Thursday, June 19, 2014

Psalm 119:40

Ronnie W. Wolfe

We should all "long after" these precepts, because they are our guide, our strength, our comfort. Oh, yes, how strong our desire should be to know and obey God's word! The psalmist said in Psalms 42:1 As the hart (deer) panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. Then Peter, a man who learned through much hard experience, says in 1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

But then we are to grow in grace and knowledge of the word (2 Peter 3:18) that we might be fed with meat and not just milk:  1 Corinthians 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

 While longing for the precepts of God, his word, the psalmist pleads strongly with God to quicken him. Reference to the Hebrew language tells us that this is Piel Imperative, which means that this is a strong command to God, not that the writer is being God's boss, but that he is reflecting the strong promise of God that he will indeed quicken the soul that longs for his precepts. This quickening is not regeneration but a keeping alive, as God has promised to all of his children:  Proverbs 12:28 In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.

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