Tuesday, September 3, 2019
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. Psalm 119: 71-72
Psalm 119 is the middle of Holy
Scripture, and, arguably is the center of attention for anyone who wants to understand
the treasure that is to be found in God’s Word.
It is the decrees of God (God’s ways) that are more precious than all
the gold in Ft. Knox, or all the wisdom and kingdoms of mankind.
The Psalmist gives vent to the
adage that true wisdom is best learned by experience, and harsh experiences are
the most dramatic teachers. It only
takes one hurricane tearing the roof off your house to learn it might be smarter
to live a little more inland!
But information alone, learned
by way of tragedy as teacher or by studying what has happened to others, is like
having access to the Internet, it is merely potential
instruction. For information to be truly
useful, instruction must be implemented. For instance, I could watch people eat apples
for years, examining their technique (slicing, or putting it in a blender,
smearing it with peanut butter). I’d
have plenty of information…all useless, unless I act on it; if I never open my
mouth and take a bite, I’ll never know the taste of an apple.
Such is the nature of God’s Word. Knowing the verses, even committing to memory
the entire 66 books from Genesis to Revelation is a waste of time and brain
power if the decrees of God are not acted upon.
In short, if we don’t live by the book, we have cast the book aside (along
with its Author).
As a pastor I’ve talked with a
lot of people about the Bible, and the sum of my experience is that people fall
into about three categories where intimacy with God’s Word is concerned:
1. Committed Relationship – Those who have been serious
students of the Bible and seriously bent their will to God have found there is
no other way of life that will satisfy their soul’s desire. They’ve found what they were created to be
and know they could never live differently.
2. Seeking for Answers – There is a curiosity that
drives us to find the level of soul-satisfaction of those who are in the first
category…committed relationship to God.
It is like the person who has been burned in a marriage (or two) and yet
still has hope to find a relationship like the ones that last a lifetime and
make a lifetime sweet. This person knows
Scripture has all the answers they need, but they get distracted and muddle
between faith and unbelief.
3. Satisfied with the Ignorance
of unbelief –
In this group (a group which is growing at an alarming rate) we have those who
have had something of a brush with faith, have even joined
a church at some point, but never seriously searched the Scriptures with an
open heart for themselves. They’ve talked
with unbelieving friends who haven’t got a clue where to find 2 Corinthians,
but have deep opinions about God, and are arrogant enough to pass-around their
ignorance as wisdom…but they have no first-hand
relationship with God.
For You Today
Like the game show host on TV
who asks the contestant which door they’ll choose…will it be:
door number 3…a lifetime of
never finding out the truth of God’s Word because you’re too ignorant to search
for yourself
door number 2…a lifetime of
distracted dissatisfaction, wondering what’s next
door number 1…a committed
relationship of faith and obedience to God your creator?
Scripture invites us to door
number 1:
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.
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Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com Unless
otherwise noted, Scripture used from The
New Living Translation©
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