When you picture God, what is it that comes to mind? What’s He like? If you had to rattle off three adjectives to describe God, what would those three adjectives be? The reason I ask, is that our impression of God, your impression of God, has a lot to do with how you live your life.

So life is going along ok I guess, with its ups and downs, but something doesn’t quite feel right. You’re not completely happy with the way things are going, and that has a way of grinding away at you. The burdens become heavier, the longer you carry them. The spark you once had deep inside seems to have disappeared, and when you’re in the middle of all that, your perception of who God is, how He acts, is incredibly important because it’ll shape your expectation of His involvement in your life at that moment. Is God someone who’s going to graciously step in to comfort you or is He distant, uninvolved? What are you expecting of God?

Sadly too many people don’t have a right expectation, a good expectation, because instead of spending some precious time in God’s Word every day, they’re too busy, it would seem. What we need in those difficult times is a way back into the comforting arms of God. Would you agree? So, what is that way back? How do we experience the comfort of God?

I don’t know quite where you’re at in life at the moment, but we all need God’s comfort (God’s presence) from time to time, so let’s take a look at what God has to say about the way back. Psalm 119:49-52:

Remember Your Word to Your servant, in which You have made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life. The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from Your Law. When I think of Your rules from old, I take comfort, o LORD.

Now all that seems a bit strange. I take comfort when I think of Your rules from old. Really? Do you? Rules. What’s the Psalmist actually saying to God, and more importantly, what’s God saying to you and me here today?

Well, back then, they didn’t have the whole Bible. They only had the first five books – the books of the Law, as they were known; the rules, if you will: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, although they’re much more than just rules. They’re the story of what God’s done in creation, in leading His people out of slavery, and taking them to the promised land. They’re the story of God’s love, and His faithfulness to those whom He loves.

This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life, writes the Psalmist. Where does he get his comfort from? From meditating on God’s Word; from reading God’s promises; from remembering the mighty things that God’s already done; from seeing who God is through what He says and more importantly, what He does for His people when they’re afflicted. You see, that’s the way back to God’s comfort.

When we’re caught up in the doom and gloom that sometimes envelops our lives, the last thing we expect of God is that He’d be gracious, full of grace that He is ready to pour out onto us. Oh, maybe you know the theory, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Right? but knowing that in your heart, expecting that of God, experiencing that, that’s a whole another thing.

But today I believe with all my heart (in fact, I know with all my heart) that God wants you to become someone who experiences His grace every moment of every day, for the rest of your life. Is that something that you’d like to receive? Well, I can’t give it to you, but God can, through His Spirit and His Word. Psalm 119:55-58:

I remember Your name in the night, o LORD, and keep Your Law. This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept Your precepts. The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep Your Word. I entreat Your favour with all my heart; be gracious to me, according to Your promise.

You see, the question is, what is it that would give you confidence (the complete and absolute confidence) in the graciousness of God towards you? How can the light of His grace shine in your heart when there’s darkness all around? And make no mistake about it; the Psalmist is writing those words there, going through some terribly dark times:

I remember Your name in the night, o LORD.

Isn’t night-time always the worst time? Things churn around in your mind, and the fear sets in; the cold sweats … I’ve been there and I’m sure you have too. It’s in those dark hours that we need to remember the name of the LORD; to experience His blessings falling on us; to know that no matter what we may lose in this world, the LORD is our portion.

From where does the Psalmist draw his confidence? From knowing God’s precepts and keeping them. You have to know God’s Word to live God’s Word, and you know what it’s like. When you’ve been through a difficult situation but you’ve handled it in a Godly way – a loving way, a humble way, a way that honours God, it may have been hard. It may have hurt a lot, but doing good in the midst of bad puts a quiet confidence in your heart. Not an arrogant self-righteousness; that’s not what the Psalmist is talking about:

This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept Your precepts.

In the darkest of a night, knowing that you’ve lived through those difficulties and challenges in a way that honours God is a huge blessing, and that gives you the confidence to entreat God in those dark hours that He would be gracious to you, according to His promises. It’s an incredibly powerful truth that our behaviour affects our thinking, and our thinking affects our behaviour. The two are inexorably linked. Without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest (I mean the single-biggest) change-agent for good in my life over the last twenty-one-and-a-half years, since I gave my life to Jesus, has been reading God’s Word almost every day of my life: Not every day, but most days, and not just reading His Word, but reflecting on it; receiving it, and then responding to it.

Think about it. We all want a better life. Right? Self-improvement is a multi-billion-dollar industry worldwide. There are business gurus; success gurus; life gurus; health gurus, all sprouting their stuff, all claiming to have the answers. If only we’ll buy their book; attend their conference; sign up for their programme online. People are lapping this stuff up, and paying through the nose for it.

Peter Drucker, the man who years ago invented the term the knowledge worker … He once said the reason people use the word guru is that charlatan is often too long for the headlines. See, these are false prophets. It’s not that some of them don’t have some clever things to say, but they don’t have the answers for life. They don’t have the truth. They don’t have the wisdom of God. God on the other hand is ready, willing and able to speak His truth and His wisdom in abundance into your life, but are we listening? Psalm 119:59-60:

When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to Your testimonies; I hasten and I do not delay to keep Your commandments.

The man writing this Psalm is praying to God, and what he’s saying is, “You know, LORD, I’ve been thinking about this. I spend a lot of time in Your Word. I think about my ways: How I think; how I speak; how I behave, and when I bring those two things together, Your Word and my ways, I can’t help it. I turn my feet to walk in Your testimonies; in Your Word; in Your ways. I hasten; I don’t delay. As surely as night follows day, I end up keeping Your commandments.”

What’s happening there is that this man is reading God’s Word; reflecting on it; thinking about it; receiving it, and then responding to it with his life. That is how powerful Godly change happens in our lives: Read, reflect, receive, respond. Let me say that again. Read God’s Word, reflect on it; think about what God’s saying to you and compare it to how you’re living life at the moment, receive that Spirit-breathed Word into your heart, and respond to it with your life. No one else can do that for you. No one else can bring that sort of powerful change to your life.

Whenever you or I feel pain, our immediate response is to do whatever we can to stop the pain. It’s natural response. It’s the way we’re programmed. But just as an athlete improves stamina and performance by pushing their bodies beyond the limit, so God sometimes does that with us.

Let me be perfectly honest with you. I hate pain: Physical pain, emotional pain … I mean, I just hate it. I’m sure you do too. It’s simply our natural response to pain, because pain is an indication that something’s wrong. If you start getting chest pains, you’d better call an ambulance quick. If you’re out running and all of a sudden, a sharp pain shoots through your hamstring, you’d better stop, quick. We’re programmed to avoid pain because pain says there’s something wrong. Right? But sometimes, pain happens. Hey, there’s a great bumper sticker for your car. Pain happens and sometimes that pain, that trial, that difficult relationship, that knife in your back, that rejection, is part of God’s plan to bless you. “What? Are you crazy?” No, that’s just what my Bible tells me. Have a listen. Psalm 119:69-71:

The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart, I keep Your precepts. Their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in Your Law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

What’s the matter with this guy? It is good for me that I was afflicted? Really? But how many times have you heard people say, “I only really grow as a person when I go through difficult times?” It’s one of those truisms that gets tossed around by people who aren’t at the moment travelling through difficult times, but what about when you’re in the middle of something? Like, as in this case, the insolent smearing you with lies. It’s not funny; it’s so unfair, and what we want to do is whatever we can to stop the pain now! “I’ll smear them with lies; that’ll do it. I’ll show him. I’ll sort him out. I’ll fix him.” You know the sort of thing. Don’t get angry; get even. Right? But that’s not God’s way. Jesus said crazy things like turn the other cheek; go the extra mile, and when it came to people trumping up charges against Him, He stood there quietly (not defending Himself) and ended up being crucified as a result.

Sometimes God uses those terrible things to change our hearts; to teach us in the difficult times, so that we might learn His ways in our experience. Think of it as on-the-job training. It’s the best sort. It’s not a theory lesson that happens in a classroom, but a practical that happens out in the real world. Hebrews 5:8:

Although he was a son, Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered.

Hebrews 12:6, 11:

God disciplines those whom He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

None of us like being told what to do. We all have that, ‘I did it my way’ streak in us. I think the second word that most children learn after mum, mum, mum is no, no, no. Anyone who’s had kids will remember the terrible twos, not to mention those challenging teenage years; that streak of rebellion; that desire to do it my way starts early-on. It’s almost as though we’re programmed that way. King David said it like this, when he was talking to God in repentance for having committed adultery and murder. Psalm 51:5:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Theologians call it the doctrine of original sin, this idea that we’re born with a stain of sin on our very DNA. And so, no matter what stage we’re at in life, there’s this rebellious streak that raises its ugly head from time to time, in all of us. How many times have you looked back on something that you did your way, only to realise the world of pain that it ended up dumping on your head?

So often we do things out of a wrong heart; for the wrong reasons; with the wrong motivations, and there are always, always consequences to that. When we were teenagers, we used to do stupid things because we were teenagers, and we acted out of our immaturity. Well, fair enough, but at some point, we’re meant to grow up. At some point, we’re meant to enter that journey of maturity. That’s the place the Psalmist was at when he wrote these words. Psalm 119:72, 127:

The Law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Therefore, I love Your commandments above gold, above fine gold.

So let me ask you: Are God’s ways the right ways? Is God’s wisdom the right wisdom? Well, obviously, so what do you desire more; God’s way, or your way? The good fruit that God’s ways bring, or the painful consequences that your own ways bring crashing down on your life? That’s why God disciplines us when we go wandering off on our own way. That’s why He lets us suffer the consequences of our sin when we turn our backs on Him; because He loves us.

As a father, when my children were young, one of the things that I was always keen to do was to let them suffer the consequences of their own mistake. “Oh, Dad, I’m running late for school. Can you drive me?” “No.” “But I’ll get in trouble!” “Good.” They’ve learnt responsibility pretty quickly that way.

The point that the Psalmist is making here is that God’s ways are so good because when we live them, they yield blessing rather than pain. His commandments are so much better than silver or gold; so much better.

As you look back on your life, no doubt, you can see a string of missed opportunities. I certainly can. Times when we have the opportunity to do right; to honour God; to bless other people, and we just fail to grab those opportunities with both hands. Instead, sadly all too often, we’re prone to insolence. That’s a strong word, but when you realise who God is, when you have a right fear of God in your heart, you realise that it’s the right word. Insolence. A flagrant disregard for God’s will and God’s ways; a disrespect so deep of a God who loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us.

I shake my head at some of the bad decisions that I’ve made in the past, and you know something? With all my heart, I don’t want to go there again. That insolence brings shame to our hearts. It brings regret to our hearts. It robs us of joy and peace, of the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. With all my heart, I want to make good decisions – the best decisions; decisions today, the next day, the day after that, that honour God and bring glory to Him. But I know (and I suspect you know this about yourself too) that left to my own devices, I’m more likely than not to botch it up again. Psalm 119:78-80:

Let the insolent be put to shame, because they have wronged me with falsehood; as for me, I will meditate on Your precepts. Let those who fear You turn to me, that they may know Your testimonies. May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, that I may not be put to shame.

I’ve watched my behaviour carefully over the years. On the days when I’ve spent unhurried, precious time with God in the morning, with the door closed and the book open, it’s been so much easier to honour Him. Whilst on those days when I didn’t make that time, I was far more prone to making bad decisions. How about you? Have you noticed that about yourself too?

We have a choice, you and I: A choice between living a blameless life honouring God, or a life of shame as we live out the consequences of our sin. It’s a simple, clear choice, but to choose the right way, we need wisdom and we need power. Am I right? And that wisdom, that power, come over and over again in bucket-loads, in abundance, from God’s Word.

God doesn’t want you to be insolent and filled with shame. He wants you to know the joy and the peace that come from living the blameless life that He has planned for you.

Sometimes other people seem to want to do things in their own good time, a time that doesn’t fit with our timetable. It’s incredibly frustrating isn’t it? And sometimes, sometimes God wants to do His things in His good time too. Then what?

Waiting for something that you really want, waiting and waiting and waiting, is incredibly hard. Particularly if, during that waiting, you’re enduring some kind of hardship. Some sort of suffering. Something that you’ve been asking God for, again and again, for Him to deal with. To bring a resolution to the problem, and end your suffering.

You’ve no doubt been in places where sometimes, it doesn’t seem as though a resolution, an end, is even possible. How long do I have to wait?

Some people find it surprising that the Bible actually deals with that very question. It contains the heart cries of people who are exactly in that position. Like this particular guy, Psalm 119, verses 84 to 88:

How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me? The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law. All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me! They have almost made an end of me on the earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts. In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.

Hmm, it seems like this man is in fear of life itself. We never find out who “they” are, but they are certainly his enemies and they are certainly after his life. It doesn’t get any worse than that. And in that place, it’s easy to shake your fist at God, to be bitter and resentful of God, because he’s not showing up.

Yet notice how this man asks the question: How long must your servant endure? The psalmist remains God’s servant, even when his life is being threatened. This isn’t some fairy-tale. It’s a real man, praying to a real God about the injustice and the danger that he’s facing. And despite those things, he remains faithful to God. He continues to trust God – all your commandments are sure – and he’s not swayed or drawn down to the level of the evil that’s pursuing him.

Even though ‘they’ have almost made an end of him on this earth, he has not forsaken God’s precepts. And he pleads his life into God’s hands, so that when this stuff ends, when his suffering ends, he can continue to do good on this earth. That’s powerful stuff!

If you’re suffering right now, I don’t know when or how your suffering will end. I don’t know how long you still have to endure.

But I know this: In the middle of your suffering, in the middle of even the most dangerous and life-threatening of circumstances, you can choose to remain God’s servant, to do good, to stay in God’s Word and to plead your case, even your life, into God’s hands. In fact that’s the very thing that He wants you to do. Because His love for you reaches to the heavens. His faithfulness to the skies.

When a storm blows in on your life, you need to know the truth about God. You need to know, not just in your head, but in your heart and in your experience. As you look back on your life, what are some of the amazing things that God has already done for you.

I remember, even before I knew God, when I was a three packet a day smoker, He took me to a place, where I watched someone die of lung cancer. I haven’t smoked a single cigarette since and that was over thirty-four years ago. I was set free from a serious addiction in that instant.

God’s hand is on our lives even when we have absolutely no idea. And when we know His love and His faithfulness like that, in our hearts and in our experience, we can, like the psalmist, proclaim:

Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. (Psalm 119 verses 89 to 92)

When the whole earth shakes and trembles the Word of God is still firmly fixed in the heavens. God’s Word is unshakeable and immovable. When generations pass, as they do, His faithfulness endures. That’s what I call a rock-solid foundation. And it’s that sort of foundation that you and I need in our lives to withstand all the challenges and the storms and the wilderness experiences.

The reason I open my Bible most mornings is because that’s where I choose for my foundations to be. I, like you, have things that come along to rock me and to shake me. Things that could easily blow me over.

I so get it when the psalmist says there, if God’s law, God’s Word, hadn’t been his delight, he would have perished in his affliction.

Let me make it plain and clear. Unmistakable. In God’s Word is your refuge, in God’s Word is your strength. When you sit and listen to Him speaking into your heart, something happens to change you in the most incredible way. I know … I know that many people struggle hugely to get into God’s Word, either because they think that they don’t have time, or they imagine that it’s too difficult.

But take just that one Scripture, Psalm 119, verses 89 to 92, just spend some time in those three verses in the middle of your affliction and I guarantee you that the Holy Spirit will show up. I guarantee you that God will take that Word of His and breathe courage into your heart and life into your weary bones. Because that’s what He does and that’s what He wants to do.

When God speaks, He speaks courage, He speaks power, He speaks life, He speaks comfort, He speaks wisdom into our lives. He just does.

So that when that storm blows in on your life, the single most important thing that you need to survive it, those strong foundations, will be there and ready for the storm. Foundations that go deep down into God’s Word to hold you up as the storms of life try to tear you down. We need a life that is solidly grounded in the truth of who God is, how much He loves us and how He responds to His people when they’re in need.

Without that sort of a foundation, into His solid truth, your house is going to blow over. That’s exactly what Jesus said:

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

So, what’s the heart of what I’m sharing with you today? Simply this. God is speaking. He hasn’t stopped speaking. He will never stop speaking. And whilst He speaks to us in many different ways, the main way, the most reliable way, the most powerful way, is through His Word the Bible.

And if you’re someone who struggles to get into the Bible yourself, then don’t listen to me today. Listen to Jesus. Listen to His call to you to hear His words and do them so that you will be like that man who built his house on solid rock.

Or, would you prefer to build your house on the sand, so that when the storm comes, it will come crashing down.

They’re the two choices available to each one of us. And for you, in your life, the decision to be a man or woman of God’s Word, or not, is entirely yours.

So, here’s a question? Would you like to be wiser than your enemies? Oh, you do have enemies. We all do. But do you want to have real wisdom in dealing with them; God’s wisdom; more wisdom than them? If so, you’re in the right place.

I remember back in the days when I worked as a consultant in the corporate world, the brutality of office politics would never cease to amaze me.

And even if you’re not travelling through a patch at the moment, where you don’t seem to have any human enemies, you can be absolutely certain that your enemy the devil is on your case. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12:

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.

And your enemy the devil is a pretty crafty individual. He’s seen it all before. He’s been around the block quite a few times more than you and me, and he knows how to strike you at your weakest point. He knows how to push your buttons. He knows how to lead you astray. 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8:

Be sober-minded and watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Sensational! Now, I’m not the sort of person that goes looking for a demon under every sofa and bed, but there is a spiritual dimension and there is a physical dimension. We live and exist in both places and we have enemies, seen and unseen, in both dimensions.

So, would you like to be wiser than your enemies? Here’s what God has to say – Psalm 119 verses 97 to 101 – have a listen:

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.

So there you have the psalmist praying, talking to God. And he’s saying how much he loves God’s Word, what today we call the Bible. Of course back then, he only had the first five books of the Bible, the law as it’s called, because the rest of it hadn’t been written yet.

But why does he love God’s Word? Because God’s commandments make him wiser than all his enemies. They give him more understanding and insight into complex and difficult issues, even more so than his teachers – because he thinks about what God has to say.

Hey, God wants that for you too. He wants to impart His wisdom to you too. He wants to make sure that you are smarter, that you have more insight than your enemies, by speaking His wisdom into your heart. And it’s all right there, in the Bible, ready and waiting!

And it’s never too late. You’re never too old to receive the wisdom of God into your heart.

I want to tell you about a friend of mine, Neil. He’s well into his eighties and he’s lived, shall we say, a pretty colourful life. After a recent operation his body is a bit frail now, but his mind and his wit are as sharp as ever.

Recently, he decided it was time he had a Bible. Here’s how it happened. He’s been coming along to church for years. You know how it is, his wife had been dragging him along. At first he kicked and screamed and he didn’t want to come. But after a few years, it became a bit of a habit.

So, he rushes up to me after a service a few months back and says, “Berni I need your help. I’ve decided you’re right. I need to start reading the Bible. Can you help me buy one?”

Wow, that got me a bit excited, so I did. I ordered a study Bible for him online a few months ago in a contemporary English translation. At which point I promptly forgot about it.

Just the other Sunday, before the service, Neil grabs my hand and says, “It’s changed me you know, that book I’ve been reading.”

Me, I’ve completely forgotten, so I stupidly asked him, “Which book?”

A little surprised he answers, “Well, the Bible of course.” Ding, I remembered.

But there was a light in his eyes. A spark in his voice. He was excited about it, because he realised that through the Bible, God had been speaking to him in a deep, personal, intimate way. God was digging around inside this old man’s heart and unearthing things that had been binding him up and holding him back for decades.

As I watched Neil and listened to the genuine enthusiasm in his voice, it brought such an incredible sense of joy to my heart. Here was a man who had discovered the power of God’s Word. And it reminded me of this beautiful Scripture – Psalm 119 verse 103:

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

We’re genetically programmed to like sugar, because it’s a ready source of energy. Of course these days sugar is in everything and it’s killing us. But back when that Psalm was written, sugar was a rarity. Either you had to be next to a fruit tree in season, or you had to fight the bees for their honey, which was always going to be mildly problematic.

So you can imagine the psalmist talking here about this rare, exquisite, sweet thing called honey. And he’s saying: “God your Word is like honey, only sweeter, only better. I love your Word more than honey.”

Could I ask you plainly: Is that a discovery that, like the psalmist, like Neil, you’ve made in your heart? Because it’s a discovery that’s ready and waiting for you right now. A discovery that’s going to light up your world in a way that’s difficult to imagine.

Darkness is a fact of life. Every night the sun goes down, every morning it comes up again. Light, darkness, light, darkness. It’s an inexorable cycle. And the whole point about darkness is that you can’t see.

I mean, sight is arguably one of the most important of our five senses. If you don’t believe me, blindfold yourself for 24 hours and just see how you get on. So when darkness creeps in on our lives, as it does from time to time, the problem we have is that we can’t see through it.

Think back to the last dark patch that you went through in your life. You were sad, you were broken, you were hurt, you were alone, whatever it was. I’m sure you remember it as though it was yesterday. Hey, it could even be that today is a dark day for you.

So let me ask you, how well did you make decisions in those dark times? Should I go this way, should I go that way? Should I choose this, or let it pass? Should I choose that, or keep away from it because it’s going to hurt me, or because it’s not God’s best for me? It’s not easy is it?

Even when things don’t seem all that dark, the truth is that we’re always making decisions with incomplete information. You and I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. You and I don’t know what other people are thinking and how they’re going to react. You and I don’t know what God’s thinking and what His plans are.

But He does want to tell us. He does want to shed light on the situation for us. He does want to guide our steps. And He does that through His Word. Psalm 119 verses 104 and 105:

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

In other words, when you read the Bible you get God’s understanding of what’s going on and you don’t want to make the wrong decision. God’s Word lights up your heart. It becomes, in a very real sense, a lamp for your feet, to help you take the next step and the next one after that. And a light to your path, to help you look up and see ahead.

It’s with that light that God wants to light up your heart. It’s that light that God wants to throw out at your feet now, to help you take that next step. It’s that light that God wants to shine on the path ahead, to give you some sense of where it’s going.

No, He probably won’t give you the whole picture, but enough to get you heading in the right direction. He wants to do that for you, right now.

Have you ever found yourself in two minds over something. Perhaps this, but on the other hand, that. Hmm. This or that? This or that? Will I or won’t I? Sure, it’s good to way things up, but sometimes, we can take procrastination and turn it into an art form.

Okay, today it’s time to call a spade a spade.

Fact: Most of the people who say that they believe in Jesus, don’t read the Bible on a regular basis.

Fact: Most of the people who say they believe in Jesus, when push comes to shove, will go with instinct over and above what God’s Word says in making a decision – be it a big one, or a small one.

Fact: Most of the people who say they believe in Jesus are suffering through the consequences of sin that could have been avoided, if only they’d given God’s Word sway in their hearts.

I wonder, are you like ‘most Christians’, who don’t take God’s Word seriously enough to allow it to be the guiding light in your life? I’m not here to give you a guilt trip. I am here, simply to help you make up your mind. Psalm 119, verse 113:

I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.

There you have the person who wrote that Psalm, saying to God, “I am so sick of the double-minded. I’ve made up my mind God. I love your Word. I love what you have to say. I love the way that I can be rock solid in my faith, no matter what this world throws at me because I am a man of your Word”. That’s the effect of what he’s saying to God.

Are you in a position to be able to say that to God? Or, to be blunt, are you swinging this way and that?

Well, you know God, I’d love to be like that but reading the Bible, every day, I’m a bit busy you know and I have a lot of pressures you know and … then, I hear a message at church and I realise I should read my Bible, but then life takes over again … well God, you know how it is.

You see, double-mindedness doesn’t work. James chapter 1, verses 5 to 8:

If any of you lacks in wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

It’s time to make up your mind. Are you going to be a man or a woman of God’s Word, or not? Do you want to live a powerful, victorious life in Jesus, or not? Do you want to have God’s Wisdom, God’s guidance, or not? Do you want to have the joy and the peace that Jesus died and rose again to give you, or not? Because let me tell you, the “or not” quite simply is not God’s will for your life. It’s just not.

Because when push comes to shove, when the going gets tough, God wants you to know where to flee. God wants to be your refuge place. God wants the best for you in those dark times. But unless we’re ready, unless we have His Word in our hearts, that simply isn’t going to happen.

When disaster strikes, where do you turn? When people are nasty to you, where do you turn? When you just don’t know which way to turn, where do you turn?

Well, where do you turn? The Bible is full of verses about God being the place where we can and should turn. Psalm 119, verse 114:

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.

When the chips are down, we can hope in God’s Word. In what God says. We can believe in His Word above the world’s words. We can believe in His faithfulness above the world’s seductive promises.

The problem is that so many of the people who say that they’re Christians, who say that they believe in Jesus, who say that they trust God simply can’t live out what they say, because they don’t have the Word of God in them. Psalm 91, verses 1 and 2:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Great, but let me tell you, you simply can’t cry out to God, “God you are my refuge and my fortress, in you I trust”, with any real conviction from the middle of your storm unless first, the Holy Spirit has written that Word on your heart. And He won’t have written it on your heart, unless you were in God’s Word beforehand.

Hey, we all have storms. We all go through dark times. I do and you do. But the man who is a man of God’s Word, and the woman who is a woman of God’s Word, they sail through those storms in victory. Even though their emotions are all over the place, even though they’re struggling and in pain, they know in their heart of hearts that their King reigns. That’s the confidence that you get from being in God’s Word every day.

I have a friend who calls himself a Christian and I know him well enough to know that he is. He believes in Jesus with all his heart. But he refuses to get into God’s Word. He doesn’t like to read, so hey, the Bible is just an optional extra.

No thank you sir. That’s just not true, because when the storms of life hit, I want to be grounded in the Word of God. I want the confidence of God alive and well in my heart.

I have a Word for you today from the Lord. Listen carefully to what He says, and my prayer is that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will receive it into your heart. John chapter 8, verse 31:

Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus wants His Word to be in you. Proverbs Chapter 1 has a really interesting take on this. It talks about the fact that God’s wisdom is calling out to us from the street corner. Certainly God’s wisdom is calling out to you and me from His Word each and every day, if only we’ll open the Bible and hear what He has to say.

But this is what wisdom, God’s wisdom, says to those who didn’t listen while God was speaking – listen carefully, the meaning is plain and clear for all to receive:

Proverbs 1:23–33: If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

That’s what God is saying today to those who refuse to be in His Word, who refuse to receive His wisdom into their hearts. You have been warned today. Please, please heed God’s warning. Become a man or a woman of God’s Word.