The very first verses of our Psalms passage jumped out at me today....
Forever, O Lord, your word
is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
By your appointment they stand this day,
for all things are your servants.
What beautiful words for an amazing truth. God's Word is so powerful it created the universe and continues to sustain it to this day. Truly every breath we take is by His grace and power alone.
The verses immediately following as well.....
If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.
The Word of God speaks for itself and it is indeed mighty to save.
And, of course, this very well known verse 105....
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
When searching out God's will for our lives, a lot of it can be determined simply by reading His Word and allowing it to guide us. If we have done that, we should feel free to follow where our desires are leading us - because they are grounded in His Word. I don't think God micro manages us. There are, of course, times where it is clear He is closing doors and opening windows, times when He does not give us peace about something even though all is biblically sound because He has something else for us, but other times we are simply to free to follow our desires - because when we are living biblically He is the One who has planted those desires within us.
The beginning portion of our NT passage hit me as well....
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
It reminded me of a great quote I read in a work of fiction recently. In the book, a woman named Savannah asks Aidan why he considers the cottage on his property a haven and he says that it is "a haven from everything in the world that is not this". And Savannah replies "But if everything in the world were such as this, where would the longing for heaven be?"
Where would the longing for heaven be? Indeed, living in this fallen world ensures that we long and groan for His eternal presence.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.It can sometimes be difficult for those of us who have grown up in Christian homes, and cannot even remember a time when we were not followers of Jesus, to see the difference between the old and new creation. This is, of course, a blessing. But if we're needing something by which to measure ourselves, to test ourselves for genuine fruit, and we cannot really compare it to our old self, there is a simple comparison to make - are we any different that society around us. The majority of those around us are not believers. They are that old creation. And if we are the new creation we should be different. If we are not, then it is time for some serious self-reflection.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Psalms 120-122; 2 Corinthians 6
3 comments:
Great post!
The verse that jumped out to me is found in Psalm 119:94
I am yours; save me,
for I have sought your precepts.
This is the root of our belief, we try to do God's will and want to be saved. I pray that the effort for myself and my family will always be there, giving our all is all we can do.
I too had the beginning verses of Psalms jump out for me with the amazement of His creation.
These verses also stood out for me:
"I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation." Vs 99
"I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!" vs 125
"Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me." vs 175
These verses reminded me that we are to meditate on His teachings. Not just read them, but truly understand them so that we will remember them.
The last verse also shows that knowing His rules is for our benefit - to help us.
Psalm 119:105 was the these verse for the Pioneer girls program I went to as a child
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
I often think of it during power outages and realize how much we need light to see. God will light up the way to show us where the obstacles are but also show us the way we need to go.
I think verse 130 also fits with this
The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.
We don't always need to see the whole path (even though we desperately want to most of the time) we only need to see what's directly in front of us.
And maybe there are times when we have to
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
when we just need to trust God to lead us through a dark time where we can't see anything at all.
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