Psalm 119: Part 15 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning. We’re starting our day the right way by reading God’s Word together with our hearts open to God, spending time with Him at the beginning of our day.

We’re in Psalm 119, still the longest chapter in the Bible, and we come today to verse 113:

It says, I hate those who are double minded. But I love your law, God. You are my hiding place and my shield. I wait for your word. Depart from me, evildoers, that I may observe the commandments of my God.

Sustain me according to your word that I may live and do not let me be ashamed of my hope. Uphhold me that I may be safe, that I may have regard for your statutes continually.

You have rejected all those who wander from your statutes, for their deceitfulness is useless. You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross. Therefore I love your testimonies. My flesh trembles for fear of You, God, and I am afraid of your judgments.

It’s an interesting paradox, isn’t it? That at the same time we can love God and love His word and yet be afraid of him in the right kind of way, respecting him. And afraid of his judgments, respecting his power, his authority to judge people.

And yet if we’re walking with God, there’s no need for fear.

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Did you see how he started this section? I hate those who are double minded. But I love your law.

What does it mean to be double minded.

Well, basically it means this – every person has a foundation of their life. Prime directive. Something that they live for above everything else. For some people, that thing is the gaining of money and wealth, and if they see a way that they can gain a lot of money.

They’ll be willing to sacrifice relationships for that. They’ll be willing to sacrifice their moral integrity. They will be willing to sacrifice the truth. They’ll lie. They’ll cheat, whatever it takes, because that is the foundation of their lives. That’s their greatest motivation in life.

Other people have as their greatest motivation in life loving God. And so if they know what God wants for their lives, they are willing to sacrifice other things for that. They will sacrifice the gaining of money, and are even willing to put other relationships and things on the line in order to love God, the most important person in their lives.

But then there are some people who say, I want it all. I want to be a Christian. I want to live for God, but I also want to pursue the gaining of money or something else as my great motivation in life.

And the reality is that that never works. It never works.

Because God says you cannot love God and riches, there can only be one driving force in your life, and the person who tries to pursue both inevitably ends up losing God in their lives.

God stops being close to them, stops revealing Himself to them. Their time in God’s Word becomes very dry. Church just becomes a habit, a religious activity. Their Christianity is just an external thing.

God wants you to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Is your love for God being diluted today? Do you find yourself double-minded?

Why don’t you choose today that your greatest motivation in life will be your love for God.

I’m John North.

To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.

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