Do more than reflect

I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word. (Psalm 119:15-16)

There are some in society today who equate 'study' with 'debate'. The real meaning of 'study' in our passage is to apply - to make application of the truth one is reading and reciting. We may not realize it, but society's norms may not be God's norms. When we 'study' God's word in such a way as to apply it in our everyday living, we may find just how far society has drifted from God's commands. God asks us to examine, inspect, and investigate his word. We aren't just to read it, pick out the pieces we like, then discard the rest. Some call that 'cherry picking' the best from amongst the hardest. We aren't going to understand the entirety of God's word the first time we read it, so when we reject any portion that is too hard for us to understand completely, we are 'cherry picking'.

It is in the continual 'review' of his word that we come into a place of revelation. We begin to truly see and understand things the more we are exposed to them. Society might expose us to stuff over and over again that simply is not truth, but due to the frequency of exposure to that thing we accept it as truth. God's goal is that we get into his word and allow his word to sort our truth from 'half-truth' or 'untruth'. Study his word long enough and you might just recognize where some 'half-truth' you embraced just because someone told you it was true isn't truth at all.

Delight in his decrees - his instructions - his directives on how to live with each other. These decrees may seem a bit 'archaic' to some, but they were given to us as a 'standard'. A standard is merely a set of boundaries that we live within. When we understand the standard, we appreciate that things outside of that standard may actually bring harm into our lives. We don't fully understand 'why', but we trust that the one who defined the standard knows why. That is where faith comes into play in the study of his word - we trust he knows us well, knows how we think and operate. If we can trust him, then we should trust his word and seek to live as it defines we should live. Just sayin!

Done in by what is brought in

We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:18-21)

Sometimes we hear or read the same passage time and time again, thinking we already know what it says. The times we 'discount' what God has to say to us in any passage of scripture are times we miss out on God showing us afresh what he has to say, or somehow revealing something we might not have discerned when we were exposed to that same scripture earlier. Either way, we miss out. God's 'ask' of us is that we 'pay close attention' to the Word of God - each and every time we read it, hear it, or recount it from memory. Why? It is powerful - it gives us light, pushing back darkness in every aspect of our lives.

No prophecy in scripture is of 'man's own understanding'. In other words, those words we find in scripture aren't there by accident, or because someone thought they'd make a delightful story for our reading pleasure. They are there 'on purpose' - because God wanted them there for our learning, protection, and encouragement. Do we have confidence in the Word of God - that it is inspired by God, recorded by human hand, but divine in its integrity? If we don't, we ought to! God's Word isn't trivial - it contains promises to bolster our faith, instructions to protect us from devastating sinful acts, and wisdom we didn't even know we'd need.

If you read the Word of God on a regular basis, you may not be aware of how much the 'light of God's Word' is pushing back the 'darkness of Satan's lies' in your life, but it is. There is no more powerful weapon than the Word of God. It does more than just 'stay' the attack - it dispels it and has Satan on the run! Light pushes darkness away - it repels darkness. You cannot bring light into a dark cave and have darkness remain. Wherever the light goes, darkness dissipates - it is 'done in' by the light you 'brought in'. So, bring in a little light today and see just how much the darkness is 'done in' by what you 'bring in'. Just suggestin!

No silver platter

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him... And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3-8)

Some of us expect everything on a silver platter. Others of us expect to work for everything we get in life. Somewhere in the middle are the rest of us, doing a little to get what we need, while hoping we might get a bit more without having to work too hard to get it. Which of us is doing life correctly? Just turn to scripture to find the answer. We are given EVERYTHING we need for living a godly life - receive all of this by coming to know him. All we are asked to do is to make every effort to respond to God's promises, but how can we do this if we don't ever get to know his promises?

We are given the faith to believe, then God asks us to supplement it by living according to his high moral standards - the standards he provides for us in his Word and by having observed those standards lived out in Christ's life. We learn of him and then from him. As we incorporate more and more of what he teaches us through his Word, we find our faith growing - not because we make it so, but because his Word helps us set down solidly growing roots. The rest we find in be solidly planted allows us to endure every challenge life throws our way. In time, we begin to observe fruit - fruit we did not produce but which came as a result of responding to God each and every time he speaks to us.

Most of us desire to live productive and useful lives, so we 'do' or 'try' certain things that we equate with productivity. God's view of productivity is responsiveness to him! We respond to his request to change certain attitudes and preconceived ideas of how we should make choices in life, and we soon find our 'moral compass' begins to change direction toward moral excellence. In time, we add a bit more knowledge as we spend time with him, leading to just a bit more self-control when we are faced with familiar choices that weren't the best for us and make new ones. Little by little, we see our faith growing and our 'spiritual endurance' increasing - what gave us so much difficulty in the past seems like a piece of cake now. 

There is no magic in achieving moral excellence, but there is always God's grace and his tender prodding that drives us on. Just sayin!

Bad habits are hard to break, so...

And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

Benjamin Franklin said, "It is easier to prevent bad habits than it is to break them." Maybe this is why God encouraged his people to commit themselves to getting into God's Word every day. Recalling his Word on occasion is okay, but 'rehearsing' it until it gets inside of you and begins to affect what you are doing is much closer to what he commanded!

Bad habits form a whole lot easier than good ones - at least, that is what I have observed in my own life. The good ones seem to be more difficult because of how I view them - as hard, requiring a 'whole lot of change'. If we didn't form them in the first place, the struggle wouldn't be there! The more we commit to making God's Word a 'normal part' of our daily life, the more we will 'crave' time in it. 

At first, the study of his Word may be a little onerous. If you get yourself a good translation, one that makes it easier for you to read and comprehend, then you might not find it so hard to 'get into'. Once you begin, you won't want to stop, but the enemy of your soul will do everything he can to stop you. Why? He knows that God's Word gives us power - truth bringing all of his lies into the light. 

There is something powerful in repeating God's Word - in rehearsing it time and time again. I sometimes think I go to the same passages a lot, kind of like they are my 'favorite' places to explore in his Word. There is nothing wrong with that process, though. God's Word resonates with us in different ways at different times - depending on the circumstances we are facing at that moment. All of his Word is powerful, but there are times when we will find he draws us back to something we already studied, knowing that we need whatever light that rehearsal will bring into the present darkness we face. Just sayin!

Habitual or Ritual

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. (Ephesians 6:10-11)

I'd like to think I am more than a weekend warrior - just attending church and then forgetting about the pursuit of God's best for my life the rest of the week. Sadly, there are far too many Christians who are weekend warriors. They attend church regularly, but their lives are kind of devoid of much in the way of 'substance' when it comes to study of the Word of God, time in prayer, or even looking after the needs of others as scripture reminds us of is so important. The Apostle Paul puts it very well - this is no weekend war - it is a life-long, active, full-engaged investment of ourselves into the pursuit of all things godly.

Before anyone goes off on me and tells me I am being a little too 'churchy' or 'preachy', let me just say this type of pursuit doesn't look at all 'religious'. In fact, when we pursue God with our full heart and mind, the 'religious' stuff isn't all that evident. What is evident is a shift in our focus - our attitude changes and we begin to manifest different choices. Not in a 'preachy' or 'better-than-thou' kind of way, but through loving actions, gentle words, and benevolent giving of ourselves. We don't have to carry our Bible around with us, reading it at every break we have in our day. We can 'carry his Word' around with us, though - in our hearts and minds - repeatedly meditating upon what we have read earlier in the day until it sinks in, brings change where needed, and directs our steps. 

If someone were to tell you that going without water, food, and rest for your body would eventually lead to your death, would you continue down that path? Not likely! You'd belly up to the table, begin eating regularly, and adjust your water intake to bring life back to your body as quickly as possible. So, why is it we have such a hard time 'bellying up to the table' when it comes to a regular 'diet' of God's Word, or taking time to think upon it for the value it could add to our lives? It is quite plain to see there is a force at work that wants to keep us from the pursuit. It isn't just our own 'laziness' that keeps us away from those regular and consistent times, it is the distractions of this life that Satan intends to use to waylay us!

The primary thing we need is determination to engage in the pursuit of the things God asks of us - taking in his Word, meditating upon it, worshipping him, and reaching out to a hurting world. It begins with sitting down, taking in, then allowing it to begin to 'digest' within us. As it does, we soon begin to discover our priorities change little by little, until one day, the 'pursuit' is no longer difficult - it is habitual. Just sayin!