PSALM 70
Prayer for rescue verse 1
Make haste – O God – to deliver me
make haste to help me – O LORD
Prayer for judgment on enemies verse 2- 3
Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul
let them be turned backward – and put to confusion
that desire my hurt
Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say
Aha – Aha
Prayer for those who search for God verse 4
Let all those that SEEK YOU rejoice and be glad in YOU
and let such as LOVE YOUR salvation say continually
Let God be magnified
Prayer for the LORD not to delay verse 5
BUT I am poor and needy – make haste unto me – O God
YOU are my help and deliverer – O LORD – make no tarrying
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 1 “Make haste, O God, to deliver me! Make haste to help me, O LORD!” The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). Haste – 2363 חוּשׁ, חוּשׁ [chuwsh /koosh/] v. A primitive root; TWOT 631; GK 2590 and 2591; 20 occurrences; AV translates as “haste” 19 times, and “ready” once. 1 to haste, make haste, hurry. 1A (Qal) to make haste. 1B (Hiphil). 1B1 to show haste, act quickly, hasten, come quickly. 1B2 to enjoy, be excited. James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2001).
DEVOTION: Situations happen so quickly! The split second recognition that an accident is about to happen or the slow motion picture as you watch your child tipping over! These events or others happen so quickly that all we have time for is to utter a short prayer and then the emergency ensues.
In that split second of time we spontaneously cry out! Like the psalmist we expect the Lord to respond and either protect or direct us over the next moments of time. This reflex of prayer is something that is conditioned by our communion with the Lord much like our conditioned response to cry out to parents when a child. As we have seen our parents react and the Lord respond so we desire in the crisis to have the Lord respond again and very quickly. David cries for deliverance and believes assistance is only a short cry away! When those times occur may we cry out to the Lord to answer quickly and this swift prayer of emergency be answered!
CHALLENGE: Do not hesitate to cry out to the Lord when an emergency arises! He is near and ready to assist us! (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt. (confusion “kalam] means to harm somebody, to insult, to put to shame, to have shame or dishonor brought upon, be humiliated, or to treat shamefully)
DEVOTION: David had his enemies. There were people who didn’t like the fact that he was chosen as king by the LORD. He was a sinner. He was not formal as a king. He had not grown up in the palace. He didn’t have any class.
There are always people who think that they deserved to be a ruler over the person who is the ruler. They think that they are smarter than the one of the throne. They think that they would make better decisions regarding the kingdom.
David asks the LORD to let those who were his detractors to be ashamed and confounded. It is not easy to lead a nation with people who find fault in your every move. He knew that he needed the LORD’S help to deal with those who thought they would do a better job than he could.
We have the same thing happening in most churches in our world. There are people who think they can do a better job then the pastor in leading the church. They think they should be the leader.
I had a man who was a pastor that did interim work in a church I was called to be the pastor. I was a young man and he was older. He had been in the church for a while and he had gotten to know the older people better than me.
So one time he told me that he wanted to split the church. Now the church was very small, so to split meant that it would no longer exist.
It came to a head and he finally left the church and went to another church were he was in leadership and admitted what he had done to me and apologized on the radio program of that church.
It is hard to have someone who is in leadership and a friend of the church members against you when you want to see the church grow.
The LORD worked a miracle that a split didn’t happen and the church grew. Praise the LORD.
CHALLENGE: Remember that no matter your position there will be a person or persons who want to have your position of leadership. Ask the LORD for courage and help.
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: 3 Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame: that say, Aha, aha. (7725 “turned back” [shuwb] means to turn abruptly and face the other way, go back, return, come back, physical motion to point of departure, or motion back in direction of point of departure, retrograde motion)
DEVOTION: Most of the time we know when we are headed in the wrong direction. We think we have everything right but find out that we didn’t end up where we thought we would.
Here we find that there are people who are heading in the wrong direction regarding their following the LORD’S leading regarding the nation of Israel and in their own personal life.
Many people can get turned around at one point or another in their life. They think they are headed right but the LORD reveals to them that they are wrong. This was happening in the reign of David.
He had people who were fighting him regarding the direction he was taking the nation of Israel. They thought they could do a better job and gave him a hard time.
This also happening in a church. Sometimes the pastor can lead a church in the wrong direction but that should not be the case most of the time. He should be able to seek the LORD’S wisdom and the wisdom of the church leadership and make a wise decision regarding what can be done and what can’t be done in a local church.
David was leading a nation, so it affected more people than a local church would normally handle. He needed the LORD’S wisdom at all times and he did seek it. He had a close relationship with the LORD most of the time.
We need to make sure that we are listening to the LORD if we are in church leadership. It takes a lot of prayer and fasting to help a church head in the right direction. We are living in a time period that we would call the last days.
There are more people moving away from the LORD than ever before. There are more sins being allowed than there have been in a long time. Our world is changing and it is not getting closer to the LORD.
CHALLENGE: Keep your eyes on the LORD and in HIS word, the Bible. Support your biblical pastor. The LORD will honor those who are willing to do this.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 4 Let all those that seek YOU rejoice and be glad in YOU: and let such as love YOUR salvation say continually, Let God be magnified. (1431 “magnified” [gadal] means to twist, advance, boast, bring up, exceed, excellent, lift up, set by, nourish, or promote)
DEVOTION: Do you have anyone in your world who would enjoy seeing you suffer. David had people like that in his life. They were just waiting for a time when they can point their fingers at David and say Aha, and think that finally they got what they wanted to happen to him.
David asked the LORD to hurry up and take care of things. He also prayed for all those who were trying to be followers of the LORD. He wanted them to rejoice and be glad when the LORD delivered them. He wanted them to continually say “Let God be magnified.”
He wanted the LORD to deal with his enemies. He wanted the enemies plans to fail. Those outside of Christ enjoy seeing his followers fail. They wait for an opportunity to gloat.
Each of us that love the salvation of the LORD should say something about the LORD to others. David wanted them to declare the greatness of the LORD. He wanted them to promote the LORD. He wanted them to lift up the LORD on a regular basis.
Our responsibility is to lift up the name of the LORD to all those we know. We can do this by our actions. We need to do it with our words as well. David was in a hurry. We are in a hurry to see the LORD work.
Are we in a hurry to praise HIM to others? Are we in a hurry to get to church to praise HIS name? Or is the opposite true?
We know that the LORD is working in HIS time and in HIS way but during our waiting period, we are sometimes not praising HIM. Remember that HE daily blesses us. HE daily shows us mercy. HE daily walks with us. How is our daily praise coming?
CHALLENGE: When in difficult times we need to turn to the LORD in prayer. David made this his practice. Waiting on the LORD is never easy!!! When was the last time you stated, “Let God be magnified!.”
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: 5 “But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: YOU are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying.” (“Make haste,” 2363 חוּשׁ [chuwsh] to haste, make haste, hurry [Strong, J. (2001). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software]).
DEVOTION: Ever feel like God couldn’t act soon enough? There have been lots of times I was impatient while waiting for God to do something. This was David’s attitude as well as He composed this lament psalm, asking for God to come to His rescue.
That raises the question of why God sometimes delays in answering our prayers and intervening in our lives. The first thing we need to realize is that God’s sense of timing is not the same as our sense of timing. We have a sense of urgency based on what we want God to do for us. Yet He has the right to arrange all things according to His purpose so that things are accomplished in His timing. A perfect example of this was Christ’s incarnation in the “fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4).
In addition, we need to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over all that happens in our lives. We know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), but that does not mean that each and every thing that happens is good! God is about the business of weaving the evil and sinfulness of mankind and His mercy into an amazing story. Many times, that involves the suffering of His people at the hands of those who do not follow Him.
This does not mean that God does not want us to come to Him in supplication when we have an urgent need, while we ask Him to act decisively on our behalf. David decided that he would cry out to God to come rescue him quickly when he was being persecuted. We should learn from this that we ourselves should pray the psalms in these times of need, and in this way pray urgently for God to intervene. Then trust Him to do what is right in His timing.
CHALLENGE: What is the most difficult area of your life for you to wait for God’s timing in right now? Waiting is a discipline that is hard to learn in our culture, precisely because we have learned ways of getting what we want without waiting. Ask God to help you to learn to wait on Him and His response to your difficulty or need. (Dr. Marc Wooten – board member)
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
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)
Prayer for help verse 1- 5
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign) verse 1, 4, 5
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 1, 5
Let God be magnified verse 4
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)
Wants those who seek after his soul to be
ashamed and confounded verse 2
Wants them to be turned backward and
Put to confusion that desire his hurt verse 2
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Seek the soul of believer verse 2
Desire hurt of believer verse 2
Saying “Aha, aha” when believer falls verse 3
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Deliver verse 1, 5
Help verse 1, 5
Rejoice verse 4
Glad verse 4
Salvation verse 4
Magnified the LORD verse 4
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
David – author of Psalm verse 1- 5
Wants deliverance and help from
the LORD
I am poor and needy
Doesn’t want God to tarry
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
: 3 …. Rest assured, the enemies of Chrsit and his people shall have wages for their work; they shall be paid in their own coin; they loved scoffing, and they shall be filled with – yea, they shall become a proverb and a by-word forever. (p. 290, The Treasury of David Volume III, C. H. Spurgeon)
: 3 “Aha, aha.” In describing his human foes, our Savior represents them as saying to him, “Aha, aha.” These exclamations are ebullitions of exulting insolence. They can escape from the lips of those only who are at once haughty and cruel, and insensible to the delicacies and decorum of demeanor. Doubtless, they would be the favorite expressions of the rude rabble that accompanied the traitor in his ignoble campaign against Incarnate Love, and of the rude aristocratic mob that held over the Apostle of Heaven the mockery of an ecclesiastical trial, and of the larger, more excited, and more rancorous multitude that insultingly accompanied him to the cross, and mocked him, and wagged their heads at him, and railed upon him as he meekly, but majestically, hung on the accursed tree. …. James Frame (p. 291, The Treasury of David Volume III, C. H. Spurgeon)
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70:1–3. The psalmist cried out to God to help him quickly (cf. v. 5 and comments on 31:2). Enemies tried to bring him to ruin (cf. 35:4, 8; 38:12). So his plea was urgent. He prayed that those who had shamed and disgraced him (69:19) would themselves be in shame (70:2–3; 71:13) and turned back in disgrace (cf. 6:10; 40:14), no longer able to scorn him (Aha!). (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. 845). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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With a few minor changes, this is a duplicate of 40:13–16. (Wiersbe, W. W. (2004). Be worshipful (1st ed., p. 230). Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries.)
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3. Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha. In this verse we have turned back for desolate in Ps. 40:15, and to me is here omitted. But turned back here is not the same so rendered in v. 2, but a word which might be rendered either be converted or be requited. The latter probably gives the sense. On Aha, see on Ps. 35:21, 25. It is a note of derision. The general import of the verse is the same as of Ps. 40:15. (Plumer, W. S. (1872). Studies in the Book of Psalms: Being a Critical and Expository Commentary, with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks on the Entire Psalter (p. 690). Philadelphia; Edinburgh: J. B. Lippincott Company; A & C Black.)
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Ver. 3. Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame, &c.] In Psal. 40:15. it is, let them be desolate; which seems to respect their land and houses, here their persons; see the note there. That say; in the said psalm it is added, to me; not to his people, but himself, Aha, aha: rejoicing at his calamity and distress. The Targum is, “we are glad, we are glad;” see the note as before, and compare with this Ezek. 25:3. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 3, p. 817). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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“Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha! Aha!” His foes were expressing malicious pleasure in the misfortunes that were his. David had no doubt the Lord would take note of that. He always does.
Where, for instance, is proud Edom today? Where is that rock city of Petra which once stood so imperiously astride the trade routes of the ancient world? It grew rich levying its tolls on all who passed by. The Edomites thought that not even God Himself could root them from their rocky homes burrowed in the face of the rock. Petra now is a tourist attraction! People go there out of curiosity to look at its ruined temples and tombs. The Edomites themselves have long since vanished. All that is left of them are these scratchings on the ancient sandstone rocks of the gorge. Why? Because they gloated over the misfortunes of God’s people. They clapped their hands when the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem. They cheered on the invaders and stood at the crossroads to catch the fleeing Jews and gloatingly hand them over to their conquerors. God took full note of all that and commissioned Obadiah to read to them their doom.
It is one thing for God to chastise one of his erring saints. It is another thing for someone else to cheer. God will not allow people to get away with that. (Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring Psalms 1–88: An Expository Commentary (Vol. 1, Ps 70:3). Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.)
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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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In the early days, when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking, men and women conceived the world to be a battleground. Our fathers believed in sin and the devil and hell as constituting one force, and they believed in God and righteousness and heaven as the other. By their very nature, these forces were opposed to each other forever in deep, grave, irreconcilable hostility. Humans, our fathers held, had to choose sides-they could not be neutral. For them it must be life or death, heaven or hell, and if they chose to come out on God’s side, they could expect open war with God’s enemies. The fight would be real and deadly and would last as long as life continued here below. People looked forward to heaven as a return from the wars, a laying down of the sword to enjoy in peace the home prepared for them…. How different today. The fact remains the same, but the interpretation has changed completely. People think of the world, not as a battleground, but as a playground. We are not here to fight; we are here to frolic. We are not in a foreign land; we are at home. We are not getting ready to live, but we are already living, and the best we can do is rid ourselves of our
inhibitions and our frustrations and live this life to the full. (A.W. Tozer, This World: Playground or Battleground?, 4-5.)
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They That Wait upon the Lord
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
This is one of the best-loved promises of the Bible, for it is easy to grow weary and faint in our mortal bodies, even when doing the work of the Lord. The answer, we are told, is to “wait upon the LORD.”
But what does this mean? The Hebrew word (gavah) does not mean “serve” but rather to “wait for” or “look for.” It is translated “waited for” the second time it is used in the Bible, when the dying patriarch Jacob cried out: “I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD” (Genesis 49:18).
The first time it is used, surprisingly, is in connection with the third day of creation, when God said: “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place” (Genesis 1:9). That is, the all-pervasive waters of the original creation, divided on the second day of creation, now are told to wait patiently, as it were, while God formed the geosphere, the biosphere, and the astrosphere, before dealing again with the waters.
Perhaps the clearest insight into its meaning is its use in the picture of Christ foreshadowed in the 40th Psalm. “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1).
“The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary” (Isaiah 40:28), and His gracious promise is that we can “renew our strength” (literally, “exchange our strength,” our weakness for His strength!) by “waiting upon [Him].” We wait patiently for Him, we gather together unto Him, we look for Him, we cry unto Him, we trust Him, and He renews our strength! (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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Haman must honor Mordecai with acts which Haman himself suggested.
INSIGHT
Very few things in the Bible are actually funny. However, taken in isolation, chapter 6 of Esther is probably the funniest event in the Bible. The king asks Haman what he thinks is a good way to honor someone. Haman thinks to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” (6:6). Then he tells the king what he, Haman, would like to have done for himself. The king then responds by telling Haman to do that for Mordecai. The irony is overwhelming–the humor irrepressible. The wrath of man is made to praise God. (Quiet Walk)
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THE LIFE OF THE SOUL
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
Luke 9:60
Some men and women can see that there is truth in the Christian message, but they are troubled by it and say, “Yes, of course that is what I really must do–but not yet.” Take the prayer of Augustine. He was a brilliant philosopher, but he was troubled. He was listening to the preaching of Ambrose, that great preacher in Milan, and he was disturbed by it. He knew it was right and that he was wrong, but he was living with his mistress. And here, you see, is the fight and the conflict. He knew what was right; so he offered this prayer: “Lord, make me chaste: but not yet.”
Do you know something about that? “I want to be good, but I also want to have this other thing. ‘Suffer me first…'” How many have done this! “Let me make my name first. I do not believe in some of the things I am doing, but they have to be done, and once I have got on, then I will be a thorough Christian. I really will!” And so our Lord confronts this man immediately and shows him that he is all wrong, and He puts it in a very striking manner: “Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”
Christ says in effect, “The kingdom of God is for live people, not for dead ones. I am not in this world to deal with matters like that. They are all right; there is nothing wrong with a man looking after his aged parents and burying them; but you know, that is not the first thing in life. The first thing in life is the soul! The men and women in My kingdom are alive, awakened to the fact of the soul and its eternal destiny and its relationship to God.”
A Thought to Ponder: The first thing in life is the soul! (From The Kingdom of God, pp. 129-130, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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Daily Hope
Today’s Scripture
Luke 2:9-14
While many have never seen an angel, the belief of them is strong and continues to be intriguing to both believers and non-church goers. From early in the writings of scripture (Genesis 3) through the end of Revelation, angelic beings play a significant role in the lives of mankind.
On the night of Christ’s birth, these supernatural beings who have been instrumental in every major biblical event, were actively involved in proclaiming the message to those on earth. Angels, while difficult to describe are easily identified as they become the heralders of good news on the night of Christ’s birth. Theologians can discuss who or what God’s plan and prescribed role is for angels, but one thing is certain, they give a clear message from God each time they enter the realm of mankind.
Luke makes it very clear that these messengers from heaven have invaded the night sky singing and giving God the glory for an activity that the shepherds were unaware of, just a short distance away. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men'” (Luke 2:13-14)!
Angels we Have Heard on High is a French hymn that dates from the 1700’s. It appears in several versions and was published in English in 1862 with the words we use today. Unknown French poets used Latin words from the Vulgate Bible to create the chorus of this song. Gloria is translated “glory”, excelsis is rendered “highest”, and Deo means “God”. Together the song lifts the singer to proclaim Jesus has come! Hope has arrived! A Savior is born! Glory to God on High! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Just as the angels burst upon the scene that Christmas night to give praise for the work of God in the world of mankind, may we pause in our busy lives to do the same. Carry this musical reminder with you this week and rejoice that there is “Good tidings of great joy… there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11)!
With an Expectant Hope, Pastor Miller
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FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS IN PRAYER
And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 1 John 5:15
One sees the very Son of God Himself at prayer. So if you are interested in the philosophical aspect of prayer, go immediately to the case of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is the only begotten, the eternal Son of God; there is the one who says of Himself that though He is upon earth, He is still in heaven; there is the one who says, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). Why had He any need to pray? Why, before choosing His disciples, did He spend all night in prayer? If you are interested in philosophical problems, answer that. Why was it ever necessary for the Son of God to pray so much while He was here on earth? And yet He did.
In other words, the Scripture teaches that prayer is essential and vital to us, and everywhere we are exhorted to it. Not only that, but if you read the lives of God’s greatest saints in the long history of the Church, you will find that they were men and women of prayer. I believe I am right in saying that John Wesley used to say that any Christian worthy of the name should spend at least four hours every day in prayer, and he tended to judge his people by that. There has never been a man or woman of God who has been singularly used of God in this world, but that they spent much time in prayer. The nearer people are to God, the more they pray to Him; so the testimony of the Christian Church supports the teaching of Scripture itself.
Furthermore, we have numerous incidents in Scripture of what God has clearly done by way of answer to prayer, and it seems to me that the explanation ultimately is not really difficult. The God who determines the end determines the means; and if God in His infinite wisdom is determined that He is going to bring certain things to pass as a result of and in answer to the prayers of His people, I ask with reverence, why shouldn’t He?
A Thought to Ponder: The nearer people are to God, the more they pray to Him.
(From Life in God, pp. 116-117, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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Morning Prayer
“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.” (Psalm 143:8)
This is a beautiful and meaningful prayer with which to start the day, and one that God must delight to answer. It is very simple, with two requests and two declarations, yet it can reach the very heart of God.
Because we trust implicitly in His Word, we hear Him speak through it as we read it at the beginning of the day. And as we hear Him speak, we rejoice again in His lovingkindness, especially in saving our souls and guiding our ways.
Then we are emboldened once again to lift up our very souls to Him (not just our voices!) and ask Him for clear guidance in the way in which we should walk today
The psalmist also prays, and so should we: “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness” (Psalm 143:10). God will “cause [us] to know the way wherein [we] should walk” by the Holy Spirit if we sincerely desire to know and to follow His will and to be led in the paths of righteousness. He will never lead us, of course, in any path contrary to His revealed Word. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).
But when He is given all priority in our lives, when we love and study and obey His Word, and when we sincerely call on Him for daily guidance in His will, He will surely answer. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6). “This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15).
(HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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God’s Compass
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105
During World War II, Waldemar Semenov was serving as a junior engineer aboard the SS Alcoa Guide when—nearly three hundred miles off the coast of North Carolina—a German submarine surfaced and opened fire on the ship. The ship was hit, caught fire, and began to sink. Semenov and his crew lowered a lifeboat into the water and used the vessel’s compass to sail toward the shipping lanes. After three days, a patrol plane spotted their lifeboat and the USS Broome rescued the men the next day. Thanks to that compass, Semenov and twenty-six other crewmembers were saved.The psalmist reminded God’s people that they were equipped with a compass for life—the Bible. He compared Scripture to “a lamp” (Psalm 119:105) that provides light to illuminate the path of life for those pursuing God. When the psalmist was adrift in the chaotic waters of life, he knew God could use Scripture to provide spiritual longitude and latitude and help him survive. Thus, he prayed that God would send out His light to direct him in life and bring him safely to the port of His holy presence (43:3).As believers in Jesus, when we lose our way, God can guide us by the Holy Spirit and by the direction found in the Scriptures. May God transform our hearts and minds as we read the Bible, study it, and follow its wisdom. (By Marvin Williams)
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