God's Word

 O The wicked have set a trap for me, but I have not strayed from your commandments.

 - From Psalm 119

The 199th Psalm places great emphasis on the value of God's Word. His Ways. His Commandments. His Law. The answer to everything is contained within the Word of God.

And in my life experience, I believe that. I am convinced of it, yet I do not always live it. My faith is constantly challenged. My selfish self-absorption always cries out to do it my way. I'm like a little kid rejecting the advice of someone with decades more experience. 

Yet we know that, without any doubt, the answer to everything, and to anything, is in God's Word. And if some specific problem is not addressed in the Bible, still it gives us a process whereby we can solve it - - - and the process always starts with prayer. 

I could dash off several examples of people that sought an answer to a problem, and decided to pray and go to Scripture. They would do something like close their eyes, open the Bible and point their finger somewhere on the page. And so often, a workable answer is right there where their finger landed. 

And yet I can neither prove, nor disprove, the assertion that the answer to every problem is found in Scripture. And that is mostly because, I have not used Scripture for every one of my problems. My record is too spotty . . . but it is complete enough that I am convinced that, had I used Scripture for every problem, I would have solved every problem, with God's guidance. 

The passage above describes a common problem: the wicked are trying to entrap, or ensnare us. And this is true. They are after us, constantly. And this is a harsh thing to say . . . because we know that most of the things the world tries to get us to do, are common activities that our un-churched friends may urge upon us. Have a drink. Have a smoke. Tell this joke. Make that hateful observation. Waste that money. Use this person for sexual favors. And we like our friends. We do not like thinking of them as "wicked." They're too nice, and that's too judgmental. 

Yet the snares are out there, and the traps. Traps do not look like danger. They look safe. Yet they're there. 

The answer? God's word.

What if we read a chapter of Scripture a day, and selected one commandment from God, and committed to keeping that one commandment, all day, consistently? I can affirm that my days would be considerably different, if I did this, and they would be improved. 

When danger comes our way (and it will) . . . 

God's Word.