Tag: hand of the wicked

In His word

Psalms 119:137   Righteous are you, O LORD, and right are your rules.  You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness.  My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget your words.  Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it.  I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.  Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.  Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight.  Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live.

Psalms 19:7-9     The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;  the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;  the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.

Nehemiah 9:33     Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.

We might say that God’s written word is an incomplete display of His character and nature; that is, there is more to God than what we can receive from His word. But what we do have in His word is accurate and properly displays to us who He is.

We might say that the God who actually exists is not different than His written revelation to us. He is greater than what can be comprehended through His written word, but He is not different than what is revealed to us through that word.

God’s words are especially helpful for establishing that He is very faithful. We often judge a person’s faithfulness by seeing if their words and their actions match. Along with other believers through the centuries, the Psalmist could say that the words of God and the actions of God were and are consistent, and show Him to be very faithful.

“Trust in the reliability of God’s word is directly proportionate to one’s trust in the Lord himself.” (VanGemeren)

“The Bible mirrors the character of God. Anyone who cares about knowing what is righteous and wants to act righteously should study the Bible.” (Boice)

Zeal implies energy and action. The appreciation of the Psalmist for the word of God was not passive. The living and active word of God brought forth a living and active response from the Psalmist. “Thus we see every man is eaten up with some kind of zeal. The drunkard is consumed with drunkenness, the whore-monger is spent with his whoredom, the heretic is eaten with heresies. Oh, how ought this to make us ashamed, who are so little eaten, spent, and consumed with the zeal of the word! . . . Oh, what a benefit it is to be eaten up with the love and zeal of a good thing!” (Greenham, cited in Spurgeon)

Most high over all the earth

Psalms 97:1  The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.  All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O LORD.  For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.  O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.   Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.  Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

I am not sure of the author but I was intrigued (and convicted once again) by this short conversation and his comments on this Psalm. Why do I grumble at the circumstance I am in?  Why do I not trust God in all things? Why do I speak of His power, might, strength and control over all there is and then fall into the trap of not believing it?  Forgive me.

When Bulstrode Whitelock was embarked as Cromwell’s envoy to Sweden, in 1653, he was much disturbed in mind, as he rested at Harwich the preceding night, which was very stormy, as he thought upon the distracted state of the nation. It happened that a confidential servant slept in an adjacent bed, who, finding that his master could not sleep, at length said: —

“Pray, sir, will you give me leave to ask you a question?”

“Certainly.”

“Pray, sir, do you think God governed the world very well before you came into it?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“And pray, sir, do you think that He will govern it quite as well when you are gone out of it?”

“Certainly.”

“Then pray, sir, excuse me, but do not you think you may trust him to govern it quite as well as long as you live?”

To this question Whitelock had nothing to reply; but turning about, soon fell fast asleep, till he was summoned to embark. –G.S. Bowes, in “Illustrative Gatherings.” 1862. The reign of the Lord in the saints.

First, This kingdom that God is now setting up is his everlasting kingdom. It will not be administered by the weakness of man, but by the power of God; not by the folly of man, but by the judgment of God. God will, in this kingdom, nakedly manifest his own righteousness, his own compassion and pity; his own love, his own peace: he will do all things immediately by his own self. And therefore all the pride and ambition, all the oppression and tyranny, and miscarriages that have been in the government of men, shall be wholly taken away. Pure righteousness and judgment and equity shall be infallibly dispensed; and infinite power, strength, holiness, goodness, and authority shall shine forth nakedly in the face of God; and that shall be the judge of all men. We shall no longer be abused and oppressed by the will of men, by the lusts of men. The poor people shall no longer groan under the burden of men’s lusts, nor sweat for the pleasure and contents of men; nor their faces any longer be ground by the hardness of the spirit of men; but they shall be under the protection of God. The great cry now of the people is, “Let’s have a King!” Ye shall have one, one that will “reign in righteousness”, the LORD himself.