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Psalm 119:116-117   Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed.  Uphold me, and I will be delivered; I will always have regard for your decrees.

In my youth group days I used to love singing all the verses (with the chorus in between) of Rusdsell Kelso Carter’s great hymn that includes the verse, “Standing on the promises of Christ, the Lord, bound to him eternally by love’s strong cord, overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword, standing on the promises of God.”  It is good to have these words firmly implanted in the memory bank of my brain as I travel through my present season of life, and just reading today’s verses in Psalm 119 instantly ‘googled’ them from that ‘memory store’ in my head.  (I’m so grateful that our great Creator God, when he designed us, was ‘ahead of the game’ with the ‘technology’ that enables this to happen in my ageing head!).

Yes, it is the amazing, reliable, trustworthy promises of God that enable me to live with hope that cannotbe dashed, and that deliver me when I am struggling with his strange Providence in his dealing with me and preparing me for life with him forever.

And where do I have access to all these precious promises that are my lifeblood at present?  In his Written Word, his decrees that “cannot fail” even when the “howling storms of doubt and fear assail” because “by the living Word of God I shall prevail, standing on the promises of God.”  What an amazing grace and privilege it is to have ready access to God’s Written Word each and every day.  (Even as I type this, my heart goes out to my many brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world for whom this joy and privilege can be a difficult and life threatening challenge.  May I never take the privilege for granted, or fail to seek-and-gain benefit from it!).

The M’Cheyne Daily Bible Reading Program I use (and from which I choose my Today’s Quick Word) is taking me through Psalm 119, and what a blessing it is to reflect afresh each day on the life-changing value of God’s Word which, above all things, points me to Christ, the Living Word.

“Your words to me are life and health; pour strength into my soul; enable, guide, and teach my heart to reach its perfect goal!  Your words to me are light and truth; from day to day they show their wisdom, passing earthly lore as in their truth I grow.  Your words to me are full of joy of beauty, peace, and grace; from them I learn your blessed will, through them I see your face.  Your words you have fulfilled on earth – yourself, the living Word; within my heart your image print in clearest lines, O Lord” (G. Currie Martin).

– Bruce Christian