March 10, 2020 -- Psalm 119:130 -- Greater Light from God
/The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.
Psalm 119:130 English Standard Version
When you were young, did your parents ever say to you “Just wait ‘til you have kids of your own, then you’ll understand?!” Maybe the context was coming home later than your curfew and your parents were anxious for your safety. Perhaps your parents said it because you’d been demanding a puppy. You were too young to care for its needs and understand how much work it would be.
It seems to me that the psalmist is testifying to the fact that the longer he knows God his Father, and the longer he lives keeping to His Word, the more he understands the unfolding of God’s masterful plan of salvation. As a child we have a certain, limited, capacity for learning and understanding. As a teenager we have more responsibilities and more ability to grasp the ways of the world and the commands of God the Just. When we marry there is a new richness to the Scriptures. The passage of Genesis 2 where Adam meets Eve for the first time takes on new meaning and significance. Ephesians 5, the imagery of Christ and the Church as His bride makes so much more sense. In Isaiah we are taught that even to grey hair and old age it is the LORD Who sustains us. The longer we live, the more we trust the LORD, the more fully the word unfolds its treasures and subtleties.
The important question is this: are you open to what the Spirit of God is teaching? Are you dismissing the Word because you think I read it already? Truly we are simple people. In our hubris we think “I got this” or “I know this already”! How funny it all is. We are like an ant shaking its fist at an elephant. Even that imagery fails, as we are not even that big in comparison to the omniscience (all-knowing) and omnipotence (all-powerful) of the Living God. The manifold wisdom of God the Creator is so far beyond our puny understanding. Yet in love He stoops down and reveals to us something of His glory and majesty and power and love.
Read on my friend. Devour the Scriptures. Learn and grow. Trust that God our Father has placed in His Word all we need for life at every stage. Believe that Jesus our Lord reveals abundantly more than we will ever need to face the crises and trials of our life. Ask the Spirit of God to take from what is Jesus’ teaching and make it known to you at every stage of your life so that the blessings of God our righteousness will be woven into every part of your life.
LORD of Heaven and Earth, we confess the truth of Your Word—we are such simple creatures! We are prepared to stumble around in the darkness using our pride as our light. It is not until we encounter the brilliance of Who You Are, Holy, Triune God—that we understand how deep the darkness of our own deceit was. Shine in us, Blessed Spirit, the light of the glory of Jesus Christ found in Scripture so that we will know our Father in heaven and in faith receive the unimaginable treasures of His wisdom, kindness and saving love. In our war-riddled, plague filled, world, so many people are rushing here and there afraid the sky is falling and in terror for what the markets will do next—we pray, LORD of Peace—reveal the comforts that are found only in Jesus. Let the present uncertainties and upheavals of our age bring many sons and daughters to glory. Amen.
