The Word Is Powerful

Psalm 119

This is the longest chapter in the Bible. There are 176 verses. It is an acrostic poem based on the 22 Hebrew letter alphabet. Each stanza starts with the appropriate letter of the Hebrew alphabet and in each stanza there are 8 verses. The focus of psalm 119 is the Word of God. It is possible the writer wanted to show 22 ways in that would remember the power of God’s word. Some commentators say this psalm was written during the time of the temple being restored and rebuilt during the time of Ezra’s ministry.

If we could look at just one of the many great sections of Psalm 119, I would like to look at verses 8-16.

The Word

It says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me know wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statues; I will not forget your word.

The psalmist starts with a question, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” How can anyone keep his way pure? The answer guard it by following God’s word.

Here are some things that we can learn from these 8 verses.

1) God’s word helps us to guard us in our ways.

2) His word keeps us on our path.

3) We should store God’s word in our hearts and not forget them. (We should memorize God’s Word).

4) God’s word should flow from our lips (worship as well regurgitate what we read from Scripture).

This is not just a once in a while regarding reading God’s word. Throughout this chapter we do not see this being an occasional glance at God’s word. In fact we see this being the one thing we always read and go to in guidance in life. He will meditate on it, and fix his eyes on God’s precepts. This would be a constant reminder of how powerful God’s Word. We know what Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  We need to read God’s Word daily. I hope that you are and continue to do so.

Can You Say, “I love the Lord”?

Psalm 116

In this psalm the writer expresses their love for how good God is. Out of these 19 verses I would say that I kept on getting stuck on verse 1.

It says, “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my please for mercy.” I really just got stuck on the first part of the verse, I Love the Lord…

If I were to ask you do you love the Lord what would you say? If I then proceeded with why, what then would you say?

At the end of John, Jesus was resurrected and was visiting the different disciples. In this particular visit, Jesus was seeing Peter. He asked Peter a question, “Do you love me?” 3 times Jesus asked Peter this as Peter denied Christ 3 times but we see that Peter really loved Jesus (John 21). Do you really love the Lord? A question that needs to ring through our heads and our hearts. Do we really love the Lord? If we do it should be so evident in how we live, how we talk, even to what is expressed in our faces. The psalmist wrote that he loves the Lord because he has heard his cry. God has answered our cry for salvation as Jesus died on the cross for our sin. He first loved us! This is why I love the Lord, because he first loved me and I do not deserve it.

So, Can you say I love the Lord! I hope you can and do, even from the roof tops, you love the Lord.

Psalm 112

The man who fears God is blessed. This is the theme of Psalm 112. It continues from Psalm 111, which was written as an acrostic which means each line would start with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The writer shows us how when we fear the Lord we will be blessed and will not be moved.

True Trust: vs 7

I love this psalm as it is one of great encouragement to stay focused and on track with seeking  to please God. It says in verse 7, “He (the righteous man) is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.” This verse caught my attention because I think this shows how much we trust God when we hear the bad news. This does not mean that we are grieved when receive news of someone passing away or that we are saddened by the hurtful news, but this shows that we are not afraid, God is who is in control, even in those tough situations.

We can hear bad news by people who we thought were our friends and then they talk bad about us. How do you react to that? Do you become afraid and think everyone will believe it? Do you think that everyone will turn on  you? Look at Job as people turned on him. We need to stand firm to know that God is in control as it says to be steady and not afraid. In verse 6 it says, “For the righteous will never be moved. We are not moved from God. Problems are hard, our flesh and heart are weak, but God is our strength. The problems will keep coming and what great comfort to know is that God will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Even in hearing the bad news of death, we trust God as Jesus is victor over death. Praise the Lord for his infinite love and wisdom.

Psalm 97

Here is last Sunday’s, Sept. 6th, message from Morris Brison, on Psalm 97.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

God’s Vengeance

Psalm 109

In this psalm we read about David lifting up a series problem with enemies to God. In this we see that David not only is restraining himself to prayer but we see that he is asking God to act on his behalf.

God Say’s Vengeance is His

Even though this psalm is more of a complaint against his accusers, David still opens the psalm up with worship and asking God to not be silent but to act. This passage is a good reminder on how we are to react while we have been mistreated, lied about, or falsely accused.

What to Learn:

1) David restrained himself from acting out but said, He would be a man of prayer (vs 4). Instead of reacting to lies and allegations, do you go to God in prayer? Do you trust God to act for you according to his grace and mercy? Sometimes that is the hardest thing is to not react right away. Seek God for wisdom on what to do and what to say, when it is his timing.

2) David asked God to act on his behalf. There is nothing wrong for you to pray for God to vindicate you or to make yourself innocent in the eyes of the world.

3) David asked God to get these guys back. We see specifically David asking God to curse them and their family. This may seem harsh but David was asking God to bring everything back into place; the righteous to be free and blessed and the wicked to be cursed.  One thing we should know is that God does not turn his head to wrongs done to others. It may seem like the cheaters, get away and get the grade, the lying get rich, but it will all crash one way or another for them. God gets his vengeance one way or another. He will remember the wrong and repay them.

4) David closes the psalm in vs 30-31 that he anticipates God’s deliverance. For this he praises God expecting him to deliver and make things right for David. Again another reminder of who is in control of problems, God is. He sees them all and works in the midst of us, even though we may not see God working he is.

This should encourage us as we have probably been a victim before of wrongful doing but also serve as  a we may have been the one accusing. We need to seek the Lord and ask for forgiveness and from those we have wronged.

100 Days in the Psalms

Psalm 100

The title under the chapter is “A Psalm for Giving Thanks.” This is exactly what this psalm was meant to do, make sure we are giving thanks properly to God.

Here it is: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with Gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”

This psalm is simple and to the point, it is to God. We are called to make a joyfull noise to the Lord and that is something to think about. We may make noises to God but are they joyful. Think about it! Is our noise to God one of complaints? Worries? Stress? We can offer these up to God but do you have joy in God and in his presence? This should be what consumes us in our time with God.

Not only are we to sing a joyful noise to the Lord, we also see that it is the earth doing it. This should challenge us to see if we are being the examples of this. How real is the sense that we come before God? How joyful is our singing? As we see in this Psalm that we are sheep of his pasture, Jesus is the shepherd over us who laid down his life for us. We have real joy in our salvation which is through Jesus Christ. Do you have a real sense of that? Take this day and reevaluate your noise to God.