paraphrase a commercial, 'Bet you can't digest just one insight'. We would be remiss if we didn't include Gimel, Daleth, He, Vau and Zain, which follow Beth in verses 17-56, "Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgements at all times. Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments. Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies. Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes. Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes. Make me to understand the ways of thy precepts: so shall I talk to thy wondrous works. My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word. Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgements have I laid before me. I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord put me not to shame. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes: and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the paths of thy commandments; for therein do I delight. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way. Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgements are good. Behold I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness. Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord, even thy salvation, according to thy word. So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; 157 _______________________________________________________________________________ for I have hoped in thy judgements. So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever. And I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law. I remembered thy judgements of old, O Lord; and have comforted myself. Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night and have kept thy law. This I had, because I kept thy precepts.". One thing is evident throughout these last passages. The study is a continuing thing, that should be put into continuing practice. We shouldn't study just to feel good, that is study for entertainment, but should carry the good feeling into practice in our daily lives. Use it or lose it. Exercise your physical body or experience atrophy. Exercise your spiritual body or experience atrophy. There is no difference. With these exercises comes body strength both physical and spiritual. Exercise always brings hunger, also. Study more to want more. You might find other things in these passages, also, but these thoughts jumped out at me, as being appropriate. From Proverbs 15:28 we see, "The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.". To study should become our second nature. Also a desire for deeper understanding should become second nature to us. Reinforcing the statement of the plan for turning study into action is Deuteronomy 6:1 through 9: "Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgements, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might 158 ______________________________________________________________________________ |