The Unfolding of Your Words

“Your testimonies are wonderful;

    therefore my soul keeps them.

The unfolding of your words gives light;

    it imparts understanding to the simple.

I open my mouth and pant,

    because I long for your commandments.

Turn to me and be gracious to me,

    as is your way with those who love your name.

Keep steady my steps according to your promise,

    and let no iniquity get dominion over me.

Redeem me from man's oppression,

    that I may keep your precepts.

Make your face shine upon your servant,

    and teach me your statutes.

My eyes shed streams of tears,

    because people do not keep your law.” Psalms 119:129-136 ESV

I love reading the 119th Psalm. It is so rich in biblical truth, not that the bible itself is not, obviously, but what I love about the 119th Psalm is the Psalmist’s love for the Lord, and his love for the word of the Lord and his desire to obey it. He doesn’t see the commandments of the Lord as a drudgery or as a burden, but as a delight. And even under the New Covenant we still have commandments of the Lord that we must obey.

There is no sense here that he had his time of devotions with the Lord quick in and quick out, so that he could check it off his list for the day, and so that he could now go about his daily routines. What I get from reading the 119th Psalm is that the word of the Lord was what he breathed in and out each day, and what he lived by, from morning till night. Instead of longing for the pleasures of this world, he longed for the commandments of God. Wow!

He wanted the Lord to guide his steps and to make them steady. He wanted the Lord to help him so that no iniquity would get dominion over his life. But, as we know from reading the Scriptures, as a whole, we have a part in this we must play. We must resist the devil and flee temptation and keep our lives and our eyes and minds centered on Christ and on his word. We must take that way of escape provided for us. And we must cooperate with God.

And he wanted the Lord to redeem him from man’s oppression. And oppression can be acted out in many different ways. It can be in the form of persecution of those who are walking in faithful obedience to the Lord Jesus and who are sharing the truth of the gospel with others. And it can be in the form of others attempting to tempt us to do wrong and to compromise our faith and convictions and to lower our moral standards in order to be accepted. And it can be in acts of cruelty, spite, and malice against us.

But, there again, we must then do as the Lord leads, and as he commands. We must follow the leading of the Lord in how to respond to such situations, and in what to say, or not say. We must not let other humans intimidate us into doing wrong or into compromising our faith and convictions. We must not let the fear of man (humans) overtake us so that we back down and so we retreat and so that we don’t end up doing the will of God for our lives.

And we should be so in love with God, with Jesus Christ, and with his word, with such a strong desire to follow him and to do his will, and with such a strong conviction regarding what the Scriptures teach about what will happen to those who refuse to obey the Lord, that literally our eyes shed streams of tears because other people, especially those professing the name of Jesus, do not obey the Lord and his New Covenant commandments.

It should grieve us. It should break our hearts to see the condition of so much of what is called “church” today where so many are deserting the truth of the gospel to follow after the lies of charlatans. We should be those who weep over the knowledge that so many professing Christians are still walking in sin, ignoring the commands of our Lord, many because they love their sins more, and they are being told that their sins no longer matter to God.

But no matter what we go through in this life, and no matter how many tears we shed, and no matter how much persecution we face, or hardships we experience, if we are following the Lord Jesus with our lives, he is there with us giving us the strength we need to endure. And he will give us all the counsel and help and guidance we need to make it through every trail until the day he comes to take us to be with him for eternity. Praise His Name!

When I Go Home

By G. M. Eldridge

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” Revelation 21:4

In the moment He appears

And the light from heaven shines,

I’ll forget ev’ry fear,

Ev’ry pain I’ll leave behind.

Then I’ll see Him as He is

And I’ll know Him as I’m known.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

Ever present is the tho’t 

That a moment waits for me

When unworthy as I am,

His glory I will see.

I will empty all my praise

Before my Father’s throne.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

If the trial I endure,

And your presence I can’t find,

Be near me, Lord, I pray,

Bring back unto my mind

That your promises are firm

And I’m never on my own.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z98Zvr1CyXg 

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[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]