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.

Our Practice

DEVOTION

PSALMS

OUR PRACTICE

Ps 119:49-56

49 Zayin

Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. 50 My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life. 51 The arrogant mock me without restraint, but I do not turn from your law. 52 I remember your ancient laws, O LORD, and I find comfort in them. 53 Indignation grips me because of the wicked, who have forsaken your law. 54 Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge. 55 In the night I remember your name, O LORD, and I will keep your law. 56 This has been my practice: I obey your precepts.

NIV

Day seven in the longest psalm. There may be times in our life when things are not going just as we think they should. It seems this is the plight of the psalmist in this stanza. Asking God to remember his word consider his servant. The word of God gives us hope and comfort when there is some suffering in life. It is his word, his promises that preserve our life when things are going badly for us, at least when we think things are going badly. But if we are his servants, then our life is in his hand, and all things work for good to those who love the lord and are called according to his purpose.

Rom 8:28-29

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

NIV

Whatever we experience in life, we know that God is doing a good work in us, he is using our life experience, whatever that is, even suffering, for our good according to his purpose for our life. As far as the arrogant mocking us without restraint may well have to do with those periods in life when we are not experiencing what appears to be a victorious life. Because we have witnessed to them, because they know we are a born again, bible toting, believers in God, and they see us in a period of suffering, they mock our God. They could say something like, “If God is a God if love, why does he let you suffer so?” Or, “if you say God blesses you, why are you not looking blessed?” But it does not matter what anyone says, we will not turn from the Lord’s law. We remember his ancient laws that he gave to the Israelites, we remember the new covenant Jesus made with us. We remember that we are born again and we will inherit eternal life. We remember that God works everything for our good, because we love him and we are called according to the purpose he has for us as not just servants, but as co-heirs with Jesus, as his friend, as the children of God, citizens of the Kingdom of God. Yet at the same time, because they mock us, which is mocking God, horror grips us. When the psalmist says that indignation grips him because of the wicked, the Hebrew word means horror or burning heat, rage. This is indignation at its finest. How dare they mock our God! Who do they think they are? They don’t even know the truth! They are ignorant people, without knowledge of who God really is. Indignation grips us because of the wicked because they have forsaken the Lord and his law. Oh Lord, your degrees are the theme song of our heart. It does not matter where we lodge. If we lodge in a house of blessings or one of sufferings, we will always sing of your praise deep within our heart and thus that will shine from us to all we see and know us. As we lay in our bed at night we remember you are there, you are with us, and we recount all your works in our life and feel comfort, contentment and peace, because we know you love us. We commit our way unto you, Lord. We want to accomplish that which you have called us to. Yet, we also know that you are our strength and it is you working through us which gets it all done, according to your purpose. This has been our practice. Looking to you Lord for all things, which is obeying your precepts. This is our practice.

Authority

DEVOTION

PSALMS

AUTHORITY

Ps 119:41-48                                                                  

41 Waw

May your unfailing love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise; 42 then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in your word. 43 Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws. 44 I will always obey your law, for ever and ever. 45 I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. 46 I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, 47 for I delight in your commands because I love them. 48 I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love, and I meditate on your decrees.

NIV

Day six in the longest psalm. There is a dedication in the voice of the psalmist. He is declaring his intent to never forsake the law of the Lord, nor his trust in him. He wants the Lord to know that all his hope in the law. For him, walking in the law is walking in freedom. This following the law has been an issue with us New Testament believers. We believe we are no longer under the law, because Jesus set us free from the law. In fact, the law was given to show Israel they could not follow it perfectly, and thus needed a Savior, the ultimate sacrifice for sin. It has always been about Jesus from the very beginning of the history of mankind’s first sin. Then that raises the question about if God knew Adam was going to make that bad choice, why did he create him with that ability, that free will. However that all worked out, if it was always the plan of God for man to sin, the giving of the law to show the need for Jesus, or it just happened and God reacted accordingly, the point is that Jesus did come and he fulfilled the law. This means that if we are in Christ, we have fulfilled the law as well. Then it just leaves us with all the word of God to trust in. We trust him for our salvation through Jesus. We trust him for life itself. We put our hope in his word, in Jesus for our salvation and eternal life. No one who has died as come back to tell us that eternal life is real, except all the eye witness accounts recorded in the New Testament. But they those who taunt us, do not believe this bible was inspired by God, but rather a big hoax perpetuated upon man by others with a scheme to control others. Everything we believe about eternal life is really a hope, it is by faith we believe, not by sight. Yet we have witnessed so many miracles by the hand of God that it would be foolish to reject this hope, this faith in him, in his word, is his commands, his everlasting love, and his promises to those who believe. Because Jesus fulfilled the law, we walk in freedom. We are not bound to the law, we are not chained to the law, because Jesus set us free and we are free indeed. However, that does not mean we are free to live however we please. The word of God still controls our lifestyle. Because we believe we live as citizens of the kingdom of God and thus live under the rule of the King. This is a fine line, not to live under the law, but to live under his authority. So we delight in his authority over our lives. That would mean we want him to have that authority, we defer to his authority. This means we do not make a decision on our own. We do not decide to do something, whether that be move, by a new car, change jobs, change anything for that matter, retire, or whatever without consulting him first. That means everything we are, everything we have, everything we do is under his authority and we can only be, have, and do whatever he decides is best for us and that which would benefit his kingdom. We therefore lift up our hands to his command. This is to say, we bow before him with extended hands in submission to his authority. We mediate on his decrees. We are always living in consideration of his authority, his word, and his commands in our life.  

Focused

DEVOTION

PSALMS

FOCUSED

Ps 119:33-40

33 He

Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. 34 Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. 35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. 36 Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. 37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.  38 Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. 39 Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. 40 How I long for your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness.

NIV

Day five in the longest psalm. It does little good to learn the decrees of the Lord from another man. In doing this it might be way too easy to either forget what he has said because of his mannerisms or style of teaching or that he teaches something more of human ideas than the true decrees of the Lord. But when we learn from God, when he speaks his decrees into our heart, we will never forget and we will keep them to the end. Again we need to understand what his decrees are. What is a decree? In the Hebrew it is defined in various ways, but the first definition is the main usage and that is a statute, an ordinance, a limit, something prescribed, a prescribed task. This could be a combination of many tasks such as the Ten Commandments, and all the other laws given to the Israelites, in addition we have all the commands or laws given to us by Jesus, or in all the letters of the apostles, or it can be a singular task. We also know that no man can keep all the law to the end for we are all sinners saved by grace, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. How could we even expect to keep all the law, which was never intended to been able to be kept? The law was to show man he needed a Savior. So how could anyone keep it to the end? However, this prescribed task as seen as an individual task, or a calling could be keep to the end. When God puts a calling on us, how can we retire from doing that task? We will keep it to the end. We do not understand how a person called by God to do a prescribed task would plan their retirement, either from that prescribed task or from doing the will of God.  When God gives us that understanding we then will be able to keep his law and obey it with all our heart. Here it is again, direct me in the path of your commands. Again it is this calling by God to walk in a certain path. First that is the path of righteousness, or to walk in the path of Jesus, to be in Christ is the only path to walk, in that it gives us eternal life. But then this path is also the singular path he has called a specific person to walk. Some he calls to become a shepherd, another an evangelist, or a teacher. He calls some to be his voice in the wilderness. Whatever he calls us to, it is all for the furtherance of his kingdom. We do not work or toil or preform our assigned task for our own benefit. This life we live is not for us, but for the kingdom of God. The one who loses his life will gain life, the one who wants to keep his life will lose it. This is the meaning of our life. We live for the pleasure of God, not for our own pleasure. Now can we have some pleasures in life? Sure, God blesses us with many pleasures, both spiritual and material. He provides all we need. He has provided us with so much, in fact one of his promises that he allows us to test him about is in our tithe and offerings.

Mal 3:10-12

0 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

NIV

We will not have room enough to contain all the blessing of God, in addition all our material things will not wear out. No pests will devour our crops. We will be called blessed. Just think about that. Keeping his decrees brings so much to our life. Living for self instead brings nothing to our life. So we turn our heart toward God, not toward selfish gain. We turn our eyes away from worthless things. How can we say we love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, spirit and strength when we are always looking with a longing for those worthless things? If we seek him first and his righteousness, he will add all those worthless things to our lives.

Matt 6:24-34

24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

NIV

This is one of those decrees, those commands of Jesus, we should keep to the end.

God preserves our life, we cannot. If we try to preserve it we lose it, but if we put God above everything and everyone else we will have the most excitingly blessed life we could ever imagine. This is that contrast between a divided and a whole heart. Let us bless the Lord with a whole heart. Let us focus our eyes upon Jesus.