Doug Van Pelt

I Can Be Your Friend

Psalm 119 is practically right in the middle of the Bible. It has 176 verses, covering lots of ground on how good God is and how are efforts to follow Him are blessed.

I'm struck by several verses.

"I am a friend to all who fear You,
to all who follow Your precepts..."

I think of how Christians sometimes treat each other strangely. Have you ever had a fellow believer eye you with suspicion? It's uncomfortable to face that, and the easy way out is to ignore that person and move on. But I want to be able to quote that verse and mean it. Sharing the common denominator of knowing and following the Great Forgiver should bond us at least on a friendly level.

"Streams of tears flow from my eyes,
for Your law is not obeyed."

I look at this example as a great way to deal with the disappointment of seeing others sin, make bad choices, and/or wreck their lives. Weeping is the right response, for it leads to intercession. This is a long way from the other option, which is to speak angry words of correction and try to make the offending person feel ashamed. One way is loving, and the other seems misguided.

"How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to Your Word.
I seek You with all my heart;
do not let me stray from Your commands.
I have hidden Your Word in my heart
that I might not sin against You...

I delight in Your decrees;
I will not neglect Your Word..."

We are dependent upon God for even the strength to stay on His path. However, love can compel us and motivate us to follow Him with vigor. Love and joy are strengths.

"My soul is weary with sorrow;
strengthen me according to Your Word."

"God is close to the brokenhearted;
and saves those who are crushed in spirit." (I love that passage from Psalm 34)

"I run in the path of Your commands,
for You have set my heart free."

This is what God can do -- set our hearts free. He can lift our burdens from us and give us joy.

I'm sitting here, ready to begin my day. It should be my last day of deadline, but I have yet to gather and edit the "bullets" for the "Hard News" section, layout the "Album Reviews" (which will include writing a few); fixing the mistakes found by proofreaders, and laying out some other articles. I'm thinking that I need at least two more days to finish this issue. However, I agreed to write the cover story on hard music for the July issue of CCM, which is due next Wednesday, so I need to pause my work on HM after tonight (my original deadline) and pick it up again after I finish that article (which maybe I can knock out over the weekend). This is slightly disheartening (mainly because of all the late hours spent recently not having an end close), but should be okay. It will still get printed and mailed out well before the end of June (it's the July/August issue), so that shouldn't be a problem. I trust that God is with me even in the hard times.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at May 20, 2005 08:24 AM