- araratchurch
- May 17, 2022
- 2 min read
“I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O Lord, You Yourself know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth From the great assembly. Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.”
Psalms 40:9-11 NKJV
Many years ago I was in a group of very closely connected people as one person was elaborating on the fact that her husband was going to be out of town for a week. She went further to explain that his absence would be made worse by the fact that all of her “fun friends” were out of town. Now bear in mind that all of the people in that group considered themselves friends of this person. Well, tell the truth and shame the devil; but I can imagine that there was probably a better way to find out that you are not numbered among the “fun friends.”
We all know this scenario, because we’ve all been there. You have “friends” who are very close with you when it’s just you and the friend; but, in the company of others, they struggle to remember your name. Now, we know this happens for a number of reasons; generally it all comes down to the fact that we are messed up. I know that that “technical jargon” may have thrown you off; but you know what I mean. We develop complexes that make us insecure and self-seeking (selfish). So, we seek out the attention of some people (“fun friends”), take advantage of other people (“old faithfuls”), and combine those two phenomenon more often than we’d like to admit.
Jesus once made a stunning remark just after emphasizing the importance of making sure we don’t lose our own souls. He made clear that His goodness when we stand in judgment, will be extended to those who have acknowledged Him (and His goodness) in this life.
“If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.”
Luke 9:26 NLT
In our portion from Psalms today we see David reminding the Lord that he has never failed to tell others of the goodness of God. In other words, people were very clear in terms of his relationship to the Lord. He then asked the Lord—based on what he had just said in terms of his faithfulness to acknowledge the Lord—to be merciful, to acknowledge his need, to help him.
Fact is, you may never be somebody’s “fun friend” in this life; but, we need to make sure that we haven’t done the same thing to the Lord that we see other people doing to us. If we acknowledge Him now, He’ll acknowledge us before His Father in Heaven.
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
If you are ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of you.
- araratchurch
- May 16, 2022
- 3 min read
“I said, “I will guard my ways, Lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, While the wicked are before me.” I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; And my sorrow was stirred up. My heart was hot within me; While I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:”
Psalms 39:1-3 NKJV
Moses had been given a daunting task. As you probably know, he led the children of Israel out of Egypt, through the desert, on the way to the Promised Land. Now, if you’ve ever had to deal with large groups of people, you understand the difficulty in trying to please everybody, while keeping things running smoothly. It was no exception in the case with Moses. The people seemed to be long of “lip” and short of faith; Moses had had his fill of their foolishness.
This time, they were crying out for water. So, Moses sought the Lord as to what to do. The Lord told him to take his rod and speak to the rock and enough water would come out of the rock to meet everyone’s needs. But, this whole thing had gotten the better of Moses, and as he stood in front of the rock, he disobeyed God.
“And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.””
Numbers 20:10-12 NKJV
In Psalm 106 we see a sad commentary of this event:
“At Meribah, too, they angered the Lord, causing Moses serious trouble. They made Moses angry, and he spoke foolishly.”
Psalms 106:32-33 NLT
It may seem unfair that the Lord punished Moses, given the stress and strain of his circumstances. But God had given Moses great power; and with great power, comes great responsibility. He could not let Moses get by with using that power in a disrespectful, disobedient way.
As I have shared with you at another time: not long ago, I said something stupid in jest, that really, only I heard. But the Lord was also listening; He didn’t like it. He gave me this cautionary instruction: “Either I am going to honor the words of your mouth, or I am not.” Trust me (as the Lord helps me), He won’t have to say that to me again. Yes, He is very serious about the words He speaks and expects His representatives to be just as serious about the words they speak.
And then there’s poor old Job who was greatly tried at the hand of Satan. In the midst of his suffering, he had basically been very “sassy” with the Lord, an act that may have lengthened his suffering; but definitely, came back to cause him shame, as is indicated in his words to the Lord:
“You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.”
Job 42:3 NLT
My grandfather Aram, a great prophet of the Lord, on more than one occasion gave some interesting advice. He said that before saying something (in referencing something that might have major impact), think about it 10 times. You see, that puts time between your impulse to say something, and it actually coming out of your mouth. This gives the Holy Spirit an opportunity to temper your words.
In our portion from Psalms today we see David talking about how hard he had tried to keep his mouth closed and keep from saying something that would displease the Lord. On this particular occasion he had apparently given vent to words he now regretted.
As my sons were growing up, I often reminded them, “You can always say something; you can never un-say something.” Words are so easy to say, yet may cause more trouble than you had ever anticipated.
Allow the Holy Spirit to help you guard your tongue. Additionally, don’t allow your thoughts to reinforce your angst to the point that you say something you will live to regret.
For today let us know and understand that David knew:
Your words can get you in big trouble.
- araratchurch
- May 15, 2022
- 4 min read
“My wounds are foul and festering Because of my foolishness. I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!”
Psalms 38:5-6, 21-22 NKJV
We can only imagine what it must’ve been like to have been placed in Eden, the paradise garden of God. The first man and woman had everything they needed to succeed; the world was literally at their command. But there was just this one thing: don’t eat the fruit of that one tree. Well, we all know the rest of the story. That temptation proved to be too much for them and they fell with a thud, still resounding throughout the millennia. Thank God, through Jesus Christ, that paradise lost, will one day be regained. But back to the fallen duo.
Having directly disobeyed God, and feeling the awful change in their being, their reaction was to hide from the Lord.
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.””
Genesis 3:8-10 NKJV
We need not wonder what their “nakedness” was. The point is, they knew what it was like to be connected to the dynamo, the power, of God; they knew what it was like to be able to hear His voice without fear; now they felt isolated, as the voice of their Creator, inspired terror in their fallen souls.
I dare say none of us could identify with the level of fall this first couple experienced. After all, we haven’t walked with the Lord, looking at Him face-to-face, fellowshipping with Him as with a dear Father. But I would imagine that we all know what it feels like to fail miserably. And then—to make it even worse—we often fail in such a way that the repercussions continue to reverberate.
When we fail, and fail miserably, we’re often tempted to take the route the first couple took: to “hide.” Now, I don’t imagine we think we can actually hide from God; but we often withdraw from Him with our hearts. And, adding insult to injury, we may fail to acknowledge our responsibility in finding ourselves in such a miserable state. But, denial, especially before the Lord, just digs us into a deeper hole.
Now the truth is, it’s better if you don’t mess up big time or otherwise. It’s better if we keep ourselves listening to the Lord, watching and praying, and being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. But—every once in a while—life may deal you a sucker punch for which you were not prepared, and you fall hard.
The wonderful news is that we don’t need to hide anymore; the Lord Himself has made a way for us to obtain mercy, even when we’ve messed up big time.
“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”
I John 2:1-2 NKJV
It’s common for people to retort, “You don’t know me!” when they feel that something about them has been assumed. But, that is something we can never say to our Lord. He came, taking on the envelope of flesh, so that He could absolutely know who we are and how we feel.
“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:15-16 NKJV
In our portion from Psalms today we see David basically throwing himself on the mercy of the court, so to speak. He knew he was in a miserable situation; sounds like he got a good dose of some very bad STD. But whatever his misery was, it was real, and he knew that he had no one to blame but himself. But, instead of hiding himself from the Lord, he ran into His arms, begging for His mercy.
Unlike the Lord, I don’t know what you’ve been through; I don’t know the temptations you’ve faced or the failings you’ve experienced. But one thing I do know: His grace is sufficient. Whether you are facing a grand slam failure, or you’ve just dropped the ball somewhere, don’t make things worse by denying your sin or allowing your sin to cause you to hide from the Lord. Do what David did: run to the Lord, admitting your sin, and ask Him to help you!
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
Even when you mess up big, take it to the Lord.