SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/31/2012 10:36:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 119 PT-2
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Psalm 119:1-8
Message of the verses: In Today’s SD we will begin to look at this
longest chapter (Psalm) in the entire Bible by looking at the first eight
verses of the psalm, remembering that it is a psalm about the Word of God.
Aleph (vv. 1-8)—Blessed and Blameless
: 1 ¶ Aleph. How blessed are those whose way is
blameless, Who walk in the law of the LORD. 2
How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all
their heart. 3 They also do no
unrighteousness; They walk in His ways.
“4 ¶ You have ordained Your precepts, That we
should keep them diligently. 5 Oh that
my ways may be established To keep Your statutes! 6 Then I shall not be ashamed When I look upon
all Your commandments.
“7 ¶ I shall give thanks to You with uprightness
of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments. 8 I shall keep Your statutes; Do not forsake me
utterly!”
In the past
psalms that we have been studying we have seen the word “blessed” on many
occasions, and we see this word in the first two verses of this psalm, but that
is it we won’t see it again and the question arises “How can we receive God’s
blessing?” The psalmist states “How
blessed are those whose way is blameless, those who walk in the law of the
Lord.”
When we
think of the law it sometimes frightens us even almost paralyzing us with great
despair. In the book of Deuteronomy and
in chapter 27:1-28:68 and also in Joshua 9:30-35 we see that the law is more
cursing than blessing, and this can frighten us. However when we look at Galatians 3:10-13 we
read, “10 For as many as are of the
works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE
WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM
THEM." 11 Now that no one is justified
by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY
FAITH." 12 However, the Law is not
of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY
THEM." 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law,
having become a curse for us-for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO
HANGS ON A TREE.’” Dr. Wiersbe
writes these important words “The law is not a weapon in the hands of an angry
judge but a tool in the hands of a loving Father, used by the Spirit to make us
more like Jesus Christ.” The Word
enables us to know God better and draw closed to Him. ‘Blameless’ does not mean
sinless but wholehearted devotion to the Lord, sincerity, and integrity. Only Jesus Christ was totally blameless in
His relationship to God and His law, but because believers are ‘in Christ,’ we
are ‘holy and without blame before Him’ (Eph. 1:4). He loves us in our hearts (Rom. 5:5) and His
Spirit enable us (Gal. 5:16-26), so His law is not a heavy yoke that crushes
us, for ‘His commandments are not burdensome’ (1John 5:3, NKJV).”
When we
think of seeking God it means much more than just reading the Word or even
studying the Word, it means hearing the voice of God in His Word. Now don’t get me wrong it is not an auditable
voice that I am speaking of here. It
also means loving the Lord more and having a desire to delight His very heart
and to please Him. We also have to
surrender to Him wholeheartedly, and this makes me think of Romans 12:1-2 and
also we see this in this psalm verses 2, 10, 34, 58, 69, and 145. One more thing and that is that we must not
allow any rival love to enter, things like TV, sports, and other hobbies that
can creep in and actually start to become an idol in our life taking away are
devotion and love to the Lord.
We see in places of this 119th
Psalm that the psalmist had failed and that is one of the dangers and
disappointments that we too will face, and when this happens we must cry out
like the psalmist for revival or reviving that can be seen in verses 25, 37,
40, 50, 88, 93, 107 149, 154, 156, and 159.
I think that before we seek this revival from the Lord we must follow
1John 1:9, “If we confess our sins He is faithful to and righteous to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We can see in the ninth chapter of the book
of Daniel along with the 9th chapter of the book of Nehemiah that
both of these OT saints not only confessed the sins of Israel, but also their
own sins before God that caused the Lord to bring the Babylonian captivity upon
them. We have many things in our country
that are not going right in the day that we live in, and the biggest reason for
this is a spiritual reason. In reading
Joel Rosenberg’s new book “Implosion” he talks about that there were two great
“spiritual awakenings” in the United States, one which happened right before
the Revolutionary War and one right before the Civil War. He goes on to say that we are in a great need
of having another great awakening and as believers we should be praying for
this to happen.
Dr. Wiersbe give a quote that is in
many of his books, a quote that is from an old Scottish Pastor, a quote that
has meant a lot to me because of it great meaning, he states, “The victorious Christian life is a series of
new beginnings.” A wonderful Holy
Spirit revival in the hearts of many believers today because of many getting
serious with the Lord in confessing their sins would bring about a series of
many new beginnings and could be the spark needed to start the fire of the next
great awakening in our country. Dr.
Wiersbe writes “As we cultivate an appetite for the Word (vv. 10, 20, 40, 81,
131) and feed upon it, we give the Spirit something to work with in our hearts,
and He enables us to walk in God’s paths.
If we feel ashamed when we read the Word (v. 6; see v. 80), then we have
to stop and find out why and then confess it to the Lord. If we are ashamed because of our
disobedience, then we cannot witness to others (v. 46) and we will be ashamed
of our hope (v. 116). Better to be
ashamed now and confess it than to be ashamed when we meet the Lord (1John
2:28).”
We see that the psalmist talks
about praise in verse seven and praise is good preparation for learning about
God and His Word. We see this again in
verse 12 and 171, making a point that it is important to remember. In verses
3 and 5 we see can see that our ways are not always God’s ways, and this
shows us that we need to continue to press on by faith, and by doing this God
will help us, “I shall keep Your statutes; Do not forsake me utterly”
(V.8) “Make sure that your character is
free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself
has said, "I WILL
NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,’” (Heb. 13:5).
When we read the story of Jacob,
whom God later renamed Israel, we find out that Jacob was not a spiritual
person when he ran away from home, but through his life God worked on him and
Jacob ended up to be a very godly man.
Jacob knew that God had promised not to forsake him, and this was a
reason that he moved forward in his walk with the Lord. (See Genesis 28:10-22.)
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: It was a
long time ago that I read through the 119th Psalm one evening and
the word “revival” kept coming up when I was reading it and because I knew that
my life needed to be revived the Lord used this psalm to bring about revival in
my life. Upon first reading the quote
from the old Scottish preacher it has always been meaningful to me as it goes
along with what 1John 1:9 says.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Pray that God will send a
third great awakening upon our land.
8/31/2012 12:08:23 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment