PSALM 119: 105-112 [The Ministry of The Word Series]
GOD'S WORD LIGHTS OUR WAY
You may be able to relate to what Psalm 119 says about the joy of reading and meditating on God's Word. But most of us have also experienced dry spells–times when we don't seem to get much from the Bible. This [14th- Nun] section brings to the forefront how we can overcome dry spells by letting God's Word light our way forward with Him (CIT).
Recognizing that God's Word was his light to direct him (v. 130; Prov. 6:23) the psalmist vowed to follow it (Ps. 119:105-106). In his distress (vv. 107-110) he called for help and affirmed that he would joyfully follow God's statutes and decrees (vv. 111-112).
[This world is a battleground. No wonder we're exhorted to put on our spiritual armor and to take up the "sword of the Spirit," which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). It is by this Word that we will conquer.]
I. GOD'S WORD GUIDES US, 105-106.
II. GOD'S WORD GUARDS US, 107-110.
III. GOD'S WORD GLADDENS US,111-112.
In verse 105 the psalmist confesses that God's Word is the guide for his life. "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
Path, a frequent word in Scripture, here has a light added to it. Light makes a path followable, even in the darkness. If you ever gone on a NIGHT HIKE /walk in the deep forest you know how it is difficult to see anything. You may even step in hole or trip on a root. Even if we have a flashlight, we don't see very far down the trail, but we see where we are to place our next step. Likewise, God's Word lights our path as we walk through the darkness of this world one step at a time. It reveals the entangling roots of false values and philosophies. Study the Bible and you will see your way clear enough to stay on the right path.
Someone has observed, "He who carries a lantern on a dark road at night sees only one step ahead. When he takes that step, the lamp moves forward and another step is made plain. He finally reaches his destination in safety without once walking in darkness. All the way is lighted, but only a single step at a time. This is the method of God's guidance."
When a person receives the Lord Jesus as Savior, he knows his ultimate destination and is assured of his safe arrival. But the dark cloud of the unknown can veil the pilgrim pathway. Potential pitfalls, lurking dangers, and tragic missteps often upset the weary traveler and rob him of the peace and confidence the Lord intended for him to enjoy.
But as the child of God refuses to worry about tomorrow and trusts Him for today, he finds by the light of God's Word the grace and guidance for every situation in life. Even as a lantern illuminates each new step on a dark road at night, so the lamp of Scripture provides light on our pathway.
It isn't necessary to see beyond what the Lord reveals. Following His leading, there's always enough light for each step of the way. [RWD. Our Daily Bread. Radio Bible Class.] God does not lead us year by year, nor even day by day, but step by step our path unfolds as our Lord directs our way. There is no need to fear the darkness tomorrow if you're walking in God's light today. Just step into each new day and each new circumstance lead by the light of God's Word.
With this light before him the psalmist in verse 106 confesses that he has entered into covenant with God to be guided by His Word. "I have sworn and I will confirm it, that I will keep Your righteous ordinances.
His language is a legal oath and emphatic. He will uphold [confirm] the law of God as it applies to the situations of this life. His ethics are absolute rather than relative. They are not determined by the particular context within which he finds himself, but by his previous commitment to God and His Word. [At the same time, such a stance provokes persecution as the next verse reveals.]
The Pennsylvania State Highway Department once set out to BUILD A BRIDGE, working from both sides. When the two crews of workers reached the middle of the waterway, they were 13 feet to one side of each other. Alfred Steinberg, writing some time ago in the Saturday Evening Post, went on to explain that each crew had used its own reference point.
A small bronze disk at Meades Ranch Triangulation Station in Osborne, Kan., marks the place where the 39th parallel crosses the 98th meridian. The National Geodetic Survey, a federal agency whose business it is to locate the exact position of every in the United States, used this scientifically recognized reference point until the advent of an even more precise reference the global positioning system (GPS). All ocean liners and commercial planes rely on the Survey. The government can build no dams nor can it shoot off a missile without this agency to tell it exact locations-to the very inch.
The reference point (or GPS) for the Christian is the Bible. All values, judgments and attitudes must be gauged in relationship to this reference point.
"Location by approximation," Steinberg's article goes on to say, "can be costly and dangerous."
Help me, Father, to base all of my decisions on the truth of Your Word, the Bible. As I read it, help me to understand it and put its commands into practice. [Graham, Ruth Bell. Ruth's Attic. pp. 52-3]
II. GOD'S WORD GUARDS US, 107-110.
Verse 107 is a prayer for God to bring personal revival to the psalmist. "I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your Word."
The psalmist is experiencing distress, afflicting circumstances. He is suffering humiliation and are sampling his spiritual life from him.
He therefore requests the LORD to revive him, "according to Your Word." He prays for the Lord to bestow upon him the life (v. 25, vv. 81–88) which He has promised in His Word.
As God renews his spirit, he promises in verse 108 to offer up praises to God and to pay attention to His Word. "O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me Your ordinances."
These offerings are his praises for relief. They are what the Book of Hebrews calls the "sacrifice of praise," which is "the fruit of our lips" (Heb. 13:15). With an open heart to God he then asks, "And teach me Your judgments." Worship makes us receptive to the Word of God. After we have opened our hearts to Him in praise we are ready to receive what He has for us.
Verse 109 indicates the psalmist is putting his life at risk. "My life is continually in my hand, Yet I do not forget Your law."
The psalmist laments that his life is "continually in my hand," that is, that it is continually at risk [Job 12:10, "The Lord in whose hand is the life of every living being"]. Even though his life [soul] is in his hand or in jeopardy [Judges 12:18, 1 Sam. 19:5, 28:21] he still remembers God's law. In fact, this divine law sustains him through the fears and trials of this life.
In verse 110 he reveals that the wicked seek to trap him like a wild bird, laying a snare for him. "The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts."
Temptations have been set before him, nevertheless, he remains faithful to God's Word.
Regardless of the suffering and persecution of this life, the psalmist finds confidence in God's Word. It alone endures. It keeps on the path of truth and safety.
A device developed by the United States military is now use by civilian pilots. Called the Global Positioning System (GPS), the unit utilizes signals from a system of satellites to calculate the exact location of a plane, as well as the nearest airport.
David Ramsdale could have used such a device on one of his flights. As a pilot for the Jungle Aviation And Radio Service (JAARS), he was flying passengers over the wild uncharted jungle from Yarinacocha, Peru, toward the Brazilian border. After a while, Ramsdale realized he had been following the wrong river and was lost. Daylight was fading and the plane was low on fuel. Radio contact with the base gave no navigational help. Through the dusk, Ramsdale spotted a little river. He followed it to a larger river, and then to a village where he was able to land on a narrow airstrip just as darkness fell.
A similar thing can happen in our spiritual journey. We lose our bearings and get off course. Soon. we realize we're going in the wrong direction. But we have a positioning
system that will always tell us which way to go, the Word of God. If we consult it regularly, it will guide, our path and keep us from straying. To stay on course, trust the unfailing compass of God's Word.
III. GOD'S WORD GLADDENS US, 111-112.
Verse 111 discloses that in God's testimonies we finds rejoicing for our heart. "I have inherited Your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart."
There is no dry, cold legalism in the psalmist approach to God's testimonies. He pursues God and His word with heart, soul and mind. He asserts that God's testimonies have become his inheritance [literally, ‘I have inherited Your testimonies'] forever. The promises in the Word of God have become his Promised Land (Ex. 23:30). What precious treasures are in the Word of God. Its like a deep mine filled with gold, silver, and precious gems but we must take time to dig them out. As we do we will rejoice in our walk with God and rejoice over what He is teaching us and how He is transforming us as we get to know Him better and better as we walk closer and closer.
A young lady remarked "That's the DULLEST BOOK I ever read," as she tossed the volume aside. Later she became engaged to a scholarly gentleman. One evening she remarked to him, "You know, here is a book by an author whose name is just like yours. Isn't that strange?"
"There's nothing strange about it, my dear," he said, thumbing through the book. "It happens that I wrote it."
That night she did not retire until she had read every word of it. The book now fascinated her and held her spellbound. What made the difference? She knew and loved the author.
This is the way God's Book is to those who know and love Him. Having deliberately chosen God's way of life, we naturally love His Word. It brings deep and constant joy to the heart. This love-born joy creates desire to be obedient to the least wish found in God's Word. Joy begets obedience; obedience brings more joy. The Bible isn't a dry book if you know its Author.
[Several years ago I heard about a six-point plan for getting something out of almost any passage of Scripture. It can make your Bible-reading time an opportunity to enjoy God and His message. First pray: Give me insight, Lord, as I read Your Word today, So I will truly understand Your message and Your way. After reading a passage of Scripture ask yourself these questions:
What did I like? What did I not like? What did I not understand? What did I learn about God? What should I do? What phrase-thought can I take with me today?
This method can help to renew your appreciation for the Bible. Then you too will be able to say that God's Word is "the rejoicing of my heart."]
We can never really be exposed to the truths of God' s Word without our lives being affected. Either we become more desirous of becoming like the author of the Book, or we become increasingly hardened to its truths. It has been said that we must know the Word of God in order to know the God of the Word. However, of God's Word must never stop at merely gaining biblical knowledge. It must always lead us to a more intimate joy-filled relationship with God Himself.
The psalmist knows that if he is to rejoice in his heart he must incline his heart to do so. In verse 112 the psalmist determines to live out the Word of God all the days of his life. "I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever, even to the end [to the very end]."
God inclines the heart (119:36) of the godly who incline their heart. As God knows his heart, so God knows what is upon his heart, and it is to obey His will forever.
When I was a boy I watched a futuristic cartoon that began, "MEET GEORGE JETSON, Jane his wife. . ." The day of real George Jetsons jetting around outer space may soon be here. A NASA report stated that it is attempting to create a space plane. This aircraft will fly at 17,000 mph, circle the globe in 90 minutes, and take off from any airport in the world.
The technology required to make this astra-aircraft is just now being developed. But there are problems. Like trying to find materials that can take temperatures of 3,000 degrees, and to develop engines that can "breathe" the ultra-thin air of the upper atmosphere. It will take many design achievements to produce this plane. One NASA scientist noted, "No little [achievement] by itself seems very significant. . .. But it's a collection of literally hundreds of these details that makes an airplane."
It will take hundreds of breakthroughs to get this idea off the ground. In the same way, it will take hundreds of "breakthroughs" for you to take your place in the church as a mature believer. Somehow we think it will come all at. once in an overwhelming religious experience. But it doesn't usually (if ever) happen that way.
We reach our spiritual goals the same way we get an education or scientists get astra-aircraft developed: by a series of discoveries and breakthroughs. As we study the Bible on our own, listen to the Spirit, have fellowship with church friends, and hear the Sunday sermons, we begin to see the pieces fall into place. We grow. We understand new things. We learn how to discipline our lives. We yield more and more to God.
Keep studying. Keep learning. Keep doing your best for God. The results will be out of this world.
IN CLOSING
John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, once said: "I speak as a man of the world to men of the world, and I say to you: Search the Scriptures." The Word of God is our light. In it we come to know God. In it we come to know His will for us. Through it we have strength to stand against our enemies and endure persecution in this life. This is our eternal heritage. The book is open. It is before us. We must not miss out on what it contains.
An elderly woman stood on a BUSY STREET CORNER, hesitant to cross because there was no traffic signal. As she waited, a gentleman came up beside her and asked, "May I cross over with you?" Relieved, she thanked him and took his arm.
The path they took was anything but safe. The man seem to be confused as they dogged traffic and even walked in a zig-zag pattern across the street. "You almost got us killed!" the women exclaimed in anger when they finally reached the curb. "You walk like you're blind!" "I am blinded" the man replied, "That's why I asked if I could cross with you."
Jesus said of the Pharisees, "They are blind guides of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch" (Mt. 15:14). We must not entrust our spiritual direction to some one who is not illuminated by the Spirit to see the clear teachings of God's Word. Life is too difficult and dangerous, eternity is too long and permanent, and our spiritual destiny too important and precious to take any chances with the leaders we follow.
Psalm 119:105 says, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Trust only those who themselves walk in the light of that lamp and who use it to guide others through the dark maze of this present world. [A good leader is one who knows the way and goes that way and then show the way.]
[A lamp for the feet that in byways have wandered, A guide for the youth that would otherwise fall; A hope for the sinner whose life has been squandered, A staff for the aged, the best Book for all. -Anon.]
