Good Morning!
Today I had an appointment for our car to be looked at for a problem that keeps coming up, so no time to write a blog post when I first got up like I usually do. However--I am REALLY trying to keep God's Word first in my day, so I still took the time to read in my Bible and write down some of the notes I wanted to record. Then it was time to rush out the door and drive 30 minutes to the dealership--which is where I am sitting at this minute! Who says you can't sit in a public waiting room and be thinking and writing about what God is teaching in his Love Letter to us? Praise God for the religious freedoms we do enjoy here in this country!
So--earlier this morning back at home, I read Psalm 15. And this ended up being the chapter where I didn't choose just one verse--I didn't choose two verses--I simply had to choose THREE verses to write down for my Bible notebook! The chapter starts out with a question, and then the next two verses answer that question. So those were the verses I choose--Psalms 15:1-3.
"LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly. And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend."
Don't YOU want to abide in God's tabernacle? I know "I" certainly do! So I read with eagerness the "answer" that was given in verses 2 and 3. And my heart knows that it is sometimes guilty of these very things. Sigh. When will I ever learn? I need God to be a guard over my mouth--fortunately He has agreed to do so!
My Bible had a study note on these verses which I thought was really good so wanted to share it with you. It is taken from the book "Education," by E. G. White and is from pages 235 and 236:
"We think with horror of the cannibal who feasts on the still warm and trembling flesh of his victim; but are the results of even this practice more terrible than are the agony and ruin caused by misrepresenting motive, blackening reputation, dissecting character? Let children, and the youth as well, learn what God says about these things. 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue' Proverbs 18:21. In Scripture, backbiters are classed with 'haters of God,' with 'inventors of evil things,' with those who are 'without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful,' 'full of envy, murder, debane, deceit, malignity.' It is 'the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death' (Romans 1:30, 31, 29, 32). He whom God accounts a citizen of Zion is he that 'speaketh the truth in his heart,' 'that backbiteth not with his tongue,' 'nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor' (Psalm 15:2,3)."
That study note is pretty convicting, isn't it? If we are talking behind someone's back, we are no better than the cannibal who is feasting on the flesh. Yuck! Which, when I think about it, is probably just about how God views sin. Yucky--like a cancer that decays our hearts.
But we have a surgeon who never fails. We only have to ask Him.
Have a beautiful day with your Savior--and watch your tongue!
~Susan
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