Tuesday, January 23
“According to Your Faith”
Psalm 119:137-144
“TSADHE”
137 Righteous are You, O LORD, And upright are Your judgments.
138 Your testimonies, which You have commanded, Are righteous and very faithful.
139 My zeal has consumed me, Because my enemies have forgotten Your words.
140 Your word is very pure; Therefore Your servant loves it.
141 I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, Yet Your commandments are my delights.
144 The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; Give me understanding, and I shall live.
Psalm 119:137-144 is the eighteenth stanza of this psalm, and every line or verse begins with the eighteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet “TSADHE”, in the Hebrew Bible. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to implant faith in our hearts (Rom. 10:17), and the more we live in God's Word, the stronger our faith will become. Some people have no faith (Mark 4:40), others have little faith (Matt. 8:26; 14:31), and a few have great faith (Matt. 8:10; 15:28). Like a mustard seed, faith has life in it, and if the seed is planted and cultivated, it will grow and bear fruit (Matt. 17:20). Jesus told the two blind men in Matthew 9:29, “…According to your faith let it be to you." The message in this section of the psalm is that you can depend on the Word of God, so that you can have faith in God no matter who or what might be discouraging you.
We can place our faith in God’s Word no matter what people do (vv. 137-139). The psalmist had worn himself out trying to convince people to trust God's Word, but they ignored both him and the Scriptures. He must have felt that his ministry had failed, but he had been faithful even as the Word is faithful. God and His Word are righteous and what He says is right. His Word is fully trustworthy. Though intellectual giants may attack it and even ridicule it, the Word stands and will be here long after they are dead, and their books have been forgotten. People may sin and die, but God's righteousness and righteous Word remains (vv. 137, 138, 142, 144).
We can place our faith in God’s Word and trust Him no matter what people say (vv. 140-141). Over many centuries, the Scriptures have been thoroughly tested in the fires of persecution and criticism, the way a goldsmith tests precious metals (Psalms 12:6-7; 18:30), and the Word has been found pure. One of the joys of the Christian life is to find new promises in the Word, test them in daily life, and find them trustworthy. The enemy wants us to forget the Word (v. 139), but we remember the Word and depend on it. The world may look upon God's people as "small and despised," but when you stand on God's promises, you are a giant.
We can express our faith and trust and delight in God’s Word regardless of how we feel (vv. 142-143). We may experience anguish, trouble and distress, as did the psalmist, but we can still find delight in God's truth. Our feelings change but God's Word never changes. God's Word is not only true, it is truth (John 17:17). The Word of God is truth, the Son of God is truth (John 14:6), and the Spirit of God is truth (1 John 5:6). The Spirit of truth wrote the Word of truth, and that Word reveals the Son of God. When your feelings deceive you into concluding that it is not worth it to serve the Lord, immediately turn to the Scriptures and delight in your Lord.
We can trust in God’s Word and live a full life no matter how long we live (v. 144). Many people exist and are simply surviving but they really aren’t living. Jesus said that He came to give life and to give it more abundantly (John 10:10). Jesus is the eternal living Word of God. To build your life on God's Word means to participate in eternity (Matt. 7:24-29; 1 John 2:17). It is not the length of life but the depth of life that counts, and depth comes from laying hold of God's Word and obeying it. Jesus spent only thirty-three years on this earth, and His public ministry lasted only three years, yet He accomplished a work that is eternal.
What matters is not how long we live but how we live! We don’t have to just exist and survive; we can live a life of significance every day if we determine by God’s grace to live a life of faith built on the Truth of God’s Word! “…According to your faith let it be to you."
God bless!
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