Jump Start # 377

Psalms 119:136 “My eyes shed streams of water because they do not keep your law.”

  We continue our look at the longest chapter in the Bible. It is a beautiful expression of love and appreciation for God’s word. Without the Bible we would not know God. There is enough in us and around us to make us believe that “something” is out there, but we wouldn’t know who or what. We wouldn’t know his name, his ways, nor our relationship with him. Without God’s word we wouldn’t know what was expected. God gave us His word. It is His will, His law, His words for us. How honored we ought to be because of this.

  It is sad that so many churches today have gotten away from the Bible. They seem so interested in attracting people that they have given up the very thing that all people need the most, and that is the Bible.

  Our passage for today comes from the heart of the Psalmist. He loved God’s word. Others didn’t. He felt it was a treasure, others didn’t. He wanted to follow God’s word, others didn’t. The people he has in mind our his countrymen, fellow Jews. The law was given to Israel, not all people. Those that were to keep it was Israel. He saw that some of his own people, maybe his own family, did not keep the law. This caused him to cry. “Streams of water” were shed from his eyes. He knew that those who didn’t keep the law were not living right. To live right, or righteously, we must obey God. A person who doesn’t keep the law is not living right. Their attitudes will not be as God wants. Their worship will be corrupted. They behavior will be sinful and unrighteous. How could they do that, he felt.

  Nothing has changed. Most people today do not keep God’s word. More are interested in left and right than they are up and down. The lack of law keeping is obvious by the crimes, the broken homes, the broken hearts, the worry filled lives and the grind of living without a purpose or hope. You see it in the eyes of people. You hear it in their stories they tell, often bragging about wild weekends of disobeying God, although they don’t call it that. They know God, at least their language says so. They use “God’s name” in about every sentence. But it isn’t done in honor and glory of God, instead it is blasphemous and in vain.

  How does all of this make you feel? Have you thought about your family members who do not keep God’s law or your neighbors or your co-workers? Wouldn’t things be so much better if everyone honored God, obeyed God and used His word as the defining terms of their life? Marriages would become purer and stay together. Parents would actually be parents. Righteousness would prevail. Offensive shows, crude talk, and indecent things would gradually disappear because no one was interested in them. The followers of the Bible would prevail. Righteousness would reign. Deals could be made on a handshake and someone’s word would be as good as gold. Can you imagine?

  The tears that the Psalmist shed and that we shed ought to move us to tell others about God. It’s more than just going to church on Sunday, it’s giving your life to the one who made you. It’s realizing His way is always the best way. It’s seeing the goodness of God and caring for one another. It is learning to love His word and His way. The Bible is an awesome book! We need to let the world know that. Incredible stories, amazing feats of faith, an awesome God and a loving Savior—that’s the Bible. It has a way of stepping on our toes, lifting our broken spirits, solving our problems, and igniting a passion within us for all things right.

  You may be the instrument to reach your circle of family and friends. What can I do, you think? Talk to them about what the Bible means to you. Let them know that they are missing something. Try a simple home Bible study. Read some passages and talk about them. Share our Jump Starts with others. Pray. Pray that you will find a way. Pray that God will touch their hearts.

  A life without the Bible is a life without God. At the end of that life, we know what will happen. If they have ignored God now, He will grant them that choice and decision in the next world. Eternity without God means Hell. There is a sense of urgency about this. There is a need to tell and not give up.

  Psalms 119 is about God’s word—it needs to be our story and our life.

Roger