SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/13/2012 8:10:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus: We Will Be Faithful
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 119:105-112
Message of the verses: “105 ¶
Nun. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. 106 I have
sworn and I will confirm it, That I will keep Your righteous ordinances. 107 I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O
LORD, according to Your word. 108 O
accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, And teach me Your
ordinances. 109 My life is continually
in my hand, Yet I do not forget Your law.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from
Your precepts. 111 I have inherited Your
testimonies forever, For they are the joy of my heart.112 I have inclined my
heart to perform Your statutes Forever, even to the end.”
Dr.
Wiersbe begins the introduction to this section to write “It has well been said
that the greatest ability is dependability, and this especially applies to the
Christian life.” Faithfulness is what
the theme of this section is and since we desire God to be faithful to us, and
He always is, we are to also be faithful to Him. Dr. Wiersbe concludes his introduction by
stating “The psalmist described several areas of faithfulness in the life of
the believer.”
Faithful Feet (vv. 105): “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light
to my path.”
In
the time when the psalmist wrote this psalm things were much different than
they are today and one of the things that was different was that it was much
more difficult to see at night because there was not the kind of lights then
that we have today. A person would carry
a small clay jar with oil in it and this would give off enough light for one
step at a time.
As
we look at this verse we also see the word path and this word is a picture of
our life, for we are on a path through life and we need light in order to see
where we are going and that light of course is the Word of God, and this helps
us take the next step. The world is a
dark place but the Lord Jesus Christ is the true Light that we can follow. Dr. Wiersbe states “Obedience to the Word
keeps us walking in the light “5 ¶ This
is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light,
and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness,
we lie and do not practice the truth; 7
but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from
all sin (1John 1:5-10).”
Faithful Words (vv. 106-107): “106 I have sworn and I will confirm it, That
I will keep Your righteous ordinances. 107
I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your word.”
The
psalmist is worship the Lord with his words and when we worship the Lord with
our words it is the highest use of words that we can use. I suppose that there are many times when we
are careless in our worship of the Lord by using words that we will not keep,
but the psalmist states that he has sworn and will confirm that he will keep
God’s righteous ordinances. When one
makes a vow to the Lord it is a serious thing to do and we are even cautioned
not to do such things. In October of
1980 while attending a conference in Cleveland, Ohio I made a vow to read God’s
Word at least five minutes each day. I
did this because I was having trouble reading His Word each day. I can say that for the most part that I have
kept this vow. I believe that I have
missed six of seven days in what will soon be 32 years. I almost made a foolish vow to the Lord, but
for the wise counsel of our Pastor I did not make that vow and I am glad that I
did not make it.
Dr.
Wiersbe concludes this section by writing “If worship is the highest use of
words, then to be careless in worship is to commit a great sin.”
A Faithful Memory (vv. 109-110): “109 My life is continually in my hand, Yet I
do not forget Your law. 110 The wicked
have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts.”
Living
in the United States in this wonderful day of advanced technology can be beneficial
in our walk with the Lord, but it can also be detrimental in our walk with the
Lord. In the psalmist day the Word of
God was in the hands of the priests and it was on large scrolls. It would be read out loud in the worship
services and so people would have to pay attention to it if they were to
memorize it. Today we have many Bibles,
and even have Bibles that are read to us, but I suppose the art of memorizing
Scripture is almost lost in today’s world.
It is hard word to memorize Scripture but the rewards are many as we can
meditate upon the verses we have put to memory and therefore learn deeper
truths this way. Dr. Wiersbe writes “The
psalmist was taking risks, just as we do as we walk through the mine fields of
this world, but he knew the Word would direct him.
A Faithful Heart (vv. 111-112): “111 I have inherited Your testimonies
forever, For they are the
joy of my heart.112 I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes
Forever, even to the end.”
The
Bible is like mining for treasures, and it is hard work to mine treasures, but
when the treasure is found then the hard word is worth it. A causal reading of God’s Word will not
produce treasures, but a careful study of God’s Word will bring forth great
treasures. Once we have found great
treasures Dr. Wiersbe says “the Spirit helps us to ‘mint’ the treasure so we
can invest it in others (witness).
Sometimes God takes us through the furnace of suffering so we can better
receive the treasure into our own lives (1Peter 1:6-12). The Word needs no purifying (v. 140; 12:6;
19:8), but we need to be cleansed so we can appreciate God’s truth and
appropriate it. Once your heart is set
on obeying the Word, the life is on the right course.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have great admiration for the psalmist who
wrote Psalm 119, for it seems that he had it all together, and the reason was
of his knowing the Word of God and applying the Word of God in his life so that
even when there were troubles in his life he always had the Word of God to get
him through those troubled times. I am inspired
by his devotion to God’s Word.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Continue to abide in the vine in order to have my path full of light so
that I can walk where God wants me to walk.
Memory verses for the week: 1Cor. 13:1-4
1
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have
become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all
knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have
love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and I surrender
my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4
Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag, and is
not arrogant
9/13/2012 9:29:48 AM
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