Tuesday, June 6, 2017, 10:19 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Much Too High a Price.” Speak, Lord,
your words to my heart. I read Psalm 62
(quoting vv. 1-8 NASB).
My Soul Waits
(vv. 1-2)
My soul waits in silence for God only;
From Him is my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.
Do you have trusted friends?
Have they ever betrayed you? Turned against you? Even those of your own
household, who are supposed to love and protect you, have they ever abandoned
you? How about your pastors, elders, deacons, trustees and Bible teachers? Have
they ever deserted you in time of need? Did you plead for help, and they didn’t
come through? Did they leave you to the wolves to be devoured? Sisters and
brothers in the Lord, have they ever betrayed a confidence? Gossiped about you,
or made unkind and uncalled for remarks about your character? And, your country’s
leaders, have they ever lied to you? Deceived you? Manipulated and used you,
and preyed on your naivety and trusting nature?
So, why do these things
happen? Well, for one, because we are all born with sin natures. All of us have
sinned and have come up short of attaining God’s divine approval (Ro. 3:23).
Satan tempts people to sin, as well as people are tempted (lured) by their own
sinful passions and desires. Some people love darkness rather than light
because their deeds are evil, so they won’t come into the light, lest their
wicked deeds be exposed. Although they have knowledge of God, for God made
plain to them what may be known about himself, they don’t praise, thank or
honor him, but instead they follow after their own sinful passions, and they do
what ought not to be done (Rom. 1).
Yet, there is encouragement
for the one who puts his or her faith and trust in God alone, and who waits
patiently for God to intervene on their behalf. Tis true that humans will lie
to us and about us, betray us, abandon us, use us, gossip about us to others, make
nasty and cutting remarks to us, hand us over to the wolves, ignore our cries
for help, and turn against us, etc. But, our God will do none of these! Even if
our mother or father should forsake us, our God will never leave or forsake
those who are his own. He will not falter. He will not change. We can depend on
him fully. He is our stronghold, who helps us to endure, to persevere and to stand
strong in our faith and on his Word, even when many oppose us and his gospel
message.
Inwardly They Curse (vv. 3-4)
How long will you assail a man,
That you may murder him, all of you,
Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
They have counseled only to thrust him down from his
high position;
They delight in falsehood;
They bless with their mouth,
But inwardly they curse. Selah.
We live in a day and time
when there are those within the world, and even within the gatherings of the
church, who are vehemently opposed to the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and they
are doing whatever is within their means to do so to try to halt the spreading
of the gospel. This includes murdering Christians worldwide, and covering their
evil deeds by saying they are going after terrorists, when they are the
terrorists hunting down Christ’s followers, in order to stop God’s grace from
spreading and his gospel from advancing. Some of them are world leaders,
bankers, CEOs of corporations, or they are leaders of our nations. Or, they
might be our pastors or other leaders within organized religion. They have
unified in an effort to stop the advancing of the kingdom of heaven, i.e. they
are working for Satan. And, Satan hates Jesus Christ, his gospel and his true followers.
It isn’t as though they are
entirely opposed to the name Jesus Christ, or to the institutional church, or
to someone believing in Jesus with human faith. If they were, most Christians
would not follow them. Remember, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light
and his servants disguise themselves as apostles of Christ and as servants of
righteousness. They seem, so far, to be ok with people calling themselves
Christians or with saying they believe in Jesus, at least here in America. But,
what they are opposed to is many of the teachings of Jesus and of his NT
apostles, which teach, for one, that Jesus is the ONLY way to God and to
heaven, and that there is no other way. They are also opposed to the preaching
of the gospel as Jesus taught it, which confronts sin in sinful humans, warns
of divine judgment, calls for repentance, and which promises hope and healing
for the penitent.
What they want is for the
whole world to unite as one mind and one voice and for everyone to remove from
their lives whatever causes division among the people of the world. Well, the
gospel divides people as saved and unsaved, as those going to heaven, and as
those who are not, and as those walking in the light, and as those walking in
darkness, who have no hope. So, that gospel has to go, they say, because it
will not unite with all people of all religions and all walks of life. And,
their goal is to have a one world totalitarian rule and a one world religion
where we all tolerate one another’s beliefs and practices, which means we have
to compromise our faith and convictions and the Word of God in order to unite
with them. NO WAY!
They have convinced many
professing Christians, or people searching out Christianity, to compromise with
the world, to accept a diluted half-truth (false) gospel, to reject the truth, and
to turn the church into a business, and/or a social club, and/or a community
organization. They have convinced them, too, that all they have to do is acknowledge
Jesus’ existence, and accept his forgiveness for their sins, and they now have
heaven guaranteed when they leave this world, no matter how they live their
lives from this point forward. And, if someone does tell them the truth, they
have already been predisposed by these liars and deceivers to reject the truth
and to hold on to the lies. And, many are buying into their lies, because it
gives them solace when they do feel a twinge of guilt over continued and
willful sin against God.
God, My Refuge
(vv. 5-8)
My soul, wait in silence for God only,
For my hope is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
On God my salvation and my glory rest;
The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.
Trust in Him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Yet, Jesus Christ is our only
hope, and our only source of salvation from sin. His Word is completely true
and trustworthy, and on it we should take our stand, and not waver. When they
try to convince us to compromise with the world of sin, to deny our Lord in any
way, and to dilute the gospel to make it more acceptable to the worldly, we
must take a strong stand and tell them “NO!” We won’t back down, we won’t give
up, and we will not deny our Lord or his gospel. We will not unite with the
world in this one world religion, which recognizes all religions as viable. We
will define sin in the same way the New Testament in the Bible defines sin,
i.e. as defined by God. And, we will continue to confront sinful practices,
call for repentance, warn of judgment, and promise hope and healing to the one
who repents of his sin.
But, we will not do this in
our own strength, but in the strength of the Lord. We will trust in HIM at all
times, and we will pour out our hearts to him and call on him for the strength
to keep pressing on in the face of much opposition. And, we will believe him
for changed hearts and lives.
Much Too High A Price / Jesus Paid It All
Phil McHugh and Greg Nelson
…You paid much too high a price for me,
Your tears, Your blood, the pain –
To have my soul just stirred at times
yet never truly changed.
You deserve a fiery love that won’t
ignore your sacrifice
Because You paid much too high a price.
Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed
me white as snow.
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