May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word. Psalm 119:74
David had learned to not put his hope in man or in himself. He had learned from past experience that it only led to his destruction. Instead, he put his hope in God's Word. He knew that it could be trusted and would never lead him wrongly. It was his stronghold, his ever present help in times of need. It was the breath of God breathed on him who understood and obeyed it's words. He lived it. It was a part of David.
Because of that, David could say to others, "Do as I do". He was saying, "If you have seen the faithfulness of God in my life then you have seen the mercy of God demonstrated and it can be in your life also."
David knew that he was not perfect, he wept over his sin everyday and sought the forgiveness of God. So, he knew what it was like to live in the mercy of God and to rest in the hope of his salvation.
He could say to his people, "Rejoice in the faithfulness of our God that you see in my life. I have put my hope in God's Word, you can do as I do and put your hope in God's Word."
Could you say that to your children? "Do as I do." Do you live out for them what the Word teaches? We all fail, but as David would weep and repent we can also. We don't have to weep, but we must be truly repentant.
Do you read the Bible to them or discuss scriptures with them? What a blessing it is to sit with a young child and talk about what God means to them.
This morning while I was having my quiet time, my 3 yr old daughter(who had woke up way too early) came in & sleepily crawled into my lap. So I read to her Psalm 113.
Praise the LORD.Praise O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.
I read the rest of the chapter to her & then we talked about what it means to praise the Lord. And then we did it. We praised him together. We told him all of the things of his creation that we love and we thanked him for all of the people that we love and appreciate. Then we prayed together and thanked God for his Word that reminds us to praise him and be thankful for all of his gifts to us. It was a great time with my daughter, and even though I have come to love that early morning time for just the Lord & I, I'm so thankful for that time he gave me this morning with my daughter. She knows I read & study my Bible so she has a Bible too that she will sit and "read" the pictures.
There are many areas of my life where I do not want my children to do as I do. But gradually as the Lord refines & molds me some of those area's are now becoming something I would like my children to imitate. I want my children to want to imitate me. I want my daughters to think it is o'k to be like their mom instead of always having a list of things that they would do different. The reality is that they will always have a list of those things, but I pray that as I am faithful to my God that when my children are parents they can look back and say, "I want a relationship with Christ like what my mother had."
Lord God, help me today to be an example that others will want to follow. I want to reflect you and only you, so that when others see me they get a glimpse of you also.
