Digging Deeper

Digging Deeper

Psalm 25:21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You.

This verse provides great examples of why we must:

• Study the entire word of God to understand what God is telling us.
• Recognize that the meaning of a verse may be much deeper than it appears.

The following definitions are a good starting point:

• Integrity – To perfectly conform to a standard.
• Uprightness – To do what is right.
• Preserve – To guard, protect or maintain.

So, taken on its own, we could rewrite this verse as: ‘Let perfectly conforming to a standard by my righteousness maintain me (in good standing with God), because I patiently expect blessings from God.

This rewritten verse now describes a works based salvation (earning the forgiveness of your sins). This is totally contrary to what God is teaching us when you look at the entirety of scripture.

Let’s look a little deeper into God’s Word:

• God’s Word is the only perfect standard for living.
• Psalm 119:140 Your word is very pure; Therefore Your servant loves it.
• God’s Word is our only guide and hope to living a life pleasing to Him.
• Psalm 119:11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.
• A person can’t understand the true meaning of Scripture without the Holy Spirit of God providing the insight and wisdom required.
• 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
• You must be God’s child to be indwelt with the Holy Spirit.
• John 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
• We have no righteousness on our own.
• Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.
• As children of God, a Christian’s righteousness comes from Christ’s sacrifice.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
• We can’t just hear the Word of God, we have to learn it and live it.
• James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
• It is God who gives us the desire and ability to live according to His standards.
• Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
• No one and no thing other than God can preserve us.
• Psalm 20:7-8 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. 8 They have bowed down and fallen; But we have risen and stand upright.
• God does bless and honor those who truly trust in Him and wait for Him to accomplish His purposes.
• Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Just ‘scratching the surface’ with this example, you can begin to see the necessity for in-depth study of God’s Word, and reliance on and guidance from the Holy Spirit, to avoid misinterpretation and misapplication of scripture.

If this doesn’t make sense to you, please find a Christian who has faithfully studied God’s Word and ask them to explain and elaborate on these concepts and verses; pray for guidance and understanding.

Prayer

Dear Lord, You know I have wrestled with this devotion. I pray Your Word, Truth, Grace, Mercy and Love will touch someone’s heart. Thank You for the consistency and trustworthiness of Your Word. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Unchangeable

Unchangeable

We are surrounded by change!

People Change

• Deuteronomy 34:5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.
• People learn, grow, age and eventually die. We are in a constant state of change.
• Galatians 1:13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.
• An encounter with God can change a person from a hater of Christians to being a Christian.

The Universe Changes

• Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
• There was a time when the earth and heavens did not exist. God created them.
• Revelation 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
• There is coming a time when the earth and heavens will be destroyed by God.  He will replace them with a new heaven and a new earth.

Man’s Relationship with God Changes

• Matthew 27:51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,
• Under the old covenant, man had to approach God through a priest. When Christ died, the veil in the Temple was torn showing us that those saved by the blood of Christ have direct access to God.
• 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
• When Christ returns to claim His church, we will receive our glorified bodies and spend eternity with Him! No more sickness, sorry or death!!

Yet in the midst of all this change, there is one constant: God! In His essence, nature and character, God remains the same for all eternity (past, present and future). He doesn’t learn or forget, shrink or expand, age or die.

God Never Changes

• Malachi 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
• His covenants are never broken.
• James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
• His love is eternal. There is no deviation from His perfection.
• Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
• The Father, Son and Holy Ghost (the Godhead) will never ever change.

When you are looking for something (Someone) that will stand the test of time, gaze upon the face of God. Let Him be the immovable, unshakeable, unchanging foundation for your life. When you can’t count on anything or anyone else, you can count on God.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I praise You and thank You for never changing. When I talk with You tomorrow, You will be the same God I am talking to today. Seasons may come, and seasons may go, but in You there is eternal stability and consistency. I love the fact that You don’t change. In Christ’s name, Amen.