You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
8 Lead [nachah] me, O LORD, [Yahovah] in thy righteousness [tsadaqah] because of mine enemies; [sharar] make thy way [derek]
straight [yashar] before my face. [paniym] KJV-Interlinear
8 O Lord,
lead me in Thy righteousness because of my foes; Make Thy way straight before
me. NASB
Just a couple of quick points from yesterday's study. I mentioned an example of a wife being committed to her husband in the fashion of total submission to his will, this was an illustration of ones total commitment to God through doctrine and the spiritual life.
But just as most people in this world do not make such a commitment, so also, you will probably have a difficult time in finding a woman, or any woman, who is willing to make such a commitment to a man. Likewise there are probably very few men who are worthy of such a blessing from their wife.
If this were a perfect world, then you would find less religion and evil (obviously) and much more honesty in relationships, and commitment would come much easier. But this is the devils world and relationships generally take a back seat to the worldly priorities of society.
The second point, comes from a question posed, 'How does one enter into Gods house?' I guess my explanation was lacking on that point.
First, you have to be in Gods family before you can enter into His home. To get into Gods family, you have to be saved. To be saved, you believe in Christ. 'Father I believe in Jesus Christ.'
Salvation is that simple. You think those six little words, and you are instantly saved. We call that being saved, receiving salvation, being born again, receiving eternal life, and so forth. Once born into Gods family, you cannot unborn yourself.
When you are saved, and it takes only one expression of belief to be saved, and you are saved permanently and forever (you can never lose it), then the question in your life is not salvation, for you already have that, but your question becomes one of a matter of obedience to God.
Do you live within His rules, or do you live outside of His rules.
As a believer you have two environments in which you can live - the carnal environment, or the spiritual environment.
In the carnal environment you live in sin and under the control of the sin nature (which is in us all). We call this environment, being out of fellowship.
In the spiritual environment, you live in the spiritual life and under the control of the Holy Spirit. This is the place of residence and presence in Gods house. It is not a physical house, but a spiritual house. We call this environment, being in fellowship.
Moving back and forth between the two environments is determined by sin and confession.
When you sin you are instantly out of fellowship and out of the presence of God.
When you confess your sins, then you are instantly in fellowship and in the presence of God.
Confession of sin is directed to God the Father as often as is necessary in your life and in the form of, 'Father I did this, and that, and this, and that, etc.' This is a list, however long or short, of the infractions you have committed (done, thought, lusted, wanted to do or not do, etc.) since the last time you confessed. If you have forgotten sins, do not worry, they are covered as well.
All confession is directed to God the Father and to no one else. This is between you and God.
Once you confess, then you are back in fellowship and that is the place in your life where all of your spiritual activities, interactions, studies, prayers, etc. function properly. Out of fellowship, your spiritual life is off line and does not function.
There are far more details in this study from Lev. 3 (known sins), Lev. 4 (unknown or forgotten sins), and 1 John (the mechanics), which cover the concept and application of confession and its function.
And now for our current verse.
Given all that this world has to offer, your life is far better off, infinitely better off, if you pursue God in your life, rather than the worldly temptations and enticements that are all around us.
The world has nothing to offer you. Your life in this world is short, perhaps a few decades at most, then what? After this life, you move on to eternity and that, by most calculations, is a far greater period than a few decades.
Leaving this world, you take nothing with you except your soul and spirit. Your physical body is left behind and your possessions are left behind also. You go to heaven only with what you have in your soul and that content is the basis for your eternal reward, which applies to eternity.
No content and no reward. Great content and great reward. How much simpler can that be explained.
And content comes only from Bible doctrine in the soul. You learn doctrine by pursuing a daily study, and you grow, by means of that learning process. You cannot know, what you do not learn and you cannot learn what you do not study.
Therefore, as David states in this psalm, 'Lead me, in your righteousness.'
Gods righteousness is the content of Bible doctrine. The principles, concepts, mandates, and so forth contained in the Bible.
Lead, 'nachah,' means to transport, to guide, to govern. And that mean that you have to learn the rules before you can follow them and apply them to your daily life.
Because of my enemies, is a reference to the world and all that is in disregard to God, Christ, doctrine, truth and so forth. The world offers you nothing. Doctrine offers you everything. Therefore, because there is nothing to be gained permanently from the world, then there is only one other place to gain something of significance and importance and that is from God.
Therefore, because there is nothing here, then, you, God, provide something, everything, for me.
To make your way straight, means to make your life worthy, of significance, with meaning and purpose and fulfillment, to make your life complete. The world offers no such completion for your life or for anything, for that matter. No matter what you have or want out of this world, it will never be satisfying or enough. There will always be something missing.
And that something is the substance of truth in your soul that paves the way for everything, even beyond your imagination.
Before my face, means that this study and relationship with God, is personal between you and God, and the only thing that separates you from God, is doctrine and your decision to learn His word. You are potentially your own worst enemy and barrier, to a great life.
If you fail in life, you have only yourself to blame, because God gives you a way to succeed. You just have to see it and want it.
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