Category: Weekly Word of Encouragement

The law from your mouth is more precious to methan thousands of pieces of silver and gold. Psalms 119:72 (NIV) The Psalmist was referring to the laws that Yahweh gave Israel through Moses. Elsewhere, this Psalmist refers to them as precepts, decrees, commands and statutes. These laws were worth more than a fortune in gold and silver. Yahweh’s laws allowed the Psalmist to live an upright and fruitful life, in contrast to many others around him. Yahweh’s truths gave the Psalmist blessing (119:1), counsel (119:24), hope (119:43) freedom (119:45), knowledge (119:66) and good judgment (119:66). They kept him from worthless things (119:37). How much more valuable are God’s commands under the New Covenant! Jesus taught us how to live a fruitful and fulfilled life in a painful and hostile world. He taught us how to walk in the Spirit and put his Spirit inside us so we could follow his Continue Reading →

Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,who seek him with their whole heart, Psalms 119:2 (ESV) The “testimonies” in this verse refers to the truths that Yahweh has established through his actions with his people. For example, the truths that God is all-powerful and delivers his people based on his deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. This is Yahweh’s testimony and one who keeps this testimony is one who lives according to the truths that God established by this and all the other interactions that Yahweh has had with his people. We are blessed when we keep God’s testimonies, established through his Son and his Apostles. Jesus showed us how to live through his life and death, and his Apostles followed in his footsteps. Paul said “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1, ESV). Thus, we are to imitate the “testimonies” we see in the Continue Reading →

The LORD is my strength and my song;he has become my salvation.Glad songs of salvationare in the tents of the righteous: Psalms 118:14-15 (ESV) This passage encourages us by reminding us that Yahweh (“LORD”) is our strength, our song and our salvation. In Psalm 118 the Psalmist was thanking Yahweh for delivering him from military attacks by other nations. Yahweh defended him with his strength, gave the nation of Israel salvation from their enemies and moved them to sing songs about their salvation. And we have even more reason to sing of Yahweh’s salvation in our lives. His power raised Jesus from the dead with a new eternal body, then applied that same power to all of us who believe and follow Jesus! He gave us salvation from sin, from the Enemy, and from all the destructive influences in this world. Even death cannot separate us from his overflowing love Continue Reading →

The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.What can mere mortals do to me? Psalms 118:6 (NIV) People naturally fear what others might do to them. We know we cannot control others and we know that people can be selfish and harmful. Therefore, it is normal to feel unsafe in a world filled with humans. God knows this too and wants to be our rock of safety. In this Psalms the psalmist (who was probably the king) was thanking God for delivering him from other nations that sought to ruin the Jewish kingdom. He was not afraid of mere humans because the all-powerful Yahweh was on his side. Under the New Covenant God’s people have no kingdom in this age, but the principle of the verse still applies. The verse is quoted almost exactly in Hebrews 13:6. The idea of this verse is also presented in Romans 8:31 Continue Reading →

For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD. Psalms 117:2 (NIV) For this passage I will present the words of John of the Cross (1542-1591) who described what it was like to experience God’s love. The soul now feels that it is all inflamed in the divine union, its palate is all bathed in glory and love, that in the intimate part of its substance it is flooded with no less than rivers of glory, abounding in delights, and from its depths flow rivers of living water.[1] The soul feels its ardor strengthen and increase and its love become so refined in this ardor that seemingly there flow seas of loving fire within it, reaching to the heights and depths of the earthly and heavenly spheres, imbuing all with love.[2] The soul always walks in festivity, inwardly and outwardly, and Continue Reading →