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The Scriptorium

A Word to Declare

Learn it, share it. Psalm 119.13

Psalm 119.9-16 (4)

Pray Psalm 119.12-14.

Blessed are You, O LORD!
Teach me Your statutes.
With my lips I have declared
All the judgments of Your mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.

Sing Psalm 119.12-14.
(Passion Chorale: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded)
Be blessed, O God our Savior; teach us Your holy Word!
Our lips proclaim with favor the statutes of the Lord.
How great our joy, dear Jesus, to follow in Your ways;
What more than this could please us, or brighten all our days?

Read Psalm 119.9-16; meditate on verse 13.

Preparation

1. What did the psalmist do with God’s Word?

2. How much of that Word?

Meditation
The psalmist introduces a new idea to his hymn: The Law which we learn, through which we seek God, and which brings happiness and blessedness as we obey it, is a Law to be declared.

The word “declared” is something closer to “recounted” or “related”. The Law of God is something to talk about. And not just in a piecemeal way, but all the Law of God – all His precepts, statutes, testimonies, rules, and judgments. Since all God’s Law gives life and leads to happiness and blessedness, all of it holds insights to wisdom, justice, and love for God and neighbor that are worth sharing and discussing with others. The Law of God – and all His Word – speaks to every aspect of life; therefore, we should speak into the issues of our day, using the Law of God as the source and foundation for our understandings and views.

The Holy Spirit is writing the Law of God on the tablet of our heart (Ezek. 36.26, 27). As we hear, learn, and obey it, we must hasten to share it with others (Hab. 2.2), that they may know the blessing of God as well.

We who study and delight in God’s Law are like the Samarian lepers (2 Kgs. 7.3-10). We need all the riches on which we daily feed, but we must not keep it to ourselves. Everyone needs to hear the whole counsel of God from His Word (Acts 20.27), and we are just the folks to declare it to them out of our bounty.

Learn God’s Law. Worship and rejoice in Him. Live His Word in faithful and humble obedience. Teach it to others. This is the way to greatness in the Kingdom of God (Matt. 5.17-19).

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Our son-in-law Dave is an engineer (not of a train, although that is cool, too). Two things about Dave being an engineer: 1. He speaks fluently, cogently, intelligently, and almost understandably about his work. 2. We will never be able to understand what he knows, but we know that he knows it, and that he likes it.

In the same way, we all, as believers, should be able to speak fluently, cogently, and intelligently about all the Law of God and His Word. So that believers can understand what we are conversing about together; and unbelievers will hear, unable to understand, but will see our love and enthusiasm for our Savior and Lord.

Paul tells us that “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2.14). Sort of like us hearing about how to create a computer chip. It is just not registering. However, this does not mean that we don’t speak to them of God; we merely need to understand that we are speaking a foreign language to them. So, we speak as clearly as possible, with love and enthusiasm.

But just like Dave, we need to be thoroughly schooled in what we are speaking about. This takes study, contemplation, meditation, memorization, and prayer. A complete immersion in the subject at hand. We must be familiar with the whole counsel of God to recount and relate the beautiful Words of God.

When we are ready to relate and recount, we can then imagine ourselves sitting in a rocking chair with our children (whomever God has put in our Personal Mission Field) before us as we say:
“Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Ps. 34.11-14).

A thoughtful Word to declare, and joyful to declare it!

For reflection
1. Why is it important that we be able to declare all the counsel of God?

2. What do you do each day to prepare for opportunities to declare the Word of God?

3. How can declaring the Word of God help your fellow believers? How about the unbelievers you know?

Let this be our plea with Him to teach us his statutes, that, being partakers of his holiness, we may also partake of his blessedness. And those whose hearts are fed with the bread of life, should with their lips feed many. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Psalm 119.9-16

Pray Psalm 119.15, 16.
As you pray, meditate on, contemplate, and delight in some aspect or teaching from God’s Word that you will share with someone today.

Sing Psalm 119.15, 16.
(Passion Chorale: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded)
We contemplate Your precepts and cherish all Your ways,
delighting in Your statutes, rememb’ring all our days.
With wondrous bounty bless us, Your humble servants, Lord,
that we may live with Jesus and keep His holy Word.

T. M. and Susie Moore

You can listen to a summary of last week’s Scriptorium study by going to our website, www.ailbe.org, and clicking the Scriptorium tab for last Sunday. You can download any or all the studies in this series on Psalm 119 by clicking here.

What is the Law of God and how should we learn and obey it? Two books can help. The Law of God arranges the statutes and precepts of God’s Law under their appropriate number of the Ten Commandments. This book is an excellent tool for meditating on God’s Law and thinking about its application in our time. The Foundation for Christian Ethics, on the other hand, explains why the Law matters and how we are to use it. You can order free copes of each of these here and here.

If you find Scriptorium helpful in your walk with the Lord, please seek the Lord, asking Him whether you should contribute to the support of this daily ministry with your financial gifts. As the Lord leads, you can use the Contribute button at the website to give with a credit card or through PayPal or Anedot, or you can send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 360 Zephyr Road, Williston, VT 05495.

Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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