One Path

DEVOTION

PSALMS

ONE PATH

Ps 119:25-32

25 Daleth

I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word. 26 I recounted my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees. 27 Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders. 28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. 29 Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law. 30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. 31 I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame. 32 I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.

NIV

Day four in the longest psalm. When we consider our humanity, our state of being in this corruptible flesh and how weak it is, we lay low in the dust. How could we think so highly of ourselves? That is the life of the wicked. Although we are the children of God and we are his chosen people, in the sense we have accepted Jesus, we are still not supposed to think more highly of ourselves then we should. In light of the holiness and righteousness of God, we are still his creation, a human, not a god. It is by his power, his word, our life is preserved, not by ours.  We recount the ways we have lived, and we sought the Lord and he answered us, bringing us from that darkness into his light. We could say he shone his light into our darkness, but the result is the same. We now live in the light of the Lord. He teaches us his decrees, or statutes which are an enactment, an appointment of time, space, quantity, labor or usage. This could mean that we ask him to make known to us his will for our lives, what we are to do in time, space, etc. We also should be asking for him to teach us his precepts or his mandate for us. This mandate would first of all be accepting Jesus, but then how to live as a believer, living by faith, not by sight, trusting in him, not in ourselves. Because we are believers we meditate on his wonders, the work of his hands, not in the wonders of our hands. Life can become wearisome trying to live right, doing all the right things, not doing all the wrong things. It can wear at having an attitude of joy, thankfulness and contentment. Life has a way of dragging us into that pity-party at times. Just the aches and pains of getting old, or some other infirmity that makes life difficult. Our soul can get weary with sorrow, but it does not have to be because we have the Lord to strengthen us according to his word. His word gives us strength to live a joyful life, full of thanksgiving and contentment. His word keeps us from deceitful ways. Left to our own devises, without having his word hidden in our heart, we would live in deceit. It can show up in that façade we build to impress everyone, keeping them from seeing the real us. That is deceit in its finest form. Even if we tried, we could not pull off any deceit when it comes to the Lord, for he knows our heart. So we ask him to be gracious to us. In the Hebrew it says, may the Torah grant me grace. That is what the psalmist had, but we have Jesus, so we would then say, may Jesus grant us grace, which he most certainly does. The one thing we can do is set our heart on his ways. This goes back to that divided heart issue again. We either set our heart on his ways, or we don’t. We cannot set it in two ways, his and the worlds. We have chosen the way of truth. That is only one way, we cannot travel in two directions at the same time. One way, his way or the highway. We have to hold fast to that position in our life, his way, not our way. One way, only one path to run on. There is only one path on which our heart is set free.

Mighty Counselor

DEVOTION

PSALMS

MIGHTY COUNSELOR

Ps 119:17-24

17 Gimel

Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word. 18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. 19 I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me. 20 My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. 21 You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed and who stray from your commands. 22 Remove from me scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes. 23 Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees. 24 Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.

NIV

Day three in the longest psalm. God has done good to us, he sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sin. How much more good does he need to do? Yet he continues to do good to us every day, with each breathe, he sustains us, he provides for us, he heals us, he protects us and he even directs our path so we are on the right way. How could we not obey his word? Sometimes it would seem we are blinded to the wonderful things in his law. Now of course we could, like the psalmist, be thinking of all the laws of the Old Testament. But, we have been freed from the law, we are no longer under that law, however, we have been given a new commandment. This is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, spirit and strength and to love our neighbor as our selves. Then there  is all the other guidelines, suggestions, well actually commands as to how we are supposed to live, such as getting rid of certain attitudes like anger, rage, malice, envy, jealously, contempt, lust, greed and a host of others. Then there are those attitudes we are to take on or what we are to think about, such as that which is holy, pure, lovely, righteous and just, naming only a few. But we get the idea, there are things we are to get rid of and things we are to add to our lives. So the Lord opens our eyes to these things, and we make every effort to live according to his word. Although we fail at times, we still get back up and try again. The point being is that we are strangers on earth, aliens as our citizenship is in the kingdom of God. This should mean that we are not part of this world, we do not even speak the same language, we are not in partnership with them, in league with their ideologies, philosophies, and general way of life. We have nothing in common with them.

2 Cor 6:14-18

14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common ? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."  

17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate,       says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."  18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,               says the Lord Almighty."  

NIV

What is it that we do not see about this? Have nothing in common, do not partner with the world in any way, which means in any way. What does yoked mean? This is used in the farming context of putting two oxen of unequal strength under the same yoke, the team is only as strong as the weakest oxen. But we are not oxen and therefor this word is to show us about paring ourselves with the weak unbeliever. This has mostly been taught about marriage, but it applies to far more than marriage. It applies to every aspect of life. It can apply to joining ourselves in business with an unbeliever. This would be partnering with an unbelieving company by either being a partner, or investing in their business, which is being a silent partner. We have no say as to how they use our money. We are the light, they are the darkness, we are in Christ, and they are in Belial. We are a believer, they are an unbeliever. We are the righteous and they are the wicked. How can we ever think of being involved with them in any way? We are consumed with the ways of God, they are consumed with greed, lust, envy, hatred, lies, filth, unholy, immoral things. They are rebuked because of their arrogance, they say they do not need God, man is better than that. Although all those who rule their own lives, and slander us believers, we will mediate on the Lord and his ways. His statutes are a delight to us, they bring us life, not the death which the arrogant will see. We already have this eternal life, we love the Lord and want to live according to all his ways. We cannot live in both realms, the world and the kingdom of God. We cannot ride the fence either, we have to choose to be completing in the kingdom or not. God’s way, his word is the only counselor we need. Blessed is the man who does not take counsel from the wicked. That means no advice about our way of life. Only his mighty counsel.  

Live Accordingly

DEVOTION

PSALMS

LIVE ACCORDINGLY

Ps 119:9-16

9 Beth

How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. 12 Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

NIV

Day two in this longest psalm. This secret, although obviously it is not a secret, to keeping our way pure, even if we are older than a young man, is to live according to the Word of God. This might be seen as living according to the law, but the law as only put in place to show man he could not live by the law and needed a Messiah, a Savior. The world of all the scripture points to Jesus Christ. He is the word that became flesh.

John 1:1-2

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.

NIV

So then we live according to Jesus. We seek Jesus with all of our heart and it is him who can keep us from straying. Again the secret to this, which is not a secret is hiding Jesus in our heart, as well as hiding the word of God, the scriptures so that when temptation comes, just as Jesus quoted the scripture, we can quote a scripture to resist that tempter from influencing us. It is difficult to quote one if it is not hidden in our heart. We don’t have time to whip out our bible, providing we have one on us at all times, and research to find the one scripture to quote. However, if we are always recounting his word on our lips, we will also always have one to quote. It is interesting that the psalmist is looking to the Lord to teach him about the Lord’s decrees. This has to mean there were no seminaries or bible colleges or professors to teach others about what they think the Lord has decreed. This has to go back to the Spirit leading us into all truth. How else would the psalmist learn? The other interesting thing is that this psalmist rejoices in following the Lords statutes as one rejoices in great wealth. How much effort some people put into obtaining wealth and believe they find joy, peace, and security in having wealth. This is the kind of joy that is found in knowing we are following after the Lord and how he desires we live. We are to spend each day mediating on the Lord’s precepts and his way of life for us. We are to delight in degrees, his commands. Never are we to neglect his  word. This is always being aware, all the time, never forgetting, even for a split second, that we are believers in Christ Jesus and we have him on our mind and in our heart and reflect him to others. This is not the easiest way to live, as we get distracted at times and lose sight of how we are to act, or responds in certain situations. Although we put that old self to death, it keeps wanting to resurrect itself. But, we keep trying, keep on keeping on. We want to be the person God desires us to be and he is the one who can help us live in accordance with Jesus. Thank you Lord for all you do for us, in us and though us.

Start to Finish

DEVOTION

PSALMS

START TO FINISH

Ps 119:1-8

119:1 Aleph

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. 2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. 3 They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. 4 You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. 5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! 6 Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. 8 I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me.

NIV

Day one in the longest psalm, which in Hebrew is an acrostic poem. Not sure how we can determine that for sure, but that is not the truth we are looking for that can apply to our lives. The key words in this first stanza are blameless and steadfast. We cannot be sure how anyone in the Old Testament could have ways that were blameless, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We, on the other hand have been declared holy and blameless in his sight because we are in Christ. Did whoever, and we think it was David who wrote this psalm, really walk according to the law of the LORD? We think not, as we know his sin regarding Bathsheba and the ensuing attempt to cover it up by getting her husband sent to the front line, a certain death sentence. This idea of those who keep his statues and seek him with all their hearts doing nothing wrong, has to be speaking about people who lived during and after Jesus. No one who lived before Jesus every lived a perfect life, doing nothing wrong.  But the true wrong in a person’s life is rejecting Jesus. Because we seek him with all our heart, and that goes back to this divided heart issue, we have done that which is right, therefor we have done no wrong. We walk in the way, in Christ. It would seem what the psalmist says is boastful in his humanity about being steadfast in obeying the Lords decrees. Certainly the LORD did lay down his percepts that were to be fully obeyed, but were they really fully obeyed? We know the history of Israel and how they continually disobeyed God. That is our life as well. We are not a perfect example of obedience to God. Our hearts get distracted and thus could be considered divided. We want to seek the LORD with all our heart, we want to do that which is acceptable, which in the grand scheme of things we have, because we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That is the most important right thing we have ever done. However, we will praise the Lord with an upright heart for the Lord has made our heart upright. We cannot make our heart upright, for in our humanity it is not perfect and thus it gets bend toward self from time to time. He is the only one who can make our heart upright as he declares we are holy, upright, and blameless in his sight. Nevertheless we will learn and continue to learn his righteous law, which in our case, is the law of love. That is the new commandment Jesus gave us. To love the Lord with all, not part, but all our heart, soul, spirit and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The psalmist had many laws to keep, many commandments of God to adhere to, we have these two. For all the law, all the commands of God the Old Testament Jews had to keep are wrapped up in the two that Jesus gave us. That seems easy enough. But it still requires a great deal of reliance on the Holy Spirit. To deny self and put others first, which is this loving our neighbor thing, is not as easy as it sounds. All too often we want what we want and not what they want. But that is our goal, which is what we are trying to be steadfast in doing. We will not give up and throw in the towel. We will keep on keeping on, even when we make a mistake, when we fall. We will get back up, seek him, and get on with living to please him. As long as we keep at it, he will never forsake us. He is the one who started this good work in us, and he is the one who will complete it. He is the one who is the start and the finish.

Enduring Love

DEVOTION

PSALMS

ENDURING LOVE

Ps 118:25-29

25 O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success. 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you. 27 The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. 29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

NIV

This, like many of the psalms speak about Christ. All the preceding stanzas had something about Jesus within them, and this stanza is no different. The crowds that gathered to see Jesus enter Jerusalem on the donkey quoted the phrase in this psalm. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD”. God saves us through the work of Christ on the cross. So often we see signs alone the road saying, “Jesus saves”. But in reality God saves, but does it through the person of Jesus. God saved Abraham, but then Jesus did say, “Before Abraham was born, I am”. So then did Jesus save Abraham? It was God who declared him righteous because of his faith. However, with all the Old Testament the writers used God because in their humanity they knew nothing of Jesus, even though he is God. When God made his light shine upon them, who is the light? Jesus said, "I am the light of the world.” God caused Jesus to shine upon us, to shine his light into our lives bringing out of the darkness where we were hiding so our sins would not be seen. When an animal was brought to the altar there was no need to bind it, it knew not its fate. But Jesus was bound, he was bound to the cross with nails. The remaining words of verse 27 has this meaning. This is the original language. “Bind the sacrifice with cords onto the horns of the altar” This is Jesus bound and flogged, bound with cords to the cross as he carried it, and then with rope and nails on the cross. We often do not think or the movies show us the ropes, but if there were only nails through his hands his body weight would have torn through them, ripped right through and he would have fallen off that cross. So these cords speak of Jesus as our sacrifice on the cross. He is our God, and we will give him thanks. How can we live without an attitude of thanks? How can we not have a thankful heart? How great is his love for us, he suffered and died for us. God suffered for us. Just imagine a god made by human hands doing that. It would not happen in all eternity. Our God, our creator, came to earth in a human form experiencing all the humanity he created us with, then he suffered the most humiliation of all, being flogged, being made fun of, crowned with thorns, and then hung on a cross like a common criminal. God is so good, to do that for us. Who else would be that good? Only God, he is good, his love endures forever.

This is the Day

DEVOTION

PSALM

THIS IS THE DAY

Ps 118:19-24

19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD. 20 This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter. 21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.

22 The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

NIV

For year upon years in a previous church every Sunday morning our pastor would open the service with: This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Not sure which translation he used but it was, we will, not let us. The “we will” is far more of a statement of intent, a confession as to what we will do, rather than let us. Although it still means the same in Hebrew as there is neither the word for we will or let us. It is simply rejoice. So than it would say: this is the day the LORD made, rejoice and be glad in it. Rejoice in every day the LORD has made, each day of our lives is a day the LORD has made. Nothing was made that was not made by him. He put the sun in the sky to give us light and warmth for the day, and the moon to give us the reflection of the sun by night. Although if we call it night, it is not completely dark, because his light still shines off the moon. Then we cannot forget that we will enter his gates with thanksgiving in our hearts, we will enter his courts with praise. Another portion of this psalm we have sung over and over again. Only the righteous get to enter into his gates. Although the wicked cannot, they will stand before him and bow their knee as they are judged for refusing to accept his salvation. They will not enter the gates of the new city of Jerusalem, the judgement will have to occur either before it comes down from heaven or outside its gates. But we who have accepted Jesus are considered the righteous, not because of our good deeds, or because we are without sin, or have any righteousness of our own, but only because we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Although the Jews as a whole rejected Jesus as their cornerstone, their basis for their faith, he has become the capstone. The Hebrew makes it clearer, it says: "The stone refused the builders, is become the of stone the head, the corner" This implies the corner stone which all else is determined by. It is the first stone placed and every other stone is placed in square with it. The building, the temple will not be correctly built without the corner stone, Jesus. This has so much implication. Any temple, whether that is one of stone, a church or other structure designed for worship of a god, or the temple of our body, as we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, if it is not built on Jesus, it is not built right and true. Any faith not built on Jesus is not right and true. He is the corner stone of our life. All our life is based on him. If it is not, than it is not right and true. Everything we do should be based on Jesus, not on ourselves. Everything is about how marvelous is what the Lord has done in making Jesus the cornerstone of our lives. This is the day the LORD has made, we will rejoice, we will be glad, we are in his day. This is the day. 

Mighty Things

DEVOTION

PSALMS

MIGHTY THINGS

Ps 118:10-16

10 All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off. 11 They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off. 12 They swarmed around me like bees, but they died out as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

13 I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me. 14 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

15 Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: "The LORD's right hand has done mighty things! 16 The LORD's right hand is lifted high; the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!"

NIV

It would seem there is a partnership between David and the Lord. On one hand he says “I cut them off” but on the other hand he says, “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things” Although he does say that he cut them off in the name of the LORD. He did not say that what he did, he did for his own glory or fame. Everything he did, all the victories that he won was in the name of the LORD. There are words about how many David killed in battles, and men praised David as king of Israel. Yet David, even as a young boy, told Goliath that he comes in the name of the LORD Almighty. He told Goliath that he comes with the sword and spear, the weapons of man, but David came with God. What are the weapons of men when the LORD is at our right side? Even when things look bleak, and we think we are going to be overwhelmed by the forces against us, the LORD will help us. There is a partnership, however, we have to take our stand. All the Armor of God is available for us to wear, but we must put it on and once we are thoroughly dressed, we are to take our stand. That means no retreat. No stepping back. No turning our back on the foe. We are to stand firm in the name of the LORD. David knew him as the LORD, but we know him as Jesus. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, we have the victory. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, demons will have to flee. Jesus is our strength, he is our salvation. There are shouts of joy and victory in the homes of the righteous. Why should we do anything else, then shout for joy in our homes? There is no reason to shrink back in defeat, and sit in our seat of sorrow. We should live in the party of Joy and victory instead of the pity- party. The victory is ours, and we should live in it, for the right hand of the Lord, which we could say is Jesus, has done mighty things! Jesus is lifted up high, in two senses. First because he was lifted up on the cross, he is our salvation, our righteousness, our redeemer, our Savior. Second, we lift up the name of Jesus every day in our lives. We do not boast in our strength or abilities, or education or position in life or how much or little wealth we possess. We boast in our weakness, for in our weakness he is strong. No we boast in the name of the LORD, we boast in Jesus. We put on the armor and we take out stand, then Jesus does it all. All we do is take our stand, we stand firm and watch the Lord win the battle. He is the one who does mighty things.