Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Jul 10th, 2021 I Will Walk At Liberty – The Saturday Morning Post

Today’s Reading – Psalm 119 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Matthew 19 – 20; Psalms 46 – 50; Proverbs 10)

Read the “0710 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.” (Psalm 119:45)

Good morning. The second verse of America The Beautiful reads…

O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassioned stress,

A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

See those last four words? Our freedom is in the law: God’s Law. We have perfect liberty in God’s perfect Law. There is a Hebrew word that has been translated as enough, large, wide, broad, and proud: rachab (raw-khawb’). That is except for one verse in the whole Old Testament. In Psalm 119:45, it is translated liberty. It is good to know that all the liberty you have is…

1) Enough.

“Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.” (2Kings 4:1-7)

When the widow filled all the containers, the oil stopped. She had enough: enough to sell, pay off her debt, and live off the rest: enough.

2) Large, wide, and broad.

When we walk after God’s Precepts, His Law, He gives us all the space we need. Great is the liberty He gives us.

“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18-19)

“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:11-12)

3) Proud.

Wait a minute, I thought that God did not like pride? He doesn’t. The translation was proud not pride. Thank the Lord for Google. In the British language, proud means slightly projecting from a surface. The example was given: “When the brake is engaged, the lever does not stand proud of the horizontal.”

When I engage my brake lever in my KIA Soul, it only comes up about one and a half inches, so in my case, the brake lever DOES stand proud of the horizontal.

“And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.” (Matthew 17:24-27)

All it took was a piece of money to keep from offending the tribute collectors. God provided it, Peter gave it, and the collectors received it. Such a small price to pay for obedience pleasing to God.

“And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.” (Psalm 119:45)

Peace.