Treasure - He uses our failures to counsel

Yesterday, we read that Asaph became more confident that God would firmly hold his hand through his struggles - and that's a wonderful promise for us, too.

In verse 24, we see that Asaph is also certain that the Lord will counsel and guide him along his way - all the way until Asaph was safely home in glory. Again, this is a precious promise for us, as well.

You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

Would Asaph stumble again? Probably.

Will we stumble? I betcha; I know I likely will!  Another treasure from our Father is that He can use our failures to nudge us - we will seek His Word and His Spirit, and He can then counsel us.

The Lord makes firm the steps

of the one who delights in him;

24though he may stumble, he will not fall,

for the Lord upholds him with his hand. (Psalm 37:23-24, NIV)

Dear believer, even if you stumble and even if you fall, if the Lord has redeemed you, He will keep you! Jesus told us this, many years after these psalms were written:

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.40For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:38-40)

This should certainly reassure our hearts, and give us words to "defend the hope we have within" us!

Our Creator, our Father God counsels us and guides us through His Word and also His Spirit.  As we read, ponder, and study His Word, the Lord uses it to teach us how to live. He instructs us on how to please Him. He counsels us on how to be more like Him. 

The important thing about our studies (and a principle that I try to adhere to in these studies) is that we must interpret the Word of God properly. Two guidelines that can help are these: first, be careful to study the context of each verse; pulling something out and using it "out of context" can get us on the wrong track. Secondly, we must use Scripture to interpret Scripture. This means that we will search for other verses that "agree with" or bolster the meaning that we think we see in our studies. All of this is beyond us -- we must ask the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and understanding! 

If we see something and we think it's a contradiction, we must remember that the Spirit never guides us to disobey the Word of God. We must pray for Him to guide us in the proper interpretation of the verses we are studying. Then we can apply those Scriptures to our lives.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. (James 1:22-25)

God is our treasure. We'll study more on this next week . . . aren't we all glad that God is faithful to us in our failures, and uses them to help and to guide us? 
Amen!