- araratchurch
- Mar 29, 2022
- 2 min read
“In the Lord I put my trust; How can you say to my soul, ‘Flee as a bird to your mountain’?”
Psalms 11:1 NKJV
An example I have used before, bears repeating here. I saw something very interesting on a documentary about the hunting habits of a particular falcon found in the desert areas of the United States of America. They have a hunting technique wherein the falcons will work together to flush out their prey. You see, small prey in the desert, have found that going underneath the large thorn bushes, will keep them safe. Now, falcons hunt by diving and quickly grabbing the prey; they cannot dive into a thorn bush. So, one falcon stands outside the thorn bush and acts menacing. In actuality, the falcon is incapable of catching the prey from the ground. However, thinking that it’s in danger, the small prey will panic and run out into the open where the other falcon (flying high above) swoops down and ends the hunt.
“Flushing out” prey is a ubiquitous hunting technique found in nearly all levels of the animal kingdom. What flushing out your prey involves—as seen in the case of the desert falcon—is doing something to cause the prey to leave the safety of their hiding place and running out into the open where they are easy pickings. Even people, finding themselves in dangerous situations, have made tragic moves by panicking and leaving the safety of their hiding place.
Satan well knows the flushing out technique. He uses it when trying to attack those who have put their trust in God through Jesus Christ. He knows that he is limited as to what he can do to the child of God. So what he does is to attempt to make the child of God panic and run out of the shelter of their trust in the Lord.
Sometimes, leaving your place of safety in the Lord is provoked by allowing circumstances to make you begin to walk in fear. Fear can cause panic and the letting down of our confident trust in the Lord, leaving us open to the attack of the enemy.
In our opening portion from Psalms today we see that David knew very well that his refuge was the Lord. He knew that if he was trusting in the Lord, he had no need to walk in fear of men.
“In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Psalms 56:11 NKJV
As well, David knew that there would always be someone, or something, provoking you to abandon your trust in the Lord to go it on your own. That never ends well.
So, no matter what is going on, no matter what others are doing, let us know and understand what David knew:
You don’t need to seek another refuge if you are already hiding in the Lord.
- araratchurch
- Mar 28, 2022
- 3 min read
“The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts. His ways are always prospering; Your judgments are far above, out of his sight; As for all his enemies, he sneers at them. He has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved; I shall never be in adversity.””
Psalms 10:4-6 NKJV
My mother was about four years old; her mother, having recently given birth to my mother‘s brother, was laying in bed, recuperating. My mother, being a very hyperactive child, was running amok. At one point, my grandmother (Addie Mae) said, “Myrtle, if you do that again, I’m gonna spank you!” To which my mother replied, “You’re always saying that, but you never do it!” Well, this was before Myrtle knew Addie Mae very well. Addie Mae called to someone in the house and told them to bring Myrtle and lay across her lap; which they did. At this point, Addie Mae did the “train up a child in the way he should go” beat on Myrtle’s little behind.
What’s the point here? In this life, it is true that evil often goes on punished. As well, it might go unpunished for some great length of time, leading the wicked to believe they will never be punished.
I know of political leaders who—had they been anybody else—would, at the very least, be in jail. Yet, their money and influence buys them a pass. Additionally, by the way some of our political leaders who espouse abortion and all other kinds of heinous acts, speak, they believe that everything is alright between them and the Lord. Though not appointed to be their judge, I will say that their lives, their beliefs, are totally inconsistent with any honest interpretation of the word of God. And yet, they apparently think even God is impressed with them.
“Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
Ecclesiastes 8:11 NKJV
I was once talking to the Lord about a religious leader who was living a very duplicitous life and had actually been “caught” several times. Yet, they always seemed to get out of it to continue doing the bad things they were doing. The Lord pointed me to the above scripture from Ecclesiastes. It’s so true. Because of the fact that the wicked are not immediately punished, or substantially punished, they continue doing what they do: evil. So what’s the problem here? In this case, there was a distorted view of the mercy of God, interpreting mercy, as license to do whatever they wanted. (God have mercy on us all! Our flesh is weak!) But, ultimately, the problem is having no fear of the Lord. We have seen—writ large—what happens in a society when criminals are given a pass. They don’t fear authority; they don’t respect authority; and they become a blight on society.
In this portion from Psalm 49 (attributed to the “Sons of Korah”), we see the arrogance of the wicked who have no fear of the Lord:
“Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever, Their dwelling places to all generations; They call their lands after their own names.”
Psalms 49:11 NKJV
In our opening portion of Psalms today we see that David is acutely aware of the dynamic of there being no fear of the Lord in the wicked. He notes that they apparently think they will never be called to give an account. And, a lot of times it does seem that way. But, just because they don’t fear the Lord, doesn’t mean that He should not be feared. As we talked earlier in our time with David, the favor of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord, go hand-in-hand. Without fear of the Lord, you cannot, will not, please God. B
For our purposes for today, I want you to understand that you are wasting your time when you try to figure out why evil people are doing what they do. The answer is very simple: they have no fear of the Lord; they think they’ll always get by; they are wrong. Just as Addie Mae exacted punishment on disobedient Myrtle, so the judgment of the Lord is unescapable.
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
The wicked have no fear of the Lord. But they should.
- araratchurch
- Mar 28, 2022
- 3 min read
“Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide in times of trouble?”
Psalms 10:1 NKJV
When somebody else is going through a hard time and they feel that somehow or another the Lord has turned His face from them, it’s very easy to encourage them and reassure them that God does care and that He is not hiding Himself. But what about when it’s you feeling forsaken of God?
It’s undeniable, there are times that—for whatever reason—we may feel that the Lord has forsaken us. Now, if we’ve been in open sin and rebellion against God, or living against His word, we can understand that we have lost touch with Him through our own doings. We are the ones who are “lost,” not God. But, there are times when, though you feel you are doing the very best you can, you find yourself in a tight place, and suddenly it seems the Lord is absent—just when you needed Him the most!
I don’t think anyone would argue that Jesus was somehow mistaken when He cried out on the cross feeling forsaken by God.
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?””
Matthew 27:46 NKJV
Now, we could argue that since Jesus was taking on the Sin of the world, the Father had to turn away. Or we could say that because He references “My God,” rather than “My Father,” as He generally did, the part that He now felt of God was only His judgment and not the Fatherly relationship. But, whatever was going on, it was real and it was bad. And, Jesus endured that for us!
In our opening portion from Psalms we see that David was feeling forsaken by God, a theme often expressed in the psalms of David. As a matter of fact, Jesus was quoting from Psalms 22 when He spoke “Why have you forsaken me?” from the cross!
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.”
Psalms 22:1-2 NKJV
But, every time David talked of the feeling of being forsaken by God, he would always follow up with praises of God, expressing the goodness and steadfastness of our Father!
“Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the Lord will take care of me.”
Psalms 27:9-10 NKJV
So what is the summation? Simply put, we all feel forsaken by God at times. But we must know that He has not forsaken us even though we don’t “feel” Him in that moment of crisis. Reflecting back to what we considered earlier, Jesus Himself felt forsaken by God. He experienced that in the midst of taking our punishment. So, with that, won’t He also come to your aid and make Himself known to you when you cry out to Him?
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
It sometimes seems that God is hiding from us. But He isn’t.