Psalm 119:83

Bottle In The Smoke

By Pastor Dr. Ronnie W. Wolfe

John Gill tells us that a bottle in smoke is one that has been hung in smoke to dry and can become useless, so man is useless to God or true piety unless there were some way in which he could reach the divine oracle, divine knowledge and comfort.

Matthew Henry applies this to old age as the body is weakened more and more as time goes by; thus, the body seems useless, or at least less useful, to the work of God, and age may bring a feeling of uselessness to its owner. However, the word of God can rejuvenate the mind and heart, though the body grows weaker.

Let us make the application simpler by saying that we are like a bottle hidden by the smoke of sin and confusion in the world and that the only way we can see beyond this world and its smokey chaos and confusion is to look into the word of God, his statutes.

So, although the wisdom of this world is foolishness (1 Cor. 3:19), yet we can still see true Light when we remember the statutes of God, the Bible. It is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119:105).

We as God's people have allowed the smoke of this world to creep into our churches, blind rather than bind the brokenhearted and hurt rather than heal the sinner by forgetting that our Light from above comes, not subjectively, from our own minds and hearts, but from God who gives wisdom liberally (James 1:5) and that through his word--the BIBLE.