I Hate Double-Mindedness
Psalms 119:113-115 ESV
“I hate the double-minded,
but I love your law.
You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
Depart from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.”
What does it mean to be double-minded? It means to be of two
minds and of two souls and of two selves, wavering, vacillating; to have a mind
that is divided, half-hearted, and conflicting, which sways back and forth
between two opinions like on a teeter-totter (a seesaw). A person who is
double-minded may be like a Jekyll-Hyde personality. Or it can merely mean to
be hypocritical, professing one thing outwardly while living something differently
in private. A psychological term for this may be narcissism. But the Scriptures
do not give any excuses for such behaviors as this.
So, someone who is double-minded may profess faith in Jesus
Christ but not live it, say they want to obey the Lord but then live the
opposite, and say they want to be free from addiction to sin and yet continue
in it, saying they are trying to do right while habitually and deliberately they
continue to do wrong. They will claim that they call on God for help but then
they don’t receive his help, that they will pray to God for wisdom and then
they refuse the counsel he gives them. It is a lot like someone trying to go
right and to go left at the same time. It is physically impossible to do this.
They continually make promises they don’t keep and
commitments that they don’t fulfill and they say one thing to some people while
they will say the opposite to other people. Sometimes they are chameleons who
blend into whatever is their environment. They are usually charmers and
deceivers and some of them are abusers and users, too, who take advantage of
the weak, the trusting, the naïve, and the gullible. Not a word they say can be
trusted unless you see the evidence of it right before your eyes, and even that
can be deceptive. And some of these people are politicians and pastors, too.
So, this is one of the reasons why we can’t put our trust in
other human beings, plus all human beings are flesh and blood and thus fallible
in themselves. So our trust needs to be fully in God and not in flesh and
blood. Our happiness should never rest in how other people treat us but we must
get our joy from resting and trusting in the Lord and in following him wherever
he leads us to go. We must not let the double-minded discourage or dishearten
us but we must rely and depend upon the Lord for our strength, for courage, and
for the perseverance to keep going forward.
Hold Me Up, Lord
Psalms 119:116-117 ESV
“Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
Hold me up, that I may be safe
and have regard for your statutes continually!”
The double-minded are often manipulative people who take
advantage of the trusting nature of other humans. Many false teachers of the
gospel are double-minded people, giving off an appearance of one thing while
living the opposite. And they are very good at convincing many people of their
lies and at tricking people into believing them and their lies, and into
rejecting the truth, and into rejecting those who are speaking the truth.
So, if you are a person of integrity who is teaching the
truth of the gospel in all sincerity of a heart of love for God, and if you are
also opposing the lies of Satan and those of these double-minded who are
twisting the truth to their advantage, then these double-minded charlatans, who
are trying to sway the people into believing their lies, are not going to be
happy with you telling the people the truth and exposing the lies.
And so these who are double-minded are going to likely
oppose and even come against (attack) the single-minded who are devoted to
Jesus Christ and to the purity of his word. And so this would be cause for the
righteous to call on the Lord to uphold them according to the promises of God
and to not let them be put to shame by these liars and deceivers who are of two
souls. So this is a prayer to be rescued from evildoers.
Their Cunning is in Vain
Psalms 119:118-120 ESV
“You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,
for their cunning is in vain.
All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,
therefore I love your testimonies.
My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments.”
Those who would pray such a prayer as this are those who
know what it means to walk in the fear of the Lord. They take God and his word
seriously, they believe what He/it says, and so they choose to walk in the ways
of the Lord in his power and strength and wisdom. They don’t buy into a
cheapened form of the gospel or into a false image of God/Jesus which are
intended to deceive naïve minds into believing lies and not the truth.
They know the truth, they believe the truth, and by the
grace of God they are living the truth in His power. All glory to God! For they
have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and they have been raised with
Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness
and holiness. And now by the grace of God they walk (in conduct, in practice)
no longer according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
And so they are passionate about following the Lord in
obedience, about following in his ways, about teaching the truth of his word,
and also about exposing the lies. For the lies are captivating many people and
they are leading them astray, and they are convincing them that a mere
profession of faith in Jesus is enough to secure them heaven as their eternal
destiny regardless of how they live their lives on this earth. And this is
sending many people to hell on a false hope of heaven as their eternal home.
And those who love God and who love his word and who love
their fellow humans grieve that this is taking place, and that so many are
being deceived by these master manipulators. And they even grieve over the fact
that there are so many double-minded people who profess the name of Jesus and that
there are so many liars and deceivers who are deceiving naïve minds. And they
lament these things in their prayers to the Lord Jesus.
Now I say to those who are following these liars and
deceivers to please read the Scriptures in their context, and please obey the
Lord and do what he says, and repent of your sins, and do what is right and
cease to do what is wrong, for your eternity depends on it. For the Scriptures
teach that if sin is what we practice that we will not inherit eternal life
with God. But if obedience to our Lord and righteousness are what we practice,
by the grace of God, then we have the hope and assurance of heaven as our
eternal home.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11;
Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-32; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21;
Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; 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;
Heb 10:26-27; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-17; 1 Jn
1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
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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