April 7, 2020 -- Psalm 119:145 -- Grab this time for Glory!
/With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD!
I will keep your statutes.
Psalm 119:145 English Standard Version
Today’s verse is the first verse of a new stanza known as the Qoph stanza because in the Hebrew language the first word of each verse begins with the letter Qoph. The whole psalm opened with the blessing pronounced on those who “seek the Him [the LORD] with their whole heart”. And that expression whole heart echoes through-out 119. We’ve read it at verses 10, 34, 58, 69 and now in our verse once again. The writer is crying out and each of those four verses gives a particular faceted reason for crying out to the LORD. That Name LORD is is the Self-revelation of God; and in the Bible God the LORD declares the significance of His Name.
The LORD Who was, Who is and Who is to Come (the Self-existent God as in Exodus 3:14).
He is the LORD Who will show grace and mercy to whom He chooses (Exodus 33:19).
He is the LORD Who abhors, hates, all evildoers (Psalm 5:5-6)
Here is why this is so critical for us to understand: we are sinners—our inclination is to turn away from God. Unless the LORD, Who is rich in mercy, poured out His Spirit on us, we would leave the God we claim to love. The LORD Who hates all evildoers chose to crush Jesus, and pierce Him, and wound Him so that God’s proper and holy wrath is fully poured out on Jesus rather than on us, who are sinners.
So the LORD God chooses to remember our sins no more when we trust in Jesus Christ.
So the LORD God has grace and mercy on all who believe in Jesus.
All who trust in Christ know our sins are removed. The LORD will remember our sins no more. Because of Jesus’ suffering and the fact that He bore God’s punishment in our place the LORD says, “I have absolutely no record of anything having gone wrong in your life” (quotation from David Platt).
As the pandemic continues to ravage our lands rather than watching sports reruns of faded glories past, or gorging on movie channels and bingeing to the point of numbness instead let us be gripped by the knowledge of God, the LORD. In our isolation let us cry out to God the LORD until we seek Him with our whole hearts. Instead of watching that movie or watching that series again, find sermons to listen to and ask God the LORD to awaken your soul so that you will love Him with a freshness you have never experienced before. Here are two websites, rich with free resources on all kinds of Scripture, topics that are relevant and bursting with information on knowing God:
https://www.monergism.com/
https://www.ligonier.org/
This is the opportunity like no other, this is the space of time you’d asked for so that you could catch up on your rest and reading. Let the LORD and the splendor of His salvation grip your heart as never before so that this time of confusion and terror becomes transformed as the time when you encounter God the Glorious, the LORD Who is rich in mercy and mighty in His salvation. Do not lose this moment.
Oh LORD God Almighty, I read that the psalmist is crying out with his whole heart to You, and I admit how often I keep a corner of my heart and bit of myself for myself as if You can not perceive this. And I wonder why I am discontent and struggle to keep Your statutes—little wonder when the chamber of my horded heart is the perfect entry-way for evil. Answer me, O LORD, purge the evil from me. In view of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, cleanse me from the inside out and give me a holy zeal for Who You Are. Blessed are You, Jesus, and incomprehensible is Your sacrifice. Teach me to love You as I ought to love and serve You with my whole heart. Blessed are You, Spirit of God, may this time of pandemic and confusion become a sanctuary in time where I am completely renewed in my knowledge of God the LORD and have a passion for Him that ever grows burning with ever-greater intensity. Amen.
