Psalms 25:1-3 ESV
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.”
If we believe in Jesus Christ with childlike faith, which
believes what his word teaches, and which acts upon what the Word says, and so
we are walking in obedience to our Lord in submission to his will for our
lives, then we are going to be opposed like Jesus was. We are going to have
people who are our enemies who will come against us, even though many of them
may profess faith in Jesus Christ and even be pastors and elders of church
congregations (or of what is falsely called “church”).
And the reason for that mainly in our world and church culture
of today is that they hate Jesus, in reality, and they hate his gospel message,
and so they have created their own version of Jesus, which is a friendlier
version of Christ with regard to sinful flesh. And thus they have also altered
the gospel of Christ to make it more appeasing and appealing to human flesh so
that they can profess faith in Jesus Christ but yet continue living in deliberate
and habitual sin against the Lord and against other humans without guilt.
Thus, those who are making professions of faith in Jesus
Christ but who have no intention of following him in obedience will oppose
those of us who are walking in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience
to our Lord. And they will especially oppose us if we are teaching the gospel
that Jesus taught and not this diluted feel-good gospel of today which is not
demanding death to sin and living to righteousness, and especially if we are
speaking out against the lies of Satan and we are exposing the lies for what
they are.
And this passage of Scripture defines these opponents of God
and of his servants – who today are also opponents of biblical Jesus and of his
biblical gospel – as those who are wantonly treacherous: Wantonly (lustfully,
shamelessly, maliciously) treacherous (unfaithful, traitorous, deceitful, two-faced,
underhanded, and dangerous). And this makes sense because they are enemies of
the cross of Christ because they do not want to have to forsake their lustful,
deceitful, underhanded, and malicious ways.
So, this is a prayer to God by one who is being persecuted
by those who are enemies of God. But this is not indicating to us that we can
pray and that God will remove all our enemies and all their evil attacks
against us and that no harm whatsoever will ever befall us. For Jesus told us
that if we follow him with our lives that we will be hated and persecuted as he
was hated and persecuted, and that how they treated him they will also treat
us. But we can be at peace in the midst of these storms via our trust in our
Lord.
Psalms 25:4-5 ESV
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.”
This should be the prayer of the hearts of all who are true
followers of Jesus Christ. We should all want to know the ways of the Lord so
that we can walk in them. And all of us who have access to the Scriptures via
paper copies of the Holy Bible, or via access to them on the internet or via
videos and radio and TV, etc., we should know the ways of the Lord. But even if
you don’t have access to the Scriptures, which you should if you are reading
this now online, we read in Romans 1 that God revealed his divine character and
will to all of us through his created works so that we are all without excuse.
But the problem, in most cases, I believe, is not that
people don’t know the ways of the Lord, but that they don’t want to follow in
his ways, but they want to go their own ways, instead. And so they find other
sources which tell them what their itching ears want to hear and which will
interpret the Scriptures for them in ways that they will accept. And so they
follow them instead of following the Lord and his Word. But we, as followers of
Christ, should want to know and to follow the ways of the Lord, in truth.
Psalms 25:19-21 ESV
“Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.”
Again, our Lord is not always going to deliver us out of
these difficult and hurtful situations. He may, in some cases, and in others he
may not. But he will deliver us through them from the negative impact of them
over our lives. And he will fill us with his peace even in the midst of these
storms of persecution and hatred and even violence (in some cases). And he will
teach us his ways, and he will counsel us in the way that we should go, and he
will strengthen and mature us through these situations for his glory.
So, even if we are being slandered, and if others are making
insulting remarks against us, or if they are mocking us and making fun of us,
and if they are showing us enormous disrespect and dishonor, and if they are
making cutting remarks against us to try to silence us and to get us to back
down from telling the truth, we must put these situations in the hands of the
Lord and we must trust him with the results. And then we can be at peace even
in the midst of conflict, because we know our God has it handled.
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh,
to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This
is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly
I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus,
Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh,
to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving,
forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping
the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking
the wandering sinner to find.
O
to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy
and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly
enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing
to suffer others to save.
O
to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour
out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make
me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit
me for life and Heaven above.
Oh,
to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd
Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come
in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp
Thine own image deep on my heart.
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