Tag: securely

27.i. “I will bless the Lord who counsels me— even at night when my thoughts trouble me.”

 

Psalms 16:5 Lord, you are my portion and my cup of blessing; you hold my future. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I will bless the Lord who counsels me— even at night when my thoughts trouble me. I always let the Lord guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices; my body also rests securely.

ii. “Preserve me from the world; let me not be carried away with its excitements; suffer me not to be before its blandishments, nor to fear its frowns. Preserve me, from the devil; let him not tempt me above what I am able to bear. Preserve me from myself; keep me from growing envious, selfish, high-minded, proud, slothful. Preserve me from those evils into which I see others run, and preserve me, from those evils into which I am myself most apt to run; keep me from evils known and from evils unknown.” (Spurgeon) David’s heart was instructed first by God and His Word, and therefore his heart could also instruct him in the ways of God. How many times do we lay awake at night to try to figure out our problems? We wrestle with fear, confusion, anxiousness, and worry.  It seems as though we get on a train of thought and continue to stoke up the steam engine to get it down the track to the town of “I have figured it out” which is right next door to “I have a plan to make it right”, only to find, after numerous times of stoking we have never left the station. It is not wrong to meditate on the worries of life but it must be always in the presence of God, surrendering it into His hands, and with a heart and mind the trusts and rely on Him.  When we find those worrisome thoughts pounding in our head we need to take them captive.  Don’t allow them to consume our peace and joy.  When we recognize thoughts that are giving us a mental beating we can talk to God about them.  We can place them where we can stand back and see them and then see the mighty power, awesome love, and all-knowing Heavenly Father.  When we do this our heart turns from worry, anxiousness, fear, and confusion and starts to begin to rejoice in God, His power, His love, and how He is able to handle and make sense of it all.  Give it to Me.  Rejoice in Me.  Know that I have it all under control.  I will give you peace and rest.  Trust Me.  We can find a security, joy, peace, and rest that only God can give.

11.t. “Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.”

Nahum 2:10  Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts melt and knees tremble; anguish is in all loins; all faces grow pale!

Isaiah 13:19-22   And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.  It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

Zephaniah 2:13-15     And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like the desert.  Herds shall lie down in her midst, all kinds of beasts; even the owl and the hedgehog shall lodge in her capitals; a voice shall hoot in the window; devastation will be on the threshold; for her cedar work will be laid bare.  This is the exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one else.” What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

Isaiah 14:23     “And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts.

Isaiah 34:10-15   Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.

Joshua 2:11     And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Isaiah 13:7-8   Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.  They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.

Splendor, pomp, prosperity, pride, greed, self-worth, self-centeredness, and self-reliance are all things we can recognize in others and seldom in ourselves.  The hardest heart to look into is the one in the mirror.  Why is that?  When things are going smoothly we take a step back from God and His active Word in our lives becomes complacent.   When things are going rough, confusing, hurtful, painful, and without hope, we run to God and seek His Word to be active in our lives.  What kind of follower of Jesus Christ would honor and glorify His grace and mercy by acting like this?  We weren’t saved only to come running to God and seeking His intervention when things go south on us.  We were saved to honor and glorify Him in both good and troubling times. When we actively and intentionally choose to be in His Word, seeking to humbly live, glorify, honor, follow, trust and obey, we will soon find that deep-rooted sinful nature, we point at so often in others, is also within our hearts.  We don’t hear much of sin and the need for repentance as much as we used too.  I think some in their effort to lead people to Christ, offer Him up as a cure-all for all there problems and tack on “and also for your sin”.  It should be the other way around.  No one can come to Christ and be born again unless their hearts are pierced by the word of God and leading of the Holy Spirit about their sin and the need for forgiveness.  Any other reason to come to Christ without dealing with sin is meaningless.  Without having a heart, mind, and soul desire of God to expose our sin to us, we will meander around life apart from Him and only seeking Him in times of trials.  We were saved to become disciples of Him to proclaim forgiveness of sin, to set the captive free from sin, and to live apart from sin.  How can we do this if we are not actively seeking God to show it to us through His Word?  We have fallen deep into the hole of worldliness and the mirror to our soul is not root in the Word of God but rather in the culture we live in and what they see as right in their own eyes.  Now is the time to repent and turn away from sin.  Now is the time to seek God with humble hearts.  Now is the time for our lives to reflect thankfulness for the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for our sin so that we might have life and life more abundantly for His honor and glory.

190. “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them”

2 Kings 21:1  Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Leviticus 26:3-13    “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,  then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.  Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.  I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.  You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.  Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.  I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.  You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.  I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.  And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Jeremiah 17:20-27     Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.

Hezekiah reigned 25 years as King and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  He destroyed all of the idols and put God first.  He brought the people back to God.  He was a leader who led the people in worship of God by what he said and the actions he took against anything that was a substitute/replacement for God.  He did what was right in the eyes of God by humbly serving, honoring, following, trusting, relying upon, and obeying God.

However, his son did not.  He replaced everything that Hezekiah removed that was an abomination to God.  He led the people for 55 years down paths away from God and to the place where it says they were “doing more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed”  Can you imagine it?  In one generation Hezekiah brought the people back to God and in one generation his son led them astray.    

We can not assume the people too are not to blame as well.  They willingly followed.  “Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.”  We need to be mindful of how we view things in and around us and have God’s word richly dwelling deep within our heart, mind, and soul so that we can discern what is right and acceptable according to it rather than what is acceptable to the world.

78. I have broken the bars of your yoke

Joshua 23:14   “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you.

Exodus 23:27-30     I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.  And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.  I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.  Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

Leviticus 26:3-13    “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,  then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.  Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.  I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.  You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.  Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.  I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.  You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.  I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.  And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

There is peace when our heart, mind, and soul, cling to, rely on, and trust in Jesus Christ.  There is strength for today and hope tomorrow.  There is courage to face each and every trial.  Our heart, mind, and soul expect to see the work of Jesus Christ in our lives and through the trials and troubles common to all.  There is fruit in our lives because of Jesus.  There is discernment in our thoughts.  Our eyes and ears are opened to see truth and as well that which is false.  There is purpose and meaning to our life.

Stay in His word each day.  Fight against neglect, busyness, and complacency.  Be intentional with your walk with Jesus.

Judge right & true

“May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!”

““Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’”

Psalms 58:1  Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

Deuteronomy 16:18  “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.  You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

2 Samuel 23:3   The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God,

Exodus 18:21   Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

2 Chronicles 19:6  and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the LORD. He is with you in giving judgment.  Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”  Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”

19:9  And he charged them: “Thus you shall do in the fear of the LORD, in faithfulness, and with your whole heart:

Isaiah 11:3  And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,  but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.  Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Psalms 82:1 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:  “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?

Matthew 27:1   When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

Luke 23:50  Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man,  who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God.

Zechariah 9:9   Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

When I read Psalms 58:1 I was immediately thinking about people in the various positions of office who govern others.  How many times do we look for justice and it appears at times there is none to be found.  Of course we look at this from our perspective and what we determine to be right and true.  Sometimes the cultural mass will abide by decision of those in governance.  This does not make it right and true.  I remember hearing “right is right even if only one is doing it and wrong is wrong even if all are doing it.”  You can see this in the decision by the chief priests when they condemned Jesus to death and Joseph from Arimathea who did not consent to their decision.  Where do we find truth?  How do we know what is right? We can find this in God and His word.  If we neglect spending time in His word.  If we do not desire to know Him more and more each day. If we don’t desire to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him.  If we don’t seek Him.  God wants our whole heart, mind, and soul committed to Him.  This is a choice we make every single day.  A choice to humbly serve Him, to seek Him, to hear His quiet small voice leading us, to obey Him, to find our strength in Him, to praise Him.  To often the cares of this world and the busyness of the day take over and we soon find ourselves day after day drifting further and further away from Him and His plan in our life.  Choose to make this the day to start humbly serving, honoring, following, obeying and praising Him.  For He alone is worthy.

His Throne Forever

“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

“May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed!  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.  Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory!”

Psalms 45:6  Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness

Psalms 89:29   I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.

Psalms 89:36  His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.  Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.”

Psalms 93:2    Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.

Psalms 145:13   Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. [The LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.]

Daniel 2:44    And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,

Luke 1:32  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,  and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Hebrews 1:8   But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

Isaiah 9:6  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Jeremiah 23:5  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’

These scriptures surely give us a glimpse of everlasting throne of God, His plan to call unto Himself a people, and security in trusting in Him.  What we see and understand now is hampered by our sinful nature, but there is coming a time when we will be raised with new bodies that will never die and will be in the presence of God securely, forever, without end.  This is is promised to all who believe in, rely on, cling to, and trust in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  For this reason we humbly serve, follow, honor and glorify Him, waiting for reuniting with Him forever.  It is hard for us to imagine being imperishable, having a new body that will never die, and live in His presence where there is no more pain, death, or worries.  In Isaiah He tells us that He will create a new heaven and earth.  Live for Him now.  Follow and serve Him now.  This is our purpose this side of eternity.