Psalm 119

Rhyme and Reason

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

When I was a little boy, my mother would often put her hands on her hips, sigh and say, “I just can’t make rhyme or reason out of this.” “This,” could mean, either her knitting project gone awry, my latest escapade of falling in the pond while catching frogs or the sorry state of my room. I remembered Mom’s saying recently when I stumbled upon this quote from Spurgeon.

“Articulate speech, which is denied to birds and beasts, is given to us for this major reason – that we may articulately and distinctly, praise and magnify the name of the Most High,” Charles Spurgeon

Now, Spurgeon was talking about our spoken words, but his thoughts also apply to our writing. If you write regularly, you probably could list a multitude of things that begin your inner avalanche of thoughts which landslide into a composition. I was challenged by Spurgeon’s thoughts about both the goal and form of our words. As writers, we often read tips on the “how’s” of writing. How to write dialogue, how to choose better adjectives, how to hook the reader at the beginning, and on and on. If we aren’t careful, we will soon become like a guide, who has learned how to survive in the wilderness, but has no idea of where he is going. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, and I find it interesting how its writer pulls back the curtain on his motives for writing using the phrase, “I delight.” more than any other. Here are just four of them:

“I delight myself in your statutes…” Verse 16

“Your testimonies are my delight…” Verse 24

“And I will delight myself in Your commandments…” Verse 47

“…for Your law is my delight.” Verse 77

Just as Spurgeon challenged us to use words to magnify and praise God, the Psalmist shows us that he begins by delighting in the words that God has to say. Just as it was for the Psalmist, God’s statutes, testimonies, commandments, and law wait for us every day in the pages of the Bible. Unless I begin my day delighting in God’s words, then my own may be witty, or insightful, but they will only leave people dying of thirst in the wilderness. But when I have found my reason to write burst forth from delighting in God, then God delights in showing me the rhyme and reason of words that will lead others on the pathway to Him!

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Light for Our Path

/ pastorpete51 / 14 Comments 
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105 KJV

For those of you who do not know, our daughter-in-law Melinda has been battling with ovarian cancer over the last two and a half years. Melinda recently finished her third round of chemotherapy, but after experiencing severe back pain she was admitted to the hospital over a week ago. After many tests, the doctors discovered that, the chemo had weakened the bone structure of her back leading to a fracture. Then this Tuesday, they did surgery to stabilize it, and also took a biopsy while they were in there. Yesterday the report came back positive for cancer, and we would appreciate everyone’s prayers for Melinda. Sometimes during these last two weeks it has felt like we were, wandering in a dark cave, with no assurance of finding a way out. But during my quiet time this morning, I came across today’s verse, and it occurred to me, that the writer of this Psalm may have also been facing a dark situation and like us, was looking for a light for his path. Imagine the joy they discovered when they found that what they needed was right in front of them, in the Word of God. During the dark and lonely times in our lives it is easy to be attracted to things like sporting events, parties, or social media in an effort to distract ourselves. But the Word of God is the true light and always available. Any other light is at best only temporary, like a flashlight whose battery is nearly spent, it soon flickers and goes out. None of us knows how long the darkness we are facing will last, but we can depend on one thing. The word of God is a light for our path, and no matter how long our night, it will shine on and on!

God knows that we can’t generate that light within ourselves, instead He wants us to run to His word, where we can find there an inexhaustible, immeasurable power source. In the darkest places of our lives, His word will shine, and not only for our own path, but also for the pathways of those around us whose flashlights are already going dead.

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Prayer: Father, help me not to look to the temporary lights of this world, but to completely rely on Your Word, because it is a light that no darkness will ever be able to put out!