When I learn your righteous judgments

Psalm 119:7 (NKJV)
7 I will praise You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments.

Psalm 119 is longer than most other Psalms and is a collection of David’s thoughts towards God. Here we find that David’s desire is to know God’s righteous judgments by having a close fellowship with God. As he press forward to learn, David said he would praise God for the righteous brought into his own life by what God has taught him.

 

 

In late 2012 seventy-five year old Marion Shurtleff purchased a Bible in a used book store near her home in San Clemente, California. After making her purchase and returning home, she discovered a couple of folded pages tucked in the middle of the Bible.

The contents of the yellowed notebook sheets contained a child's handwriting that looked familiar. To her amazement, Shurtleff discovered her name at the top of the first page. When she looked closer she realized that she was actually reading a four-page essay she had written as a ten-year-old to earn a merit badge for the Girls Scouts in Covington, Kentucky—more than 2,000 miles from where she had just purchased the Bible.

By her own account, Shurtleff was deeply moved. "I opened the Bible and there was my name," Shurtleff said in a phone interview from her home. "I recognized my handwriting. I was shaking, literally. I was crying."

Although it remains a mystery how the essay ended up in a Bible in a used bookstore half way across the country, one thing is certain. When we look deeply into God's Word we see evidences of our lives, too. In the pages of Scripture we see individuals just like us—people who pursue faith and hope in God, people who also battle depression, doubt, lust, and pride. As we read the biblical stories about Abraham, Ruth, David, Mary, and Peter we also recognize our own life story.

[Greg Asimakoupoulos, Mercer Island, Washington; source: Brian Mains, "Marion Shurtleff makes amazing discovery in used Bible, finds childhood essay she wrote 65 years ago," WCPO Digital (5-28-13)]

 

 

Often as I am reading The Bible I will find myself relating to the person I am reading about. There were so many people in The Bible that went through so many difficult situations, heartache, joy, excitement and many other emotions. As you read you can feel yourself drawn towards God to learn what He desires for your life.

Hopefully you are taking time to learn about God’s desires for your life. One desire is that you know His Son Jesus Christ in a close and intimate way. Because Christ was both God and Man; Christ knows our struggles and desires to help up through each one of them. Do you know Christ? If so you know how to live a righteous life for Christ is leading you to that life.