#BibleLesson Timeless Truths: You’ve got mail? (Part 1)

This was first posted on 5/12/2016. Parts have been edited for this posting.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

All Scripture quotations are from the NIV.

• It’s a dangerous thing to read God’s Word. Scripture holds God’s vision for our lives.
• Reading the Bible will change our lives whether the change is painful or not!
• Faithful readers of The Word find special direction each day because God’s Word doesn’t need revision.

Background on Psalm 119, the primary Scripture used in this lesson.

You’ve probably made an acrostic at some time in your life. Maybe it was your name, or, it might have been a boyfriend/girlfriend’s name you used to think up appropriate words to express your feelings.

One psalmist did way more than that.

Psalm 119 is the longest book in the Bible. It’s also one continuous acrostic using letters in the Hebrew alphabet in their correct order. 

Psalms 119: 1-176. This celebrated Psalm has several peculiarities. It is divided into twenty-two parts or stanzas, denoted by the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza contains eight verses, and the first letter of each verse is that which gives a name to the stanza. [In other words, each verse of each stanza begins with the same letter the stanza represents.] Its contents are mainly praises of God's Word, exhortations to its perusal, and reverence for it, prayers for its proper influence, and complaints of the wicked for despising it. There are but two verses ( Psalms 119:122 Psalms 119:132 ) which do not contain some term or description of God's Word. These terms are of various derivations, but here used, for the most part, synonymously, though the use of a variety of terms seems designed, in order to express better the several aspects in which our relations to the revealed word of God are presented. The Psalm… was evidently "intended as a manual of pious thoughts, especially for instructing the young, and its peculiar artificial structure was probably adopted to aid the memory in retaining the language."                                                                       

Keep all that in mind as you read the passages selected from this psalm.

Fasten your seatbelt. We’re off!

The highlighted opening phrases in this Timeless Truth might feel threatening. In a way, they are. But, what follows today are eight “You’ve Gots” when you read the Bible. Two of those are below. The remaining six are the meat of next week's You’ve Got Mail? Part 2

Unless otherwise referenced, supporting Scripture verses are from Psalm 119 [The Message]. The red text emphasizes the “You’ve Got” component. Yellow highlights the term used for Scripture in the verse.

1. WITH GOD’S WORD… YOU’VE GOT… JOY

77. Now comfort me so I can live, really live; your revelation is the tune I dance to. & 92. If your revelation hadn't delighted me so, I would have given up when the hard times came. 

• Sometimes this joy comes even when we don’t want joy! Hard times are the example of this in verse 92.
•  
• David writes in Ps 37:4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. “Taking delight in the Lord” includes reading the Bible. After all, Scripture is God’s love letter to us.

2. WITH GOD’S WORD… YOU’VE GOT… REFRESHMENT

25. I'm feeling terrible - I couldn't feel worse! Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember? & 93. But I'll never forget the advice you gave me; you saved my life with those wise words. 

• The caveat in this “You’ve Got” is: Refreshment only comes through the reading of God’s Word.

Thanks to the late Rev. Tom Gobel for the central teachings used in this blog.

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