Psalms 34:4-7 ESV
“I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.”
We live in a world and in a society today where “fear”
appears to be the factor in most every news story. Everything seems to be way
over exaggerated and amplified beyond what it is. Everything seems to be the “worst
ever.” For, we are being encouraged daily to fear storms, viruses, politicians,
the future, other nations, wars, and uprisings, etc.
Now, I am not saying that these things are not real threats,
but at least in America, most have been overexaggerated, so far. And there
seems to be this constant campaign to make us afraid of everything and to lead
us to reliance upon our government and our military to be the ones to protect
us and to provide for us during these times of crisis.
Are there bad things going on in the world? Most certainly!
But fearing them never changes anything and only makes us sick and miserable
and locked down and immobile. And the government and our military are not to be
the ones in whom we are to place our trust, especially they are not to be our “saviors.”
Our trust is to be solely in God, in Jesus Christ to save us.
And when our trust is solely in the Lord, we are delivered
from our fears because we believe in the sovereignty of God, that he has all
things under his control and that nothing happens but what he allows it and he
allows it for a purpose, and he will bring us through it if we will trust him.
But we are to fear (respect, reverence, worship, and obey) our Lord in all
things.
Psalms 34:11-14 ESV
“Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.”
Again, the fear of the Lord is us honoring, revering,
respecting, worshiping and obeying our Lord. And it is trusting him with our
lives, and it us resting in him, and it us surrendering our all to him and
letting him be our Lord (Owner-Master). It is us trusting the Lord with our
lives and with our circumstances no matter how bad things get, too.
It is us also believing what God says and it is us taking it
to heart and us submitting to him as Lord and doing what he says we are to do. It
is not us taking advantage of God and of his grace thinking that we can live
however we want now that we are “saved” from our sins. We should be those who
take God and his word seriously by how we live our lives.
Therefore, we should be truth tellers, not liars. We should
be people of moral purity and integrity, not those who portend one thing on the
outside while secretly they are living in sin, doing what is against God and
against his word. We should not be those who are engaging in evil deeds,
thinking no one will know, but we should turn away from evil and do good.
Too many professers of faith in Jesus Christ today have this
false notion of their salvation from sin, and so they feel at liberty to keep
on in their sinful practices, only now without guilt and without the fear of
punishment. But that is a lie from hell. And their dirty little secrets will
one day find them out and God will judge them because they refused him and his
salvation.
Psalms 34:15-18 ESV
“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.”
When this says that the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,
he is speaking of those who are living righteously, who are following the ways
of the Lord, and who are doing what the Lord says we ought to do. They are
those who are living morally pure lives in integrity in the strength of the
Lord, by his grace, in obedience to his commands, because they love Him.
Now, this is not saying that we won’t have to go through
trials and tribulations. We will. This is not saying that we won’t be
mistreated or misunderstood or falsely accused of things we did not do or say.
We will. Jesus said that if we follow him we will be treated like he was. We
will be hated and persecuted in much the same way as he was.
So, being delivered from all our troubles is not necessarily
a physical deliverance out from our difficulties, but it could be the Lord
delivering us through our troubles by filling us with his peace and calm
reassurance that he is in control and that he is our strength and our help even
in the direst of times and circumstances. He is our peace in times of storms.
But for those who make sin their practice, who do evil, who
hide their sins in secret, thinking no one knows, who engage in all kinds of
wickedness and immorality, and then who lie to cover up their evil deeds, it
will not end well for them, no matter what faith they profess in Jesus Christ.
They will not inherit eternal life with God, but they will face the wrath of
God.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 6:44; Jn 8:31-32, 51; Jn
10:27-30; Jn 14:23-24; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom
8:1-17; Acts 26:18; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 1 Co 15:2; 2 Co 5:10, 15, 21; Gal
5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Heb 3:6,
14-15; Heb 10:26-31; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 2:24-25; 1 Jn
5:3]
Broken
Cord
An
Original Work / August 29, 2018
Your bond is broken
With your Lord and Savior
And your testimony is
Separate from Him.
Your words not matching
Your actions today.
Repent of your sin and
Bow down and pray.
Live what you testify
In truth always.
Purity’s lacking in
Your life and witness,
For you profess one thing,
But other you do.
Not moral, spiritual.
Still of the flesh.
Not living in truth to
What you confess.
Lying about it
Puts you in a mess.
Living a lie is your practice,
‘tis true of you.
Masquerade righteousness –
None of it true.
Your heart is not given
To your Lord God.
Because of how you live,
You are a fraud.
Turn from your sin and
Give your life to God.
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