God has richly blessed this endeavor and we have an incredible group of 218 people participating in some way with this challenge! When I created the Facebook group - I never dreamt it would grow to 218 people. In the group I am sharing devotionals centered around my quiet time. Yesterday's text Psalm 119: 13-16 had so much to it, I could not fit it into a single devotional - so I thought I would recap here and share some more...hope you don't mind! :)
Yesterday we looked at DELIGHTING IN HIM. We found out that delight meant captivated, enthralled, to have joy in something, in this case - God. However, the full passage reads more like this (I have combined NLT & [ESV] to give a fuller, richer context.)
"I have recited aloud [declared] all the regulations [rules of your mouth] you have given us. I have rejoiced in [delighted in the ways of] your law as much as riches. I will study [meditate on] your commandments and reflect [fix my eyes] on your ways. I will delight in your decrees and [I will] not forget your word." (Psalm 119:13-16)In studying this passage - I started out with my focus on verse 16 - where it clearly states, "I will not forget your word."
"Word" in this instance is the Hebrew term 'imrah - this term is directly correlated to being pure (unmixed, unalloyed, refined, purified, purged) which answers the question in 119:9 - in this case it draws us back to the previous verses that gives us guidance for refining our lives:
- People of integrity follow the instructions of the Lord. (119:1)
- Obey his laws and search for Him with all their heart. (2)
- Do not compromise with evil and walk only in His paths. (3)
- Keep His commands carefully. (4)
- Acknowledge and pray that their actions would consistently reflect His decrees. (5)
- Compare their lives with His commands and strives not to bring Him shame. (6)
- LEARN the righteous regulations (we will talk about this in a second.) and
- Show our appreciation to Him by living in a manner that glorifies Him. (7)
- Obey His decrees. (8)
- Try hard to find Him - seek Him out. (10)
- Hide His Word in our hearts. (11)
- Recite aloud all the regulations given to us. (13)
- Rejoice in His laws. (14)
- Study His commands and reflect on His ways. (15)
- Delight in His decrees and not forget His Words. (16)
When God's Word becomes our delight, His presence and deliverance are near and brings us celebrated joy!! If you take a close look at this list of ways that we can "keep our way pure" (9) we find that there is a significant amount of responsibility placed on us. This is not to seem daunting or unattainable - but it is there to show that we have a choice to make - we can choose to obey or be disobedient, we can choose to be careful or careless, we can choose to seek His ways or the world's ways. As we make our choice to follow Him there's a sweetness that comes with that decision.
In understanding the Art of Learning to Delight in Him, I want to break that list down a little more and offer thoughts on three initial steps that may be put into place to begin to solidify this process of LEARNING this Art.
If you go back to Psalm 119:13-16 quoted above you will see in verse 13 it talks about RECITING ALOUD, DECLARING ALOUD all His regulations. In the Women's Evangelical Commentary on the Old Testament it says that, "to speak aloud could also indicate rehearsing everything Yahweh says, rejoicing in His testimonies as much as in all riches." It is communicating the idea of learning God's Word by heart. Memorizing Scripture! I have had the privilege of acting in many plays but my largest role had me memorizing 470 lines and 15 songs. I wasn't sure I would be able to accomplish this feat - but God was with me and showed me that the more I recited my lines, the more of them I found I had memorized until at last, they were all memorized. If I can memorize 470 lines, surely I can memorize scripture! Needless to say, this revelations has left me excited to begin rehearsing Scripture!!
STEP ONE
in our LEARNING process is - to RECITE SCRIPTURE OUT LOUD and MEMORIZE it.
In verse 15 it talks about STUDYING/MEDITATING on His commandments. Sometimes terminology gets in the way of deeper understanding. For me the words studying and meditating are clear enough but in applying them, I sometimes struggle, because studying sounds rather scholarly and I am no Bible scholar. Meditating sounds a little new-age-ish to me and I have to remind myself that this is God's directive and meditating on His Word is a holy practice. To put it into more practical terms let me say it this way - we should be PONDERING, taking time for some silent reflection over God's Word and asking ourselves how it applies to our lives.
STEP TWO
is to PONDER God's COMMANDS and APPLY them to our LIVES.
In verse 15 it also mentions REFLECTING on His ways. This is a little different from pondering God's commands in that we are digging into His Word to understand the character and being of God by SPEAKING out loud ABOUT what God has said and done. It's a more intangible FIXING of the EYES in this case as we are gleaning knowledge through the eyes of fellow believers. In doing this we keep our way pure out of a reverent fear for the One who created us in His image. One great way to learn through this process is taking those reflections into a circle of Christian friends and having a sweet time of fellowship discussing these things of God together and foraging through Scripture to back up your understanding.
STEP THREE
is SPEAK ABOUT what God has SAID and DONE.
SO to recap - our PROCESS in the Art of Learning to Delight in Him:
- RECITE SCRIPTURE OUT LOUD
- PONDER GOD'S COMMANDS AND APPLY THEM TO OUR LIVES
- SPEAK ABOUT WHAT GOD HAS SAID AND DONE
May these steps find their way into our lives and allow us to become stronger in our walk with the Lord. May His blessings continue to flow in and through each of us as we continue praising Him for 7 times a day for 40 days!
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