Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Psalms 32:9
Men need to become better acquainted with themselves and be discerning in regard to their own weak points of character, and then make every effort to strengthen these points, for God makes this their duty. No one should lean wholly upon another’s mind; but as God’s free agent, each should ask wisdom of him. When the learner depends in a large degree upon another man’s thoughts and goes no farther than to accept his plans, he sees only through that man’s eyes, and is so far only an echo of the other.
God will, by his own Spirit, work directly through the mind he has put in man, if the man will only give him a chance to work, and will recognize his dealings with him. God designs that men shall use their minds and consciences for Read the rest of this entry »
In life there are many turning points and new beginnings. Opportunities to change, and improve our characters; New Years is one of them and everyday is the opportunity we most often receive.
Every year I read many books of the Bible, yet, somehow every year along with those books, I read Psalm and Proverbs again. God’s word is a never ending fountain that continues to give no matter how many times you’ve read a certain passage. Each time you read is a new opportunity for the Holy Spirit to reveal something pertaining to your soul. As I was reading, I read Psalm 52, which seems short and perhaps not too important considering it’s one of David’s “rants” and complaints against the “mischevious man” with the “deceitful tongue”. The way the chapter ended, however, impacted me.
Psalm 52 verse 9 says:
I reread it to myself and wondered. Sometimes there are times when you don’t know what to pray for because you know so many times you’ve prayed for something that wasn’t for you or wasn’t God’s will. Then sometimes you begin to wonder if you just lack faith…Sometimes we do lack faith and we resign ourselves. We are not like the woman that bothered the judge until she got what she felt she needed (in the case that it is God’s will and we just need to exercise faith and ask)… The words that impressed me the most were “because thou hast done it”, I couldn’t figure it out, but I knew it was something definite. When you say someone has done it, it’s final and accomplished.
Finally, I took my inquiries to the Bible Commentary (with comments from Ellen G. White) where I read that this was David praising God, he writes about how His name is good before the saints because He is merciful and loving. He also writes “because thou hast done it”, this phrase demonstrates David’s utmost faith that God had already answered his petition and that now all he needed to do was as he wrote “wait on thy name”. Let us each when we pray, take this simple lesson from David, it’s the simple lesson of faith and knowing that God is always in control and He has heard our prayer. Not only has He heard it but He has done it.
In the United Kingdom, the privileged presses are Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. They are called this because, under letters patent issued by the Crown defining their charters, only they have the right to print and publish the Book of Common Prayer and the Authorised Version of the Bible in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Cambridge University Press charter from 1534 gives it the right to print “all manner of books,” and Oxford University Press received a similar right when it was chartered in 1634. In addition both presses, by virtue of a separate set of letters patent, hold the explicit right to print the Authorised Version.
In most of the world the Authorized Version (also known as King James Version in America) has passed out of copyright and is freely reproduced. This is not the case in the United Kingdom where the rights to the Authorized Version are held by the British Crown under perpetual Crown copyright. Publishers are licensed to reproduce the Authorized Version under letters patent. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the letters patent are held by the Queen’s Printer, and in Scotland by the Scottish Bible Board. The office of Queen’s Printer has been associated with the right to reproduce the Bible for centuries, the earliest known reference coming in 1577. In the 18th century all surviving interests in the monopoly were bought out by John Baskett. The Baskett rights descended through a number of printers and, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Queen’s Printer is now Cambridge University Press, who inherited the right when they took over the firm of Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1990.
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