June 12, 2025

One Irish pastor out of the Keswick convention said that God did not call him to ministry but his mother did. I don’t recommend this kind of calling but he said that his mother told him on her death-bed, “Derrick, my boy, you have the gift of gab. But you don’t know the Word. If you’d learn the Word, the Lord might be able to use you.” He took what she had to say to heart, determined to study the Bible, and within three weeks of his mother’s death was preaching!*

Psalm 119:9–16 (NIV): 

      9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? 

         By living according to your word. 

      10 I seek you with all my heart; 

         do not let me stray from your commands. 

      11 I have hidden your word in my heart 

         that I might not sin against you. 

      12 Praise be to you, LORD; 

         teach me your decrees. 

      13 With my lips I recount 

         all the laws that come from your mouth. 

      14 I rejoice in following your statutes 

         as one rejoices in great riches. 

      15 I meditate on your precepts 

         and consider your ways. 

      16 I delight in your decrees; 

         I will not neglect your word.

Many a missionary memorized Psalms 119 and spoke it to themselves as comfort in the challenges of their day. William Wilberforce who fought slavery in London and was largely responsible for its downfall wrote in his diary in the year of 1819: “Walked today from Hyde Park Corner, repeating the 119th Psalm in great comfort.”*

Take time to know God’s Word that it might be a lamp unto your feet and a light to your path as shared with us in Psalms 119:105. His Word is a treasure and not a burden. It is one so great that we would trade the world for and hide in our hearts.

Pastor Aaron

*From a sermon by Philip Harrelson, A Clean Life With a Hidden Deposit, 5/14/2012


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