Daily Devotionals for Difficult Days [37] Blessed Delight

Back to Before?

One of the many unusual features of lockdown is new friendships - at least aquaintances - struck up on the street, in our neighbourhoods, on walks. In one recent conversation I was asked if I thought everything will go back to what it was before, once lockdown is over.

Will all the positive changes that people have made in their lives suddenly come to an end? The slower pace, the increased care for neighbours, the renewed interest in nature, and so on.

(I know that for some folks, lockdown has been enormously difficult, and perhaps they cannot see any good coming out: but through these trials, we must believe that God works for the good of his people.)

My new friend, while wishing that the world wouldn't return to the old treadmill, thought that it probably would!

It begs the question for believers, of how change happens in our lives.

The answer lies in our verse for today, Psalm 1 and verse 2:

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

Our lives are transformed by regular prayerful meditation on God's Word.

The Blessed Positive

Remember, Psalm One's aim is to show us the path to true blessedness. It began with negatives - blessedness requires a consistent rejection of the world and its counsel.

Today the positive: blessedness relies on a regular soaking in God's Word.

The reason we need God's Word is that the counsel of the world is filled with lies. From the Garden of Eden onwards, Satan has filled the world with lies. He is the "father of lies" and when he entices God's people away from God and to his many idols, he is beguiling them with lies:

"Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak." (Habakkuk 2:18)

There is only place on earth where truth can be found. And that is in God's Word, "Your Word is Truth" (John 17:17) and supremely in God's Son, who is the Truth.

What an amazing privilege to have God's Word in our language and in our own hands! English monarchs of old were presented with a Bible at their coronation with these words:

Here is Wisdom;
This is the royal Law;
These are the lively Oracles of God.

 Let us note two simple truths from our verse:

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

First, we note that...

Blessedness comes from Delight and Meditation on God's Word

Do we always delight in God's Word? Automatically, I mean? Not always. We have all probably had spiritually dry patches: seasons when God's Word has not been the delight it might have been. 

When a believer hits a dry patch, they should ask diagnostic questions. 

First, is this dryness because of sin in my life? You may have heard the true saying: "This book will keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from this book." If it is sin we should repent. 

If the dryness is not caused by sin we need to ask a second question: is the lack of delight due to irregular reading? Frequent feeding on God's Word develops a dependency of delight. 

If our reading is regular, then question three: Is God withholding his presence temporarily to build our faith? God can do that, he can make "the heavens as brass" to test us, draw us out, increase our faith: Do we trust God only when our faith is all "bells and whistles," or will we trust him in the dark as well? 

Let us remember too, that delight is not always how we feel going into Bible study. Delight can be intentional, "I will delight in God's Word." Delight can be a discipline.

To remain in a state where God's Word is delightful is the desire and aim of the psalmist, and it leads to blessedness.

The "Law of the Lord" originally meant the first five books of the Bible since these five books are all the author probably had when he wrote this psalm, books that contain largely law. We understand "law of the Lord" to encompass the 66 books of the Old and New Testament.

Meditation, the other word the psalmist encouarges upon us, is the slow and deliberate feeding on God's Word, just as we have been doing day by day in these devotionals.  

So the key to a blessed life is feeding on God's Word.

Some Christians read Scripture like this: they read a larger portion of the Bible each day or a few times a week, to get the sweep of the whole Scriptures into their minds (you can download a plan to help you HERE) and then in addition they might read a much smaller portion, a paragraph, a verse even, each day, to meditate on  - in much the same way that we are doing in this daily devotional.

The blessed man, the blessed woman, is Bible-loving and Word-consuming.

He or she rejects the lies of the world, and instead is tranformed by the Word. The Apostle Paul says much the same thing as the psalmist, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2) Don't allow the world to squeeze you into its mold, but allow the Word to transform your mind (and hence life). 

"Day and Night" - Daily Devotions

The other thought that emerges from Psalm 1:2 is regularity:

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

The blessed man or woman is often in God's Word. As often as day and night. Why so frequently?

Because the influence of the world is all-pervasive: everywhere we go we hear Satan's lies. And because our hungry souls need feeding. 

So the Christian discipline of "Daily Devotions" or "Quiet Times" is rooted in Scripture, in Psalm 1. Blessedness comes when we meditate on God's Word regularly, "day and night." 

Let's not make Daily Devotions into a law which if we're in hospital for a week and so can't keep, we develop a guilty conscience over; instead let's make Daily Devotions a helpful habit. 

Many Christians carve out a portion of their day - perhaps first thing in the morning or lunchtime or last thing at night - perhaps 15 minutes or so. My dad's QT was at 5:00am in the morning, because it was the only time he could escape the noise of six boisterous kids! My mom's QT was after all the kids had been packed off to school. 

Everyone is different. Some are morning larks, some are evening owls. 

To start this protected QT a believer may first pray something like this: "Open my eyes so that I may see wondrous things in your law." (Psalm 119:18) This supplication sets the tone of utter dependance upon God -the Spirit of the Lord will then help us understand God's Word.

Next they read the Scriptures, feeding upon them, always ending with the prayerful question, "Lord what would you have me take from your Word today?" And then they might end their QT with those more general prayers of worship, penitence, request and intercession.

Prayer for help, then meditation on Scripture, then prayers. It's a sound idea, but it is not a law.

 Summing it all Up

The blessed life can never be discovered through negatives alone. (Some people need to hear that the blessed life cannot be experienced through positives alone!)

Minuses and Plusses are both essential.

This is how all true life-long repentance and faith works.  We turn from, then to. Never just from, never just to. The repentance-faith turn is always from and then to.

We turn from the lies of Satan to the truth of God. 

In the industrialization of our lives, we have tended to latch onto a fixed Quiet Time as the opportunity to study God's Word. But we can feed on God's Word at any time. Since I have been writing these daily devotions I have been trying to develop the habit of going to bed with tomorrow's Scripture in mind and meditating on those words until sleep takes over. 

Do we want a blessed life? The secret lies in delighting and meditating on God's Word. 

A SONG FOR THE DAY

Today a song about God's Word.  

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path

When I feel afraid,
And think I've lost my way
Still, you're there right beside me
Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near
Please be near me to the end

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path

I will not forget
Your love for me and yet
My heart forever is wandering
Jesus by my guide
And hold me to your side
And I will love you to the end

Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near
Please be near me to the end

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
And a light unto my path
You're the light unto my path 

Amy Grant

You can sing along HERE. 

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our loving Father in heaven,

We thank you for your great love for us.

We pray today for those who are suffering under the effects of lockdown. We pray for families that are struggling to balance family and work. We pray for people living on their own and who miss human companionship.

We pray that your great purposes will come to pass. We know that you have good plans for your people and for your kingdom through these trying times. May we not miss what you are doing in our own lives and in the wider world.

Help us to delight in your Word and to meditate on it, so that we might be truly blessed. 

We thank you for the Word made Flesh who died for our sins and rose to give us hope.

And it is in His Precious Name we ask these things,

Amen