Abiding in Jesus, Living in Him (12)

 

 

“Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me; then I will be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Yahweh, my rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:12 – 14).

 

In the second movement of Psalm 19 (verses 7 – 11) we encounter a second way that God speaks to us and prunes us; that is, of course, His Word. God’s Word; His law, His testimony, His precepts, His commandments; restores us, makes us wise, brings us joy, and enlightens our eyes and understanding.

 

How sad it is when those who sense the Divine in Creation do not come to Him through His Word, and what a shame that there are those who profess a high regard for His Word and yet discount His revelation in Creation – even though His Word teaches us that He speaks to us, and reveals Himself to us, in and through His Creation. We ought not to read verses 1 – 6 without also reading verses 7 – 11, nor should we teach verses 7 – 11 without also teaching verses 1 – 6. Why would we put a patch over one eye, and not use both to see our Lord Jesus and our Father? Why would we plug up one ear, and not use both to hear the Word of our God speaking to us through Creation and through His written Word?

 

The nature of both Creation and the Bible is a mystery; just as the Nature of the Incarnation is a mystery. In the previous reflection we touched on the mysterious nature of Creation. As regards the Bible, to know the Scriptures as data is not enough, knowing the information the Scriptures contain is not enough; religious people of Jesus’ time knew the Scriptures but they did not know Him, therefore they did not really know the Scriptures.

 

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” (John 5:39 – 40). Unless the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus Christ to us through and in the Scriptures, we simply cannot know them (1 Cor. 1:17 – 2:16).

 

In 2 Timothy 3:15 – 17 we see that Scripture gives us wisdom which leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. This passage tells us that Scripture is fruitful for teaching and reproof, for correction and for training – can we see the work of pruning in this?

 

Hebrews 4:12 – 13 shows us that God’s Word is living and active, it is sharper than a two-edged sword, penetrating deep within our being, judging and revealing. Can we see the work of pruning?

 

Psalm 19:12 tells us that the law of Yahweh is perfect, that it is blameless, restoring the soul. God’s perfect Word does a perfect work of restoration in us through our Lord Jesus Christ. While I may not perfectly understand what I am reading (and I do not!), I can have perfect trust in Jesus that what I am reading is perfect and that my Father will perfect me in Jesus (Ps. 138:8; Phil. 1:6).

 

May I share with you one reason why the Word of God has so little affect among us? Why it is akin to what we read about Jesus, that when He went to His hometown that He could do little to help them because of their unbelief. (Mt. 13:53 – 58). It is because we do not believe God’s Word, and it is particularly because we do not think His Word is perfect.

 

I have facilitated many Bible studies over the years, I have been in many small groups and Sunday school classes, and I have seen over and over again how we doubt God’s Word, we do not believe the Word of God is perfect. We say, “This cannot mean what it says. Paul was off on this point. Someone added this to Jesus’ words. This doesn’t make sense. Jesus cannot have meant this.”

 

We stand in judgment of God’s Word, rather than submitting to the judgment of God’s Word.

 

We explain away the Bible, we apologize for the Bible, we functionally edit the Bible, we pick and choose what in the Bible we will obey and convey to others. How can we receive from that which we do not trust? I have seen brothers spend most of their small group time stumbling over the Bible rather than submitting to the Bible. I have seen Sunday school classes waste hours using curricula that questions the truth of Scripture – and the people in the classes don’t discern the toxic nature of the curricula because they themselves do not see the Word of God as perfect. If we do not know the True Measure, how can we identify false measures? If we do not know what it is to touch and use true currency, how can we identify counterfeit currency?

 

Knowing that we can trust the perfect Word of God is critical to allowing His Word to restore our souls into His image. Do we trust the pruning shears of our Father? Do we trust His Word?

 

There are, I am sure, many things in the Bible I don’t know fully understand; but I understand that the Bible is God’s Word and that it reveals Jesus Christ harmoniously and consistently. The glory of the Bible, its heights and depths and lengths and breaths, is ever expanding in my life, the glory of Jesus Christ is more and more radiant. On my best days of seeing and understanding, I am still a child, I am still utterly dependent on my heavenly Father and Lord Jesus, I still desperately need the Holy Spirit.

 

I expect to meet Jesus when I open the Bible, when I mediate on His Word during the day, when I awake and visualize Psalm 23 at night; I expect Jesus to come to me and to draw me to Him in and through His Word…and He does not disappoint. The Word of God is the nexus of my koinonia with the Trinity and the People of God.

 

What else do you see in Psalm 19:7 – 11? What does this passage tell us about experiencing the Word of God? What does this tell us about the pruning of our heavenly Father?

 

The Lord willing, we’ll ponder verses 12 – 14 in our next reflection.