"Give me an eagerness for your decrees; do not inflict me with love for money! Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word."
Psalm 119:36 & 37

The cry of the psalmist reads oddly today. Does God give people a love for money? But stand back and read the words again. Here is something written by somebody who knows that he is totally dependent upon God's mercy and grace. We know that the love of money is dangerous because it's the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). We also know that if we pursue an ungodly habit or desire there will come a point when it will control us and that we will be powerless to escape it clutches - just read Romans chapter 1. If we turn our faces away from God and concentrate upon something else that becomes the idol in our life the eternal consequences are dark indeed. But hey! Who wants to turn away from the source of abundant life, the One who says He will withhold no good thing from us?

"Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found."
Psalm 119:35

Demos Shakarian founded the "The Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International"; an organisation through which business men witness about Jesus to colleagues and others. Demos wrote a book describing how he came to be a Christian, established and developed the Fellowship. The book is entitled "The Happiest People on Earth". Who are they? Demos explains that fully in his book but, briefly, they are people who discover what God wants them to do and do it! A major consequence of our covenant with God is that we can find a fulfilment and joy to life we've never experienced before, or dreamt was possible. The most unexpected, exciting things can happen, e.g., at the start of this week I began daily radio broadcasts on Eternal Radio - in essence a quarter of an hour daily devotional. All that came about in just six weeks! Am I Happy? What do you think?

"Teach me, O Lord, to follow every one of your principles. Give me understanding and I will obey your law; I will put it into practice with all my heart."
Psalm 119:33 & 34

The essence of any covenant is that in response to the actions of one party the other party promises to do something. The covenant has benefits to both parties. In our case the benefits to God in our covenant are seeing the satanic plot to separate you and I from God destroyed. The benefits to us are incalculable - eternal life, wisdom, health, protection, provision, etc., etc. It doesn't take much understanding to realise that God set up an entirely selfless covenant from which we are privileged to benefit! In fact our covenant shows us the true character of God, one who desires justice tempered with mercy and overcomes hatred with love. The consequence of this is that as we put God's law into practice we too will desire to see justice tempered with mercy and learn how love overcomes hatred. In other words God's principles change life for the better.

"I cling to your decrees. Lord, don't let me be put to shame! If you will help me, I will run to follow your commands."
Psalm 119:31 & 32

It was so exciting when I was first taught the significance of my blood covenant with Jesus. As soon as I believed that Jesus shed His blood for me, His blood activated a solemn covenant between us in which all the promises of God became mine (2 Corinthians 1:20). Seen in this context what the psalmist says today makes sense. If I stick fast to God's Word the Lord will vindicate me and as He helps me on a daily basis I choose to be obedient to His Word. However, my obedience is not legalistic but relational - I'm playing my part in the covenant we now have together. Having a covenant with God works through changes in our lives daily; our choices and actions are no longer motivated by fear but love. The love that comes from having been given a Spirit of power, love and a sound mind!

"I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your laws."
Psalm 119:30

There are scores of self-improvement programmes available through publications and evening classes to the latest TV guru. The best programmes will contain advice that will already be in your Bible. Many years ago I ran training days for branch secretaries of a trades union for which I worked. A big issue was how some branch secretaries were over-stretched trying to accommodate a full time job combined with their voluntary union duties. I used to take a seminar on delegation to help them understand how they could share out the union work they had to do in a way which made it easier for them to perform their duties and involve other members. The source of my information was Jethro's advice to Moses, which you can discover in Exodus 18. Practical advice inspired by God is the best - just one more reason to choose to be faithful in following God's Word.

"Keep me from lying to myself; give me the privilege of knowing your law."
Psalm 119:29

Self-deception is very dangerous for everybody. However, paradoxically, given the danger of pride, for the Christian self-deception can be at its most harmful when we don't realise just how great we are! We know we should be humble so overlook or suppress knowledge of what we're made off! For example we have "…the mind of Christ…" (1Corinthians 2:16); "…greater is the One who is in us than he who is in the world…" (1 John 4:4) and we are joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). We're not as rubbish as we thought we were! The point of the privilege of knowing God's law is that through it we are able to understand who we have become once we received Jesus as our Saviour. 2 Corinthians 5:17 teaches us "…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (NKJV)

"I weep with grief; encourage me by your word."
Psalm 119:28

There can be very few of us who have not experienced the loss of a loved one as the result of some tragedy or other. A song was written that included the words: "Life is hard but God is good." That sums up many people's experience. I've heard it said that, "It's not what you go through but how you go through it that counts." Whatever life brings us one thing is never changing - the power of God's word to lift our spirits. Today we see the psalmist experiencing a low point in life but he has enough sense left to call out to God, "Encourage me by your word." So often our grief includes a dose of worry - "What will become of me now?" As it says in Proverbs 12:25: "Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up."