Smooth as Butter

Sunday, October 16, 2016, 11:00 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “You Raise Me Up.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Psalm 55 (Select vv. ESV).

Anguish of Heart (vv. 4-8)

My heart is in anguish within me;

    the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

Fear and trembling come upon me,

    and horror overwhelms me.

And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

    I would fly away and be at rest;

yes, I would wander far away;

    I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah

I would hurry to find a shelter

    from the raging wind and tempest.”

When trials come our way, which they will, to test us, and when enemies advance against us, whether they are human or otherwise, we may feel fear and anguish of heart, and we may even be tempted to retreat so as to spare ourselves further suffering. As humans, we want to be comforted, and we don’t want to have to suffer. So, our natural inclination is to escape the pain.

Yet, if God is in our suffering, i.e. if he has brought this upon us, because he has something he wants to do in our lives through it, if we try to escape, we are just running from the good that God wants to do in our lives. And, we may miss out on all the blessings he has for us. And, we may even increase the suffering, rather than alleviate it, because we are running from God.

Sometimes people, in an effort to escape pain and suffering, actually cause more pain and suffering, because they escape into things which are sinful, trying to pacify or medicate themselves, thinking that it will make things better, but it only makes matters much worse. So, rather than trying to find a way out from under our suffering ourselves, it is always best to trust our circumstances into God’s mighty hands, and believe him to deliver us from or through our difficulties. The only way to true peace is through resting completely in him, and allowing him to rescue us in his way, and in his timing, and to teach us what we need to learn through our trials.

I know God is teaching me much through my present trial, so I thank him for it, because this is what I needed in my life right now.

My Familiar Friend (vv. 9-14, 20-21)

Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;

    for I see violence and strife in the city.

Day and night they go around it

    on its walls,

and iniquity and trouble are within it;

    ruin is in its midst;

oppression and fraud

    do not depart from its marketplace.

For it is not an enemy who taunts me—

    then I could bear it;

it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—

    then I could hide from him.

But it is you, a man, my equal,

    my companion, my familiar friend.

We used to take sweet counsel together;

    within God's house we walked in the throng…

My companion stretched out his hand against his friends;

    he violated his covenant.

His speech was smooth as butter,

    yet war was in his heart;

his words were softer than oil,

    yet they were drawn swords.

One of the worst trials, from an emotional standpoint, I believe, is to be betrayed by a close friend or companion. We naturally want to trust people who are close to us, with whom we have fellowship and friendship. But, when they lie to us, and they pretend to be our friends, and then they stab us in the back, it hurts. When we get close to people, to a certain extent, we give of ourselves to them emotionally, and we feel a closeness (a bond; affection) with them. So, when they betray us, and we learn that their words to us were not truth, but lies, it breaks that trust, and our emotions get hurt.

We have to be so careful that we don’t put too much faith and trust in humans. I don’t believe we should just go around distrusting everyone, and suspecting everyone of ill intentions, but in the same respect, we need to realize that, as humans, we are all capable of sin, and all of us, at some point, may let another of us down. We should not put people on pedestals, in other words, because they will probably fall off at some point. We should put our trust solely in the Lord, and not in man, for man is not to be our God or our idol. And, we should test everything we hear and see coming from humans to see whether or not it is truth and/or if it is of God.

Some politicians and preachers are notorious for lying, because they have the trust and confidence of the people, and they know they can dupe them into believing just about anything. So, as we are coming into this time of elections here in the USA, which is really crazy this year, it behooves us that we not put our trust in humans, but in God alone. No man or woman is going to save this nation or any other nation from what ails her. When we vote, if we vote, we are saying, in essence, that we trust this person and that we are putting our confidence in him or her to do what he or she says they will do. But, so many of their words are smooth as butter, i.e. they use pleasant words – words of friendship, love and concern – to deceive and to betray. So many of their words can’t be trusted at all.

The Lord has been showing me so much about what goes on behind closed doors in our nation and in the world of politics, and he has been revealing these things to me via his Spirit for over 10 years now. And, most of these things have been confirmed through other sources, as well.

Let me just say here that I believe the beast of Revelation is rising and is conquering nations and people and Christians throughout the earth, and that the US government, in particular the White House, is party to this, and has led the way in this in many respects. The Lord led me to read hundreds of news articles over these years concerning the various nations throughout the globe which were suffering turmoil, unrest, breakdowns of governments, and riots, etc. As I followed these news stories, I began to see a pattern, i.e. a certain M.O. (modus operandi) which was taking place in each one of these situations.

First is created a situation of chaos, unrest, crooked elections, uprisings, riots, potential coups, etc. and then the “international community” comes to the rescue. These nations cannot handle their own problems, it would appear, so they need our help. So, we help them to form “transitional governments” until a new government can be established in these nations, but the new government is of the beast, i.e. the New World Order. And, the same M.O. is happening now in America, and is becoming more and more obvious each day with all these purported mass killings and all this talk of election fraud and the demonstration in the news, showing we don’t have candidates capable of running this country, because they can’t be trusted.

Basically, America has been on a spiral down for some time now, and now she is being taken over by the New World Order “beast,” who is conquering her right in front of our faces and on national television, too.

Cast Your Burden (v. 22)

Cast your burden on the Lord,

    and he will sustain you;

he will never permit

    the righteous to be moved.

So, what should our response be to all that is going on within our nation and in the world? Well, we should pray. We should inquire of God as to what is truly going on, asking him to open our eyes to the truth, because not many people these days are telling the truth. We should stop putting so much trust in humans, but our trust should be solely in God to be the one to save us from what ails us, because he is the ONLY ONE who can! And, we should ask him what we are to do about this election, and even if there really is a point to voting at all. I believe our electoral process is rigged, and has been for a very long time, and that world powers have already chosen for us who will be our next leader(s). So, I stopped voting in 2008, before the national elections, because the Lord convinced me there was no point.

And, we should place our lives and our future into God’s hands, because he already has it all planned out for us. The signs are everywhere that we are now headed towards a one-world totalitarian government and a one-world religion, and it won’t be long until life as we have known it in America is going to drastically change, but not for the better. Yet, our Lord will never leave us or forsake us. If we are truly his, by faith in Jesus Christ, he will sustain us, and he will help us and lead us in the way we should go. And, he will give us his grace to make it through these trials which have come to test our faith and to purify us, so we don’t ever have to be afraid of what is coming next. He will give us all we need to make it until he decides to take us home to be with him forever. So, stand strong in his might and rest fully in him, and he will fill you with his peace.

YOU RAISE ME UP / Brendan Graham / Rolf Lovland

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be.

http://www.thestraitgate.org/music/you-raise-me-up-selah/