Why Did the Psalmist Delight in God's Law in Psalm 119?

    The poetry in the Psalms is beautiful.  I've always liked reading them, and Psalm 119 has always been a favorite because it always seems to make me love the Bible more.

   Not until I read chapter 40 in the Life-Study of Psalms  did I learn that Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem. Each of the 22 sections corresponds with each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section also begins with that Hebrew letter!  That can be pretty tricky. I took a poetry class to get my language arts teaching endorsement, and I know that's not as easy as it sounds. 

     In Psalm 119 the psalmist talks about how much he loves God's law.   As you read through this psalm, it's easy to see that this psalmist saw the law as a portrait of God not as a bunch of dos and don'ts.  In this chapter Witness Lee says you can come to the law in two ways--as a law keeper or a God seeker.  And what spoke to me was how you come will determine what the Bible is to you.  He explains that on pages 454-456:

"Whether you have a killing law or a life-giving law depends on your attitude. If your attitude in coming to the law is to care only for the commandments in letters and to realize that you cannot fulfill these commandments, then you have the law in the aspect of the letter. However, if you take every part of the law--all the commandments, ordinances, statutes, precepts, and judgments--as the word breathed out by the God whom you love, then you will have the law in the aspect of the Spirit .... If this is our attitude toward the Bible today, then whenever we come to the Bible we will have the sense deep within that we are with God." (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Psalms. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, Print 1993).

     I learned when I read the Life-Studies of Exodus that we needed the law to expose the fact that we CANNOT keep it.  Have you ever heard that before?  And because of that we have to seek God because we cannot do it!  

    Thinking about this psalm and writing this post at the end of 2018 touches me a lot. No matter how muchI we read the Bible, it always fills me with a hunger for more.  So my prayer for myself and all my fellow believers is that we would come to the Bible as God's seekers and touch God every time we read His word!!

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,/

Who seek Him with all their heart.

Psalm 119:2

 You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Studies of Psalms on Life Study of the Bible  with Witness Lee.   You can also read the online Life-Study of Psalms and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

Others Posts on the Life-Study of Psalms:

What is the Focus of the Psalms?
How Does Psalm 8 Show Us God's Purpose in Creating Man?
Taking a Closer Look at Psalm 23 - Part 1 of 2
Taking a Closer Look at Psalm 23 - Part 2 of 2
Why is God's House Important in Psalms 25 -41?
Seeing the Divine Romance in Psalm 45
What Did the Psalmist Perceive in Psalm 73?
What are the Highways to Zion in Psalm 84?





Lesley's Foolproof Fudge

  Last week I made fudge with one of my granddaughters.  I wanted to use my sister-in-law's recipe.  She calls it foolproof fudge, and it's definitely that.   It's so easy to make even  a 4th grader can do it!!  I like recipes I can easily make with my grandchildren.

And it's totally yummy, too.

Lesley's Foolproof Fudge
 



1.  Over low heat warm up one 14 oz. can of organic condensed sweetened milk in a saucepan.

2.  Add 3 cups of chocolate chips and stir until melted.

3.  Remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1 cup of chopped walnuts.

4.  Spread evenly into a parchment lined 8 x 8 pan.  I added some walnut pieces on the top.   Chill for 2 hours. Cut into squares and put into a container. 

 Holiday Cookies & Baking:

Old Fashioned Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies  (Modified from back of the Libby's pumpkin can)
My Family's Favorite Gingerbread Cookies (Now Made Gluten Free!)  (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
My Grandkids Favorite Gluten Free Peppermint Sugar Cookies  (From Syre School Cookbook)
Our Favorite Pumpkin Pie   (With extra spice--Modified from  Libby's)
Perfect Gluten Free Pumpkin Cheesecake   (Modified from back of cream cheese box)
Gluten Free Polish Fruitcake  ( Modified from Internet search)
Old Fashioned Gluten Free Gingerbread Cake   (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
Gluten Free Nordy Bars  ( From my Syre School Cookbook)
Grandma Pitcher's Old Fashioned Sandies (Made Gluten Free)  (My husband's grandma)
Make a Family Tradition & Make Your Own Fruitcake    (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
Homemade Gluten Free Butter Cookies  (From my Heritage School Cookbook)

 

What are the Highways to Zion in Psalm 84?

Psalm 84 is one of my favorites.  The poetic imagery touches me deeply.  In this psalm  the psalmist likens himself to a sparrow and a swallow seeking a home in the two altars. The two altars mentioned are the burnt offering altar in the outer court and the golden incense altar in the holy place.

 Of all the furniture in both the outer court and tabernacle, why these altars?  Like always Witness Lee brings the reader to the Bible to see how in Exodus 40:5-6 these two altars are mentioned together.  Here's what it says on page 370-371 and 373 of chapter 32 of the Life-Study of Psalms: 

"The brass altar typifies the cross of Christ. At this altar all the negative things have been dealt with by the offerings which typify Christ....At the cross we confessed our sins, and at the cross we were forgiven. This qualifies us to enter into the Holy Place and to come to the showbread table to receive food, to the lampstand to receive light, and to the golden altar to experience Christ as our incense acceptable to God....Day by day we come to these two altars. Day by day we are hiding and resting" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Psalms. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1993, Print).

My granddaughter checking out a huge puddle!

Following this David talks about having highways to Zion in our hearts which has a lot of poetic meaning. All the males were required to travel to Jerusalem in order to attend the annual feasts. In this Life-Study I was touched to see that this is also a spiritual picture of our experience. 

 Every day we are on this highway as we  begin our day by spending time with God confessing our sins which is typified by the burnt offering altar, and this in turn brings us into God's presence  where we pray and have fellowship which is signified by the golden altar of incense.  It always awes me when I get to see clearly the connections in the Bible. .

 Others Posts on the Life-Study of Psalms:

What is the Focus of the Psalms?
How Does Psalm 8 Show Us God's Purpose in Creating Man?
Taking a Closer Look at Psalm 23 - Part 1 of 2
Taking a Closer Look at Psalm 23 - Part 2 of 2
Why is God's House Important in Psalms 25 -41?
Seeing the Divine Romance in Psalm 45
What Did the Psalmist Perceive in Psalm 73?
 

A Potluck Favorite - Old Fashioned GF Apple Crumble

    I like making apple crisps more than an apple pie.  Probably because I don't have to fuss with a crust, and I can make it without peeling the apple!  That's a big time saver.  In the past month I've been trying to make a dent in the piles of apples I have everywhere. from the neighbors  I've been even giving apples to friends, and this recipe comes from one that a friend used to make for a church potluck. I couldn't eat it because she used regular flour. I never made a crisp that with flour in the topping.  Her dessert got so many rave reviews, I asked her for the recipe because I wanted to make it with gf flour and see how it came out! I've made it twice so far.  
 I learned from a website that the difference between a crisp and a crumble is the use of flour so it becomes more like a streusel topping.  You can opt to use a bit of oatmeal if you like. The pan below is half of the recipe.

       Gluten Free Apple Crumble

1.  Prepare apples:
(1)  Cut up enough sliced apples to fill a 9 x 13 pan a little over 3/4ths  full--about 8-10 cups.
(2)  Add 1/3 cup of brown sugar,  a few tablespoons tapioca starch, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg and stir to coat all the apples.

2.  Prepare topping - In a medium-sized bowl put:
(1)  1/4 cup each sorghum flour, rice flour, fava, and tapioca flour,  1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg.
(2)  Melt 1/3 cup of butter and stir into the flour/oat mixture. (My apple crisp calls for 1/2 cup of butter, so you can always add some more. (3)  Optional: Chop 1/2 cup of walnuts.
(4)  Stir until combined.  Put topping evenly over the top of the apples.

3.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.


More Desserts with Fruit from this website:

Sensational Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake   (From the back of Costco's organic sugar)

Terrific Gluten Free Strawberry & Peach Trifle  (Modified from an Internet search)
My Favorite Gluten Free Strawberry Cheesecake (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
Just Like Grandma's (But Only Gluten Free) Berry Cobbler (My husband's grandma's recipe)
Gluten Free Lemony Rhubarb Bars (From my Syre School Cookbook)
Old Fashioned Strawberry Buckle (Made Gluten Free)   (A recipe I picked up from a berry farm)
From New Zealand - Triple Berry Pavlova  (A friend's recipe - Heritage School Cookbook)
A Northeast Classic - Blueberry Grunt  (From a student)