Read Psalm 119:153-160.

When we want to preserve something, we need ingredients that will act against decay: we pickle onions and cabbages in vinegar to keep them for long periods of time or we add sugar to fruit to make jams. Preservation, in cooking terms, requires additional ingredients to enhance the original item, which would not last long otherwise.

The psalmist prays twice in this stanza to be preserved, an ongoing theme and prayer within the psalm as a whole. He recognises that preservation, in a spiritual realm, requires the additional ‘ingredients’ only God can provide. ‘Preserve my life according to Your promise.’ (Ps 119:154) ‘Preserve my life, O Lord, according to Your love.’ (Ps 119:159)

God’s promises, Paul tells us, are always ‘YES’ in Christ (2 Cor 1:20). The psalmist has many other requests of God (‘look upon my suffering and deliver me… defend my cause and redeem me… see how I love Your precepts’ Ps 119:153, 154, 159), but each request is based upon the conviction of God’s goodness, compassion and faithfulness, ingredients which enable us to persevere through hostility, opposition and trials.

The psalmist is not impervious to the opposition he faces (‘I look on the faithless with loathing, for they do not obey Your word’ Ps 119:158). The steadfastness he displays despite persecution requires integrity and determination (Ps 119:157). But at the end of the day, the preservation is more dependent on God than it is on our own persistence or ability. ‘All Your words are true, all Your righteous laws are eternal’ (Ps 119:160), he concludes. Truth lasts. Jesus reminded the disciples just before He died that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). He is the One who keeps us from falling and is able to present us before God’s glorious presence without fault and with great joy. (Jude 1:24)

Read Psalm 119:145-152.

In the heat of the moment, it’s very easy to be impulsive. Advertisers are skilled at manipulating mood and creating urgency within us: that ‘must have’ item which will be gone if we don’t purchase it right now! When I was a child, I used to want something ‘immediately, if not sooner!’ Apart from clearly failing to understand the meaning of the word ‘immediately’ (or maybe feeling it didn’t have the urgency I desired!), that attitude never allows for the patience of God.

The psalmist learned long ago ‘from Your statutes that You established them to last forever.’ (Ps 119:152) There is a permanence to God which will not be hurried: ‘from everlasting to everlasting You are God.’ (Ps 90:2) The psalmist knows all about longing and desperation, rising before dawn and staying up through the night in prayer. (Ps 119:147-148). He cries out to God for help and protection. (Ps 119:145-146) The psalmist needs the assurance of God’s presence with him. (Ps 119:151)

One of the names proclaimed by the angels as they announced the coming of Jesus is ‘Immanuel – God with us.’ (Matt 1:23) God’s presence with us makes all the difference. If we are accompanied daily the Ancient of Days (Dan 7:9), we need not be in such a hurry. We can afford to ‘wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.’ (Ps 27:14)

Read Psalm 119:137-144.

Testing takes time. It’s a process that can’t be rushed. Manufacturers who test their products have to ensure that the products undergo situations which simulate real life so that they can be confident their products will last.

We are often impatient with waiting, perceiving it as a waste of time. But James reminds us that the testing of our faith develops perseverance, a quality underrated but essential to life (Js 1:3). He goes on to stay that perseverance is necessary for us to be mature and complete, not lacking anything (Js 1:4). Paul makes a similar point to the Romans, telling them that ‘suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.’ (Rom 5:3-4) This suffering and testing can’t be hurried or rushed if we are to become the people God wants us to be: Peter reminds us that the trials come so that ‘the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.’ (1 Pet 1:7) God is interested in the long haul!

Testing times ultimately help not only to develop our faith, but to prove God’s word to us: ‘Your promises have been thoroughly tested.’ (Ps 119:140) Generation after generation have thrown their weight on God’s promises found in His Word and have found them to be trustworthy and reliable. ‘Righteous are You, O Lord, and Your ways are right.’ (Ps 119:138)

God’s character is our bedrock. His actions are always in line with His character, which is why we can endure the testing and the waiting. He teaches us according to both His character and His actions (Ps 119:139). ‘The way You tell me to live is always right’, the psalmist concludes (Ps 119:144), asking God to give understanding ‘so I can live life to the fullest.’’ That’s a good prayer to pray in times of testing!

At last night’s prayer meeting, Mark challenged us to pray that 2016 will be a ‘yield year’ for the church, a time when we reap the harvest we have sown and see the fruit of our labours. Looking at Is 43:18-21, we recognise that we cannot dwell on the past, even though we are grateful for all God’s faithfulness and provision and all He has already done. Instead, we long for Him to make streams in the desert and to bring many people to know Him. 2015 was significant in seeing the first baptism in our Market Street building, but we long to see many more people coming to faith and being baptised as we fulfil Jesus’s Great Commission and go and make disciples of all nations.

‘Yield‘, of course, has two separate meanings. One is ‘to produce or provide (a natural, agricultural, or industrial product)’, and it is this sense of producing fruit that we were mainly considering. But the second meaning (‘to surrender, to give way’) is also important, for it is only as we yield ourselves to God and humble ourselves before Him that we will be ready to receive all He wants to do in our lives. Surrender is the pathway to productiveness in God.

Let’s pray for our friends, families, acquaintances, work colleagues, neighbours and total strangers to be saved and for 2016 to be a fruitful yield year!

Don’t forget Sunday’s carol service ‘God Has Come To Earth’ this Sunday (20th December) at 6 p.m. Invite your friends and family to attend – it will be a fun-filled service with both traditional and newer carols, readings, stories, activities for all ages and the Word of God shared to inspire and remind us of the real meaning of Christmas. Free refreshments will be available after the service.

Hopefully the behind-the-scenes preparation will pique your curiosity:

Come along to find out more and bring someone with you if you can!

Read Psalm 119:129-136.

We all need passion for something in our lives. For some, a person is the object of our passion; for others, a job or a hobby becomes the focus of their lives. Passion is a driving force, a motivator, something which moves us to action.

For Christians, God should be our passion, our first love (see Rev 2:4-5). The psalmist knew something of this passion, talking of how he opened his mouth and panted, longing for God’s commands (Ps 119:131). The unfolding of these words from God allow light into darkness and give understanding to the simple (Ps 119:130). They allow us to have God’s insight and perspective on life, causing us to weep for the fact that so few are living by these laws (Ps 119:136). Our whole lives are shaped and motivated by God (Ps 119:129, 133-134).

Advent is a good time to dwell on the heat of our passion, on the fire of God and on the zeal burning within us. Are we hot, lukewarm or cold? (see Rev 3:14-18) What is the most important thing in our lives? It’s easy in our commercialised society to be seduced into the lie that Christmas is all about presents, food or even about family and helping other people. It isn’t. Christmas is about Christ. We need to be storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven, not living divided lives on earth (Matt 6:19-24). Our passion for Christ needs to be the driving force of our whole lives.