Psalm 12 – The Words of Man and the Word of God
Video for Psalm 12:
The title of this psalm reads, To the Chief Musician. On an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David. The title is like many others in this general section of psalms, simply stating the audience, the instrument, and the author of the psalm. In this psalm David complains about the vicious words of his adversaries, and in contrast praises the pure and precious word of God.
A. The problem of flattering lips.
1. (1-2) The disappearance of the godly man and his unfortunate replacement.
Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
a. Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases: The exact circumstances under which David wrote this psalm are unknown, and it could have been during many different periods in his life. David knew what it was like to feel that the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
i. David was a warrior and a fierce soldier, but we see here that he also had to deal with the battles of gossip and the backbiting of idle and deceptive talkers. David knew what it was like to feel all alone in this kind of battle, where it seemed that no one would speak up and defend him. Instead, he took his case to the LORD. We sense that David probably would have preferred to battle with swords and shields than among the gossips and backbiters surrounding him.
b. With flattering lips and a double heart they speak: Instead of the godly man, David saw around him those who spoke with idle chatter (they speak idly everyone with his neighbor), and who were two-faced liars (flattering lips…a double heart).
i. This psalm may have come from the time in David’s life when he was in the court of King Saul, but was a target for the mad jealousy of the king. We can easily imagine a vicious whispering campaign against David among those who wanted to gain favor with the misguided king.
ii. The essence of flattering lips is that they say what people want to hear. There are many such talkers today, even within the church – those who know the right answer for every occasion but speak with no honesty or transparency of heart. They constantly speak what people hope to hear or what is assumed to be proper instead of their true thoughts, feelings, and deeds.
iii. “Daniel says that flattery will be a tool of that wicked world ruler who will arise at the last day (Daniel 11:32).” (Boice)
iv. “‘They speak with a double heart.’ The original is, ‘A heart and a heart’: one for the church, another for the change; one for Sundays, another for working-days; one for the king, another for the pope. A man without a heart is a wonder, but a man with two hearts is a monster.” (Thomas Adams, cited in Spurgeon)
2. (3-5) A plea for God to judge those who speak wickedly.
May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks proud things,
Who have said,
“With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?”
“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the LORD;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”
a. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips: David felt somewhat helpless against these destructive chatterers; he found his refuge in the LORD, to whom he appealed to cut off…the tongue that speaks proud things.
i. Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “Since I cannot govern my own tongue, tho’ within my own teeth, how can I hope to govern the tongues of others?” David felt this same frustration with the idle and destructive tongues of others.
ii. “Better to have the tongue touched with a live coal from the altar than cut out.” (Maclaren)
b. With our tongue we will prevail…Who is lord over us? David despised these destructive tongues, not only for what they said, but also for the pride that made them so difficult to stop. It was as if they freely said, “You can never make us stop talking as we please.”
i. “With our tongues we will prevail; by raising and spreading slanders and evil reports concerning him, whereby both Saul will be highly and implacably enraged against David, and the hearts of the people alienated from him.” (Poole)
ii. For the one who professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ, there is only one answer to this question, Who is lord over us? Jesus Christ is our Lord, and He owns us body, soul, and spirit. We are bought with a price and are therefore obligated to glorify God in our bodies, including our lips and tongue (1 Corinthians 6:20).
c. Now I will arise: These destructive talkers spoke as they pleased, but they could not stop the LORD God from speaking as He pleased. In a wonderful and dramatic way, the LORD announced that He would act on behalf of the poor and needy victimized by these proud, unstoppable talkers.
i. “Think of God arising in his might. When he ariseth, he shakes terribly the earth; nothing stands before him when he once arises. Poor, sick, needy, sorrowing, sighing child of God, it is you who can bring him into this marvellous state of activity.” (Spurgeon)
d. I will set him in the safety for which he yearns: David believed that this was God’s word for him. He was one of the poor and needy yearning for safety from these destructive critics and talkers.
B. The words of God and the wickedness of men.
1. (6-7) The pure words of the LORD.
The words of the LORD are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
You shall keep them, O LORD,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
a. The words of the LORD are pure words: In contrast to the idle, two-faced, lying, and proud lips of David’s adversaries, God’s words are pure, as if they were fine silver…purified seven times.
i. “What a contrast between the vain words of man, and the pure words of Jehovah. Man’s words are yea and nay, but the Lord’s promises are yea and amen.” (Spurgeon)
ii. “The words of Jehovah are holy in his precepts, just in his laws, gracious in his promises, significant in his institutions, true in his narrations, and infallible in his predictions. What are thousands of gold and silver compared to the treasures of the sacred page!” (Horne)
iii. This means that the word of God can be trusted in every sense. It is good, pure, and tested thoroughly. We can trust that God has tested His own word; but it has also been tested by students, scholars, critics, and doubters through the centuries – and the word of God still stands. It is like a mighty anvil that has worn out countless hammers that have pounded upon it.
iv. “The Bible has passed through the furnace of persecution, literary criticism, philosophic doubt, and scientific discovery, and has lost nothing but those human interpretations which clung to it as alloy to precious ore. The experience of saints has tried it in every conceivable manner, but not a single doctrine or promise has been consumed in the most excessive heat.” (Spurgeon)
v. “After more than two centuries of facing the heaviest guns that could be brought to bear, the Bible has survived – and is perhaps the better for the siege. Even on the critics’ own terms – historical fact – the Scriptures seem more acceptable now than when the rationalists began the attack.” (Time Magazine, cited in Boice)
vi. “Do sinners talk of vanity? Let saints then speak of Jesus and his gospel. Do they talk impure words? Then let the faithful use the pure words of God, which like silver, the more used, the more melted in the fire, the more precious will they be.” (Robert Hawker, cited in Spurgeon)
vii. “As silver enriches its owner, so does the Word of God enrich its lovers. Nothing so strengthens the intellect, clears the judgment, enlarges the views, purifies the taste, quickens the imagination, and educates the whole man.” (Meyer)
b. You shall keep them, O LORD, You shall preserve them: This was David’s declaration of confidence in God’s ability to preserve His own words. He did not only give His word to mankind; His providential hand has protected the existence and integrity of His word through the centuries.
i. There are some manuscripts and Bible translations that render this You shall keep us, O LORD, You shall preserve us. Yet, according to VanGemeren, there is legitimate manuscript support for the rendering You shall keep them…You shall preserve them. We can take it as true that God will keep and preserve both His Word and His people.
ii. “The psalmist breaks out into praise of the purity of His words, and declares that Jehovah will ‘keep them,’ and ‘preserve them.’ The ‘them’ refers to the words. There is no promise made of widespread revival or renewal. It is the salvation of a remnant and the preservation of His own words which Jehovah promises.” (Morgan)
iii. God has kept and will keep and preserve His Word. “The French atheist Voltaire…once said, ‘In twenty years Christianity will be no more. My single hand shall destroy the edifice it took twelve apostles to rear.’ He wrote that in fifty years no one would remember Christianity. But in the year he wrote that, the British Museum paid the Russian government five hundred thousand dollars for a Bible manuscript while one of Voltaire’s books was selling in the London book stalls for just eight cents.” (Boice)
iv. “Give up no line of God’s revelation…. Brethren, we cannot endure this shifty theology. May God send us a race of men who have backbones! Men who believe something, and would die for what they believe. This Book deserves the sacrifice of our all for the maintenance of every line of it.” (Spurgeon)
2. (8) The way of the wicked.
The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
a. The wicked prowl on every side: David knew that the existence and exaltation of God’s pure word would not eliminate the wicked. They would still exist and prowl on every side as they could, but never with the assurance of final victory.
i. “Here we return to the fount of bitterness, which first made the Psalmist run to the wells of salvation, namely, the prevalence of wickedness.” (Spurgeon)
b. When vileness is exalted among the sons of men: We might feel that this psalm ends on a sad, depressing note. Yet David was utterly realistic in his outlook. He knew that even with the precious and pure word of God available to men, many of the sons of men would still prefer that vileness is exalted.
i. “If ‘vileness is set on high among the sons of men,’ it is because the sons of men prefer it to the stern purity of goodness. A corrupt people will crown corrupt men and put them aloft.” (Maclaren)
ii. We might say that David almost left it as a challenge. Let the sons of men exalt vileness; he would exalt the pure and precious word of God. Eventually all would see the winner of this contest. Let these wicked men do their worst – God helping him, David would do his best and see the victory of the LORD.
(c) 2020 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – ewm@enduringword.com
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| 📘 Book Title | The Bible Word Of God Or Word Of Man |
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| 🖨️ Total Pages | 103 |
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THE BIBLE: WORD OF GOD OR WORD OF MAN? By A.S.K. Joommal
Book Contents
- THE BIBLE: WORD OF GOD OR WORD OF MAN? 1
- By ASK Joommal1
- Table of Contents 1
- PREFACE 2
- PREFACE TO THE THIRD IMPRESSION (2000)3
- FOREWORD 4
- INTRODUCTION6
- BIBLE IN GENERAL7
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 7
- THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS8
- INTERPOLATIONS IN THE BIBLE12
- CONTRADICTIONS IN THE BIBLE16
- BIBLE OBSCENITIES 29
- BIBLE ATROCITIES 31
- BIBLE PROPHECIES FALSIFIED BY HISTORICAL EVENTS33
- A THINKING MAN’S REASONS FOR DOUBTING THE INSPIRATION OF THE
- BIBLE35
- AN EXAMINATION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES OF
- CHRISTIANITY 38
- THE DOCTRINE OF ATONEMENT 39
- THE ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF ATONEMENT 44
- THE DOCTRINE OF ATONEMENT REFUTED BY THE BIBLE ITSELF46
- TEN QUESTIONS ON ATONEMENT50
- THE DOCTRINE OF TRINITY51
- UNITY OF GOD IN THE BIBLE 55
- TEN QUESTIONS ON TRINITY 57
- THE DOCTRINE OF THE “SONSHIP” OF CHRIST 58
- DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRIST AND GOD65
- TEN QUESTIONS ON THE “SONSHIP” OF CHRIST 71
- THE PAGAN ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY73
- THE AFFINITY BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM 73
- “BATTLING BISHOP” OF CALIFORNIA88
- POINTS TO PONDER89
- SNIPPETS94
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
To read more about the The Bible Word Of God Or Word Of Man book Click the download button below to get it for free
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For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working
night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed
to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, how
devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you
believers; 11 just as you know how we were exhorting and
encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own
children, 12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God
who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. 13 For this reason we
also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God
which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men,
but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its
work in you who believe. 14 For you, brethren, became imitators of
the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also
endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen,
even as they did from the Jews, 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus
and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God,
but hostile to all men, 16 hindering us from speaking to the
Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they
always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon
them to the utmost.
As we began prayer week with a call to be devoted to prayer from
Romans 12:12, so we end prayer week with a call to embrace the
Bible as the very word of God. My emphasis, just like last week,
will be on the practical: How? How do you receive the Bible as the
word of God?
My text is 1 Thessalonians 2:13, «For this reason we also
constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which
you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for
what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in
you who believe.» From all the things we could talk about here, I
want to focus on the words «you accepted it not as the word of men,
but for what it really is, the word of God.»
I would make three observations about this. 1) The apostolic
word is the word of God. 2) When it comes to us objectively, we
should accept it subjectively in the right way. 3) The way to do
that in 2003 is to embrace it as precious, pleasant, and practical,
which means, in practice (five M’s): to memorize it, meditate
on it, make music with it, minister with it, and mind it.
The Apostolic Word Is the Word of God
Paul says in verse 13, «When you received the word of God which
you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for
what it really is, the word of God.» Paul claims that his apostolic
teaching is the word of God.
That is what it meant for Jesus to choose and appoint apostles.
The words of an apostle, when he teaches or writes as one of
Jesus’ apostles, is the Word of God. The definition of the
word «apostle» is one who is sent to represent another person with
authority. Jesus said to the apostles in John 16:13, «When the
Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he
will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will
speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.»
Jesus made plans that would insure the truth of the apostolic
teaching about himself in the early church. And that is what came
to be written down in our New Testament for our rule and
authority.
The way this worked itself out in Paul’s experience is
described in 1 Corinthians 2:13, where Paul says, «And we impart
this [wisdom] in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the
Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.»
This meant that Paul’s teaching was in fact the word of God.
It had divine truthfulness and divine authority. Two times in 2
Corinthians Paul refers to this God-given authority that the Lord
had given him as an apostle. For example, 2 Corinthians 10:8, «For
even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord
gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be
ashamed» (see 13:10).
We can see this divine authority in action when Paul writes to
the Corinthians about people who were claiming to have revelatory
experiences. He puts his authority over against theirs and says
that his teaching as an apostle is the measuring rod. «If anyone
thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge
that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If
anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized (1 Corinthians
14:37-38).
Peter confirms this divine authority that Paul had as an apostle
by describing his writings as in the same category with the
inspired scriptures of the Old Testament. You recall that 2 Timothy
3:16 says, «All Scripture is inspired by God.» Then Peter says in 2
Peter 3:15-16, «Our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you
according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters
when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in
them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable
twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.»
«The other Scriptures» shows that Peter put Paul’s letters in
the category with God’s inspired and authoritative
scriptures.
I know this is not a proof from outside the Bible that the Bible
is the word of God. It is a claim within the Bible that that is
what the Bible is – the word of God. That is where I leave it
this morning. But if you want to ponder more on why we believe the
Bible is the word of God, plan to come to that TBI seminar that I
teach, and read some good defenses of the Scriptures in our
bookstore, and consider this summary statement from the old
Keach’s Catechism:
The Bible evidences itself to be God’s Word by the heavenliness
of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, its power to convert
sinners and to edify saints; but the Spirit of God only, bearing
witness by and with the Scriptures in our hearts, is able fully to
persuade us that the Bible is the Word of God.
There are many kinds of arguments for embracing the scriptures
as God’s word. But this morning my point is to simply show
that the Bible teaches that the apostolic word is the word of
God.
When the Word of God Comes to Us Objectively, We Should accept
It Subjectively in the Right Way
Again 1 Thessalonians 2:13, «When you received the word of God
which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men,
but for what it really is, the word of God.»
The words for «received» and «accepted» are not the same. They
«received» the word of God means that it came to them in objective
form. It was handed on to them like a tradition. Paul preached it
objectively. It would have been the word of God whether they
accepted it or not. There is an objective word of God. That’s
one of the differences between an orthodox view of Scripture and a
neo-orthodox view which says that the word of man becomes the word
of God if we receive it as such. But it is not the word of God
objectively until we receive it that way.
That is not what Paul says in verse 13. Paul says that his
preaching was «really» or «truly» the word of God and they
«accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the
word of God.» The word of man does not become the word of God
because it is accepted as the word of God. We accept it because it
is the word of God. The apostolic word really is the word of God,
objectively, apart from our subjective attitude toward it.
Our accepting it does not make it the word of God, we accept it
because it is the word of God. The word «accepted» means more than
«receive» as we receive a tradition handed on to us. It means
«welcome.» It means «embrace» as what it is. We can see this use in
1 Corinthians 2:14. Right after Paul says that he teaches in words
taught by the Holy Spirit he adds, «The natural person does not
accept [same word] the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they
are spiritually discerned.»
So the point of 1 Thessalonians 2:13 is that there is a right
way to accept or welcome the teachings of the Bible when we receive
it. And the right way is to accept it for what it really is, the
very word of God. We should embrace it and welcome it as the word
of God, because it is the word of God. It is God’s truth and
has God’s authority. It is the rule for all other claims to
truth and the rule over all other authority. We should embrace it
that way.
Now how do we do that? What does it look like to welcome the
Scriptures as the word of God? I have a three-fold answer from the
context of Thessalonians and a five-fold answer by implication
based on what the Bible says elsewhere about how to use it.
The Way to Welcome the Word of God in 2003
Embrace it as precious, pleasant, and practical, which means, in
practice (five M’s): to memorize it, meditate on it, make
music with it, minister with it, and mind it.
Let’s start with the three fold answer from the
context.
Notice the link between the context of verse 14 and the context
of 1:6-7. Verse
14 says that the evidence that the Thessalonians
accepted the word of God for what it really is was that they
suffered for it. «For you, brethren, became imitators of the
churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also
endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own
countrymen.»
Now compare that to 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7 and you will see that
we are in the same context: «And you became imitators of us and of
the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the
joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the
believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.»
Notice three things about how they received the word.
1.They received the word even though it meant
«much affliction.» From that I infer that they welcomed the word as
precious. To have it and believe it and trust in it was worth more
than comfort and safety. It was a treasure. They accepted suffering
rather than give it up. So the right way to accept the word of God
is to accept it as precious – more precious than possessions
and life.
2.They received the word in this affliction
with the «joy of the Holy Spirit.» From that I infer that they
welcomed the word of God as pleasant. It produces joy. Precious and
pleasant.
These two words remind us of what Psalm 19:10 says about
God’s words: «More to be desired are they than gold, even
much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the
honeycomb.» Gold is precious. Honey is pleasant. When we experience
the word of God as more precious than gold and more pleasant than
honey we will have embraced the word of God the way we should.
3.Third, they received the word as practical.
It changed their lives in visible ways. I infer that from verse 7.
«So that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia
and in Achaia.» This is what Paul’s word did when they
received it as what it really was, the word of God. It was
practical and life-changing.
So the answer to the question, «How do your accept or welcome
and embrace the Bible as the word of God the way you should?» is
accept it or embrace it as precious, pleasant, and practical. More
precious than gold, more pleasant than honey, practical enough to
change your life.
Now let’s get as practical as we can for what we should
actually do with the Bible this year. If the aim is to embrace it
as precious, pleasant, and practical, what would you do with
it?
The way to welcome the Bible in 2003 as precious, pleasant, and
practical is to memorize it, meditate on it, make music with it,
minister with it, and mind it.
1. Memorize It
If the word of God is more precious to you than gold and more
pleasant than honey and more practical than all human counsel, then
you will want to memorize it. And the reason is that the
preciousness of it is not mainly in having it in a book, but having
it in your mind and in your heart – that’s where you
experience its preciousness.
And the pleasantness of it is not that it lies in a book, but
that it lies in your mind and in your heart so that you can taste
it any time you want. Honey will not do you any good at all in a
jar in the cabinet. It is good on your tongue. That is where the
sweetness of Scripture is when you memorize it.
All the other ways of welcoming the word that I am about to
mention are helped and advanced by this one. Memorizing the word
helps you meditate on it day and night. Memorizing helps you make
music with it. Memorizing helps you minister it to others in needs
when there is no Bible to read. And a word of Scripture from your
heart is more powerful in ministry any way. And memorizing helps
you mind Scripture.
Psalm 119:11 says, «I have stored up your word in my heart, that
I might not sin against you.» So memorizing and treasuring the word
in your heart helps you triumph over sin. Just like John writes in
1 John 2:14, «I write to you, young men, because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil
one.» When the word of God abides in us we have a tremendous
advantage over sin and Satan. Jesus put Satan to flight every time
in the wilderness by quoting memorized Scripture.
Use the Fighter Verse
program with the list of verses given out today and how to do
it. Or go beyond that and get the little booklet by Andrew Davis, «An
Approach to the Extended Memorization of Scripture,» and let
him show you how to memorize chapters and books of the Bible.
One of the clearest links between last week’s sermon and
this one is that our prayers are made more powerful when they are
saturated with the Bible and that happens for people who memorize
scripture. People who don’t memorize scripture generally pray
in clichés. And their language of prayer tends to be the way
an unbeliever would pray. Those who do memorize scripture are
always enriching their prayers with the very word of God. Remember
Romans 8:27: God hears the prayers of the Spirit on our behalf
because he prays «according to God.» A believer should distrust his
needs and seek God’s word for what he really needs and pray
for that.
2. Meditate on the Word of God
Psalm 1:2 says that the blessed man – the man whose life
is like a fruitful tree planted by streams of water –
delights in the law of the Lord, «and on his law he meditates day
and night.» To meditate means to read it, ponder it, think about
it, query it, and relate it to as many other truths as you can.
Paul puts it this way in 2 Timothy 2:7, «Think over what I say, for
the Lord will give you understanding in everything.» The Lord gives
understanding, but we must think, that is, meditate.
From all the Scripture that you read in the morning, I suggest
that you take one verse in your mind, memorized – and perhaps
on a small piece of paper in case you need review. And let that be
the focus of meditation all day long. Come back to it again and
again. Relate it to all you do.
And meditation is not just intellectual. It is emotional.
Meditation is cherishing the gold and savoring the honey. If you
don’t feel this cherishing and savoring, ask the Lord to
waken the spiritual taste buds of your soul. He won’t do it
apart from the word. The word is part of what creates the taste for
the word. Put it on the tongue of your soul. He wakens your heart
to taste Christ in his word. So take the honey of the word into
your mind and ask him to create a taste for it.
3. Make Music with It
I get this from Colossians 3:16. «Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in
your hearts to God.» Notice how the word is to dwell richly in you:
namely, by «singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.»
Sing the word to yourself. And sing the word in your family. And
sing the word in church. Most good hymns and worship songs are
permeated with Scripture. We will sing one in just a few minutes:
«Thy Word Is a Lamp Unto My Feet,» which is based on Psalm
119:105.
4. Minister with the Word
I don’t have preachers in mind here. I have you all in
mind and what the Bible says every Christian should do for other
Christians (and unbelievers) day in and day out (on the phone, in
an email, on the street, in the office, in small groups, in the
hospital, in the living room with the family). «Take care,
brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart,
leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one
another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’
that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin»
(Hebrews 3:12-13). What do you exhort with? Not your wisdom. That
is hopeless. We exhort with the word of God. Faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. So speak it to help people in the
fight of faith.
Oh, how important it is to store up the Word of God in your mind
and heart if you want to minister to people and help them fight the
fight of faith day by day. Parents for children, children for your
friends. Small groups to each other. Students to roommates. What we
need from each other is the word of God. When I am confused, give
me the word of God. When I am arrogant, give me the word of God.
When I am lustful, give me the word of God. When I am frightened,
give me the word of God. When I am suffering, give me the word of
God. When I am angry, give me the word of God. When I am dying,
give me the word of God. Minster to me. I plead with you. All who
have any access to me, give me the word of God.
5. Mind the Word of God
That is, obey it. This is part of the great commission. «Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you» (Matthew
28:19-20).
Right after saying that the word is more precious than gold and
sweeter than honey Psalm 19:11 says, «Moreover, by them is your
servant
warned; in keeping them there is great reward.» The word of
God is not a burden to those who love God. Here is the great test:
Do you love God? 1 John 5:3 puts the test plainly. «This is the
love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments
are not burdensome.»
This is my prayer for 2003, that we will
welcome the Bible as the word of God. That we will embrace it as
more precious than gold and more pleasant than honey and more
practical than all human wisdom. And as an expression of
that embrace and as a means to that embrace that we would memorize
it extensively, and meditate on it day and night, and make music
with it from our hearts, and minister with it to sustain each
other’s faith, and mind it without it being burdensome.
I close with this one last observation from the text. Paul said
in 1 Thessalonians 2:13, «We also constantly thank God that when
you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted
it not as the word of men.» He thanked God they embraced his
message as the word of God. That means we can add one more «M» to
our list of five. Embracing the Bible as the word of God is a
«mercy» from God. It is a merciful gift. And for that I pray.