Settled in Heaven
In the world, you have uncertainty, instability, and it is all temporary. Contrast heaven with the ever-changing everything in the world, “Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven (Ps 119:89).” God, like His Word, is eternal. Sinful man succors change, as the answer to his intermittent problems. He is unfamiliar with the unchangeable heaven and the immutable God.
God is faithful to His people in all generations (Ps 119:90a). He is faithful, and He does not change. What was decreed, in eternity, will come to pass, and His salvation is sure, for the elect, redeemed in His covenant family.
The psalmist desires for us to consider God establishing the earth, and the observable fact it stands (119:90b). Here is his illustration to support his claim. What God has planned, will be true to its design, its course, to the end.
God is the architect and builder of everything (Heb 11:10), and “They stand this day according to Thine ordinances (119:91a).” God makes absolutely everything to serve Him (119:91b). Even sin, death, the devil, demons and destruction find their purpose in the Creator. All things are made to bring glory to God. Evil’s endeavor to strip glory from God, actually brings God glory, when He judges evil deeds, justly.
David turns from the glorious generalities and finds application to His own life and troubled circumstances, “If Thy Law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my afflictions (119:92).” In this world of trouble, the world can do nothing to deliver us. Even friends, who mean to do us well, can do nothing to deliver us.
It is God’s Word that is the catalyst. God’s Word delights His people because they know it is true. Faith apprehends truth, and joy strengthens the believer, in her perseverance. Without God’s Word, we perish. Jonah did his best theology in the belly of the big fish. Paul wrote his prison epistles, and with much insight to the ways of the world, he contrasted them with the way of God.
Incarceration, as an affliction, proves the mettle of many in the biblical account. This, of course, is true today, in one’s dead-end job, stale relationships, or side-lined ministry. God meets us where He has placed us, for His purpose. It may be in Egypt, the wilderness, the lion’s den, the furnace of fire, or at home with a quiver full of children, or no children at all. There, in the inescapable place, He gives us hope, by His Word of promise.
The temptation is to rely on the world’s version of stimulants to revive us. These prove temporary and often cause addiction. David’s analeptic cure was God’s Word, remembered, “I will never forget Thy precepts, for by them Thou hast revived me (119:93).”
Jesus’ words were spirit and life to those who listened and believed (Jn 6:63). The sin-saturated world has one end…death. Death of the soul is from conception. Death of the body soon follows. The world itself is scheduled for death on the Day of Judgment (2 Pet 3:10–12).
The Spirit of Christ is the life-giving Spirit, who speaks life into the souls of God’s chosen people. The life of God, imparted to the regenerate, is new life, spiritual life, abundant life, and life eternal. Because He lives, we live, and He lives in us, which is why we believe God’s Word. God’s Word cannot fail (Jos 23:14; Rom 9:6), and never returns void of effect (Is 55:11).
The evidence of the changed life, from futility to service, is manifested in one’s interest in the things of the Spirit, especially salvation, “I am Thine, save me, for I have sought Thy precepts (119:94).” The unregenerate unbeliever has no interest in God’s Word, except to discredit it, in disdain for God and His Christ. Christians search the Scripture because in them is the knowledge of their salvation (Ps 119:81; Acts 13:26).
Talk of salvation is an irritant to the unbeliever, who does not have Christ, the Son (1 Jn 5:12), “The wicked wait for me, to destroy me (119:95a).” The object of derision, for the unrighteous, is the church, especially those who love the Bible (Ps 119:140). These lovers of God’s Word cannot contain themselves, “I shall diligently consider Thy testimonies (119:95b).” They meditate on Scripture day and night (Ps 1:2), as their defense against disparagement.
The perfections of God are seen by His saints (119:96a), while those focused on the world are blind to the spiritual realities of God’s Word (1 Cor 2:14), powerfully working sanctification, in His chosen ones. God’s Word has broad application, in fact, exceedingly broad (119:96b). Microscopes and telescopes have yet failed to survey the end. There is more to see of God’s creation, and this is true for His Word, too.
Christian, behold, your life is in the Bible. You are protected by its precepts. You are vivified by its verses. You are saved by its revelation of your Savior. It is God’s perfect Word, with wisdom for every decision of your will. Therefore, meditate on the Word, for the sake of your mind. Help your heart condition, by a steady diet of God’s goodness, the bread of life. Satisfy your soul, today, tomorrow, and forever, as you settle in heaven, a neighbor and friend to His already settled Word.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
July 21, 2022
