Psalm 119: Focus On God's Word Pt. 45 Are We Delighting In God's Word?

Psalm 119:9  BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. 

Taking heed to the scriptures is the Psalmist's answer to how a young man can be cleansed from the pollution of sin.

Psalm 119:10  With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 

Taking heed to the scriptures involves seeking God with all of our heart and praying for strength to stay on the path of seeking Him that way.

Psalm 119:11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. 

Hiding God's Word in our heart involves reading and re-reading it, meditating on it and committing it to memory. It has a purifying and restraining power that will help us flee from sin.

Psalm 119:12  Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. 

God is eternally blessed in and of Himself and He is ready and willing to share His blessing with believers in Christ. We can ask for God's help in studying and learning the scriptures because He has committed to teaching us His statutes. 

Psalm 119:13  With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. 

We learned that we have a great privilege to share and declare God's truth to people around us. 

Psalm 119:14  I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. 

As we allow the Lord to teach us His Word and as we seek Him with our whole heart, we will find great joy in hiding His word in our hearts. 

As we learn the way of God's testimonies, and as we live according to what they say, joy will fill our hearts. We will find happiness as we trust God and see that He really wants what is best for us. His best, not what we may think is best!

We will treasure the scriptures more than any land, possessions or wealth that we might have. 

Psalm 119:15  I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. 

We learned about what it means to meditate on scripture truth and how this impacts us to the degree that we respect and follow and desire the ways of God, instead of the ways of the world.

Delighting in the Scriptures

Psalm 119:16  I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. 

We reach the end of the second eight verse section of Psalm 119. The young man's question has been thoroughly answered by the Psalmist and we too, can benefit from putting into practice the same things the Psalmist gave, in responding to the initial question. 

Just as our natural man can be refreshed by changing seasons or visiting new places, so our soul can be refreshed by change in our spiritual habits. 

We can be active believers, hearing God speak in His Word, praying to Him in accord with His will, meditating and thinking deeply on His Word. Spiritual activities like these are undertaken with delight and are pleasurable to our new man in Christ. 

What is true delight? It is delight in God's Truth!

What does the word "delight" mean? It means having a high degree of pleasure, or satisfaction of mind, and joy. It is a more permanent pleasure than joy, and is not dependent on sudden excitement. 

Finally, "delight" must have an object, the source of our delight. Just as Jesus Christ is the object of our faith, so the Psalmist is teaching us that the object of our delight will be found in the scriptures. 

Take God's Word into your soul and you will rejoice.

Jeremiah 15:16  Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. 

This is what the Psalmist is teaching us. We take our copy of the scriptures and eat them. Not literally eating, but reading, meditating, memorizing and speaking the Word of God. 

We take the scriptures into our heart, mind and soul. It is food, nourishment and life sustaining water for our soul. Without it, we will wither and dry up. With it, our strength is renewed along with our minds. 

God's people will delight in the Word of God because it is one of the greatest sources of enjoyment and blessing God gives us, this side of heaven. God's Word is the instrument of all good, comfort, strength and quickening that we might receive in this life. 

If we delight in the scriptures we will read them with our own eyes.

Ephesians 1:16-18  Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17)  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18)  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,  

In America, we do not treasure the Bible as we should. 87% of American homes own a Bible, and the average home owns 4.3 Bibles!

You would expect America to be a nation of high moral standards and strong families. Yet, this is not the case at all. 

Moral depravity is common in our culture as we race toward the bottom of sin's degradation. 

Christianity is not be lived out by those who profess to know Jesus Christ. 

I am sure many of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world would give anything to have their own Bible. Thus, we are guilty of having abundant truth from God that we ignore, dismiss or turn away from.  

Therefore, it is good for us to see and read the scriptures with our own eyes, just as the Ethiopian eunuch did returning home from public worship. 

If it seems hard to understand at times, God will send us someone like Philip, to open the scriptures to our hearts (Acts 8:-26-39).

The Ethiopian eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53 but he needed help to understand the application and interpretation. The Spirit of God directed Philip to this man, and Philip led him to Christ. 

It began with the eunuch reading scripture, and so it does with each of us. 

Paul prayed for believers and in his prayer he asked God the Father to give us help from His Spirit so that we might understand the beautiful revelation of God in scripture. 

Paul specifically prayed that the eyes of our understanding would be illuminated. This connects with the teaching and guiding ministry of the Spirit of God with the Word of God in our soul.

As we delve into Divine Truth, we will be filled with delight as the Holy Spirit helps us see the wonderful things of God. 

If we delight for the scriptures we will hear scripture with our own ears.

James 1:17-20  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18)  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19)  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20)  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 

God commands us to be swift to hear the good and perfect gift of His word of truth. This living Word of God is able to convert people to Christ through repentant faith in Jesus. 

It is able to transform our minds and renew our thinking so that we might live according to God's Word. 

Believers should find great delight in hearing the Word of God preached and taught. It is a wonderful blessing from God to have ears to hear what He says and eyes with which to read scripture.

If we delight in the scriptures we will talk about them.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6)  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7)  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 

What is in our heart will come out in what we say. We learned this truth in earlier posts (See Matthew 12:34; 15:18; Luke 6:45). 

Parents fail their children if they do not guide conversation in their home toward the things of God. 

Pastors fail their church members if they do not guide discussions toward the things of God. 

Parishioners fail as God's witnesses if we do not seek to speak about the things of God with co-workers, neighbors, family members and friends.

We should have great delight in talking about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Thoughts to Ponder...

Psalm 19:14  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. 

Do we delight in the Word of God, or do we have a stack of Bibles at home, dusty from not being used?

If we truly delight in God's eternal word, then we will consistently read, meditate and think about it.

If we truly delight in God's eternal word, then we will consistently hear it preached and taught, at home and at church. 

If we truly delight in God's word, then we will talk about it with other people that we interact with. 

True delight for the inspired scriptures will result in our heart being focused on what God says rather than what we think is best. 

Our thoughts, words and action will become acceptable in the sight of God because we will delight in our Creator, Savior and King.

Bob