Psalms 112:1
“Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in his commandments!”
To fear the Lord is to honor, value, respect, reverence,
worship, and obey him. It is to submit to him as Lord and to walk in his ways
and in his truth and righteousness. It is to die with him to sin and to live to
him and to his righteousness. And it is to forsake our lives of sin in order to
follow him in obedience to his commands, in the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
Not only is it our obligation to walk in the ways of the
Lord and to do what he commands, but if we are of genuine faith in Jesus
Christ, we should delight in his commandments (New Covenant). Our desire should
be for our Lord to want to obey him. We should want to live righteously. We
should no longer crave sin. Sin should no longer be our desire.
We are blessed of God who fear the Lord. We are joyful in
the Lord. We are at peace. We have God living within us guiding us each step of
the way, encouraging and strengthening us, giving us hope and healing. We have
purpose and direction for our lives. We have been freed from our slavery to sin
and God is empowering us to live holy and godly lives, pleasing to him.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom
6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Tit
2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44;
2 Pet 1:1; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13]
Psalms 112:6-8
“For the righteous will never be moved;
he will be remembered forever.
He is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.”
Now, when we put our complete hope and trust in the Lord and
in his sovereignty over our lives, we have no reason to be afraid of anything,
including bad news. That doesn’t mean we will never feel fear, but we will not
let fear overtake us to where we obey it rather than God. But we will remain
steadfast in faith and we will persevere in doing the will of the Lord.
Bad news can indeed be unsettling, and this is not to say
that we won’t be impacted by this bad news emotionally, mentally, and/or
physically. For, if we receive news that our spouse or child or grandchild just
died suddenly, that will bring us to tears, and we will grieve over that
situation. Or if we have just been told that we have terminal cancer, we may
weep. But we don’t need to be afraid of what lies ahead for our Lord will carry
us through.
And yes, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, we are going
to have enemies. Satan is our enemy, and he has many who serve him, too, who
are also our enemies. And our enemies can be members of our own households,
Jesus said, or those of our own communities, or those of our own faith, i.e. they
can be others who profess faith in Jesus Christ, including some pastors.
For those who are opposing the Lord and his righteousness,
who are not living for him, but who are still living for the flesh, to do what
their flesh desires, they are our enemies if we are living for the Lord and if
we are walking in his righteousness and holiness. And many of them will come
against us or else they will just want nothing to do with us at all.
But we are not to fear them or what they might do to us or
say to us or about us, but we are to entrust our lives fully in the hands of
God, trusting our Lord in all things, believing that he is absolutely and fully
sovereign over every aspect of our lives and that he is going to work all
things for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Psalms 112:10
“The wicked man sees it and is angry;
he gnashes his teeth and melts away;
the desire of the wicked will perish!”
Perhaps not all who are wicked, but certainly wicked people
are not going to rejoice with us in our salvation from sin and in our walks of
faith in the Lord Jesus. And some of them may also be angry with us like Cain
was angry with his brother Abel and so he put him to death, because Abel’s
deeds were more righteous than Cain’s, and therefore God approved of Abel’s
sacrifice to God but not Cain’s, and so Cain was jealous and he was angry with
Abel.
Some of them might try to compete with us for God’s
affections, or they may try to “one up” us hoping that will get them more
approval, if not from God, then from other humans. But that is a vain exercise,
for we don’t get God’s approval through our own human efforts or through some
fleshly attempt to appear better than someone else. We get God’s approval when
we humble ourselves before God and when we surrender our lives to him.
This, too, is a lot like what Jesus faced. The religious
rulers and those of influence within the temple of God in Jesus’ day were his
strongest and fiercest opponents, and it is because they were jealous of him
and of his temporary popularity among the people and they feared that their own
positions of power and influence might be threatened by Jesus. And so they
hounded him and harassed him hoping to make him look bad to others.
And Jesus said that if we become his disciples that we are
going to be treated the same way as they treated him. And we will be treated
the same way in which Cain treated his brother Abel, because Cain was jealous
of his brother Abel. But the desire of the wicked will perish. And the desire
of the righteous, which is our Lord and his holiness and righteousness, will
endure for eternity. So we need to pray for the wicked and keep trusting our
Lord.
[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-11; Rom 1:18-32;
Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb
10:26-31; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt
24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; John
15:1-21; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet
4:12-17; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb
12:3-12]
Servant
of the Lord
An
Original Work / July 26, 2012
Based
off Romans 1:1-17
Servant of the Lord;
For the gospel you’re set apart.
Promised through the prophets of old:
Jesus, Son of God.
Through Him, and for His name alone,
We receive His grace
To call people, Him to obey;
Coming from their faith.
Servant of the Lord,
For the gospel you’re set apart.
Promised through the prophets of old:
Jesus, Son of God.
You belong to Christ;
Loved by God, and called to be saints;
Serving God with whole heart and mind;
Preaching Jesus Christ;
Always praying for others’ needs;
Helping hand to lend;
Giving courage to others’ faith,
For the praise of God.
You belong to Christ;
Loved by God, and called to be saints;
Serving God with whole heart and mind;
Preaching Jesus Christ.
Servant of the Lord;
Of the gospel, I’m not ashamed;
For salvation, power of God
To those who have faith.
In the gospel find righteousness:
Being right with God.
Turn from sin, and trust Jesus Christ.
By faith, live in Him.
Servant of the Lord;
Of the gospel, I’m not ashamed;
For salvation, power of God
To those who have faith.
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