How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
With my whole heart I have sought You;
O let me not wander from Your commandments!
Your Word have I hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:9-11
I haven’t been in a habit of sticking to a devotional guide in Bible reading. I have a number of devotional guides at home, at my bedroom, at my office. I only fumble to the one nearest me (or the one I feel I can relate most to at the moment) when I have my quiet time.
I’m in Hilongos at what they call the ABWE House (ABWE stands for Association of Baptists for World Evangelism…I think). It’s a guesthouse behind the school, church and hospital where we’re having our annual youth conference.
Ptr. Do, one of our church’s associate pastors and the speaker for the conference, lent me one of his Bibles. So ironic, the conference was about valuing God’s book and I forgot (my bad, sorry God) to bring my Bible. I just forgot it and I’m so sorry. (I could have all the reasons but it won’t bring my Bible 40 km away to my very hands).
But again, going back, I have this habit of randomly flipping through the Bible’s pages and land on a random chapter or passage. Then I’d start my Bible reading. (I sometimes do this a number of times to make sure I don’t land on chapters about who “begat” who, or something like that–you know, the boring ones.)
But this time, I landed on Psalm 119. Obviously, the book of Psalms is at the middle pages of most Bibles. The thing is, I found myself reading that passage I quoted there. And it’s something that speaks much of this conference’s theme.
True enough, we often neglect the Bible. No wonder we feel to far from God.
Ptr. Do said in his message today: Your relationship with your Bible is very much like your relationship with God.
How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word…Your Word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
My prayer is for daily cleansing, that my life be a worthy sacrifice everyday for God. How do I do that? The Bible has and is the answer.
More on that on my next writing (but maybe not online). TTFN.
Jed 