The Word of wondrous things

 Psalm 119:17–24(ESV): 

Gimel

 17  Deal bountifully with your servant, 

that I may live and keep your word. 

 18  Open my eyes, that I may behold 

wondrous things out of your law. 

 19  I am a sojourner on the earth; 

hide not your commandments from me! 

 20  My soul is consumed with longing 

for your rules at all times. 

 21  You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, 

who wander from your commandments. 

 22  Take away from me scorn and contempt, 

for I have kept your testimonies. 

 23  Even though princes sit plotting against me, 

your servant will meditate on your statutes. 

 24  Your testimonies are my delight; 

they are my counsellors. 

Does reading the Bible give you fresh revelation, comfort, wonder? Do you expect it to? 

This psalmist expects and desires to see ‘wondrous things’ when they read scripture. For The Word of God is precious and beautiful, and it can reveal new and incredible things when you study it. God’s word can inspire, strengthen, challenge, comfort and delight you. It can also build a sense of awe for who God is, and what He has done. If you struggle to see this, then pray, ‘open my eyes that i may behold wondrous things out of your law’. Who knows what new things you will notice, and what joy you will receive when you approach the Bible expecting and waiting for God to speak to you.

This wonderful Word of God that we have access to is written for you. It shows a life and a kingdom that is to come, and how to navigate this season where you are ‘a sojourner on the earth’. You were not created to belong here, but to be a citizen of God’s realm. So whilst you wait to join Him for eternity, read His Word so that you can live well here, in preparation for what is to come. Although this life may seem arduous and long at times, eternity is longer! So learn to live as a ‘sojourner’, a traveller, someone that is just passing through this place, as your eternal home is with God for eternity, not here on Earth. You are a citizen of the Kingdom of God, so you need to know how to live like one. Do not rely on anyone else to show you how to do it, whether they are good people, great people or influential people. Even princes and those in power don’t have it all figured out, nor do friends or coworkers, they are struggling to live beyond this life too. Instead allow God’s Word to counsel you, guard you and guide you. Ask God to make clear His words and instructions that you may live well in this temporary accommodation with respect and honour, whilst you await your eternal, permanent home. 

Psalm 119:25–32 (ESV)

Daleth

 25  My soul clings to the dust; 

give me life according to your word! 

 26  When I told of my ways, you answered me; 

teach me your statutes! 

 27  Make me understand the way of your precepts, 

and I will meditate on your wondrous works. 

 28  My soul melts away for sorrow; 

strengthen me according to your word! 

 29  Put false ways far from me 

and graciously teach me your law! 

 30  I have chosen the way of faithfulness; 

I set your rules before me. 

 31  I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; 

let me not be put to shame! 

 32  I will run in the way of your commandments 

when you enlarge my heart! 

‘when i told you of my ways, you answered me’. How beautiful to know that God is not distant or ignorant, but He leans in, listens, and answers! The fact that the writer has told God what he has done indicates that they have made mistakes (v26). They have got it wrong on their pursuit of living a life pleasing to God and confessed to Him their sin. God responded and their reply was ‘teach me your statutes’. What a wonderful response to getting it wrong! Instead of floundering in sin or being overcome with shame, this person approached God, was restored by Him and then desired greater understanding of Scripture. Through pondering on their ways, this person realised that the root cause of their error was that they did not know or understand of the Word of God. Therefore, the answer to avoid sin is to ask God to ‘make me understand the way of your precepts’. Sometimes you may not know why God says to do or not to do something, so ask God to help you understand and ask Him to reveal how to apply Scripture to your life. 

It is not easy, but being a faithful follower of God. It requires obedience and that you humble yourself before Him. Acknowledging that He does in fact know best, even when it is hard to understand, and your heart yearns for something else can be painfully difficult. Therefore, like the psalmist, ask God to enlarge your heart so that you feel the same as God does about sin and situations. God can guide you, help you and change your desires when you invite Him to. Turning away from sin and learning to ‘run in the way of your commandments’ is difficult when you try to do it on your own. However, you have the ear of the author of the Bible. So, you have the great privilege of being able to talk to Him, ask Him how to apply His Word to your life. He alone will save you from sin and can enlarge your heart to care for the things He does. He doesn’t want you to keep clinging to the dust in despair. You can trust in His love and faithfulness to rescue and restore you. His Word is full of wondrous things - are you seeing them?

Is God's reputation on the line?

 Psalm 31:1–24 (ESV): 

1  In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; 

let me never be put to shame; 

in your righteousness deliver me! 

2  Incline your ear to me; 

rescue me speedily! 

Be a rock of refuge for me, 

a strong fortress to save me! 

3  For you are my rock and my fortress; 

and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; 

4  you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, 

for you are my refuge. 

5  Into your hand I commit my spirit; 

you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God. 

6  I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, 

but I trust in the Lord. 

7  I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, 

because you have seen my affliction; 

you have known the distress of my soul, 

8  and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; 

you have set my feet in a broad place. 

9  Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; 

my eye is wasted from grief; 

my soul and my body also. 

10  For my life is spent with sorrow, 

and my years with sighing; 

my strength fails because of my iniquity, 

and my bones waste away. 

11  Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, 

especially to my neighbours, 

and an object of dread to my acquaintances; 

those who see me in the street flee from me. 

12  I have been forgotten like one who is dead; 

I have become like a broken vessel. 

13  For I hear the whispering of many— 

terror on every side!— 

as they scheme together against me, 

as they plot to take my life. 

14  But I trust in you, O Lord; 

I say, “You are my God.” 

15  My times are in your hand; 

rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! 

16  Make your face shine on your servant; 

save me in your steadfast love! 

17  O Lord, let me not be put to shame, 

for I call upon you; 

let the wicked be put to shame; 

let them go silently to Sheol. 

18  Let the lying lips be mute, 

which speak insolently against the righteous 

in pride and contempt. 

19  Oh, how abundant is your goodness, 

which you have stored up for those who fear you 

and worked for those who take refuge in you, 

in the sight of the children of mankind! 

20  In the cover of your presence you hide them 

from the plots of men; 

you store them in your shelter 

from the strife of tongues. 

21  Blessed be the Lord, 

for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me 

when I was in a besieged city. 

22  I had said in my alarm, 

“I am cut off from your sight.” 

But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy 

when I cried to you for help. 

23  Love the Lord, all you his saints! 

The Lord preserves the faithful 

but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. 

24  Be strong, and let your heart take courage, 

all you who wait for the Lord! 

This psalm seems to be a prayer of a disordered, troubled mind. One who is in imminent danger and is trying to figure out what to do and desperate for help. Urgently seeking God in the midst of the ‘terror on every side’. It appears that outside circumstances and internal thoughts are producing a time of great disturbance for the writer. For example at the start of the psalm it says, ‘Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! 3 For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me’. Asking God for refuge and protection, yet also knowing that God provides it shows the distress and disordered nature of his mind. David needs to know security and protection and so is asking God for it, yet he also knows that God IS those things already. What a natural, heart-felt response to a time of desperation and attack. David knows who God is and asking for Him to be who he knows He is, because at the present moment he is threatened and hounded and struggling to see God’s protection, guidance, security, and strength. This whole psalm demonstrates clearly the disordered, rushed prayer of desperation. Don't you find it comforting to have this written to know that it is ok when we pray the same way?! When you find circumstances overwhelming and distressing, it’s ok to speak out even if it seems jumbled. God can make sense of it and hears your heart. 

David flits from; calling for rescue to knowing God rescues, trusting in God, talking about how terrified he is, requesting God’s grace and acknowledging His goodness. This shows the devoted love of God that David has. Even when he is surrounded by enemies, is terrified and weak, he still acknowledges the presence of God and seeks Him for his rescue. David does not accuse God of having caused the situation or say that God has run off and left him. He still knows God is his refuge and rock. it is just David is aware that he is struggling to see that right now because of the turmoil and danger he is in. 

Yet, even in his terror and desperation David acknowledges that, ‘for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me’. David still trusts and looks to God for the way to go, the way to respond and live. He knows that God does and will guide him because David trusts in Him and God will help because God’s reputation is on the line if He doesn’t! As a known, committed follower of God, David recognises that God will be glorified through this situation. Are you aware of that in the midst of chaos and distress? That whatever is happening now is not the end of the story, but restoration and the glorification of God is waiting to be revealed?! What an expectation and assurance David has of God’s intervention, and of his standing with God. David has shown his commitment to following God in many different circumstances. He does so when things are going well and when things aren’t because even when situations change God doesn’t. God is still good, loving, strong, secure and helpful no matter what you are facing. Accepting this truth and trusting in Him as David does is the reality of living life as a follower of God. Being a committed christian means accepting the nature of God through every circumstance of life, leaning into Him, trusting and obeying Him even when it looks like life as you have known it is over. Then you too can build the same level of trust and dependence on God that David has. You can still be assured that even in the most terrible of situations that God will do you good for His name’s sake. 

So, consider the faith you have. Are you committed and assured of God's relevance and presence in all circumstances?  Are you living knowing that God’s reputation could be on the line if He does not rescue you from a time of trouble and distress? Will God restore you for his 'names sake'? Clearly God did rescue David. Later in the psalm he says, ‘The Lord preserves the faithful’. David’s dedication to following God paid off - he survived, was rescued and strengthened because he remained faithful. Do you remain faithful to God when the going gets tough? 

God rewards the committed, faithful follower, 'how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you' God will reward those who are loyalty and dedicated to Him. Not only will he rescue and protect you from trouble, but He will also share his goodness with you which he has even 'stored up'! How kind of God is that?! The question is, are you living in such a way to receive God's goodness and to expect His glorification in and through your life?