Delight in the Word

"If Your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction."  Ps. 119:92

No doubt this verse shows that God's word upholds us.. protects us.. etc. during difficult times, but I also see a daily application.  if I delight in something, I will make time for it.  So if I delight in His Word, I'll be in it .. daily.. reading, studying, meditating, memorizing.

Doing this daily, even when life is going good, builds that foundation.. that fortification.. for when the tough stuff happens (and it will happen!) and it is easier to delight and dig in when life is going smooth.

Trails, testings, etc are to build and strengthen our faith.

I believe "smooth" sailings are to build our faith's foundation.. our footing as it were.. to sharpen our swords... to condition  ourselves.. to make ready for what is to come.

That "smooth" sailing is our study time and those trials our exams. We can't really cram because we rarely see the exam coming.. they are more like pop quizzes! And I, for one, want to pass... so I need to be in the Word daily!

I am praying for a heart that delights in the Word... praying that Jeremiah 15:16 would be true in my life...

Your Words were found and I ate them. 

They were a joy to me and the delight of my heart 

for I am called by Your Name, O Lord.

Testings

I have always loved Genesis 22 -- God's call to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.  What obedience! What Faith!

I am using The Daily Walk Bible to read through the Scripture this year and each day has a short devotional thought with it. The one for this particular passage caused me to ponder this passage in light of my own life.

Verse 1 of Chapter 22 says "Sometime later God tested Abraham"... the comments are made in the devo that Abraham had already been through a lot of faith-stretching circumstances which were evidently preparing him for this, his biggest test.

And then these questions are asked... "Are you learning lessons today that will help you handle the tests God has for you tomorrow? Think of one faith-stretching situation you are facing today. How might God use it to prepare you for tomorrow? Ask Him to make you teachable in today's tests so you'll be prepared for the bigger ones tomorrow."

Great questions to ponder... great way to apply this to our own lives.

Rest of Faith

"Rest is uniting the Word with faith and living in it at that very moment. It's the action of faith for today -- for this monent, this situation."  -- Kay Arthur

Obedience... yet again...

I pick a word of the year each year and have yet to decide on one for 2011. I am beginning to wonder if Obedience will be it. Oh my!  Definitely need to pray about that!


On to what I wanted to share.... I read a devotional the other day by Robert J. Morgan (wrote The Red Sea Rules).  He was talking about Noah and he said "So in an age in which people knew nothing of rain, God told Noah to build an enormous ship, and Noah obeyed completely, down to the last nail."  

I am always wowed by Noah's obedience.. his immediate and unquestioning obedience... I like to question God a lot!

Morgan then offered this.... which truly does give me (and maybe you) cause to stop and ponder....

"To measure your faith, pull out the dipstick of obedience.  Does God tell us to build up others with our words? To be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another? To do the work of an evangelist? To avoid sexual immorality? To keep our eyes from vanity? To meditate on Scripture?"

Ouch... my toes hurt!  We talk of taking God at His Word.. and we should.. we can walk confidently in every single promise we find in the Bible BUT we also need to take Him at His Word when it comes to His commands and do what He says.