Read 2 Kings 1, Amos 9, and Psalm 119:89-120.
This devotional is about Psalm 119:89-120
We are tempted on a regular basis to move our confidence from God’s word to something else.
- We face this temptation when we want to sin. We know God’s word commands us not to lie, for instance, but sometimes lying feels like an easy way out of a difficult situation. So if we lie anyway, it is because we have more confidence in our ability to deceive than we do in God’s word.
- We face this temptation in society, too. We know God’s word tells us that homosexuality is sinful. But society says that “love is love.” So we are tempted to make concessions to the ways of the world. If two men enter into a covenant and are faithful to each other, then–we reason, despite God’s commands–that their relationship isn’t really sinful or isn’t that sinful.
These are just two examples of the ways in which we look for exceptions to God’s commands or reason that our disobedience to them isn’t as bad as it seems.
But God’s word “is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (v. 89). So its commands are not outdated and because it “stands firm,” it cannot be bent or molded by men.
What happens, then, to the person who tries to pick and choose which of God’s commands he will live by? Verse 92 says that pain and disaster await for that person–“If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.”
What happens to the person who loves and obey’s God’s word? That person is “wiser than my enemies” (v. 98b), has “more insight than all my teachers” (v. 99a)and “more understanding than the elders” (v. 100a). Further, that person can say, “I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path” (v. 104).
All of these benefits come from making God’s word your “delight” (v. 92a) so that you have “sought out your precepts” (v. 93), “ponder your statutes” (v. 95b), and “meditate on your statutes” (v. 99b).
When we love other sources of information–our own thoughts, accepted wisdom from our culture, other books or religions, we will go astray from the Lord and there will be a cost. When we are confident in God’s word and seek to know and understand it, then we will be faithful to the Lord and blessed in our lives with him.