Archive for December 2007
Psalm 119 Waw
Posted on Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 10:38 AM by David Zavadil
Originally posted on Tuesday, April 11, 2006
41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise;
42 then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.
44 I will keep your law continually, forever and ever,
45 and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.
46 I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame,
47 for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.
48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.
I have to apologize to those of you who have been following this study. I have been substitute teaching, while seeking a call and have had little time to sit down and write. I had hoped to maybe make use of my palm, but have not yet found the software that would allow me to write a post and add it to my site. At any rate, let me do this today, let me begin on this section and rather than trying to cover the whole passage, I will work on part and finish in the next couple of days. Fair enough? I pray so.
41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise;
Love. I think that if there is one thing every human wants to experience it is love. Not necessarily erotic love, but the fullness of love that overwhelms the life of the recipient. The Psalmist prays for that type of love. Charles Bridges writes, " A prayer of deep anxiety-large deisre-simple faith!" That it is!
The word translated love in the ESV is rendered mercies in the KJV and "unfailing love" in the NIV. The Hebrew word is chesed and carries a meaning that emcompasses the fullness of God's mercy and love. To experience the chesed of God is to experience the fullness of the character of God and is seen in His loving mercy to us. It is bound in and with his salvation, promised to us beginning in Genesis 3:15 and repeated throughout Scripture. In fact, the true mercies of God can not be seen apart from the salvation of God. To think of God's mercy, His full love, without contemplating His salvation is impossible. Bridges put it this way, "Therefore general notions of mercy without a distinct apprehension of salvation have their origin in presumption, not in warrented faith." Lord, let your mercies come upon us!
This mercy/salvation relationship raises a question. Why are we in such a need of the fullness of love displayed in God's saving mercy? ( Ok, I know none of us really talk like this, but it sounds nicer than,"Why do I need that stuff?") We first need to be saved from the wrath and punishment of a Holy God. The sinful acts of our first parents, Adam and Eve, left us all condemned as sinners. At birth we are already marked with a death sentence. The merciful salvation of God, frees us from this death sentence.
Not only are we condemned from birth, we are also under bondage to sin. Sin wars against us all of our lives, but through the saving mercy of our God, it has no victory. However, it is not a foe to be taken lightly. William Bridge, not the same man I quoted earlier, said, "If the guilt of sin is so great that nothing can satisfy it but the blood of Jesus; and the filth of sin is so great that nothing can fetch out the stain thereof but the blood of Jesus, how great, how heinous, how sinful must the evil of sin be." Apart from the mercy of God found in the salvation brought us through Jesus Christ, we could never overcome the bondage of sin. In the merciful salvation of Jesus Christ, we are made righteous through the effective work of Christ, not anything we have done or will do.
We also need to be saved from ourselves. I don't know about you, but I do know myself. If I am in charge, I will make a mess of things. I will begin by taking the easy path and then seek the one that will make me feel the best, and give me the most in return. Left to myself, I not only won't but can not seek the way of God. The mercies/love of God found in His salvation frees me from this bondage to self. I am no longer bound to mess things up but freed to live in grace and mercy, resting in the righteousness of Christ.
Every day we should begin as the Psalmist begins this passage. 41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; Make this your prayer each day as you awake. We will next examine how this is carried out in our lives.
This completes my previous posts. I will begin next week with a new study from Psalm 119. I pray that this study will be edifying to all who read it.
Edited on: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 1:55 PMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Ministry (RSS), Psalm 119 (RSS)
Knowing too Little about Sin
Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 10:42 AM by David Zavadil
As I have continued in reading the classic The Mortification of Sin by John Owen, I was struck by a thought he brought out on page 76 of the version I am reading. Owens writes:
It is to be feared that very many have little knowledge of the main enemy that they carry about with them in their bosoms. This makes them ready to justify themselves and to be impatient of reproof or admonition, not knowing that they are in any danger (2 Chron. 16:10).
How many of us really think about our sin? I am not speaking about dwelling on how we can commit our sins or wallowing in guilt over our sins. I am speaking about looking at our sins as if a general seeking to win a war. We spend too little time going beyond the outward observances of our sins and fail to get to the heart of the matter. What is the root cause of my sin? What moves me in that direction? What things set of those thoughts? We see the symptoms but we fail to diagnose the real problem. As Owen points out, this failure to bring true diagnosis leads to a failure to properly deal with or sin. Instead of mortifying our sinfulness, we justify it, we deny that it is a problem.
To properly deal with any problem, you must learn everything you can about the issue. The same holds true for our dealing with sin. We do not need to learn how to sin, but how the sin takes hold so that we can properly put it away, mortify that sin. How much do you know about those lusts that plague you? How do you begin to fight the sin that torments you? Comment and help us all learn to mortify our sin.
Edited on: Thursday, December 20, 2007 10:45 AMPosted in Commentary (RSS), Fear of God (RSS), Ministry (RSS)
My Son's Percussion Performance
Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 10:50 AM by David Zavadil
Edited on: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 10:52 AMPosted in Family happenings (RSS), Just For Fun (RSS)
The Hallelujah Chorus as you Have Never Seen it Before
Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 10:43 AM by David Zavadil
Posted in Just For Fun (RSS)
Me? Weights?Exercise? Who are You kidding?
Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 at 11:27 AM by David Zavadil
It is hard to believe, that skinny guy is on a diet. Actually, I WAS skinny/fat so not only am I on a diet but doing weight training and resistance workouts. Yes, I have joined the ranks of The Jollyblogger and am watching carbs. One of our Elders and I are working through the TNT workout . I am lo carb, and working out. It has not been easy, my last workout was in 9th grade (graduated 26 years ago, you do the math), but I am loving the results. I had gained about 50 pounds since college. I have lost ten in fat thus far, replaced some in muscle weight and have lost about two inches around the waist in my first five weeks of the plan. I have become a TNT Activist and a lo carb officianado. I feel healthier, have more energy, am sleeping sounder and am starting to look, fit. My new goal... abs by summer time.
Edited on: Monday, December 17, 2007 11:49 AMPosted in Family happenings (RSS)
What Mortification is Not
Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 3:17 PM by David Zavadil
“Suppose a man to be a true believer, and yet finds in himself a powerful indwelling sin, leading him captive to the law of it, consuming his heart with trouble, perplexing his thoughts, weakening his soul as to duties of communion with God, disquieting him as to peace, and perhaps defiling his conscience, and exposing him to hardening through the deceitfulness of sin, what shall he do? What course shall he take and insist on for the mortification of this sin, lust, distemper, or corruption, to such a degree as that, though it be not utterly destroyed, yet, in his contest with it, he may be enabled to keep up power, strength, and peace in communion with God?”
In this week's reading of The Mortification of Sin, Owens discusses what mortifying sin is not. While brief, it is a section worth reading. I found myself convicted of my own attitudes toward sin as I read this chapter. Listen to some of Owen's words:
"A man may be sensible of a lust, set himself against the eruptions of it, take care that it shall not break forth as it has done, but in the meantime suffer the same corrupted habit to ventitself some other way; as he who heals and skins a running sore thinks himselfcured, but in the meantime his flesh festers by the corruption of the same humor,4and breaks out in another place...He that changes pride for worldliness, sensuality for Pharisaism, vanity in himself to the contempt of others, let him not think that he has mortified the sin that he seems to have left. He has changed his master, but is a servant still."
How often do you, like me, find yourself patting yourself on your back for overcoming a sin only to find that you are suffering from another form or manifestation of sin? Have you wondered why you just can't seem to eradicate some sinful behavior? Owen reminds us that we will never be fully free from sin this side of heaven. In fact, our constant mortification serves to draw us closer to Christ. If we completely eliminate sin, succeed in putting it all to death, would we need Christ?
"This we would have; but God sees it best for us that we should be complete in nothing in ourselves, that in all things we must be “complete in Christ,” which is best for us (Col. 2:10)."Edited on: Thursday, December 13, 2007 3:24 PM
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Commentary (RSS)
Psalm 119 He
Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 11:05 AM by David Zavadil
Originally 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.
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Commentary (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
Psalm 199 Daleth
Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007 at 11:30 AM by David Zavadil
Originally posted on Wednesday, February 08, 2006 at 1:48 PM by David Zavadil
25 ¶ <DALETH> 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 you sin, how do you feel? Does it drive you crazy until you confess and repent or do you just move on, as everyone sins? The Psalmist provides a picture of how he deals with sin in his life, what it does to him internally and how he reacts. 25.My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word! The sin in his live is such that it knocks him to the ground. The picture he paints for us is of a man prostrated before God, confessing and even then not feeling he is low enough. If you have seen the movie "Luther," you may remember a scene where Luther is praying in his chamber and is laid out on the floor with his arms spread wide confessing his sinfulness to God. This is the picture the psalmist creates here. Bridges writes, "To have a soul cleaving to the dust, and not feel the trouble, is the black mark of the sinner, dead in sins - dead to God." The power of sin in our lives should continually remind us that we came from dust, created by God, but over taken by sin. Apart from our clinging to our creation and crying out to God for help, we can not overcome our sin. No matter how hard we try, how hard we pray or study, if God does not cleanse us, we will not find forgiveness. What a blessing we have in his promise, 1 John 1: 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We may, in our hearts, be led to cling to the dust over our sinfulness, but we can rest in the sure confidence that God will forgive, and this is according to His word!
26 ¶ When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes! We find a simple picture of the believers walk with Christ. As we lay our hearts before the Throne of Grace, God works in us. To often we question, "Why do I need to confess my sins, God already knows?" That is true, God does know our sin. A better question, and the one addressed here, is, do we know our sin? I can tell you, the reason I fail to confess and repent of sin is not that God already knows, but that I am not convicted of it or know it. The psalmist finds and reveals to us the way to dialog with God, open ourselves up. Confess and talk to him. When we confess our sinfulness it let us know and God know that we realize what we have done. When we confess, he answers with forgiveness. It is only as we come before God in His righteousness that we can then begin to understand His Word. Forgiveness leads to illumination. As we confess our sin and come to the cross, the Scriptures are opened up for us, leading us closer to the throne.
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. How often do you, like me, open the Scripture up and read only to find yourself saying, "What did I just read?" The sin we just spoke about can often lead to a lack of understanding. Blinded by our sinfulness, we find ourselves blinded to all of the things of God. As our hearts come under the caring hand of the Holy Spirit, we are taught. Joh 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. What the Church needs most today are not smarter teachers and preachers, but men of God who go to God daily to find clarity to the teaching of Scripture A knowledge of Greek and Hebrew doesn't make my preaching deeper, it doesn't allow me to expound any deeper, it is only as my knowledge, via my walk with God, grows, that I begin to find a new deepness in my preaching and teaching. I am to seek God's guidance through the Holy Spirit to understand and interpret the Scriptures and then I am to meditate upon them. Dwell on these teachings until they become and integral part of my life. The wondrous works spoke of here are not necessarily miracles of God's mighty hand, but the wonders we find in Scripture. In your next quiet time, instead of just reading, ask God to show you His wonders in the passage you are reading. Write them down and meditate on them. How do they apply to your life? How do these wonders make God even more real in your life?
28 ¶ My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! This verse brings to us a contrast of hearts. As our heart is is set on self and sin, we experience sorrow. I don't know about you, but in my life, when I focus on self, I am almost always led toward sorrow. Why? Because the sinner that I am, I always want what I want. Sorrow enters because I rarely get what I want. Sin only begets more sin, it never brings fulfillment. So where do we go for fulfillment? Where do we go for strength The psalmist points us back to the Word of God. He cries out, strengthen me according to your word! In the last verse I challenged you to look for God's wonders in the Scripture. In this verse I want to challenge you to seek those passages that provide strength to the weak of heart. Passages like, Ex 33:14 And he said, ‘‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’’Mt 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Our strength is found in God and the promises of God found in Scripture bring us assurance and hope.
29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! Do you find yourself struggling with the same things over and over again? Are you like the addict that just needs one more hit and then they will quit? Our struggle with sin is often like that, it is addicting and difficult for us to over come. It is this power that the psalmist calls us to overcome by calling out to the only one who can help. For some of us, we will always have a weakness say for chocolate. It is not enough to say we won't eat any more, sometimes we need someone just to remove ever last crumb of it from our lives. We need God to remove those false ways from us. Sin over powers us, often keeping us from fighting back. We need to seek God and ask that He show his mercy to us by removing the temptations far from us. Ask God to remove those things that tend to tempt and then fill your mind with His Word. As we meditate on Scripture, we find we have less time to think of those things that taunt us daily.
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! These next three verses highlight the paths set before us. One path is laden with lies and deception, the other with truth. As Paul writes, 1Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. We will all be tempted. We will all face a decision, walk the way of God or follow our temptations. Here we see the writer, dealing with the fine line between God's active work in our lives and our responsibility. He makes clear that we have a responsibility in this thing we call sanctification. We are to choose, cling and run.
First we are to chose the way of faithfulness. He is not talking about our salvation but our sanctification or holiness. Jesus said, Lu 9:23 And he said to all, ‘‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Every morning as we arise, we have a choice to carry the cross or to leave it by the bed. To follow Christ and grow in our relationship or to watch our relationship stagnate on the vine. My friends, you will never draw nearer to Christ if you never choose to read the Word, let alone set His rules (Word) as your guide for life. You can not have it both ways. I believe in Christ, but I want to live my own way. No, you must chose the way of faithfulness and then set about to live according to God's Word. This concept teaches me that I must make the Word of God and integral part of my life, not just light reading for late in the evening.
Second, we must cling to that Word of God. The world bombards us with all sorts of messages. Even within the Church universal, we are being told that the Bible is a nice story but is not authoritative. The efforts to downplay the power of the Scripture is evident in everything from the evening news to the local school system. Yet, look where we are today. We have seen more advances by intelligentsia in the last hundred years than in all of history and still we have poverty, our kids struggle with drug and alcohol addictions, sexual addictions and people in general are no more happier than they were even fifty years ago. The Word of God promises fulfillment and satisfaction. It teaches they are found in the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. What a shame it would be if on that day we stand before God, He asks, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" and our only answer is, "uh, cause I didn't drink, I didn't swear, I didn't chew and I did not date any girls that do." The Word of God provides the teachings that will keep us from being shamed. As they point us to Christ, we find our confidence in Him.
Finally, we are to run in the way of His commandments. Paul writes of our walk being a race. 2Ti 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. The life of a Christian isn't a one and done proposition. We don't simply pray and all is over, we must daily hit the track we call life and live as though we are His chosen people. Again the psalmist reminds us of where we will find the strength to run this race, we are to find it in Christ. As we run according to the Word, our hearts will be enlarged, we will be enabled to see and receive more and more of what Christ offers. We do not receive all of our understanding of Christ and our relationship upon conversion, as we grow, as we walk, more and more comes clear. We need to run our race in such a way as to draw nearer to the prize, "for which we have been called heavenward." We need to run to Christ, that we may run with Him.
Edited on: Thursday, December 13, 2007 11:07 AMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Commentary (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
Psalm 119 Gimel
Posted on Saturday, December 08, 2007 at 11:17 AM by David Zavadil
Originally posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 at 11:18 AM by David Zavadil
17 ¶ <GIMEL> 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 counselors.
The author of this psalm changes pace on us. In Gimel, we find a change to a prayer. The psalmist request of God and as we will see in Daleth, his confession.
Verse 17 begins with the phrase, Deal bountifully with your servant. When you think of the word bountifully what comes to mind? Abundance, greatness or goodness? In 21st century American Christianity bountiful blessing is always to be desired, but then so is a bountiful plate, family, household, job, etc... We struggle with wanting the most of everything. The psalmist however is not seeking bountiful blessing of material things but the bounty found in God's dealings with His people. He desires the most God has, God himself. His eye is first on God but then also on himself. Note, your servant. God provides the bounty, we are to be the stewards of that same bounty.
The phrase your servant calls to question our mindset or attitudes concerning our relationship with God. How do we view ourselves in light of God and His Word? Do we see ourselves as deserving of God's attention and bounty or as servants, serving a Holy God and being blessed by God's bounty. It causes me to ask as the Westminster Divines, "What is man's chief end?" I then must cry out in prayer, "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever!" Only as we grasp this concept and apply it to our lives will we be able to fully live and keep God's word.
18 ¶ Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. The prayer turn to God's illumination of His Holy Writ in our lives. There is a doctrine within the Church called Perspicuity. This doctrine states that the Scripture as written is clear enough for us to understand what is needed about God. Within the text of the Scripture the gospel is clear enough that some deep theological interpretation known only to a few is not needed. The psalmist here prays that God will open his eyes even more.
18 ¶ Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Consider the thought of God's wondrous works. As you read the Scripture, do you see God's "wondrous things?" Our prayer, like that of the psalmist, should be that our eyes would be open to see God's "wondrous things" throughout the Scriptures. A challenge I gave to the members of Grace Presbyterian Church was to read through the Book of Numbers and list all of the "wondrous things" you find in that book. Try it, you will be surprised how many wonders you find.
19 ¶ I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! We are all sojourners, pilgrims in this life on earth. Our citizenship is not on earth but in heaven. Php 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We travel this earth, for God's glory, until we are called once again to come home. As we travel we are not alone, we have the body of Christ, the Church, joining us in this journey. Our brothers and sisters feel our pains, struggle with us as we pray and rejoice with us. Yet, too often we live as though we are alone and can do it ourselves. It makes me wonder, why did the psalmist pray that God would not hide the Word from him? I see him finding in the Word, friend, counselor, teacher and guiding light. Through our journey on earth, the Word of God is the one place we can always turn for a true answer, for guidance, for direction. As sojourners we need to have our eyes opened to see "wondrous things" as God leads us to pursue the call of the heavenly prize.
In verse 20 we continue the theme of a traveler. 20 ¶ My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. The picture that comes to mind is one we have seen in all of the old movies and cartoons involving the desert. In those movies there always seemed to be some man, crawling around crying, "Water! Water!" He was consumed with one thing, his longing for water. In our journey hear on earth we are to be consumed with longing also, not for water or material things, but for the Word of God. We should be consumed with a desire to know what God desires of us, to know what He wants to teach us, to know how we are to live. Is your life consumed with longing for God and his Word? What are those things that consume you? I am a fan of the music of Rich Mullins. In his song, "My One Thing," he sings,
Save me from those things that might distract me
Please take them away and purify my heart
I don't want to lose the eternal for the things that are passing
'Cause what will I have when the world is gone?
The life we call Christian is not a problem because God is too difficult to understand, no our problems stem from our distractions. We are not consumed with a longing for God and His Word, we are consumed by the distractions, the TV, the radio, our cars, our jobs even, at times, our families. The psalmist calls us to radical living, open our eyes, seek the cross, and be consumed with the things of God.
21 ¶ You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments. Sin will be with us throughout this journey on earth. It is the common trait among all human beings. God does and will deal with each of us as we struggle. The sins of sinners, the pagans, the heathen, we can understand. The sin and wanderings of the saints are often more difficult to understand. The psalmist reminds us that God will take care of the sinful. He will bring the rebuke. This statement is in contrast to our eyes being opened and our longing for God consuming us. If we continue in faithfulness upon the path of righteousness, we will not be rebuked. If we stray, even the slightest, we will find God's rebuke. Not our of anger but love. 2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
22 ¶ Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies. Our prayers of repentance and forgiveness will bring cleansing. Here the psalmist prays for a removal of the reproach or scorn and a removal of the contempt or anger. How often have you found yourself struggling with some secret sin and live a bitter angry existence Friends, pray that God will open His Word to you and that you will find freedom from the angry bitter existence Search out the Scripture and see God's blessings and desire to make you pure. Pray for His purify power to be active in your life.
23 ¶ Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. This verse seems odd in light of the earlier discussion. Yet it serves to address our attitude as we take our journey. We are to plant our minds and hearts upon the Word of God. Rather than dwelling on what other people are doing or thinking about you, focus yourself on God and His teachings.
24 ¶ Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors. He closes this passage with a reminder of what brings him the most gratification, the Scripture. Where do you go when facing trials? What or who is your source of counsel when problems arise? Take joy, delight in God's Writ for in it you will find guidance and direction for the weary traveler. Come to Jesus, and find your rest. Delight in his teachings and statutes as they carry you through the day. Meditate on His wondrous works and consider all of his promises to a sin filled world. God's Word is truly amazing.
Edited on: Saturday, December 08, 2007 11:22 AMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
Mortification and Belief
Posted on Thursday, December 06, 2007 at 1:33 PM by David Zavadil
"Mortification is the soul’s vigorous opposition to self, wherein sincerity is most evident." - John Owen
When we contemplate our position in Christ, why do we most often focus on what we are not instead of what we truly are? Every ounce of my natural man can't stand the thought of puting away sin, of mortifying the old man. I rationalize my sinful attitudes and behaviors by arguing, "At least I am not... or I don't act like ..." I focus on what I am not, failing most often to see who I really am, a blatant sinner. I joyfully confim Romans 3: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and then use the same passage as an argument for why I should not or do not mortify my sin. The thought of mortification is so, pardon the play, mortifying that I yield to the flesh more often than not.
I have been telling the congregation of Eastminster PCA that too many of us are professing Christ but living another way. We talk the talk, but fail to live the walk. What would happen if we truly lived as we profess? We would flee sin, the hatred of sin would be so strong we would be driven to our knees in prayers of confession. My major failure with repect to mortifing sin all revolves around my belief. I give assent to the Scriptures on sin, Christ's forgiveness and my redemption in Christ. My unbelief then leads me to ry to work my way into His good grace or to fail to trust and have faith that God's work will be effective in my life. As I mortify my sinfulness, my faith is challenged, and my faith in Christ is enriched. As I see who I really am, I cannot but run to the Cross. We have all believed the deception that we are not that bad, and no one could be that good. Do I, do you really believe that?
Heb 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
The Great High Priest, knows all that we go through, struggle with, dwell on and harbor deep within. He pours out his grace upon His children, calling us to run to Him. When I mortify my sin, I am stripping myself of an encumbrance keeping me for Jesus. Each sin put aside is a burden lifted giving us more strength for the journey. I wonder what would happen in Churches if we really believed and practiced the mortification of sin. What other areas of our faith would be challenged and increased? If we put our sin to death, would we really believe that we can do all things through Christ who strenthens us? (Phil 4:13)
Posted in Commentary (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
Psalm 119 Beth
Posted on Thursday, December 06, 2007 at 7:26 AM by David Zavadil
Originally posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 at 12:57 PM by David Zavadil
9 ¶ <BETH> How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 ¶ With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 ¶ I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 ¶ Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! 13 ¶ With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
The psalmist begins this passage with a question. How can a young man keep his way pure? The question raises a question. Why is he picking on young men? Anyone who is a male, has married a male, born a male or has a father can probably answer the question. Young men tend to demonstrate, better than others, the influence of sin. Remember your school days? Who were the ones most often in trouble? The young men! When you purchase auto insurance, who's is most expensive? The young men! When we look at our prison population, who make up most of that population? The young men! sin is the problem we always deal with, young men provide us with the clearest picture of this struggle. Thus we are asked, How can a young man keep his way pure?
The psalmist quickly answers the question, By guarding it according to your word. What does this tell us? First, environment and upbringing won't protect us from falling into sin. Money won't protect us from sin. It is only as we look to God's Word and find His directions for avoiding sin that we can keep from it. Note it is not the Word that saves, but the one it points too. Reflect on these passages for a moment I Cor 10:13; I Cor 6:18; I Timothy 6:11; II Timothy 2:22 . The Scripture gives us guidance as to how to avoid sin and keep our way pure. This brings up a thought for parents. Rather than dwelling on choosing the right friends and environments, focus on teaching your child the Word of God. As the Word begins to dwell with in them, as they begin to use it to find answers, they will choose the right friends and environments.
In verse 10 we find the author combining two elements of Christian piety. 10 ¶ With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! In this brief verse we find both a reference to the Word of God but also a reference to prayer. The author desires to know and seek God and cries out to Him. He has realized and teaches us that prayer and the Word together can keep us from wandering. It is hard to look at something else when your sight, mind and ears are focused on God.
11 ¶ I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Returning back to the question he asked in verse 9, the psalmist speaks about dealing with sin. How do we store up the word in our hearts? Reading and study is good and necessary, but what if you don't have the book with you? We can store the word by memorization and meditation. For most of us the meditation is easy to understand, it is the meditation that is more difficult to comprehend. A simple picture to remember is that of a cow chewing its cud. It takes a mouthful of grass, chews it, swallows, brings it back up, chews it some more and then repeats the process. Meditation of Scripture is just the process of chewing on and bringing back to memory the Word of God. Memorize the passages I gave earlier, in the paragraph on verse 9, then each day for the next week, bring them back to memory and think on them. Ask God to show you something new through them. Meditate on them. As the Word becomes a daily part of our thought process we find we move away from sin.
As we begin to grow in the Word of God and experience victory over our sinfulness, we are naturally led to praise God. 12 ¶ Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! God is to be praised for He is the only one who can keep us from sin, the only one who can give us the strength not to sin, thus he deserves our praise.
What happens when we seek God with our whole heart, dwell on his word and praise him? We want to talk about Him. 13 ¶ With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. Remember your first love? All you wanted to do was talk about them. Your friends probably got sick of hearing, "she did this" and "she did that..." When we fall in love with God, as the psalmist has pictured for us, we want to talk about them. As we share, we take our faith from the intellectual element to a verbal. It becomes something we can give away.
Verse 14 returns the the relationship. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. What do you delight in? What is it that makes you excited? The psalmist challenges us to consider God's Word our delight. What do you do when you delight in something? You want to be with it, hold it, know it as much and as often as you can. If you delight in something or someone, you never want them to leave your side. Oh, how I am challenged. Do I really delight in God's Word? Can I live without it in my life? If i had the choice between Bill Gate's billions and the Word of God what would I choose? For the psalmist the answer was easy. How about for you?
15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. Because the Word is a delight, valuable beyond all riches, we are to meditate on it. We are to focus our eyes upon God and his Word. Why is it that the psalmist keeps returning to meditation instead of studying? What is the difference between the two? When we study the Word of God we make focus on a single theme, but we tend to get the big picture of that theme. When we meditate on the Word, we chew down through the theme, become singularly focused. What does this verse, word, thought teach? How does it apply? We become focused on learning His ways. Study should lead us to meditation as we take what we learn in our study and ruminate on it throughout the day.
As our understanding and meditation of the Word grows, we will find ourselves delighting in the Word. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Our delight will lead to a hunger that will only be filled by the Word. It will constantly be on our minds, keeping us from forgetting it and pointing out to us day in and day out how God expects us to live. This intimate love letter from God is his directive on how to live for Him. As we make it a part of our lives, we live more and more for Him. What can you do today to ensure that the Word of God becomes your delight?
Posted in Bible Study (RSS)