Help me understand the meaning of your commandments, and I
will meditate on your wonderful deeds. I weep with sorrow; encourage me by your word. Keep me from lying to myself; give me
the privilege of knowing your instructions. I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your regulations. I cling to your laws. Lord, don’t let me be put to shame! I will pursue your commands, for you expand my understanding. Psalm 119:27-32[1]
If you notice the words and phrases in red, the Psalmist asked for understanding
of what God’s ways and character mean when put into daily living. He asked for encouragement
(strength) to live that way. He asked
for knowing, a clear understanding of his own character
(not lying to himself), all an indication of the tendency to stray from God’s
way. He wanted to change; he wanted to
be pleasing in God’s sight, and he expressed faith that God …would
expand my understanding.
How about a little expansion for today? How about going deeper than the surface “milk”
of God’s word, clear-down to the “meat”?
For instance, read this verse from Paul’s letter to the Corinthian
believers:
The temptations in
your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He
will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are
tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1
Corinthians 10:13
In a “surface” read many people assume what you often
hear as bedrock Gospel; The Lord won’t put any more
on ya’ than ya’ can stand. But if
you dug deeper you’d have to admit God does just that sometimes (even often). Just ask Job.
In the oldest of the Biblical writings, the story of Job proclaims him a
good man.
There once was a man
named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete
integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. Job 1:1
Read a little farther and you discover Job, a man loved
by God, got clobbered with more bad stuff than most of us would face in 3 lifetimes. But at the end, Job found mercy and
grace. And in the long-run, in God’s timing,
things turned-out far-better for Job than the earthly wealth and success he’d
managed to accumulate.
The prophet Isaiah wrote that God said:
“My thoughts are
nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you
could imagine. For just as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and
my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah
55:8-9
God’s wisdom, strength, and gifts all match his mercy
and grace, and it is all available to us, if we will trust like Job, not popular
theology that denies God’s Word.
For You Today
If you can pray with the Psalmist for
underestanding, strength, clarity, and discipline to live God’s way, you’ve
taken a first step in a lifetime of heading in the right direction, pleasing
God in every way.[2]
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts on Rocky Road Devotions.
To
dig deeper into today’s topic or Scripture text: Tough Trust
and Faith Leap
[1] Images: Russell Brownworth (own work) Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
