Gigo - TAU

Bible Reading:  Psalm 119:169-176

Key Verse: Verse 172 – “My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.”

Key Words: My tongue shall speak of thy word

“My tongue shall speak of Thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.” Our tongues usually speak our own words, and what words they are: so often deceptive, defiant, defiling, derisive, disrespectful, and damaging. James says that if a man can control his tongue, he is perfect; he can control his whole body. The tongue is an unruly member. Men can bridle wild horses more easily than they can tame their tongues. They can steer great ships with little rudders more easily than they can guide their conversation. The psalmist said, “My tongue shall speak of Thy Word.” If only we could harness our tongue like that.

Of course, if our tongue is to speak God’s Word, then that Word must first get down into our heart. It is “out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh,” Jesus said.

In recent years men have invented a new language, one never used on earth until the 20^th century. No barbarian tribe invented the language. It was invented by brilliant men of science. It is a strange language. It has only two words in it, the mathematical equivalents of yes and no. It is “binary” computer language. With that language men can solve problems in arithmetic at almost the speed of light. They can use that language to guide spaceships to the stars.

Programmers, who write the instructions for their computers in that new language, have an expressive word to describe the way things work out when that language is spoken to the machines they have made. It is the GIGO. The word GIGO means: “Garbage in, garbage out.” In other words, if they put misinformation into the computer’s electronic brain, they will get misinformation out when the machine responds.

If my tongue is to speak God’s Word, if that is what I am to get out, that is what I have to put in. I shall never be able to proclaim the Word if I do not meditate on that Word day and night, saturating my soul with its treasures of wisdom.

 

                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞Remember, it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

I Will Not Stumble - SCHIN

Bible Reading:  Psalm 119:161-168

Key Verse: Verse 165 - “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

Key Words: Great peace have they

“Great peace have they which love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” The word for offend is literally “make them stumble.” Those who love God’s Word are armored against the fiery darts of Satan; their feet are guided so they do not fall into his snares.

Situations cannot make them stumble. On the contrary they can say with the apostle Paul, “The things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel” (Philippians 1:12). Thank God for that!

Scholars cannot make them stumble. They are in touch with truth itself, truth imparted by the omniscient wisdom of the Holy Spirit. The theories and philosophies of men are like surging seas which break themselves at last against the massive headlands and coastline of the Word of God.

Sovereigns cannot make them stumble. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water:”

(Proverbs 21:1), said Solomon, one of the most imperious of kings. “He turneth it whithersoever He will.” A human government can do nothing that God does not permit. God has His ways of hanging this world’s Hamans on the gallows; they prepare for His Mordecais.

Sinners cannot make them stumble. The temptations they put before them do not entice them; the terrors they threaten do not intimidate. “Great peace have they that love Thy law and nothing shall make them stumble.”

 Such is the peace of the psalmist. It is a peace the world cannot give, a peace it cannot take away. It is a peace that does not depend on what happens. It is the peace of God. Do you have that peace?

                                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞All of our decisions should be based on the peace of God.

Determination - RESH

Bible Reading:  Psalm 119:153-160

Key Verse: Verse 157 – “Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.”

Key Words: Many are my persecutors and mine enemies

It is easy to go downhill. Anyone who rides a bike knows that. It is easy to go zipping along on a flat road; that calls for very little effort. But going uphill is another matter. Even a slight incline calls for more determination, and taking on a steep grade calls for all the strength and resolution a person has. But going downhill? Anyone can do that. Many a cyclist, faced with a really stiff hill, will simply turn around and coast back the way he came. The reason, of course, is that he was not really going anywhere in the first place. After all, he was just out for a joyride.

Being a believer, however, is no joyride. The psalmist was facing a stiff grade: “Many are my persecutors and mine enemies,” he said. Everywhere he looked he saw unfriendly faces. The temptation was to give up. “Yet I do not decline from Thy testimonies,” he added.

John Phillips tells the following story. “As a boy I was brought up in a town that was avidly devoted to soccer. It was the big game. On Saturday afternoons thousands of people would flock to the stadium to see the weekly match. In those days most people walked, took the occasional bus, or rode a bicycle. Very few people had cars. When the match was over and the crowds poured out of the stadium the sidewalks would be jammed with people walking back toward town. Anyone could have gone with that crowd. A small person could have picked up his legs and been carried along by the crowd, the people were so tightly packed. But try going against it – that was different. To go against the crowd called for determination. It was a struggle every single step.”

In spite of the struggle, we need the determination of the psalmist, “Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.”

                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞Be determined to follow the Lord. It will be an uphill struggle, but be determined to stay the course.

Redeeming The Time - QOPH

Bible Reading: Psalm 119:145-152

Key Verse: Verses 148 - “Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.”

Key Words: that I might meditate in thy word

Someone once said:

“Long before his bed became a wrack, he would pray. Lying in bed waiting for sleep to come, he would pray. ‘Mine eyes prevent [anticipate, forestall] the night watches, that I might meditate in Thy word.’  He turned those moments before sleep came into good use. He composed himself for sleep by prayerfully turning over the Word of God in his mind. In other words, he had what today we would call a quiet time.

“Surely most of us waste far too much time. Someone has calculated that the average believer, if he lives to be 75 years of age, spends 25 years asleep, 17 years at work, 6 years in traveling, 7 ½ years in dressing, 9 years in watching television, 6 years being sick, and only 4 years in prayer and Bible study. Imagine 4 years out of 75 preparing for eternity, less than half the time spent watching television. Suppose we converted half the travel time, mostly idle time, into praying or memorizing Scripture instead of daydreaming. Suppose we invested most of the time spent dressing engaging our minds in prayer. Suppose we took an hour less sleep at night and devoted the time to concentrated Bible study. Suppose we cut two-thirds of the time spent watching television and devoted that time to reading the Bible, studying the Word, and praying for family, friends, missionaries, and all those hundreds of other things we say we are too busy to pray about. Why, we could increase the time we spend in prayer and Bible study by 19 years. Instead of a paltry 4 years, we would spend 23 years in getting ready for the judgment seat of Christ.

“F. W. Boreham used to tell the story of a gypsy he knew in his youth. She would come to the village green near where he lived and open her chest of treasures. From that chest she would take all kinds of things, fingering and fondling the items one by one and offering them for sale. She would announce the price, permit no haggling, offer the item, and unless it was purchased at once, back it went back into the chest. On no account would she take it out again and give the people standing around a second chance to purchase it. The bargain had to be taken at once or the chance was gone.

“Redeeming the time,” says Paul. God offers each one of us a fleeting moment of time. We can seize it and freight it down with something for eternity, or it passes back unredeemed into God’s keeping to be a witness against us at the judgment seat. Life’s golden moments never return. This wise old singer made it his plan to buy up the time.”

                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞Make sure you’re using your time wisely on things that count for eternity.

We Live By The Word - TSADHE

Bible Reading: Psalm 119:137-144

Key Verse: Verse 138 - “Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.”

Key Words: Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.

“Thy testimonies that Thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.”  It is impossible for God ever to lead us astray, for Him ever to ask us to do any wrong. 

In the halls of the American Congress one finds two kinds of people, the legislators and the lobbyists.  The politician is there to make the laws.  The pressure groups are there to influence those laws, to see that the only laws passed are the ones their particular group wants.  The gun lobby wants no laws that will interfere with the right of people to own weapons.  The pro-abortionist wants no laws that will restrict a woman’s right to end unwanted pregnancies.  The sexual deviant wants laws that will protect his lifestyle.  Thus it is with our laws.  All too often, instead of being righteous and faithful, they simply reflect the interest of whichever side can bring the most pressure to bear on politicians.

God’s laws are not like that.  He is not swayed by public opinion.  He is not running for office, nor is He running this planet along democratic lines.  His laws are not influenced by polls or pressure groups.  God’s laws are righteous and faithful.  They are impartial, imperial, and impeccable. They are magnificent in scope and substance.

In His law, God has spoken to moral issues, political issues, and social issues. He has spoken His mind about sex, sanitation, and stealing. He has spoken about diet and dress, family and financial matters, warfare and welfare. There is no one nor topic in God’s Word left to our imagination. Every Word of God is righteous and very faithful.

                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse 

What to do:  

✞ Live by the Word.

Look Where The Light Is - PE

Bible Reading:  Psalm 119:129-136

Key Verse: Verse 130 - “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”

Key Words: The entrance of thy words giveth light

In his book on Psalms, John Phillips says, “God’s Word gives light.  People can shut light out of their life, of course, and remain forever in the dark, or they can open the windows of their soul and let that light flood in.

“Light reveals dirt.  There was a time when I lived in a cold climate, where every year storm windows had to be put in place to help keep out the cold.  That annual chore always necessitated washing windows.  The storm windows, stored all summer, had to be cleansed of the dust and dirt that had accumulated on them.  The regular windows had to be cleansed, too – by strict order of the lady of the house.  Finally, after an exhausting day, the last storm window would be fitted into place, and with a sigh of relief I would sit back, thankful that the job was done for another year.  The next day the sun would come out and the slanting rays would shine on the windows and reveal the streaks, the spots, the places that were missed.  The light revealed the dirt.  The windows had looked quite acceptable in yesterday’s shadows, but in today’s sunshine all the grime was conspicuously revealed.

“Light reveals disorder.  Things might be badly out of place in a room; and, as long as it is dark, it makes no difference.  But when the light is turned on, the mess and muddle can be clearly seen.  Just so, God’s Word reveals the disorder in our lives.

“Light reveals direction.  A man stumbling through the darkness may have no idea where he is or what immediate perils lay at his feet.  Light changes all that.  It gives us a sense of direction, enabling us to see signposts and landmarks.  This is one of the chief blessings of God’s Word.  It gives light.”

If we are to find truth, we must search for it in the light of God’s Word.

Instead of trusting God’s Word, modern-day thinkers insist on using human wisdom alone for answers to eternal questions.  The tragedy of this situation was graphically illustrated in a humorous skit performed by Karl Vallentin, a Munich comedian.  Walking on a stage where everything was dark except for a small area under a street lamp, he began to look for something on the ground.  He told the policeman who came on the scene that he was trying to find a key, whereupon the two continued the search.  Finally the officer asked, “Are you sure you lost it here?”  “Oh, no,” said Vallentin as he pointed to a corner, “it was over there, but here is where the light is!”

                                                                                                 Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞Make sure you are walking in the light of God’s Word.

Its Time - AYIN

Bible Reading:  Psalm 119:121-128

Key Verse: Verse 126 – “It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.”

Key Words: It is time for thee, LORD, to work

“It is time for Thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.”  As though we can tell God when He ought to go to work!  Like Job, we think we have all the answers.  Like Job, too, we find that we really know nothing at all about the great issues, of the working of those “wheels within wheels” of His will.

The only person who can pray like that, with any authority or assurance, is a person who lives close enough to the Lord to know God’s Word very well.  Such a person can appeal to God on the basis of intimate knowledge of His will.  Daniel could do that.  He had so thoroughly mastered the Word of God as given to Jeremiah, he had so marked the passing of the years, he was so conversant with the signs of the times that he could pray, “It is time, O Lord, for Thee to work.”

George Mueller also could do that at times.  He was so sensitive to the leading of the Lord in his life that he could say, in effect: “It is time, O Lord, for Thee to work.”  On one occasion, George Mueller was sailing down the Saint Lawrence into Montreal to keep an appointment he knew to be in the will of God.  A heavy fog came down and the ship reduced speed to a crawl.  The captain of the ship was a believer, so Mr. Mueller approached him and asked him if they would make Montreal on time.  The captain said, “Not unless this fog lifts at once.”  Said George Mueller, “Very well, we shall ask the Lord to take the fog away.”  He knelt down and, in a simple prayer, made his request.  When the captain was about to pray, Mr. Mueller gently put his hand on his arm.  “Don’t you pray,” he said.  “Why not?” the captain asked.  “You don’t really believe the fog will lift.  Besides, it has already gone!” said Mr. Mueller.

 

                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞Live close to God and then you’ll know when it’s time for the Lord to go to work.