81 My soul fainteth for thy salvation:
but I hope in thy word.
82 Mine eyes fail for thy word,
saying, When wilt thou comfort me?
83 For I am become like a bottle in the smoke;
yet do I not forget thy statutes.
84 How many are the days of thy servant?
when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
85 The proud have digged pits for me,
which are not after thy law.
86 All thy commandments are faithful:
they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.
87 They had almost consumed me upon earth;
but I forsook not thy precepts.
88 Quicken me after thy lovingkindness;
so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
Comments by Joan Boney
I hope in thy word.
Hope means expectation.
Our hope is in the many promises of God given us. We view those promises with hope, expectation. Because we believe God is faithful and His word is true, we go forward expecting that thing promised to come to pass so we "hope" in that Word of God.
I am so grateful to God for the following promise to us:
James 1:5 ... 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
A woman sent me an email and I started to write a response which would be "friendly" and it was as if I was "blabbering". So I discarded the response and began to pray, asking God for wisdom in the matter. The next day, I was shown that which this woman had written was death not life. So I wrote her telling her that what she wrote was death.
I rejoiced that God revealed the truth to me after I stopped my flesh from responding to this woman and asked God for HIS wisdom.
God even said to me, "There is death in the pot."
By her writing, this woman had "cooked up" a pot of death.
II Kings 4 ...
39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage:for they knew them not.
40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof.
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God says to HIS people: 17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Isaiah 54
If it is a weapon against you, it will not prosper.
When I was a new Christian, 1975, I owned a business in Dallas, Texas. A man filed a lawsuit against me. It was terrifying. If this man won the case, he could take everything I had, all my merchandise and the business itself.
But I saw the above scripture promising that no weapon formed against me would prosper.
This lawsuit was certainly a weapon. And the scriptures says it is the "heritage of the servants of the Lord" that no weapon would prosper. I now belonged to God being born again by God and given HIS Spirit. I examined this scripture and became convinced it applied to me. Therefore this weapon formed against me would not prosper (would not succeed).
I kept that scripture and other scriptures before me day and night to fight fear for this battle was very filled with fear. And it went on for about 4 months before the resolution.
I even recorded this scripture and other scripture given to me on a cassette recording and played that recording as I slept. I went to bed and turned the recording on and the scriptures played and I would fall asleep. When I would awaken in the night, the fear was back so I turned the recording over (I had recorded both sides of the tape) and played it again, falling asleep again to this recording of these scriptures.
I had read the promise God gave to Joshua and I knew that promise applied to us also. If we would meditate in the word of God day and night, we would be able to do what it said and we would prosper in that which we did.
Joshua 1 ... 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein:for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
I was satisfied the man who filed the suit would fail, not prosper, and that I would prosper, but it was terrifying for the duration of the situation.
There was another problem. The legal bills were eating up all the profit from my business. (It was a small business.) I decided since I had the promise that no weapon formed against me would prosper and therefore this law suit against me would not prosper, I could dismiss my lawyer and plan to go to court without any human legal counsel.
I told Gordon (lawyer) this. He was shocked. He said, "Joan, you don't know how wicked these courts are. You can't do this. And besides it will only take about $10,000 more to try your case." Ten-thousand-dollars more? I was horrified. That would put me into debt and I had felt God had showed me to get out of debt after I was born again and I had gotten out of debt. This would take me the exact opposite direction.
"Ten-thousand-dollars", I shouted at my lawyer.
Then I said to him, "Stop, Gordon. Don't do anything else."
And I explained: "I am a Christian now and the Bible promises Christians that no weapon formed against them will prosper. Now if the Bible is true, this law suit will not prosper. And if the Bible is only a history book I don't want any thing more to do with the Bible. This legal situation will show me which is which."
I dismissed the lawyer and planned to go to court without any human representation.
A few days later Gordon called me. He said they had decided to try my case without any further cost to me. ? $10,000 free legal service ? He didn't mention God and I didn't think it was God causing these lawyers to make this decision. (This was a big law firm occupying the entire 28th floor of Bryan Towers in downtown Dallas.)
I told Gordon I would have to see and get back with him.
I prayed, asking God what to do and I was reminded of Abraham and how he turned down the king of Sodom and said, " I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich". Genesis 14:23 ... I knew God was telling me not to take this "free" legal service so I called Gordon and turned it down, telling him what I heard when I prayed.
Weeks went on and I continued to hold onto scripture day and night during the entire time.
Six days before the trial was scheduled the man dropped all charges against me and the other people he had charged along with me.
After that Gordon called me. He said they had discussed my case and what I said at the law firm and they decided what I had said was true. (I was definitely a witness of God to this law firm but I was not trying to be a witness to them. I was just trying to do what God wanted me to do.)
The Bible is not a history book telling about God. The Bible is the word of God to HIS people and it is full of powerful instructions to those of us who will fear God more than fearing the circumstances.
Isaiah 54:17 also says ...
If a tongue rises against you, you will be given God's wisdom to deal with that tongue. And that wisdom from God will condemn that spoken against you and the person who spoke that word against you will be shamed.
I was once playing golf with two woman. One woman was Church of Christ member and the other woman was Methodist. The Methodist woman began talking about people who judge other people. (I felt she was speaking of me.) Without thinking at all, the following words came out of my mouth and these words were the Holy Spirit speaking. "If you judge people are judging, aren't you judging?" The woman gasped aloud. It was like a balloon filled with hot air and a pin pricked the balloon letting all the air out.