Tag Archive | Psalm 119:37

Turn my eyes…Psalm 119:37

Jun17
Family of five sitting on a couch using various digital devices including smartphones, a tablet, and a handheld console

Turn my eyes
from looking at what is worthless;
give me life in Your ways. Psalm 119:37 HCSB

When my grans were younger I had the extreme pleasure of interacting with them often. Goodness that was fun. But I digress! I would remind them that I prayed for them whenever they came to my mind. Often, God would give me a verse that zeroed in on their needs. Praying for my own 4 (their parents, of course) gave me the foundation for how to pray. And as time refined my prayer effort, I learned that praying Scripture that applied to a need strengthened my prayers.

Psalm 119:37 addresses the need we have as parents and adults to deal with the digital crises of today. Why, most children today learned to tap a screen before they learned to read! Parents, unaware that they were loosing their own creative power to model desirable behavior, handed their toddlers a device to keep them occupied. Not only did the power to train their children toward good behavior suffer loss, their children became addicted to the pull of the digital screen. And guess what, those children are now adults and they are suffering from the same addiction.

I’m not blogging about something you are not aware of. But while we are beginning to sit up and take notice, what are we doing about it? Well, one thing we have got to grasp is the fact that too much screen time is a gateway to temptation. It’s kinda like opening Pandora’s box. For not just for children, but for adults as well.

But you know what? It’s not only digital screens that provide a gateway to temptation. What about the shows we watch on tv or movies or music videos? What about our reading material? And then again, while the danger may not be in what we are looking at necessarily, what about the time we spend looking at it? What about that inner voice that questions us about the time we are spending on screens?When we gain the momentum to turn away from the worthless distractions (just go ahead and label these fiery darts) of the enemy, we need the protective power of God’s wisdom to know what to turn to.

Christian parents and/or adults take heed. The Bible speaks to this directly. How are we going to be able to identify what is worthless? We start with anything that contradicts Scripture. Obviously, it’s up to us to become familiar enough with God’s word in order to recognize the contradictions. Then in identifying the contradictions we must be able to turn from them. Again, the wisdom and strength we need to pull this off is found in Scripture.

So if we desire a life shaped by the word of God for ourselves and our children, then we must be willing to turn from the worthless distractions fashioned by the enemy. The Bible will show us how!

Proverbs 2:6-12, My take…

Apr22
Old monk reading ancient book protected by magical shield from dark spirits

Prov. 2:6-12,(written by Solomon)

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up success for the upright;He is a shield for those who live with integrity so that He may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His loyal followers. Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity—every good path.  For wisdom will enter your mind, and knowledge will delight your heart.  Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you, rescuing you from the way of evil— (the protective power of wisdom) Prov. 2:6-12

I came upon this verse in search of a prayer that I could pray over my grandchildren. Some of them were embarking upon a journey into adulthood for the first time. They had proper training in their parent’s home. But now they were weighted with the responsibility of applying that training. And that, I knew would require wisdom beyond their years. So what would they do?

Would they turn their eyes from looking at (or ears from listening to) what was worthless as they had been trained? Or would they pick and choose those ideas promoted by a world view that contradicted their biblical training? There was visible evidence that both perspectives were being considered.

I had walked this treacherous path in my youth. Therefore, I was familiar with the pitfalls of human reasoning and false assumptions. The verses from 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 made it obvious as to what I was up against. Yet, upon venturing out into the world, my naivety blinded me. Naivety and immaturity. I lacked the protective power of wisdom.

Thankfully, God finally got my attention and turned me around. Just in time to prevent me from ruining my life by my own self-centeredness and self-serving ways. It started with a full surrender of my life to God. A full surrender to live my life and walk the path God had chosen for me. I began to simply “Follow His Lead.”

And with that surrendered will, I took to reading God’s word. With the Holy Spirit’s prompting, I changed the friend group I ran with. Focusing instead on surrounding myself with friends who would support my commitment to Christ. And graciously God provided those new friends. I read books that fed me spiritually. One such book was “The Saving Life of Christ” by Ian Thomas. (Published in the 1960’s. and is still in print.) With every plunge into God’s word and moments spent with God in prayer, wisdom entered my mind and knowledge delighted my heart.(just as Prov. 2:6-12 declared) At the time I didn’t recognize the protective power of wisdom. Yet, I benefited from God’s guardianship just the same.

It was the growth of knowledge and wisdom that enabled me to recognize those whose words and actions contradicted what God had been teaching me. It was only when I made choices which served my self-centeredness that I got off track. (and with my human propensity to sin the struggle to please myself over God was ever present.) Therefore, many foolish choices which would have led to harmful consequences in my life were avoided.

So the earlier the better our full surrender should be made. Which is why I fervently and consistently pray Proverbs 2:6-12 over my beloved grandchildren. Foolish choices made during this season of their lives could have serious and permanent consequences to their future. A future that needs an appreciation for the protective power of wisdom.

Why we need the Bible…

Aug20

“Our natural intuition can only give us a God like us. That is why we need the Bible”

The above quote is from Gentle and Lowly p.24 by Dane Orglund. a book I’m reading recommended to me by my son. I think this reveals a profound truth. A truth the enemy is committed to hide from us, especially we Christians. Remember the first part of John 10:10? There the enemy’s plot is exposed; ‘to steal, kill, and destroy…’

It starts with our inner person. Every person alive today bears the image of God. What that means is that we reflect something of God’s nature and character to the rest of creation. Though we do bear the image of God, we do not do so perfectly. Our human nature, because of sin, cannot bear God’s image perfectly. We need the only One who perfectly represents God and that is, of course, Jesus Christ.

Upon becoming believers in Christ we take on the nature of Christ. We now have a new nature, one that is ruled by God’s Spirit. Yet the old nature (our natural inclinations) remains. Therefore, if our new inclinations aren’t nurtured by God’s truth, then our reflection of Christ is diminished. And when we call upon our old nature to make sense of this world or to guide our steps, guess who is reflected in that?

It stands to reason then that the less we know of God’s truths the less we will be impacted by them. The less we will know about how to arrive at healthy solutions to the problems we face. The less we will be able to recognize the lies that are so cleverly disguised as truths in today’s society. The less we will be able to realize we are being victimized by the enemy.

That my dear readers is why we need the Bible! The life saving truths therein are what we need to fill our minds with and ward off the enemy’s manipulative attacks. We need to think about what we fill our minds with on a daily basis. Television, movies, podcasts, social media, books, music, friends. Are these sources nurturing our faith? Do these sources aid us in recognizing what is worthless?

Turn my eyes from looking at (and ears from listening to) what is worthless, give me life in Your ways. Psalm 119:37