Tag Archives: word of God

Sweet to My Taste

26 Monday Apr 2021

Posted by in Psalm 119, Psalms

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

, ,

Reading: Psalm 119
מ Mem
(Verses 97-104)
Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
Your commands are always with me
and make me wiser than my enemies.
I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
 I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey your word.
I have not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path (NIV).*

20210418 L Kranz

Norway Lake, Algonquin Park — photo courtesy of Liz Kranz

Reflection
Here’s a question for you: How do you take a bone away from a hungry dog?

Answer: You offer him a steak.

In many respects humans respond just like dogs. We won’t give up our filthy habits unless we are offered something much better. Many years back I remember a conversation with a drug addict—a former drug addict. I asked him if he found it difficult to give up his drug habit.

“No it was easy. Once I experienced the love of God—the real love of Jesus for me on the cross—it was easy. I found something so much better,” he said with a huge grin on his face.

These words from today’s reading reflect the same concept: I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

It’s not hard to walk the straight and narrow when you are walking that path with the Lord—when He Himself is teaching you—when your heart is burning within you as the resurrected Jesus opens the eyes of your understanding. See Luke 24:13-32. There is a closeness in the Spirit that has no equal. Those are the moments that change you forever because you are fully with God. His word is rich. It’s nourishment to your famished soul. His love is the air you breathe.

Who here wants a dirty chewed up bone when there’s steak on offer?

Response: Father God, renew my first love for you. I want to fall in love with you again. Fill me with delight for your word and your Spirit. Completely change my affections. Amen.

Your Turn: Are you too content with your bone? Have you experienced the nearness of Jesus?

* New International Version, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

Volume II of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer by award-winning author David Kitz is available now. For a closer look at this #1 new release click here. For a look back at Volume I click here.

Read, Meditate and Apply

15 Thursday Apr 2021

Posted by in Psalm 119, Psalms

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Today’s quote and prayer from the Psalms
Psalm 119_43Father God,
 help me grow in my love for your word.
Help me to read,
meditate and apply it to my daily life.
I reach out for your commands, which I love,
that I may meditate on your decrees.
Amen.

The first volume of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer by award-winning author David Kitz is now available. For a closer look at this 262-page daily devotional book click here.

Open My Eyes

12 Monday Apr 2021

Posted by in Psalm 119, Psalms

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Today’s quote and prayer from the Psalms
Psalm 119_18Father God,
 open my eyes and my heart
to the truths of your glorious Word.
Day by day I want to grow in my knowledge
and love for you.
I need to be transformed by your Spirit.
Remove the veil from my eyes.
Amen.

The first volume of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer by award-winning author David Kitz is now available. For a closer look at this 262-page daily devotional book click here.

Hidden in My Heart

09 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by in Psalms

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

Today’s quote and prayer from the Psalms
Psalm 119_11
Father God,
 I want to live my life according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:10-11).
Amen.

The first volume of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer by award-winning author David Kitz is now available. For a closer look at this 262-page daily devotional book click here.

A Steel-Tipped Bullet to the Heart

08 Thursday Apr 2021

Posted by in Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, ,

Today’s quote and prayer from “Psalms 365”
Psalm 119 Aleph
Father God,
like the psalmist
I want to fall in love with your word.
Here is the purpose to my desire:
I want to live a blameless life
that brings honor to my Maker
because you are good.
Amen.

The first volume of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer by award-winning author David Kitz is now available. For a closer look at this 262-page daily devotional book click here.

Send Your Word

04 Thursday Mar 2021

Posted by in Psalm 107

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Today’s quote and prayer from the Psalms
Psalm 107_20
Heavenly Father,
send your word.
Send your word and heal those who are sick.
Send your word and save
and transform those who are hostile to you.
Send your word and resurrect those
who are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins.
LORD God,
send your living word.
Amen.

The first volume of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer by award-winning author David Kitz is now available. For a closer look at this 262-page daily devotional book click here.

What I Want to Believe

12 Thursday Nov 2020

Posted by in Psalm 78, Psalms

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , ,

Reading: Psalm 78
(Verses 40-49)
How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the wasteland!
Again and again they put God to the test;
they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
They did not remember his power—
the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,
the day he displayed his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the region of Zoan.
He turned their river into blood;
they could not drink from their streams.
He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,
and frogs that devastated them.
He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
their produce to the locust.
He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
He gave over their cattle to the hail,
their livestock to bolts of lightning.
He unleashed against them his hot anger,
his wrath, indignation and hostility—
a band of destroying angels (NIV).*

Muskrat lodge 2020-10-31

Muskrat lodge — photo by David Kitz

Reflection
There are a number of things I would like to believe. I would like to believe that God never gets angry, that His patience is everlasting, and that there is no such thing as the wrath of God. I would like to believe that Jesus never raised his voice in anger—that he winks at my sins, as though they were no big deal, and then moves on. I would like to believe there is no hell, no burning lake of fire, and no Satan to deceive me.

I would like to believe these things, but I would be wrong. I would be putting myself above the authority of the word of God, which says such things are so. Today’s reading from Psalm 78 reminds us that God’s wrath is real and I don’t want to find myself on the receiving end of it, as was the case with the Egyptians. He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility—a band of destroying angels.

I confess I am tempted to believe in a comfortable gospel, because a comfortable gospel doesn’t call me to account and demand that I change. The Jesus of the comfortable gospel doesn’t demand that I sell all and follow him. The Jesus of the comfortable gospel promises me prosperity and self-actualization. I can become what I want, rather than what he wants. The comfortable gospel leaves me as I am—like a pig in his wallow. But somehow, Lord, I believe you want more from me. You want my life—my changed life.

Response: LORD God, I believe in your wrath because you are grieved at the hate and harm we generate in this world. I want to hear you calling and follow you to the place of deep personal change. Amen.

Your Turn: What kind of gospel do you believe in? Does it require personal change?

* New International Version, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

Some good news: The first volume of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer by award-winning author David Kitz will be published in November, 2020, by Elk Lake Publishing. Two additional volumes will follow in 2021 to complete the three volume set of devotions from the Psalms.

I Put My Trust in You

28 Sunday Jun 2020

Posted by in Bible, Psalm 56, Psalms

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

I will praise the LORD!

img_20200607_0741258-effects

Photo by David Kitz

Be merciful to me, my God,
    for my enemies are in hot pursuit;
    all day long they press their attack.
My adversaries pursue me all day long;
    in their pride many are attacking me.

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?

  (Psalm 56:1-4, NIV)*

* New International Version, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

The Voice of the Written Holy Word

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by in Devotions, Psalm 19, Psalms

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

Reading: Psalm 19
(Verses 7-11)
The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the LORD are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.
By them your servant is warned;
in keeping them there is great reward (NIV).*

img_20200114_0616524

God’s word — photo by David Kitz

Reflection
The voice of the speaking stars (see yesterday’s reading) is now joined by the voice of the written Holy Word. If nature, specifically the sky, is the first witness to testify to the glory of God, then the scriptures—the written word of God—constitute the second great witness to speak of God’s existence. Both these great witnesses have gathered here to testify within the context of Psalm 19.

While nature speaks to us of the existence of God the creator, it is largely silent regarding the nature or character of this all-powerful supernatural being. Is He good? Is He evil? Is He indifferent to us? Is He angry with us? What is this great, overarching, omnipresent God really like? May we approach Him?

God’s word shows us the way. Here David tells us, “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul.”

The law is perfect, flawless, inerrant and infallible. Only a perfect, flawless, inerrant and infallible God can be the source of such a document. The law of the LORD that is referred to here is in fact the Bible, the Word of God. Jack Hayford in his commentary on this verse from the Psalms states, “That the ‘law of the LORD is perfect,’ is direct reference to the absolute, complete, and entire trustworthiness of the Holy Scriptures, which constitute the Bible.”

And this perfect, true and infallible law, or Word of God, has an effect. The Word of God is active. It revives the soul. God’s word literally brings souls back to spiritual life. There is great power in the written word. The word of God is redemptive, personal and transformational.

Response: LORD God, help me draw life, wisdom and joy from your word every day. Light my way. Amen.

Your Turn: Do you read God’s word daily? How has it helped you grow in faith?

* New International Version, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

This post by award-winning author David Kitz will be published in book format later in 2020 by Elk Lake Publishing under the title 365 Days through the Psalms.