Praying Pint

 

 

Psa 19:8-10  the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.  More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Jhn 15:11  These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

4. The Bible Will make me happy.

Some of us don’t even think about the Bible in categories of happiness. Wisdom, yes. Correction, yes. Promises of future happiness in heaven, yes. But meaningful happiness today? Really? Friendship makes us happy. Great food can make us happy. Recognition and praise for our work can make us happy. Sports can make us happy, if the right team wins. Marriage might make us happy. But the Bible? Really? To which God says, at the beginning of Psalm 19:8, “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.”

God wrote the Bible not merely to give you wisdom in your relationships, or to make you articulate in your theology, or even just to comfort you in your suffering. No, he also wrote the Bible to make you really, really happy. Jesus says of his words in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Jesus spoke at the Last Supper, and then in all of Scripture, that his joy might be in you, and that your joy may be full. God gave us a Bible so that we might be as happy as God, infinitely happy through this book — knowing him and loving him through this book. And of all the things that David says about Scripture in these verses here in Psalm 19, this is the piece that he can’t help but say a little bit more about. Consider Psalm 19:9–10: The rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

This is what the Bible is. It’s more desirable than gold. It just is, no matter how you feel about it in the moment. It is more to be desired than gold. It is sweeter than honey, even when our spiritual taste buds can’t taste it. The Bible is a happy-making book. And so, when Bible reading gets hard, or life gets busy, or you don’t taste what you used to taste in these pages, remember: This book revives the soul. This book gives supernatural wisdom for all of life. This book can be understood. And in understanding it, you’ll begin to understand everything else. And this book is the deepest, richest well for joy. (M Segal)

 

 

Psa 19:7  The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;

Psa 23:1-3   The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

3. The Bible Will address my pain.

When we look back on these seasons when we’ve struggled to read the Bible, a lot of us can probably point to some heartache or pain where the struggle started, where the Bible lost its taste. That’s not always the case. In fact, for some of us, that’s the very point when the Bible started tasting sweeter. But suffering can become a barrier to hearing God in Scripture. I wonder if you’ve experienced that. It’s a difficult relationship, a chronic pain, or an illness. Some looming uncertainty about your future can become this barrier to hearing God in his words.

You might think, “Will the chapters for today really say anything that will help me through this?” To which God says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Psalm 19:7). This is a reviving book, a restoring book. It’s a balm to weary and hurting hearts. David describes the same reviving power in Psalm 23:1–3. This God comes and finds us in our valleys — afflicted, confused, broken — and he leads us into safe pastures and peaceful waters. And his rod for leading us, his rod of peace and comfort and direction, is this book.

Notice that he doesn’t just treat our wounds or our particular suffering, but he revives the soul. He goes deeper than our wounds. He offers a deeper, more meaningful rest and healing than all the things that we might turn to in our suffering. (M Segal)

 

 

Psa 19:8  the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;

2Pe 3:16  as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

2Ti 2:7  Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

2. The Bible Will make sense.

Now, of course, just about anyone can understand some verses, like John 3:16, Romans 8:28, and Psalm 23. I don’t hear anyone saying that they can’t understand any of the Bible, but a lot of us struggle to understand a lot of the Bible. And when we commit to reading the whole Bible over and over year after year, we’re going to walk through strange and difficult passages: Ezekiel, Hebrews, Revelation, and so on. After a while, the exercise can start to feel kind of futile. We may think, “Am I ever going to understand more of this?” To which God says, “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:8).

Remember, even the apostle Peter had a hard time understanding some passages in the Bible, and he wrote whole books in the Bible. In 2 Peter 3:16, he says that there are some things in Paul’s letters that are hard to understand. To which Paul says, in 2 Timothy 2:7, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” The Lord will enlighten your eyes in everything. That’s what he says. It’s not immediate, of course, but he’ll give you real light now, and then, if you keep looking and looking and looking, that light will grow over months and years and decades.

So, rejoice in what you can see now. It’s a miracle. If you see any beauty, any truth, any worth in this book, it’s a miracle that God has given you. Rejoice in that, and then expect to see more and more and more because this book enlightens our eyes. It doesn’t just give us something to look at, but it actually alters our vision so that it improves the longer that we live in it. (M Segal)

 

 

Psa 19:7  The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;

2Ti 3:16-17  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

1. The Bible is Relevant.

The first lie is that the Bible is irrelevant to your real life. Now, right off the bat, we probably wouldn’t say this out loud to anyone. We know that the Bible is theoretically relevant to our situation in some way. But when it comes time to sit down and read it, doubt can begin to creep in, can’t it? The distance between the Bible and me can feel wide — between a book like Ruth and our relationships, between Deuteronomy and the deadlines that we have at school or work, between 1 Peter and the problems that we’re bringing into this new year. Will reading this really old book really make any difference in my job or classes or friendships or future marriage? To which God says in Psalm 19:7, “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”

This book makes people wise — genuinely, supernaturally wise. And it’s not just any people, but simple people. People like me. This book can make you wise. It really can. And it makes these simple people wise in every age, from ancient Israel to modern Louisville, Minneapolis, or Los Angeles. And it makes us wise in all kinds of circumstances: school semesters, dating relationships, first jobs, and world missions. God didn’t shoot this book out into the future and hope that it would land a couple thousand years later and be relevant to you. That’s not what happened with this book.

    No, still today, the book that’s in your hands is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for    correction, and for training in righteousness (your righteousness), so that the man or woman of God may be complete,   equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16–17). This book gives wisdom for every difficult situation and decision you will   face. And the testimony of this word is sure. (M Segal)

 

 

John 3:16    “For God so loved the world

 Romans 5:8    but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

 Titus 3:4    But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared

 1 John 4:9-10    In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 1 John 4:19   We love because he first loved us.

God desires that all men should become Christlike, for in so doing they present larger and more perfect objects for the reception of His outpoured love. Conformity to the nature of Christ on the part of a redeemed man restores the image of God in the soul and thus makes it possible for God to lavish on the soul without restraint all the boundless love of which He is the original fountain. It is hard for a sinful man to believe that God loves Him. His own accusing conscience tells him it could not be so. He knows that he is an enemy of God and alienated in his mind through wicked works, and he sees in himself a thousand moral discrepancies that unfit him for the just enjoyment of so pure a love. Yet the whole Bible proclaims the love of God for sinful men. We must believe in His love because He declares it and avail ourselves of the sanctifying grace of Christ in order to receive and enjoy that love to the full. (Tozer)

 

 

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.
Psalm 1:1

At the 1989 Grammy Awards, the song of the year, record of the year, and best male pop vocal performance awards went to a catchy a cappella song called “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” In spite of its many awards, the song was panned by a number of critics.

If only being happy was as simple as choosing to be happy! From a biblical perspective, the song misses a critical point: Happiness is a by-product of other choices in life. We don’t obtain happiness by seeking it. Rather, we find happiness by seeking God and conforming our lives to His plan, purposes, and will. As Psalm 1 says, we are blessed (happy) when we avoid the counsel of a world that rejects God. And we find happiness when we delight ourselves in His Word and meditate on it day and night (Psalm 1:1-2). (D. Jeremiah)

“Don’t worry” is good advice, to be followed by committing everything to God in prayer (Philippians 4:6).

Worry is an indication that we think God cannot look after us.

 

I am not sure who wrote this. I wish I would have written it down.

But this is the misery, the devil doth labour by all means as to keep out other things that are good, so to keep out of the heart, as much as in him lies, the thoughts of passing from this life into another world; for he knows, if he can but keep them from the serious thoughts of death, he shall the more easily keep them in their sins, and so from closing with Jesus Christ; as Job saith, ‘Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.’ Which makes them say to God, ‘Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways (Job 21:14). Because there is no fear of death and judgment to come, therefore they do put off God and his ways, and spend their days in their sins, and in a moment, that is, before they are aware, go down to the grave (Job 21:17). And thus it fared also with the man spoken of in Luke 12:20. The man, instead of thinking of death, he thought how he might make his barns bigger. But, in the midst of his business in the world, he lost his soul before he was aware, supposing that death had been many years off. But God said unto him, ‘Thou fool,’ thou troublest thyself about things of this life, thou puttest off the thoughts of departing this world, when this night thy soul shall be taken from thee; or, this night, they, that is, the devil, will fetch away thy soul from thee. And here it comes to pass, men’s not being exercised with the thoughts of departing this life, that they are, so unexpectedly to themselves and their neighbours, taken away from the pleasures and profits, yea, and all the enjoyments they busy themselves withal while they live in this world. And hence it is again, that you have some in your towns and cities that are so suddenly taken away

 

 

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.

–Psalm 34:3

The unique mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. What does the local church do to carry out this mission?

Acts 2 describes the activities of the early church: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. . . . Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (vv. 42, 46–47).

Notice that the early church was “praising God” (v. 47). One activity of the local church is to worship God. Psalm 34:3 says, “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.” The purpose of worshiping together is to magnify God. To magnify something means to make it look bigger. But is it possible to make God bigger? Remember, size is a matter of perspective. For example, if you look up at the sky holding a nickel in front of your eye, that tiny nickel can block out the entire sun. In the same way, if we focus on the problems we are bombarded with every day, those problems can block out our view of God. So there needs to be a time each week when we come together with other Christians to magnify God. When we lay aside the concerns that are blocking our view of God and turn our focus back to Him, He regains His proper place and proper size in our lives. That is the purpose of worship.

The local church also comes together for instruction. Acts 2:42 says the early Christians “devot[ed] themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” Today, we don’t have any apostles to teach us, but their teaching has been deposited in the Bible. And God has given every church a pastor to teach the Word of God. Ephesians 4:11 says, “He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers.” In Greek, “pastors and teachers” is one word: pastor-teachers. The pastor’s primary job is to teach the Word of God. Yes, we are to read and study God’s Word for ourselves, but that’s no substitute for sitting under the instruction of somebody who has been gifted by God to proclaim the truth of His Word. (D. Jeremiah)

 

Psalms 100:1-4  A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

 

Our Lord would have all his people rich in high and happy thoughts concerning his blessed person. Jesus is not content that his brethren should think meanly of him; it is his pleasure that his espoused ones should be delighted with his beauty. We are not to regard him as a bare necessary, like to bread and water, but as a luxurious delicacy, as a rare and ravishing delight. To this end he has revealed himself as the “pearl of great price” in its peerless beauty, as the “bundle of myrrh” in its refreshing fragrance, as the “rose of Sharon” in its lasting perfume, as the “lily” in its spotless purity.

As a help to high thoughts of Christ, remember the estimation that Christ is had in beyond the skies, where things are measured by the right standard. Think how God esteems the Only Begotten, his unspeakable gift to us. Consider what the angels think of him, as they count it their highest honour to veil their faces at his feet. Consider what the blood-washed think of him, as day without night they sing his well deserved praises. High thoughts of Christ will enable us to act consistently with our relations towards him. The more loftily we see Christ enthroned, and the more lowly we are when bowing before the foot of the throne, the more truly shall we be prepared to act our part towards him. Our Lord Jesus desires us to think well of him, that we may submit cheerfully to his authority. High thoughts of him increase our love. Love and esteem go together. Therefore, believer, think much of your Master’s excellencies. Study him in his primeval glory, before he took upon himself your nature! Think of the mighty love which drew him from his throne to die upon the cross! Admire him as he conquers all the powers of hell! See him risen, crowned, glorified! Bow before him as the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God, for only thus will your love to him be what it should. (Spurgeon)

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To intentionally choose to continually grow and mature our entire lifetime in our understanding and knowledge of God’s Word will just begin to scratch the surface of God’s grace, mercy, love, and the worthiness of Jesus Christ.  Thus, we do well to strive to honor and glorify Him in all of our thoughts, words, and actions more and more every waking moment of our lives.