LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, November 14, 2017

Psalms 119:17 – 24 Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me. My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed and who stray from your commands. Remove from me scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes. Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees. Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.

Three old soldiers were reminiscing down at the VA hospital. They ran out of tales about themselves, so they began bragging about their ancestors.

“When my great-grandfather was 13 he was the drummer boy at Shiloh,” one of them proudly declared.

“That’s nothin’,” said the next. “Mine was with Custer at Little Big Horn.”

The 3^rd vet humbly admitted that he was the only soldier in his family, but said, “If my great-grandfather were alive today he’d be the most famous person in the world.”

“Why? What did he do?” asked his friends.

“Nothin’. But he’d be 165 years old.”

For what will you be remembered? I thought about that question as I read this section of the 119^th Psalm. God’s Spirit immediately directed me to think about the characteristics of a Godly soldier that are evidenced by the author.

1. Confidence in God’s complete control of life – Do good to your servant, and I will live. The outcomes of life are totally in the hands of God, and we can either choose to trust Him and find good or follow our own path and suffer.
2. Commitment to God’s commands – Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me. My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. There is a deep desire to know all that we can know about God and His purpose, and then to participate with Him obediently.
3. Contentment during conflict – Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees. Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors. In the midst of any battle, the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Years ago, I met such a soldier of Christ. He lived in complete confidence of God’s control of His life and he experienced God’s goodness. He was committed to God’s commands and was consumed with knowing His Savior completely so he could live for him continually. But most of all, he was content! From his early days of ministry as a missionary on the Native American reservations to his last days of suffering with cancer, he was content! His relationship with his Lord brought Him peace. His love for the Lord brought him joy. His knowledge of the Lord gave him comfort.

Even though I couldn’t tell him those things before he died, he has already heard them from the lips of his Savior. He was the kind of man I want to be. The way I remember Wally is the way I want to be remembered. I have a long way to go, but I press on towards that prize that is mine in Christ Jesus.

How will you be remembered?

Pastor John