The latest Psalms have been a record of things that David wanted to remember. What a great way to remember - put them in a song! My favorite verses in Psalm 60 are verses 11-12:
11O give us help against the adversary, for vain (ineffectual and to no purpose) is the help or salvation of man.
12Through God we shall do valiantly, for He it is Who shall tread down our adversaries.
The Amplified Bible is very good here! He is calling on God for "help", the Hebrew word, "`ezrah", which means: help, succor or assistance, against the enemy, because the "help", the Hebrew word, "teshuw`ah", which means: salvation, deliverance, of man is "vain", the Hebrew word, "shav`", which means: emptiness, falsehood, vanity, nothingness! Don't ever COUNT on people for your deliverance! God will use people to get the answer to you, but you must put your faith, trust and confidence in God alone! Verse 12 says it so well!
In Mark 4 we see Jesus getting into a boat in order to teach the people because there was such a crowd. Because the people were always trying to get up close to Jesus, this gave Him some space. Do you think that some of the people still tried to get to Him by wading into the water? Those are the kinds of questions I like to ask the Holy Spirit when I meditate the Word. He was there! He knows exactly what took place! Jesus is teaching the people in parables. I believe that He did this to separate those who really wanted to know from those who were just hanging around to see another miracle. He explains the parable of the sower to His disciples, including the Twelve. So it wasn't just the apostles that He taught. Be a real disciple and the Word will become clearer to you every day.
The parable of the sower shows us that we are responsible for the type of ground we have for the Word of God to be "sown" in. Prepare your heart to receive the Word by spending time first in praise, thanksgiving and worship. Pray in the spirit trusting the Holy Spirit to reveal anything to you that may interfere with your understanding of the Word. Then pray this prayer (or one like it) from Psalm 25:
5Guide me in Your truth and faithfulness and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You [You only and altogether] do I wait [expectantly] all the day long.
He WILL do it! And then Jesus Himself instructs us about this in Mark 4:24-25:
24And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you--and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.
25For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.
There is no standing still in this life in the Word! If we want to , we can grow stronger in our knowledge of God's Word every day. If we don't, like verse 25 says, even what knowledge we think we have, we will not be able to maintain. Remember from the parable that the enemy comes IMMEDIATELY (verse 15) to steal the Word away! Don't let him do it! AMEN!
In Exodus 29-30 we see still more precise instructions from the Lord to Moses. This time the instructions are concerning the priests and how to consecrate them for ministry, what clothes they will wear, exactly how to dress them, what their duties will be, how they are to wash and how to anoint them. There is a recipe for the holy anointing oil and for the incense that is to burn there. When you read these things, remember to be thankful for the fact that we are living now, with a New Covenant, based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6)! We are cleansed from sin, as believers in Jesus of Nazareth, when we confess our sins (1 John 1:9). We are anointed with the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20). Our incense is the praise, thanksgiving and worship we offer up to Him daily! We are also an aroma to the world (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)!
Shalom in Him!
