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40 Days of Prayer, Day 18

Day 18, Wednesday, September 7

Psalm 19:7-14 “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple…Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression.  Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

The Character of God and Our Relationship to Him

The conclusion of Psalm 19 is quite striking.  Given the declaration of the glory of God as revealed in His creation in verses 1-6 and the declaration of the massive benefits to the glorious Word of God as described in verses 7-10, the psalmist concludes with this prayer: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”  When all of these beautiful truths are considered, the psalmist selected a specific address to God as He crafts a prayer. “O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”  God is our rock and our Redeemer.  We can trust Him to help us and save us.  Just look at what He has already done in His creation and in His Word!  God is a God of relationships.  In a relationship, trust functions as a critical aspect of the bond between two people.  As we grow closer to others we assess the level of our trust of them.  In the case of our relationship to God, we find Him to be absolutely trustworthy.  He is our rock.  We can rely on Him.  Just as He is faithful to display His trustworthiness in the rising of the sun and through the moon and the stars, He demonstrates His faithfulness to us daily.  We can rely on God’s Word to positively impact our lives.  We know God is trustworthy because we see the trustworthiness of His Word.  He is our rock.

God is also our Redeemer.  The word “redeem” means to buy back.  We use this word when we go to the grocery store and redeem a coupon.  The coupon functions as an instrument in the purchase of an item.  The company that issued the coupon gives a guarantee of payment to the grocery story.  For instances, if you purchase a box of cereal for $4 but you have a $1 coupon issued by the cereal company, then you pay $3 and the company that issued the coupon pays the grocery store $1 plus a small administrative cost.  Grocery stores trust the coupon because they trust that the company that printed in the local paper will fulfill the obligation as printed on the coupon.  The redemption price of the coupon is backed by the trustworthiness of the company issuing the coupon and on the words they have written concerning the coupon.  God redeems us.  We can trust His purchase of us because of His character and because of what He has written concerning our relationship to Him.  Consider what He says concerning His redemption of us.  “You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”  I Peter 1:18-19  He bought us out of sin and death.  He brought us into a relationship with Himself.  All of this He performed through the precious life of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Unlike the coupon issuing company which pays part of the bill, God paid in full the entire redemption price of our lives.  He also paid an infinitely high price for our redemption.  Silver and gold could never come close to the infinite price God paid to redeem us.  God gave His One and Only Son as a purchase price for our eternal salvation.    

God is our rock, dependable, strong, immovable, infinitely stable and unwavering.  He is our redeemer.  He bought us from the power of sin and death.  He purchased us from the bondage of our own rebellious hearts and purchased us into a relationship with Himself.

Prayer Focus

O God, I am Yours.  I trust You.  You are my Rock.  You have purchased me from sin and death.  You are my Redeemer.  Even if the whole world is unstable and my life is driven by trials, I can trust in You.  You have proven Your character through Your redemptive work through Jesus Christ our Savior.  Amen.

From Bunyan’s The Acceptable Sacrifice

Another instance for this is David, the man of our text. He sins and hides it; yes, and seeks to hide it from the face of God and men. Well, Nathan is sent to preach to him, and that in common, and that in special: in common, by a parable; in special, by a particular application of it to him. While Nathan only preached in common, or in general, David stood as right in his own eyes as if he had been as innocent and as harmless as any man alive. But God had a love for David; and therefore commands his servant Nathan to go, not only to David's ears, but to David's conscience. Well, David now must fall. Says Nathan, 'You are the man'; David, 'I have sinned, ' and then his heart was broken, and his spirit made contrite; as this psalm and our text doth show (2 Sam 12:1-13).

40 Days of Prayer, Day 17

Day 17, Tuesday, September 6

Psalm 19:7-10 “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.”

The Word of God and the Immeasurable Benefits to Us
In each statement about the nature of the Bible, the psalmist moves from the objective reality of the Bible, “the Law of God is perfect,” to the very real benefits it has when we read it and apply it to our lives. The impact of submitting to the Bible is given in each successive statement: “restoring the soul…making wise the simple…enlightening the eyes…” Considering these lofty affirmations about the nature of God’s Word and considering the immeasurable benefits to the hearer, we should desire the Bible in a manner consist with these truths. In this case, the psalmist says that we should desire the bible more than a banker wants “gold” and more than a sweet toothed child wants “honey.” What we desire reflects the priorities of our life. If we desire physical pleasure, our eyes will delight in the things of this world that produce physical pleasure. If we desire financial gain, then our eyes will delight in the financial benefits of this world. However, if we desire God, then our eyes will pursue what God has provided for us. God communicates His glory through the creation. One way we pursue God is to honor Him by seeing His beauty on display in His creation. We can pursue God by seeing His glory in the beauty of the sunrise or the beauty of the sunset and praising Him for such beauty. However, if we desire God, we will also pursue Him through His Word. God reveals Himself in His Word. He also transforms us through His Word, making our relationship with Him more intimate and more genuine. The love for God is coextensive with a love for God’s Word. Just as truly close friends enjoy good conversation, if we love Him, then we will love the way He communicates to us through His creation and through His Word.

Prayer Focus
O God, thank You for Your Word. I long to have my desires reflect Your desires for my life. You have given us Your word. Use Your Word to restore me and to purify me. Use Your Word to bring a purity of heart, mind, body and soul. Use Your Word to sustain me through trouble. Amen.

From Bunyan’s The Acceptable Sacrifice
Then the Word works effectually to this purpose, when it finds out the sinner and his sin, and convinces him that it has found him out. Thus it was with our first father; when he had sinned, he sought to hide himself from God; he gets among the trees of the garden, and there he shrouds himself; but yet, not thinking himself secure, he covers himself with fig-leaves; and now he lies quiet. Now God shall not find me, he thinks, nor know what I have done. But lo! by and by, he 'hears the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden.' And now, Adam, what do you mean to do? Why, as yet, he hides his head, and seeks yet to lie undiscovered; but behold, the voice cries out, ADAM! and now he begins to tremble. 'Adam, where are you?' says God; and now Adam has to answer (Gen 3:7-11). But the voice of the Lord God does not leave him here: no, He now begins to search, and to inquire after Adam’s actions, and to unravel what he had wrapped and covered, until it made him bare and naked in his own sight before the face of God. Thus, therefore, the Word does, when managed by the arm of God. It finds out, it singles out the sinner; it finds out the sins of the sinner; it unravels his whole life, it strips him and lays him naked in his own sight before the face of God; neither can the sinner nor his wickedness be hidden; and now begins the sinner to see what he never saw before.

40 Days of Prayer, Day 16

Day 16, Monday, September 5

Psalm 19:7-10 “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.”

The Bible Declares the Righteous Sovereignty of God

Psalm 19 can easily be broken into two major themes. The first six verses declare God’s revelation of His glory as seen in His creation. In particular, Psalm 19 states that the sun, moon and stars declare the glory of God. God speaks to us in the creation, but He also speaks to us in His Word. Psalm 19:7-14 shifts our attention from the glory of God as revealed in His creation to the glory of God as discovered in His Word. Notice the pattern found in verses 7-10. Here are the terms the psalmist uses to describe the Bible: “The Law of the LORD…the testimony of the LORD…the precepts of the LORD…the commandment of the LORD…the judgments of the LORD…” Each of these titles describe the same thing, the Bible. The Bible is God’s Law. The Bible is God’s testimony. The Bible is God’s precepts and commands. The Bible provides us with God’s judgments. With each successive title the author also provides a captivating descriptor: The Bible is “perfect…sure…right…pure...true.” These titles connected with these descriptions constitute a compelling reason to study the Bible.

A contrite heart releases its own authority and submits itself to the authority of God. God’s authority over us is revealed primarily through His Word. Though God reveals His glory to us through the creation as we have seen in Psalm 19:1, it is through His Word that He reveals His glorious sovereignty over us. An unrepentant heart rejects the sovereignty of God. To the unrepentant heart, God as the Creator is one thing, but God as the sovereign Law Giver is quite another thing altogether. To see the beauty of God’s creation in the sunrise and sunset is to acknowledge God as the designer with incredible wisdom, power and beauty. To see the beauty of the authority of God as disclosed in the Bible is to acknowledge God as the rightful sovereign ruler over our lives. A contrite heart sees the beauty of God in the Creation and in the scripture for in the Bible we see the glorious righteousness of God. We must desire to know what God has said. We must desire to read the things that God has provided as they are perfect, sure, right, pure, and true. An unrepentant heart sees God’s Word as an interruption to self-rule. A contrite heart sees God’s Word as it really is, the words of our rightful Lord.

Prayer Focus

O God, thank You for Your Word.  I long to have my desires reflect Your priorities.  I confess Your sovereignty over my life.  You are the Creator of the universe and have displayed Your beauty in the creation.  You are also the Sovereign ruler of the universe and have revealed Your righteous standard for my life in the Bible.  I love Your Word.  Reveal Yourself to me more and more through the truths revealed in Your Word.  Amen.

From Bunyan’s The Acceptable Sacrifice

When the Word of God is seconded by mighty power, then the same Word is as the roaring of a lion, as the piercing of a sword, as a burning fire in the bones, as thunder and as a hammer that dashes all to pieces (Jer 25:30; Amos 1:2, 3:8; Acts 2:37; Jer 20:9; Psa 29:3-9). Therefore, it is to be concluded, that whoever has heard the Word preached, and has not heard the voice of the living God therein, has not as yet had their hearts broken, nor their spirits made contrite for their sins. The heart is broken and the spirit made contrite by the Word, and truly it is when the Word comes home with power.