Life Wasn't Meant to be Easy // When God Speaks, Pt 4

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

It’s one thing to obey God when everything’s going along just fine, but it’s another thing entirely to live a life of obedience when you’re under pressure. And yet, it’s in those difficult times that the power of God’s Word has its greatest impact.

These days, it’s a bit unpopular for someone like me to be talking about obedience to God’s Word. It’s not something most of us want to hear. Aw, come on Berni, teach me about grace, tell me about God’s blessings, I want to know more about God’s love.

That’s the stuff people want to hear about and sure, they’re all really good things. I mean, really good things. But what about these particular verses of Scripture, John chapter 14, verse 15:

If you love me, you will obey my commandments.

1 John chapter 5, verse 3:

For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.

No, obedience to God’s Word is not a particularly popular concept these days. But the whole point of obeying God, is that the only things He tells us not to do, are the things that are going to bring harm to us and the people around us. So paradoxically, obedience brings freedom. Obedience sets us free from the consequences of our sin ... and sin ... sin always has consequences, right?

Okay that’s great. But what about when the going gets tough? What about when other people are doing the wrong thing, and we’re hurting? What about obedience to God’s Word in that place when the degree of difficulty gets ratcheted up to about a 9.9? Psalm 119, verses 20 to 24:

My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times. You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments; take away from me their scorn and their contempt, for I have kept your decrees. Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. Your decrees are my delight, they are my counsellors.

That’s amazing, because the man writing this Psalm, the man speaking to God here, is under a lot of pressure. But he’s taken a stand. He’s made a decision that he will long for God’s will, God’s Word, God’s ways, when? Just in the good times? No! At all times! Even when evil people are heaping scorn and contempt on him, even when princes are plotting against him. That’s a tough decision, but it’s the right one.

Many centuries later, the Apostle Paul put it this way. Galatians chapter 6, verse 9:

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.

The time when God’s Word is most important, when God’s wisdom is most important, when God’s ways are most important, is when the going gets tough. Right in that moment when we want to give up honouring God by living His way, right in that instant, that’s when obedience to God’s Word is most important.

Because in that moment, the enemy wants to snatch your inheritance away from you. But don’t give up, because there’s a harvest coming. When? Well, at harvest time of course!

The trick, I guess, the piece of wisdom, the powerful Word that God wants us to hear today though, is don’t give up in doing what is right. Don’t give up honouring and obeying God. But that’s not always going to be easy is it?

One of the things I love about the Hebrew culture in which the Psalms of the Old Testament were written, is the powerful use of picture language to express deep emotions. The Jewish tradition is full of rich, evocative picture language, like Psalm 119, verses 25 and 26:

My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to your word. When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes.

Just drink that picture in for a moment: my soul clings to the dust. It speaks of complete and utter desolation. It speaks of burdens so heavy, a body so weary, that it’s lying in the dust, barely able to move. Not even able to lift its head to look up at God.

When you’re in that place, it feels hopeless. It feels lonely. It feels as though you’re the only one who’s ever been there, and nobody else understands.

My soul clings to the dust. It’s a picture that we all get. It’s a picture that speaks into the desolation that we’ve all felt. Perhaps you’re in that place right now, where your soul is sucking in the dust, with nothing else to cling to. It’s the place where we want to give up, because we don’t have a single ounce of energy left in us. Yeah, we’ve all been there.

So, what do you do? What does the Psalmist do? What does he have to say to God?

God, revive me according to your word. When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes.

The first part of that makes a lot of sense – God revive me. The obvious thing to do, the obvious place to turn, the obvious cry for help … although how often do we miss the obvious?

The question is, how does God bring that revival to an exhausted and completely depleted soul? Well, the psalmist knows!

Revive me according to your word. When I told you of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes.

You see, when we’re in that desolate, dusty place, we need a way back. A real, tangible way back. And that way is through the Word of God. It’s through God speaking to us. God’s Word is food for the starving soul. God’s Word is living water for a parched soul. But how often do we miss the obvious?

I’ve seen Christians from time to time praying for revival. But revival begins at home. There will be no revival unless and until the living water, the Spirit of God, overflows from His people. You and I need revival in our hearts. You and I need to be filled to overflowing with the revelation of God through His Word, the joy of God, the healing of God, the Spirit of God.

Revival begins at home! Lord revive me, according to your word.

God’s Word is a powerful thing, because not only does it bring revival to our hearts, not only does God breathe His Sprit into us through His Word, not only does God deliver His new life for us through His Word, but His Word also brings understanding. And understanding is wisdom.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you don’t understand what’s going on – either around you, or in you, or both? Sure you have, so have I. I mean, sometimes we don’t even understand ourselves, let alone our circumstances, or the way other people behave and think.

And the absence of that understanding, that wisdom if you will, makes life a difficult thing to live. Understanding as it turns out, is the key to living life. Psalm 119, verses 27 to 32:

Lord, make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. Put false ways far from me; and graciously teach me your law. I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your ordinances before me. I cling to your decrees, O Lord; let me not be put to shame. I run the way of your commandments, for you enlarge my understanding.

Understanding is mentioned twice in that passage, once at the beginning and once at the end. Again we see that the Psalmist is going through difficult times – my soul melts away for sorrow – and yet the thing that he asks for is understanding.

That in itself is surprising enough. We spend our time asking God to take away the pain when our souls are melting away through sorrow, but the Psalmist is asking instead, for understanding. But understanding of what? Of the ways of God’s precepts. In other words:

Okay God, Your Word, Your precepts, they’re all fine, that’s a given. But now, God, I want to understand the ways of your precepts. I want to understand how the rubber hits the road. I want to understand how I can live them out, because I want your strength, I want to put false hope far from me, so teach me. I’ll cling to your Word, because I know that as I live it out, You are going to enlarge my understanding.

What a powerful prayer. It’s a prayer for on-the-job training. You imagine asking God for that, over and over again … imagine the understanding, the wisdom, the power that God is going to unleash in your life. Just imagine!

Here’s the thing: God wants to do powerful things in you and through you, He just does. And He’s put His Word there, the Bible, through which to give you, all the understanding you need.

Make me understand the ways of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. Wow!