DAY 14.
'I love the law but also the promises that it contains, the word of God is practical in all situations of life and those who have proved it experimentally will stand testimony to the truth.
Far to many Christians are bogged down in the law and legalism that they are not open to receive the promises that God has given to them.
Here is a situation where as we saw in the last study the enemy has tied us in knots so that we cannot produce the fruit that we should be through applying the promises of God.
If we look at the amount of time we spend meditating on the word of God to see how much we love Him, how much time do you spend with Him?
This is an easy question that will receive a simple answer but it is highly likely it will be an embarrassing one for most of us.
David delighted himself in the Lord and spent hours daily in His conscious presence that brought not only the promises out but the blessings as well.
His delight was to be alone with the Lord and the older he got the wiser he got as he recognised the need to be alone with God as against the hustle and bustle of life.
We have already mentioned it but it is well worth pondering over that the devil makes sure we are kept active and busy so that we do not have the time to be alone with our Father.
The worn out Christians litter the churches on Sunday and many use Sunday as fun-day because they have more need time to relax and enjoy recreation than for the Lord.
There is no need to explain your situation or indeed to justify your state 'where your heart is there is your treasure' Matthew 6 v 21.
If we do not put the Lord first then we are in trouble to start with, it is our commitment to the Lord that should governs our life and not the physical activities.
We note here that David reveals to us that wisdom that id gained in the quiet time alone with the Lord affects your life in every part.
He has become wiser than most people because he receives wisdom from the Creator that is beyond the knowledge of mere human nature.
Meditating on Gods word will bring out divine wisdom as we seek to apply it, there is deeper knowledge in the scriptures than mere glance reading reveals.
The problems of life as revealed in the Proverbs are solved by applying the pearls of wisdom from the Bible to our life.
'Wiser' points not to head knowledge here but to the practical out working of the word that brings solutions to the problems that we face.
Not just to moral affairs but to secular problems as well, physical issues as well as spiritual situations because the study of the word brings us into a deeper relationship with the Living God.
If I set my target to attain the highest possible standard of living then I need the higher wisdom from God to reveal the standard to me and to empower me to achieve it.
Getting such wisdom comes from habitually seeking to receive it from the Lord as Proverbs 9 vs.9 – 10, this is where we get spiritual insight into situations from.
Many are the Old Testament characters who enjoyed being endowed with Gods wisdom, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel all spring to mind as receiving divine wisdom to help them in their dilemmas.
The spent time with the Lord until they found out the answers to the situations that faced them and they learned the truth that God is never in a hurry.
He delights to spend time with us, He created us for such a lovely relationship but sin has marred it and the rushing round saints need to take heed of the word to slow down and find the reality of true wisdom in God.
When I look at the New Testament characters like Peter and James it was a revolution of love that slowed them down to listen to the Master speaking to them.
John, Luke and Paul all enjoyed diviner wisdom because they learned to come aside to commune with the Lord, the prison cell became their Sanctuary as they worshipped and meditated on the Lord.
None of them had an easy passage as they sojourned on earth they knew the rigours and hardships of life but they also knew wisdom that came from above as a result.
All of these characters were able to testify to Kings, princes and the public that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father, they received wisdom that was beyond the knowledge of the best of men.
There is no reason why anyone of us should not acquire the divine wisdom that is needed to see us through life in the same magnitude, then how much do you love the Lord?
We can get wisdom that is beyond our spiritual teachers by seeking to get spiritual wisdom first hand from the Lord v 99 the teachers in the church need to be taught consistently as do the pupils.
It is easy to drop into a rut and think that we know all there is too know from the scriptures
when in truth we only know what we retain in our head having little experience of the reality of it in life.
The soul trusting the Lord to fulfil His word in them has the enormous advantage over the human understanding of things when the rials, troubles and tribulations hit the Church.
They know the way ahead is to trust and lean hard on the Lord and not to shy away from the circumstances that they find themselves in.
One is so conscious of the church living on the lower spiritual level of living that spiritual understanding is seen in the new things that the church devises to keep going.
True biblical understanding has been tempered by folk in leadership who accept their own understanding of scripture in the light of the circle of similar minded people they meet with.
We find only a few folk who really wake up in the morning with the thought of the privilege
of meeting with the Lord as soon as possible.
To gain 'understanding' as David refers to means to gain spiritual wisdom that is only gained by having regular communion with the Lord.
'Understanding' in v 99 is to act prudently, to be able to balance things out in the mind from Gods view point as well as our own.
It means to weigh things up and to come to the right or correct understanding of the issues involved, to come to the right judgement for the benefit of all concerned.
'Understanding in v 100 means to distinguish between right and wrong, to discern the truth of the matter and not giving up until the Lord has made known the truth to them.
The thought behind the word is the God given insight that enables us to live in harmony with our Father and with each other.
This understanding does not approach issues with a bias but because of the living relationship with the Lord we can face the issues in the confidence that He will make it clear and plain to us intelligently.
There is depth of meaning in this word that can only be known by those keeping close to the Lord not just as protector but as the teacher instructor on all the issues of life.
To gain such understanding David points out that he has 'refrained' from following certain actions that would have led him to make false judgements v 101.
To 'refrain' literally means to 'keep shut or closed' or to with hold ones self from going along a particular pathway that leads to thinking or doing evil.
We start by refusing to think in a way that puts distance between us and our Father, we refrain from following any course of action that breaks relations with our Father.
We continue following His word that refreshes us and brings us to the right conclusion for those issues that confront us daily.
We should be constantly looking for ways that draw close to the Lord and not for ways to distance ourselves from Him.
It only takes a small piece of grit to damage the eye, a very small crack spoils the lens of a telescope and distorts the picture and it only needs human thinking on issues to destroy spiritual harmony and unity.
The thought that comes in v 103 is only appreciated by those whose aim and goal in life is to become the person that our Father wants them to become.
The humanly harsh treatment in spiritual correction is soon forgotten when the benefits flow from the promises that are believed, received and acted upon.
