Here I Stand

Scripture:
Let Your steadfast love come to me, O Lord,
    Your salvation according to Your promise;
then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me,
    for I trust in Your word.  -Psalm 119:41-42, ESV

Observation:
-God's word reveals to us HIs great love for us.
-Knowing God's word allows us to have an answer when we need it.
-God's word is trustworthy

Application:
Why do we study the Bible?  Is it for merely an intellectual exercise?  Do we really believe what it says to be true?  I do.  I believe this book to be the inerrant word of God.  Over the centuries it has remained the same; yes, there are many modern translations out there with varying degrees of accuracy to the original texts-but the words we read today are the same ones that the Jews read during the times of the prophets; the same words that Saul/Paul studied as a pharisee; the same words the Christians of the first century had read to them in their churches; the same words that led Luther to stand before the Holy Roman Emperor at the Diet of Worms and declare that his conscience was captive to the Word of God, not to popes or councils.  These are the same words we have in our hands today.  God's testimonies have stood firm through time and proven to be true and trustworthy.  They are more than an intellectual exercise however, they are the means we have to know God.  Within the pages of our Bibles God reveals Himself to man.  And the psalmist here has learned through God's word that God loves us with an unfailing; a steadfast love.  A love that bore His Son to the cross (though the Psalmist did not know the details of the promised salvation.)  What he knew was that God's word was trustworthy- and He promised salvation to His people- the people of the covenant He had made with Abraham.  God was a keeper of promises, that truth is revealed in His word.  God's love for us never ends, that truth too is evident in His word.  
I love this book like no other.  I continue to pray that God would open my eyes each time I open its pages to see what He wants me to see.  To teach me His precepts that I may walk in His ways.  I pray that I will always be a student of His word that I too may have an answer for those who would taunt- not for the purpose of arguing, but rather that like, Luther before us, I would be able to say, that here I stand on the word of God, my conscience can do no other.

Grace, Peace, and Mercy,
Deb

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