Posts Tagged: Psalm 40:8
“LIVE LONG AND PROSPER”
My father-in-law was very fond of the Star Trek T.V. shows—with the exception of those shows that featured the character “Q”. (I suspect that Dad thought that Q was both too much and too little like God, although I don’t think I ever asked him why he felt the way he did. I wish that I had now.)
One of the most famous repeated lines in Star Trek is “Live long and prosper.” I’m not a trekkie, but even I know this line.
But from where does this greeting come?
Those words likely came from Deuteronomy 5:33. The whole of vs. 33, along with the preceding verse, is as follows:
“32 So Moses told the people, ‘You must be careful to obey all the commands of the LORD your God, following his instructions in every detail.
33 Stay on the path that the LORD your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.’ ” (New Living Translation)
“Live long and prosper!” is a good wish, but perhaps the obedience part matters as well. I have a tendency to want to live long and prosper, but not necessarily to obey. (You probably don’t struggle with that, but I most certainly do!)
Why is it so difficult to obey? I’m afraid that I know, and sometimes, wish I didn’t know.
I don’t obey because I want to have my own way. No, I know that, in the long run, God’s way is best. But I don’t want the long run; I want what I want right now!
I knew a lady who described herself as “Little-Miss-Gotta-Have-It-Right-Now.” Change the Miss to Mister in my case, and you can’t miss!
However, it isn’t just the immediate gratification thing. It also this: My way is my way, and that’s what I want. I struggle with a spirit of rebellion, which I try to baptize and rename “a spirit of independence.” However, you can baptize a rat, but it’s still a rat.
But I do have my better moments, moments when I realize that obedience is in my own best interest. There are moments—and I am having more of them, thanks to the 12-step recovery program and thanks to 12-step friends—when I obey God with a good and glad heart.
There are times when I can say, with the psalmist, “I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart” (Psalm 40:8).
May those times increase for you and me and all of us! Then we can, with complete confidence, pronounce the blessing on one another, “Live long and PROSPER!“
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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