Wednesday, November 2, 2016, 8:57 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Blessed Are You.” Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read Psalm 119:1-24
(ESV).
Aleph (vv.
1-8)
Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in
the law of the Lord!
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him
with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
but walk in
his ways!
You have commanded your precepts
to be kept
diligently.
Oh that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping
your statutes!
Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my
eyes fixed on all your commandments.
I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn
your righteous rules.
I will keep your statutes;
do not
utterly forsake me!
We are joyful and at peace
when we are walking in the ways of the Lord, doing what he says, and not
willfully ignoring his instructions to us. There is no better place to be on
this earth than in the center of God’s will for our lives, being who he has
made us to be, and doing what he has called us to do. Even in the midst of the
storms of this life, with its trials and tribulations, there is no greater
satisfaction than in fulfilling the purpose for which we were created, and
doing what we know is pleasing to our Lord. And, there is no greater unrest
(anxiety) in our lives than when we consciously choose to stray from our Lord
and to live a life contrary to his Word and to his will.
There is also no greater joy
and peace than when we are fully committed to our Lord, in full surrender to
his will, and he is truly Lord (owner-master) of our lives. If we have one foot
in the world and one in God’s Word, they are always at conflict with each
other, and so there is tumult and disquiet, not peace. If we are wanting our
own way and claiming to want God’s way, too, it doesn’t work. Flesh and Spirit
don’t mix. We can’t have it both ways, though many people surely do try to make
it work that way. Yet, we are happy and at rest when we keep His Word, and we
seek after him with our whole (undivided) hearts, and we walk in his ways day
by day.
Beth (vv.
9-16)
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 not
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 statutes;
I will not
forget your word.
How can a man (or woman) keep
his (or her) way pure? I have often pondered this question as I walk through
the mall and I see all the sexually seductive posters and mannequins in the
store windows, and when I stand in a line at the grocery store, and on the magazine
racks I see the sensual and tempting magazine covers, or when I am on the
internet on just about any so-called “safe” site, including some Christian
sites, and there are alluring pictures off to the side or at the bottom of the
screen.
I, as well, ponder that
question when I see so many young people, especially, given free and private
internet access via smart phones and tablets (I Pads), with little to no
parental control. My heart weeps, in fact, that so many parents use these
devices as baby sitters for their children, not realizing or not caring that
young children are very quick to pick up on how to use these devices and to go
to forbidden places which will permanently damage their minds and hearts, but
for the grace of God.
So, how can we keep our ways
pure in a generation where the impure is so readily available in the privacy of
our own homes, without accountability? We have to be guarded against the impure
entering into our minds. We have to be deliberate about this, and we have to be
proactive, too. We must set our faces like a flint (Is. 50:7), i.e. we have to
be determined and diligent in this matter of purity or we might easily fall
into carefully laid traps for us.
We can’t be morally pure if
we are playing with temptation, though. If we watch TV shows, movies, skits,
etc. or listen to music or play video games with sexually suggestive material
contained within, we are just asking to be tempted into sexual impurity. Or, if
we read romance novels or other types of novels containing sexually suggestive
material or containing sex scenes, and we entertain these things in our minds,
we can’t expect to keep our way pure, can we? And, if we go to internet sites
where we have been tempted before, and especially if they are places where we
gave in to that temptation, and we are naïve enough to think it won’t happen
again, and we do nothing to be proactive in our internet use, then we can’t be
morally pure. We have to have a plan to be pure, and to stick to that plan.
So, first of all, we need to
do an evaluation (examination) of our lives, and of the places in which we have
been tempted in the past, and where we think we might face temptation in the
future, and we have to not go those places, and some people need to not have
private internet access at all, because that, alone, is a temptation to be
sexually impure. And, we need to stop watching, listening to or reading
anything which is immoral, impure and which has the potential to lead us into
sin. We can memorize tons of scripture, but if we are not willing to rid our
lives of what leads us into sin, or what is clearly on God’s list of sins, then
the scriptures won’t do us much good, because we are doing what is contrary to
God’s Word already.
So, we need to put off what
is impure, immoral, alluring, tempting, and anything which may lead us down the
path of sin. And, then we must seek God with our whole hearts, and hide his
word, not just in our minds, but in our hearts through daily practice of
obeying what it teaches us. We can pray all we want for God to help us not to
stray, and to help us to not sin, and to teach us his ways, so we may walk in
them, but if we don’t give God more than lip service, our prayers are in vain.
If we don’t keep his Word, then there is no point in him teaching us what it
says. We have to be willing to go the distance with God, to cut out of our
lives what tempts or leads us to sin, and then we have to immerse ourselves in
his Word and obey what it says.
Gimel (vv.
17-24)
Deal bountifully with your servant,
that I may
live and keep your word.
Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous
things out of your law.
I am a sojourner on the earth;
hide not
your commandments from me!
My soul is consumed with longing
for your
rules at all times.
You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,
who wander
from your commandments.
Take away from me scorn and contempt,
for I have
kept your testimonies.
Even
though princes sit plotting against me,
your servant
will meditate on your statutes.
Your testimonies are my delight;
they are my
counselors.
We must know, though, that
when we take these steps, as outlined in the section above, and we do set our
faces like flint, and we get really serious about God and his Word, and about
ridding our lives of what displeases our Lord, that the enemy is going to
attack, and friends will abandon us, and we will face much rejection and
persecution. Especially now, with our world leaders coming against evangelical Christianity,
and making us out to be the enemy, we should be prepared for global persecution
on a large scale.
Yet, we must not back down
just so we will be liked and accepted. We must no longer try to live in both
the world of sin and the world of Christianity. We have to choose whom we will
serve – flesh or God? We can’t serve both. We must get radical about God, and about
walking in his precepts, and no longer live to please our sinful flesh. We must
desire God above all else, and want nothing more than to walk in his
righteousness and holiness. We have to hate sin, and what sin does to us and to
those we love and/or who love us. If we don’t set our faces like flint, and we
play with temptation, we will not gain the victory, and we will not be at
peace, but will continually live in unrest for we know we are living out of the
will of God.
So, what do you choose? I
choose to walk in the ways of the Lord, and to not fulfill the desires of the
flesh. I choose to continue to set my face like flint, and to remain pure in
heart and mind. And, I choose to do what his Word says, even in the face of
much persecution. Will you join me?
Blessed Are You
/ An Original Work / August 29, 2012
Based off Luke 6:20-49 NIV 1984
“Blessed are you; blessed are
you
Who are poor for God’s
kingdom is yours.
Blessed are you; blessed are
you
Who are hungry, you’ll be
satisfied.
Blessed are you; blessed are
you
Who weep now, for you will
laugh with joy.
Blessed are you; blessed are
you
when men hate and reject you
because of Christ.”
“Rejoice in that; rejoice in
that day
And leap for joy; great your
reward.
But I tell you; but I tell
you
To love those who hate you;
do them good.
Pray for those who; pray for
those who
Treat you wrong and say kind
things of them.
Do to others; do to others as
you would
Have them do; have them do to
you.”
“If you love those; if you
love those
Who love you, what praise is
there for you?
Because Christ is; because
Christ is kind,
Be merciful, just like He is.
Forgive others; forgive
others
Their offense against you; be
ye kind.
Hear My words and; hear My
words and
Put them into practice, then
you’ll be fulfilled.”
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