"SHIN"

"Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word." (Psalms 119:161)

  I am just a little curious how this all plays out. Each and every morning is being met with a curious heart that wants to see what God might say next, or how the challenge is turned into a lesson in the art of listening. This is one of those mornings when I feel as though there is a fog around me and I cannot wrap my head around any certain thought. Can anyone relate? Well, if it is anything similar to what David might have been experiencing, we can at least gain a little perspective on how it feels to be against the wall and discouraged by the strength of your persecutors. If there is anything to take on what that might feel like, it is the focus upon God's word; not just the word written and learned, this is about the spoken word, as in, the words that David knows his God has spoken to or about him. Not that I have anything close to what David experienced communing with God, but I do believe that He speaks to me now and again. The thing that makes this very special is that David was living out what God was speaking; almost as if it were scripted and set in stone. If we are going to look at this with any sort of law associated with it, it would be that of respect and gratitude to be chosen by God. Not that I am trying to associate myself with any part of this; but it is a fact that God has chosen each and every one of us for a certain purpose or calling. It is our responsibility to determine what that is and how to apply it to our everyday life. Maybe that's it, the law of responsibility, as in, we all have been given talents, some just a few, some quite a lot; but each and every one of us are responsible for that which we have been given. It is really not a matter of how we perform what God has put before us, it is more about how we summit to be used of God. We should never set out to do anything by the book, as if it is this way or that way, because God uses everyone as He sees fit. If we study the parable of the Talents, we might just find that it was the wicked servants big mistake to assume something that simply was not the case. In other words, the responsibility over a talent is given over to the talent; you cannot just bury it in the ground and expect that it will all work out. Pray over it, practice it, and live it out! What is the connection to what David is sharing here? Matthew Henry gives three Scripture references in the commenting on this verse, the first being 1 Samuel 26:19, which is when David spares Saul's life, and then reminded Saul of the power the he yielded. The second is from Ecclesiastes 5:8, which is Solomon's way of saying, the buck stops at God, so don't pay any attention to that guy behind the curtain. And the third, much like responsibility for talents, is about the thing that matters most of all...

""Dear friends, don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. But I'll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he's the one to fear. "What is the price of five sparrows -two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. "I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God's angels. But anyone who denies me here on earth will be denied before God's angels."" (Luke 12:4-9) NLT