On The Journey–He!

Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes,
And I shall keep it to the end.

Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law;
Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.

Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
And not to covetousness.

Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,
And revive me in Your way.

Establish Your word to Your servant,
Who is devoted to fearing You.

Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your judgments are good.

Behold, I long for Your precepts;
Revive me in Your righteousness. 119:33-40 NKJV

The fifth letter and the fifth segment is demanding, commanding or imploring–with seven of the eight verses beginning with a verb. The implied subject (from the English educator) is “You” and in this case, the Psalmist is talking to God.

Teach, give, make, incline, turn, establish–all designed to let us know, the writer was serious about what they needed and their understanding of what they needed to do.

Teach me–and I shall keep it until the end. For most of us, if we are taught something thoroughly and if our comprehension is not hindered, we remember what we have been taught. There’s a saying that everything we ever needed in life, we learned in kindergarten. And if we take the time to think about all we learned in a kindergarten class, we realize this is true–not just from an academic position, but with socializing as well. Have we forgotten our alphabet or how to count or our colors? Have we forgotten how to say, “thank you” and “please?” Have we forgotten (in this country) to always move to the right?”

Teaching, however is more than just presenting information, it requires application, and analysis, and synthesis–ability to strategically see the concept and principle at work in more than one venue.

Give me understanding–again whenever we are taught anything, if we cannot comprehend what has been taught, we have not learned anything.

And sometimes, we have to be made to work on what we have learned–homework comes to mind. Do we practice what we have learned on a consistent basis?

Create a desire–incline my heart–in me to appreciate the testimonies of others without allowing me become jealous and covet what You have done for others.

Turn my eyes away from things that don’t matter and keep my focus on learning of You. Have we asked God to turn us from seeing, greed, manipulation, deception, the desire to impress others when we have nothing by which to impress them?

Establish your word–cause what you are teaching me to take deep root in my spirit and soul so I’ll never forget who You are and how much you love. Do we have reverential fear of God? Do we want His Word so deeply rooted in us that even thinking about doing wrong, brings conviction?

And when I have fallen short, don’t let my shortcomings be exposed to others, but judge me according to Your righteous judgment. Is this our attitude when we’ve messed up or do we always blame someone else for those things we do  that cause us shame?

Look at me God! I long for your principles and want only to live according to Your righteousness! Do we long to keep God’s principles in place in every area of our lives? Do we even understand them to keep them?

From everything we see on the news, it is obvious that many have either never understood His principles or they have forgotten them, since there is little evidence that they are being applied to our daily lives. Do we treat others the way we want to be treated? If that was true, lives would not be lost on a daily basis.

It’s time to re-think our actions and meditate on God’s Word so we can see change in the new year–making it better than the last!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Consider The Cost To Avoid Defeat!

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:28-31 NIV)

The word “budget” for many seems to be a dirty word, but unless people are willing to consider the cost–of doing anything–before doing it, the end result could be disastrous. This is true for families, communities, local governments, the federal government and of churches. In order for there to be resources flowing out–there must be incoming resources. When expenses are greater than income–frustration rises and trouble and discord reign. We can see this with our governments all over the land.

Within the church and other non-profit organizations, many people do not realize–unless they are in charge of the finances–just how important a budget is. Since a number of churches are a resource to the communities in which they conduct business, they often expend far more than they receive from the membership of their organization. Whenever there is no policy or criteria by which a person is considered for consideration, the word gets out–and everyone who doesn’t want to work for a living or to provide for themselves comes knocking on the door–for a hand-out.

There is a reason for churches and other non-profit organizations obtaining and retaining a tax-exempt status. Most exist because of donations, volunteerism and they benefit more people than they have people contributing to their cause. However, at some point–if they are not careful about spending habits–they will cease to exist. We see this with schools, churches, and other organizations who had a good idea, but it was not a God-idea–because His principles were not used to either establish it or maintain it.

Welfare-mentality–always seeking a hand-out and never contributing to the source has become a way of life for many people and when they can’t get what they want, they get angry and start vicious rumors–never understanding they are not entitled to anything to which they have never contributed. This is why I fail to understand why there are some who feel–Social Security Benefits for those who have worked and contributed to the fund–is an entitlement program. Well, in one sense I suppose it is--I contributed to the fund through every job I ever had and now, I’m entitled to receive the benefits of my contribution. The reason the Social Security program is in danger is because of all those people who received the benefits through supplementary income criteria–from the Social Security pool of funds–and they never contributed to the fund! Someone–along the way–never considered the cost and now those who did contribute–are at risk.

“Wisdom is the principal thing and with all of our getting, we need to get understanding.” When we learn to exercise Godly principles in every area of our lives, we can avoid being defeated by anything that confronts, but we must always consider the cost–for every decision we make–looking far into the future and determining how a decision made today will impact that future.