Hi Girls! Did you enjoy God's beautiful creation yesterday - His glorious creation that points to Him? Well, after looking at Psalm 19:1-6 yesterday, today we are going to be taking a little closer look at the last remaining verses, 7-14. Yesterday it was all about the heavens declaring the glory of God - today we will see two things, the Scriptures themselves making witness of God and also, the witness of the servant of God.
Think of it this way...while the heavens declare the glory of God, the Scriptures declare His grace, and because you just cannot separate the glory of God from His grace, when the child of God walks her life according to the abundance of that grace, well, don't you just know that her very life is a witness of the glory of God!
Just as the 'sun' is the dominant feature in God's 'natural' revelation through creation, so the 'Law' (God's specific revelation through His Word) is the dominant element in God's 'specific' revelation in the Old Testament. I really enjoyed going through, over and over again, these verses and the first thing that I saw was that there are six specific titles given for God's Word - the law v.7, the testimony v.7, the precepts v.8, the commandment v.8, the fear of the Lord v.9, and the judgements v.9. That phrase, "the fear of the Lord" is actually another reference, a synonym, for the Law of God - as the aim of the Law was always to instill reverence for God in the hearts of mankind.
Now, I just wanted to say at this point that we are not saved by the hearing or even the 'adhering' to the Word of God, this is what got the Pharisees into so much trouble for heaven's sake! We are told clearly throughout Scripture that our salvation comes by God's grace, through faith - and that the Law of God was simply a tutor that was to lead us to Christ that we might then, through Christ alone be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)
OK, so then I looked at these titles for the Law (the Word of God) and saw, just like you did, that these titles contain qualities. The qualities of God's Word is that it is: perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, enduring forever, righteous, desirable (more precious that gold and sweeter than honey, girls!). And then of course there are the results of those qualities... God's Word: restores the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart and enlightens the eyes. Listen, if you are like me, and in need of some serious restoration of your soul, some wisdom, joy and enlightenment this summer - then you and I are positioned, in exactly in the right place, in order to be recieving it!
David understood that the very Word of God, among other things, warns the servant of God; warns us on every level. We know that our spiritual state has emotional, mental and physical state ramifications - God's Word addresses every one of these, and it really is here that we find the bottom-line, do we really believe what God has spoken to us? Because, what I am noticing more and more in the world and in Christendom itself, is that there is a blatantly wide gulf between believing that God exists, and believing God! But that is another day, another post!
David then went on to say that there is also great reward in keeping God's Word; it would be a good thing to note that the reward is 'in the keeping' of God's Word, the reward is not 'for the keeping' of His Word. Meditate on this and let me know what you think!
In v. 12 David asks, "Who can discern his errors?" This is a rhetorical question, meaning that the answer is in the question itself, and the answer is...'no one'. Only God alone knows the inclinations of the human heart, Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that "the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways..."
Even in the doing of what we would consider 'good' works, our motives or attitudes of the heart might be stinking, literally to high heaven! No wonder the Psalmist cried out to God asking, "Create in me a pure heart and renew a right spirit within me!" (Psalm 51:10) Look, we all have hidden faults, hidden sins, we just plain do, and we are in desperate need of the Word of God to show us, just like in a mirror, those areas of sin in our lives. (James 1)
We see this in Psalm 139:23-24 where David prays and asks God, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there my any harmful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." What is this everlasting way? well, we saw it in Psalm 19:9, it is the way of the Word of God!
David asked God in v.13 to keep him back from presumptuous sins, I liken this to praying... "Lord save me from myself!" You know, I think a whole lot gets blamed on the enemy of our souls when we should be looking a little closer to home - James 1:14 tells us that "each one is tempted when he is carried away by his own lust." Satan might set out the bait, but it be all about us and the intent of our hearts, whether we are bitin' it or not! When I am eating of the Living Word of God, I am full, I am satisfied, and no stinking dead bait of the enemy will smell good after I've eaten at God's own banquet table! You know what I am sayin' - I know that you do.
So, a presumptuous sin are those sins that are in open defiance and rebellion against God's revealed Word, brought about by our own lusts, baited by the enemy. So David was not only praying to be cleansed of hidden sin, but he was also asking God to restrain him from running directly into open sin. If ever a man ran head-long into this blatant kind of sin it was David. He seemed to be minding his own business one day, looks out a window, sees a naked woman in a tub (the bait) and he bit, hook line and sinker. Not only did he sleep with another man's wife and get her pregnant, but he plotted, and had carried out, the murder of that woman's husband. You can believe that David was praying this particular prayer, knowing the kind of man that he was capable of being apart from God.
Most of the time, people believe sin, in all of it's various forms, to be freedom - after all that was the lie that was sold in the garden and many have fallen for it ever since. But God knows that sin itself is slavery, and keep in mind this, that every action we commit, whether in word or deed, whether good or bad, first begins as an intention of the heart. I remember years ago hearing this... that sin will take you farther than you ever intended to go, keep you longer that you every intended to stay, and cost you more than you ever intended to pay. God knows this, and longs for us to be set free of it - through the humility of confession and repentance that leads to salvation, YES! But also through the confession and repentence and godly sorrow that needs to come simply by being a child of God living in an earthly body!
I am not talking about living any way that you want and claiming that contrary living to the Word of God is not sin; or, confessing that it is sin, but that claiming that God is an understanding and forgiving God, so you ask forgiveness and go out and commit the same sin again, until it becomes a habitual way of life! A true child of God will ALWAYS be grieved over sin in their life, because the Holy Spirit in them grieves! For this we have this assurance, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His Word is not in us." 1 John 1:9-10
Verse 14 is my "take away" verse from this Psalm. That the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in God's sight, for He is my Rock and He is my Redeemer. My eyes are to be on Him and Him alone; I am to take my counsel and direction from Him and Him alone. And girls, isn't it true, that when we know His good pleasure, His particular joy is made full in us! And this joy of the Lord is our blessed strength!
Remember the hymn "Great is Thy Faithfulness" that I quoted in part yesterday - well, let's hear the rest of it...
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow -
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided -
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
This is how the servant of God witnesses in this world, right along side creation and the Word of God - His grace covering us, His Holy Spirit (Who leads us into all Truth) in us, and His glory (well, I declare) revealed through us!
I can hardly wait to hear what you have all gleaned from this Psalm this week!
Think of it this way...while the heavens declare the glory of God, the Scriptures declare His grace, and because you just cannot separate the glory of God from His grace, when the child of God walks her life according to the abundance of that grace, well, don't you just know that her very life is a witness of the glory of God!
Just as the 'sun' is the dominant feature in God's 'natural' revelation through creation, so the 'Law' (God's specific revelation through His Word) is the dominant element in God's 'specific' revelation in the Old Testament. I really enjoyed going through, over and over again, these verses and the first thing that I saw was that there are six specific titles given for God's Word - the law v.7, the testimony v.7, the precepts v.8, the commandment v.8, the fear of the Lord v.9, and the judgements v.9. That phrase, "the fear of the Lord" is actually another reference, a synonym, for the Law of God - as the aim of the Law was always to instill reverence for God in the hearts of mankind.
Now, I just wanted to say at this point that we are not saved by the hearing or even the 'adhering' to the Word of God, this is what got the Pharisees into so much trouble for heaven's sake! We are told clearly throughout Scripture that our salvation comes by God's grace, through faith - and that the Law of God was simply a tutor that was to lead us to Christ that we might then, through Christ alone be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)
OK, so then I looked at these titles for the Law (the Word of God) and saw, just like you did, that these titles contain qualities. The qualities of God's Word is that it is: perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, enduring forever, righteous, desirable (more precious that gold and sweeter than honey, girls!). And then of course there are the results of those qualities... God's Word: restores the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart and enlightens the eyes. Listen, if you are like me, and in need of some serious restoration of your soul, some wisdom, joy and enlightenment this summer - then you and I are positioned, in exactly in the right place, in order to be recieving it!
David understood that the very Word of God, among other things, warns the servant of God; warns us on every level. We know that our spiritual state has emotional, mental and physical state ramifications - God's Word addresses every one of these, and it really is here that we find the bottom-line, do we really believe what God has spoken to us? Because, what I am noticing more and more in the world and in Christendom itself, is that there is a blatantly wide gulf between believing that God exists, and believing God! But that is another day, another post!
David then went on to say that there is also great reward in keeping God's Word; it would be a good thing to note that the reward is 'in the keeping' of God's Word, the reward is not 'for the keeping' of His Word. Meditate on this and let me know what you think!
In v. 12 David asks, "Who can discern his errors?" This is a rhetorical question, meaning that the answer is in the question itself, and the answer is...'no one'. Only God alone knows the inclinations of the human heart, Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that "the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways..."
Even in the doing of what we would consider 'good' works, our motives or attitudes of the heart might be stinking, literally to high heaven! No wonder the Psalmist cried out to God asking, "Create in me a pure heart and renew a right spirit within me!" (Psalm 51:10) Look, we all have hidden faults, hidden sins, we just plain do, and we are in desperate need of the Word of God to show us, just like in a mirror, those areas of sin in our lives. (James 1)
We see this in Psalm 139:23-24 where David prays and asks God, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there my any harmful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." What is this everlasting way? well, we saw it in Psalm 19:9, it is the way of the Word of God!
David asked God in v.13 to keep him back from presumptuous sins, I liken this to praying... "Lord save me from myself!" You know, I think a whole lot gets blamed on the enemy of our souls when we should be looking a little closer to home - James 1:14 tells us that "each one is tempted when he is carried away by his own lust." Satan might set out the bait, but it be all about us and the intent of our hearts, whether we are bitin' it or not! When I am eating of the Living Word of God, I am full, I am satisfied, and no stinking dead bait of the enemy will smell good after I've eaten at God's own banquet table! You know what I am sayin' - I know that you do.
So, a presumptuous sin are those sins that are in open defiance and rebellion against God's revealed Word, brought about by our own lusts, baited by the enemy. So David was not only praying to be cleansed of hidden sin, but he was also asking God to restrain him from running directly into open sin. If ever a man ran head-long into this blatant kind of sin it was David. He seemed to be minding his own business one day, looks out a window, sees a naked woman in a tub (the bait) and he bit, hook line and sinker. Not only did he sleep with another man's wife and get her pregnant, but he plotted, and had carried out, the murder of that woman's husband. You can believe that David was praying this particular prayer, knowing the kind of man that he was capable of being apart from God.
Most of the time, people believe sin, in all of it's various forms, to be freedom - after all that was the lie that was sold in the garden and many have fallen for it ever since. But God knows that sin itself is slavery, and keep in mind this, that every action we commit, whether in word or deed, whether good or bad, first begins as an intention of the heart. I remember years ago hearing this... that sin will take you farther than you ever intended to go, keep you longer that you every intended to stay, and cost you more than you ever intended to pay. God knows this, and longs for us to be set free of it - through the humility of confession and repentance that leads to salvation, YES! But also through the confession and repentence and godly sorrow that needs to come simply by being a child of God living in an earthly body!
I am not talking about living any way that you want and claiming that contrary living to the Word of God is not sin; or, confessing that it is sin, but that claiming that God is an understanding and forgiving God, so you ask forgiveness and go out and commit the same sin again, until it becomes a habitual way of life! A true child of God will ALWAYS be grieved over sin in their life, because the Holy Spirit in them grieves! For this we have this assurance, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His Word is not in us." 1 John 1:9-10
Verse 14 is my "take away" verse from this Psalm. That the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in God's sight, for He is my Rock and He is my Redeemer. My eyes are to be on Him and Him alone; I am to take my counsel and direction from Him and Him alone. And girls, isn't it true, that when we know His good pleasure, His particular joy is made full in us! And this joy of the Lord is our blessed strength!
Remember the hymn "Great is Thy Faithfulness" that I quoted in part yesterday - well, let's hear the rest of it...
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow -
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided -
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
This is how the servant of God witnesses in this world, right along side creation and the Word of God - His grace covering us, His Holy Spirit (Who leads us into all Truth) in us, and His glory (well, I declare) revealed through us!
I can hardly wait to hear what you have all gleaned from this Psalm this week!
4 comments:
Psalm 19 is so rich in truth...I am always drawn to passages of scripture where the author is caught up in the beauty and majesty of creation...even if it is only for a few lines. I too agree, as David writes, that creation cries out, without the necessity of words, about the awesome presence of a Creator...that all details of the world we live in are perfectly, intricately and uniquely designed. From the starry heavens at night to the sun by day...all in perfect harmony and unison...what an awesome God we serve!!!
I was also particularly moved by David's summary of the word of God...the law, the testimony, the precepts, the commandment, the fear and the judgments...and how they are perfect, restoring, sure, right, pure, clean, true...they are righteous altogether, they endure forever, enlightening the eyes, cause rejoicing in the heart, making wise the simple and restoring the soul. (These few verses are a whole study or two unto themselves!!!)
David ends his psalm with a prayer which I want to be my prayer every day of my life...
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Thy sight,
O LORD my rock and my Redeemer." (14)
Amen.
Hi Cathie,
I was frustrated because I couldn't get to the computer till now and I was just so excited and couldn't wait to see what you had for us. I am so excited about this Psalm. On my first reading I just drew a blank and then settled down and oh my I just loved it and totally undertood it!!!! Vs 7 - 10 really mean a lot to me. Quite often when I have my time with God I pray that we could all just live by His Laws and what a perfect place the earth would be. I also discuss with Him, how hard it is to try and live by His Law's but how rewarding it also is. I particularly enjoyed your comment that we are not saved by adhering to the Word of God as I continually need to be reminded that it is through God's grace that we are saved and that living by the Law of God leads us to Christ so we can be justified by faith. Vs 12-14 were also very meaninful to me and I too pray that my words and thoughts be pleasing to God and He truly is my Rock to lean on.
Cathie, I am going to be away for 10 days starting on Sunday and was wondering if there is any way I could find out our next Psalm before I leave. I am hoping to be able to get to a computer but don't know for sure if I can and of course my bible goes everywhere with me so I can still do my own study! I am just loving these sessions!!!!
I am so enjoying hearing all that you girls have gained through your time with our Lord and being in His Word. Doesn't it seem that each one of us has been impacted by v. 14? What a joy it is to walk this magnificant road together, not always easy, but magnificant nonetheless, knowing that our hearts are set upon pilgrimage and pleasing our Lord! Debbie, you are not the only one who has asked if I could let you know what the next Psalm is going to be - however, I have to tell you something - I get the Psalm either late, late, Sunday evening or early, early Monday morning. This is just how God is doing this with me and I basically get the Psalm when you girls do! So here is what I suggest, read through the next 12 Psalms that come after Psalm 19 and then which ever one seems to really speak to you, camp on that one and let that be your Psalm for the time that you are away. Have a wonderful time!
OK, I know that it is now Monday morning and we are on to our next Psalm, but I just had to add something onto our discussion of Psalm 19. In this post I made the observation that "the 'Law' (God's specific revelation through His Word) is the dominant element in God's 'specific' revelation in the Old Testament." I highlighted the Law and the Old Testament for a reason - and that was to leave room for the revelation of Matthew 5:17 where Jesus Himself states that He is now the FULFILLMENT of the Law. Romans 6:14 tells us that we are no longer under the Law, but rather, as New Covenant believers we are now UNDER GRACE. This GRACE being the dominant element in God's 'specific revelation' in the New Testament! The Law in the Old Testament became our tutor to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24) BECAUSE in and of ourselves we could NEVER keep the Law; only IN CHRIST are ALL the requirements of the Law fulfilled. I am just going to leave it at that and welcome any further discussion that you might have on this - I didn't want to take it farther than need be, but thought that this was an important element in our gathering time together!
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