By All Who Have Pleasure In Them

I so love it when the Holy Spirit reveals Scripture to me fresh and anew. I began reading the psalms for the day and started at Psalm 111 and something in verse 2 just struck me, so much so that after reading the psalm I began immediately writing about it. Read the psalm in its entirety and then I’ll share with you what struck me so:

    “Praise the LORD! I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. The works of the LORD are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear Him; He will ever be mindful of His covenant. He has declared to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of His hands are verity and justice; all His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.” (Psalm 111)

Now I invite you to open your Bibles to read it in the poetic format, but too often I find the verse numbers somewhat of a distraction. I learned in seminary how to cut and paste a Bible passage and then read it in its full context. That’s why I do so in these devotionals. Verse 2 in Psalm 111 says, “The works of the LORD are great, studied by all who pleasure in them.”

Read that again.

How does that speak to you?

Do you find, not believe, the Lord’s works great? Do you study them? If not, is it because you do not find pleasure in them?

Is it a chore, a goal, a duty, an obligation, a habit, a necessity to read Scripture? Is it a pleasure?

We need to learn to praise God and we can find no better reason than to read His word, His written record of how He deals with mankind.

Verse 7 says that the works of God’s hands is “verity and justice; all His precepts are sure.”

Verity is a truth that is found in a principle, a belief, or an idea. It is trustworthy.

Justice is evidence of God’s righteousness and the assurance the evil will be punished.

We can trust God’s commandments with confidence, never doubting His character.

Do you sometimes doubt God? It’s okay to admit it; I have. It’s because I sometimes forget who He is. But the Bible is a constant reminder of who our Heavenly Father is:

    “Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” (Deuteronomy 7:9)

That is a covenant from God and there are two types of covenants God makes with man: conditional and unconditional. This one is conditional. God is faithful to keep his covenant and mercy forever…if…we who love Him keep His commandments. We cannot learn the many commandments of God if we do not read the Bible.

Whenever I tell people that worry is a sin they look at me weird. So I ask them if Jesus says to not do something, is that a commandment. They say yes (you say yes right now). Okay, then I tell them to read the following:

    “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

Notice again the first five words from Jesus. He doesn’t say, “Therefore I recommend to you…therefore I encourage you…therefore let me persuade you…” No, Jesus said it and I need to obey it.

But there is a good reason for not worrying about my life and Jesus gives it two verses later:

    “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” (Matthew 6:27)

This is such practical advice!

Tell me, when you were fretting about a situation and after you got through it, no matter how it turned out (usually not as you imagined it), how many of you say, “Man, I am so glad that I freaked out about this situation. My losing sleep over this, my wringing my hands, my stressing beyond control was such a great way to deal with this situation!”?

That’s silly! Yes it is, Silly.

I love God’s Word because He proves me over and over and over again that He is the One I need to trust. It took me years to find pleasure in the Bible but it wasn’t the Bible that changed it was me. and it was the Bible that changed me. I always had a hard time with reading Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles but I knew I needed to. I asked God to help me with them and the Holy Spirit reminded me of my love for history and that I needed to approach the Old Testament as such and my oh my did it come to life after that.

When I studied how God dealt with Israel over the centuries I found pleasure in His great works.

We don’t need another version of the Bible; we need to eyes to see and a refreshed heart to desire His Word.

We need to approach the Bible as a way to get closer to God and to become a complete Christian.

Let A.W. Tozer challenge your Bible study habits as you find them at the reading of this devotional:

    “The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.”

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2010 David Jeffers

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