Ways and Acts

Psalm 103:7 “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.”

When I think of Psalm 103, I remember a small service some of us had at a chapel at the bottom of the Grand Canyon a few years ago. There, we took a look at Psalm 103, and the words seemed to come alive as we viewed the great works of the Lord around us. This psalm reminds us of all the wonderful things God has done and is doing in our lives.

Let’s take a look at verse 7. Notice that the LORD made known His “ways” to Moses and his “acts” to the children of Israel. How did Moses know the “ways” of the LORD? Did he just have a feeling one day of what God must be like? Did he determine God’s character by watching nature? No, of course not! God directly communicated to Moses His “ways” through the Ten Commandments. Moses never had to wonder what the LORD was like or what He expected.

Now notice that the Lord’s “acts” were made known unto the children of Israel. How did they know what God’s “acts” were? Did they just know about the acts of God from books they had read? No, they knew of the “acts” of the LORD because they saw them firsthand! Yes-brace yourself-they knew the acts of God from their experience.

I know that “experience” in our circles is sometimes belittled, but experience also plays an important role in the Christian life. Both the objectivity of the Word of God and our own personal experience are important-in that order. We as Baptists try to rationalize away the absence of God’s “acts” in our churches. We say that we believe that God can send revival, but because of the apostasy of our day and age, we cannot expect to see anything like that happen. We give mental assent to truths from the Bible, but we do not strive to experience those truths for ourselves. This is unbelief! Yes, experience without the Word of God has no authority. But the Word of God in our lives without experiencing its truth is also incomplete.

We must be careful to begin with the Word of God in our thinking; otherwise, we will veer off course. But as you read and learn God’s Word, don’t just read it academically. Strive to know God’s ways both by reading the Word and by experiencing His ways in your own life. For example, look at verse 3, “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. . . .” Many people would say they believe that God forgives sin, but how many have actually had their own sins forgiven through faith in Christ? Or look at verse 5, “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things. . . .” Do you believe that the LORD satisfies? Have you personally found satisfaction in the LORD? Go through this the rest of this psalm, and you find many truths that God means for us to experience personally!

David ends this wonderful psalm with exhortations, first to the angels to bless the LORD (v.20-21), and then to His whole creation to bless the LORD (v.22). But lastly, David exhorts himself to bless the LORD. Don’t just be satisfied to know the Lord’s ways through history-experience them for yourself, so you can bless Him for His works in your own life!