Psalm 40:1-3 NASB
I waited patiently for
the Lord;
And He inclined to me
and heard my cry.
He brought me up out
of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet
upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in
my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the
Lord.
In this life we will have trouble, hardships and
persecutions. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to turn to our Lord during
these times, and call on him for help, and seek his counsel and wisdom in
knowing what to do and how to respond to our difficult circumstances and to the
people who are hurting us.
He will come to the rescue, maybe not always in the way we
had hoped or in the timely manner we had wished for, at least with regard to
some of our requests.
But, he will help us through every challenge which presents
itself to us, and he will deliver us from us caving to our flesh during these
times. And, He will strengthen us, and give us a song of rejoicing in Him. And,
because of this, others will be encouraged who are also going through trials
and troubles.
Psalm 40:4-5 NASB
How blessed is the man
who has made the Lord his trust,
And has not turned to
the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
Many, O Lord my God,
are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts
toward us;
There is none to
compare with You.
If I would declare and
speak of them,
They would be too
numerous to count.
There are great spiritual benefits to putting our trust in
the Lord and not in ourselves or in other humans who are bound to fail us. For
one, we are at peace in knowing that God is absolutely in control of the
situations of our lives, so we don’t have to worry about what might happen to
us.
We also know that God is completely faithful in all that he
does, and that he always has in mind what is for our good, so we don’t have to
worry that others will be able to do stuff to us that God can’t handle or that
he doesn’t already have a plan in mind for how he is going to work this out for
our good and for the spiritual benefit of others, too.
Because our God is fully in power and in control over all
things, and because he is totally trustworthy, and he is always working for
what is for our best, we should not ever worry or feel as though we have to do
such and such in order to make things happen, especially if what we do is
compromising our faith and Christian principles.
Psalm 40:6-8 NASB
Sacrifice and meal
offering You have not desired;
My ears You have
opened;
Burnt offering and sin
offering You have not required.
Then I said, “Behold,
I come;
In the scroll of the
book it is written of me.
I delight to do Your
will, O my God;
Your Law is within my
heart.”
God doesn’t need our help, as though he is not capable of
working things out the way they should go. He also doesn’t need what we are
willing to sacrifice for him if we are not willing to lay it all down on his
altar and follow Jesus in surrender and in obedience to his will for our lives.
What he desires and requires of us is that we give our lives
to him and that we follow him wherever he leads us in doing what he wants us to
do, even if it gets us hated and rejected by other people, and even if it means
we will be persecuted for our faith, and even if others speak evil against us
and accuse us falsely of what we did not do, or they abandon us completely.
What he wants are followers who are eager and ready to do
his will, and in whom God’s law (his instructions in godly living) are written
in their hearts. From their hearts their desire is for the Lord and for his
commands, and they are not resistant to his instructions, nor do they try to
find ways around them.
Psalm 40:9-10 NASB
I have proclaimed glad
tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will not
restrain my lips,
O Lord, You know.
I have not hidden Your
righteousness within my heart;
I have spoken of Your
faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed
Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.
Many of us are being persecuted, are being treated badly,
and are being rejected, betrayed and abandoned physically or emotionally or
spiritually by other humans because of our stand for truth and for
righteousness. We are hated and forsaken by many because, when we stand for
righteousness, we also stand against what is wicked, evil, immoral, impure, lewd
and ungodly.
Because we stand against what God is against, and because we
stand for what God is for, the ungodly, including many who call themselves
Christians, will reject us, mistreat us, abandon us, and think we are oddballs
and out of touch with reality.
They may even call us “goody-goodies” or “holy-rollers” or
whatever other derogatory term they can find in order to try to shame us into
compromise with the world so that we don’t stand out as different. But, we are
supposed to stand out as different! That is what it means to be holy – to be
unlike, different from the world, because we are being made to be like Jesus.
Psalm 40:11-12 NASB
You, O Lord, will not
withhold Your compassion from me;
Your lovingkindness
and Your truth will continually preserve me.
For evils beyond
number have surrounded me;
My iniquities have
overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;
They are more numerous
than the hairs of my head,
And my heart has
failed me.
So, in these times when we are being persecuted or abandoned
for our stand for truth and righteousness, we call on God for mercy. We pray for
his compassion towards us in our times of trouble and heartache and suffering
for the name of Jesus and for the sake of his gospel. For, His lovingkindness
and His truth are what preserve our lives, during these times especially.
The evils which surround us at these times are those coming
from those who oppose not only us, but the true gospel. They are like an army
coming against us to defeat us, and they can be very overwhelming and
oppressive, at times, so much so that we may suffer much anguish of heart and
mind.
For, Satan’s goal is to destroy us and Jesus Christ and his
Word and his gospel message. Thus, he has gotten many humans to create a false
grace gospel to supplant the true gospel, like a mistress consuming the heart
of one’s husband so that the husband abandons his wife physically and/or
emotionally for another lover.
For, the mistress demands nothing, and requires no
faithfulness or purity, but only fulfills the lustful desires of the one
seeking her out. For, she cares nothing for the husband, only for what he can
do to satisfy her flesh, as well. She is the personification of this false
grace gospel.
The false grace gospel, as well, cares nothing for the souls
of those who come to her bed. Her goal is to appease the flesh, and to fulfill
the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life. And, so many are driven to her bosom,
because righteousness and holiness and faithfulness are not required. And,
wickedness and lewdness and immorality are not opposed, but sins are coddled,
instead. And, many people have found satisfaction in her bed.
Psalm 40:13-17 NASB
Be pleased, O Lord, to
deliver me;
Make haste, O Lord, to
help me.
Let those be ashamed
and humiliated together
Who seek my life to
destroy it;
Let those be turned
back and dishonored
Who delight in my
hurt.
Let those be appalled
because of their shame
Who say to me, “Aha,
aha!”
Let all who seek You
rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love Your
salvation say continually,
“The Lord be
magnified!”
Since I am afflicted
and needy,
Let the Lord be
mindful of me.
You are my help and my
deliverer;
Do not delay, O my
God.
So, those who are standing on the Word of God, and who are
standing for righteousness, purity, holiness and faithfulness, are often
opposed and rejected and persecuted, even within the church, by those who want
to continue in their sinful addictions without interruption.
So, this is a prayer of the persecuted for deliverance from
these enemies of the gospel of our salvation who do seek to destroy our lives, to
hurt us, and who do seek to destroy the gospel of our salvation, too (See: John
10). But, it is also a prayer that our persecutors would be brought to a place
of shame and disgrace and humiliation, I believe in the hope that they would
come to their senses and that they would repent of their sins and trust Jesus
with their lives.
But, this is also a prayer of thanksgiving for those who do
honor their God as the holy God that he is, and who do revere him, and walk in
obedience to him, and who do not live to satisfy the sinful cravings of their
flesh. It is a prayer for them, as well, that they would be victorious over the
enemy of their souls, and despite persecution, would be able to praise God and
thank Him continually.
My
Sheep
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based
off John 10:1-18 NIV
My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.
So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…
They know my voice, so they follow me.
Sunday, October 21, 2018 – Thank You, Jesus, for your watch
and your care over us who are your true sheep, and that we have no reason ever
to fear.
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