“Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.” Psalm 119:33
The Psalmist here is pleading with the Lord to make the direction of the way of His prescriptions for life as clear as a sharpened arrow, purposely shot, to cause a directive and a desire in us to guard the way until the prescription is fulfilled(the end). We can trust God to cause us to see it through to the end.
Many times through life, even when we don't hear the words “the end”, still, somehow we feel these words are lurking nearby. Some of us are so afraid of rejoicing over a blessing because of the fluidity and changeableness of the good moments of this life (so soon they are over, so soon they are gone, so unexpected is the end) that we can't even begin to enjoy the moment. This type of living with a moment by moment self prophesied curse is so draining and so defeating. AND it is so not like the life that our God desires to pour into us.
“Behold, I have longed after Thy precepts; quicken be in Thy righteousness.” Psalm 119:40
Note: Without a longing devotional attention to God's direct Word found in the Bible, we are left to our own devices and imagination. We can only go so far on “ME” because we are finite and carry “the end” like a ball and chain. We need Him because He is infinite, He is eternal. We need His Word because it coaches and carries us to and through our “ends”. Jesus pleads with us to join Him in His Kingdom without end.
Throughout history, people who realized God's devotion for them, devoted their lives to Him. This devotion became a glorious addiction. Some saw amazing miracles on this side of Heaven; others suffered to their last breath (“of whom this world is not worthy” Hebrews 11:38) But whether an obvious victory or a perceived defeat, the lives of all those devoted to Him shout “it is not over!”
Years ago in a small store front chapel, utilized on Thursday nights to reach teens on the street week after week, a local church youth group was being revived while being able to minister to the “lost” teens on the street. With one divisive phone recording a church leader pulled the plug on that youth group's revival, and their joy of creative service ended in tears. The rippling effect of that “thoughtless” decision will probably never truly be realized (good or bad), but it was not all sorrowful and negative.
The night that the youth group vanished from their position of service, the teens on the street picked up the ministry. "The End" had become an amazing new beginning. Stop for a moment, and peer into the large plate-glass windows, see a small group of “un-churched” teens voluntarily on their knees praying for the missing youth group teens. I am quite sure that amazed and weeping angels gathered throughout the chapel with the street teens and scurried off into the countryside to the homes of broken youth group teens who were disappointed before their God. On that night it may have felt like a sorrowful end to some, a beginning to others, but in God's loving plan for all … it was not over.
God's love prescription for mankind carries the weight of His eternal unwillingness to see anyone end up in eternal Hell, but it also has to satisfy His unwillingness to allow sin to enter into His presence.
Jesus was this love prescription that God offered as the ultimate love sacrifice to satisfy His twofold desire.
The catch to the prescription? Believe in Jesus: His death on the cross for your sins, His burial, and His resurrection from the dead. Jesus is the only name under Heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved. Your faith placed in Him allows for the full affect of God's prescription for your life.
The full truth of God's prescription: He will keep you through “the end” and hold you throughout all eternity. Believe!Trust! Long for His Voice through His Word ...daily!
HLFA,
Jeff