I Weep Over Them

Psalms 59:1-4 ESV

 

“Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;

    protect me from those who rise up against me;

deliver me from those who work evil,

    and save me from bloodthirsty men.

 

“For behold, they lie in wait for my life;

    fierce men stir up strife against me.

For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,

    for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.”

 

The church gathering I grew up as part of in my younger years is presently going through a time of self-examination and cleansing and renewal where they are looking at their history, and where they have failed, and then how they got to where they are presently which is a congregation just about at death’s door. I admire their courage in taking these steps to correct the wrongs and then to hopefully not keep repeating the same errors, and to do what needs to be done to now go a better direction.

 

But hearing about the process that they are going through brought back to memory some of the ways in which they failed me and my birth family and in which they failed me personally in other painful situations. Basically, I was in abusive situations and I cried out to them for help but they did not help, well, very minimally, but they did nothing to help resolve the situations and to make them better, but they let them continue and to cause much damage to people’s lives, especially to the lives of the innocent (those not at fault).

 

Now, I forgave them, and I don’t harbor any resentment or bitterness. But thinking about these situations again did bring me to tears, and it should, because these are not isolated incidents known only to me or to a handful of people, but they are representative of what is rampant in the church at large in America today and which is being allowed to keep going on within the church (or in what is being called church). And I weep over that. I weep over the sin that is running rampant in today’s flesh-driven and market-driven churches and for all the lives that are being damaged because of it.

 

For the gospel message that is being taught in most of these churches is not the true gospel. It is a feel-good gospel message that tells people to listen to their hearts and to be their true self and to trust their gut and to feel good about who they are, even if they are engaged in gross sexual immorality. And if they begin to feel guilty about their sin, they are being told to just claim who they are in Christ so that they don’t feel guilty about their sin. So, they are basically coddling people in their sins, not helping them to freedom.

 

And what most churches are not teaching is what Jesus taught when he said:

 

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:23-26).

 

And why is this so? Why is the church at large in America (not all churches) refusing to teach what Jesus and Paul and John taught and instead they are teaching a false gospel of men which is intended to gratify the sinful cravings of human flesh? Well, Satan is definitely behind it for sure, but so are human beings at top levels in the government and in the church who are passing these lies down to their Bible colleges and Seminaries and pastoral training classes, and then the pastors are passing this down to their people.

 

But why? It is because Satan is behind it all and he wants all of us on his side, not on the side of God. He hates Jesus and he hates his gospel, so he is using men to do his dirty work for him in passing these lies down to pastors and to church congregations so that they will embrace the lies and so they will reject the truth, and this is happening all over the place here in America and across multiple church denominations (but not in all churches). But this is vast and it is destroying the true church and people’s lives.

 

And so professing Christians are engaged in all sorts of habitual sin with sexual immorality being at the top of the list of sins. And spouses and children are being abused, and people are being cheated on by adulterous spouses, and lust is not satisfied but it is taking many captive. And many people are being drawn into pornography and into extra-marital affairs and into child and spousal abuse and into all sorts of deviant behaviors (like are listed for us in Romans chapter one). And most of the church is remaining silent in these matters.

 

Psalms 59:8-10 ESV

 

“But you, O Lord, laugh at them;

    you hold all the nations in derision.

O my Strength, I will watch for you,

    for you, O God, are my fortress.

My God in his steadfast love will meet me;

    God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.”

 

God will judge his adulterous and immoral church for all the evil they have done in allowing sin to run rampant in the church and in coddling people in their sins and in lying to the people about their salvation by telling them that God will not judge them for their adulterous ways. Again, not every church congregation is like this but most are in America today. But read the words of Jesus. If we hold on to our lives of sin and if we do not turn away from our sins to obey our Lord we will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Psalms 59:16-17 ESV

 

“But I will sing of your strength;

    I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been to me a fortress

    and a refuge in the day of my distress.

O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,

    for you, O God, are my fortress,

    the God who shows me steadfast love.”

 

Our God is a refuge to those who have humbled themselves before him in submission to him as Lord and in surrender to his will. He is the strength of those who seek after him to do his will and who are walking in obedience to his commands and who are no longer living to gratify the sinful cravings of the flesh. These are not perfect people, but they are people who are following Jesus Christ in obedience to his ways and who are daily dying to sin and to self out of love for the Lord and a desire to do what pleases him.

 

We will sing of his strength! We will sing of his steadfast love to us, especially in times when others forsake us and they do not show us the love of God they should show to us. We will trust in the Lord and in his strength and wisdom for how to respond to the difficulties and persecutions we are bound to experience as his followers and that some of us are presently experiencing because of our walks of faith, and because of our testimonies for Jesus Christ and for his gospel. For our God is faithful and he cares.

 

‘Til The Storm Passes By

 

By Thomas Mosie Lister

 

In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face

While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place

'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

 

Many times Satan whispered

There is no use to try

For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by

But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise

Where the storms never darken the skies

 

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more

Till the clouds roll forever from the sky

Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_obOSQoOpQ

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