CONSIDER HIS TESTIMONIES
Psa. 119:95
Morning Meditation 5/2/17
Verse 95 says, “The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies.”
The word “consider” translates “biyn” and means, “to show oneself discerning or attentive, consider diligently.” The word “testimonies” translates “edah” and means, “testimony, witness, it is always plural and always of laws as divine testimonies.” God has treated every subject that one could ever need an explanation to in His Word. The Psalmist is thinking in this verse of his enemies who are continually trying to catch him in a trap to destroy him. He says his answer to this is “I will consider thy testimonies.”
Can’t you just hear someone say in the day when this psalm was written, “The enemy is out there setting a trap for us right now and all he does is sit around and read the bible.” The one who does this is not only scorned by his enemies but he is misunderstood by his friends. The one who walks by faith always has a Bible in his hand, in his head, and in his heart. It is his point of contact with God.
Let’s notice some of the times the word testimonies is used in God’s word.
FIRST, GOD’S TESTIMONIES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED IN TIMES OF WARFARE
This is what our text is speaking about. The Psalmist says, “The wicked have waited for me to destroy me . . .” The word “wicked” translates “rasha” and is defined by Strong as, “Wicked, a criminal, a guilty one, i.e., like one guilty of a crime, one hostile to God.” The definition allows us to see this word as the Psalmist is using it as describing one who is a hardened criminal, one who is laden down with guilt and in this state of mind is not reasonable and is not one with whom one can negotiate.
This describes our enemy in Spiritual warfare. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” The first thing Satan wants to do is to keep a person from being saved. When one is saved, he is removed from Satan’s kingdom and translated into the Kingdom of God (Col. 1:13). Satan can do nothing about the destiny of this person. But he can do something about the testimony. His second strategy is to appeal to the FLESH of the saved person and get him to so live as to be a reproach to the Christian faith. Nathan the Prophet told David, after he had committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba, had Uriah killed, and a baby was born to that sinful relationship, and David had repented and asked for forgiveness, “The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.”(2 Samuel 12:13b-14) David had given Satan an opportunity to make God look bad because of this sin. This is what Satan does to the Christian. He fights the Lord by making His disciples look like a bunch of hypocrites. Like the Psalmist, the wicked are waiting to destroy us.
The Christian learns soon after he is saved that he is at war. Satan is his enemy. He is confronted with all kinds of things that discourage him. He finds that the people in the church where he goes are not as “good as he thought.” He begins to see their faults. He discovers when he gets in trouble, that no matter how hard he prays, things do not turn out like he thinks they should have. At first, he blames himself. He thinks, “I am just not close enough to the Lord. Maybe I have something in my life that shouldn’t be there and the Lord just won’t answer my prayer.” Now is the time to say, “I will consider thy testimonies.” The answer is there.
SECOND, GOD’S TESTIMONIES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED IN TIMES WHEN OUR TEACHERS ARE WRONG
Psalms 119:99 says, “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.”
There are times when the teachers are wrong. We are talking about the teachers of saved people. 1 John 2:26-27 says, “These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” The believer has the Holy Spirit living in him. This is the “anointing” of which this verse speaks. The SEDUCER is the human instrument of Satan. John is saying that the “anointing” will teach you when you are confronted by a teacher that is trying to lead you astray.
When you get this CHECK IN YOUR SPIRIT that someone is trying to lead you astray, what do you do? God’s testimonies must become your meditation. When you do, you will be able to say with the Psalmist, “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.”
What about the saved young person that is taught evolution in a science class room at school? Should he accept this teaching? No. He will go to the Word of God and that will be what he believes about how it all began. And he will have more understanding than his teachers. What about the young preacher who is exposed to falsehood in a Christian College (it does happen)? When he gets the CHECK IN HIS SPIRIT he will go to the Word of God (God’s testimonies) and meditate. He will have more understanding than his teachers. Sometimes a believer is almost overwhelmed by the scholastic qualification of his teachers. He asks himself when something is taught with which he has been taught differently, “who am I to disagree with my teacher. He/She is brilliant and just maybe right.” What should this person do? The Psalmist says, “I have more understanding than all my teachers: FOR THY TESTIMONIES ARE MY MEDITATION.” (Caps mine for emphasis).
Any teacher that disagrees with the Bible is in an argument with God. The Bible is God’s Word. The Christian should take God’s Word every time. God is ALWAY RIGHT and if taking His side makes us look bad, so be it.
THIRD, GOD’S TESTIMONIES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED IN TIMES WHEN WE ARE DOWN
Psalms 119:111 says, “Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.”
The Psalmist says “Thy testimonies” (God’s Word, His viewpoint) have I taken as a heritage (I have made God’s Word my permanent Psychiatrist, Psychologist, and Advisor so that I go to no other source for answers) forever.” The Psalmist is saying when he is down that he does not have to ask himself, “Where am I going for help this time?” That is settled.
He says, “for they are the rejoicing of my heart.” The word “rejoicing” translates “sasown” and means, “gladness, joy, exultation, rejoicing.” A person who says this is not going to the Bible with this thought, “I’ll try the Bible to see if I can get out of this depression I am in.” That is not in the mind of the one who has taken God’s testimonies as his heritage. To him the Word of God works every time. He knows when he is down that as he meditates in the Scriptures, he will find “gladness, joy, exultation and rejoicing.” He approaches the Word of God with FAITH and WITHOUT DOUBTING and God’s Word never fails. What about Christians who do not find help in the Scriptures? Let me make two suggestions:
1.They have not made “Thy testimonies” their heritage. The thing that takes up the bulk of your conversation is what you have made your heritage.
2.They do not approach the Scriptures in FAITH. They approach with curiosity to see if help can be found there. The words written in ink on a page is not where one will find help. It is with God who inspired those words. FAITH is the only pleasing approach to God (Heb. 11:6) and without it you will leave as depressed as you came.
When a Christian comes to a pastor for counsel, it should be to get his help in finding the Scripture that addresses one’s present problem. If we make His “testimonies” our “heritage” we will spend the time necessary to get His help without exposing our problem to the preacher. I used to be a little uncomfortable when Christian came to me and shared intimate problems. Two things happen when this happens:
1.I (the pastor) want the Lord’s leadership in every message that I preach. I tried as pastor to preach exactly what God wanted for that service. I did not want to take anything to the pulpit and deal with it that had been shared with me in private counsel. But what if God led me to a passage of Scripture the exposition of which would deal with that very problem that I had counseled during the week? What will that person think? I’ll tell you what he will think 99.10% of the time. He will think, “I can’t trust that preacher with intimate problems. He will expose them in the pulpit.
2.The Christian who has been counseled will tense up every time the pastor comes close to the subject discussed. Satan can get that one to feeling so uncomfortable under that pastor that they will leave the church. It all happened because “Thy testimonies” were not that persons “heritage.”
When we lose our Joy, the place to get it back is in His “testimonies.” And one should not wait until it is sinking to patch the boat. If you make God’s Word your heritage when you are saved, when problems arise you will discover that the Holy Spirit will bring to your mind what God has said about that problem and joy will be restored.
Psalms 119:152 says, “Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.” They will never get old and you never discover a fault in them. God has “founded them for ever.” They are as applicable today as they were when they were written.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
