Devotion

In Psalm 119:49-56, we find that in affliction we must turn to His word and find hope and life...that was the subject of the last two posts, but today I turn your eyes to the psalmist’s third point, we must devote ourselves to His promises. Verse 51, “The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.” He is resolved to follow God’s law.

Nehemiah was called by God to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. He met great opposition. So much so that they had to work on the wall with one person guarding and one person laying brick, constantly looking out for attack. The people would come and taunt them, deride them, but they kept working. In 4:14 he said to the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” He kept their eyes on God. When they were nearing completion the leaders of the opposition came and tried to get him to meet with them, but he said, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.” He was resolute, and God did such a work that 6:15ff says, “So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month, in fifty-two days. And when all our enemies heard of it all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.”

We come to God’s Word and find His promises and His commands…we find His dos and don’ts and we do and we don’t…we resolve not to turn to left or the right…Listen to Deuteronomy 28:13-14, “And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” We must be devoted to living according to His promises.

What causes you to turn away from God’s Law? Are there things that consistently cause you to step out of obedience? Start there and let the Holy Spirit show you how to walk in God’s promises and learn to quit listing to the father of lies who says, “Did God really say?”