DAY 18.
As we open up our study today the thought comes to me 'when was the last time you told the Lord that His word is wonderful and that it was a privilege to receive it?
How often to you thank the Lord with a grateful heart that you can own and study the word in your own language without fear or favour?
It is an amazing fact that simple folk can gain knowledge and understanding from Gods word that leaves the intellectuals baffled and frustrated as they listen to the ministry gained at Gods footstool.
John Bunyan was a tinker by trade and thrown into prison because of his preaching but that did not cut him off from the Living God it gave him more time to commune with Him.
The Pilgrims Progress that he wrote in the years he was imprisoned is a brilliant classic read by millions of people with great delight, it was written from a grateful receptive heart in regular communion with God.
Education is a great thing especially when the Tutor is the Creator God, He speaks to us personally at out level of intake, He speaks to us in ways that we can apply to daily experience.
The longer I live the more grateful I am to Him for opening up the word to me and for speaking in ways that are simple and yet deeply profound.
Folk talk about the language of the bible with the 'thee' and 'Thou' given as examples, I cannot understand it, it does not occur to folk that Satan has blinded the eyes of Christians so that they cannot or do not want to study the word of God.
When we seek the Lord with all of our heart and mind we will find Him that is the promise of Gods word Deuteronomy 4 v 29 and Isaiah 55 v 6.
It is not the bible that is the problem but the half hearted heart that wants things without concentrating and consecrating themselves to receive it.
We look at v 130 to see this in scripture, the 'entrance' or doorway to truth is in Gods word, the scriptures in front of us open up the pathway that we should be walking along.
In Acts 17 v 3 Paul brings out of the scriptures the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ to people who were longing for Messiah to come to release them.
They had the scriptures and read them daily but did not understand them because they approached them with pre conceived ideas of what they meant.
The Apostle opened up the word of God in simple language revealing the person and work of the Lord Jesus fulfilling the prophetic word given to the Jews centuries before.
Paul opened up those precious scrolls with light and understanding leaving his hearers amazed through the simplicity of presentation.
Light dawned that day on dull minds that were full of human knowledge and understanding but many of them believed the word because it became alive to them as they listened.
In Luke 24 we find a similar experience on the days following the resurrection that when folk listened to the word it became alive to them because they wanted to know the truth from Gods word.
The 'simple' are those with little academic attainment, or with no achievement through human education, simple folk are not childish folk but people who seek after the Lord in repentance.
It was these folk that Master spent much time teaching them through parables and in picture language, speaking in a language they understood.
David did not mind aligning himself with such folk because spiritually speaking simplicity speaks much louder than a tirade of words hard to understand.
David wrote Psalms or spiritual songs in similar fashion touching the heart and minds of the hearer, in v 131 he looks at the parched animal sniffing for water after a desperate chase.
He likens his own experience to such an animal by pointing to himself hungering and thirsting for God in a desperate way and finding Him to bring solace to his heart and mind.
Have you ever felt this way for God, where you feel desperate to know His presence and no sacrifice is enough for you to give to find Him?
To seek the Lord and to receive the light that brightens up the darkness is a wonderful thing that still holds firm today, 'the entrance of Gods word giveth light'.
The Living God delights to bring light into our darkness, He longs to bring understanding on the issues that confound us and He is willing to do so to the seeking heart v 132.
We notice though that the light comes to those who will put it into practice v 133, 'order my steps' we are brought close to the Lord so that we can become the person that He wants us to become.
Here we look at the discipline that is involved in studying the word of God, it is not a casual glance or a quick reading of scripture but with concentrated effort and diligent study that the word becomes alive to us.
Gods gift of love is not to be spent on ourselves but on going out to share it with those around us who are struggling in the darkness.
In v 24 the word is 'our counsellor' here it is to put us in 'order' the outworking of what we receive is revealed in the transformed life that we demonstrate in the world.
We need to be not only aware of the traps but to be delivered from them v 134 else the taps become snares that hold us back from becoming the person that our Father wants us to be.
Gods love melts our heart and causes us to sorrow over the sin in us and the sin in the world v 136 and this should drive us closer to the Lord to sorrow for sinners.
To see sin from our Fathers point of view will horrify us and convict us about our current state, we will be drawn to Calvary and weep at our condition.
Then we will begin to look up and search out the teaching of the Lord and to present the promises of Gods word as a cheque to be cashed in His name.
