End of the month approaching. Deadlines need to be handled before the Holy Week break.
Thankful to the Lord for favor in all things, including the deal with my Mom and those folks who stole from us. In the name of Jesus, we are not shaken, we are not moved. We stand upon the name of the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Everlasting Father who is for us and not against us. He fights our battles for us. In His presence, there is fullness of joy. In His presence, there is vindication, and peace beyond understanding.
In His presence, there is much rejoicing, as we know that He hears our cries, prayers and supplications; We give thanks and praise to Him, for through Christ we know that the host of heavens responds as we speak.
God deserves all glory and adoration. Indeed, where else can we go? In His presence, we are safe. We are taught. We call upon Him, and He reveals to us things we do not know. We wait upon Him, and He will renew our strength. We abide in Him, and He abides in us. We meditate on His Word, and we bear fruit in season.
Indeed, in this moment, and at this time of the day, we are thankful. We are joyful.
No, we are not ignoring the demands of the world, and the weight of this reality. We fully acknowledge the pain inflicted upon us, and the terror the enemy attempts to smother us with – but, in spite of all this, we know that God remains as our firm Foundation – in fact, through the darkness, our eyes are further opened to the love, life and light present for us; We thus thank God more for His faithfulness, we thank Jesus more in these moments for His finished work, and we thank the Holy Spirit for His presence, here and now.
Thank You, Father, for the reading of Your Word.
Psalm 58
The Just Judgment of the Wicked
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David.
1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?
2 No, in heart you work wickedness;You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
We had no hope without Christ. No matter how we proclaimed ourselves as righteous, or no matter how loudly we insisted that we were in the side of righteousness, the fact of the matter is our hearts betrayed us.
Eventually the masks are torn, and the walls crumble – not usually because of outside stress and pressure… but the ruin comes from within. We were corrupt to the core. Our mouths betray us, for out of it comes the overflow of the heart. We speak of harmony and peace, but violence lies deeper than we probably realize.
Our perspectives were flawed. Our judgments were made on shaky ground, and on ultimately insufficient evidence and questionable intentions; questionable, that is, at its best.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5 Which will not heed the voice of charmers, Charming ever so skillfully.
Here we’re reminded that our corruption was not of our own doing, more than it being from the disobedience of Adam. According to the Word, it was because of their disobedience that sin entered into this reality, and as the wages of sin is death, so death reigned over this world. Those were the grounds for David’s claim – that, indeed, we were wicked to the core, and wicked from the womb.
Deceived, we grew to deceive others and ourselves. I’m really pushing that though we may have been raised with the best and most upright of teachers, and though we may have been groomed in the most ideal of environments, the fact and truth remained that without Christ, we would ultimately be in sin; We were ultimately wicked.
I don’t know if we would immediately agree to this, but if that doesn’t sit well with us, I suppose we can also see it, not from the perspective of wickedness, but of hopelessness. Not from the perspective of sin, but of its effect – death and oblivion.
Though we may not agree that we were wicked, we can most certainly come to terms with how ultimately hopeless and lonely we were without Christ.
6 Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them flow away as waters which run continually; When he bends his bow, Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.
8 Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes, Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the burning thorns, He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, As in His living and burning wrath.
For those of us who have let the Holy Spirit flow within, and/or simply gave the smallest amount of sincere consideration to the goodness of God which leads to repentance unto salvation, seen through Christ and His finished work – Do we therefore wish ill on those who inflict pain upon us, just as David called out to the Lord, here, against the wicked?
In my opinion, I believe they already have too much to deal with – (1) just as we used to be so burdened before Christ, and (2) apparently, our actions and decisions still have their cataclysmic consequences…
…but, I suppose any retribution the Lord gives, or vengeance the Lord takes is done in grace: (1) for the judgment of the princes and the powers of the air, and (2) for humanity still without Christ to come to Godly sorrow that leads to repentance.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
11 So that men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”
As we go through this week, may we see the downfall and ruin of the enemy of our souls, and may we see more and more brethren come to salvation.
The world is cruel… but God’s lovingkindness ultimately endures.
His love endures forever.
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