This is Mom and me. I wish I had put some makeup on and fixed my hair. LOL!

        

I was reading Psalms 145 one morning last week when a simple thought struck me that I am still mulling over. Anyone who has read my Blog for awhile knows that Psalms is my favorite book of the Bible. (In case you missed that post, check it out)

As I read these verses written by David, I thought; “How does he know? How does David know this stuff about God?'' After all, he and the other writers of the Psalms had very little Scripture compared to what I have.

I read the Scriptures desiring to know my God, and I read desiring to have a fuller relationship with my Savior. I have available to me the words of Jesus (in red, no less), I have the words of the men who walked and talked with Him. I have all the history and prophets of the Old Testament, but what did David have? The law? The Pentateuch? David had an awesome grasp of God and his attributes just based on those. Wow!

I do believe that the Psalms David wrote were divinely inspired. He was indeed a prophet and great instrument of God, but all that came later. He began his relationship with God, by learning the law (of all things). Not exactly one of my favorite portions to read and mediate on. Am I the only one who has skimmed quickly through Leviticus?

Then it occurred to me where I had just seen those words. I knew how David knew what he wrote in Psalms 145! I remembered from my ladies Bible study a few weeks before. We are studying the life of Moses and I had just read almost those very words. When God put Moses in the cleft of the rock and God passed by, he proclaimed those very words. That's how David knew!

Exodus 34:5-8(NIV)

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.

As I studied this passage of Scripture, I will never forget Paddy's excitement. Quite frankly, I was trying to hurry through Paddy's Bible worksheet so I could move on to all the other things I needed to do. I read these verses in Exodus very quickly without feeling or emotion so Paddy could answer his children's study sheet that corresponds with the women's study. I just wanted to get it over with that particular day.

But Paddy in his innocence and excitement made me ashamed of my behavior. “Wait Mama!” he exclaimed, stopping me in mid-sentence; ”You mean Moses got to see God!” I tried to explain that Moses only saw the back of God's glory as he quickly passed by, but Paddy's excitement was not thwarted in the least. He was jumping off the couch exclaiming, “WOW!” Paddy was in utter awe. Paddy has talked of this Bible story several times since that day; he is still excited about it weeks later.

I bet David was a lot like Paddy... gleaning in excitement all the details he possibly could of God and His attributes. Filled with awe at when he read what I consider to be a small portion of the Scriptures now available to me. Next time I am tempted to hurry through the Levitical law, I hope I remember how precious it really is. It was all David needed to begin his awesome relationship with God.

Psalm 119:18 (KJV)
Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Psalm 119:77 (KJV)

Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.

Now my thoughts have flashed forward to the New Testament in John 8 where Jesus told the unbelieving Jews in verse 19 and again in verse 54 that they really don't know God, if they knew God then they would know Jesus. No wonder David said in Psalms 145:2 that he would praise God's name forever and ever, because he truly knew God and in the security of that personal relationship, David knew he had everlasting life.