In His Time.......... with P.Ramachandran

Psalms 19:10  -  They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.   In the last few devotions, I noted David’s various descriptions and dividends of God’s Word. God’s Word is perfect, its trustworthy, its right, it’s radiant, pure and firm.   Having displayed the various spectrum of God’s Word, David comes to the conclusion on how it meant to him.   They say diamonds are a woman’s best friend but gold is everyone’s best friend. Especially during important occasions, you will be amazed at the weight and display of gold that man and woman alike, display. Sometimes I am amazed the thickness of the goldware around some necks. I just wonder how they carry these “burdens” around. But for the bearers, it’s something to be desired to make one feel and look good. It give some kind of status, prestige and dignity.    For David, having tasted and seen all the best gold in the world, comes to the co...

Psalms 19:9b  -  The decrees of the   Lord   are firm, and all of them are righteous.   The Hebrew word for “decrees” renders another widely used meaning -  Judgement.   David description of God’s word reaches the climax when he pronounces it as a judgement that is firm and righteous.     Decrees refer to ordinances, a military term. The directives issued by a king or a commander in chief. David himself being a king comes to the inference that God’s ordinances are not unjust, they are not impossible or laborious. Rather they are fair in the sense that  they can be observed.   In today’s climate, the politicians and those in power seem to be above the law. They could have committed the most heinous of crimes and can still come out of it scratch free. Man-made laws have so many loopholes that a clever litigator can easily wriggle his way through one of those and get his client free. But not so in the court of God’s law....

Psalms 19:9 a-The fear of the   Lord   is pure,   enduring forever.   What a sudden change in the terminology. In the previous verses, David described God’s Word as the law, statutes, precepts, commands all within the legal framework of an executive order.  Here  David depicts God’s Word as “the fear of the Lord”. The implications of this phrase seems to induce punishment and judgement for irreverential handling of the legal framework. Sounds more serious than the previous annotations.  Honestly I never saw God’s Word in this manner until now. It only goes to show there are so many nuggets in the Word that we can unearth as we diligently take time to ponder and mediate on it.   But what does this nomenclature - fear of the Lord - in this context mean?    Very often when we talk about fear, it always connotes anxiety, horror, distress, trepidation or fright. Many times this is the depiction of God that we have in our minds. He is so holy,...

Psalms 19: 8b - The commands of the  Lord  are radiant, giving light to the eyes. Singapore is colloquially known as a “fine city”. Certainly it’s the best city in the world in one sense but the innuendo suggests that there are so many rules, that you are bound to break at least one in a day. From crossing the road to spitting to chewing gum, everything is incessantly regulated. I have no qualms about our rules, in fact that’s one of the reasons our streets are relatively crime free. Being the conservative I am, I welcome such restriction to civil liberties for the important payoffs of peace and security. But for many, rules are bondages, stifles personal space, undermines democracy and restricts individual liberties. It induces fear and guilt. “There is always an ulterior motive, as in the case of repressive regimes,” so say the liberals. That’s exactly the set-up the devil snared before Eve when he  tempted her in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:5 - “For God knows th...

Psalms 19:8  - The precepts of the  Lord  are right, giving joy to the heart.   David’s crescendo of God’s law reaches yet another superlative  God’s Word is right, always right and it give joy   It seems that David has no lack of narratives when it comes to verbalising God’s Word. The law is perfect, its trustworthy and now “right”. God’s Word is never wrong.   The word “right” translated here also means just, equitable and upright.  Psalm 33:4  -  For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.   In today’s world there is always the clamour for relativism, especially from the community that is progressive and leaning very much to the left. There are no absolutes, they say, only what you think is right matters. Obviously a self-defeating statement.   For us, Christians, God’s Word is our moral compass. God’s moral law does not change and they are right.   That means God’s word is our...

Psalms 19:7b-   The statutes of the   Lord   are trustworthy,   making wise the simple.   If you have read your Bible long enough, you would have realised that the Bible is full of paradoxes. Here is one such example – When you indulge into God’s Word you become simple. How ironic. I thought much education into the scriptures would certainly make one “wiser than the other”. Strangely “No”, in this case.   Having talked about the importance of the Word of God being a refreshment to the soul, in the second part of the same verse, David submits, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, that God’s Word is trustworthy.    David uses a legal word “statues” or “testimony” as in the KJV, to describe the steadfastness or the legality of God’s Word. And the same word is used to describe the ten commandments given by God to Moses. In legal terms, God’s Word is sure, trustworthy and stands the test of time.    Having been in the legal field for some ...

In  Psalms 19:7-11 , David describes the magnificence of God’s Word.   He commences the description in verse 7 -   The law of the   Lord   is perfect,  refreshing the soul.   Man is essentially a spiritual being within the physical body.  Genesis 2:7  tell us:   Then the   Lord   God formed   a man   from the dust   of the ground   and breathed into his nostrils the breath   of life,   and the man became a living being.   Man is not just matter but matter plus spirit.  Genesis 1:26  further tells us that man was made in the image of God. That is why while the physical environment is the habitant for all other creation, for man God is his habitant. Acts 17:28 further amplifies this proposition by stating -  For in him we live and move and have our being.  The inference is, as long as man is not within this habitant, he is dead spiritually.   Being a spiritual...