November 22, 2009

Ps 119:98-100 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. 100 I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. NIV

The Word of God bears lasting fruit in the lives of those who will truly commit to its instruction. Blessed is the man who has discovered the power of living according to the Word! The Psalmist has captured so powerfully the impact of the commands of God upon the lives of those who are trained by them. It is not enough to simply read the Word of God. We must choose the Word as the wisdom by which we live and when we do great things begin to happen as we are shaped and molded by its counsels.

The Psalmist declares concerning the Word of God “Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.” What a powerful, faith-filled statement of confidence. The Psalmist has learned that the presence of God’s commands within him is not a passive reality but a living experience. Heb 4:12 tells us that “the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Our enemies are at a disadvantage because the counsels of God given to us through His commands are actually alive and active within us. When we are in the presence of our enemies the Word of God is actually active within us to minister God’s wisdom to us in our time of need. Jesus taught his disciples of the power of the living word in this way when he spoke in Matt 10:19-20 and said “when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

There is great power in hiding the Word of God in our hearts through prayer, reading and meditation upon the precepts of God. As we hide the Word within our lives we give the Holy Spirit more to work with in His ministry of releasing timely wisdom and direction into our lives. Jesus described the work of the Holy Spirit in us by saying in John 14:25-26 “the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” The ministry of the Holy Spirit works with the living Words of Jesus that are within us to remind us in our time of need of the applicable Words that are hidden within our spirit and mind through previous meditation and revelation. It is through this means that the Holy Spirit develops a wisdom and understanding in our lives that is greater than any human reasoning can ever generate.

We can see this wisdom at work in the life of Stephen in his final conflict with the religious leaders before they martyred him. Though Stephen was not a highly educated scholar the Spirit of God within him was greater than the wisdom of the learned men he was in confrontation with. Acts 6:9-10 tells this story. “Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)-Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.” Today “let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you” and discover a greater measure of the wisdom of God directing you in all of the affairs of your life!