week of 10-20-10 4th recorded Bible study

The passage I read was Psalm 31:14-24
You can find that passage here:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+31%3A14-24&version=NIV

My summary of the passage is this:
Fear the Lord and put your trust in Him alone and He will deliver you from your enemies and put them to rest. The Lord is good and has stored up blessings for those that would follow Him. He will protect them who seek refuge in Him. V24 – Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

As I reflect:
Similar to the last Bible study are the concepts of the deliverance spoken of in this passage, that they apply to those who fear the Lord (or live in reverence before Him) and are not just generally offered or said to be readily handed out to everyone equally. There is again that difference between the saved (under his wing) and the unsaved (devoured by their own evil desires). But that’s not what really caught my focus here. Some of the words in this passage are very close to my heart from personal experience. They have played a part many times throughout the changing of whom I walked for. From about 3 months before I was delivered from my many worldly addictions and attitudes, through the time that the deliverance begun, through the hardest times of change, on through the breaking point when light was starting to shine through, on up through beginning to walk with Him and even up to now, this passage has held true. He has delivered me from my enemies (v15) and from those that pursued me. I have been saved in His unfailing love (v16). Those who sought my life and lied about me to others were paid back and put to shame (v17 – 18). As I have come to live in reverence before Him, his goodness has not ceased to flow greatly beyond anything I ever could have earned, and it is plain for all to see (v19). I have been freed from my past accusers and they no longer have a hold on me (v20). It was not during a time which I was in church or in the Word or walking in any righteous matter that the Lord saved me…. It was during my deepest darkest sin that He reached in and pulled me from the fire (v21). Even though I thought that He had turned a completely deaf ear to me, I called out for him to change/save me from what I had become, and he answered (v22). That He came to call me saint….and even to call me “friend”, I am ever thankful for. I deserve it not, but I will sing his praise and forever my hope will remain in God (v23-24). I now know that I can always trust in my God (v14), for he is mighty to save.

My response to the Lord:
Lord of my life, I am before you on my knees. There is no other place I want to be, for you Lord have saved me from my sin. You have saved me from all of my iniquities and from those who sought my life. You have torn down my accusers and pulled me from the fire. My life is yours. Fully Lord, I am yours. If there is anything in me that is not of you, then take it from me Father. I lay it down. Replace my bad with your good; my failures, with your success; my mindset, with your truth. I will ever praise you for saving me; for allowing me to dwell safely under your wing always. Even in the midst of battle you are there protecting me so often from my own mistakes. To simply sing that, “there is none like you” is an understatement by far, for you are indescribably beautiful to me Lord. Forever, I am your servant Jesus.