Untie the Knots in Your Stomach

Anyone with a stomach tied up in knots over anything going on right now will enjoy the four verses from Ps. 119 today.  They address focus, which is what we need to work on in order to untie the knots.

Understand that there is nothing going on in your life that God doesn’t address in some way, as long as you have an open heart and a willingness to follow where God directs in his word. Before you read the verses below, pray this prayer from your heart: Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (Ps. 119:18)

Ps. 119: 101  I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.	This verse is an example of surrendering self-will for the sake of obeying God’s word. Is there anything in my life God could point a finger at as disappointing to him? If so, will I eagerly give it up in order to obey him? Any habits, pleasures, thoughts, attitudes?  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Ps. 139:23-24
(102)  I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.	We learn God’s judgments (his acts of dealing with a case) the same way we learn about his testimonies (stories of how he works in people’s lives)—from reading examples in the Bible and learning from them. One example of his judgments is Psa 66:18  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: There are consequences to sin; one is unanswered prayer. The point of Ps. 119:102 is to notice God’s judgments as we read them, and meditate on them and learn them, so we can avoid sin and thus its consequences as much as possible.
(103)  How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!	The Bible is compared to honey in a few places. (See Ps. 19:9-10 and Prov 24:13-14.) It would be an interesting study to examine the characteristics of honey and how it compares to God’s word. For one, it is 100% natural with no additives. It stands sweet by itself apart from anything man can do to it. God’s word is like that. It is pure by itself. Its sweetness is a pleasant characteristic, universally appealing. But to enjoy it, you have to eat it. It can turn a bitter soul sweet. Take a few bites and see.
(104)  Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.	Precepts are codes of wisdom or principles to guide our lives. When we see them in God’s word, we should notice and get understanding for how to handle our situations.  God’s precepts are separate from man’s ways, so when we see God’s codes of wisdom or principles, they are likely to be in stark contrast to what we naturally know, and we will learn to recognize and despise the world’s ways. For one, God sells nothing with sex appeal. The world hardly sells anything without it. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1 John 2:15-16)