THURSDAY 6th
Psalm 111
Precepts
NIV (v10) ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.’
ESV (v10) ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!’
Over the next few devotions and psalms, I am going to use a point as you will have seen above today’s devotion, ‘Precepts’. (NIV) They will be as follows:
Psalm 111 – Precepts
Psalm 112 – Peace
Psalm 113 – Praise
Psalm 114 – Presence
Psalm 115 – Perfection
Psalm 116 – Prayer
The word for today is precepts and is used to describe the Word of God, his instructions, his commandments to those who are his people. In a few days we are going to arrive at Psalm 119 and as we go through that psalm we will discover more and more as to how important the precepts of God had been to the author of that psalm, you may recall an earlier psalm, 19 where the author describes what the Word of God meant to him:
‘The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.’
Today is a timely reminder for all of us who have placed our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ in the importance of the Word of God in our lives. We need to read it, meditate upon it and allow it to work in our lives, in our experience, so that we are shaped into the people that God wants us to be.
It is the Word that sanctifies us, equips us, encourages us, feeds us, warns us, directs us, corrects us and inspires us, it is a living Word, it is a powerful Word, and it is an eternal Word. It is God’s Word; therefore, it stands above everything and anything else, ‘the grass withers and the flowers fade but the Word of the Lord remains forever’.