Lead By Example…

Morning!

Raises his cup of coffee

It is Friday April 4th of 2025.  It looks like it’s going to be a cloudy day with a high of 74 and a chance of thunderstorms this evening.  There is a whirlwind of Scripture for today’s study so let’s be ready to turn some pages.

We have eleven days or so left in our Psalm 119 challenge.  How does a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to God’s Word.  The Lord does not forget us.  Nothing can take us from His Hand.  God know’s who is His and His sheep hear His voice.  Faithfulness of mind and faithfulness of action are what’s on my mind this morning.

Psalm 119: 97-104

“Oh, how I love Your Law!  It is my meditation all the day.  You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me.  I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.  I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts.  I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your Word.  I have not departed from Your judgments, for You Yourself have taught me.  How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!  Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.”

Oh, how I love God’s Word!  God’s Word is truth—and when it is interpreted in context, when we seek the meaning of the text, when we ask what was intended by the author— not reading into it something that isn’t there— then wisdom and understanding is what we will find.  I take a lot of personal interest in this passage.  Love for the Word of God.  Zeal for the Word of God.  It’s what drives David to meditate on the Scriptures all day long.  And notice something here: David isn’t breathing deeply.  He’s not repeating something to get into a certain state of mind.  He’s not focusing on his body.  David is reading God’s Word— loving God’s Word- and then thinking on it, reflecting on it, working it around in his mind throughout the day.

Do we seek wisdom?  It is through God’s commandments that David becomes wiser than his enemies.  It is through faithfulness and fidelity to God’s Word— in David’s heart, in David’s mind, and in David’s actions—

that we see the model for how God teaches David His statutes.  But I think it’s important to point something out: The action part— the keeping of God’s precepts and Word— it’s through taking action on the Word

that David explains his wisdom comes.

Faithfulness in heart.

Faithfulness in mind.

Faithfulness in action.

Matthew 22: 37-40

“Jesus said unto him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

We could also put it this way…

Singleminded in heart.

Singleminded in mind.

Singleminded in action.

Matthew 6: 19-24

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.”

So I say again— How does a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to the Word of God.  We are to take action upon the Word.  As we gear up for the weekend, maybe it’s a good time to reflect and plan where our focus will be for the next few days.  Jesus teaches us to seek heavenly treasures.  Proverbs teaches us that by humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, honor, and life.  Where our treasure is, it shows us what we love in our hearts.  Where do we find delight?  What is it that makes our eyes light up?  Do we forget that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Do we forget that the Spirit within us yearns for us jealously?

Maybe we’re finding ourselves ready to commit more to Jesus this weekend.  Maybe we are looking for Him to increase our faith.  Have we considered how well we know Him?

For let’s not forget…. Paul teaches us…

2 Timothy 2: 15

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”

So let’s think for a moment.

Deuteronomy 18: 9-14

“When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.  There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.   For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.  You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.  For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you.”

What does it mean to meditate on the Word of God all the day?  I propose this is what moves us from waiting on the Lord to waiting upon the Lord.  To meditate on the Word is to commune with God— to sit with Him, to listen, to turn His truth over in our minds like a treasure.  It is to take the Word of God and place it in our minds.  To work it into our hearts.  To hang it around our necks.  To write it on our walls.  It is to surround ourselves—both inside and out—with the Word of God.

So let’s up our Psalm 119 challenge.

David rose in the morning to be with God’s Word.

What is the first thing we do when we wake up?

David made the time to know God’s Word.

Have we made the time?

David was focused and singleminded in his love of the Word.

Are we being double minded?

The Word of God is not a simple affirmation.  It is not a collection of pithy sayings that are meant to do pithy things.

Hebrews 4: 12-13

“For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

And

Romans 12: 1-2

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God.”

I bring these things up because…

1 Timothy 4: 1-11

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.  For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.  If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the Words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.  But reject profane and old wives fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.  For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.  This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.  For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.  These things command and teach.”

A little knowledge puffs us up.  But God gives grace to the humble and resists the proud.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,

and He will lift you up.  To meditate on God’s Word all the day is to pray without ceasing.  And the more we pray, I’ve found— the more questions we begin to ask of God.  The more questions we have of God, the more we turn to Scripture to learn.  The more Scripture we learn, the more we have to meditate upon.  And the more we meditate, the more we come to know Jesus.

God’s commandments make us wise.  They give us knowledge of The Holy One.  They teach us about who God is and what God loves.  They teach us how God loves.

Now.

I bring this up and the Deuteronomy up because…

Revelation 2: 1-7

“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamp stands: I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.  And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My Name’s sake and have not become weary.  Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place- unless you repent.  But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”

The Nicolaitans were people who professed Christianity but practiced pagan spiritual practices— and tried to combine the two.  And this is something that Jesus hates.  Now, I know it might sound a little fancy or academic when we say “pagan spiritual practices.”  But here’s what we mean: Spiritual practices that are not taught in the Bible.

The word David uses for meditation is…

Siychah: (Hebrew)

- Reflection

- Devotion

- Meditation

- Prayer

We look to Jesus to learn how to pray, or communicate with God…

Matthew 6: 5-13

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and wen you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.  And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Therefore do not be like them.  For your Father knows the things you hav need of before you ask Him.  In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed by Your Name.  Your kingdom come.  Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever.  Amen.”

Are we up to the Psalm 119 challenge?

Are we ready to try meditating in God’s Word all the day?

I think that’s a good place to start for the day.