Psalm 119: Schin 161-168
People don’t scare the Psalmist verse 161
Princes have persecuted me without a cause
BUT my heart stands in awe of YOUR word
Psalmist treasures and loves the Word of God verse 162- 163
I rejoice at YOUR word
as one that finds great spoil
I hate and abhor lying
BUT YOUR law do I love
Psalmist praises the LORD seven times a day verse 164
Seven times a day do I praise YOU
BECAUSE of YOUR righteous judgments
Psalmist has peace verse 165
Great peace have they which love YOUR law
and nothing shall offend them
Psalmist has hope verse 166
LORD – I have hoped for YOUR salvation
and done YOUR commandments
Psalmist obeys the Word of God verse 167- 168
My soul has kept YOUR testimonies
and I love them exceedingly
I have kept YOUR precepts and YOUR testimonies
for all my ways are before YOU
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 161 Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart stands in awe of YOUR word. (6342 “awe” [pachad] means to fear, reverence, tremble, revere or dread.)
DEVOTION: This section uses the twenty-first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalmist states that the leaders of his nation were persecuting him. Today we can say that the politicians or lawmakers are persecuting the people of God.
He places his hope in the LORD. This hope comes from the fact that he has a reverence for the Word of God. This word also means fear. So the psalmist has a reverent fear of the LORD.
We are to revere the Word of God. We are to learn from the Word of God. We are to have a reverent fear of the LORD and HIS word. The psalmist realizes that world leaders don’t have a reverent fear of the LORD and HIS word. They do as they please for the time period the LORD allows them to be in power. The choice is ours.
We can either get better or bitter when we are persecuted. If we are mistreated by those in power over us and get mad at God because of them – we get bitter. If we realize that their treatment of us is allowed by God to cause us to grow closer to HIM – we get better.
The psalmist chose the second option. He rejoices in the Word of God. He praises the LORD seven times a day. He has great peace in the fact that the LORD is in control. He loves the Word of God.
Does this describe us? Do we get better or bitter when we are persecuted? Which one do we choose when things are not going our way? Do we have enough respect for the Word of God to turn to it in our times of trouble? Do we have enough respect for the Word of God to turn to it in our good times?
Comfort only comes when we ask or people can see our present situation. Some Christians are very good at hiding what they are going through and so their friends don’t realize all the challenges they have in life. Sharing is important.
CHALLENGE: Encourage those who are going through hard times at present. If you are going through hard times turn to someone who loves the LORD and ask them to pray for you. God uses human hands to comfort us in hard times.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 162 I rejoice at YOUR word, as one that finds great spoil. (7998 “spoil” [shalal] means treasure, plunder, booty, gain, or profit.
DEVOTION: The Word of God is considered a great treasure by the Psalmist. He wants to learn all he can from the Word of God.
In the day of the Psalmist they had some of the books of the Old Testament. The LORD came to people in dreams and visions in his time period. He wanted all he could to hear the Word of God. He wanted to obey the Word of God. He had great peace because of the Word of God. He considered it a great treasure.
What do we do with a great treasure? We should display it. The Psalmist tried to display the Word of God by living according to it. He wanted to be considered an obedient servant of the LORD.
He praised the LORD seven times in a day. So he had to be walking down the streets of Israel singing praises to the LORD. He had to be talking with people about how great the Word of the LORD was in his eyes.
He presented the Word of God as something that gives hope to those who believe. He showed his love for the LORD by loving the message HE was sending to HIS servants.
How do we feel about the Word of God? Do we treasure? Do we search it for answers to our life’s problems? Do we find ourselves really enjoying our time of study in the Word of God? Only we can answer these questions.
I personally enjoy the reading of the Word of God especially when I take the time to let it speak to me. I have learned more each year as I have sent out these Daily Meat Devotionals. I have not enjoyed the problems I have had with the way they appear in some of those who receive the devotionals. We are working on this problem. But many people have grown through these studies, including me. Please pray for more to enjoy the Word of God daily as they study with understanding.
CHALLENGE: Encourage all your fellow believers to treasure the Word of God as you do. If you are not treasuring it, ask the LORD to give you insight into HIS Word, so that you may treasure it more than any other possession you have.
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: 163 I hate and abhor lying: but YOUR law do I love. (8581 “abhor” [ta’ab]
means to desecrate, to act abominably, to find repugnant, loath, detest, or be repulsive.)
DEVOTION: There are people who love to lying. They do it so much that they don’t know what the difference is between lying and telling the truth.
It is hard to understand if you are always trying to tell the truth but some people don’t have any problem lying to get their way or to tell a false story about themselves.
Too many people are lying to themselves about their relationship with the LORD. They think everything is good when in reality nothing is good. They are doing things that they know the LORD would not approve of and yet they still do it.
God wants us to be honest with HIM and with ourselves. We have to ask the LORD for help in this area because it is common even to those who are trying to live the Christian life to lie to themselves about their relationship to the LORD and to others.
Some think that they have a good witness for the LORD when they never or usually never share their faith with others and think that it is OK with God for them not to do it.
Once we become a follower of the LORD all of our actions and verbal communication should be done with the LORD in mind. If we can’t say something that is true we either have to say nothing at all or admit to ourselves that we are first lying to ourselves and then lying to others.
CHALLENGE: The LORD wants us to have an honest relationship with HIM and that can only happen if we keep reminding ourselves that our relationship to HIM is more important than our relationship to others. We need to speak the truth in LOVE!
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 164 Seven times a day do I praise YOU because of YOUR righteous judgments. (1984 “praise” [halal] means to boast, to admire, eulogize, to extol the greatness of a deity or the deity’s works as an act of worship.)
DEVOTION: Ask yourself what you have to praise the LORD about and then start doing it when you are talking with others.
Here we find the Psalmist stating that he boasts of the LORD seven times a day. This a practice that we should put into our life on a daily basis.
If we can’t think of things to praise the LORD concerning our personal life, we need to ask the LORD to help us to understand what HE is doing in our life each day. It will not take long before we can find seven things to praise the LORD concerning what HE is doing in our life.
The LORD has blessed us beyond our imagination and if we think hard, we can come up with things each day to tell others of what HE is doing in our life today. Sometimes we are not a thinking people or we just don’t think in that area.
It is time to think in that area and then tell others about the salvation HE has provided for us and how we have to confess our sins each day to HIM to keep our relationship fresh. Too often we don’t share the truth about ourselves regarding how sinful we really are and that we need to confess it to HIM and then tell others why we are praising HIM. We don’t have to mention our individual sins but just the fact that HE forgives us and uses us for HIS glory.
CHALLENGE: Try to think of seven things each day that you have to praise the LORD for in your life and start sharing it with others.
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165 “Great peace have those who love YOUR law, and nothing causes them to
stumble.” The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). (Stumble – 4383 מִכְשֹׁול [mikshowl, mikshol /mik·shole/] n m. From 3782; TWOT 1050c; GK 4842; 14 occurrences; AV translates as “stumblingblock” eight times, “offence” twice, “ruins” twice, “offend” once, and “fall” once. 1 a stumbling, means or occasion of stumbling, stumbling block. James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2001).
DEVOTION: What is the thing you fear the most in life? I do not like snakes and bridges sometimes makes me grip the wheel of the car tightly as I cross over. There are different things that make individuals nervous or scared to the point of paralysis. Those are the people or events that you attempt to avoid or not encounter. The psalmist in this section states that in the midst of persecution God’s word was still his fear, his joy, and his love, the object of his thanksgiving, and the ground of his hope. [Keil & Delitzch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 5, 747.]
No matter what princes or lying tongues could bring against him, his course was established to keep the Lord’s word and ways. This was being done as he realized that the Lord was watching and a sense of Yahweh’s omniscience, given in v 168b, was one motive for obedience. This relates to God’s all- seeing ability presented in such wisdom passages as Job 31:4; Prov 5:21.
The more we become familiar with God’s presence and promises the greater our reverence and fear of Him will become. Obedience is easy when love and fear combine to make us follow that one no matter what is in the way. What is stopping you from following today?
CHALLENGE Does someone or something make you stop following Jesus today? Then it is time to get a new perspective of Jesus! (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Realize the LORD watches our walk verse 168
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Rejoice verse 162
Praise the LORD verse 164
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Word verse 161, 162
Law verse 163, 165
Judgments verse 164
Commandments verse 166
Testimonies verse 167, 168
Precepts verse 168
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
Righteous judgments verse 164
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 166
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Princes verse 161
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Persecuted believers verse 161
Lying verse 163
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Awe of God’s Word verse 161
Rejoice verse 162
Hate lying verse 163
Love Word of God verse 163, 165, 167
Praise verse 164
Peace verse 165
Not offend verse 165
Hope verse 166
Salvation verse 166
Love verse 167
Keep the Word of God verse 168
Realize the LORD watches our walk verse 168
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
Ver. 167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies, &c.] The word of God, which he kept cordially and heartily; and in his heart, laid it up there; and with his whole soul observed the doctrines and kept the precepts of it. And I love them exceedingly; and so kept them from a principle of love, and not with mercenary and selfish views; and this love was exceeding great, not cold nor lukewarm, but ardent and fervent, love in the superlative degree. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 4, p. 239). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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167. “My soul hath kept thy testimonies.” My outward life has kept thy precepts, and my inward life—my soul, has kept thy testimonies. God has borne testimony to many sacred truths, and these we hold fast as for life itself. The gracious man stores up the truth of God within his heart as a treasure exceedingly dear and precious—he keeps it. His secret soul, his inmost self, becomes the guardian of these divine teachings which are his sole authority in soul matters. “And I love them exceedingly.” This was why he kept them, and having kept them this was the result of the keeping. He did not merely store up revealed truth by way of duty, but because of a deep, unutterable affection for it. He felt that he could sooner die than give up any part of the revelation of God. The more we store our minds with heavenly truth, the more deeply shall we be in love with it: the more we see the exceeding riches of the Bible the more will our love exceed measure, and exceed expression. (Spurgeon, C. H. (n.d.). The treasury of David: Psalms 111-119 (Vol. 5, pp. 424–425). London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers.)
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161–63 The joy, devotion, and benefits of a godly life radiate through this strophe. The context of adversity is unchanged, as the “rulers” (v. 161; cf. v. 23) of the people continually “persecute” (cf. vv. 150, 157) “without cause” (cf. 35:7, 19; 69:5; 109:3; Prov 1:11). But instead of anger the psalmist rejoices in the “promise” of the Lord. He is like a warrior returning from battle with “great spoil” (v. 162; cf. vv. 14, 72, 111; Isa 9:3). His joy does not lie primarily in the immediate rewards but in the heartfelt love for God’s instruction (“law,” tôrāh, v. 163; cf. 1:2) and hatred of evil.
164–65 The psalmist praises (h-l-l as in “Hallelujah”) the Lord many times a day (symbolized by the number seven) for his “righteous laws” (v. 164; cf. v. 7). The godly magnify God’s name because they know that in his righteousness he will vindicate them. Therefore they have “peace” (šālôm, “shalom”). Though surrounded by adversity, they are confident of God’s loving care and of his promise that they will not “stumble” (v. 165; cf. Prov 4:12; 1 John 2:10).
166–68 In anticipation of that great day of “salvation” (yešûʿāh), the psalmist gives himself to hopeful waiting (cf. Gen 49:18) and to the practice of godliness (v. 166). Obedience to God’s revelation proceeds from a heart committed to the Lord and his word. The psalmist keeps God’s laws out of “love” (v. 167; cf. vv. 47, 119), for God discerns all his activities, emotions, hopes, and fears (v. 168; cf. 38:9; Heb 4:13). (VanGemeren, W. A. (1991). Psalms. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Vol. 5, p. 762). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
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awe—reverential, not slavish fear, which could not coexist with love (Ps 119:163; 1 Jn 4:8). Instead of fearing his persecutors, he fears God’s Word alone (Lu 12:4, 5). The Jews inscribe in the first page of the great Bible, “How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” (Ge 28:17). (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 384). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
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Ps. 119:161–168. The eightfold ח (both Shin and Sin). In the midst of persecution God’s word was still his fear, his joy, and his love, the object of his thanksgiving, and the ground of his hope. Princes persecute him without adequate cause, but his heart does not fear before them, but before God’s words (the Kerî likes the singular, as in v. 147), to deny which would be to him the greatest possible evil. It is, however, a fear that is associated with heartfelt joy (v. 111). It is the joy of a conflict that is rewarded by rich spoil (Judg. 5:30, Isa. 9:2 [3]). Not merely morning and evening, not merely three times a day (Ps. 55:18), but seven times (שֶׁבַע as in Lev. 26:18, Prov. 24:16), i.e., ever again and again, availing himself of every prayerful impulse, he gives thanks to God for His word, which so righteously decides and so correctly guides, is a source of transcendent peace to all who love it, and beside which one is not exposed to any danger of stumbling (מִכְשֹׁול, LXX σκάνδαλον, cf. 1 John 2:10) without some effectual counter-working. In v. 166a he speaks like Jacob in Gen. 49:18, and can speak thus, inasmuch as he has followed earnestly and untiringly after sanctification. He endeavours to keep God’s law most conscientiously, in proof of which he is able to appeal to God the Omniscient One. (Keil, C. F., & Delitzsch, F. (1996). Commentary on the Old Testament (Vol. 5, pp. 747–748). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.)
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119:161–168. The psalmist affirmed that though princes hated him without a cause he trembled in awe at God’s Word (cf. v. 120). He rejoiced in the worth of the Law, loved it, and praised God repeatedly for it (vv. 162–164). Those like himself who love God’s Word and hope in Him for salvation enjoy great peace (šālôm, “well-being,” vv. 165–166). The writer then said he had observed the Law out of love for it (vv. 167–168; cf. v. 163). (Ross, A. P. (1985). Psalms. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 882). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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THE CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIAN
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. John 17:16
We must consider what our Lord has to say about the Christian. Here is the character of the Christian. The first thing I notice is a negative. He says in John 17:6, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.” Now that is the first thing He says about the Christian. He is not of this world. In verses 6-19 Jesus repeats that four times. In addition to verse 6, He says in verse 9, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me”; and again in verse 14, “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world”; and then in verse 16, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Our Lord goes on repeating that phrase because He wants to impress it upon us.
The first thing that is true about the Christian is that he does not belong to this world. In the light of this, it is vital that we should ask ourselves the question, am I of the world or am I not? That is the fundamental distinction that runs through the Bible from beginning to end. There are only two groups of people in the world today—those who are of the world and those who belong to Christ. In the last analysis there is no other division or distinction that has the slightest importance or relevance. That is why most of us are defeated by life in this world—we recognize other distinctions that are quite unimportant. But when we all come to die, does it make the slightest difference which political party we belong to? Does it matter whether we are rich or poor, learned or otherwise? There is only one fundamental distinction, and that is whether we belong to the world or to Christ.
A Thought to Ponder: The Christian does not belong to this world.
(From Safe in the World, pp. 22-24, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Most people claim to know Christ, but he is a person stranger to them. Although they know, or at least say to know that Christ died on the Cross, they do not understand the true magnitude of that Act of love and sacrifice, which led him to die in our place to give us a second chance to live with Him forever, because the first chance was wasted by our first fathers, Adam and Eve. Jesus Christ longs to have a personal relationship with each of us….. DO YOU HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST? That’s the Only condition He puts us to welcome us back into His Family. if not, as long as you have life there is still hope. Don’t risk your eternity for negligence, negligence, ignorance or arrogance. None of those will be a valid excuse or reason when the Lord calls you to account. (Sol Ibarra)
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OUR LORD’S CARE FOR HIS FOLLOWERS
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. John 17:6
Observe our Lord’s care for His followers. He reminds His Father that He kept them while He was in the world. How easy it is to read the Gospels without seeing that all the while He is watching them and keeping them and shielding them against the enemy. But now He is going out of the world, and in John 17 He is praying to His Father to keep them. He pleads with Him to look after them and commits them to His care. They are His Father’s, but they have been given to Him, and He gives them back: “keep them from the evil” (John 17:15).
If we but realized the concern of our Savior for us as we are tried and tempted and beset by sin and Satan, it would revolutionize our whole attitude toward everything. We should also note His loving attitude toward His followers. Some astounding things are said here. Indeed we would almost be right to query them when we read what He says of these disciples: “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.” Then notice: “Thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word” (John 17:6). How can He say that?
As we read the Gospels and look at these disciples, we see them quarreling with one another, we see their jealousy of one another and their desire for preeminence over one another, and finally we read how at the end they all forsook Him and fled. Yet He said about them, “they have kept thy word.” He did not criticize them; He prayed for them. I thank God for this above everything else.
A Thought to Ponder: He did not criticize them; He prayed for them.
(From Safe in the World, pp. 18-19, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Did you know it has been said that when you carry the Bible, Satan has a headache, when you open it, he collapses, when he sees you reading it, he loses his strength, AND when you stand on the Word of God, Satan can’t hurt you!
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We are to present our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness.
INSIGHT
Micky Cohen, a noted gangster of a past generation, said that after he embraced Christianity, he felt betrayed. No one had explained that God would require a change in his behavior. “There are Christian athletes and Christian businessmen. Why not Christian gangsters?” he reasoned. But when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are no longer free to continue living as we did in the world. Our affections and activities must change to reflect the God whom we serve. The term “Christian gangster” contradicts itself because the activities of a gangster generally oppose the character of Christ. (Quiet Walk)
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FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHER–FROM GOD’S SIDE
…and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:3
There are always two sides to fellowship. We will now look at fellowship from God’s side. Paul said in writing to the Philippians, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (2:13). That is the way to have fellowship with God. You are aware of the surging of those holy desires, and you say to yourself, “It is God speaking to me; it is God saying something and calling forth a response in me.” “We love him, because he first loved us,” says John later on in 1 John [4:19], and God has fellowship with us in that way.
Not only that, He reveals His will to us. He shows us what He would have us to do. He leads us. He opens doors and shuts them; sometimes He puts up barriers and obstacles. You know what I am speaking about. It means that you are aware of the fact that you are in the hands of God, and that He is dealing with you, and that
as you go forward in this journey called life, God is there. Sometimes the door is shut, and you cannot understand it. You say, “I wanted to go there, but I cannot,” and then you say, “But God is with me, and He has shut the door.” Then suddenly you find the door opened, and you know it is the One who is walking with you who has suddenly opened it. That is having fellowship with God–knowing that He is there in these various ways in which He manipulates our lives and speaks to us and gives us wisdom and understanding. Every one of these things contains a danger; they all need to be carefully qualified, and yet they are essential to fellowship and communion.
Then He supplies us with strength according to our need and according to our situation.
A Thought to Ponder: Having fellowship with God means knowing that He is there. (From Fellowship with God, pp. 85-86, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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Boldness in Prayer
“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” (Ephesians 3:12)
There is a wonderful exhortation and promise in Hebrews 4:15-16: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted [that is, ‘tested’] like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
We aren’t to come presumptuously or arrogantly to God in prayer, but we can come boldly! This is not by virtue of our own merits but because Christ Himself has opened the way for us. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:19-22).
Because He has been fully tested yet free from sin, and because of the shed “blood of Jesus” and the opened veil “through his flesh,” if we come “by the faith of him,” we do have “access” to God’s “throne of grace” and can boldly present our petitions. These must, of course, be dependent upon His will, for “this is the confidence [same Greek word as ‘boldness’] that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And . . . we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15).
But, whether a particular request is granted or denied in accord with God’s greater wisdom, or whether the answer is delayed until God’s more propitious time, we can always “find grace to help in time of need.” He is our great high priest, our mediator, our advocate with the Father, our intercessor, and we can surely pray with “boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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Safe Hands
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble. Psalm 32:7
Like the unraveling of a rope, the threads of Doug Merkey’s life were breaking one by one. “My mother had lost her prolonged battle with cancer; a long-term romantic relationship was failing; my finances were depleted; my vocation was foggy. . . . The emotional and spiritual darkness around me and within me was deep and debilitating and seemingly impenetrable,” the pastor and sculptor wrote. These collective events, combined with living in a cramped attic, became the setting from which his sculpture The Hiding Place emerged. It depicts Christ’s strong, nailed-scarred hands openly cupped together as a place of safety.
Doug explained the design of his artwork this way: The “sculpture is Christ’s invitation to hide in Him.” In Psalm 32, David wrote as one who had found the ultimate safe place—God Himself. He offers us forgiveness from our sin (vv. 1–5) and encourages us to offer prayer in the midst of tumult (v. 6). In verse 7, the psalmist declares his trust in God: “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”
When trouble shows up, where do you turn? How good it is to know that when the fragile cords of our earthly existence begin to unravel, we can run to the God who has provided eternal safety through the forgiving work of Jesus.
(By Arthur Jackson, Our Daily Bread Ministries)
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The Unmuzzled Ox
“Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.” (Deuteronomy 25:4)
This Mosaic regulation would seem rather insignificant except that it is quoted twice in the New Testament. “For it is written in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?” (1 Corinthians 9:9-10). Yes, but that is not the main purpose behind this law. “Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.” This application is drawn in verse 14: “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” That is, supporting financially those who devote full time to God’s work is not “charitable giving” but compensation for services, with the pay to be provided by those who receive the benefit of their labors.
This is even more clear in the second reference: “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward” (1 Timothy 5:17-18), the latter part quoting words of Christ (Luke 10:7). Incidentally, note that both New Testament and Old Testament Scriptures are considered divinely inspired and authoritative on any subject with which they deal.
The subject here is just compensation for those who devote their time, training, and abilities to the work of the Word, under the call and leading of God, as recognized by the people of God. This seemingly insignificant principle, if faithfully obeyed, would greatly enlarge the effectiveness and outreach of the Christian witness in the world.
(HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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Love-Hate Relationship
by Barbara Rainey
You love every harmful word, O you deceitful tongue. PSALM 52:4, NIV
I had been a mom for about six years when I first began to experience significant anger. And as the pressures of parenthood increased and our older children moved into adolescence, I started getting angry more severely and more often. It was inappropriate, and it was really becoming a problem.
One Thanksgiving weekend, my 13-year-old son and I got into a raging argument about . . . something. I don’t even remember what. I just remember I couldn’t control him, and I couldn’t control me. For years, I had justified my anger by saying I was so tired and worn out every day. Now, for the first time, I realized it had gotten bigger than I was. I could justify my behavior no longer.
Dennis was a part of the solution. As we talked it over, we agreed that it would be healthy for me to go through a period of counseling. As I sought help, the Lord sensitized my heart one summer day to the words of Psalm 52.
As I was reading the fourth verse—the one above—my eyes filled with tears. Suddenly I knew that in all my years of struggling, the only thing I really hated about my anger was that I couldn’t control it. Yet in those few moments of holy conviction, I realized I needed to hate my anger simply because it was sin. Before, I had only hated what I did with it. Now, I hated it for what it was.
Perhaps you’re still rationalizing a certain harmful behavior of yours by claiming your right to it. Perhaps, if you dug a little deeper, you might even discover, like I did, that you enjoy the power and control it gives you. If this is you, don’t you think it’s time to confess (agree with God about it) and deal with it? (Moments with You Couples Devotional)
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