September 7, 2008

Daleth

More Psalm memorizing today. I had a blessed day of worship; listening to the sermon on Galatians 1:1-4 at church; studying Genesis chapter 3; eating with fellow believers; visiting my brother in Christ Herman Lee and looking at his artwork; eating with my Bible study group and teaching them of the amazing grace and love of God through Jesus Christ. Please pray for them, that they will all see the amazing hope that God gives by His promise through Christ. I really understand better, after being a teacher, that not many should presume to be teachers, we stumble in many ways with our tongue. I love teaching, just not my tongue that sometimes gives the wrong answer to some questions, so now I need to remind myself to correct it as soon as I can. There is so much joy in serving such precious people, and I love helping them understand God's Holy Word the Bible.

I read John 10 tonight for my devotion, and it struck me in a new light how that Jesus was telling the Jewish leaders that He was God by saying, "I am the door... I am the good Shepherd... I and the Father are one." They understood him when they said, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God." Even though Jesus claimed, "I am the Son of God," He was not denying His deity, but was affirming His divine relationship with His Father. He ended by saying, "If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." Then in the next chapter, He goes and raises a man from the dead!... Wow, bow down and worship this Lord.

Again, I'm only at the 32nd verse of Psalm 119:

Daleth
My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word!
Put false ways far from me
and graciously teach me your laws!
I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your rules before me.
I cling to your testimonies;
let me not be put to shame!
I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!

5 comments:

Moon said...

"My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word!"
This reminded me of the devotional I read today that talked about precisely psalm 119, it said the following:
"IN EACH verse of Ps. 119, the Psalmist mentions the Scriptures, with one exception, and the constant quotation of the Old Testament by our Lord and His Apostles yields abundant evidence of loving and reverent fellowship with the holy men of past ages, who wrote and spoke as moved by the Holy Spirit. It is specially remarkable that the Lord Jesus in His Temptation, in all His teaching, and in the agony of the Cross bore constant witness to the unique authority of the Word of God spoken through the Old Testament saints...."

"...The closing stanza of this great Psalm unfolds God's handiwork in the construction and direction of our moral nature. Between these golden clasps the Psalmist extols the Scriptures under ten striking similitudes, and that disposition must be indeed extraordinary that does not come within the scope of one of them. The soul that needs restoring; the simple who would become wise; the sad heart who would rejoice; the eyes that would be enlightened; the soul that longs for the gold of truth; the desire for sincerity and reality; the search for understanding and righteousness--all such needs and many more are met from a devout reading of Holy Scripture..."

"...Let us each one resolve to soak ourselves in the Scripture before turning to prayer, as water poured in to moisten the sucker will help to draw water up."

Please pray for them, that they will all see the amazing hope that God gives by His promise through Christ. Will do, and will pray for you as well, teachers have such a great responsibility!

Anonymous said...

Rita,
Thank you for this quote from your devotional. I am really glad you posted it, because I have been thinking a lot about what exactly Psalm 119 is talking about, and who the voice speaking is. I will write more about that soon. I did not know a lot of the things this quote mentioned, and I am glad to know now.

Thank you for praying! I was praying for people in your part of the world during the hurricane, especially that souls would cry out to the Lord. How is it down there? God bless.

Moon said...

Thanks for your prayers they are very much needed, even though the Lord pushed that storm from our path we have been getting so much rain its terrible, the streets are flooded making it nearly impossible for people to move around and thats just here in the city...outside the city over 43 thousand people have been evacuated, two bridges that connected the city to the southern parts of the island collapsed leaving at least 55 provinces isolated...imagine if that hurricane would've actually passed over the island...praise God that we only received some rain and wind and not the whole hurricane...please keep praying for us..
God bless you.

Stephanie said...

"Only at the 32nd verse"? I'd say that's pretty good for having started less than a week ago! :)

Praying for your study group. As a human, you're going to make mistakes or not always have the correct answer. It seems to me that God is really using you in that group though! God bless.

Anonymous said...

Rita,
I meet with about four other people from my work during our lunch break on mondays, and we pray together, so we will be praying for your island right now. Thanks for letting me know.

Stephanie,
Thanks so much for your prayers. I love to share with people what the Lord is doing through their prayers, the more praying the better. Thank you.
I am human, and that means I can give advice at times that is completely opposite of what God says in the Scriptures, and so I can't leave people with wrong advice. That is why I'm praying I will have the opportunity to correct myself for their sakes. God uses those mistakes to teach me, and make me sharper. Thank God for His discipline!