Wednesday, October 12, 2016, 10:07 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “For Our Nation,” but he also put in
mind the song “Sweet Little Jesus Boy.”
Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Psalm 43:1-4 (NASB).
An Ungodly Nation (vv. 1-2)
Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an
ungodly nation;
O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
For You are the God of my strength; why have You
rejected me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the
enemy?
We, as followers of Christ,
live among the ungodly people of this sinful world. So, we need to shine the
light of God’s truth to them, as Jesus did when he walked the face of this
earth. Yet, when we do, we should expect that we will face the same kinds of
treatment as Jesus received for telling people the truth. When people are
steeped in sin, they don’t want the light of the truth shone on them, and so
many of them will hate us, and will reject us, and persecute us, and they will
speak all manner of evil against us.
We are coming into a time in
the USA when Christians are about ready to face the same kinds of persecution
as other nations of the world have had to suffer for many generations. Many of
our leaders in the government and in the institutional church have helped to pave
the way for this. All-out war has been declared against Christianity in our
world today, but not Christianity as many people think of it, but against those
who hold to the testimony of Jesus and who obey (keep) his commandments (See:
Rev. 12:17). The world (including the worldly church) opposes the gospel as
taught by Jesus and by his NT apostles, and so they oppose the gospel’s
messengers, too.
Yet, we are not to let
persecution dissuade us from sharing the gospel with a dying world. Jesus
showed us how to respond to persecution, even when he was dying, and he showed
us how to live godly and holy lives pleasing to Him. We need to follow his
example which he set for us. We can’t let the persecution and hatred of others
get us down or keep us from living for Jesus and following after his light and
truth. We have to want God’s approval far above or in place of approval from
human beings, or we won’t survive when things get really tough, which they
will. We can’t be people pleasers and God pleasers, too. We have to care more
about people and their salvation than we care about ourselves and what others
think about us if we are going to be effective witnesses in sharing the gospel
with people. One day we will be vindicated, but it may not be in this life on
earth.
Your Light
(vv. 3-4)
O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead
me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.
In America, especially, it
can be so easy to get comfortable and to want our easy chairs and our
restaurants and the conveniences of stores nearby and the comforts of home and TV
and games, etc., and to forget about God, or to compartmentalize our spiritual
lives from our secular lives. It may not be that we forget about God entirely,
but that he is not entirely Lord (owner-master) of our lives. We fit him in as is
convenient with our schedules, instead of planning our schedules around him and
what he wants for our lives. Instead of inquiring of him and asking him what he
wants for us today, we go our own way and then we expect him to bless our
plans. If we are awake in the middle of the night, and we can’t sleep, for
instance, is he first on our minds? Or, do we go to our TVs, smart phones,
tablets and the like?
This is not a time in our
history to keep playing games and watching TV shows and surfing the net and it
leading many to wrong places. Satan is on a rampage because his time is running
out, and he is after us full force. We, as a nation, and as the church in this
nation (USA), need to wake up! And, we need to have open eyes to see where this
world of ours is heading. The beast is rising, and nations are being conquered,
including the USA, and Christians are being persecuted and killed for their
faith in Jesus at alarming rates. We probably don’t even have all the
statistics at hand, because much of this is probably being done under the
radar, i.e. it is being done without other people noticing because those doing
it are deceiving the masses that something else is taking place, instead.
So, we need the Lord to shine
his light of truth on us and to lead us in the way he wants us to go, but this
will not happen if we have our faces buried in everything but him. So, he will
bring upon us some divine discipline and correction in order to get our
attention, and in order to pull us away from all which pulls us away from our
pure devotion to him. He wants us to have undivided hearts, but we can’t have
that if we are still far too attached to this world and all it has to offer us
in the way of comfort and pleasure. Sadly, it often takes some divine
discipline (trial) from God for us to be brought to his holy hill, i.e. so that
we will sit at his feet and listen to him speak his truths to our hearts, so
that we can then obey what he shows us.
Sweet Little Jesus Boy / Robert MacGimsey
…This world treats You mean
Lord
Treats me mean too
But that's how things are
done down here
We didn't know it was You
Didn't know You'd come to
save us all…
For Our Nation
/ An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is
falling.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in all
ways.
Trust Him with your life
today.
Make Him your Lord and your
Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow
Jesus.
He will forgive you of your
sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new
within.
Men betraying: Our trust
fraying.
On our knees to God we’re
praying,
Seeking God to give us
answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all
things.
Nothing from His mind
escaping.
He has all things under His
command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in all
ways.
Men deceiving: we’re
believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our
future.
For our wounds He offers
suture.
He is all we need for this
life.
Trust Him with your life
today.
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