Ah, the difference a definition makes...

Today in homeschooling, Caedmon wrote this verse in his wisdom book, and then we talked about it. Mom was winging it a bit in trying to explain some of the words, and then decided just to pick up the dictionary for a thorough definition.

Amazing what I found! My heart was ministered to as much as Caedmon's was!

Here's the verse:

Psalm 40:4
How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

And here's what we learned as we studied it inductively, armed with our definition...

This is a picture of 3 groups, if you will.
1. The blessed man
2. The proud
3. Those who lapse into falsehood

The word I was trying to explain to him was the word lapse. But, I was flailing, so that's when I pulled out my trusty copy of Webster's.

Here's what lapsed means: 1. to commit apostasy 2. to sink or slip gradually 3. cease

So, then I had to know exactly what apostasy meant: a renunciation or abandonment of a former loyalty

We talked about how the man who chose to make the LORD his trust had actually had to choose at some point. He could have followed the proud..those impressed with themselves and their own strength, or possibly even their rote religion.

Or, he could have follwed those who had lapsed into falsehood.

We talked about how the ones who lapsed were people who had at one time obviously wanted to follow God, but who had somewhere along the line decided to turn their backs on Him, and were now following lies.

It just opened up such a great opportunity to share with Caedmon about how easily that can happen, and about why knowing God's Word is essential.

For, when we spend time in His Word, and learn more of His character, the likelihood that we would surrender all of that to serve a lie, becomes less.

It's just so easy to fall into the lies of the enemy. They are everywhere in our culture!

Books like "The Secret" and celebrity talk show hosts who choose to follow the New Age movement and try to convince us that it's "modern" Christianity and the countless false teachers out there today, are snares that many unsuspecting people fall prey to every day.

I want my children to learn that God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Pride is as sneaky as falsehood, in my honest opinion. Any of us could find ourselves prisoners to it.

Which is why, "How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust...".

The LORD is his trust.

The LORD is my trust...

Not me. Not my culture. Not the person whom so many others in my generation revere. Not the pop-psychology book of the day. Not the feel good karma book of the day.

Only the LORD.

I will make the LORD my trust. That's what I want to hear my children say.

That's what I want to live by.

In Him,
Jesica