November 8 – Being Known

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. ” – Psalm 139:1 (NASB)

David, who was King of Israel for 40 years wrote many of the songs we have in the book of Songs which we call Psalms. These Psalms were sung in worship. The Psalm we look at today was titled “For the choir director. A Psalm  of David.” Like many other psalms written by David, this one is intensely personal. It expresses David’s awe that God knew him down to the minutest intimate detail. He begins with his wonder and confession of God’s omniscience (all-knowing). The promise here is that nothing about us can be hidden from God. In the first six verses, we can know that whatever we do at any time in every 24 hours, God knows. NOTHING is hidden from God not even the thoughts that form the words we contemplate saying. “Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all.” (v. 5) Such a promise might be intimidating for us if we are trying to sneak something past God. But more likely, if we will, it is a wonderful blessing and truth that we are not alone in this world. God know everything about everything.

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May 17 – The Value is Above

“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.  For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”  - Colossians 3:2-4 (ESV)

There is a much greater value in spending our time thinking about and making use of the eternal “things above” than becoming busy with the many temporal “things on earth.” We do not have to consider this for very long for us to understand that temporal things have no lasting value. They fade away and are gone like a wisp of smoke when compared to things of heaven that are eternal and come from God.  Before we were born again by the Holy Spirit and became one of God’s adopted children, we had no concept of anything that was better than what we knew. Now we learn this truth from our promise today, since we have died to sin through faith in God, our lives have been hidden with Christ in God.  If one has difficulty understanding that, it may be because they have not yet agreed with God and sought the salvation He freely gives to all who believe on Him. One day, it will become obvious to all the world, we will no longer be hidden but we will be revealed with Christ, who is our life source, in all His glory.

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September 27 – Building Godly Character

“Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11 (NASB)

We may be familiar with this verse being interpreted as to memorizing Scripture. It is true that when we memorize a Bible verse it is like hiding its message in our heart.  And it is also true that verses that we have memorized can come back to us in times of need.  But let us consider and  suggest hiding the truth found in God's Word in our heart without really memorizing exact words. Memorizing Bible verses is a very important practice we should all do. But so is memorizing the truth of the Bible with what we learn from it.  This is also a way of treasuring or storing God's Word in our heart.  Hearing the truths of God’s Word taught and accepting them by faith, makes them a part of our code of living.  It is through knowing the Word of God that our character is formed in a way that pleases and honors God.  Godly character helps us to live right and avoid doing something wrong. Our promise is that God's Word, when treasured, develops a holy life.

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September 16 – All Our Longings Laid Bare

“Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You.” Psalm 38:9 (NASB)

As a song writer in his time, David produced many of our Psalms.  He was always very open about his trials and feelings, and the things that weighed heavy on his heart and mind.  Today we have a verse from a song that expresses his feelings of depression and anxiety.  We may sometimes think that no one knows the deep feelings of our hearts. Maybe we think that by not sharing our feelings with others we can keep them to ourselves and no one needs to know.  Yet we must remember that God does know how we feel.  What David says in this verse is that God is reading our feelings and our longings like an open book.  And when we breathe a sigh without saying a word, God gets the message. Doesn’t this encourage us to express our feelings to God?  He already knows how we feel so we might as well open up to Him in prayer and song.  When we express our longings He is ready to help. He wants us to turn to Him in faith and then He will act.

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March 14 – Being A Light Not Hidden

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;” …   “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”   Matthew 5:14, 16 (NASB)

Our words of promise today come from what we call the “Sermon on the Mount.”  Not intended to be a sermon so much as a time of  training His disciples in the true ways which God wants us to live.  Crowds were following Jesus wherever He went because of the miracles and healing Jesus was doing.  Jesus moved with the disciples to a place where there was enough room to include the crowds in the audience to this teaching,.  In our verses today, Jesus is using the illustration of light.  We do not set a light in our house and then cover it so we see no light.  No, we hang our light from the ceiling or on a stand or table and above what we want to illuminate.  So, that is how our lives are to be, like lights shining out so others can see them.  Our message is the way we live and our testimony is the light that shines in such a way that others see the glory of God our Father.  The promise is just that, if we live lives which reflect God love and His will, others will see.  Let's shine today and not hide for in Christ we are the light that the world needs.   

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September 25 – Open Book Before God

“All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.”  Psalm 38:9 (NIV)

We don't often think of “longings” as being a positive thing.  Most common understanding is that our longings are strong desires – especially for things unattainable.  And, most times they are private as we don't care to go about expressing our longings openly except perhaps, to those closest to us.  If someone is longing for something he or she may try to keep it hidden from everyone.  Unless it is put into words, nobody will know.  But God knows our every thought and our unexpressed longings are known in detail by our Lord.  What in our life is too deeply felt to be expressed?  God knows what it is and He cares about it.  From time to time we may express a sigh without explanation to others for why we did.  God knows what our sighs are for too.  He knows what is troubling our hearts and minds.  We are an open book before God and we cannot hide anything from Him.  God has promised His love for us and even for our secret things, He wants to help us deal with them – whatever they are.  

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July 18 – Treasure that Protects

“Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11 (NASB)

The second verse from Psalm 119 that we are looking at reminds us that God has known that His creatures need help to know how to live. We do not naturally come into this world with the ability to do good and to not sin.  That is why God, through his servants, prophets and others gave them instructions to record His messages for people to read.  God has provided the information and the wisdom we need to read.  But God's message is not only for us to read.  We need to make it a part of ourselves as the psalmist said “to treasure” or “to hide” God's Word in our heart.  Maybe we think we do that by memorizing Scripture, which is an excellent thing to do, but we can make God's message a part of us by applying what He says to ourselves and to meditating on it. And what is the result?  The promise we have is that if we make God Word a part of ourselves it will help keep us pure and free from sin and from the things that displease God. 

Note on Psalm 119

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April 10 – Weeping With Reason

“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Luke 19:41-42 (NIV)

What is described in today’s verse happens either on the same day as the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem – the day we now observe as Palm Sunday – or the day after when he returns to the city. Jesus looked at the city of Jerusalem He started weeping. Jesus knew that during that week He would be arrested, brought to court, would be beaten and then nailed to the cross to die there. But He didn’t weep for Himself. He wept for the city because the people there who were just singing praises to Him would soon reject Him and would suffer for it. He knew that and it made Him very sad because of His great love for the people there. Jesus loves us too. That is something we can thank him for every day. Let’s not give Him a reason to weep over us.