Feb. 16, 2007

Feb. 16, 2007

Psalm 1
2 But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.

“Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible."

Yesterday we looked at Psalm 1:1. In reflecting on it, we saw sin was progressive. It could be deemed that yesterday's devotion was quit negative, but God is a positive God, so lets look at the other side of the coin. Verse 2 says that the man from verse one that does not do those evil things does these positive things:

• Wants to follow the laws of the Lord - What is the law of the Lord? Well the translation could easily mean the first five books of the OldTestament , or as they were known to the Hebrew people, the Pentateuch. In fact, the word here for law is Torah, another name for the same set of books. Think though, about what Jesus said was the mostimportant laws:
  Mar 12:30-31
  (30) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
  (31) And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
  
  Jesus even went on to say that these two laws sum up all the other laws. In fact, if you walk in love to all people (sometimes it is the hardest thing to do), then you cannot be breaking any of the laws, you will not be sinning. That sure is a tall order.
  
  
• We are to meditate on the law every day and every night. What does it mean to meditate? I chose the Amplified version for this reading for the reason that it details what one is to do. We are to ponder it and study. Strongs Concordance even suggests that we are to mutter it. It is in looking at a devotional like this and thinking on it as you go though your day that we ponder the word. Or find yourself some scriptures to look at and ask God to give you insight on them. I will from time to time grab a verse before I go to bed at night. While laying there awake I will think about what it means to me. A very useful tool because the devil does not want you strong and will put you to sleep real quick. Besides that, meditating on the Word will not let you meditate on the problems you may have since you cannot think of two things at the same time.

Take some time to ponder the Word the next few days. It is a good habit to get into.