Archive for March 2006
Brief update
Posted on Thursday, March 02, 2006 at 5:55 PM by David Zavadil
I am so sorry that I have not posted the next section of the Psalm 119 study. I have been substitute teaching in a local school, sick and just too tired to even look at a computer. Please pray for me as I have a preaching engagement next week, am supposed to sub all next week and am currently fighting the cold of all colds. I hope to have a new post soon. Until then, check out some of the brothers on my link section.
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He Psalm 119:33-40 (ESV)
Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 at 11:25 AM by David Zavadil
33 ¶ <HE> Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
35 ¶ Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
37 ¶ Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
38 ¶ Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.
39 ¶ Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.
40 ¶ Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!
Left to ourselves, what do we want to learn most? Is it God's word? How to love? The way of salvation? No, what we want to learn most is whatever will make us feel better at the moment. Face it, we all struggle with the same condition. We are fallen men or women who, when left to ourselves, always seek self before God. It takes a constant effort on our part to follow God. The psalmist begins this section with a cry to God. 33 ¶ <HE> Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Charles Bridges, writing on this passage states, "We need no instruction in the way of sin." (Eccle. 7:29; Isaiah 53:6; Job 21:14; Romans 8:7) We do not need directions to sin, we need guidance to walk with God. Thus this prayer. Bridges continues, "But for a child of God, this is a prayer of constant use. The outward revelation is of no avail with out the inward teaching. The Divine Instructor must interpret and apply his own rule." We can not follow God in our own strength but only through the grace and strength of God in Jesus.
This verse, actually this entire passage, helps us to see the connection between our practice and our hearts. It is not enough that we know how to live, how to walk with Christ, we must also know, deep in our hearts, how He wants us to live and walk. We need the Divine Teacher to show us how. Only with his divine guidance will we ever be able to keep God's statues to the end. What a blessing this is, as we grow in our relationship, our knowledge of the Word, our nearness to Christ, we will be able to keep his word to the end. Our perseverance as his people is directly tied to our relationship with Him. As He teaches and keeps us, we are then enabled to keep His word for eternity. We are dependent upon Christ for our eternity and in that is blessing (Revelation 2:26-28).
Many talk of discipleship and evangelism today. Yet, why do we not see more true disciples of Christ? Could it be that we really don't know what we are talking about? Oh we know the basics, the Sunday School stories, the great stories of the Bible, but do we really know God? The previous verse showed us our utter dependency on God for revelation of His Word. In this verse, the psalmist cries out for more understanding that he might apply it to his life. 34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Bridges writes, "Man cannot teach what he does not know; and of God and of his law, he knows nothing." What an inditement upon our churches. We know how to run the best programs, draw the most people, have the most fun and excitement but we don't know how to make disciples. Why? We do not know God and his Word.
Look at this verse again. 34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. What should be our attitude toward studying and learning God's Word? Our response should be to whole heartedly embrace it. Is it not sad that the groups and classes in the church that are the smallest and worse attended are usually those that are the in depth expository (verse by verse, book by book) study of God's Word? My friends, our walk should include a passion to know more about God and this passion should drive us to the Scriptures. There is no use for us to be saying that the American church is Biblically illiterate. Christians should be learning and keeping God's Word with their whole heart.
Verse 35 continues in this path. 35 ¶ Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. We, as I said earlier, are incapable of following God without God. As we look down the road God has for us, to many of us it is frightening. We wonder how can we ever make it. We question and doubt our way through church and life, wondering if we ever really will make it to heaven. The psalmist points us back to our source of hope and strength. Lead me in the path of your commandments... we can not and will not venture forward in our lives and walk without the gracious work of Christ in our lives. In our own strength, not only could we not make the trip, we would not want to. There are too many obstacles, to many trials, it is easier to leave it all alone. To sacrifice the fun and pleasure of the world is too hard for many. The only way to make it is to rest and trust in Christ. Like the paralytic, we must simply trust, pick up our bed rolls and begin to walk Matt 9:6).
We must not be content just to walk. I try to walk/jog for exercise. I confess, I hate it. By itself it is boring and seems a waste of time. However, I know that the benefit of it will pay off, that I will be blessed by it in the end. So, to get through, I find ways to make it fun, enjoyful. I may sing, or pray or take my ipod® and listen to a sermon. The walk along God's path is much the same. No where does God say it will be fun and easy. Yet, over and over again, we are told to delight. In this passage, for I delight in it. Bridges again, "Delight is the marrow of religion." God does not want forced contrition, passive aggression in our obedience and faith, He wants delight. Maybe that is why the Westminster Divines added that phrase, " and enjoy Him forever." to the end of the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism; "What is man's chief end?" Look at these encouraging words.
Psalm 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (KJV) Read this along with Hebrews 10:7 - 18. God rejoices in our delightful obedience to him.
Verse 36 continues in this vane, 36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Our own inclination will be toward selfishness. One of the first things our kids learn to say is not, "sure you take it, I don't mind." but "No! Mine!" We are in desperate need of God's grace in our hearts to move us toward Him and His Word. We need Christ to be able to resist the selfishness of life. Our constant prayer should be, "God work in me to not be me but to be more like you!"
37 ¶ Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Some of us walk as if we are impervious to everything. We read, "There has no temptation...." and some how think, "that is right, nothing can tempt me, I am king of the world." Then, we sit down and turn on the tv and watch our six hour average of tv or head off to the movies to watch killing, mayhem and sex. All the time we are wondering, "how is this stuff affecting me." The saying goes, "garbage in, garbage out." The Christian should be in prayer daily, seeking God and asking for His strength to avert his eyes. Not just his physical eyes but his inward, spiritual eyes also. Averting them from those things that are worthless, time wasters. Rather than focusing on the worthless, we are to focus on God's ways. "The sincerity of our prayer will be proved by the watchfully avoiding circumstances and occasions of temptation. The fear of sin will manifest itself by a fear of temptation." (Bridges p. 90)
38 ¶ Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Fear is a characteristic to be desired by a Christian as long as it is in the right mind set. We are not to fear spiders or snakes but to have a godly fear of God. It is a honor to fear God for we know that our fear draws us closer to Him. Pr 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. The promises of God, salvation, forgiveness life, etc... give us the hope and strength to maintain our godly fear. Our fear of God is not like our fear of heights (personal confession time), but like the fear of a son toward his father. He is not scared of dad, just fearful of letting him down, or breaking the relationship. This fear, as it rests on God and his promises, moves us to know more about God, to study Him in the Bible, to seek to draw near to Him. Verse 39 is speaking of this type of fear.
39 ¶ Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. As hard as our parent's rules are for us as we grow up, we ultimately learn they were for our own good. As hard as God's Word is to live and understand, we know that it is ultimately for our own good. To that end, we fear reproach, God's disapproval, and so we seek to apply and live by His Word. If we are driven to study God's Holy Writ to learn more, to be able to debate better or even to share the gospel we miss the mark. We are to learn God's Word that we might know God better, that we might not see his reproach but may rest in His promises. The reason we have the Bible is not to promote religion but to know God. That knowledge and relationship should be the driving force behind our evangelism and worship.
The psalmist writes, 40 ¶ Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life! Life is found in Christ (John 10:10). The Bible teaches us where and how to find that life. Our prayer should be that the Word of God would be opened more and more that we may know Christ and all he is and that in His imputed righteousness we will find and live life.
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