This is what God says about the wicked...
But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.
The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying,
"See the man who would not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and sought refuge in his own destruction!"
Psalm 119, various verses
What preconceived attitudes do we carry around with us about God's Word? How much do we value it? What value do I place on it? I claim to value it quite a bit, don't I?
But do I really believe it? Does it make its way into my heart?
Psalm 119 is 170-some-odd verses about the value of God's Message to us. Verse after verse after verse that declare the true value and beauty of God's Word.
"What you say goes, GOD, and stays, as permanent as the heavens."
Remember the old cliche, "God says it, I believe it, that does it?" How about leaving out the middle part..."God says it; that does it." Really doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. What God says, goes.
"Your truth never goes out of fashion;
it's as up-to-date as the earth when the sun comes up."
Many people think that the Bible is out of date. Old-fashioned. Irrelevant. That couldn't be further from the truth. It's as relevant as ever. Maybe some of our preachers and teachers are becoming irrelevant, but that could be largely because they are leaning on their own understanding, as Scripture admonishes not to do.
"Your Word and truth are dependable as ever;
that's what you ordered--you set the earth going."
God is dependable. He set the earth in motion...and look! It's still going! And it will keep going until he says different, in spite of what all the "glowarmers" believe.
Oops. Sorry. Didn't mean to get political.
Ok, maybe I did...just a little.
"If your revelation hadn't delighted me so, I would have given up when the hard times came. But I'll never forget the advice you gave me; you saved my life with those wise words."
This is why, Andy, you don't give up. Because, in your heart, God's Word has delighted you. You struggle. Much more than your fair share. But you don't give up.
Finally, this one.
"By your words I can see where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path."
Heh. I think most of us know that verse more along these lines..."Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." That's for all the KJV fans...
God's Word helps us see where we are going. Otherwise we stumble and fall. Heck. Sometimes I stumble and fall when I'm reading God's Word. Hard to imagine what it would be like without it at all.
For a good exercise in prayer, take scattered verses of Psalm 119 and pray them for yourself. You don't even have to change very much to personalize them, because most of it is in first person. The encouragement is that we can be assured that he is listening.
God reveal yourself to me through your Word, and help me use it to guide my path each day.
Grace and peace, y'all!