DAY 4.
All the promises of Gods word are at our disposal and David is an example to us because he fits our shoes so easily as we read the word of God.
In this stanza\today we listen to David going through terrific pressure and the sense of loneliness comes through.
He is in a situation where he does not know where to turn but his faith is anchored in God and so he looks to the Lord to lead and direct him.
For many a Christian sadly the last thing we do is to look up to the Lord when in fact it should be the first place that we come to.
We run around talking to those near to us about our lot and at times they seem to be helpful but when we are near collapse we turn to the Lord.
So the first promise that we can look at today is the one David desired in v 25 'Lord quicken me' and what a promise this is to know experimentally.
The presence of the Lord 'quickening' the beleaguered soul, many an Old Testament character will testify to claiming this promise and all of them in the New Testament who came into the knowledge of salvation.
To 'quicken' can mean to restore to full health either physically or spiritually after a period of being aloof from the Living God, a time of self domination and not being Godly directed.
A time when we take our Father for granted with no real dedication to Him and treating Him as if he was a convenience to be used when needed.
The word 'quicken' can also mean to live in a new closer relationship, where the thought is of our coming into the light in increasing measure and the longing for renewal as a result.
The idea of being brought into a deeper commitment to the Lord as a result of recognising His gracious dealings with us in these past days..
Now there is a third meaning to 'quicken' and that is the one used here by David where He longs for a closer relationship with the Lord, to be refreshed, brought out of apathy and lethargy to walk in reality with the Lord.
We can look back to times when the Lord and His word was real and our faith was bright but things change and we grow cold towards spiritual things.
What is needed is for us to be quickened by the Holy Spirit and brought back so as to walk on the light of the path of righteousness.
The word of God becomes alive to us and in us as well suddenly we find that we long to spend time alone with the Lord and long to see the 'wondrous works again in our life.
It is very easy to become spiritually dry and lethargic, spiritually sluggish and we wander around as if God has let us down or increasingly the thoughts of Him not loving us.
The flesh life is the hindrance, we are easily led to go to the world for pleasures that have no eternal value and the pursuit of these makes us spiritually apathetic having no concern for spiritual things.
The heart is stirred by the Lord and the cry goes out 'Lord quicken me' and almost instantly we find ourselves delighting ourselves in spiritual matters that draw us closer to God.
In v 26 we return to the central feature of this long Psalm that of being taught by the Lord
it is a theme that runs through the Psalms and makes a good study on its own.
Here the thought of being taught by the Lord invokes a promise that the Lord will give light and understanding on His word to the diligent soul
The scripture reveal in Ezekiel 47 the picture of the river of life and three positions are seen first ankle deep water v 3, then knee deep v 4 and thirdly swimming deep v 5 and the depth is opened up to us.
Far to many come to the water of life the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy the salvation that He gives to them but do not get really involved in the promises of God they become satisfied with paddling in the water.
Then there are those who enjoy the relationship opened up to them and they desire a deeper commitment to the Lord and these are found walking into the deeper water.
They enjoy the spiritual food provided through Gods servants and enjoy doing the rounds of the convention ministry but they never quite come to studying on a deeper level themselves.
The third group is the one that the Lord Jesus intends us all to become part of those who plunge out into the water of life to swim freely in the faith to prove the wondrous works of the Lord for themselves.
That is the great benefit of the third group the are living in close communion with the Lord looking forward to the next visit to the Throne of Grace to see what wondrous things the Lord will reveal to them.
They are not only ransomed, not only restored but they are quickened by the Holy Spirit to come into the fullness of the waters of life.
There is a wonderful thought in Ezekiel 47 vs.1 – 8 and that is of 'restoration' another word for being 'quickened' because the waters provide healing v 9 for the depressed soul.
It does not take long for us to recognise which of the three groups we belong to, when we take the Lord at His word we soon want to experience the quickening that releases us to become members of swimmers group.
To become a member of the swimming group we need to come into 'understanding' v 27
the word means not only to observe but to obey the word that is revealed to us.
Now we should let go the petty ideas that we have about the scriptures and launch out boldly before the Lord and expect Him to make the word clear to us so that we will obey it.
Changes have to be made and confession of hidden sin to be made but these lead us out of the shallow spiritual living into the deeper waters of faith.
Our faith is going to be tested so as to prove that is genuine and real and so the storms of life come and we find that our faith is anchored on a solid foundation and we do not get blown around as in former days.
Now we need the Holy Spirit to teach us so that we can trust the written word of God ans apply it to our life bringing us into much deeper water than we could ever imagined.
The thought of v 28 frightens us at first but as we begin to apply the word we soon realise that we are no where near the person that we thought we were.
The hidden sin that no one knew about is brought to the fore by the Holy Spirit and through the wondrous work of Christ Jesus we are cleansed and made whole.
Released from the guilt as well as the power of sin we can begin to rejoice in God our Saviour on a much deeper level than we knew before.
Now we should say that moving from one level to the next in the water of life scriptures bring us to recognise that we all need teaching and being brought into fresh understanding.
We should be enjoying our walk with the Lord but the deeper we go the greater the trials to prove that we are genuine in the faith.
The greater the trials the sharper our faith will become and our heavenly Father will only allow or permit what He knows we can take.
The frailty of human nature is that we like to dictate what trials we go through and when they should stop but the Spirit of the Lord will strengthen us to get through the most cruel of situations.
The early Church was made up of martyrs and the Church today has many martyrs in it because the standard has not changed and those swimming in the waters of life do not yield to the old fleshly nature.
We do need to come to terms with this area of thinking as those in the scriptures did and their witness was acknowledged by the Lord as being acceptable to Him.
The thought in v 29 is not removing the trials but of removing the sin that lies within us and none more so than through the 'lying tongue'.
The 'lying tongue' v 29 and in v 163 is literally the untruths that come from our mouth in regular conversation: the fraudulent words that are only vanity when expressed.
The conversation about others can be littered with lies and deception as we vent our thoughts about them in an unsavoury light.
It also brings out the thought of so called spiritual conversations when wee make statement about light received from God that has not come directly to us from our Father, often times coming third hand to us.
We end on a bright note and one of rejoicing because our conversation is centred on the Lord and we delight to share with others what the Lord has given to us.
Calvary love is manifested in v 47 we are the recipients of Gods love just as David did and as there is no greater love than this we should be releasing this love where ever we go.
That love should be shown in our actions at large but in the light of the context here we should be showing Gods Calvary love through our conversations, how much the world needs to see this love manifested through us.
