Tuesday’s Blog – Mirror, mirror James 1:23-25.

Tuesday’s Blog – Mirror, mirror James 1:23-25.

Psalm 119:104-105 – Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your Word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path.

Bible Challenges and Comments

When reading Psalm 119 we seldom break one section of eight verses from the other. Mostly we have been taught to keep these segments together and there are several reasons for it. One is that all twenty-two segments represent the Hebrew alphabet in that each section begins with the letter represented. As in verses 97-104 begin with the Hebrew (mem) or our letter (m) and verses 105-112 begin with the Hebrew (nun) or our letter (n).

Another factor is that each segment of eight verses is one day in the life of the psalmist who may have been Jeremiah as the Psalm has no author except the LORD God. During the Babylonian takeover of Israel the healthy men and women were captured and brought to Babylon, they had to walk and the trip took twenty two days. Therefore it is taught by some to be the personal thoughts of Jeremiah the Prophet as he made this journey with the captives.

Also, if these are the thoughts of Jeremiah that each eight verses represent the watch of the day as in one verse represents three hours. The Jewish day began; called the 1^st watch, the setting of the sun to 9pm. The 2^nd watch began at 9pm and lasted to midnight. The 3^rd watch from midnight to 3am, the 4^th from 3am to sunrise. Then repeated again; the 1^st watch, sunrise to 9am, 2^nd watch, 9am to noon, 3^rd watch, noon to 3pm and the 4^th, 3pm to sunset.

With these thoughts in mind the Psalm helps me to focus on personal application of the Word of God in the life of a prophet in the Old Testament. Yes these men were men just as you and I and these men were just as those men in the New Testament who were first disciples, then apostles, then church fathers and so on. They were family men just as we are, they had wives and children and God was and is even now their God. That would be the same God that you and I worship today. Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.

Also I would like to point out that these men were employed, the apostle Paul was a tent maker, most of the disciples were fishermen and one was a tax collector. And if you study the Word; you know this as well as I do. The Old Testament men were farmers, shepherds, kings, priests and military leaders. In case you may be wondering who these are; they are Jeremiah, David, Joshua and Moses. Of course the lists are not inclusive. So then there is little wiggle room for you and me. We cannot say; “well these men had a special relationship with God, you know; one that is set apart and God has not called me!

Really? Are you not set apart too, are you not called of God to be a representative of the Gospel of God. Has not God known and fashioned you before you were delivered from your mother’s womb? Psalm 139:13-18. And yet you are right! There is a difference in that you are much like me and of course I just may be writing to myself as a challenge in that there is a difference in that most people of God today, as they live through the watches of the day we are not communing with our God. Like the apostle Paul has said; rejoice always, pray without ceasing; do we? 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17.

For example; from 3pm to sunset there few thoughts in my mind other than the approaching evening meal. “Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” Then of course after the evening meal you will seldom find me saying to the LORD, “Your Word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path”. Do you get the difference here? Well now just wait awhile and then when we are captive and our homeland is taken away, we may just seek the lamp for our feet. It is a matter of choice is it not? I chose just as you do, to commune with God or to commune with self, sadly in today’s Christendom we spend far too much time communing with self.