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Psalms 119:137-138, 140, 142
Righteous are you, O Lord,
and right are your rules.
You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness
and in all faithfulness.
Your promise is well tried,
and your servant loves it.
Your righteousness is righteous forever,
and your law is true.
Our God is completely righteous. In him exists no evil. No darkness is found in him, but only light. What he says is true. What he says is good. It is beneficial to our lives. And, he is completely faithful in all that he does. He can totally be trusted. His word can be fully believed, too. It has been tried, and it has been proven faithful. We can count on it. We can depend on it.
His rules for godly living, which he has laid down for us in his word, are for our good. They are not to punish us. They are also not legalism. They are not works-based salvation. And, they are also not a list of suggestions for us in how we should live, either. His word does not say to us, “This is how I want you to live, but I understand if you can’t do that.”
His rules for godly living are not to spoil all our fun or to take away all our freedom, either. For, true freedom is not freedom to continue in slavery to sin. True freedom is being set free from the chains which bind us so we can walk in his holiness. And, that is where we have true joy and true peace!
God’s word makes no excuses for sinful practices, either. It demands walks of obedience to God. But, it promises us that our God will provide everything we need to live righteously before him.
So, instead of resisting his Word, or making excuses for why we can’t obey, or trying to find ways around what we don’t want to hear, we should love his word, and it should be the delight of our lives. And, we should want to do what it says.
Psalms 119:139, 141, 143-144
My zeal consumes me,
because my foes forget your words.
I am small and despised,
yet I do not forget your precepts.
Trouble and anguish have found me out,
but your commandments are my delight.
Your testimonies are righteous forever;
give me understanding that I may live.
This one really hits home to me. God has so burdened my heart with how so many people who profess the name of Jesus do not take delight in his word, but who ignore it, choose only the scriptures which make them feel good, twist the word to their advantage, and/or feel no obligation to obey it at all.
So, zeal for God’s word does consume me because so many forget God’s words and feel as though they have the freedom to live however they want regardless of what God’s word says. And, so many teachers out there are telling them just what their flesh wants to hear. They are telling them that they don’t have to turn away from their sins or obey God’s word at all.
So, God called me to this ministry of teaching his true gospel and of refuting the lies because so many people have been blinded by the lies, and they need to have their eyes and minds awakened to the truth. And, that does result in me being despised by many. It wins me no popularity contest at all. But, that is ok, because I don’t do what I do for the approval of humans.
But, I am human, and I do hurt for people when they reject God’s word and when they reject his salvation from sin. And, it does make me sad when people come against me or avoid me altogether because they don’t like what I do or what I stand for or the messages God has me share from his word.
But, I must stand on the Word of God no matter what, even if all abandon me, because I know his word is truth, and it is life for all who will obey him.
Psalms 119:145-148 ESV
With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord!
I will keep your statutes.
I call to you; save me,
that I may observe your testimonies.
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I hope in your words.
My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
For those of us who are standing on the word of God, who are following our Lord in obedience to his word, and who are giving out the gospel message of our salvation, we should expect that we will be hated and rejected as Jesus was hated and rejected because of what he stood for.
But, again, we are human. We are not brick walls that these persecutions and rejections and opposition just bounce off of. We hurt. And, we cry those hurts out to God. And, sometimes we just don’t understand why things have to be the way that they are, or why so many people have such stubborn and rebellious hearts which turn away from the living God.
Sometimes, too, the opposition can be overwhelming, and it may come at us from all different angles and sources, and may even all pile on top of us all at once.
And, it is then, especially, that we will cry to our God for help, because we don’t have the strength in ourselves to endure this. Just because we keep coming back with the truth doesn’t mean we are strong people. It only means that we find our strength in the Lord.
Through it all we have to keep our focus on God and on his promises to us and on his word which has proven faithful over and over again. We have to hold on to God, and believe in his sovereignty, and know that he has it all planned out, and that he will work his will and his purposes in every situation in our lives which presents itself to us. So, we must not fall to pieces when things don’t go well, but we must stand on the Solid Rock.
The Solid Rock
Hymn Lyrics by Edward Mote, 1834
Music by William Bradbury, 1863
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
*copyright status is Public Domain
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Righteous are you, O Lord,
and right are your rules.
You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness
and in all faithfulness.
Your promise is well tried,
and your servant loves it.
Your righteousness is righteous forever,
and your law is true.
Our God is completely righteous. In him exists no evil. No darkness is found in him, but only light. What he says is true. What he says is good. It is beneficial to our lives. And, he is completely faithful in all that he does. He can totally be trusted. His word can be fully believed, too. It has been tried, and it has been proven faithful. We can count on it. We can depend on it.
His rules for godly living, which he has laid down for us in his word, are for our good. They are not to punish us. They are also not legalism. They are not works-based salvation. And, they are also not a list of suggestions for us in how we should live, either. His word does not say to us, “This is how I want you to live, but I understand if you can’t do that.”
His rules for godly living are not to spoil all our fun or to take away all our freedom, either. For, true freedom is not freedom to continue in slavery to sin. True freedom is being set free from the chains which bind us so we can walk in his holiness. And, that is where we have true joy and true peace!
God’s word makes no excuses for sinful practices, either. It demands walks of obedience to God. But, it promises us that our God will provide everything we need to live righteously before him.
So, instead of resisting his Word, or making excuses for why we can’t obey, or trying to find ways around what we don’t want to hear, we should love his word, and it should be the delight of our lives. And, we should want to do what it says.
Psalms 119:139, 141, 143-144
My zeal consumes me,
because my foes forget your words.
I am small and despised,
yet I do not forget your precepts.
Trouble and anguish have found me out,
but your commandments are my delight.
Your testimonies are righteous forever;
give me understanding that I may live.
This one really hits home to me. God has so burdened my heart with how so many people who profess the name of Jesus do not take delight in his word, but who ignore it, choose only the scriptures which make them feel good, twist the word to their advantage, and/or feel no obligation to obey it at all.
So, zeal for God’s word does consume me because so many forget God’s words and feel as though they have the freedom to live however they want regardless of what God’s word says. And, so many teachers out there are telling them just what their flesh wants to hear. They are telling them that they don’t have to turn away from their sins or obey God’s word at all.
So, God called me to this ministry of teaching his true gospel and of refuting the lies because so many people have been blinded by the lies, and they need to have their eyes and minds awakened to the truth. And, that does result in me being despised by many. It wins me no popularity contest at all. But, that is ok, because I don’t do what I do for the approval of humans.
But, I am human, and I do hurt for people when they reject God’s word and when they reject his salvation from sin. And, it does make me sad when people come against me or avoid me altogether because they don’t like what I do or what I stand for or the messages God has me share from his word.
But, I must stand on the Word of God no matter what, even if all abandon me, because I know his word is truth, and it is life for all who will obey him.
Psalms 119:145-148 ESV
With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord!
I will keep your statutes.
I call to you; save me,
that I may observe your testimonies.
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I hope in your words.
My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
For those of us who are standing on the word of God, who are following our Lord in obedience to his word, and who are giving out the gospel message of our salvation, we should expect that we will be hated and rejected as Jesus was hated and rejected because of what he stood for.
But, again, we are human. We are not brick walls that these persecutions and rejections and opposition just bounce off of. We hurt. And, we cry those hurts out to God. And, sometimes we just don’t understand why things have to be the way that they are, or why so many people have such stubborn and rebellious hearts which turn away from the living God.
Sometimes, too, the opposition can be overwhelming, and it may come at us from all different angles and sources, and may even all pile on top of us all at once.
And, it is then, especially, that we will cry to our God for help, because we don’t have the strength in ourselves to endure this. Just because we keep coming back with the truth doesn’t mean we are strong people. It only means that we find our strength in the Lord.
Through it all we have to keep our focus on God and on his promises to us and on his word which has proven faithful over and over again. We have to hold on to God, and believe in his sovereignty, and know that he has it all planned out, and that he will work his will and his purposes in every situation in our lives which presents itself to us. So, we must not fall to pieces when things don’t go well, but we must stand on the Solid Rock.
The Solid Rock
Hymn Lyrics by Edward Mote, 1834
Music by William Bradbury, 1863
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
*copyright status is Public Domain
Thursday, November 15, 2018
