To Encourage You

Psalm 18:30 “This God—His way is perfect;the word of the Lord proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.”

One of the things Jesus spoke about when He walked the earth was how the Scriptures spoke about Him. To the Pharisees He said this: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me (John 5:39).” Sadly, in all their study, they never saw Him.  Then as Jesus spoke to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus after His resurrection, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).”  Remember, it was only the Old Testament Scriptures that had been written at this point.  So, a lesson to us all is that as we read the Old Testament a prayer that should be on our hearts is that God would reveal Jesus to us.  He’s everywhere we look.  That’s what came to my mind this morning as I read the verse above from Psalm 18.  This verse talks about God’s “way.” It tells us that that way is perfect.  Then it talks about God’s word; that it has proven to be true.  And then it talks about God being a shield and a refuge to those who would follow Him.  At first glance these references to a way (a manner of living), the word (the words written down for us in the pages of Scripture), and a refuge (a means of protection) seem to be pointing to things.  However, they are more than that, for they all speak of Christ.  Didn’t Jesus tell us that He and He alone was the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)?  Doesn’t the gospel of John begin with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1),” followed by “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14)?”  You see, it is to Jesus that we should look as the perfect representation of a human being walking in the ways of God.  So many people have a concept of Who Jesus was, how He lived, and what He said, but that knowledge is often erroneous and incomplete. The only place we find the truth about Him is in the Word of God.  These things are so inextricably linked that knowing Jesus, following Jesus, and loving Jesus are inseparable from knowing the Word, following the Word, and loving the Word.  And it is in knowing and loving Jesus and His Word that there is great protection.  As Jesus taught us, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock (John 7:24-25).” By contrast, “everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it (John 7:26-27).”  Yes, the Way of the Lord is perfect, His Word has been proven true, and He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.  In all of this God would have us to look at Jesus of Whom He is ultimately speaking, and it is as we follow in His steps that these words that are true of Him become true for us.  How could there ever be anything better?