Psalm 119 - Mem
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Psalm 119:97-104 READ LATER!!
Church members like to hide the fact that they struggle with sin.
I understand this, of course, we don’t want to air our dirty laundry!
But when a christian has come to me and confessed that they struggle in a particular area of their life I have been able to give them some counsel that helped me more than anything else I have been given.
I love these charts that I had made.
I took the verses from the book by Dr. John Goetch “What’s on Your Mind?” and mad this chart of 82 sins to put off, and the right thing from God’s Word to replace it, or to put on.
If we are ever going to be successful against our besetting sins it is going to be through this action of putting off and putting on.
But it’s not really one simple action, it is a series of actions which include reading God’s Word, studying God’s Word, Memorizing God’s Word and Meditating on God’s Word.
This thirteenth section of Psalm 119, labeled “Mem” deals with that last action, “Meditating on God’s Word”.
Of course for every good thing that God presents us the devil has his twisted counter.
The new age idea of meditation is emptying your mind of everything and only focusing on your breathing, or something else inside yourself.
God’s true meditation is the filling of your mind with one particular scripture, or biblical thought.
The benefits and blessings of meditating on God’s Word is innumerable, but the Psalmist here gives us six Invaluable Blessings of Meditating on God’s Word.
Let’s take a look at Psalm 119:97-104
97 MEM. O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: For they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: For thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep thy precepts.
101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, That I might keep thy word.
102 I have not departed from thy judgments: For thou hast taught me.
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: Therefore I hate every false way.
What are the blessings of Meditating on Scripture, first we see in verse 97 it is:
I. A Love for the Bible
I. A Love for the Bible
97 MEM. O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
Our sinful nature does not naturally love the Word of God, even as Christians it is not our natural state to love God’s Word.
When you really focus on a passage or verse of Scripture, the Holy Spirit really makes it come alive.
You begin to see applications of that verse to different areas of your life.
As a result you truly fall in love with the Word of God.
Unfortunately, recent research reveals that is not an isolated occurrence. In a recent study done by Lifeway, 90% of churchgoers agreed with the statement “I desire to please and honor Jesus in all I do”. And 59% percent agreed with the statement “Throughout the day I find myself thinking about Biblical truths”. However, when asked about how often they personally read their Bibles outside a church service, only 19% replied “every day” while 40% read their Bibles once a month or less.
So essentially what the majority of churchgoers here in the United States are saying is this:
I love God, I just don’t love His Word
When asked why they don’t read their Bibles more, over a third of the people couldn’t give a reason. But among those who did, over a quarter said they don’t prioritize it, 15% said they don’t have time, and 13% said they have read enough of it.
The truth is you will grow in love with what you spend time with.
The more you spend time with your spouse the more you love them.
The more time you spend with a close friend, the more you will love them.
Now it has to be the right kind of time, it has to be purposeful and right time.
Just as you can’t just carry around the Bible and expect to fall in love with it.
You have to open it, study it, and especially purposefully think about it.
The Psalmist said, O how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
Next the Psalmist gives us the second blessing of meditating on God’s Word:
II. Wisdom
II. Wisdom
98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: For they are ever with me.
He said in the last verse that God’s Word is his meditation all the day, then he turns and says through thy commandments made him wiser than his enemies.
We see that God’s Word gives us wisdom.
My favorite definition of wisdom is - Seeing life and life circumstances from God’s point of view.
When we meditate on God’s Words, we begin to see things from God’s perspective.
We don’t see things the way God does.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.
A story is told about a man who found out it was his time to go to Heaven.
He asked the Lord if he could bring just one thing. The Lord said, “No”. Finally after many requests the Lord said, “You can bring one thing.”
Happily, the man packed his suitcase full of gold.
When he arrived in Heaven the angels said, “Sorry you can’t bring that in here.”
He said, “The Lord said I could.”
“Okay,” they said. “By the way, what’s in there anyway?”
The man opened the bag, and they looked in. Then an angel said, “Oh... It’s ...pavement.”
Oh how we need wisdom as we live this life below!
Let’s ask God for it and begin meditating on the wisdom he has already given us…The Word of God!
Oh the many Blessing sof Meditation on God’s Word!
A Love for the Bible
Wisdom from Above!
and thirdly...
III. Understanding
III. Understanding
You say, “Isn’t that the same as wisdom?”
No, some have defined wisdom as the correct application of knowledge.
Knowledge, of course, being what I know.
But Understanding is the ability to translate the meaning from the facts - or to understand the things I know.
Here the Bible says in verse 99 and 100,
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: For thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep thy precepts.
Verse 99 is the favorite of students everywhere.
However, it’s not a arrogant or rebellious notion, it is the realization that what is being taught is against the Bible, and therefore the person who meditates on scripture understands more than their teacher.
A prime example of this is the teacher who teaches Evolution as fact.
The Word of God is clear that the earth was formed by our Creator.
Meditation on the Word of God will give you the ability to discern fact from fiction!
The Psalmist looked at those around him at the elders in his community and saw them veer away from God’s Word, but because he studied, and meditated on the Truth, He could see that He kept God’s Precepts.
By meditating on God’s Word, we gain a real love for the Bible, we gain wisdom and understanding, then the fourth blessing is:
IV. Right Living
IV. Right Living
101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, That I might keep thy word.
102 I have not departed from thy judgments: For thou hast taught me.
The Psalmist has refrained from the evil way, Why…so that he can keep God’s Word.
When we keep God’s Word forefront in our minds we will be able to refrain from every evil way and keep ourselves from departing from God’s judgments.
We are able to do this because God has taught us through His Word.
As I mentioned earlier, When we meditate on God’s Word we give the Holy Spirit a chance to teach us.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
20 Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.
The Holy Spirit is our Teacher.
We learn what to say, what to do, how to act through His Word.
We just have to put down the remote, pick up and open the Word of God, find a verse or passage that speaks to us and write it down, take it with us and meditate on it.
The Holy Spirit will take that thought and teach us how to use it to refrain from the wrong and follow after the right!
The Hebrew word translated "meditate" speaks of what a cow does after grazing all day. As she chews the cud over and over again, she extracts every nutrient. In other words, to meditate means to ponder a section of the Word day and night, extracting more from its inexhaustible supply each time.
It is an endless supply of nutrients for our souls.
My wife makes bone broth from cow bones that Cathy gives her from her sister and brother in law. It is a very nutritious broth, and they say that you can boil the bones up to 10 times and still get nutrients from them.
God’s Word can be boiled over forever and still get more from it.
What a waste of an opportunity just to throw away bones of the Word of God after just a cursory eating of the flesh around it through reading.
Meditation will help you Love the Word more, It will give you Wisdom and Understanding, it will help you Live Right.
Now verse 103 gives us a third blessing of meditation, maybe similar to the first, but different still: Meditating on Scripture will bring the Blessing of the
V. Enjoyment of Scripture
V. Enjoyment of Scripture
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
When we Love the Word that we have meditated on, gained wisdom and understanding and realize that it has kept us from doing wrong we truly enjoy our time in God’s Word.
How sweet are thy words!
I love the scripture song from Psalm 19:
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: And in keeping of them there is great reward.
How sweet it is to walk with the Lord, and to Meditate on his Word!
Then lastly, the 6th Blessing of Meditating on God’s Word is it will help us in:
VI. Despising Evil
VI. Despising Evil
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: Therefore I hate every false way.
We saw earlier that we gain understanding through God’s Word, but what is the result?
We hate ever false way!
But we are not supposed to hate!
We are not to hate people, we are to love them, even our enemies.
But we are to hate evil, just as God by His perfect example hates evil.
13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, And the froward mouth, do I hate.
10 Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of his saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
When we mediate on scripture we see evil, every false way, as what it is…a device of Satan to destroy the lives of men around us.
Through God’s Precepts we receive the understanding of what is right and what is wrong.
If we really understood the benefits and blessings of meditating on God’s Word we would alter our lives to incorporate it.
It is something that can be done while we do other things throughout the day, but having a dedicated time to just stop everything and fill our minds with one thought, one verse, one passage…we would see great value in blocking off that time.
The story goes that Henry Ford once hired an efficiency expert to evaluate his company. After a few weeks, the expert made his report, which was highly favorable except for one thing.
"It's that man down the hall," said the expert. "Every time I go by his office he's just sitting there with his feet on his deck. He's wasting your money."
"That man," replied Mr. Ford, "once had an idea that saved us millions of dollars. At the time, I believe his feet were planted right where they are now."
We may think that there are more profitable ways to serve the Lord than to stop everything and meditate on God’s Word, but nothing will save us more than to do just that!