray for them, even as they slander us. Although we live in a world war, we are a people of peace.   

Overflowing Praise

DEVOTION

PSALMS

OVERFLOWING PRAISE

Ps 119:169-176

169 Taw

May my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word. 170 May my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise. 171 May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees. 172 May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous. 173 May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. 174 I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight. 175 Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me. 176 I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.

NIV

Day twenty-two and the last stanza in the longest psalm. Once again as throughout this whole psalm David mentions the word, God’s promise, his decrees, his commands and his precepts along with salvation and his law. He has covered all the bases, every aspect of the character of God, especially his righteousness. Everything about the character of God is righteous. So we too seek understanding from the word of God. Mankind makes so much effort trying to understand the world we live in. They search for understanding in the name of science. They research the earth in an effort to find understanding as to how we became human, our origin, seeking for that premortal soup and single cell we emerge from. They endeavor to understand the cosmos and how it came to be, using theories rather than fact. The list is far too large to enumerate all that mankind wants to understand. How this is made or where does it come from or what is it made of? How does it work? Why is it here? Why are we here? What can we learn about this or that? But the fact is God’s word is the only source of true understanding and many people refuse it for their own supposed knowledge of the truth. The word of God is the only true source of understanding. He gives us all the truth we need for life, real life, and life eternal. But more than that, his word gives us understanding of how we came to be and why we are here and what we are to become. So we come to him with all our supplication, our entreaty of his graciousness, as the Hebrew word means. So we come to him for everything from his hand of graciousness, his character of graciousness. He is gracious to us, he gives us understanding, truth and life eternal. But more than that he gives us his promise. He delivered us from death. He delivered us from being the walking dead and living in the darkness. How horrible that was before we saw his light. We thought we were happy and we thought we had understanding, but we were living in an illusion, as are those people who live now outside the word of God. We will continue to praise the Lord to the point that our praise overflows from our lips. So often life is filled with chitter chatter of stupid things as most social media content serves as the evidence. Who has not entered into conversation that does not include the weather, a sports team, or sports figure? Who has not heard the latest gossip about who did what, when, where and why? But how many times have people spent time with praise overflowing from their lips? Maybe praise about what they did, but how much about the gracious qualities of God? How often do we hear words about aches and pains, or difficulties being faced or troubles people are having? But how often do we hear praise overflowing from their lips? Then we look introspectively and ask are we like that, or do we praise him to the point it overflows from our lips? Let the praise begin, let us fill the earth with his praise until it overflows into all creation from our lips. Let it be from our lips to the ears of God. The reason we live, that he lets us live is so we can fill the earth with his praise. So we can be witnesses of his gracious character. We have strayed from that purpose at times, but we reaffirm our desire to fill our lives, the lives of people we touch with overflowing praise of his graciousness.

To Tremble

DEVOTION

PSALMS

TO TREMBLE

Ps 119:161-168

161 Sin and Shin

Rulers persecute me without cause, but my heart trembles at your word. 162 I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil. 163 I hate and abhor falsehood but I love your law. 164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws. 165 Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. 166 I wait for your salvation, O LORD, and I follow your commands. 167 I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly. 168 I obey your precepts and your statutes, for all my ways are known to you.

NIV

Day twenty-one in the longest psalm. The idea is that the world or the rulers of the world can cause use harm, if they so desire. We only have to remember the great wars that have been waged on the earth in past years and now in the present age, we have terrorism which could threaten anyone’s life at any time. We only have to remember 9/11 to consider no one is safe from an act of terrorism. Although the psalmist says the rulers who persecute him are without cause, it would seem the rulers, authorities, kings, emperors, imams, sultans of the past and the groups of terrorist of today seem to have some cause, however false it might be. Even in the midst of those threats we have to know God has all the power, more power than all the armies of man. Although we might take him too casually, or think of him as the God of love, and how much he loves and cares for us, our heart should still tremble at his word. What can man do to us that would be worse than the wrath of the Almighty God? His word is for our life, so that we can have life eternal. His word is a testimony of who he is and what he has done for us, his creation. At one time we were a stranger of his word, we were objects of his wrath. We did not know his word, we did not know life. We thought we were living the good life, but we were nothing but the walking dead. But now we live rejoicing because we live in the promise of God and it is like finding a great spoil, a pearl of great price. Because he found us, and broke through that hard exterior we spent so many years building up in an effort to not allow ourselves the pain of emotional hurt, we now have a heart exposed to him and to others. Because we know now the truth, we hate that falsehood we once lived in and that others are trapped by. Instead we love the law of God. We are not sure of the seven times a day the psalmist speaks about, but our heart is constantly aware of the Lord and praise is on our mind often, but may not be on our lips as much as it should. Yet we do give testimony to his blessings in our life often and as much as we can. What was once a war within us, the fight of living, and the struggle to get by, it has been replaced with his peace. Jesus told us that he gives us his peace, not has the world gives, but as he gives. Life is no longer a war within, a struggle, a just getting by, or living behind the wall, the façade of self-survival. We now live with the peace of Christ ruling in our heart. Because of his peace in our life, we will not stumble, we will not just get by, but we will walk boldly into the day, and into the night, we will go boldly through life, living, loving, blessed beyond measure. Our feet are on solid ground, all other ground is sinking sand. We stand on the word of God, all other words will fade into the past, but his word is eternal and is the only word which is true. Although we are already saved, already have experienced his salvation, we still await the completion of our salvation, when we eagerly step into eternity. We will rejoice in that day of our last breath of this body and we are resurrected into a glorified body to spend all of eternity in the presence of our Lord, whom we love. So for now we love his law, his statutes, his commands, and his word for they bring us closer to that day. We live because he lives. We have life because he knows our ways, and our ways are based on him. So our heart trembles, not in fear, but in reverence, with rejoicing and excitement of what is to come. The Hebrew word translated as trembles can mean to be startled (by a sudden alarm) thus to fear in general. But it also can mean to stand in awe of. Our heart stands in awe of God, it trembles.

Constant

DEVOTION

PSALMS

CONSTANT

Ps 119:153-160

153 Resh

Look upon my suffering and deliver me, for I have not forgotten your law. 154 Defend my cause and redeem me; preserve my life according to your promise. 155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek out your decrees. 156 Your compassion is great, O LORD; preserve my life according to your laws. 157 Many are the foes who persecute me, but I have not turned from your statutes. 158 I look on the faithless with loathing, for they do not obey your word. 159 See how I love your precepts; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your love. 160 All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.

NIV

Day twenty in the longest psalm. This is not just a lament, but a plea for help from the Lord. Certainly David is in a bad situation, as we have seen before. Running, hiding from Saul and what must be Saul’s personal army, or special guard. Why does David not think God has been defending his cause? Why does he keep seeking the Lord to preserve his life? He reminds the Lord again about his promise. It would seem a man who God testifies about as a man after God’s own heart is having such a rough time with life, at least at this moment. We know later he is the king of Israel and lives the good life, with a great army and has many victories. But we also know the he is still a man subject to the temptation that power and wealth bring with them, that of the lust of the flesh. His fall with Bathsheba and his ensuing actions would seem to look like a man not after the heart of God. It only proves the imperfection of man does not interfere with a devotion to God. Well it might interfere a bit, for a moment, but ultimately his is still the man after God’s own heart, as that also gives us hope for we too, like all men, fall to some temptation at times. But God preserves our life according to his promise. He has promised us eternal life if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That promise is not based on accepting Jesus and being without sin, or doing good deeds, or looking like we are spiritual and all goody two shoes type. We are human, in the flesh, and have some kind of sin within us. This is what the Apostle Paul speaks about when he wants to do good, evil is right there with him. The war that wages within. We love the Lord, but we keep sinning. How can that be? It is life and we cannot ignore it or pretend it is not there. We cannot think more highly of ourselves then we should. This is why we need Jesus. But that is also what makes us different from our foes. Although the foes of David were Saul and his army, our foes are of a different type. Those who oppose God, the wicked, are foes of God and thus of us. Nevertheless Jesus changed how we are to think about our foes, that we are to love them, not ask God to destroy them. We are not to loath them either, we should pray for them, seek them out to share the good news with them. But there are still those who oppose God, want to remove him and his decrees, his statutes, his commands, his law from public view. They are, in fact, faithless and do not obey his word. That does not mean we perfectly obey everything he says either, but we do desire to obey his word and we have accepted Jesus, so we live in the compassion, the forgiveness, the love of God. They live in their own making in the dark. They have closed their eyes to the light and closed their minds to the truth. But God preserves our life according to his love. His words are true, his law is righteous forever. He never changes. His is constant. We may not be all true all the time. We change every so often, thus we are not constant, but he is constant.

Preserving Life

DEVOTION

PSALMS

PRESERVING LIFE

Ps 119:145-152

145 Qoph

I call with all my heart; answer me, O LORD, and I will obey your decrees. 146 I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes. 147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word. 148 My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises. 149 Hear my voice in accordance with your love; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your laws. 150 Those who devise wicked schemes are near, but they are far from your law. 151 Yet you are near, O LORD, and all your commands are true. 152 Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever.

NIV

The nineteenth day in the longest psalm. Again we can see the distress the psalmist is feeling. His life is in danger from men, but he stays the course in his determination to look to the Lord with all his heart. This goes back to the divided heart issue again. When times are tough and things are not like we would like them, do we seek the Lord, do we call out to the Lord with all our heart, or do we try first to take the situation into our own hands, making our effort to resolve our situation? There are times when sleep even evades us because of worry or stress about something in our life. At some point we lay our head down, determining nothing more can be done about it this day, and tomorrow we will take up the worry, and attempt to find a way to remedy our situation. But, alas, the Lord is the only hope. We call out to him even in the night, as we wake, we think about his word, we mediate on what he has done in our life and he answers and saves us. We rise at dawn and  sit at his feet, in a manner of speaking, reading his word, hearing the still small voice of the Spirit as he guides our thoughts and fingers to record his guidance, his direction, his truth. We put our hope in him and we find peace, contentment and joy in the day. He hears our voice because he loves us. Just as we sit and listen to those who love us, he hears, he listens, and he answers. There are many wicked schemes about trying to influence our thinking. It seems almost impossible to avoid them all. Even if we try to cloister ourselves within Christendom, only being with other believers, never venturing out into the world, the schemes make their way to us. They come in various sizes and forms, but they all stem from our own passions, our own wants, whether they be of a material, emotional or physical nature, they tempt us and at times we fall, we give in to them. How can we allow them access? They are so far from the Lord, from his ways. The schemes are spawned from the evil one’s influence, but we know the Lord is near to us and his word, his commands are true. We put our hope in them, for Jesus is the command of God. All the law is wrapped up in Jesus. For us, he is the law of God. Sure we take note of the commands, like the Ten Commandments mostly, but Jesus said the two commands he gives us, the whole of the law is wrapped up in them. So in that sense we are free from the law, but at the same time we are fulfilling all the law in Jesus, by loving the Lord with a whole heart, mind, soul and strength and loving others as we love ourselves. It is the law of love, which we must obey and all else will follow. We have learned from God and that he has established everything from the beginning and they will last forever. So we make every effort to stay the course, to follow the light, and to ignore the schemes. Yet even in our failure, our weakness, he is there loving us, speaking to us, preserving our life.  

Only Him

DEVOTION

PSALMS

ONLY HIM

Ps 119:137-144

137 Tsadhe

Righteous are you, O LORD, and your laws are right. 138 The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are fully trustworthy. 139 My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore your words. 140 Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them. 141 Though I am lowly and despised, I do not forget your precepts. 142 Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true. 143 Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight. 144 Your statutes are forever right; give me understanding that I may live.

NIV

Day eighteen in the longest Psalm. Laws, statutes, promises, precepts, commands and the Torah are once again in the heart and mind as well as the mouth of the psalmist. The Hebrew words give us a better view of what is actually being said here. Why this translation chooses these words we are not sure. Other translations have some different words, yet the Hebrew seems even better. There are Testimonies, Something said, mandate, Torah, command, testimonies. The idea in all that is how determined the psalmist is to everything from the Lord. All the Lord says is true and final. There is no other authority for the psalmist and there should be no other for us. Everything the Lord has said is trustworthy, which we cannot say about everything man says. If fact there is a ministry called, “Godsaidmansaid.com” dedicated to comparing the false words of man against the true words of God. When we consider his word is trustworthy then we have to trust it, put our complete trust in his word. The psalmist does not speak about trust for salvation alone, in fact many times within the context of what the psalmist speaks, he is talking about his physical life experiences rather than his afterlife or eternal life. He has been on the run from Saul, he is being hunted because he is hated, and he has threatened Saul's position as king. He is not in a good position in life at the moment he wrote these words. This trusting in God, in his testimonies, that which the Lord has said about himself and his relationship with those who love him is in the forefront of David’s thinking. The promises of the Lord have been tested, and we have also seen them tested and proved to be true and trustworthy. Whenever God speaks into our heart and mind we can be sure it is worthy of being trusted completely without any reservations or questions. It would seem whenever we try to make some excuse for God as to why something did not happen as we hoped it would, we are not actually trusting his word, or we are misusing it. The fact is his word is final, we cannot alter it nor should we try to use his word to fit our ideas of what he says. We should adjust our thinking to be in accord with the word, for his word is the only thing we can trust. It does not matter the circumstances of our life, what our situation is at any particular moment, whether we are on top of the world or in distress, his word has to be our guiding light for our journey. His word gives us understanding so that we can live. This living is not just getting by, but living with joy, contentment, peace, love and in trust of Him. He is our Rock, our Refuge, our Strength, our Savior, our Father, our Redeemer, our King, our Lord, our Tower, our Salvation, our Help, and our God. In whom else can we trust? Not even ourselves, but only Him.

Light for Life

DEVOTION

PSALMS

LIGHT FOR LIFE

Ps 119:129-136

129 Pe

Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them. 130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. 131 I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands. 132 Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name. 133 Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me. 134 Redeem me from the oppression of men, that I may obey your precepts. 135 Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your decrees. 136 Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed.

NIV

Day seventeen in the longest psalm. It is said certain psalms are songs of lament. We have seen a lot of lamenting in the whole of this psalm, but we cannot be sure that applies to the whole of this psalm. He also spends some time in praise for the statutes, precepts, and commands of the Lord, as well as for the law. There are also many requests for the mercy, compassion, guidance and teaching from the Lord. He makes many references to the light of the Lord and his word giving understanding. This stanza is no different, as much of all the above is within it. What draws our attention the most is how the unfolding of the word gives light and understanding. We know David has the Torah, the Law of Moses and must likely many of the words regarding the judges, for the time of the kings and prophets may not have been lived out yet or recorded, although we know Nathan lived at the time of David. They say the book of Job is the oldest of all records, but did David have access to it is not known. Nevertheless, he had much of the word of God. But we have the whole of the word of God. We have the completed word of God written to give us light and understanding when we unfold it. The opening, the entrance, the doorway of the word gives light and discernment or understanding to simple or open-minded, as the Hebrew text reads. We know those who refuse to open the word are closed-minded, although they accuse us of being closed-minded to their philosophies of life. We have opened our mind to the word of God and it has given us understanding, discernment regarding that which is true and that which is false. The word gives us the light to our footsteps. We walk in accordance to the word of God rather than the word of man. The word of God is truth, the word of man is not. The heart of God it true, the heart of man is not. His word gives us the light to see the sin in our life and so understand the work of Jesus in taking that sin upon himself at the cross, redeeming us, setting us free from sin and its penalty. Those who refuse to open their minds to the word live in the darkness and cannot see their sin and thus will die and receive their due punishment for sin, they will perish. We continue to look to the light of God, Jesus and are always willing to have an open mind to his commands, his direction, his provision for our life, so that we walk in his way, we walk in faith, believing all he has said. Streams of tears of joy flow from our face, for we have been given everything from the hand of God. First, salvation and eternal life. But secondly, all that this life in Christ brings to us each day. The joy of life, the joy of marriage, the joy of children and grandchildren, the joy of work and the joy of the simple pleasures such as a hobby, or even mowing the lawn or just sitting looking at the array of flowers, bushes and trees he has given to us. Then there is just sitting or walking next to our life’s partner, the joy of holding hands, or seeing the smile in their eyes. This is how God intended our life to be, walking side by side with each other, along with him.  This path of life is one filled with his love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. How else could we live, but to obey his word, for it is the light for our life?

The Command

DEVOTION

PSALMS

THE COMMAND

Ps 119:121-128

121 Ayin

I have done what is righteous and just; do not leave me to my oppressors. 122 Ensure your servant's well-being; let not the arrogant oppress me. 123 My eyes fail, looking for your salvation, looking for your righteous promise. 124 Deal with your servant according to your love and teach me your decrees. 125 I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes. 126 It is time for you to act, O LORD; your law is being broken. 127 Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold, 128 and because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.

NIV

Day sixteen in the longest psalm. There seems to be a lot of repetition in some of the phrases the psalmist uses throughout this whole psalm. The words decrees, statutes, commands, law and precepts show up a lot. The words arrogant and oppressors or enemies and wicked also are repeated. The concept of the path is constant as well. In addition the idea of the Lord teaching him and fulfilling his promises along with giving him understanding has been stated numerous times. All these things show up and give us the whole of the idea that God is taking care of him and he will overcome all who oppose him. The promise of God is never broken, although his law is and has been many times over. The question is whether we have done what is righteous and just. The answer is yes, because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the ultimate of what is a righteous and just act and because we are in Christ who is righteous and just, we are therefore also righteous and just. That does not mean our flesh is, but our spirit surely is. Yet God also makes sure we will not be left to the oppressor. He has provided us with his armor so that as we put it on, we can take our stand against all the forces of evil, all who would attempt to oppress us. The psalmist keeps saying that his eyes fail, or the idea of straining, searching for the salvation of the Lord. They were waiting for a Messiah throughout their history and in fact are still looking and waiting today. They rejected Jesus, although he is their Messiah. Jesus is the righteous promise of God. John 3:16 states it is the love of God for all the world is the reason for Jesus coming. Some people need to be taught that, the psalmist was wanting to be taught the decrees of the Lord. The Hebrew word translated decree means an enactment, hence and appointment of time, space and labor. That speaks directly to the appointment God made with man by sending Jesus at the exact time and space to do the work of God by being the sacrifice for sin. Why David did not see the Messiah was because of the decree of God. But we have seen the Messiah come to Israel and the whole earth. We have been given that understanding. The Lord has acted and his law was broken. So Jesus fulfilled that law, and those who are in Jesus are no longer bound by the law, in essence we have been freed from it, so then we cannot break that which we are not under. Those who live by the law, will die by the law. Those of us who are in Christ no longer live under the law and therefore the law has not grip, no death for us. Is the law bad? By no means for we would have not known sin unless it was for the law,  but having known sin we also knew we needed a Savior to take away our sin, and Jesus has done that, therefore in a sense we love the law, but hate that which is evil. We love the path of God, but hate the path of evil. We know the law, but we live by faith instead of the law, because the law brings death and faith brings life. We walk the path of faith and we will live forever as a result. We love the command of God because it was his command that his Son would be our sacrifice for sin. Jesus is the command of God.

Standing in Awe

DEVOTION

PSALMS

STANDING IN AWE

Ps 119:113-120

113 Samekh

I hate double-minded men, but I love your law. 114 You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. 115 Away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commands of my God! 116 Sustain me according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed. 117 Uphold me, and I will be delivered; I will always have regard for your decrees. 118 You reject all who stray from your decrees, for their deceitfulness is in vain. 119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross; therefore I love your statutes. 120 My flesh trembles in fear of you; I stand in awe of your laws.

NIV

Day fifteen in the longest psalm. Just what is a double-minded man? The Hebrew word means one who is ambivalent, who has a divided mind, halfhearted. That sounds a lot like this divided heart issue we have seen before. Someone who is not sold out to Jesus. Someone who sort of lives like a believer, but is sort of not living like a believer as well. Someone who is sort of just giving God lip service, but does not spend much time in his word, studying his word, seeking out truth to live by. Someone who really does not put all their trust in the Lord, they act as though they put just as much, or more, trust in their abilities. But how can we hate people like that? The psalmist hates, we have more of a tendency to pity people like them for we love the Lord and his law, Jesus. We do not want a double mind, or a divided heart. We want all our hope to be in the Lord, not in ourselves and that includes every aspect of our life. It would seem we should not have anything to do with the evil doer, those double-minded ones, at least we should not allow them to infect us with their worldly ideas. Instead we should be around them in order to infect them with the truth of God. Yet the fact remains we will trust in him and we will keep his commands. As we make our way, living in the world, but not living as the world, we look to the Lord to sustain us according to his promise. We have to work in the world, we are required by the Lord to work for our sustenance, to labor, to toil the ground, so to speak, all the days of our life. This is the command he made of Adam because of his disobedience. As descendants of Adam in the flesh we have to follow that command. As descendants of Jesus, not in the flesh, but in the spirit, we must follow his commends. Loving the Lord with our all, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Paul speaks about this same thing, in that we do not live under the law, even the Ten Commandments, but living in love covers them all. Loving means never doing any harm to them, that covers all the laws. So we look to God, we always want him to uphold us. We live by faith in him. He is the only one who can deliver us. We will always consider his ways first. He rejects those who don’t, who stray away from him, who look to self instead. We cannot live being deceitful, especially to the Lord for he knows our thoughts, our inner most secrets. We cannot pretend to be holy and righteous. The pretender will be discarded like dross. Therefore we love the Lord, we love his ways, we tremble in fear, in reverence of him, we stand in awe of him, we stand in awe of Jesus.   

No End

DEVOTION

PSALMS

NO END

Ps 119:105-112

105 Nun

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. 106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. 107 I have suffered much; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your word. 108 Accept, O LORD, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws. 109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law. 110 The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. 111 Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. 112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.

NIV

Day fourteen in the longest psalm. Once again we are on the path of life and rather than walking in the dark wondering what is ahead, we walk in the light of God. We know the path ahead for it leads to eternal life, to a resurrection and to the new city of Jerusalem. His word gives us that light, we do not have to wonder what is up ahead for us in this path of life. We have taken that same oath and confirm that we will follow his righteous laws, which for us is Jesus. We are not sure how much the psalmist suffered, but we have to admit we do not think we have suffered anything like him. Our life, especially in this day and age, seems much easier than the psalmist's life. Never the less, the enemy of our soul is still at large and his agenda has not changed. Perhaps his methods may change over time, but his agenda is the same. His aim is to destroy us, but the Lord is here to preserve our life. So we too willingly praise the Lord, because he does preserve our life and he teaches us his laws. Now as far as taking our life in our own hands, it seems we are guilty as the psalmist. That is when we act in a manner the old nature pushes on us, we get self-centered, we want what we want and we do what we need to in order to get what we want when we want it. Yet, even in the midst of being self-pleasured, we will not forget about God and his law. It is not that we have turned our back on him and walked away from the path. It is just that we get a little off the beaten path, so to speak. We know where the path is, and we don’t forget it is there, we just get in the woods for a moment, in the weeds, maybe picking some flowers we were attracted to, that we were tempted by. But it was a snare by the wicked one, and we have not strayed from the Lords percepts, just got a little distracted. There is no question the Lord is our heritage forever, his statutes are a joy to our heart for we know everything from the Lord is good, pure and enduring. There is no real joy outside of him. There is no joy off the path he lights for us to walk. Our heart is set on keeping his decrees to the very end. We will stay the course, we will walk the path he lights before us to the very end of our days, at which point there will no longer be an end for we will be for all eternity, where there is no end.

No Wrong Turn

DEVOTION

PSALM

NO WRONG TURN

Ps 119:97-104

97 Mem

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. 98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. 100 I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. 101 I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. 102 I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. 103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

NIV

Day thirteen in the longest psalm. The path of life could take many turns and twists which could lead us to one of two directions. There are only two destinations the path of life can take us. One is heaven the other is hell. The path to heaven brings eternal life while the path to hell brings death. How do we know we are on the right path? It is easy as we have the law of the Lord, we have Jesus who sent us the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth which is the only path to heaven and eternal life. The trick is to meditate on the law, on Jesus and the Spirit throughout our daily journey along this path. His commands, the word of God, Jesus makes us wiser then the enemy of our soul, who puts up barricades in an effort to make us take a detour along the path. If he can get us make a wrong turn our journey may get distracted, but not detained. We are wiser than he is for he is not as wise as the Spirit who dwells within us. We have far more insight into the right path, even more then human teachers, because we meditate on the statutes, or rather on the Lord’s testimony about himself, as the Hebrew word implies. These elders are actually the ancients rather than the meaning we attach to an elder in the church. The reason the psalmist has more understanding than the ancients is he has more of the word of God than they did, in fact he is penning more words of God. We have even greater understanding then both all the ancients, including this psalmist because we have the complete word of God, we have everything he said concerning himself and what path we are to walk and we obey by walking on that narrow path. We keep our feet from taking detours, or turning down a wrong direction when faced with a choice or intersection. Because we have chosen our final destination, we do not have decide which way to go, we know the path straight to our eternal home. When faced with a choice, a decision, we forge onward to the path God has laid out for us to bring us to him. We will not depart from this path, we will not take that detour or wrong turn for God himself has taught us the right way, the correct path. How sweet his words are to our taste, we delight in knowing his words, we rejoice he has written them on our heart and we know they are sweeter then honey. This honey may be one of those detours Satan has set in our path. Honey could represent many things, different things to different people. But the reality the sweet taste of honey represents a physical pleasure, a satisfying of the flesh in some way. It is not that we should be void of pleasure, but our pleasure is in the Lord, and he fills all our needs, he knows we need certain things, but as we seek him first, putting our heart on him and his kingdom above all else, he will see to it we have the things of life we need, the little pleasures of life, those things the pagans chase after, but will never truly find happiness in them.  So we walk the path of God, we enjoy the path we walk as it gives us understanding and insight into God, into life, and life eternal. His precepts or mandates gives us this understanding and therefore we avoid all those wrong turns. We detest the wrong path, we cannot tolerate the wrong path for it only leads to destruction. When we walk in the light of the Lord we make no wrong turn.

Limitless

DEVOTION

PSALMS

LIMITLESS

Ps 119:89-96

89 Lamedh

Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. 90 Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures. 91 Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you. 92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. 93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life. 94 Save me, for I am yours; I have sought out your precepts. 95 The wicked are waiting to destroy me, but I will ponder your statutes. 96 To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless.

NIV

Day twelve in the longest psalm. Yesterday we ended with a declaration we would take our stand and today we are assured the word of the Lord is eternal and it stands firm in the heavens. We might falter in our stand from time to time, but God’s word never falters, and it has always been and will always be and it is always ready to be applied to our lives. But this is not all, we are also assured of his faithfulness for it endures through all generations. That is us. We are part of the all generations. Those who preceded us and those who follow us, all of us are recipients of his faithfulness. Now we get to the age old argument the environmentalist and some of us believers get into. The Lord established the earth and it endures. It was the same the day he established it as it was the day the psalmist penned those words and it remains the same today. God established the earth and it endures, it remains, it does not change, it stays, which is the meaning of the Hebrew word translated endures. Who do some people think that are that they could change, or have any effect on, that which God established to endure? It is just like his law which endures and all things serve him. All things serve him. That is a powerful statement. Everything serves the Lord, or we could say serves his purpose. Everything that exists, the whole earth, the solar system, the galaxy as well as the entire universe serves him. This would include all living things. Even those who are considered evil serve him or his purpose. But his law, which now rests firmly in Jesus, is our delight. If we were not delighted in Jesus, as still are, for that matter, we would have perished in our former life of distress. But now that we know Jesus, we will never forget him or his love and faithfulness toward us for he has and will always preserve our life. The psalmist asked the Lord to save him, but we need not ask, for we are saved, we are in Christ. We also have the Holy Spirit as a deposit, a guarantee of our inheritance. We have sought out the law of the Lord, we have sought out Jesus. Some would say that Jesus found us, but the truth is we found Jesus. The only way to find someone, such as Jesus, is to look for him, seek him, and search for him. It does not matter who wants to destroy us, they will not prevail for we ponder on Jesus, the statutes of the Lord, and he is everything, the law, precepts, statutes, faithfulness and love that endures forever. All that we think is perfect or complete has a limit, but the commands of the Lord, Jesus is boundless, roomy in every direction as the Hebrew word means. Because we are in Christ, we are therefore boundless. That is we are roomy in every direction without limits, no walls, no end to the room, in fact there are no walls, we live in the boundlessness of Jesus. There is no limit to our life, it has not walls, not boundaries. we are limitless. 

Take Our Stand

DEVOTION

PSALMS

TAKE OUR STAND

Ps 119:81-88

81 Kaph

My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word. 82 My eyes fail, looking for your promise; I say, "When will you comfort me?" 83 Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees. 84 How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors? 85 The arrogant dig pitfalls for me, contrary to your law. 86 All your commands are trustworthy; help me, for men persecute me without cause. 87 They almost wiped me from the earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts. 88 Preserve my life according to your love, and I will obey the statutes of your mouth.

NIV

Day eleven in the longest psalm. Just a thought about this longest psalm of twenty-two stanzas. When someone in church decides to sing all five verses of a hymn, we do a little groan, but imagine singing all twenty-two stanzas. The psalmist is fainting within his soul for the salvation of the Lord. We do not need to faint as we have experienced the salvation of the Lord. Now it could be the salvation the psalmist is longing for is relief from his persecutions, of Saul making every effort to find him and kill him. This could be that period in David’s life when he is on the run from Saul, hiding in caves, or wherever. Nevertheless, although we have the salvation of the Lord, or we are saved, in our vernacular, there may be times in our life our soul still longs for some relief from the Lord. There are moments in life, when things are not all peaches and cream. There are times when we hurt, emotionally or physically, maybe both, or possibly even spiritually. We pray and it seems we hear nothing. We long to hear from God, to see an answer to our prayer. Has God heard us? Is he ignoring us? Why are we not healed, or cured, or feel better inside? But we have put our hope in his word. Sometimes our eyes fail, we are straining to see an answer to our need because he has promised to provide for us. We ask when Lord? When will you bring about our need? This wineskin in the smoke is a strange illustration. In the day of this psalmist, bottles were made of skin. If it was left hanging in a tent where the smoke of a fire was not about to escape, the skin would get dark and dingy, a symbol of a distressed soul. Even in those times of distress, of waiting for the answer, we will not forget his decrees, we will not forget he is Lord and he does love and care for us. We will not become so despondent that we lose hope, we will continue to trust in him. But there may be times when we ask him how long we have to wait for his response, for his answer. We know some would say God answers, “yes, no, or not yet”. The “no and not yet” are subjective terms to make some excuse why he has not supplied our request. Some even say, that we are not asking within his will and therefore we will not receive that which we asked. Then the most famous one, “Maybe your faith is not strong enough”. Maybe some of that may be true, some may not. Yet we do feel under the weather at times, the world presses in on us, the tempter makes every effort to destroy us, to make our hope seem hopeless. How long will God wait? How long will he allow Satan to continue to tempt us? Yet we will remain steadfast in our hope. Even though our enemy wants to wipe us off the earth, we will not forget to live in accordance to the Lords word. We will live according to his love for us, living with our hope held high, our trust steadfast, our life in his hands and we have seen his salvation each and every day we breathe. We will never stop professing his love, his precepts, his decrees and his law. Our mouth will not be silenced, we will not go slinking back into the dark, we will take our stand for God.

Blameless

DEVOTION

PSALMS

BLAMELESS

Ps 119:73-80

73 Yodh

Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands. 74 May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word. 75 I know, O LORD, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me. 76 May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant. 77 Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. 78 May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause; but I will meditate on your precepts. 79 May those who fear you turn to me, those who understand your statutes. 80 May my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be put to shame.

NIV

Day  ten in the longest psalm. Again we find the psalmist wanting to know more about the Lord and being concerned that God will comfort him in his times of distress. He is aware the Lord is the one who humbles him, but is also righteous and faithful in dealing with him. We can always be assured that God will demonstrate his compassion and his unfailing love toward us as well. There are so many promises of God and we can be confident he never fails to keep his promises. As the psalmist remembers God is the one who formed him, so we also should remember. We are not part of some theory of evolution, but the form God designed and formed from the dust of the earth. God formed or fashioned man in his own image, after he spoke all other living creatures into existence. We are a hand created form in the image of God and in addition he breathed his own breath into man. Nothing is said in any way about any other living thing. Not a single animal was given the ability to understand and learn the commands of God. No other being has the ability to learn and comprehend who God is and what he desires. But we do, we have that mind of Christ within us, and we can learn his commands. Anyone who knows the Lord, who fears, reveres him, rejoices whenever they see us, for our hope is in the Lord, in his word, Jesus. That is if we are actually living as through our hope in the Lord. There is a sense in which the psalmist is seeing his role as some sort of leader as he asks the Lord for those who fear God to turn to him, the psalmist. It appears he is asking the Lord to bring those who understand the statutes of the Lord to come to the psalmist and at the same time seeking the Lord for a blameless heart toward his decrees. This might well serve us to understand we who fear the Lord have been declared to be holy and blameless in his sight and that we all have a responsibility to live in a manner that others can see the love of Jesus in us and they can turn to us and find God. How often we fail. Even within our own families. Yet we also know we will not be put to shame for we still are a child of God, saved, sanctified, justified, made righteous in Christ. But how we fail to live up to who we are. The battle that wages within between the old self and our new self, the old and new natures. The old self keeps wanting to be resurrected from the dead. How can we keep it dead? Is that how God designed us? That is the singular reason we need Jesus. We have no ability to be perfect in this flesh. Left to our self, either the old or new, we are still in need of Jesus. We still need the compassion of God, his mercy, his forgiveness, and his love. There is nothing of self, even the new improved, born again self that will get us to heaven, to eternal life. Only by our faith, which is even a gift of God, are we saved. Let us never wander from that faith. Let our heart always be blameless in his sight. We might try to blame ourselves or blame others for mistakes, but then we are mere humans, with all our imperfections. God does not blame us, for he has declared us blameless.

The Treasure

DEVOTION

PSALMS

THE TREASURE

Ps 119:65-72

65 Teth

Do good to your servant according to your word, O LORD. 66 Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. 68 You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. 69 Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart. 70 Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law. 71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. 72 The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

NIV

Day nine in the longest psalm. Again we deal with the teacher. So often we look to the degreed men to instruct us in the things of God, the educated, the scholars, the professors who supposedly have studied the scriptures to the nth degree. But behold, they are but mere men with limited knowledge that is without bias. The Lord God is the ultimate teacher, He has sent his Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, and he is the teacher of all men. He not only teaches us knowledge about himself, but he is the instructor of good judgement. Knowledge is useless without good judgement. The reason God would teach us knowledge and good judgement is because we believe in his commands. The psalmist talks about before he was afflicted he went astray. We cannot be sure of his affliction, however the Hebrew word can mean many things depending in the context of its usage. Here it appears the better meaning would be humbled. It has the meaning of to be put down, or oppressed, or to be humbled. So we could say that before we were humbled by the truth of God, we went astray, we lived outside the ways of God, but know that he has humbled us, now that we understand our lowly state in our human condition compared to his holiness, his majestic qualities, we obey his word. God is the only good, and what he does is only good and therefore he is the only worthy one to teach us his ways. There are many types of arrogant within the world. There are those who smear our belief in God. There are those who have their own god and believe we are but infidels, they smear not just us, but the God of creation. There are those who have no god except of their own making, which in essence is themselves. They look to their own self as a god, their abilities, and their education, their power of thought, their wealth, and their position in society. There are those who are arrogant in the sense of believing they have all the answers to life, that science is the key to solving the universe. Then, it is even possible to have the arrogant within the church. We hesitate to include them within the body of Christ, for once a member of the body of Christ we know there can be no arrogance for he is the head and we are his body, doing only his bidding. But there is among the church those who again look to their supposed knowledge as of their own making. All arrogance, from wherever it comes, smears the true believer, the one who actually lives by faith, according to the word of God. Their smears are all lies, but we keep the commands of God in our heart, where he teaches us to live by faith in him. In reality all those who are arrogant have callous hearts without feelings. But our heart cannot be callous if we believe God, if we follow his ways, if we have humbled ourselves before him. It is a good thing to be humbled by God, so then we can learn from him. What he has to say is worth more than anyone or anything in this world. There is not enough money in all the world that can buy the truth he offers for free. What we place value in is our treasure. If we put value in money, education, success, material things, they become our treasure and therefor our god. But if we put value on God and his word above all else, then he is our treasure, this is where are heart is for wherever our heart is there also is our treasure. The words of his mouth are our treasure.

Filled with love

DEVOTION

PSALMS

FILLED WITH LOVE

Ps 119:57-64

57 Heth

You are my portion, O LORD; I have promised to obey your words. 58 I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. 59 I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes. 60 I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands. 61 Though the wicked bind me with ropes, I will not forget your law. 62 At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws. 63 I am a friend to all who fear you, to all who follow your precepts. 64 The earth is filled with your love, O LORD; teach me your decrees.

NIV

Day eight in the longest psalm. Once again the psalmist promises to obey the Lord no matter what. When we consider our ways at one time in our life, we too turned our steps to his statutes. However, we were not so much interested in seeking how many laws we could obey. Our motivation for turning our steps was driven by our desire for eternal life. This was the call we answered, “That whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life”. Since then the wicked have tried to bind us with ropes, ropes of temptations to lure us back into the darkness, but we will not forget the light that shines into our heart and upon our life. We live and love the light. Even in the darkness of night at midnight, when we awake, we see the light. Although the world may be rampant with darkness and void of true love, we see your love all over. Each day we arise from our slumber, we see your love toward us. When we watch the sunrise, your love is there. When we feel the rain on our face, your love is there. Even when that brisk cold air fills our nostrils, your love is there. When the snow falls, both gently or with a mighty wind, it serves your purpose and thus your love is there. In the spring as the green begins to appear in the branches, your love is there. But most importantly, we feel your love within our heart, the comfort, the peace, the contentment you bring to our heart because it is filled with your love. Lord, teach us more, reveal more of yourself to us each day so we may experience you to the fullest, that our life will be overflowing with you. Help us Lord to decrease that you might increase.