Psalm 119: 41- 48 ו Waw – Hook, Nail, Peg

Posted on December 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

Psalm 119:41-48 ו Waw – Hook, Nail, Peg
41 May your UNFAILING LOVE come to me, Lord, your salvation, according to your promise;”
42 then I can answer anyone who taunts me, for I TRUST in your word.
43 Never take your word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my HOPE in your laws.
44 I will always OBEY your law, for ever and ever.
45 I will walk about in freedom, for I have SOUGHT out your precepts.
46 I will SPEAK of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame,
47 for I delight in your commands because I LOVE them.
48 I reach out for your commands, which I love, that I may MEDITATE on your decrees. [NIV]

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The mysterious Hebrew headings of Psalm 119 have been like directions from the plans of an Architect for a structure being built.  They each tell a backstory of the words that follow them.  Reading verses 41-48 right to left seems to personalize how these special “nails” secure the previous walls, doors and windows of the promised, personal shelter being built for God’s people…their salvation.

41 Your salvation Lord is according to your promise of UNFAILING LOVE to me
42 I TRUST in your word, I can answer anyone who taunts me
43 I HOPE in your laws, you never take your word of truth from my mouth
44 Forever and ever I will OBEY your law always
45 I have SOUGHT out your precepts, I will walk about in freedom
46 I will not be put to shame when I SPEAK of your statutes before kings
47 Your commands are my delight because I LOVE them
48 I MEDITATE on your decrees, I will reach out with love for your commands

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Likeness

Posted on December 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

Romans 8:3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. NASB

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This week an interesting discussion about the word “likeness” became the catalyst for fresh look at Romans 8 and part of a previous Advent post from 2015.  We all know what the “Law could not do.”  It couldn’t change us and even those first two people couldn’t manage to obey it.

“What a surprise to find myself in my favorite chapter from the whole Bible for my Advent reading today.  If you remove the “religiousity” factor of laws you have to admit we can’t live without them.  We need laws to create order and some level of security in our society.  I’ll bet I’m not the only one that’s broken some of them: ever rolled through a stop sign?  That’s an easier-to-swallow version of “weak as it was through the flesh” to own up to.  Now that our minds are in the right place maybe we can face the issue of “sinful flesh”…and “in us.”a   

Eden was where “weak as it was through the flesh” became a reality.  There was only one law but the bad choice to violate it was where the separation between man and God began.  [BTW that’s not unlike that stop sign.]  The amazing truth of Advent is God chose new birth to fulfill something that one “first” law was unable to accomplish.  

Advent is pretty dramatic evidence of the second time God created perfection for all mankind to experience.  The birth of Jesus revealed God’s determination to redeem and replace what had been lost in Eden.  This time perfection was a person, not a place.  That first Advent God chose a baby, His Son…God with us…Jesus, to restore His own “Image” within “the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin.”  Advent is our annual reminder that Jesus is the reality of God’s promise to unite the likeness of our sinful flesh with His own Image “in us.”

a Click here to read that original post

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Psalm 119:33-40 ה He – Window

Posted on December 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

Reading these verses forwards, and then backwards and pondering their meaning continues.  It seems like all of Psalm 119 has been about the building of the temple within the people of God; you and I.  Today seems a perfect time for to punch a hole in the walls that we depend on for protection to let in a little more light using the Hebrew “ה He.”  I haven’t missed the “coincidence” that God has used winter darkness, a raging pandemic and the period of Advent to do just that.

ה He – Window, Lattice
Psalm 119: 33-40 ESV
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
35 Lead me in the path of your commandment for I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
38 Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.
39 Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.
40 Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!

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33 I will keep the way of your statures to the end, O Lord; teach me
34 I keep your law and observe it with my whole heart because you give me understanding
35 I delight in the path of your commandment, lead me to it
36 Your testimonies, not Selfish gain, inclines my heart
37 Give me life in your ways and turn my eyes from looking at worthless things
38 Your promise confirms that you may be feared to your servant
39 Your rules are good for they turn away the reproach that I dread
40 Your righteousness gives me life! Behold I long for your precepts

Click here to read a previous post about the meaning of ה He – Window

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God Was THERE!

Posted on December 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. [NIV]

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I’ve mentioned before that words spark thought for me.  Today was an interesting variation on that.  I read verse eight several times before I realized I’d been subconsciously adding the word [IN] before the word “darkness.” Dropping the [IN] and reading “you were once darkness” changed my whole perspective on what I’d read.  It has reminded me this Word is not only timeless but it’s still alive and well. Darkness is not a place I was “IN”  but the far more ugly reality of “what I was.”  It says it right there but I missed it.

I re-read those verses thankful for the specific words of hope I found there, words like “now you are light in the Lord” and “the fruit of the light.”  The emphasis on “WHAT I was” [darkness] has now been dramatically changed because of God’s intervention through Jesus in my life to “what I WAS” [past tense].  “Once darkness” was changed to “the fruit of the light” and that is the joyful connection to Advent I share with you in December, 2020.

That first “Advent” in Bethlehem was God’s intervention in the world He’d created.  His choice was to make Himself visible once more to redeem His people and free them from their dependence on their own best efforts to dispel the darkness that plagued their lives.  Jesus was born to reveal God’s promise to ordinary people who were “once darkness.”  The “Advent of Light” could forever change their emphasis from knowing “there was GOD” [hope] into the new reality that “God was THERE!”

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

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Psalm 119:25-32 – ד Daleth – Door

Posted on December 2, 2020 | Leave a comment

Psalm 119:25-32
25 My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!
26 When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
28 My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!
29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.
31 I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame!
32 I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!

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God’s Word has survived all these centuries because it’s more than information. Psalm 119, Daleth – Door is truth beyond time, translation, and even survives reading these eight verses right to left.  My hope is that after you’ve read the eight verses above as copied from the English Standard Version you’ll read my right to left versions with the “Door”  in mind.  Daleth is the Old Testament Word of God that opens the “Door” to our communication with Him through our relationship to Jesus.  “Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”  

O Lord,
25 Give me life according to your word, dust clings to my soul
26 You answered me with your statutes to teach me your ways when I told of my ways
27 I will meditate on your wondrous works to make me understand the way of your precepts
28 Your word strengthens me when my soul melts away for sorrow
29 Graciously teach me your law and put false ways far away from from me
30 Your rules set before me are the way of faithfulness I have chosen
|31 Let me not be put to shame O Lord, I cling to your testimonies
32 Enlarge my heart so I will run in the way of your commandments

Click here to read a previous post about ד Daleth – Door

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Birth of Faith

Posted on November 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.


Every year during December we see the signs of Christmas around us, wreathes, trees, lights and baubles. Advent encourages us to watch for another kind of sign.  A sign from the Lord himself that leads us to the cradle again this year to give our own witness to the birth of Christ.  Information is one gift the Bible has given us.  It paints a vivid picture of the perfect and glorious outcome of that journey of the pregnant virgin and that carpenter to that first cradle and the finally the Birth of Faith, Jesus. That’s what I give thanks for but I believe I may have overlooked another reality to be thankful for.  It’s the reality of their tough circumstances and simple obedience that ultimately led to another kind of birth, the birth of my faith.  This year I want to imagine and give thanks for their long, hard days on dusty roads and the fatigue, discomfort and inconvenience of travel.  I want to appreciate the reality of the relief and gratitude they felt sinking into a pile of smelly straw in a barn at the end of their journey.  It was not a perfect situation but they would become part of a perfect plan.  I want to be grateful for that too.  That pregnant virgin and that carpenter have walked through the words of the prophets, through history, into Bethlehem and now into my life this year to become the Lord’s sign for me of the reality that the Birth of Faith can happen in the most unusual places and circumstances.

Originally posted November 30, 2015

 

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Psalm 119:17-24 – ג Gimel – Soul

Posted on November 25, 2020 | Leave a comment

Psalm 119:17-24 All 8 verses of each of the 22 sections of this Psalm begin with the next sequential letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  It wasn’t until I decided to visually verify that for myself that I realized Hebrew is read from right to left.  It’s become an interesting truth-finding exercise for me to explore the impact of reading the verses forward and then backward.  The bold verses are directly copied from the ESV version.  Read them as a unit.  Then read and consider the same verses composed by reading them right to left.  God’s Word has endured all these centuries because it’s truth is more than information.  The Word still uses time, translation, and even reading words and phrases right to left, to refresh timeless truth from information into enduring application for followers of Jesus Christ.

Gimel
17 Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
19 I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!
20 My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.
21 You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments.
22 Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies.
23 Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.
24 Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.

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17 I live and keep your word because you deal bountifully with your servant
18 Out of your law my eyes may behold wondrous things
19 Do not hide your commandments from me while I am a sojourner on the earth
20 Longing for your rules at all times consumes my soul
21 Your commandments rebuke those insolent, accursed ones who wander from  them
22 I have kept your testimonies, take scorn and contempt away from me
23 Your servant will meditate on your statutes even though princes sit plotting against me.
24 My counselors are my delight in your testimonies

This link is to a previous post about Psalm 119:17-24 written from the perspective of the meaning of Gimel – Soul

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Psalm 119:9-16 – ב Beth – House, Tent

Posted on November 22, 2020 | Leave a comment

Each of the 8 verses in all 22 sections of Psalm 119 [I used the ESV version] begins with the next sequential letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  It wasn’t until I decided to visually verify that for myself that I realized Hebrew is read from right to left.  God’s truth is worth thinking about and His Word is more than historical documentation.  The Word has survived all these centuries because it’s proved to be application beyond time for followers of Jesus Christ. 

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Beth
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?  By guarding it according to your word.
9 You word is the guard that can keep a young man’s way pure
10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
10 Your commandments keep me from wandering so with my whole heart I will seek you
11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you
11 My heart might not sin against you because your word is stored there.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!
12 Your statues teach me how blessed you are, O Lord
13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
13 The rules of your mouth are all l will with declare with my lips
14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
14 I delight as much as in all riches in the way of your testimonies
15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
15 Fix my eyes on your ways so I will meditate on your precepts
16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word
16 I will not forget your word and I will delight in your statutes!

This link is to a previous devotional post using the Hebrew meaning of Beth

 

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Psalm 119:1-8 – א Aleph – ox head, yoke, learn

Posted on November 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

Each of the twenty-two sections of Psalm 119 follows the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. What’s unique is each verse in each section begins with the same Hebrew letter.  It wasn’t until I decided to verify that for myself and found this image that I realized Hebrew is read from right to left. I wondered if the verses from the ESV version might be read as normal and then read again from right to left [sort of] as a way to ponder the fullness of truth works both ways. You decide.

1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!
OR 1 The Lord is the law of the walk of those whose way is blameless and are blessed
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
OR 2 Whole hearts who keep his testimonies and seek him are blessed
3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!
OR 3 who walk in his ways and also do no wrong
4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
OR 4 Diligently keeping your precepts is your command
5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
OR 5 Keeping your statutes keeps my ways steadfast
6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
OR 6 You fix my eyes on your commandments so I shall not be shamed
7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules
OR 7 Your righteous rules are how I learn to praise you with an upright heart
8 I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!
OR 8 Do not utterly forsake me, I WILL keep your or statutes.

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The Last Third Chapter – Revelation

Posted on November 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

I found the Word of the New Living Translation helpful to my thoughts about this last, third chapter.  The verses about each of the three churches of Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea are arranged in that same sequence under each of my headings, what Jesus knows, what Jesus asks and what Jesus vows.  It is one way to understand how this revelation of their history impacts our future and confirms Scripture is still living Word that challenges the church of Jesus Christ and His people today.

What Jesus knows: 
• 1 “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead… your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. 
• 8 “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.
• 15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other!

What Jesus asks:
• 3 Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again.
• 11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.
• 19 So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

What Jesus vows:
• 5 All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine. 
• 12 All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.
• 20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. 21 Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne. 

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Posted in New Testament, Revelation, Sunday

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