Remember your promise to me; it is my only hope. Your promise revives me; it comforts me in all my troubles. The proud hold me in utter contempt, but I do not turn away from your instructions. I meditate on your age-old regulations; O LORD, they comfort me. I become furious with the wicked, because they reject your instructions. Your decrees have been the theme of my songs wherever I have lived. I reflect at night on who you are, O LORD; therefore, I obey your instructions. This is how I spend my life: obeying your commandments. [Psalm 119.49-56]
Psalm 119 is all about God's Word - His commands, decrees, rules, regulations... everything God has said. God's Word also includes every promise God has made. It is not surprising then that Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible as it discusses the importance of God's Word.
Interestingly enough, Psalm 119.49-56 is the Psalmist's acrostic poetry using the seventh Hebrew letter "Zayin." The Hebrew understanding of "zayin" is "weapon" (see Wikipedia).
As the Psalmist addresses God's promises, it is done using the letter of the Hebrew alphabet meaning "weapon."
Not ironically, when the Apostle Paul writes about the armor of God, the Word of God is represented by a sword (see Ephesians 6.10-18).
Similarly, 2 Corinthians 10.3-5 also confirms that every believer is engaged in warfare. ...Stay with me...
Psalm 119.49-56 reveals (under the Hebrew letter "zayin") that our warfare is a campaign fought with God's promises as our weapon. 2 Corinthians 10.3-5 indicates that our battle is against human reasoning and false arguments requiring us to be clothed with God's armor as detailed in Ephesians 6.10-18 with the Word as our weapon. A weapon against what? Human reasoning and false arguments, which are in direct conflict with God's promises!
The reason believers are to engage human reasoning and false arguments in warfare is because they offer alternate versions of God's promises. God told Adam and Eve NOT to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or they would die. Like it or not, that was a promise. What did Satan say? "Has God really said...?" Consequently, Adam and Eve's doubt of God's promise (His Word) fueled by Satan's human reasoning and false argument was only the beginning of man's battle with idolatry that continues to this very day.
Idols offer alternatives to God's promises. God promises wealth while idols offer artificial wealth: debt. God promises protection while idols offer artificial protection: insurance. God promises health while idols offer artificial health: medicine. God promises knowledge and wisdom while idols offer artificial intelligence: technology. It must be remembered that artificial alternatives to God's promises can be identified as manmade and costly - in other words, they are not direct from God (although they are slyly attributed to God's provision) and they are not free as God's actual promises are.
Believe it or not, Psalm 119.49-56 confirms the validity of what is said here simply in the following statement: The proud hold me in utter contempt, but I do not turn away from your instructions. It is contemptuous to the proud when debt, insurance, medicine and technology are decried as idols.
When we take it upon ourselves to modify God's promises with perfectly reasonable alternatives, we have inadvertently slipped off into idolatry.
True faith, while capable of moving mountains, is unwilling to accept perfectly reasonable alternatives to God's actual promises. How unwilling? Willing enough to be held in utter contempt to the point of being tortured and killed!
By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. [Hebrews 11.33-39]
As the Psalmist said, God's promise is our only hope: God's promise of wealth, God's promise of protection, God's promise of health, God's promise of knowledge and wisdom, and most importantly, God's promise of salvation. Expensive, man-made (artificial - counterfeit) alternatives that falsely claim God's stamp of approval must be avoided in every true believer's daily spiritual warfare as a matter of undivided and undiluted faith in God alone.
While the Psalmist said God's promises comfort him, he also said he was furious at those who reject them. Where does that put us today?
Father, may we be weaponized with Your promises to battle against and overcome the artificial alternatives to them! May Your Word guide us away from idols and into Your loving arms! So be it.
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