Why are You Downcast?

Psalms 42:8-11 ESV

“By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,

    and at night his song is with me,

    a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God, my rock:

    ‘Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

    because of the oppression of the enemy?’

As with a deadly wound in my bones,

    my adversaries taunt me,

while they say to me all the day long,

    ‘Where is your God?’

“Why are you cast down, O my soul,

    and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

    my salvation and my God.”

Who is our enemy? Satan. But there are people who are our enemies, too, who do evil against us, who betray us, who speak evil against us, who are against us for who we are and for what we do. And who are we? We are those who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives. So by God-persuaded faith in him we have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness.

And so Satan is against us, and those who are not serving Christ with their lives are largely against us, too. But mostly those who profess faith in Jesus Christ who are not living for the Lord and who are still living in sin will be against us because they won’t like it that we take God and his word seriously and that we are no longer living worldly lives and that we are no longer doing the things we used to do, but now we are living for the Lord and we are sharing the truth of the gospel, and we are exposing the lies.

They won’t like it that we hunger and thirst for righteousness and not for the things of this sinful world and that now we are living holy lives, separate (unlike, different) from the world because God is conforming us to the likeness of the character of Jesus Christ. And so they will contend with us and fight against us, and they will oppose us and what we are sharing with regard to the truth of the gospel, because it is not the gospel message that tickles itching ears and that appeases human flesh.

But we can’t let opposing forces discourage and dishearten us. For people are going to think what they are going to think and we have little control over that at all. All we can do is keep surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ, keep obeying his commands (New Covenant), keep following him wherever he leads us, live holy lives unto God, and not walk in sin – all in the power of God living within us. And then we just need to give our opposition over to the Lord Jesus and trust him to work in their hearts.

We just need to keep trusting the Lord and following him in his ways and in doing what his word teaches we must do and how we must live as followers of Jesus Christ. Even if we are few in number and the majority appear to be following a cheapened and altered gospel message which gives them permission to keep sinning deliberately and habitually while claiming Jesus as their Lord and Savior, we must stay the course and keep following the Lord even if it seems sometimes as though we are standing all alone.

For we are not alone. God is with us, and he is our source of strength and comfort in times of weakness when we are feeling overwhelmed by all the opposition and the lack of genuine biblical fellowship with other likeminded followers of Christ. For he has not forgotten us nor has he forsaken us. But he promised us that if we follow him with our lives that we will be hated and rejected and persecuted like he was. So it should not surprise us when that becomes our present reality.

So, we need to find our comfort and our strength in the Lord and in his word and in knowing that we are doing the will of God and that God is using us in the lives of others even if we can’t always see the results of that. And all we can do is just keep sharing the truth even if it seems as though few are listening, and then commit it all to the Lord and trust him to change human hearts and lives, even if we don’t see that take place in our lifetime. For our job is just to obey the Lord and then we leave the results in his hands.

Then we keep on loving people with the love of God, even our enemies, and we pray for them, and do good to them, and we say to them what is for their good and what will benefit them spiritually if they will listen and if they will obey the Lord. And we just pray for wisdom in knowing what to say and when to keep silent. And then we obey the Lord when he says, “speak,” even if we know we are going to get hated and rejected in return. For we don’t know what the future holds and how God is going to use our obedience.

And we have to be okay with that, without having to see the results of what God is having us do and say. And we have to be okay with having to stand alone sometimes when others appear to be going the way of the world, instead. For we are called to lay down our lives for other people to see them come to genuine faith in Jesus Christ and to see them now walking in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord and no longer in sin, even if we don’t see the fruit of our labors while we live on this earth.

So, don’t get downcast, and don’t get discouraged when your work for the Lord that God is having you do doesn’t appear to be bearing much fruit, and when it seems as though the majority of the people, even including many who also profess faith in Jesus Christ, have no use for you and want nothing to do with you and who think something is wrong with you because you believe God’s word when it says that we must die to sin and live to righteousness and that if we don’t, we won’t have eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; 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; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; 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] 

Hear my Voice 

An Original Work / July 9, 2012

Based off Psalm 27

The Lord is my great salvation.

He’s the stronghold of my life.

When my enemies attack me,

My heart will not fear at all.

Though a war break out against me,

Confident in Christ I’ll be.

Of the Lord, I ask that I may

Live with Him eternally. 

Hear my voice, Lord, when I call you.

Merciful to me You’ll be.

Though my relatives forsake me,

My Lord God will receive me.

Teach me Your way, O my Jesus.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

I will sacrifice to my Lord.

I will sing with joyfulness.

I am confident that I will

See the goodness of the Lord.

All the richness of His blessings,

My Lord has for me in store.

He asks me to be of courage;

To be strong and to take heart,

Patiently as I wait for Him,

And from Him to ne’er depart.

https://vimeo.com/119813963