This is Jon’s Daily Email Devotionals, a newsletter about the grace of God in Jesus Christ for the encouragement of our lives until He returns.
SPOIL
I rejoice at Your word like one who finds great spoil. Psalm 119:162
Today’s verse, along with the preceding verse, is like a couplet. The awe of God’s Word (Psa 119:1), because of godly fear for Yehovah, will be met with joyful delight (Psa 119:2). Fear of the LORD and unspeakable joy are “next of kin” for the child of God, according to Mr. Spurgeon, “like two notes which are widely different apart, but yet sound harmoniously together” (Ser. # 1,641; 1882). God’s Word should bring such rejoicing in our lives. We rejoice that there is even a word from Christ at all. In some countries, the Bible is so scarce that Christians must write down their own copy from the portion that has been received in the congregation. The great spoil of God’s Word sometimes brings joy because its illuminated treasure has come after a great battle against our own flesh, or after tremendous spiritual warfare, perhaps brought on by the calamity of providential circumstance. There are times when our joy arises over the great spoil of God’s Word having come to us without any fighting at all. In the days of the famine in Israel, the lepers entered the empty camp of the Syrians, which allowed them to eat and drink to the full (2 Kings 7). Finally, our greatest rejoicing comes from the truth that the great spoil of God’s Word came from the victory won by our great King, our Lord Jesus Christ. His substitutionary, atoning death on Calvary’s tree, defeated the grip of Satan upon our lives, and by Christ’s redeeming triumph, Jesus took captivity captive and gave gifts of His spoil to you and me. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Yes, at Your Word I do delight,
To me, it is great spoil;
‘Twas won for me by Your great fight
And Your redemptive toil.