Plead My Cause and Redeem Me

“Look on my affliction and deliver me,

    for I do not forget your law.

Plead my cause and redeem me;

    give me life according to your promise!

Salvation is far from the wicked,

    for they do not seek your statutes.

Great is your mercy, O Lord;

    give me life according to your rules.

Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,

    but I do not swerve from your testimonies.

I look at the faithless with disgust,

    because they do not keep your commands.

Consider how I love your precepts!

    Give me life according to your steadfast love.

The sum of your word is truth,

    and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” (Psalms 119:153-160 ESV)

What is an affliction? It can be a “persecution, distress, tribulation,” and/or something where we feel as though we are being “hemmed in.” It can be “internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined (restricted, ‘without options’),” where we might feel as though there is “no way of escape.” Or it can be a difficult circumstance contributing to such feelings (source Bible Hub Interlinear). Or it can be a disease, an illness, a suffering, a difficulty, problem, hardship, or trouble of various kinds (MS Word Thesaurus).

Are you presently experiencing any afflictions? How are you doing with handling them? Are you trusting in the Lord to help you, to see you through this? And are you following his leading and resting in him, believing that he works all things for good for those who love God and who are called according to his purpose? Are you calling on him to heal you and to give you strength and guidance? Or are you allowing worry to overtake you, and are you running away emotionally and spiritually rather than deal with it?

There were times in my life when I ran away from such situations, for the pressure was unbearable, and my understanding of God’s sovereignty over my life was a little bit distorted. But then there were times when I stood strong and determined to not let the trials and tribulations of this life overtake me, and where I stood strong in the strength of the Lord. But I can honestly say that, for the past 22 years, I have not run away from difficult circumstances, but I have trusted in the Lord to guide me through them.

So, when we go through such difficulties, our automatic responses need to be in conformity with the will of God for our lives, and they should not be controlled by the flesh. And this doesn’t mean that we won’t feel like running away and hiding from it all, at times, but that we are determined, in the strength of the Lord, to endure, and to allow the Lord Jesus to mature us in our walks of faith and obedience to him because of what trials he allows to come into our lives for our good – all glory to God.

Now, the Lord does not promise to deliver us physically from all our trials and tribulations. But if our lives are surrendered to him, to do his will, and so we are following him in obedience to his commands, he will deliver us emotionally, mentally, and spiritually from the negative side effects of such trials on our minds and on our attitudes and on the reactions that we have, and on the choices that we make. And he will give us the strength we need to endure and to keep walking in obedience to his commands.

So, rather than allowing the ungodly of this world to influence us to give up and to run away and to back down from our testimonies for the Lord Jesus and from our walks of faith and obedience to our Lord, via whatever means they use to try to discourage us or to instill fear within us, we need to call upon the Lord to be our strength and our help in times of weakness. And then we need to reaffirm our commitments to the Lord to remain true to his word and to love his commandments and to keep following His lead.

And then we should grieve over those who resist the Lord and his word, especially if they are those who profess faith in Jesus Christ but who are living contrary to his word, still walking in sin, still practicing what is evil, still making lying their practice, and not godliness and moral purity and faithfulness and obedience to the Lord. For salvation is far from those who make wickedness their practice, even if they give lip service to God, for they do not make obedience to God their practice, but sin is still their practice.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

So, don’t let people try to convince you to back down or to run away or to be less than who God made you to be for his purposes and for his glory. But continue to walk in faithfulness and in obedience to the Lord and to his commands, and continue to deny self, die daily to sin, and to follow the Lord Jesus wherever he leads you in doing all that he says, in the power of God.

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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