Food for the Day

When reading the first 88 verses of Psalm 119, I can't get over the simple fact that God's word is all-sufficient. Over and again, these verses remind us that God's word is perfect for all the places life takes us. That is why it is so very important that I "hide Thy word in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee." But, I often feel like I forget just as many lessons from the scripture that I remember!

Why is it that, as hard as I try, I forget some of the most profound things??!?! Oh, if I could only remember all of the lessons and verses and sermons and books and speeches and such that I've been exposed to in my life!!! If only I could remember HALF of those, I'd be thankful!! Why does my mind get muddy?? Why are the lessons hard to retrieve in this brain of mine??? And, if I'm not going to remember, then why bother??? (Now, I've gone and upset myself!) Back to the point........I'm frustrated at forgetting ALREADY, some of the wonderful things we've learned together on this journey through the Bible. The Lord brought this illustration to mind, I hope it encourages you just as it did me:

A boy and his grandpa were spending some time in the back yard while grandma finished up supper. The boy had looked forward to this day all week, but was disappointed to hear that they had to go to church bright and early in the morning.

"Can't we ever take a Sunday off? Can't we just go fishing instead?" the boy asked. "I mean, we're not gonna remember what the preacher said by Monday anyways, so why bother?" the boy complained.

The wise old man thought for a minute and said, "Well son, I reckon you've got a point there. But let me ask you...." The little boy stopped fiddling with his fishing pole and looked up at his grandpa. "You like your grandma's cooking, son?"

The boy replied with a fast, "Yes, sir!" His grandpa asked, "Can you remember every meal she ever cooked for you?" "Well," said the boy, "no, sir." His grandpa asked, "Then why do you keep coming back to the dinner table?"

The boy looked a bit confused. His grandpa graciously explained, "The Word of God is food for the soul, and I reckon I ate about three sermons a week for 65yrs. Now, I can't remember all 10,000 meals exactly, but I know I never went hungry. It was food for the day."

The Lord is faithful to us. His Word will never return void. Our time and efforts are not wasted here, my sister, they are multiplied! Oh, sure, we'll forget some things, but I wouldn't trade that moment of discovery for anything this world affords! In only the first half of this chapter we find a wealth of information. There are many attributes of the character of God found in this text....He is faithful, true, unchanging, righteous and more. I read something one time about this particular chapter of Psalms that stuck with me, it's another attribute of God. The format of Psalm 119 is an acrostic, meaning that the first letters of each line (in Hebrew) follow through the alphabet, 8 lines per letter, thus 8 lines x 22 letters = 176 lines. He is a God of order, not of chaos. The author of this psalm (my commentary mentioned David, Ezra or Daniel) clearly understood that the chaos around them was not of God's perfect plan. He cried out to the Lord to rescue him from his circumstance, and prove Himself to all those who will listen. When the chaos around me threatens to consume me, I fall back on those times that I know my Lord met with me. I remember (maybe not in tremendous detail) the times He met my needs for that circumstance, and lifted my spirit once more.

Keep coming back to the dinner table, my friend, it's food for the day.