The Devotio0nal - 1512 - The Grip of the Vice

The Devotional – 1512 – The Grip of the Vice

Psalm 119:81-88 – My soul faints for Your salvation, But I hope in Your word. My eyes fail from searching Your word. Saying, "when will You comfort me?" For I have become like a wineskin in smoke, yet I do not forget Your statutes. How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me? The proud have dug pits for me, which is not according to Your law. All Your commandments are faithful; they persecute me wrongfully; help me! They almost made an end of me on earth, but I did not forsake Your precepts. Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth. 

Comments and Challenges: CAPH

1.       81 – My soul faiths for Your salvation, I hope in Your WORD.

2.       82 – My eyes fail for Your WORD, I say “when will You comfort me?”

3.       83 – For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke. I don’t forget Your STATUTES.

4.       84 – How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute JUDGMENT on those who persecute me.

5.       85 – The proud have dug pits for me, contrary to Your LAW

6.       86 – All of Your COMMANDMENTS are faithful. They persecute me wrongfully, help me.

7.       87 – They had almost wiped me from the earth, but I didn’t forsake Your PRECEPTS.

8.       88 – Preserve me according to Your loving kindness, so I will obey the STATUTES of Your mouth.

The world around us seeks to have a vice-grip hold on our heart and soul; if you are a man you understand the word vice-grip in the definition of a tool. A tool that can be tightened down to a specific size, then when placed over the object it is further squeezed. The “gripping” power of this tool will not release its object until the one who controls the tool releases it. 

This thought applied to the life of a saint; is this. If you allow yourself to think about such a grip it should be very alarming. YET, every day MANY SAINTS OF GOD allow the world to grip and tighten the VICE of worldliness on our heart; as the vice becomes tighter and TIGHTER, the JOY of our LORD is quenched or grieved in our personal life in Christ, Ephesians 4:30 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19. If we fail to do anything about this, our soul suffers and faints and begins hoping for the deliverance that only the LORD our God can provide.

The psalmist uses two references to the WORD of God: verse 81 his soul faints or is in need of God’s Word for COMFORT, this is the inability of the soul to have hope in a critical or controlling circumstance of life. Without the implanting of the WORD there is little help, James 1:21. Then in verse 82 the access of the WORD to the psalmist eyes is not what it could be. He may be in a dark-ill lit room, or maybe he is not near his scrolls of truth. Whatever the case, his eyes fail to receive comfort from God; his life seems to dissipate like someone in smoke filled room. What strikes me in all this struggle to maintain a sense of comfort and peace of God’s Holy WORD, he says “I do not forget Your STATUTES”.

Now this is important so pay attention! There are personal “joyful” moments in our lives with the Author and Finisher of our Faith that ALL of us can reflect on during these times. You have yours and I have mine; in other words we have an inheritance, do not throw in the towel! Remember the days of old; 1 Peter 1:3-12 especially verse 8 remember the STATUTES of JOY the ones that you cannot express without tears of JOY. These are the anchors in the soul that will rescue us and return you and me to the throne of grace and mercy. This may be all that the soul in you can ponder at the moment, but it is all that is needed; the same JOY that Jesus faced in Hebrews 12:1-2. This will release the “grip” of the world and drive us to the WORD and satisfy our swollen eyes.