Psalm 119: How God's Word Gives Life and Light

there's one day where he came in to read with his friend and the hospice nurse stopped him and said, hey, what are you doing when you're in there with your friend? And he's like, do you mean? And she goes, he normally can't get out of bed, he normally doesn't talk, he doesn't normally eat very well, but every day that you're with him after you leave, he gets up and goes for a walk, he's fully alive, he is more alert than ever before, so what are you doing? Because we need to know. And he said, I'm just reading the bible to him. The word gives life. [00:18:08] (30 seconds)  #WordGivesLife

And towards the end of the life the end of his life, he was giving a lecture. And at the end of this theology lecture, there was an open q and a, and a student came up to the microphone and said, if you were to summarize your entire life's work, 1,200 plus pages of theology that you've written, all of it, how would you summarize it? And the old man, Carl, responded simply, Jesus loves me, this I know, or the bible tells me so. But that's the point, that his heart was in the posture not of pride of his accomplishments or all the pages that he has written, but at the heart, at the core. It's Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so. [00:26:22] (43 seconds)  #JesusAtHeart

What we have to realize and what many of us have come to learn through our own experience or through people around us is that simply having information doesn't automatically lead to transformation. Simply having a bible on your shelf getting dusty isn't gonna transform your life. We also have to address how we are using the bible, how we're approaching it, what our level of faith and expectation is when we open the scriptures. A w Tozer said it like this, talking about knowledge. He says this, the devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still. [00:08:36] (31 seconds)  #MoreThanInfo

That scripture is not just static information, it's not just history, but it is life giving, it is vitalizing. The psalmist repeatedly cries out, give me life. And depending what translation you're reading, NLT, NIV, ESV, all of them, they vary between revive me, give me life, spare my life, preserve my life. But behind all of them, the Hebrew root is him crying out saying, God, I know that life is only found in you. Revive me. Give me life. Cause me to live through your word. [00:15:54] (31 seconds)  #WordRevives

If you've ever experienced that of walking through the woods, not knowing are you gonna stumble, are you gonna fall, you gonna trip over something, the fear that comes with not having light. Walking through this life, the world around us without having the word of God is like that. It's like stumbling in the darkness. But when we spend time in God's word daily, it's like having a lantern that leads the way, that shows where to look out for danger, so that you can follow God's plans for your life. God's word brings wisdom, clarity, guidance, insight, and strength. [00:20:22] (35 seconds)  #ScriptureLantern

But again, Psalm one nineteen shows us that our obedience is not driven by cold duty, but by deep affection for God. For God himself, for his love, for his transforming power, for his good plans for you, the perspective that he's our good shepherd, that he leads us, he guides us, he goes before us, his goodness and mercy and love is pursuing us all the days of our life, so why wouldn't we want to love him and delight in him and spend time with him in return? We see this all throughout the Psalm, and that's the center of it all, that we love the scriptures because we love Jesus. [00:24:46] (39 seconds)  #LoveNotDuty

There's a tradition in Jewish culture that when a boy would begin school and studying the scriptures, that he'd be read that very verse and then given a spoonful of honey right there on the spot so that it would cement in his mind this association between sweetness and God's commands. That the rest of his life, he would think about that. If God's commands are sweet, they are good. That when he tastes the dessert, he'd be reminded of God's word. When he thinks of God's word, he'd be reminded of delight and pleasure. I thought about trying this with my son Hudson, who's gonna start kindergarten this fall, but he'd probably just spit out the honey right now and it would maybe backfire on me. So maybe we'll switch it out with some candy, maybe I'll wait, we'll see. [00:24:06] (40 seconds)  #TasteTheWord

Or if that's a little too hardcore and safari for you. Imagine you went to PetSmart and got a really nice new bone for your dog. And you just see it wagging its tail, delighting in that bone. Think about that. The dog is savoring it, delighting in it, excited, treasuring it, not in a rush, but not wanting to waste or miss anything. That should be the posture of our heart every single time we open the word of God, that we know that we can delight in this, that there is treasure in here, that it is good, that it is healing, that it gives life, that it gives light. [00:23:11] (41 seconds)  #SavorTheWord