DCLM Daily Manna 29 May 2023 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Living By The Word
TOPIC: Living By The Word (DCLM Daily Manna 29 May 2023)
KEY VERSE: “Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word” (Psalm 119:17).
TEXT: Psalm 119:17-24 (KJV)
17 Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.
18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
19 I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
20 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.
21 Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
22 Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.
23 Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.
24 Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.
MESSAGE:
The effort to defeat mortality by coming up with the concept of the elixir of life has been unsuccessful throughout human history. The ancient Greeks brought the idea of ambrosia, the food of the gods. They said if people ate it, they would live forever. Then the European alchemists of the Middle Ages worked feverishly for the Philosopher’s stone to offer human beings immortal life.
They all crashed in their bid to sidestep death because it was outside the ordinance of God. Only those who seek His mercy and follow His laws shall have eternal life. That was the prayer of the psalmist. Recognising this truth, he pleaded, “Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law”. He harps on the law of the Lord as the source of his life. God’s word appears variously as law, statutes, testimonies, commandments and judgments in the writer’s prayer.
The good life in the world is scarcely about surrounding oneself with man-made prescriptions of how to live long or how to outwit death. They are bound to fail because they come from the closet minds of finite men. Despite the huge funds, research, man-hours and skills that have been deployed to gift mortal beings eternal life, such puny efforts have proven a pipe dream.
Living well and long here on earth, and receiving eternal life in heaven are not in the domain of any human sphere to give. God does it. He has unsparingly revealed how to attain it through His word. Having obtained this revelation, man no longer needs to pursue illusory doctrines about the good life or eternity. His is to receive the gospel, believe it and live.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Eternal life is neither a human concept nor under man’s control.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
1 Samuel 17-18
Deeper Life Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
