DAY 19.
Today we look up by faith to the Creator God whom we call 'Father' so often glibly without realising what we are saying, 'Father' points to the One who is Creator and controller of all.
He is provider and protector of His children born again of the Holy Spirit of God and through the sacrifice of His beloved Son but He is also the possessor of His children.
As possessor it gives Him the right to do with us what He desires and that is always for our benefit, holiness is a requirement not a request, it is a demand not only a desire, it is an obligation and not an option that Christians must live by.
Our God us holy and righteous v 137 and commands holy living because of His nature and being, the Lord Jesus makes us holy and the Holy Spirit enables us to live holy lives.
The word of God is holy and brings us into true conformity to righteous living that is why it is imperative for us to seek to live holy lives.
Not as monastic people tucked away but we are folk involved in the world living on the higher standard of living than the worldly one that we were used too before conversion.
We are aiming to become the person that our Righteous Father would have us become a holy and righteous people like Him.
Herein lies the battle that so many of us will not face, we are saved and right with God in the legal sense through the work of Christ but come the out working of salvation and the refining work of Christ and we back off.
We do not like to think about the areas of our life that we are holding on to with grim determination as if this is all there is to the Christian life.
The Holy Spirit is allowed to operate in us and through us as long as we are still in control, to be sanctified and live with Him in control becomes a battle ground.
There are whole areas of life that need sanctifying but we make excuses so that we continue defeated in thought, word and deed by the enemy of our souls and we could not care less about the outcome.
Look at v 139 'forgotten Thy word' the average Christian does not have any zeal for the word of God and resents the preacher who continually talks about 'the word of God being forsaken'.
David was very conscious of the 'religious' folk around him who go with their sacrifice to the Altar but when completed they returned home and back to their own ways.
David had great concern for them because whilst they had the word of God in their possession it remained on the scroll and not in their heart.
The Hebrews had great contempt for the word of God and that has been passed on to the church by people who are satisfied with the little they understand in their mind.
The fact that faith in the word of God to apply the word it to ones life, is a doctrine to argue over and not a living reality to experience.
The truth is the word of God should constrain us to live holy lives, to desire the changes and adjustments that are necessary to make us holy.
The promises of God lie hidden in the pages of scripture unless some catastrophe or disaster hits us and then in the mercy of God a verse of scripture comes out of the page for us to apply.
The thought of v 140 becomes real 'Thy word is pure' it is as gold and silver tried in the fire of adversity, the word of God stands firm over the centuries.
I has been burned and rejected by most, blasted by scholars, banished by dictators but it has come through unscathed and applicable today as it has ever been.
So we look at the folk who dare to stand firm on the word through adversity and the following verses open up the truth of the situation to us today.
The godly righteous person will be despised by the world, the flesh and the devil but they remain dedicated to the Lord as David did.
The book of Hebrews chapter 11 is called the Hall of Faith revealing the acts of faith demonstrated by the saints of the Old Testament who conquered through the word of God.
Men and women who stood firm against all manners of afflictions and trials that surrounded them, these were people who believed God and trusted in His word.
The truth is they were people who stood against the crowd who were willing to live on a lower standard of living rather than to walk up Gods holy hill to live on the higher holy standard.
Now how often do we wrestle with trials and troubles without seeking to draw the Lord into the situation, we do not draw on the promises of God contained in His word.
We soon grumble and cry out 'why me Lord' as if such things should not happen to us, but rarely crying 'what are you trying to say to me Lord' in this situation.
The poor me syndrome cries louder than the praises of God ringing out by a defended people rising in triumph over their enemy.
The second thought is that these folk faced the difficulties of life trusting in the Living God to see them through their difficulties as He spoke through His word.
They faced their difficulties but were defended by the Lord as they did so, the word was the preparation for battle and victory, they believed God.
There is a third thought that rises from the word here and that is the discouragement brought out by those refusing to receive the word is met by the delight of the saints being tried as they prove the word of God themselves.
Some of the saddest people on earth are seen leaving the church on Sunday, people with all the weight of their situations on their shoulders who are refusing to apply the word to their life.
They have come with the difficulties and they are leaving with them, they came to the Altar and then got up still carrying them leaving the promises of God behind them.
Instead of seeking to apply the word to their life they leave abandoning it until next time they enter the sanctuary for so called worship.
David faced these three issues and came through triumphantly because He believed and applied the word of God to his situations but will we be included in the Hall of Faith at the end of our life because we too trusted God word to be true?
