January 13, 2013 … Streams of Living Obedience

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 13

Passage of the Day: Psalm 40: 8 [bold/underlined] in the context of verses 6 - 8 [NLT] …  
6 You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings. Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand — You don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings. 7 Then I said, “Look, I have come. And this has been written about me in your scroll: 8 I take joy in doing Your will, my God, for Your law is written on my heart.” 
============

Contextual Reference Passage: … To study today’s highlight passage in context, go to Psalm 40 – a Psalm of David … by using this link …
============

Reference Passage #1: Hebrews 10: 1-10 : [NLT] … {Note that the passage above from Psalm 40: 8 was quoted – from Jesus – by the Author of Hebrews in Heb. 10: 7b } To study this passage in the context of Heb. 10, … go to this link - 

Reference Passage #2: Romans 12: 1-2 : [NLT] … { How much do we really desire to worship God by doing His will, … by becoming living sacrifices, worshiping Him by the way we live, move, and have our being – IN HIM? } … To study this passage, … go to this link - 

My Journal for Today: I once reported to my mentor, “I seem to have a lot of trouble finding God’s will for my life.” And in answer to my dilemma, my mentor asked me, “How much do you really KNOW God?”

Perplexed by this question, I asked my mentor what knowing God had to do with finding and doing God’s will, to which he responded, “To know God is to love God; … to love God is to obey God; … to obey God is to serve God; … and to serve God is to be blessed by God.”

 He went on to tell me that if I desired to be blessed by God in my life, I first had to get to know Him deeply, intimately, and abidingly. And my mentor asked me, as I’m asking any who read with me here, “How do we best get to know our God?” And I think you know the answer to that, … especially if you’ve taken in today’s Bible passages above.

Today Os Hillman, the editor of my devotional study, used the word picture of our lives flowing downstream in a river, directed by the river banks, changing course, seeking out the direction pre-established by the banks of the stream, and sometimes taking radical changes in direction because they are re-directed by the river banks. But we cannot flow down that stream of life unless we’re in that river and surrendering to the direction of its banks, … can we?

David, in Psalm 40, especially the highlight verse for today, Verse 8, showed that he was in total surrender – as Paul would put it in Romans 12: 1, “a living sacrifice,” to the directions of the God David was growing to know more and more through living in the stream of God’s will. David desperately wanted to know and live within God’s will for his life; and he knew that he could only do that if he knew God will and His way from His word.

How can we seek and know God’s will for our lives? Well, we do that by getting to know – REALLY KNOW – everything we can about our LORD. And how do we do that? And I think you know – as I do – the answer to that question. We get to know our God (primarily) by getting to know Him through His word. His word establishes the riverbanks which direct the flow of our lives downstream … i.e., when we surrender to God’s predetermined path for our lives. But we will not be able to flow with God’s will for our lives if we don’t know and surrender to God’s direction, … which is found in His word.

Have you ever taken the time to not only read, but to study and meditate in depth, on the longest Psalm in the Bible, Psalm 119? We don’t know the human author of that Psalm; but whoever it was, he had a deep love and desperate desire to know, love, and serve God by knowing His will through His “Book of the Law.” And so should we. If you haven’t done so, I’d charge you to take the time and really dive in and let God’s love take you downstream in your life by meditating deeply in Psalm 119.

If we really want to find and follow God’s will, I think we know that we’re not going to be able to do that unless we really know and desire to serve our God; and we’re not going to be able to do that unless we REALLY know and follow His will from knowing and following His word. So, it is the desperate desire of at least this seeker to be here EVERY DAY, digging into God’s word, seeking to know Him, love Him, and serve Him more abidingly. Because the deeper I know my God through His word, the more He will bless me by taking me down the stream of my life to that place at the end of life’s river where I’ll spend eternity with my Lord.

So, I’ll be here tomorrow too. How about you?

My Prayer for Today Lord, I desire to know You and follow Your will for my life by seeking and surrendering to You through Your word. … Amen