Better is a dry morsel with quietness,
Than a house full of feasting with strife.—Prov 17:1
Oh how happy are the people who fear the Lord and delight in His commandments. They lead peaceable lives in all godliness and reverence.
I so want this for my own house and for those in my church family. Peace...the absence of conflict. Help each of us to aspire to lead a quiet and peaceable life minding our own business and working with our hands...doing what is right in Your sight. Father, moment by moment...walking in the works that You have prepared beforehand for us. Oh, let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us. Let our adornment be the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. ...this is what is precious in Your sight. This is what I want! Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
The work of righteousness will be peace,
And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.—Isa 32:17
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the LORD.—Lam 3:26
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah—Ps 46:10-11
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Oh, How Happy...
Blessed is every one who fears the LORD,
Who walks in His ways.—Psalm 128:1
Spurgeon says Psalm 128 draws a picture of the house built in Ps 127. It is adorned with domestic bliss thru the Lord’s own benediction. I really liked that. Obedience brings blessing. He also calls it a family hymn. A song for a birth, a marriage or any event in which a household has met to praise the Lord. I really liked that too. John MacArthur says that this psalm may have been the basis for Jesus’ illustration of the two builders in Matthew 7:24-27...the one who built his house on the rock and the other on the sand.
Our heritage in Christ is joy not misery. Blessed (oh, how happy) is everyone who fears the Lord. The basis for our blessing is the fear of the Lord. Those who truly reverence and honor the Lord will walk in His ways and obey the commandments of their God. They will will follow hard after Him. When our heart belongs to God our word and deed will match. Our actions will reflect and follow what our heart believes. They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides forever. The LORD takes pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. Oh how happy is the one that fears the Lord and delights in His commandments. Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
Who walks in His ways.—Psalm 128:1
Spurgeon says Psalm 128 draws a picture of the house built in Ps 127. It is adorned with domestic bliss thru the Lord’s own benediction. I really liked that. Obedience brings blessing. He also calls it a family hymn. A song for a birth, a marriage or any event in which a household has met to praise the Lord. I really liked that too. John MacArthur says that this psalm may have been the basis for Jesus’ illustration of the two builders in Matthew 7:24-27...the one who built his house on the rock and the other on the sand.
Our heritage in Christ is joy not misery. Blessed (oh, how happy) is everyone who fears the Lord. The basis for our blessing is the fear of the Lord. Those who truly reverence and honor the Lord will walk in His ways and obey the commandments of their God. They will will follow hard after Him. When our heart belongs to God our word and deed will match. Our actions will reflect and follow what our heart believes. They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides forever. The LORD takes pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. Oh how happy is the one that fears the Lord and delights in His commandments. Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
1 Kings 6:7
When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built. (1 Kings 6:7, ESV)
The materials for the temple were pre-cut and pre-fitted away from the building site. The temple then, was erected in reverent silence.
A picture of Ephesians 2:19-21
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?—1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV)
you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.—1 Peter 2:5 (NKJV)
And from Psalm 127 today...
Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
I really liked this picture from Clarke...
“This speaks to God’s work in the church. “But why is this so particularly marked? It is not because the temple was a type of the kingdom of God; and the souls of men are to be prepared here for that place of blessedness? There, there is no preaching, exhortations, repentance, tears, cries, nor prayers; the stones must be all squared and fitted here for their place in their New Jerusalem.”
The materials for the temple were pre-cut and pre-fitted away from the building site. The temple then, was erected in reverent silence.
A picture of Ephesians 2:19-21
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?—1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV)
you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.—1 Peter 2:5 (NKJV)
And from Psalm 127 today...
Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
I really liked this picture from Clarke...
“This speaks to God’s work in the church. “But why is this so particularly marked? It is not because the temple was a type of the kingdom of God; and the souls of men are to be prepared here for that place of blessedness? There, there is no preaching, exhortations, repentance, tears, cries, nor prayers; the stones must be all squared and fitted here for their place in their New Jerusalem.”
Principle Governing Kings...
"Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites.
"And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes,
"that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.—Deut 17:18-20
Kings were not above the law, but were specially responsible to read it daily and conform both their life and their reign to the Word of God. ❤️ Writing it embedded it on his heart and mind. Reading it taught him to fear the Lord...keeping his pride in check. The word showed him his own need for mercy and forgiveness and hopefully he would then be merciful and forgiving toward his subjects.
"And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes,
"that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.—Deut 17:18-20
Kings were not above the law, but were specially responsible to read it daily and conform both their life and their reign to the Word of God. ❤️ Writing it embedded it on his heart and mind. Reading it taught him to fear the Lord...keeping his pride in check. The word showed him his own need for mercy and forgiveness and hopefully he would then be merciful and forgiving toward his subjects.
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