It’s found in God’s Word.
Earlier this year, The Lord called me to study through Psalm 119, one verse at a time. For years, I’ve prayed to know, love, and crave God’s Word more each day. Faithfully, He has helped me to do just that. But this year, I’m learning WHY His Word is so important.
Did you know that every one of the 176 verses in Psalm 119 has something to say about God’s Word, or Commands, or Precepts, or Ways? Check it out for yourself. I used a green pen and underlined every word that mentioned His Word, and each verse has at least one green underline in it.
The other day, I was in Psalm 119:37 – and it hit me: This is the cure for Spiritual Sluggishness! (You know… the kind of “spiritual boredom” that overtakes us when we get too busy to stop and spend time with the Lord… OR when we’ve been disobedient and know we need to repent, but don’t want to make the effort to change… OR when we’ve been out of fellowship with The Lord and the Body of Christ – putting everything else ahead of Him and fellowship with our brothers and sisters… OR when the trials of life seem to weigh us down so much that we can’t garner the energy to seek the Lord… The kind of spiritual sluggishness where we muddle through each day with no life and vigor, remembering an earlier time of life when we had more spring in our steps… That kind of spiritual sluggishness.)
This is what God’s Word says about it:
“Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity, (idols and idolatry); and restore me to vigorous life and helath in Your ways.” Psalm 119:37
Reading from back to front, we can imply: To be restored to vigorous life and health in God’s ways, We can ask God to help us turn away our eyes from vanity and idols – from beholding anything that we put before Him.
The beauty of this verse is that we don’t have to do it by ourselves. The Psalmist was asking for God’s help to do this. We can too.
Philippians 2:13 says that God gives us the DESIRE and the POWER to do what pleases Him. I love that! When He gives us the desire to be restored to vigorous life and health in His ways, He also gives us the POWER (the same Power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead!) to do it!
If you are in a state of Spiritual Sluggish-ness, I’m guessing that right now, the Lord is convicting you of something. Ask God to help you take your eyes off of that something, and move it out of it’s place of idolatry. Then ask Him to help you put your eyes on God’s Word. Then Just Do It!
Don’t know what to do to put your eyes on God’s Word? This post will help get you started.
Turning our eyes away from what we are beholding, and turning them TO God’s Word will restore Spiritual Vigor, Life, and Health!
Instead of “VITA-META-VEGA-MIN”,
try: “GOTTA-PUTA-GOD’S Word-IN” 🙂
PS: Just for laughs, here is the funniest part of the whole thing:
“Hello friends…
Well…I’m your Vitavigavegivat Girl…
Are you tired, rundown, listless?
Do you pop out at parties?
Are you “un- poopular”?
Well… are you?
The answer to all your problems is in this little ol’ bottle…”
“…Vita vida veedy meaty mighty mo”
Jane says
Great post! I know when I am not in the Word every day, I am definitely in a state of spiritual sluggishness. Also, being out of fellowship with other believers over the past couple of weeks, between being on vacation and then a week of the flu, has made me feel sluggish. I can't wait to attend our small group Bible study this week.
Jane