Psalm 73:25 ESV
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
Other humans are going to fail us at one time or another,
because we are all clay. We are all flesh and blood. Not one of us can ever say
we have never sinned. And, we all still have the propensity to sin.
We are physically weak, too, as humans, i.e. we get sick, we
get hurt, we get injured and we bleed. We get tired and discouraged and
depressed at times, too. And, we can be forgetful, too, sometimes. So, no human
is 100% dependable.
Sometimes other humans fail us greatly, or we fail them.
And, when we feel we have been, or we are literally abandoned by other humans,
our hearts can fail us, too. We can feel sad, lonely, and confused. And, we may
not know what direction to go next. We may, too, lose all faith in human kind,
and if we are not careful, this can turn to bitterness, too. So, we must guard
our hearts against that.
So, there is good reason why scripture teaches us not to put
our faith and our hope in human beings. For one, they might lead us astray. We
might be influenced or persuaded by them to abandon our convictions and to
compromise with the world. They might manipulate us into believing their lies.
They might deceive us with false doctrine. Or, they might convince us to follow
after the wisdom of this world rather than to follow Christ (Psalm 118:9; Psalm
146:3; 1 Co. 2:1-5; 1 Co. 3:1-9, 18-23; 2 Pet. 3:17-18).
So, sometimes it is a blessing for us to have been let down
by other humans, because it teaches us that our dependency, our hope, our joy
and our purpose for living cannot come from other people. And, it makes us
realize that our dependency, our joy, our hope and our purpose for living must
come from God, and from God alone.
For, we truly have no one but him who will never fail us, and
who will always love and support those of us who are his. And, people are never
to be our gods, either. God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit – is to
be our one and only God on whom we depend for life, for love, for purpose, and
for direction. He should be the one we desire, that we long for and thirst
after. He should be our central focus. And, he alone should be our
all-sufficiency. So, we need to stop looking to humans to be for us what only
God can be.
Psalm 73:26 ESV
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
This is not to say that other humans can never hurt us
again, though. For, when we become vulnerable, and we reach out to others in
love, and we care about people, and we give of ourselves to meet others’ needs,
we do put our hearts out there to be stomped on.
But, when our hearts are injured, we must immediately go to
God for help and support, for him to bring healing. And, we must forgive those
who hurt us, and not let that keep us from continuing to love and to care about
others’ needs. And, it is amazing the peace that will come to our hearts when
we choose to not let others’ actions towards us determine our course of action
in the future, but we allow God to determine our course, instead.
I know that I have made many bad decisions in my life based
off of how others treated me, because I let their conduct towards me affect how
I viewed myself. I let their behavior towards me bring me into depression or to
lead me into sin. Or, I let it instill fear in my heart.
For, I used to believe that other humans had power over me
that God could do nothing about, so I would literally be crushed and feel
hopeless and in despair because of how another human dealt with me. I gave far
too much weight to what others did or said about me. And, I let it defeat me.
I wish I could say I don’t ever battle with this anymore,
but I can’t. Still sometimes I must work through these emotions in prayer and
give them to God, and he has to remind me that he is my strength and my
portion, and so I must put my trust fully in him and learn to rest in him
through it all. And, he encourages my heart, and he fills me with his peace and
joy.
Psalm 73:27 ESV
For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
This is a very sad reality. I don’t want to see anyone die
and go to hell. I don’t want to see anyone destroy their own lives or the lives
of others. But, I can’t control what others do. I can influence, I can help, I
can pray, I can love, and I can offer godly counsel and wisdom. But, only those
people can make their own decisions about how they are going to live their
lives.
The reality is, though, which I know is hard to accept, but
it is God’s Word, that if we walk (in lifestyle) in darkness (sin, wickedness),
we will die in our sins, no matter what faith we profess in Jesus Christ. If we
make sin our practice, and we don’t make righteousness our practice, we don’t
have the hope of heaven when we die, but a fearful expectation of judgment and
the fires of hell. These are not my words. This is what the New Testament
teaches (See: Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:19-21; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).
So many people today are teaching a cheap grace gospel which
does not teach death to sin or living to righteousness as required for eternal
life with God. But, Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him
who gave his life up for us. His grace to us is not free license to continue
walking in sin. For, God’s grace instructs us to say “NO!” to ungodliness and
fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we
await Christ’s return (1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Co. 5:15, 21; Tit. 2:11-14; Eph. 4:17-24;
Rom. 6:1-23).
And, please know this that scripture teaches that we will
reap what we sow. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap
destruction (decay, death). But, if we sow to please the Spirit, from the
Spirit we will reap eternal life (Gal. 6:7-8).
Psalm 73:28 ESV
But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
So, we need to make the Lord our refuge and our strength. We
need to rely on him for all things and not be led astray by what others say or
do. We need to not let other humans influence us or move us away from God. We
must not let what they do to us deter us from our commitments to the Lord Jesus
or to keep us from speaking the truth of God’s Word.
We also must not let fear of our circumstances get the best
of us or feel as though we have no recourse, or that we have run out of
options, or that we can’t make it on such and such. We can’t let external
things going on in our lives control how we live our lives, either. We can’t
let sickness get us down or fear anything that might come our way that it can
somehow prevent us from continuing with the Lord and in our service to him.
Satan wants to get us discouraged and disheartened. He wants
us believing that other people or circumstances or other things can somehow
have control over us or that they can take us out. But, nothing can happen to
us but what God allows it. And, if he allows it, he can handle it, too. Do we
believe that? Do we believe he is absolutely sovereign over all things? If we
do, then that should definitely impact how we react to our difficulties.
We need to make God our refuge all the time, but especially
in times of trouble. We need to draw near to him, and lay our burdens at his
feet. We need to pray for godly wisdom to make right decisions. But, we need to
not fear the road ahead of us or what it may bring. For, God is with those of
us who rely on him for our strength and who are faithful to him. And, he will
carry us through anything that comes our way until the day he takes us home.
In the meanwhile, we need to keep on keeping on in the faith
without wavering and keep telling people the truth of God’s Word and of his
gospel message so that many will be saved from their slavery to sin and have
eternal life with God. We must be strong and courageous in the strength of the
Lord and put on that armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s evil schemes
against us, and then we must put our absolute trust in God alone.
Courageous!
An
Original Work / December 24, 2013
Based
off Various Scriptures
The Word of God throughout taught.
Some people heard, but did doubt.
Still others had faith in Christ.
By grace He purified them.
They turned from sin
And they obeyed Christ.
He opened up their blinded eyesight;
Turned them from darkness
To the true Light;
Forgave their sin by His might.
He strengthened them in their faith.
He said, “Remain my faithful.”
He called them to obedience.
By faith, they were so grateful.
By faith, they were to follow Jesus;
To daily sit and listen to Him;
To have such faith
That mountains could move;
To love those whom He gave them.
Be on your guard; courageous.
Stand firm in faith. Be thankful.
Take up the shield of your faith;
Protect against all evil.
Do not move from
The hope that you have.
Your faith in Jesus let it endure.
Hold to the truth;
Your conscience be clear.
Endure with perseverance.
Friday, March 1, 2019
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