Daily Bible Study for Wednesday
August 17, 2016
By: Hanny Lynn Stearns
Fish N
Loaves Ministries, Inc.
“Multiplying
God’s Word Around The Globe”
Chapter Reading
for Today: Please read in
your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered
paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate
translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful
for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their
wording. I hope this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version,
that is fine. I am studying from the KJV, but for the purpose of this study, I
will keep it with the New King James Version.
One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my
own writing. I am adding red to the letters when
it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.
Bible
Gateway Verse of the Day
2 Corinthians
10:17-18
But “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the
Lord commends.
Psalm
100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless
His name.
Song: Your Love O Lord By: Third Day
Psalm 36
Livin In Love
This Psalm is loaded with the
wonderful attributes of God – the qualities that are uniquely His. In addition,
we see quite the wonderful list of benefits from being a member of the house of
God. And finally, we close with a very effective prayer for oneself as well as
others.
Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father;
You are so great and so worthy
of all our praise! Lord, everything about You is good all the time. You are so
good to the sons of men. You care so deeply for us that it brings us to our
knees in a bucket of grateful tears. How awesome are Your ways – endless and
wonderful. Father, I am asking You to bring people to receive this lesson
today. Help them to understand more about Your greatness, Your love and the
benefits of being called Your own. Father, I ask You to give me the utterance
to think and speak what You want said. Lord, You know who will read this and
what they need to hear for such a time as this, whenever they decide to read
it. Use my mind, heart and hands to pen the words that are on Your heart right
now. Lord, we will make it our goal to please You by being doers of Your word,
and not forgetful hearers as some are in the habit of doing. Thank You for
always watching over Your word to perform it in our lives when we place our
trust in You. Thank You in advance for changing our hearts by lovingly turning them
more toward Your light so that we can see more light. We give You all the
praise and glory in Jesus precious mighty name. Amen.
The first four verses are all
about the ways of the wicked who like to act and think as if there really was
no God. They have left the good path and traversed the ways of evil. They are
the ones who are not willing to humble themselves and submit to an authority
higher than themselves. These are truly an unfortunate bunch for their end will
be death and destruction indeed. But the rich meat of this Psalm lies ahead
saints! Hallelujah! There is really wonderful news for the person who seeks to
place their faith and trust in the Most High God. When a person is willing to
humble themselves and yield to His loving and gentle guiding, then they are in
for the pleasures that no earthly thing can boast.
As we move into verse 5, we
begin to see quite the extensive list of God’s attributes. What does this mean?
An attribute is a quality that belongs to someone. If I say you are a very friendly
person, then being friendly is one of your attributes. Conversely, when we say
the following things about God, we are talking about His qualities – the ways
of behavior that make Him Who He is – awesome and wonderful in every way. Let’s
look at these qualities in detail.
First, we see that He is
merciful. That means He does not give us what we deserve. Our sins deserve the
punishment of death, but God’s mercies are greater than our sins – thank You
Jesus! When the Psalmist writes that His
mercy is in the heavens, I thought immediately about the fact that there is
where it all begins. He sent His mercy down in the form of Jesus. Once Jesus
offered His sinless blood sacrifice on the cross, and after He rose from the
dead and ascended to the Father in heaven, that blood was presented as the atoning
sacrifice that would cover every sin for every man who would ever live. That
blood covers the mercy seat. That is the top of the Ark of the Covenant, the container
that holds the “golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.” (Hebrews 9:4) Can you see why it is so important to know your Old
Testament as well as the New? It all ties together and the meanings are rich
and significant – one to the other.
The mercy seat shows that what
Jesus did. His blood covered all our sin. Friends, that’s mercy! I am so
thankful for that – how about you, can I get an amen? Where God dwells there is
mercy – in the place of His habitation. I like being where God is, amen! The
next thing we see is that the Lord is faithful.
Who can find a faithful man or woman on the earth? In reality, there is
none. Everyone falls short on being faithful at some time or another – some more
than others, but we won’t go there. LOL!
When the Psalmist tells us
that His faithfulness reaches to the clouds, he is saying that is goes way up –
it goes far, beyond our human reach or understanding. Have you ever thought
about God’s faithfulness that way for yourself? He is that faithful to you.
When you look toward the heavens can you see the end of it? No, and neither
will you see the end of the Lord’s faithfulness. How’s that for encouragement?
I am getting encouraged even as I type these words.
The truth is that I get to
learn right along with you. I never know when I sit down what the Lord wants to
say to His people. Sometimes I can look at a chapter and think I get the point
of it, only to find out as I proceeded that God would take us in an entirely
different direction. How many know we can study the same Psalm 100 times, and
each time the lesson will be different. In addition to that, we can look at the
same study 100 times, and each time we can receive something new in it.
Next we look at the Lord’s righteousness.
It is said to be like the mighty mountains. What does that mean? Did you know
that we are supposed to seek out the deep things of God? It is not enough to
read a verse and then just set the Bible down and go on our maybe not so merry
way? It is meant to be digested like a good meal. Perhaps even like a juicy
pork chop. You eat at it and eat at it, and it tastes so good. And the more you
eat, the better you enjoy it. Then, after all that chomping, we get down to the
bone, and we tear at it until we get every last shred of meat off of it before
we toss it aside, amen? God’s word is rich meat. As we chew on it and digest
it, we get more and more out of it as we allow Holy Spirit to bring revelation to
our hearts and minds. He reveals truths we have never seen or understood
before.
1 Corinthians 2:9-16
9 But as it is written:
“Eye
has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things
which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For
what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in
him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,
that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which
man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural
man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him; nor can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is
spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who
has known the mind of the Lord that
he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Friends, I believe the Lord
wants us to get this right now before we get to the discussion about His
righteousness. So we will camp here for a few moments. We often hear people
quoting the first part of the verse without ever tying it to the rest of the
verse. They saw this part, “no eye has seen nor ear heard what God has prepared
for those who love Him.” Then they stopped right there. And then we hear a lot
of this phrase, “Well, you just never know what God is going to do!” And that
friends, is another lie from the spirit of religion! It is not true! If we go
on to read the rest of the verse, we see that God reveals such things to us
through Holy Spirit.
In reality, and according to
this verse, God wants us to know what things He has in mind for His children.
He wants us to seek the deeper things and listen so we can hear and receive
them. I will give you another testimony from my own life. When I first came to
Florida back in 2007, I knew that the Lord was calling me to come here. He set
it all up and had everything prepared for me when I arrived. As time went on,
not too far down the road, I started getting dreams and visions about my future
with Him. He began to show me things that would come to pass several years from
then. I had a lot to learn about that stuff then. I didn’t understand about God
revealing His future plans, but I sure knew it was happening to me. And it was
wonderful.
Some of the things were very
serious, and a lot of it was about my calling. If anyone says they just don’t
know what their calling is, folks, it means they just are not listening! God
will not keep it a secret. But the devil sure wants us to think it is a secret
in order to keep us confused. That is really SADD-U-CEE because a lot of Christians
are literally missing the “calling boat” when their ship comes in.
A real relationship with God
is deeply intimate and personal. He has a job for us all. He has equipped us
and used experiences and occupations in our lives to prepare us for the mature work
He has for us. He wants us to bear a lot of fruit while we are here on the
earth. So anyone who isn’t understanding these things needs to wake up and
start paying attention. If they do, the Lord will show up and reveal His wonderful
plan for each and every one of us. He is so good. And praise God, He is patient
with those who are just “slow” at getting ahold of this concept. The Lord
certainly knows I was. I was over 50 years old before I started paying
attention. So don’t be SADD-U-CEE because if you have missed it up until now
there is still time my friend, there’s still time.
OK, now for the righteousness,
yes, God’s right ways of doing things. That’s really what righteousness is you
know. It is being in right standing at all times, always doing the right thing
in every situation. It is steadfast, immovable – just like that mountain you
see when staring up at a great mountain rage. They are rock solid, and they don’t
budge. They stand tall and strong, and they are what they are all the time.
That is what the Psalmist compares the righteousness of God to. He doesn’t
change. He is always doing the right thing at every moment. Jesus, His Son, did
all the right things too, and He was just operating as a man when He lived on
the earth. Every day he chose to do the right thing and crucify the flesh. So
before you go saying something like, “Ya well that was the Son of God. Of
course He could make the right choices all the time. He was God.”
Jesus laid down all His mighty
weight and glory and came to earth as a man. He was not operating
with the power and authority of God while He was on the earth. He operated as a
man just like you and me. Man started sin, and a man would have to be the sacrifice for
sin – a sinless man. That’s why Jesus is able to identify with our weaknesses.
He was a man and experienced the same things that we do. But Jesus also told us
we could be like Him. Remember, if Jesus said it, we can do it. So we can be
righteous like our Father in heaven. The Bible is full of commandments to be
like Him in our behavior. That’s the whole idea. He wants to get us there.
The
next item on our list of God’s wonderful attributes is His judgments. They are
always correct. They are made with a wisdom that runs deeper than any ocean. Look
at this…
Romans
11:33
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
Remember when Solomon asked
the Lord for wisdom? He could have asked for anything in the world, but he
asked for wisdom. That alone showed he had some sense, amen? After all, he had
just been made a king over an entire country at a very young age. If he were
going to be able to fill the seat of lawgiver and judge, he was going to need
some wisdom. And look at what happened in the first documented case that was
brought before him. There were two women who had just given birth, and one
woman lost her child and tried to steal the other’s. Solomon immediately
handled the situation in such a way that caused the entire assembly to pause
and stand amazed at such great wisdom from this very young man. And where did
that come from? Um…. you guessed it - God, the source of all wisdom.
Hallelujah!
I will give you an example I
just experienced this evening. I think right here is a good place to share with
you what I just learned because it has to do with using wisdom and good
judgment. I tried to feed our sweet little dog a meal that he turned his nose
up to last night. I had just bought a new can of food and he didn’t like it
last night. Eventually I mixed it with other stuff he did like and he ate it.
So tonight I tried to get him to eat the stuff he didn’t like again, and once
again he turned his nose up at it and walked away. With dogs it is not about
the taste, it’s all about the smell, and our little Jesse didn’t like the smell
of it.
Yet he kept coming back and
scratching on me and licking his mouth as if he was trying to say to me, “Mom,
I am really hungry. I have not eaten all day, but I can’t stand that stuff. Can’t
you fix me something else?”I was trying to finish my work
and getting a bit short on patience with him. I had asked the Lord to help and
I was confident that my answer was done and going to manifest before the night
was over. Well, it did, but not the way I expected – can anyone relate to that?
LOL!
Finally, I thought we should just take him out for his last walk so I
could get my work done. He scavenged around the ground looking for something to
eat – the poor little guy! When we came back into the house, I decided to get
out something I know he likes and try to mix it in with the stuff he doesn’t
like. And there came my answer. He promptly walked over to the dish and
consumed all his food.
Why did I share this with you?
As my husband and I stood there watching him, we realized that I had taken a
stand, or a point of view that he was being stubborn. I decided I was going to
be stubborn right back and make him wait until morning to eat. But the Lord was
at work in my heart. I couldn’t do that to our faithful little companion. So
when I mixed the food, he ate and we were all happy. He was full of energy and
ready to play. I asked him to forgive Mom for behaving like I did. I am sure he
forgave me. Smile. What came to us is this, and this is the punchline, if you
will, that I am led to share.
Ignorance takes a point of
view, but grace gives another chance.
What I thought was happening
with him not eating wasn’t really the case. But when I decided to give him
grace and try to mix in something he liked, he was all over it. So you see, he was
not trying to be difficult. He just didn’t like the food. That’s all. It would
be like someone trying to force me to eat oysters, one of the only foods I can
think of that I cannot stand to eat, or even smell. If someone told me I had to
eat the oysters or starve, I would go hungry. While I was typing out this
lesson, I learned a really big one for myself. And I always like to give away
what I have in case others can enjoy it too. Smile again!
Here we had a case of
ignorance, followed up with God’s wisdom and proper judgment of a situation. Do
you know that in everything we deal with, He will always deal fairly with us?
He will not side with one or the other. He always takes the side of right. And
He always takes the side of mercy and grace. And because He does, that means we
should too. We are all a work in progress, aren’t we?
God alone is the one who
preserves us each and every breath that we take. David knew it and he remembered
it as he acknowledged the great things that make up our great and awesome God –
too marvelous for words. The last thing David mentions about God’s qualities in
verse 7 today is that the Lord’s lovingkindness is excellent. And it is. Anyone
who has ever spent any time with the Lord knows He is loving and He is kind. The
Bible is loaded with verses that talk about Him this way. Isn’t it great to
know that our great big awesome, powerful and mighty God is so loving, sweet
and kind? When you think of someone who has a tender heart – look no further
than the heart of God. When you think of someone who will love us when nobody
else will give us the time of day, He’s the One. In the entirety of our lives,
there is no love like the love of God.
Romans 8:35
Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
It is true that there will
never be anything that will ever remove God’s love from the people He created.
If only more people would get this. I mean, even when He is correcting us, He
is still loving us. Love corrects – at least real love does. It took me awhile,
but He has gotten me to the point where when He corrects me, He is able to do
it without me falling apart like a whiny little “poor me” baby. And that is
great because I am learning to accept my correction like a big girl – give glory
to His name, while always remembering how deeply He loves me. He wants us all
to get that. And that my friend is why I share. What He has done for me He will
do for you. Let’s look at one more verse that the Lord just showed me. It is
part of a wonderful long prayer in Ephesians…
Ephesians 3:17-19
17 that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints
what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be
filled with all the fullness of God.
There’s that love again! It is
so rich and it is so available for every person on the on the planet!
In the next few verses David
is talking about the benefits of being a child of God. And friends, there are
many. If people really got a grasp on what it means to be a called, equipped,
blessed and anointed child of the Most High, tucked safely under the shadow of
His wings, they would trade in those booze bottles and drugs and whatever else
is stealing their lives and get in on the fun! God is so good, and being with
Him in His house brings a fullness of joy that is indescribably wonderful!
Every day is like Christmas day as a young and very excited child. Each day is
wrapped up in His love as He prepares us and sends us down the road of our
specific journeys for the day to do His work and spread His love all over town
like a sweet smelling aroma floating throughout the airwaves. Ummmmmm, can you
smell it?
Trusting in God brings peace.
I know for some of you, reading this may feel like “Christianity 101”, but do
any of us ever really get beyond the point where we need to be reminded of the benefits
that trusting in the Lord can bring. Let’s look at this…
Isaiah 26:3
You will keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
One of the most wonderful
verses that should really encourage people is verse 8. People will be
abundantly satisfied with the fatness, or in other words, the richness of God’s
house. Does that sound as good to you as it does to me? That richness comes in
all forms. We are talking about the following verse that covers it all…
3 John 1:2
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
What this means is financial prosperity,
health prosperity, and soul prosperity. Now one might ask, “Well, who wouldn’t
want that?” The answer, sadly, is that there are millions on the planet who don’t
want it. Millions of Christians would rather think they are being humble or
that God is trying to teach them a lesson by being poverty stricken, sick and
troubled in their spirit. But, my friends, none of this is Bible. It is a lie
from the pit.
If anyone thinks that Jesus
ever taught us that He expected us to live this way, it is not what the Bible
teaches us. But traditions and all sorts of religions have sprung up that have
led people way off the pavement where God’s perfect plan and will are
concerned. As a result, many wonderful people have their lives cut short
unnecessarily only to find themselves in heaven way before they were supposed
to arrive there and missing out on the many rewards they could have earned while
here earth.
One cannot imagine the number
of “aha moments” that must take place when people get to heaven and hear from
the Lord’s mouth Himself that this was not what He had planned for them as He
proceeds to explain to them why they had lost their lives. And it isn’t because
He is looking for another angel in His choir! We are not angels! We are people.
Angels are different than people. God has good plans for people. His house is a
wealthy place, in every room of the house. There is no poverty at His house,
and being poor and being humble are not the same thing. Being poor is ignorant,
that’s the bottom line. Still, many refuse to change and so they get to stay
just as they are.
Now look at the second part of
verse 8 – people are drinking from a river of pleasures. What do you think of
when you think of a river? Isn’t it constantly flowing? Think about a beautiful
clear mountain stream. You are driving up into the mountains on a crisp, sunny
autumn day. As you swing around the winding curves, you gaze out your window
down at the flowing stream as you pass by. The sun reflects on the flowing
water as if diamonds were tumbling down the mountainside through it. It makes
you want to jump out and take a big long drink of the cool refreshing water,
doesn’t it?
In God’s house, His rivers of
pleasures never will run dry. There is a river flowing from under the temple in
heaven…
Ezekiel 47:1
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar.
The water that flows from the
Lord brings healing. It brings life. Isn’t that good news. Wherever His water
flows, His Holy Spirit, there is healing, there is life, there is peace and
joy. Do you want that? It’s yours for the taking? Do you know that? I mean
really know that? He wants to give it to you. He longs for you to have everything
He wants to give you. And verse 8 flows (pun intended) right into verse 9. Big
smile! The Lord is the fountain of life. Lots of people run to and fro trying
to find this fountain of youth or that, but there is only one fountain that
gives life and that flows from the heart of our amazing and wonderful Lord….
Proverbs 14:27
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death.
Isaiah 41:18
I will open rivers in desolate
heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the
wilderness a pool of water, And the dry land springs of water.
John 4:14
but whoever drinks of the water
that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him
will become in him a fountain of water springing up into
everlasting life.”
Revelation 21:6
And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and
the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him
who thirsts.
Friends, Jesus is that
fountain you are looking for. If your life has been dry and parched like a
desert in summertime, look no further than to the fountain of living water that
can wash away every sin in your soul and refresh you in His presence with
fullness of joy. There is none like Him and there is no Rock that can produce
water like our Rock – Jesus – the Rock of Ages. Just call on Him – and He will
come to you. He never says no friends – never.
The last but certainly not the
least most important thing in this section of today’s verses is a glorious
thing to understand. When we look to Jesus, the light of the world, we will receive
light. What does that mean? It is to get understanding in something. His light
can dispel every darkness in our hearts and minds. If our understanding is
darkened with lies, His light can shine on those things in our lives that need
to be enlightened, and then we can walk in the light as He is in the light…
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanses us from all sin.
When sin encounters His light it has to flee. Darkness cannot hide from the
light of Jesus. He will shine it everywhere when He shows up. The good news is that
He only holds us accountable for the light (or the understanding) that we have.
That is no excuse to remain ignorant on things we need to be maturing in. But
for the moment, we will only be accountable for the things we have learned thus
far. I hope this is encouraging you today because God’s word always works to
bring up – never down. He is our glory and the lifter of our heads.
The final verses deal with a
wonderful prayer. This is where David asked the Lord to keep showing His loving
kindness and His righteousness to those who know Him and have a right heart.
Great request! We can all ask for the Lord to shine on us and others. And He
most certainly will. Through Jesus, He will continue to shine on those who will
keep walking with Him and endure to the very end of this life. We can also
appreciate the last two requests where David asked the Lord to keep him from
getting prideful and joining in with the ways of the wicked. He knew that
people who go there will not rise up again. That can still happen today. Some
have tasted the goodness of God and then turned and went back to the world.
Those are the ones who really have no hope of repentance.
But that’s not you and me. We
are going to live in the light of God’s love all the days of our lives, aren’t
we? And we are going to seek Him, even the deep things of God and learn what
His good, perfect and pleasing will is for our lives so we can live long and
prosper in this earth – surrounded by His love every day as we meditate on His
word day and night, night and day. In this we learn to be Christians by working
His word, doing what it says and getting results. At the end of the day, to
walk in love is to live in the richness of God’s house. The place where His
glory dwells is flowing with rivers of pleasures forever more. There is no
crying going on in heaven, we can be sure.
Questions:
Describe the attributes of God as listed in verses 5 through
7.
What does it mean to you to be hidden in the shadow of God’s
wings?
Write your understanding of the phrase, “the fatness of your
house.”
What does it mean to drink from God’s river of pleasures to you?
What or who is the fountain of life?
What does it mean to see light in His light?
Why is it so important to avoid getting prideful?
What about this Psalm meant the most to you and why?
There are three main points to
consider from today’s study…
God has many wonderful qualities
There are numerous blessings that
people can receive from the Lord
It is important to pray and to avoid
evil and pride
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the wonders of You! I praise You
for all of Your goodness that are on full display for Your children at every
moment. Thank You for the blessings You give to Your children. Thank You for
making me a child of God and for loving me so much – even when others don’t. Father, like David I ask You to help me to
avoid pride and all the evil ways of the enemy. Reveal his schemes to me and
keep me from any willful sins. I want to live in love with You and my fellow
man. Show me who I can be a blessing to and even share this study with. Thank
You in advance for Your help and answer to this prayer in Jesus name. Amen!
What
blessed your heart the most in the Psalm for today?
And God Said… You fill in the blanks.
Isaiah
41:9-10
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its farthest regions,
And said to you,
‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and have not cast you away:
10 Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
And called from its farthest regions,
And said to you,
‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and have not cast you away:
10 Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
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