Holy Uprising - Tue Mar 2

The First Psalm and the Life Giving power of the Word:

1 Blessed is the man

who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners

or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!

They are like chaff

that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Hmmm, what is delightful? I find myself 'delighting' in different things. I delight in trips with my family that are full of adventure; Fall days in the hill country spent all alone; watching my kids athletics; peanut butter on almost anything.

Why do I not always delight in God's Truth? What's wrong with me? Do I really not love God?

How about you . . . Who or what do you delight in?

Man, I think sometimes I forgot the point of delighting in God's Word. It's to know Jesus. And the psalmist says that it brings blessing!

There's real live fruit to life when I acknowledge my need of Jesus and seek to know Him through the Word. I so desire to want what He wants for my life.

Mark Batterson said this recently in a blog post:

Ultimately, God wants to sanctify your desires so you want what He wants. . . . But most desires start out as disciplines. And if you discipline yourself long enough, the discipline becomes a desire. I think the goal for all spiritual disciplines is that they would become spiritual desires.

I think the best analogy is the physical disciplines that result in physical health. Going to the gym starts out as a discipline, but if you keep going it becomes a desire. If you get out of the habit, it goes back to being a discipline again. That is the way spiritual health works. You don't always feel like reading the Bible, and that's when it's a spiritual discipline. But if you keep reading, it'll become a spiritual desire again. Then, if you get out of the habit, you've got to make it a discipline again.

I love the resolve in Psalm 119:16: "I will not neglect your word."

You can't read Psalm 119 and come to any other conclusion than this: the Psalmist loves the word. He delights in the word. He desires the word. But part of that desire is buried in this discipline: "I will not neglect your word."

Be a tree by living water. Ask Jesus today to give you His desire, and ask Him to speak as you open His Word.