James Cagle 

The Bible says, “Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word” (Ps. 119:17).

The fact of the matter is, we are alive because God chooses to let us live (Acts17:25), while the life we live is of our own choosing (Jos.24:15). God’s given us a free will and the power of self-determination and allows us to choose the life we live, even if it’s a life of rejecting His love, and living in sin instead.

God has the power of life and death, and we have the power to choose life or death, that is union with God or separation from God (Deut.30:19,20; Jn.1:4).

The writer of our text asks God to “deal bountifully” with him. That is “to do him good, show him favor, and bless him” that he may live and continue his existence on earth, because he wanted to live a life of obedience to His Word (KJV). In other words, as long as God chose to let him live he would choose to live for God. If God would let him live he would live a life of self-denial, of cross bearing, of separation from the world, of holiness and righteousness, to honor and glorify His name. As long as God would let him live, he would walk in the light, and in fellowship with Him, and be a witness and testimony to His saving grace.

Often a Christian can backslide and get their priorities wrong and end up living for the wrong things. They become worldly and start living for vanity, for things that won’t matter two seconds on the other side of eternity. To turn them back to Him God sends trouble their way. In their trouble which could be being brought to the brink of death they cry out to God for mercy, and make a vow, that if He will let them live they will live their life for Him (Job 33:27-30; Ps. 66:13, 14).

It’s amazing how when we get into trouble that we remember that it matters to God what sort of life we’re living, and we recall our sense of right and wrong. That God’s not just interested in our living but in the life we’re living. He’s not just interested in our physical life and our material needs but also our spiritual life and spiritual needs. He’s interested in our relationship with Him. That’s why He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins, so He could freely offer salvation and eternal life to the repentant sinner. He not only offers quantity of life, as in length of days, but quality of life, as in a life of holiness, victory over sin, with purpose, meaning and fulfillment, and future rewards. Someone said, “Only one life, t’will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”

For life to be lived at its fullest it must be lived in obedience to the will of God as seen in the Word of God. It’s through obedience to God’s Word (KJV) that we come into fullness of life through fellowship with God and His Son Jesus Christ (I Jn. 1).

So, why does God let you live?

James H. Cagle is a resident of Ray City.