“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).
How often do I open God’s Word and read it and “behold wondrous things?” Almost every time I read I see something wondrous in Scripture. The question we should ask is, “Why don’t I behold something wondrous every time?” Is it really possible we can open the God-breathed Word of our Father (1 Tim 3:16) and not find something wondrous there? Then why don’t we see it?
The beginning of this answer is in verse 17, “Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.” To behold wondrous things in God’s law is God dealing bountifully with us. So why would God not deal bountifully with us each time we open the Bible? Can God deal bountifully with someone who has unconfessed, unrepentant sin in their life? If I come to God’s Word with sin I have not confessed and repented of, then I open the Bible and read it, should I be surprised the words fall upon my mind, heart and soul with an icy coldness of indifference? God will convict us of our unconfessed sin when we read His Word, but He will not deal bountifully with us to behold wondrous things out of His law.
The other reason we may not always see something wondrous every time we read Scripture is our carelessness. In 1 Kings 19 we are told of the prophet Elijah meeting God at the opening of a cave. Four different environmental events occur and God is only in one of them. First is the powerful wind that can split rocks, then an earthquake, then a fire, and finally the sound of a soft whisper. God was not in the wind, earthquake or the fire, but only in the soft whisper. If God was only in a soft whisper with Elijah, where might he be with us? In the soft whisper of his word.
Perhaps when we read the Bible and do not behold something wondrous it is because we are in the whirlwind of activity. Maybe we are in the earthquake of rumbling and noisy distractions. Maybe we are in the consuming fire of preoccupation. Perhaps God is speaking in the soft whisper of His written word and we will only behold something wondrous if we are concentrating enough to hear His whisper. Why might God be so restrained in his communication to require our undivided attention? Because he will not share our devotion and His attention with anyone or anything, “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” (Isaiah 42:8).
Therefore, let us each and everyone cast away all that distracts us or will compete with God for our attention and listening ear when we open His word. Then let us each and everyone expect to behold something wondrous out of His law.
Just a few days after my meditating on this verse, Dr. Albert Mohler wrote a timely and penetrative article on distractions and attentiveness in our modern culture. You can read it at the link below.
http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=1155
Meditations on Scripture with an emphasis on practical daily living of the Christian life. The goal of every post is to give readers a clear view of God's glory that results in practical action.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
The Value of Scripture Memory
“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Most everyone has heard this phrase used numerous times in their lives, especially if they are holding a speeding ticket in their hand because the speed limit changed and you did not notice it. In Psalm 119:11 we see the same principle at work. Ignorance will not suffice as an excuse for not obeying God’s law. We have God’s expectations for us in our hands. If we choose not to look at it we are still responsible for its contents. Temptations to sin against God are not excused away by ignorance of God’s expectations. John Calvin said about this verse in his commentary on Psalms,
“This psalm not being composed for the personal and peculiar use of the author only, we may therefore understand, that as frequently as David sets before us his own example, under this model he points out the course we ought to pursue. Here we are informed that we are well fortified against the stratagems of Satan when God’s law is deeply seated in our hearts. For unless it have a fast and firm hold there, we will readily fall into sin. Among scholars, those whose knowledge is confined to books, if they have not the book always before them, readily discover their ignorance; in like manner, if we do not imbibe the doctrine of God, and are well acquainted with it, Satan will easily surprise and entangle us in his meshes. Our true safeguard, then, lies not in a slender knowledge of his law, or in a careless perusal of it, but in hiding it deeply in our hearts. Here we are reminded, that however men may be convinced of their own wisdom, they are yet destitute of all right judgment, except as far as they have God as their teacher.”
All of what Calvin said is true, still, I think a more positive attitude is driving the Psalmist in making this confession, and for us exhortation. I desire to please my wife, one of the ways I do that is I have forced my mind to remember items, either concrete or abstract, that matter to her which are not particularly important to me. Because I love her I have hidden her interest in my heart so I might be able to please her. I think the same is occurring here.
The Psalmist is storing God’s Word in his heart so he will not sin against God, not only because of the pragmatic nature of not facing judgment, but also because he desires to please God by obeying God. You cannot please God with your actions and thoughts unless you know what God’s desires are. Storing them in our hearts is the mechanism that makes it possible for us to know what will please God with our thoughts and actions at any given moment.
Yet there is more than just knowing how to please God here. When we store God’s Word in our hearts we are conforming our heart and mind to the heart and mind of God. One of our desires is to become like Christ and God the Father. We are to be progressively growing in Godliness, this means we will grow into men and women who think like God and Christ. The only way we can know what God thinks, and change our hearts and minds to think and believe as He thinks and believes, is to store God’s Word in both our hearts and our minds.
So out of love and a desire to please God let us say and do as Calvin, let us “imbibe the doctrine of God” and hide “it deeply in our hearts.”
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Most everyone has heard this phrase used numerous times in their lives, especially if they are holding a speeding ticket in their hand because the speed limit changed and you did not notice it. In Psalm 119:11 we see the same principle at work. Ignorance will not suffice as an excuse for not obeying God’s law. We have God’s expectations for us in our hands. If we choose not to look at it we are still responsible for its contents. Temptations to sin against God are not excused away by ignorance of God’s expectations. John Calvin said about this verse in his commentary on Psalms,
“This psalm not being composed for the personal and peculiar use of the author only, we may therefore understand, that as frequently as David sets before us his own example, under this model he points out the course we ought to pursue. Here we are informed that we are well fortified against the stratagems of Satan when God’s law is deeply seated in our hearts. For unless it have a fast and firm hold there, we will readily fall into sin. Among scholars, those whose knowledge is confined to books, if they have not the book always before them, readily discover their ignorance; in like manner, if we do not imbibe the doctrine of God, and are well acquainted with it, Satan will easily surprise and entangle us in his meshes. Our true safeguard, then, lies not in a slender knowledge of his law, or in a careless perusal of it, but in hiding it deeply in our hearts. Here we are reminded, that however men may be convinced of their own wisdom, they are yet destitute of all right judgment, except as far as they have God as their teacher.”
All of what Calvin said is true, still, I think a more positive attitude is driving the Psalmist in making this confession, and for us exhortation. I desire to please my wife, one of the ways I do that is I have forced my mind to remember items, either concrete or abstract, that matter to her which are not particularly important to me. Because I love her I have hidden her interest in my heart so I might be able to please her. I think the same is occurring here.
The Psalmist is storing God’s Word in his heart so he will not sin against God, not only because of the pragmatic nature of not facing judgment, but also because he desires to please God by obeying God. You cannot please God with your actions and thoughts unless you know what God’s desires are. Storing them in our hearts is the mechanism that makes it possible for us to know what will please God with our thoughts and actions at any given moment.
Yet there is more than just knowing how to please God here. When we store God’s Word in our hearts we are conforming our heart and mind to the heart and mind of God. One of our desires is to become like Christ and God the Father. We are to be progressively growing in Godliness, this means we will grow into men and women who think like God and Christ. The only way we can know what God thinks, and change our hearts and minds to think and believe as He thinks and believes, is to store God’s Word in both our hearts and our minds.
So out of love and a desire to please God let us say and do as Calvin, let us “imbibe the doctrine of God” and hide “it deeply in our hearts.”
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Goal of Psalm 119
This sumer I am meditating on Psalm 119. Each week I will post a meditation from this important and large Psalm, Psalm 119 is the largest chapter in the Bible.
“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Psalm 119:10)
All throughout this psalm the idea of God’s Word is brought up over and over. In just the first sixteen verses a reference is made to God’s Word in every verse. The emphasis over and over is knowing God’s Word so that the psalmist may obey God and fulfill his law. How though can anyone perfectly keep God’s law? (vs 1) Or, seek God with his whole heart? No one can. That is no one except Christ.
Christ is the only human who has ever completely kept God’s law. That is why he is the only ultimate fulfillment of this psalm. It is also why he is the only acceptable substitute for our sins. We can look to our redeemer, not only as our redeemer, but as the perfect fulfillment and model of living out Psalm 119. Recognizing this brings us into a very important understanding of our motivation for fulfilling Psalm 119 in our individual and corporate lives.
Unlike those living before Christ or unbelievers since Christ, we are not condemned by the law as believers in Jesus Christ. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross breaks the condemning power of the law over us. Instead of looking to God’s Word as an impossible standard to keep, we now look to it as the guide to living a life that is pleasing to God because we are under the saving grace of Christ’s work on the Cross and we are recreated creatures living in the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 5:17). Of course we will not keep the law perfectly because we are still fallen humans with a sin nature. However, instead of our sins condemning us to an eternal separation from God, we are able to be reconciled to God and be forgiven of our sins through Christ’s death on the Cross.
This then is our motivation for knowing God’s Word and obeying it: that we, as adopted children, may please our heavenly Father. We obey, not attempting to earn His love through our obedience, but to show our love to Him through our obedience. So let us with David say and do, “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!”
“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Psalm 119:10)
All throughout this psalm the idea of God’s Word is brought up over and over. In just the first sixteen verses a reference is made to God’s Word in every verse. The emphasis over and over is knowing God’s Word so that the psalmist may obey God and fulfill his law. How though can anyone perfectly keep God’s law? (vs 1) Or, seek God with his whole heart? No one can. That is no one except Christ.
Christ is the only human who has ever completely kept God’s law. That is why he is the only ultimate fulfillment of this psalm. It is also why he is the only acceptable substitute for our sins. We can look to our redeemer, not only as our redeemer, but as the perfect fulfillment and model of living out Psalm 119. Recognizing this brings us into a very important understanding of our motivation for fulfilling Psalm 119 in our individual and corporate lives.
Unlike those living before Christ or unbelievers since Christ, we are not condemned by the law as believers in Jesus Christ. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross breaks the condemning power of the law over us. Instead of looking to God’s Word as an impossible standard to keep, we now look to it as the guide to living a life that is pleasing to God because we are under the saving grace of Christ’s work on the Cross and we are recreated creatures living in the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 5:17). Of course we will not keep the law perfectly because we are still fallen humans with a sin nature. However, instead of our sins condemning us to an eternal separation from God, we are able to be reconciled to God and be forgiven of our sins through Christ’s death on the Cross.
This then is our motivation for knowing God’s Word and obeying it: that we, as adopted children, may please our heavenly Father. We obey, not attempting to earn His love through our obedience, but to show our love to Him through our obedience. So let us with David say and do, “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!”