The Plumbline

Because you have satisfied me,  God , I promise  to do everything you say.  (Psalm 119:57 The Message) L ord , you are mine!  I promise to obey your words! (Psalm 119:57 The New Living Translation)   You are my portion, O Lord; I have promised to keep Your words. (Psalm 119:57 The Amplified Bible) Okay, so it is honest answer time this morning!  How many times have we made the promise to be obedient in some area of our daily Christian walk and then before the day was over, we somehow forgot about the promise?  If you are like me, probably too many to count!  We often promise God that we won't follow some path of wrong choices - then almost instantaneously turn back to doing what we committed NOT to do.   God knows perfectly well that our promises to be obedient will be spotted with occasional failures.  I think that is why he says, " 4-5  When you tell God you'll do something, do it—now.  God takes no pleasure in foolish gab...

    54  Your decrees have been the theme of my songs  wherever I have lived.   55  I reflect at night on who you are, O L ord ; therefore, I obey your instructions.   56  This is how I spend my life: obeying your commandments. (Psalm 119:54-56 The New Living Bible) 54  Your laws are the songs I sing  wherever I am living.  55  LORD, in the night I remembered your name,  and I obeyed your teachings.  56  This happened because I carefully obey your instructions. (Psalm 119:54-56 Easy-to-Read Version) I gave us a couple of versions of this passage to read this morning so that we can put together some thoughts.  In examining this passage, several "themes" became apparent: - David has made following God's decrees (his Word) his way of "doing business".  He has a lot of choices (as do we) in dealing with the stress of life. His choice was to turn to God.  Wherever he was "living" - there ...

The insolent ridicule me without mercy,  but I don't budge from your revelation.     I watch for your ancient landmark words,  and know I'm on the right track.   But when I see the wicked ignore your directions,  I'm beside myself with anger.  (Psalm 119:51-53 The Message) I imagine all of us have stood at one time or another just wondering how some people could ignore that God is right there in their circumstances - but they are just too stubborn or blind to see it.  They know they should heed the warnings they have received, but they plunge full-force into whatever seems to be what will give them the "immediate" thrill of the moment.  Then they complain when things don't work out!  David said this made him angry - they had the revelation of God (they knew what to do) BUT they ignored it.   When I thought about what David is saying here, my thoughts turned to the New Testament.  Jesus is teaching a large cro...