Today's Word of Encouragement

THE BENEFICIAL WORD
Thursday, April 07, 2020

    The Lord is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words. (Psalm 119:57).

     Self-examination and evaluation is always profitable for the servant of God. Such actions can sometimes be disheartening, especially when we see our flaws and failures, but it is necessary because there is ample room for growth in all of us. The Apostle James reminds us (1:23-24), For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
     The ‘Heth’ (Ch) section of Psalm 119 (vv. 57-64) reminds us of the great benefit the Word of God is to our lives. His beginning statement, The Lord is my portion, is reminiscent of the beginning of David’s ‘Shepherd Psalm’ (Psalm 23:1), The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want; translation - “The Lord is my great Leader and Provider, in Him I have all I need.”
     Verses 57-60 reveals such benefits:

    • It ‘salts’ our spiritual appetite so that we hunger and thirst for God (v. 58).
    • It causes us to examine our life so that we will walk in fellowship with the Lord and not with the wicked (v. 59).
    • It quickens our determination to obey, so that we will not delay in our response to God (v. 60).
    • It comforts us when the ungodly stand opposed to us (v. 61).

     Note the last clause of v. 57 - I have promised to keep Your words. When our life receives such benefits from the Word of God, why wouldn’t we want to keep (shamar: preserve; guard carefully) it faithfully? More than that, because His Word is a reflection of who God is, why wouldn’t we want to honor the Lord by honoring His Word? Is it not a reflection of our love for Him?

    If you love Me, you will keep My commandments (John 14:15).

Pastor Martin