Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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10 October 2011
Psalm 139
Focus: “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.” Psalm139:1.
This is such a terrific psalm, I urge you—DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT! Don’t try to do life without these concepts embedded in your heart and mind. They are foundational to a victorious faith.
David is inspired to relate the awesome attributes of God to his own life—his past, his present, and his future. AWESOM E is no over-statement, and David exclaims the same in verse 6: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” I agree. It’s supposed to be that way, you know. The source and object of our Biblical faith is certainly not some finite wimpy deity, but the Sovereign Transcendent Creator of all things. When I lose my grip on this fundamental TRUTH, my sense of Biblical security is reduced to near zero.
Be reminded of the “deceitfulness of sin” resident within our own natural sin natures—and that the art and craft of the enemy kingdom is DECEPTION. That’s the reality that prompts the warning of Hebrews 3:12 and 13: “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God (…this AWESOME Sovereign and Transcendent One). But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Sin stuff can actually gain subtle entrance and contaminate and neutralize faith without one even knowing it IF one does not stay alert and wary with the battle awareness and preparedness that Paul outlines in Ephesians 6.
This Biblical fact should establish within us a correct and balanced sense of INSECURITY that prompts us to pray as David does at the conclusion of this psalm. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (vv. 23-24).
Amen!
“Sin is first pleasing, then it grows easy, then delightful, then frequent, then habitual, then confirmed; then the man is impenitent, then he is obstinate, then he is resolved never to repent,
and then he is ruined.” - Robert Leighton