2nd Evangelical Free Church

Why should we study God’s Word?

 

Psalm 119:33-48

The Psalmist asks the Lord to be led in the right direction. He wants to be righteous in all his actions and thoughts. He does not want to follow the ways of the world or to be caught up with its seductive allure and its deadly lust for material prosperity. The allure is so strong that it is quite easy for us to compromise with evil and fall into sin because the media bombards us with temptations and lies. This is why we need God’s word, to help us discern right from wrong, good from evil, love from lust. If we fail to daily look into God’s word then we will always succumb to the influence of the world.

The Psalmist also wants to know God’s wisdom so that he can know how to answer his detractors and rebuke those who attack him with harsh criticism for his dependence on God and His word. Often we do not know what to say to people when we are asked about our beliefs or when we criticize others for their immorality. We cannot adequately explain why we believe what we do and live according to the word of God. We cannot even put into words why people ought to follow Jesus rather than any other religions and religious ideas. That is why we, like this Psalmist must cherish God’s word and study it on a daily basis.

Meditate & Apply: Do you spend more time reading the newspapers than reading God’s word? Are you happy about that?

How can you find comfort in God’s word?

 

Psalm 119:17-32

The Psalmist goes on to ask God to enlighten him in His law and His word for it is his delight, his joy, his greatest longing. He needs God’s wisdom so that he may know how to live on the earth. He needs God’s wisdom so that he can stand against the powerful and the wicked. He prays for the removal of contempt and scorn from his own heart so that he may truly reflect the truth of God and not operate in the flesh. Those who claim to be the servants of the Lord must avoid the ways of the world and should always be humble for humility is the expression of true wisdom.

The Psalmist then expresses his love for the word of God from the standpoint of a lament. He is feeling depressed and anxious, filled with sorrow and knows that he can go to the Lord to receive encouragement and strength from His word. Many of us can sympathize with the Psalmist’s feelings for we too know all too well the feelings of sorrow and depression that come when we endure the trials of life while we see the wicked getting away with their evil without suffering. Yet the fact is all human beings are subject to pain and corruption. While we go to God’s word for our solace, the world seeks in vain for answer sand truth that will make sense of their suffering.

Meditate & Apply: What do the people in the world look to in order find comfort and hope? Do you ever feel they are right? Why?

Why is it wise to obey God’s word?

 

Psalm 119:1-16

Psalm 119, the longest of the Psalms, has no named author. Whoever he may have been he seeks to mediate on the word of God which to Him is a source of strength and wisdom as well as courage and hope in the midst of travail. The word of God is our fountain of life for it helps us to grow in obedience and holiness. The Psalmist has composed his thoughts into an acrostic, that is, each stanza begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet and each of the 8 verses that follow begin with the same letter. The intent of this is to convey a sense of completeness. God’s wisdom is complete. His words to us are perfect and we cannot add to or subtract from them without disrupting His perfection.

Therefore, the Psalm calls on the reader to obey God as the means to achieving satisfaction in life. In the opening stanza, the Psalmist rejoices that those who wholeheartedly obey Him receive blessings. The second stanza advises that purity is to be pursued because this is what the Word of God commands. Therefore if a person desires to live a life that is good, holy, healthy and pleasing to God, he or she must seek His wisdom in His word. This certainly goes against the way of the world which does not like to obey God. The world instead seek blessings and rewards in things that are temporal and usually sinful. This is quite unwise for it will get them nowhere.

Meditate & Apply: Why do you read the scriptures?

It never is wrong to recall that God is faithful to those He loves.

 

Psalm 118

This Psalm is a prayer that was sung or spoken during a solemn procession to the temple to offer praise and sacrifice to the Lord. The opening verses extol the Lord for His lovingkindness. The Psalmist finds this an appropriate response to the Lord’s deliverance. He trusts in God and finds that He is always there, always faithful to His promises. He finds this a great comfort in the face of enemies and those who oppose him. After all, he is always safe in the arms of the Lord, whereas those who do not know him are forced to rely on human wisdom, strength, armies and military weaponry none of which are totally reliable.

The psalmist blesses God for victory. He compares himself to the stone that the builders, his enemies, had rejected or discounted as a loser. Any victory or success is due to the Lord’s favor and strength. We recognize that the Lord Jesus applied this verse to Himself. He was rejected by the very people He came to save and was dead. The day that the Lord has made is the day of His resurrection from the grave. This proves that He was not a loser, but that He was victorious. He then has been exalted to the right hand of majesty on high, the ultimate sovereign ruler over all that is for ever. This means too that the day that the Lord has made is now, the day of salvation. Such is the basis for our present joy.

Meditate & Apply: Think about the resurrection that awaits you. What about it gives you cause to rejoice?

What does it mean to praise the Lord?

 

Psalm 117

We may tend to gloss over this the shortest of Psalms without understanding its true importance. This is because the opening phrase “Praise the Lord” has been misused and over used. This phrase is not an expression of praise to be sung or recited over and over as if it were a Christian mantra. Instead it is a command issued by an anonymous Psalmist to the nations, the Gentiles, urging them to acknowledge Yahweh as the One Sovereign Almighty God and to respect and honor Him by boasting of His wonderful deeds and by committing their whole hearts and lives to Him. There is great benefit in doing this because He is loving, kind, merciful and compassionate to all who come to Him. And He is absolutely trustworthy.

As we are well aware, those in the world, those outside the Kingdom of God do not want to give praise to God. Human beings would rather seek glory and praise for themselves, for their deeds and accomplishments. Celebrities, politicians, athletes, scholars, CEOs, models, all seek their own glory, but so do the vast majority of human beings. Everyone wants his or her proverbial 15 minutes of fame and will do many odd, strange and dangerous things to get it. But all this is vanity and waste. In the Kingdom of God none of these things matter. In the Kingdom of God the glory and praise belong to God alone. Any glory we receive, any success we achieve is all because of His strength and grace and we should acknowledge it as such. In His glory are blessings and joy for eternity.

Meditate & Apply: Instead of receiving praise for our deeds, we should be seeking to give God the glory for what He does in and through us? How can you do this?

How can we approach death with hope?

 

Psalm 116

An anonymous Psalmist gives thanks to God for delivering him from imminent death and lengthening his life. He promised to praise God in the temple for these blessings and to continue praying to Him as long as he lived. He had been very close to death as it reached out and snared him like hunter’s prey to drag him off. Perhaps this was due to his own inexperience or imprudence as he mentions that the Lord protects the simple hearted. Many is the time that we get into trouble because we act impulsively without thinking things through and that is when we get into trouble which often can threaten our lives or seem to.

In any case, when the psalmist cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord was quick to answer. This is helpful and encouraging for us to hear for it shows us that God can protect us from harm and helps those who place their trust in Him. He promises to help us even when we are in the grasp of death. The Lord can deliver us from the brink of it or else deliver us through it. No believer ever dies alone as we are precious or dear to the Lord. We can hope that even in those last seconds of life, the Lord will be there to usher us through into the gates of life to be with Him forever. This is indeed reason to give thanks and praise to Him.

Meditate & Apply: How does the world approach death?

Yahweh vs idols: No contest!

 

Psalm 115

This Psalm draws a sharp distinction between trusting in the Lord and trusting in idols. The pagans ridicule the people of God because the Lord is not a God who we can see though we can see and touch idols. They may look nice especially those made of costly metal and encrusted with gems. Yet they are immobile, cannot move or act. And those who trust in them become the same way: deaf, mute, blind to the truth the Lord proclaims and totally impotent when it comes to their ability to run their lives.

Yet the God Lord reigns from heaven and is sovereign over all the earth, and all that exists. All that occurs on earth is under His control. For that reason the psalmist called on the Israelites to trust in the true God rather than idols. It may seems ridiculous to urge any sane person to do this, but as we know there are millions of people who trust in idols and false gods because these are gods of their own making, gods who reflect their own lust for power, sexual immorality, riches, and self-righteousness. The Lord God is real. He is alive. He alone is worthy of worship because he alone is able to provide help and protection to those who trust Him in their time of need.

Meditate & Apply: How will we be blessed and rewarded if we trust in the Lord rather than worldly things?

It never is wrong to recall that God is faithful to those He loves.

 

Psalm 118

This Psalm is a prayer that was sung or spoken during a solemn procession to the temple to offer praise and sacrifice to the Lord. The opening verses extol the Lord for His lovingkindness. The Psalmist finds this an appropriate response to the Lord’s deliverance. He trusts in God and finds that He is always there, always faithful to His promises. He finds this a great comfort in the face of enemies and those who oppose him. After all, he is always safe in the arms of the Lord, whereas those who do not know him are forced to rely on human wisdom, strength, armies and military weaponry none of which are totally reliable.

The psalmist blesses God for victory. He compares himself to the stone that the builders, his enemies, had rejected or discounted as a loser. Any victory or success is due to the Lord’s favor and strength. We recognize that the Lord Jesus applied this verse to Himself. He was rejected by the very people He came to save and was dead. The day that the Lord has made is the day of His resurrection from the grave. This proves that He was not a loser, but that He was victorious. He then has been exalted to the right hand of majesty on high, the ultimate sovereign ruler over all that is for ever. This means too that the day that the Lord has made is now, the day of salvation. Such is the basis for our present joy.

Meditate & Apply: Think about the resurrection that awaits you. What about it gives you cause to rejoice?

Praising God for His care and love.

Psalm 113-114

 

At Passover it was customary to sing these 2 Psalms before the Seder meal. Psalm 113 calls on God's people to praise Him because though He maintains an exalted position, He has humbled Himself in order lift up the lowly and downtrodden. Psalm 114 follows a similar theme though this is described in the specific event of the Exodus when the Lord delivered Israel from the slavery of Egypt. In both cases the Psalmist calls on God’s people to praise Him for He is Almighty and holy yet intimately concerned for the well-being and salvation of those He loves. Since all of the creation of the natural world exalts His awesome power it is only right that His people, in fact all human beings should do the same.

These Psalms tell us of God’s great love for us. Though in this world we may have tribulation and suffering while the wicked and ungodly prosper, we know that God often reverses that situation and at times exalts exploited and downtrodden believers to positions of material wealth and influence. He expects them to use their new position to give Him glory, not to pamper themselves. But even if the Lord does not provide such material blessing, He lifts all those who trust in Him. He does this by guaranteeing that He will be with them in their trials to give them the strength and grace to endure. He also does this by taking away the fear of death through the ultimate assurance of salvation and life everlasting. The ungodly rich and powerful cannot say this.

Meditate & Apply: Does it bother you that the wicked seem to get away with their ungodly behavior? How do these Psalms help you to overcome that feeling?

How does the Psalmist teach us to praise God?

Psalm 111-112

 

These Psalms are acrostics. Each line in the Hebrew text begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The Psalmists who wrote them did this so that people could memorize and recite them easily in public worship. They both praise the Lord by describing His great works. He has provided for the needs of all creation. He has helped His people time and again. Especially worthy of praise are the facts that the Lord is utterly true to His word and so has rovided redemption for them, a means of taking away their sins so they may dwell with Him forever. Therefore we have nothing to worry or fret about. The Lord has taken care of it all.

These psalms should remind us that when we worship, we too ought to praise the Lord for the great things He has done in the created world as well as the blessings He has given us as individuals and corporately as the Body of Christ. As we mediate on His greatness we will be humbled. We will begin to fear Him in the sense that we will obey whatever He commands as we realize that, although He is concerned with our cares, desires and needs, these are minor compared with what He wants us to do and what He wants to give us. As we allow His desires to overshadow our own we will find that we will gain the godly wisdom He wants to give us to carry out His work. .

Meditate & Apply: How do we achieve a balance in worship that reflects our desire to do as the Lord wills yet also asks for personal help?