The word of the day from god

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
³ He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
⁴ The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
⁶ For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.

If this is Prayer Week, why do we begin with a message on Psalm 1 that doesn’t mention prayer, and focus our attention on the Word of God and not prayer? The central point of this psalm is made in
verse 2: «But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.» The person who delights in God’s law so much that he meditates on it day and night is delivered from the ways of the wicked and sinners and scoffers, and is made fruitful and durable and prosperous. That’s the point. Delighting in the law of God is the central issue. So why begin Prayer Week with this psalm and this focus on delighting in the law of God?

Well, where is this psalm? It is the beginning of the book of Psalms. And what are the psalms? Many of them are prayers. In fact, the Psalter is the prayer book of the Bible. Millions of Christians go to the Psalms to find words for the cry of their hearts in the worst of times and the best of times. So I begin Prayer Week with Psalm 1 because the Bible begins its prayer book with Psalm 1.

But why does it? And why should we? The reason is that in the Christian life -in the life of God’s people — prayer and the Word are connected in such a way that if you disconnect them, both die. Let me sum up the connection between prayer and the Word in three ways. The Word of God inspires prayer, it informs prayer and it incarnates prayer. Just a word of explanation on each of these.

Connection Between the Word and Prayer

The Word of God inspires prayer. This means that the Word commands us to pray, and makes promises to us of what God will do if we pray, and tells us stories of great men and women of prayer. James 5:16-18 does all three. First, «Pray for one another so that you may be healed.» There’s a command from the Word. Second, «The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.» There is the encouraging promise. Third, «Elijah was a man with a nature
like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.» There’s a story to inspire us. So the Word inspires prayer by telling us to
do it (like a doctor telling us what’s good for us) and promising us good things if we will do it, and telling us stories to encourage us in our weakness.

Second, the Word of God informs prayer. This means that the Word tells us what to pray and becomes itself the content of our prayer. When you know the mind of God in his Word, you pray the mind of God in your prayers. For example, in Acts 4:24-26, the early church prayed like this: «They lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, «O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them [see Exodus 20:11], who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David your servant, said [quoting Psalm 2], ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and
the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.'» This is the way powerful saints have prayed throughout history. O may the Lord fill our payers with the great purposes and promises of God that we learn from his Word. The Word informs
prayer.

Third, the Word incarnates prayer. This means that prayers are often invisible and concealed in the soul and in the closet and in the church. But their effect is to be in the open in the lives of other people and among the nations. How does that happen? God
usually advances his purposes in world evangelization and personal transformation and cultural reformation by direct encounters with the truth of his Word. The Word incarnates our prayers. Prayers become effective through the truth getting into people’s ears and minds and hearts.

People don’t just start believing on Jesus because you pray for them. They need to hear about Jesus. «How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?» (Romans 10:14). «Pray for us that the Word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you» (2 Thessalonians 3:1). Prayer empowers the Word and the Word incarnates prayer. Saints don’t just become more holy because someone prays that they will. They need to see the truth: «Sanctify them in the truth. Thy Word is truth» (John 17:17). Cultural slavery to injustice and greed and dishonesty and sexual immorality does not just change because we pray for it. The agent of reformation is the truth: «You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free» (John 8:32). Prayer must be incarnated in declarations and demonstrations of the truth.

That’s probably enough to explain why we begin Prayer Week with a text on the Word of God. The Word inspires, informs and incarnates prayer. They go together, because Word and Spirit go together. Word without Spirit is intellectualism. Spirit without Word is emotionalism at best, and probably syncretism. But the Word and the Spirit are kept together when we depend on the Spirit for help in all our dealing with the Word, and express that dependence
in prayer.

The Blessing of Delighting in God’s Word

Now let’s consider Psalm 1 and focus on delighting in and meditating on the Word of God. First, let’s think about the blessing that comes from delighting in and meditating on the Word
day and night. The Psalm begins, «How blessed is the man. . .» So you are drawn in right away: do you want blessing in your life? The word means «happy» in the rich, full sense of happiness rooted in moral and mental and physical wellbeing.

But now who is this happy person? The one who does not do something and the one who does do something. The happy person does not «walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!» (verse 1). But what does the happy person do? Verse 2: «But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.» So, instead of finding his pleasures in the words or the ways or the fellowship of the wicked, the one who is truly happy finds pleasure in meditating on the Word and the ways of God. («Law,» Torah, = instruction: God’s Words about God’s ways.)

Now the point of the psalm is to say that when you experience the Word of God like that — as so delightful and so satisfying that it captures your mind and heart day and night and weans you away from the counsel and path and seat of the world -when you experience the Word like that, you are blessed. You are happy.

The Person Who Delights in the Word of God

Then, in verse 3, it gives us three illustrations of that happiness. The first one is that the person who delights in the Word of God and meditates on it day and night will be «like a tree
firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season.» The second one is that the person who delights in the Word of God and meditates on it day and night will be like a tree whose «leaf does not wither.» And the third is that the person who delights in the Word of God and meditates on it day and night «will prosper in all that he does.»

Let’s think about each of these for a moment.

1. Fruitful

If you delight in the Word of God and meditate on it day and night you will yield your fruit in season. You will be a fruitful person. O for more fruitful people! You know them. They are
refreshing and nourishing to be around. You go away from them fed. You go away strengthened. You go away with your taste for spiritual things awakened. Their mouth is a fountain of life. Their words are healing and convicting and encouraging and deepening and enlightening. Being around them is like a meal. This is the effect of delighting in the Word of God and meditating on it day and night. You will yield fruit in season.

2. Durable

The second illustration of your blessing if you delight in the Word of God and meditate on it day and night is that your leaf does not wither. The point here is that the hot winds are blowing and the rain is not falling and all the other trees that are not planted by streams are withering and dying, but in spite of all the heat and drought, your leaf remains green, because delighting in
the Word of God and meditating on it day and night is like being planted by a stream. The happiness of this person is durable. It is deep. It does not depend on which way the wind is blowing or whether the rain is falling. It gets its life from an absolutely changeless source: God in his Word.

The person who delights in the Word of God and meditates on it day and night speaks like the prophet in Habakkuk 3:17-18: «Though the fig tree do not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.»

(A Thought on Y2K)

This might be a place to say a word about the Y2K scare. Do you want a prophetic word about Y2K? I have two prophetic words about Y2K. First, the greatest need on January 1, 2000, will not be basements stocked with food and water and generators, but hearts stocked with the Word of God. You will be fruitful, you will flourish, you will be life-giving not by seeking the very things the world seeks (Matthew 6:32), but by delighting in the Word of God and meditating on it day and night. What the world will need and does need from the church is the Word of God that fits us to say, «Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . .. In all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us» (Romans 8:35-37).

The other prophetic word about Y2K is this: Nothing is going to happen on January 1, 2000, nothing, that is as bad as what is already happening to persecuted and starving Christians in Sudan. Or to the staggering number of orphans in Malawi and other AIDS-devastated countries of Africa. Or to survivors in Honduras and Nicaragua. Or to lonely, dying old people in dozens of skilled care centers around the Twin Cities who have outlived their families. There is something that smells of hypocrisy in the talk about stockpiling supplies in our homes to «minister» to others in the coming Y2K crisis when there are more places to minister this very day that are worse crises than anything that is going to happen a year from now. Y2K will happen to someone every day in 1999 — many of them within your reach.* Delight yourself in the Word of God, meditate on it day and night, and then take the fruit of your life and go minister to the lost and the hungry and the thirsty that are already so many. Then you won’t even notice when Y2K happens.

3. Prospering (Really?)

3. But now that leads to the question raised by the third illustration of blessing and happiness in verse 3. «And in whatever he does, he prospers.» Really? What does this mean? Does it mean that, if you delight in the Word of God and meditate enough, your business will make a big profit and your health will always be good and there will be no food shortages or car accidents or violence against your house?

Well, there are some reasons to believe that such a person will have some of those blessings. For example, when you delight in God’s Word instead of walking in the counsel of the wicked and standing in the way of sinners and sitting in the seat of scoffers, you will be doing the kinds of things that God approves of, and he is likely to bless what he approves. And when you are delighting in the Word of God, you are trusting it, and we know God works for those who trust him and wait for him (Isaiah 64:4; 2 Chronicles 16:9).

But there are reasons to believe that God does not always spare his most faithful people. There are many passages of Scripture that tell us «many are the afflictions of the righteous» (Psalm 34:19; cf. Acts 14:22). Psalm 73 expresses the reality that often the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. The answer of that Psalm and this one is: Behold what becomes of them in the end (Psalm 73:17).

Psalm 1 says, «The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will
perish» (verses 4-5). When this Psalm ponders the value of being wicked or of delighting in the Word of God, it measures the value finally by what happens at the judgment. There may be some prosperity in this life for the wicked, but in the end they will be swept away like chaff, but those who have delighted in the Word of God will go on flourishing because God sets his eye and favor on them. He «knows» their way.

So the blessing, the happiness, referred to in verse 1 is a life that is nourishing and fruitful for others, a life that is deeply durable in the face of drought and a life whose «labor is not in
vain» (1 Corinthians 15:58), but succeeds in God’s good purposes into eternity. That’s the blessing of delighting in the Word of God and meditating on it day and night.

What Is Meditation?

Now what does this meditation involve? The word «meditation» in Hebrew means basically to speak or to mutter. When this is done in the heart it is called musing or meditation. So meditating on the Word of God day and night means to speak to yourself the Word of God day and night and to speak to yourself about it.

Here is where I plead with you to get involved in the Fighter Verse memory program or some other pattern of Bible memorization. Unless you memorize Scripture you will not meditate on it day and night. But O the benefits and delights of knowing communion with God hour by hour in his Word. If you have ever wondered, What is hour-by-hour walking in fellowship with the living God? the answer is: it is his speaking to you by his Word through your memory and meditation and illumination and application and your speaking to him words of thanks and praise and admiration and desire and seeking for help and guidance and understanding. The Word is the
basis for your hearing him and for his hearing you. The depth and solidity and certainty of your walk with God and your communion with God will rise and fall with whether God’s own written Word is the warp and woof of the fabric of your fellowship.

Let me just give you an example of how this works in my own life. As I was coming to the end of the year and reading the final pages of the Old Testament in the Minor Prophets, I was moved by Micah 7:18. It is the foundation of a favorite hymn of mine, «Who Is a Pardoning God Like Thee?» by Samuel Davies. So I memorized it and carried it around on the front burner of my mind for several days. It says, «Who is a God like thee, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love.»

One of the insights that I discovered and tasted with tremendous pleasure was that God does choose to be angry, but his anger is limited. Why? Because he «delights in steadfast love.» This means that anger is not God’s favorite emotion. He «delights» in love. This has huge implications — practical ones -about my life and my own anger and love as I rest in him. And theological ones, as I ponder the levels of willing in God: willing to be angry in his holiness at sin, and yet not delighting to be angry the way he delights to show steadfast love. I was fed by this text for several days before I moved on to another front-burner text.

So I urge you to memorize Scripture, and meditate on it day and night. It will change your life in many good ways.

What if Meditation and Prayer are Drudgery?

Finally, we must ask about this delight. The deepest mark of this happy person in Psalm 1 is that he delights in the Word of God (verse 2). Bible reading and Bible memory and meditation are not a burden to him, but a pleasure. This is what we want. What a sadness when Bible reading is just a drudgery. Something is wrong.

What shall we do? Well, we will say more next week, but let’s close considering this. We struggle with Bible reading and memory and meditation because we don’t find pleasure in it. We have other things we want to get to more. TV or breakfast or work or newspaper or computer. Our hearts incline to other things and do not incline to the Word. And so it is not a delight.

Did the psalmists ever struggle with this? Yes they did. Take heart. We all do. How shall this be changed? This is Prayer Week, and so the answer we will stress is that it is changed through
prayer. This is what I will focus on next week. We must pray for God’s enabling to help us delight in his Word. This will be clear from the way the psalmists pray. I hope you will come back and hear the help that the psalmists give us not only to pray without ceasing, but to do it with delight.

Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4 tells us, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” What exactly did Yahshua or Jesus Christ mean by that statement? What does it mean to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God?

In this Bible study in the form of a blog, let us take a deeper look at what it really means to live a life by every word of God. Let me share with you 5 effective ways on how you can live by every Word of God.

A background to Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4

Jesus just finished fasting for forty days and forty nights. Matthew 4:2 tells us, that “He was hungry.” Obviously, this is like a simplified statement. Imagine not eating food and drinking water for forty days and forty nights!

Jesus was on the brink of death. Physical exhaustion and extreme hunger sucked the life out of Christ’s body.

This is where the greatest duel of all time happened. It is the battle between Jesus and Satan – the perfect epitome of the fight between good and evil, right and wrong. With Jesus’ great hunger, Satan seized the golden opportunity and tempted Christ with food.

Satan said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” The Devil is testing Christ. He is challenging the authority of the very Son of God. No temptation could have been more plausible than asking Christ to turn a stone, which abundantly lies around them, into bread.

Here we read the powerful and perfect response of Jesus. He said, “Man shall NOT live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Jesus was quick to pull out the spiritual sword of God, which is His Word, to battle His enemy, Satan.

Now, let us examine what it means to live a life according to God’s word.

1. Living by God’s word means to humble yourself

Christ’s answer is a direct quotation of Deuteronomy 8:3. The whole eighth chapter of Deuteronomy is about Moses instructing the nation of Israel to remember the Eternal their God.

We read:

“SO HE HUMBLED YOU, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

From this verse, we can read that if you want to live by God’s word, you need to first humble yourself. If you are not humble, God will first need to humble you through trials and hardships. He will test and humble you before He can use you for His purpose.

Why is humility so important? Because humility is required for complete submission to God. You can’t live by every word of God if you are full of yourself. You can’t live by every word of God if you are filled with pride, arrogance, and conceit.

Humbling yourself does not necessarily mean thinking less of yourself. It is the recognition that you are nothing without God. It is the ability to see the awesomeness, majesty, and power of God and yet, He is loving and caring at the same time.

Sometimes, God allows us to be hungry so that He can “feed you with manna.” We need to first humble ourselves so God “will lift [us] up” (James 4:10).

2. Living by God’s word means believing His word

You can’t live by God’s word if you don’t believe it in the first place. Sadly, some people think that they can be Christians by accepting some parts of the Bible while rejecting other parts of it. Some people believe the New Testament while rejecting the Old Testament. Some people observe two or three commandments while dismissing the others. Some believe the theory of Evolution while still call themselves Christians.

Isn’t it foolish to believe in a God when at the back of your mind you consider parts of the Bible, His very word, as myths, fictional, and just desperate ways of men to explain their experiences?

The Bible is very clear when it says:

“ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (II Timothy 3:16).

Thus, the Apostle Paul mentioned that ALL scripture – no exception – is given by inspiration of God. The word ‘inspiration’ here literally means, God-breathed. If you want to live by God’s word, you can’t be just selective in which portion of the Bible you believe. It is either all or nothing. You can either call God a liar or accept His word as factual, accurate, or perfect. There’s no middle ground.

3. Living by God’s word means to follow His commandments

While the first step to following God is to believe in Him, it is not enough. You need to translate your belief into action. Living faith is a TRANSFORMATIONAL faith. It does not just change our thinking, but it also changes our words and actions. IT CHANGES WHO WE ARE.

If you aim to live by God’s word, it is not enough to just believe what God says. It is NOT sufficient to admire the nobleness and perfection of God’s word. No, that’s just playing Christianity. Living by God’s word is not a passive state of life, but it is ACTIVE, DYNAMIC, and ENERGETIC.

Living by God’s word demands following His commandments. After telling the Israelites to remember God and to understand the importance of His words, Moses instructed them to “keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him” (Deuteronomy 8:6).

God is saying here that we must follow His commandments if we want to live by His word. Learning God’s expectation from us, His will in our lives, and the purpose of our existence should behoove us to follow His instructions.

4. Living by God’s word means to recognize that God is our ultimate Provider

Jesus said that “man shall not live by bread alone.” It means that there is more to life than food. Jesus later instructs us “not [to] worry about [our] life, what [we] will eat or what [we] will drink; nor about [our] body, what [we] will put on.” He continued by asking the question, “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing” (Matthew 6:25)? Instead of worrying about our physical needs, Christ made a compelling, yet unpopular statement. He said, “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (verse 33).

One of the primary concerns of people is food. When it comes to following God, they fear that they might lose their jobs, displease other people, and eventually lose the ability to provide for their own needs. BUT LIVING BY GOD’S WORD DEMANDS US TO HAVE FAITH – to entrust God our lives and believe that He will provide all our needs as long as we seek first His kingdom.

For forty days and forty nights, Jesus did not rely on physical food for His sustenance. He recognized that God can provide more than just what our physical body demands. He knew that if we are to survive, we also must partake of the spiritual food that only God can provide.

Make no mistake about it: God can and is more than willing to support us every step of our Christian journey.

5. Living by God’s word means seeking His will in our lives

“The carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). Naturally, we want to seek our own good. We want to be a “god” of ourselves. We don’t want God telling us what to do. We don’t want anyone to “limit” us or curtail our “freedom.” However, if we really want to live by God’s word, we must submit our lives to Him and follow His commandments.

We can’t simply read God’s word and just select those things that are convenient to us. We can’t also say, “God, you know, I believe in you, but I can’t do what you require me to do.” It never worked that way. Our faith should manifest in our thoughts, words, and actions.

If we are to live by God’s word, we need to surrender our will, make God our priority, and put Him first in everything we do. Whatever it is that God commands us to do, we can have the assurance that it is for our ultimate good.

Final words

Living by every word that proceeds out from the mouth of God is not easy. It is tough and challenging. However, it comes with GREAT rewards – rewards for both today and for the life to come. At the end of the day, living by God’s word is the best way to live this life. God’s word is perfect, and you can’t improve something that is already perfect.

So decide today to live by every word of God. Endure until the end because when you reach the top, you can look down and say, “It’s all worth it.”