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Learning Contentment…

Learning Contentment…

I have put my hope in your word

Psalm 119:74

Commentary

This blog post is taken from Nicky Gumbel’s commentary on October 21, 2021 in his Bible In One Year (BIOY) commentary app. By the way, if you are looking for a daily Bible reading to learn and be encouraged by, I highly recommend BIOY

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Hope in God’s word and invest your time in it.

Nicky Gumbel

Time is your most valuable possession. You can make more money but you cannot create more time. How you spend your time is evidence of where your hope lies. If your hope is in God and his word, then you will invest time in them.

The psalmist places his hope firmly in God’s word: ‘For I have put my hope in your word’ (v.74b). What does this mean in practice?

Spend time seeking to understand God’s word (vv.73,79), meditate on it (v.78), delight in it (v.77) and learn it off by heart (v.73).

When you are going through difficult times, continue to trust God’s word: ‘Your testing has taught me what’s true and right’ (v.75, MSG). Trust in God’s faithfulness, ‘unfailing love’ (v.76) and ‘compassion’ (v.77).

Spending time with God is the way in which God breathes his wisdom into you (v.73, MSG). He comforts you so that you can live, ‘really live… live whole and holy, soul and body’ (vv.77,80a, MSG), and always walk with your ‘head held high’ (v.80b, MSG).

If you live like this, it will encourage others to do the same: ‘May those who fear you rejoice when they see me’ (v.74a). Likewise, it is encouraging for us to see other people who are hoping in God’s word.

Application

Today’s commentary from BIOY, once again has highlighted how necessary it is to be totally surrendered to Christ and be led by The Holy Spirit. Even in retirement, I find time elusive and able to slip through my fingers. I need to be constantly on guard against wasting time. Time is our most valuable asset the Lord has given us. His creation of each of us is actually a gift of time. The question is, will I live wisely while there is still time? Larry Anderson

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2 responses to “Learning Contentment…”

  1. jomisoblog Avatar
    jomisoblog

    Hi Larry Good post Just recently I was thinking about when contentment becomes complacency or rather sometimes there’s a fine line between the two, – also,

    Wasting time is a concept often coloured by our culture and it’s opinions on this both Christian and secular (time is money etc. And a focus on production as in us having to produce or do something with a visible result and preferably in instant result vs. Ye sometimes long constant hidden movemn of faith for instance which for the OT prophets didn’t get to see the result) or rather what is time wasting for one person isn’t time wasting for another so that’s a difficult one sometimes, but , I suppose , if our hearts dwell on Christ, and in Him then hopefully nothing is wasted xx just some thoughts , Mickey

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    1. Larry Anderson Avatar
      Larry Anderson

      Good insights Mickey. I agree that time wasting can be viewed very differently from one person to the next. Time wasting to me, similar to your takeaway, isn’t about productivity in the usual sense of that word, but rather time wasting for me can be doing things that aren’t beneficial to my relationship with God or with family and friends. Relationships trump doing.

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