From Sunday Morning
by Pastor Nave on June 05, 2016
I intreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word. I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies (Psalms 119:58–59, KJV).
Seeking After the Blessings
The psalmist voiced his desire to experience the Lord’s blessings. His conclusion? He determined the only way to be blessed was to look at his life and make a change—to turn his feet toward the Lord.
Today, we need to understand there is a way to receive God’s blessings; there is an order to things. Throughout Scripture, we’re presented with endless examples of how blessings are bundled with behavior. Noah obeyed God and he and his family were blessed. Abraham obeyed the Lord, and all of his seed was blessed.
If we desire to receive a blessing from the Lord, we need to envision the blessings we want in our life, evaluate our lives, and adjust where necessary. This is why the psalmist said he had to turn His feet toward the Lord’s testimonies. We need to look down the road of our lives, and figure out what we need to do to experience the Lord’s blessings.
Turn with Wisdom
We cannot look at the world and use this as our measuring stick to get into the presence of the Lord. We also cannot look at other people and determine if the way we live our life (compared to theirs) warrants a blessing. We must get into the Word and us this as our standard—our instructional manual for what we must do in our life to be touched by God. We need to stop being like everyone else today, ponder our ways, and turn our feet!
Today there is a significant gap in the way we understand consequences. If we embark after problematic events and actions in our lives, a particular sequence will follow. If we choose not to obey the Lord we will not experience blessing, but judgment and cursing. Life is about cause and effect—what will we do to change it?
If we are going to change our steps, we need the Lord’s wisdom to help us. Wisdom is already crying out and trying to pour into us (Proverbs 1:20–23), but we frequently reject it. God wants to pour His wisdom and knowledge into us to help us make the right decisions in our lives, follow after His Word, and learn to plan for the future.
Everything we do in life needs to follow the “wisdom test.” If we think about what we know (what the Lord has revealed to us) and think about what we’ve seen, we should determine what we should do. If we think about our ways, and realize they’re wrong, we can change the direction of our future.
The Power to Turn
It takes courage and honesty to look at our lives and realize something needs to change. Zacchaeus was a dishonest tax collector. But, he had an encounter with Jesus that completely changed his life. Zacchaeus decided to give half his goods to the poor and to restore back to all to whom he had taken advantage of fourfold (Luke 19:8). Zacchaeus, who robbed from the people, took a look at his life and changed from someone who was selfish, dishonest, and greedy to a loving, caring, and charitable person.
We need to remember today that change will not happen just from realization. Once we get ahold of Jesus and step into His presence, He will help us change. Jesus helps us see the gaps in our life and provides the wisdom to close them—to bring us closer to Him. We need to allow God to work in our life and be our guiding light to manifest a change in our life. It’s time for us to stop to turn and think.
