True Piety

By: Connie M. GIORDANO

How often do you think about God?

When you do direct your attention toward Him, what kind of thoughts fill your mind?

Do you think about His character, attributes, ways, law, promises, or judgments?

Or are you preoccupied with your own life and its activities?

Or perhaps you are like so many who only turn their focus and attention to Him on Sunday while attending Church?

David said in Psalm 104:34 - "My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord."

King David meditated on three basic things - on the Lord Himself, on the works of the Lord, and on the law of God.

In Psalm 63, he spoke of seeking, thirsting, and longing for the Lord. It is interesting to note that he was in the wilderness of Judah when he wrote this particular Psalm. Therefore, he used such terminology (figuratively speaking of the spiritual realm) as "a dry and thirsty land, where no water is."

Regardless of his surroundings, he was determined to praise and bless the Lord. Psalm 63:5-6 - Then he made a key remark - "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips: When I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches."

We learn from David's statements that meditating on the Lord produces two results:

1) The soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness.
2) The mouth is filled with joyful praise.

How wonderful it is to experience these same results! Oh, to have a soul that is filled, fulfilled, and has its desires satisfied even to excess. The soul is said to be satisfied with "marrow and fatness." Figuratively speaking, this simply means that it is enjoying the blessing of abundance - the best, richest, or choicest part.

" Marrow and fatness" also denote rich food. Hence the comparison is made between the satisfaction one enjoys after eating a fine meal to that of the satisfaction one experiences after meditating on the Lord.

Along with soul satisfaction, when we meditate on the Lord, our speech becomes filled with joyful utterances. We find that oftentimes we cannot restrain ourselves from cheerful boastings, gloryings, ravings, and exuberant celebration in the Lord. It all stems from a heart filled with the thoughts of God's being, character, mercy, loving-kindness, grace, and providence.

So many of God's children today have starving souls. Their souls continuously crave for satisfaction. Instead of meditating on the Lord as David did, many are restlessly running to and fro looking to the world, money, jobs, relationships, titles, and even ministry for soul-fulfillment. They are full of discontentment, striving continually, while blindly searching for the answer to their starving soul.

They have no joy and are soul-weary in their search for satisfaction in all the wrong places. As Psalm 63 instructs, only meditation on the Lord brings true satisfaction for the soul and joyful praise for the lips.

Besides meditating on the Lord, David also meditated on the works of the Lord.

In Psalm 104:24 he burst into glorious praise for the Creator of all - the Lord Jesus Christ - "O LORD, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches."

Earlier in this Psalm, leading up to this verse, he spoke of God's wonderful creation -

Verse 2: ..."stretchest out the heavens"
Verse 3: ..."makes the clouds His chariots"
Verse 4: ..."maketh His angels spirits; His ministers a flame of fire"
Verse 9: ...set a bound on the waters that they can never turn again to cover the earth
Verse 11: ...nourishes the beasts of the field
Verse 14: ...causes grass to grow
Verses 16-17: ...trees are a habitation for the birds
Verses 18: ...the high hills for the wild goats and the rocks for the conies
Verses 19-22: ...the Sun and the Moon play their part in the beginning and ending of the day
Verse 23: ..."Man goeth forth unto his work..."

Absorbed in such elevated thoughts of the wonder of God's creation, David burst forth with adoration and praise for the Lord and His manifold works.

In such a world as ours, where the lie of evolution is widely being taught, and men and women are worshipping the creature more than the Creator, it behooves us to meditate on the Lord and His works and to give Him the praise due His name.

Lastly, the Scriptures demonstrate that David meditated on the law of the Lord day and night.

Psalm 119:127 - Exceedingly, he loved the commandments of the Lord even above fine gold.
Psalm 119:111 - They became the rejoicing of his heart.

Are these your sentiments regarding God's Word? David said that he loved the commandments of the Lord above gold. Most would agree that gold is one of the most precious commodities in life. However, anything considered precious in our lives could replace gold in the above statement.

What about you? What can you say about God's Word? How precious is it to you? Can you say to the Lord, "Yes, Lord, I love Your commandments even above ___________? And because I love Your Word, I meditate on it day and night. Nothing takes its place in my life." Can you honestly say this to the Lord?

A. W. Tozer once said - "Whatever keeps me from my Bible is my enemy; however harmless it may appear to me."

So much has been written on the subject of the Bible that is worth noting. The following are some examples:

"Sir Walter Scott one day asked his son, ' Bring me the Book.' His son asked him which book he meant. He answered, 'There is only one.' "

"When Chief Justice Jay was dying and was asked if he had any farewell address to leave to his children, he replied, 'They have the Bible.' "

"I thoroughly believe in a university education for both men and women', said Dr. William Lyon Phelps of Yale University, 'but I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without the Bible. Every one who has a thorough knowledge of the Bible may truly be called educated, and no other learning or culture, no matter how extensive or elegant, can form a proper substitute.' " (Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations)

Samuel Chadwick once said - "I have worked over the Bible, prayed over the Bible for more than 60 years, and I tell you there is no book like the Bible. It is a miracle of literature, a perennial spring of wisdom, a wonderful book of surprises, a revelation of mystery, an infallible guide of conduct, and unspeakable source of comfort."

J.C. Ryle said - "We must read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure."

David Shepherd - "Read it to get the facts, study it to get the meaning, meditate on it to get the benefit."

Chrysostom - "The source of all our troubles is in not knowing the Scriptures."

In closing, we would like to leave you with this excerpt from the Barnes' Notes Commentary on our opening Scripture. Notice that "True Piety" is mentioned three times. How we need to strive for "True Piety." We live in a world where a clear-cut definition of a "Christian" is lacking. Nonetheless, we see from this commentary that "True Piety" has every thing to do with our meditating on the Lord, His Works, and His law:

"It is one of the characteristics of True Piety that there is a 'disposition' to think about God, that the mind is 'naturally' drawn to that subject, that it does not turn away from it, when it is suggested; that this fills up the intervals of business in the day-time, and that it occupies the mind when wakeful at night. It is also a characteristic of True Piety that there is 'pleasure' in such meditations, happiness in thinking of God...It is one of the evidences of True Piety when a man 'begins' to find pleasure in thinking about God; when the subject, instead of being unpleasant to him, becomes pleasant; when he no longer turns away from it, but is sensible of a desire to cherish the thought of God, and to know more of Him."

Psalm 10:4 - It is said of the wicked man - "God is not in all his thoughts." On the other hand, the Christian's testimony is - "My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD." Here lies the clear-cut distinction between the saved and unsaved man.

Let's take heed that we do not become vain in our imaginations and our hearts become darkened once again.

Romans 1:21 - The chief way to prevent this from ever happening is to "meditate" on the Lord - His person, His works, and His Law.

In order to do that we must exalt the Bible as the One and Only Book worth reading and studying and exalt it as being far above all others. Whatever stands between us and the study of God's Word must be removed instantly. This is the only way that we will find soul-satisfaction. Otherwise, we will fill the void with the vain things of this world, still remain dissatisfied, and eventually result in losing out with God.

May God Bless His Word.