Secret Gardens and Open Highways

7-9 The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy.  The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes.   God's reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree. (Psalm 19:7-9)


There are times in our lives when we just don't feel like God is getting through to us or we are getting through to him.  Some of us may even feel that the attempts we make to draw closer through his Word are so unrewarding that we have grown weary in trying.  As we examine this passage from the Psalms this morning, I want you to catch what our Psalmist is saying:  The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes!


I often think that we make God's Word harder to understand than it really needs to be.  We buy the translation that another believer uses and expect that it will "translate" into our lives in the same measure that it has in another's.  When it seems to be just as unclear as ever, we are defeated by our "seeming" lack of understanding.  I have one recommendation here - go back to the Bible Book Store!  Sit for an hour or two - open every jacket of every translation and read a section of scripture in each one (the same section) until you find one that puts things like you understand them!  We have so many interesting translations and paraphrases published now - one has to connect with the way you process the words you take in!


I daresay that I have more Bibles than I use!  I have translations galore - each speaking to me in a different way and in different seasons of my life.  I switch them up in my study, but really have come to enjoy the everyday reading of The Message Bible.  Yep, I know it is a paraphrase, but it touches my heart with how plainly it is written - so God's words "get into" my spirit and can have a chance to affect my conduct.


God's intention for our times of personal study is to make the revelation of who he is, how he acts, and what he desires of us to be so apparent that there is no second-guessing on our part.  God does not want us to settle for less than a complete revelation of him - he wants us to press in fully to him and he will reveal himself fully within us.  David is extolling God in this Psalm - he is praising God, declaring his wonders, and enjoying his presence revealed in his life.  His heart is responding to the revelation of God in the most natural manner of exaltation that comes from a grace-filled heart.


Why is David so assured of his God?  Because he has come to know his God better and better each passing day.  He has a growing appreciation of God because he has learned God's promises, heeded God's warnings, embraced God's goodness, and watched God's interventions in his life.  In turn, he is assured that God makes accurate decisions down to the "nth" degree.  


This type of revelry in our God awaits anyone brave enough to get into God's Word.  I say "brave enough" because it takes commitment, stepping out into territory that is sometimes scary, a little revealing, and sometimes downright challenging to our character.  As we do, God meets us there and opens his "life map", showing us not only the highways of life, but the hidden paths of the secret gardens of his love.  Get into his Word today and let his Word get into you!  Enjoy the "gardens" that await only you!  

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