God’s Word, My Meditation

“⁹⁷Oh how I love your law!

It is my meditation all the day.”

— Psalm 119:97 (ESV)

And there you have it. I choose God’s Word to be my meditation all day every day.

I admit that God’s Word has not been my meditation or my “delight” as James MacDonald puts it. His Word has been more of a “desire” for me. I have bypassed the “discipline” step and am firmly planted in “desire”. I want to be in God’s Word, but find myself distracted by the things of this world. Work, providing, getting along, all of which are distracting from my devotion to God’s Word.

Now, that last sentence above is not all bad. I should be concerned with work, providing and getting along. The thing is where am I placing those in the hierarchy of my focus. Am I placing them above the Word of God. That is where the “delight” in God’s Word comes in. Placing God’s Word at the top of my hierarchy is the priority. Not for me but for God.

It is what God wants of me and not what I want of me. It is getting to the place where I am taking things on in this world as God has planned for me. I should be doing that what God wants of me and not looking in the mirror to see what I want. As I look in the mirror I should be searching for the picture of Jesus as He stands with me pointing me the direction I should go.

By delighting in God’s Word, I will find myself seeking His direction at every turn. When it comes to work, it is His Word that directs me. When it comes to providing, it is He who provides for me to provide for my family. As for getting along, oh how much easier when God is guiding me. My delight in God’s Word gives all that I could want and therefor I am able to move forward regardless of circumstance.

Where are you as pertains to God’s Word? Are you still looking in the mirror and seeing yourself? What if you were to see God there with you as you move forward and knowing that He is getting you where you are supposed to be?

Discipline Is Not the End

Get in trouble and face discipline. And then get in trouble again and face discipline. At some point we learn and stay away from trouble. But see the pattern here, discipline is not the end of it all. This is something that Cain learned from God after killing his brother Abel.

“¹³Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’ ¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, ‘Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.’” – Genesis 4:13-15 (ESV)

Cain was being disciplined for the act of killing His brother and sinning against God. He was sure that this would be the end and he would surely die soon at the hand of God or some other party. Well, I can say that I would likely be thinking the same thing. I know that even now when I sin, I expect the worst and that things may come to an end.

But what do we see from God, mercy. Was God angry with Cain, sure. Was God right in disciplining Cain for the sin, of course. Was God well within Himself to make this the end of Cain, I believe so. But, God did not make this the end, in fact when you look at verse 15, God went forward with ensuring Cain’s protection that he would continue and bear fruit for the LORD.

I see this morning that sin is not the end. When we are repentant, the LORD will show mercy to us, forgive us, and protect us for His good work. So the discipline is there to strengthen us that we would go forward having learned from the instance and do the work of God.

What is your view of discipline? Do you see it as the end of all things? What if you were to recognize it for the learning and growth opportunity that is provides in your walk with Christ?

The LORD Disciplines All

I am again in the passage from Genesis known as “The Fall”. This is the story of the serpent deceiving the woman to eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and feeding Adam. Where there is a lot to the story, I would focus this morning on the discipline God passes to each of those involved.

“¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent,…

‘¹⁵I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.’”

“¹⁶To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

in pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,

but he shall rule over you.”

“¹⁷And to Adam he said,

‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you,

“You shall not eat of it,”

cursed is the ground because of you;

in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

¹⁸thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.’”

— Genesis 3:14a & 15-18 (ESV)

Notice here that all involved in “The Fall” were counted as responsible and were disciplined by God. First, the serpent who started it all was dealt with most harshly. The serpent was separated from man who there was a relationship before. We don’t know the full extent of the relationship, yet there was one as there was with all that were created by God. The positive relationship was removed and the serpent would be forever believed to be evil.

Next there was the woman. She was responsible for being deceived. She made the decision to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. She chose to sin and her discipline was to be more conscious of childbirth and continue to be at odds with her husband who would now be counted as the ruler of the household.

And then there is Adam. When reading the story, it appears as though he might be in the clear as he may not have know where the fruit came from. Except, as noted quickly at the end of verse 6, he was with her at the time. Adam was disciplined to work the ground for his food as opposed to having things handed to him by God. He would now be subject to hard labor and know that it was labor whereas before, it was just work done to manage the garden.

Regardless of the scenario, there is discipline to be had by all. Whether the starter of it (the serpent) the receiver (the woman) or the apparent bystander (Adam). God will discipline all. There are consequences to any and everything that goes on. What I have to remember is that where there are consequences, they are there for me learn and grow in the LORD.

What scenarios have you been in where you are one of the three identified? Are you thinking that somehow you are immune from discipline? What if you were to take on that the LORD will discipline all, and that discipline is for our good?

Accept the Father’s Discipline

I know, who wants to be disciplined. Who wants to be rebuked and corrected. Who wants to be pushed to be better and more effective. Well this guy does.

In the mornings, I get up early and get some exercise. Now mind you, I am not a super fit guy and frankly, I am sure that those who are would not really consider the exercise I get as doing much for them. But, each morning I push myself to be better than the day before, and am excited when I best things by even the smallest of margins. Sometimes just getting up and getting out is besting things so I am excited for those just as much. Now, how is it that I am able to get and do in the mornings, but through discipline. Thankfully I have some willpower to do them, yet if not, I would seek out someone to hold me to account at getting better, just as one does when they hire a personal trainer.

Well, the Father is my spiritual personal trainer. He holds me to account so that I get better, at least better than the day before. And yes, sometimes it is better by the smallest of margins, but it is better none the less. I have to seek out my personal trainer and the discipline to get better and where it may not be super fun in the moment, the results are great to behold.

“⁹Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. ¹¹For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” – Hebrews 12:9-11 (ESV)

Our Father in heaven is here to train us in the glory of the gospel. He wants us to be strong and courageous in our work for Him. The way we do that is with the discipline to continue, even when things get hard. He will not make things easy for you and me. We will struggle with getting through. We will endure pain and frankly will fall into the trap of avoiding things just because they are hard. But those are the times when we seek Him out to hold us to account and maintain our discipline to press forward for His glory and now our own.

Only the Father will hold us to account for His work, and only when we are in His arms. I have to ensure that I will have the Father on my side and be lifted by Him and the way I do that is to dive into His Word and work to understand where I stand as His son. I have to remember that regardless of how hard things might be in the moment, He is allowing the hard to toughen me in the moment to reward me in His time.

What are you working toward that is hard? Are you out there going it alone? What if you engaged with the Father to hold you to account and press you to completing so that you will be rewarded for your work?