Sunshine.................Psalm 119:135

I was struck by the verse... "make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your decrees". When I think about God and what it will be like to be in His presence I realize the brilliance that will be overwhelming. I guess I never thought of God's word as being "shiny" but it makes sense. He speaks to us through His word and the warmth I feel when I read the Bible sometimes is so peaceful and warm. How about you? Do you feel God's face shine upon you and how?

Time to Act.........Psalm 119:126

I just love it here that the psalmist is telling the Lord..."It is time for you to act, O Lord; your law is being broken." This is how I feel many times. Pleading with God to stop something that I see is going very wrong. What is He thinking just sitting there letting this whole situation go bad. Doesn't He see how bad this is going to turn out? I know that He can stop it. WHY is He just sitting there doing nothing!!! Frustration can turn to bitterness and anger or it can turn to see the incredible fullness of our God. I am convinced that God is in complete control of our situation and the best news is that He has our best interest in mind. Somehow I thought that after I moved out from my parents that then I could be in "control" of my life but in reality God is the only one who is really in control of anything. We just pretend that we are at times.... So when you are getting frustrated with God for not doing something you think that he should do just wait... you will see that his way is better than your way in the end...

Give me Understanding........Psalm 119:125

So many times when I am reading in the Bible it seems Greek to me. I just don't understand what God is trying to say in the verse. It seems funny that someone else can read the same verse and it means something very different and meaningful. I have also found as I do a second study on a verse or chapter of the Bible that I read and understand things that I have never seen before. This reminds me that God's word is living! It is so alive that I learn new things everytime that I read and study it. How lucky I am to have a God who has created such a wonderful book that it actually seems to change over time... (of course I know it is really ME who is changing but that is a good thing!)

My shield & My comfort...Psalm 119:114

"You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word". Once again the paslmist is talking about God's word and how it protects me from evildoers. It seems strange that "words" can protect me. In America, if we have a problem with evildoers we call "911" or get a security camera and service but in God's view there is a whole other level of protection that we have access to via God's word. Combating evil is something God has been doing for quite some time. Praying God's word is a great way to overcome evil. Remember that God has a whole legion of angels that are prepared and willing to help whenever and where ever we might be in trouble.

Lamp to my Feet......

This is a verse that is very familiar to us. Many children's programs learn this verse and it is also such a great visual of how God's word is a light to help us along the way. God does not want us to stumble but wants our path to be brilliant with light so that we are very sure of the way to go... Left or right or straight. I think that God's path is always clear if we are in his word and following his lead. I know that many times I have gone off into the bushes and it is very dark out there without the light of God's word. I guess that means that being in God's word is a way to make sure that the path is lit.

Smarty Pants... Psalm 119:97-104

Have you ever been in class when someone knows all the answers to the teacher's questions? As kids we of course called them Smarty Pants but as adults we either respect their answers or we call them a know-it-all. The Psalmist is speaking about just such a person here in the text... Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, have more insight than all my teachers, and more understanding than the elders. That is huge. It is amazing how much we can learn and know about life through reading and studying the Bible. God really does want us to be full of understanding and knowledge. He has written his book and all we have to do is read it and follow it. I pray that everyone reading this would know that God's words are sweeter than honey to our mouths!

Free at Last?.............Psalm 119:89-96

Free at last? How can following God's laws actually make me free? It seems that following laws would make us more restricted and narrower in our outlook. Our country has many laws that many people complain about espeically when they have broken them and get into trouble. So how can laws set me free?

Let me know what you think...

Waiting.............. Psalm 119:81-88

How many times a day do we have to wait for something... It could be the microwave popcorn, grocery store line, waiting to pump gas or waiting for our children or spouse or friend to get ready and get going. I think these are all ways that God helps us to wait on Him. He has a plan for our lives but I certainly would like to hurry it along sometimes. I guess the real questions is how do we handle the waiting... Do I complain, get angry, or frustrated when things are not in my timing.. Well I certainly know that when I have not met with God and done some searching of my soul that my fuse is much shorter... What to remember... God will preserve my life according to His love and I just need to obey the statutes of His mouth. Learning to wait on God is a real lesson in obedience.

Affliction.........................Psalm 119:65-72

It seems that the Psalmist has been afflicted which has turned out to be a good thing. He states in verse 67 that before he was afflicted that he went astray but now he keeps God's words. He even says in verse 71 that it is "good for me that I was afflicted". I must say that affliction is never easy when you are in it... It is hard to imagine I might "want" to be afflicted. I have not had any physical afflictions to date so I cannot imagine people who have chronic pain and the endless torture that they go through. Does anyone reading this blog have any comments about how "affliction" has been a good thing?

Psalm 119:49-56 Comfort

Oh how I love to be comfortable... There is nothing better than to sink down into a soft chair with the warm sun on my face and just relax and be comfortable. Wouldn't it be great if life was always that comfortable. Unfortunately, we have jobs, children, neighbors, disease, death to name a few to make us uncomfortable. It is easy to get into a pattern of just making our lives comfortable but I usually feel like something is about to happen when I start to feel comfortable. God might move us to another state, my husband may lose his job or we might have a death in the family. Verse 50 says "My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life." What a wonderful thing to remember when things big or small just are not going our way. Do you have comfort in God's promise to preserve your life for eternity?

Psalm 119:41-48 Freedom

I just love verse 45... I will walk about in freedom for I have sought out your precepts." As we are approaching the 4th of July holiday which celebrates our countries freedom, this verse reminds me that I am free of all the stress of the world because God is in control of everything. How freeing that thought is to anyone who knows Christ. I am thankful for my freedom.

Worthy or worthless?

As I am reading the verse about turning my eyes away from worthless things, I am reminded of the challenge we all face when we open our eyes in the morning. How many of the things that I have are worthy? It is nice to have "things" but are they "worthless" or "worthy". As I was downloading some childhood photos last month I was struck by my desire to skip over all the photos that were not of people. The photos of things and places were not very significant but the photo of my sister and I together made my heart swell with joy! The things I have will all pass away so please Lord help me to remember this today. You will preserve my life according to your word.

Give me understanding

Verse 34 says "Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart".. I think God must have quite a sense of humor when it comes to our understanding.. To think that He created all things and we humans spend our whole lives just trying to understand what he was able to create in 7 days... Pretty amazing to realize how little we know.

I sure feel like I do not understand many things that happen to me on a daily basis. Relationships are right up there when it comes to "miss" understanding. Why did God wire men and women so differently but want them to live together in harmony in the same house? I guess so we will always depend on Him for understanding. Thanks to the bible we see that ALL humans throughout history have struggled with the same issues and no one has quite figured out the formula for a completely successful human relationship. Like I said, I think God has a great sense of humor...

Paths

"I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free".... Running in the path of any trail can be tricky. Since I am a runner there have been many times when the running path is a huge puddle, full of blackberry thornes, or has hidden roots which make me trip bu how different the path of God's commands. They are pure and clear of all distractions there is nothing there to trip me up. It does not always seem clear to me when I first try to read the commands but after time with the Lord he will usually always reveal the truth that he wants me to know. What a benefit to have my heart set free.. Free from all the pains, doubts and sorrows of this world. God is good he provides so much more than we need.

Stranger on Earth

Are you a stranger on earth? What does this mean to you? This is where we are born and raised and have a life, isn't it? Do we know any other life? Have we gone somewhere else to know another life?

Jesus promises another life in another kingdom. When Jesus is talking to Pilate in John 18:36 Jesus says, "My kingdom is not of this world....But now my kingdom is from another place". So we do have promise of another kingdom outside of this earth that we know will be much better than this present kingdom. What a wonderful promise to remember when times get tough. Life here on earth is temporary and worthy of living but WATCH out something much better is on it's way.... I can't wait!

Are you discouraged about your current situation? Remember this life will be over in a blink of an eye and if you know Jesus as your personal Savior then He has promised you that you will be with him in paradise...

Please feel free to share your comments and thoughts on the study. I love to read how others are being changed by the study of Psalm 119...

Have a great day-

Liz

HIdden Your Word in my Heart

In verse 11, he talks about "I have hidden your word in my heart" which is really handy when you are not around a Bible but you want to tell myself or someone else a verse from the Bible. Why is it that children have an easier time learning and storing God's Word in their hearts than adults. The is speaking for myself mostly but I don know others who have similiar stuggles.

How wonderful it is though when we do remember a verse or concept that God has placed on our hearts and minds and it helps us through a rough time in life. Verses 14-16 give us the emotion of rejoice, meditate and delight which are all such positive words to help us through this thing we call life.

God's Word

Today we read about those who are blessed because they are blameless. I wish it was so with me. The process should be simple- follow God's laws and then you will be blameless but how different it is to follow them all day, every day for the rest of our lives. Thank the Lord for his grace.

God's laws are perfect and he his faithful to keep his part in the deal of life. I love the last verse in the stanza verse 8... I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me. God knows that we will fail again and again but he will always be there to pick up the pieces in his loving and understanding ways.

Let's strive to finish the race with all that we have and be willing to accept our faults and shortcomings just as God accepts us just as we are....

How it is going to work...

Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm in the bible so we have lots to cover this summer. We will be breaking it up by stanzas. We will we covering about 16 verses a week. This is how the schedule turns out...

Week verses
June 1 1-16
June 8 17-32
June 15 33-48
June 22 49-64
June 29 65-80
July 6 81-96
July 13 97-112
July 20 113-128
July 27 129-144
Aug. 3 145-152
Aug. 10 161-176

Quite a schedule but worthy of our study.... We will be starting the study on June 1st which is next week so be ready to jump in and learn more about God.

Welcome to the summer study of Psalm 119

Hello-

I wanted to invite you all to study the Bible this summer without the worry about your summer schedule. With technology advances we can meet not once a week but every day this summer whenever you are free by just giving some insight about how Psalm 119 is changing your life.

My prayer is that we would all read the passages daily and see how God uses them to change our lives.

I am very excited about this "new" way of fellowship and pray that you will consider joining me on this journey!

Blessings-

Liz