Daily Readings and Thought for March 11th. “IT IS TIME FOR THE LORD TO ACT”
“How sweet are your words to my taste. Sweeter than honey … “ [Psa. 119 v.103] What makes them sweet? Most children like sweets! Why? Because they enjoy the taste. Do we enjoy the “taste” of God’s words? Do we feel their value to us in our hearts and minds? They present a great variety of thoughts to us. This variety serves a whole variety of needs for the different circumstances we have and will encounter in life.
With the stresses and strains that life presents to so many people, more and more are seeking medical help and, as a result, quite a variety of so called specialists now exist. But efforts to wisely treat the problems and provide effective medication has met with only limited success.
What a wonderful Psalm is No. 119. If we had no other Psalms, it would go a long way to fulfilling human needs for deep meditation. We understand that in the days when only men like the scribes were trained to read and write and hand written scrolls were most precious, some people trained their memories to learn all the Psalms by heart!
Look at verse 97 and onwards, “Oh how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment make me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers….” The Psalmist then declares, “I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word” [v.101]
Now note v. 126, “It is time for the LORD to act for your law has been broken” – and we reflected on the fact that exactly 13 years ago today the world was shocked, numbed, by the awesome effects of a 9.0 earthquake and resultant tsunami that critically afflicted Japan. It has still a long way to go to overcome the effects, if it ever will! How long before it is time for the LORD to act to bring the whole world to its knees?
Paul told the Romans, “because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgements will be revealed.” [Ch. 2 v.5] Verse 7 gives us the contrast! “To those who by patience and well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality he will give eternal life.” The Psalms are a great help to us in doing that.
