- araratchurch
- Apr 26, 2022
- 3 min read
“The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! You have given him his heart’s desire, And have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah His glory is great in Your salvation; Honor and majesty You have placed upon him. For they intended evil against You; They devised a plot which they are not able to perform. Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces.”
Psalms 21:1-2, 5, 11-12 NKJV
OK, I’ll admit it, I wish everybody liked me. When I was younger I remember going into situations assuming that I would be liked. You see, I thought that other people were like me: I “liked” people until they gave me a reason not to like them. I soon came to find out that some people have the exactly opposite philosophy; they dislike until they find some reason to like. Even beyond that, there are some people who are going to dislike you just because of what you stand for (in their estimation). That being the case, we should actually wear as a badge of honor the fact that some people do not like us. Their disdain of us only confirms that we are standing in opposition to the kingdom they serve: the kingdom of this world. Sadly, I have seen people do ridiculous things in order to get the approval of this or that group of people. They have gone against their principles, wise counsel, and even the threat of eternal consequences, just to fit into a group or to prove that they are somehow cool or relevant.
Now—turning back to the topic of people disliking us—it even goes past the point of people not liking those who stand in opposition to their philosophy or way of being and doing; they begin to plot against those who might shed light on their evil agenda. Remember, evil is not “happy” just being able to be evil; evil wants to destroy all that is good and take away all the rights of those who they see as being in opposition to their agendas.
“Woe to those who devise iniquity, And work out evil on their beds! At morning light they practice it, Because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and take them by violence, Also houses, and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, A man and his inheritance.”
Micah 2:1-2 NKJV
Yes, the Bible has a lot to say about evil plotters; none of it’s good. Sadly, their end will not be good either. But no matter how much evil may plot against you, no matter how much evil may desire to take ultimate control, in the end, we win!
In our portion from Psalms today we see that David is expressing his great joy in the salvation of the Lord, even in the face of evil plotters. He is identifying with God, and the ultimate salvation of the Lord, knowing that he is on the Lord’s side. We saw this sentiment expressed in another place in the psalms early on in our journey with David. Consider this portion from Psalms 2:
“Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:”
Psalms 2:1-5 NKJV
Make no mistake, if you base your happiness, your joy, your sense of well-being, on whether or not people are plotting against you, I’m guessing you’re never going to have joy or true happiness. Why? If you stand for righteousness, if you are a light shining in darkness, you are necessarily a target. At once, we are a light showing the way to those who seek to be rescued from their dismal state, however, those who have thrown in with the side of evil, can all the better see you because of your light. But, no matter how hard evil tries, no matter how—at times—it may seem to have succeeded, we can take joy in the salvation of the Lord. Remember, evil plotters can’t plot their way out of hell, nor can they plot our way out of the loving care of our Father and our ultimate home with Him.
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
We can have joy in the Lord’s salvation even when surrounded by evil plotters.
- araratchurch
- Apr 22, 2022
- 2 min read
“Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!” The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, And the Lord sits as King forever. The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.”
Psalms 29:1-11 NKJV
On this 40th day in our journey of “100 Days with David,” I feel to speak a prophetic word to you (please know that the Lord pointed me to the above psalm after He gave me the following prophetic word):
Great storms produce torrential rains that turn mountain creeks into raging rivers. As the water accumulates in the high places it flows explosively down to the valley. In so doing, it carries along the way all the debris in the creek bed. All of this debris was along the way but the water current was not strong enough or wide enough to dislodge it…until the great storm in high places. Then, at once, all this debris is seen going by, now turned into hurdling objects of destruction. Anyone in the creek, now turned into a raging river, will also be swept away. Your part is to stand apart from it and not allow what you are seeing to move you from your place of safety. The Lord has sent the storm. The trouble, the death, the suffering, the deceit, were all there, many times being hidden under the calm waters of the creek bed or resting in the thicket. But now, this storm has disrupted all things along the creek bed that could no longer stand or stay in place and is violently scraping the sludge. This will not end until the water runs clear and peace is restored. Stand away from the riverbank; stand away from it! The Lord is with you in your place of safety. In continuing to put your trust in Him, you will not be swept away or be destroyed by the debris you are seeing clamoring in the torrent.
Stand still and see the glory of the Lord!
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
God rules in the midst of the flood!
- araratchurch
- Apr 22, 2022
- 4 min read
“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you; May He send you help from the sanctuary, And strengthen you out of Zion; May He remember all your offerings, And accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, And fulfill all your purpose. We will rejoice in your salvation, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Save, Lord! May the King answer us when we call.”
Psalms 20:1-5, 9 NKJV
Once upon a time there were twin boys born to a very important man. These twins couldn’t have been more different: one was a rough hunter, the other, more of the business type, cleaner cut. One day the hunter twin became extremely hungry. He had been on a long hunt and now thought he was to the point of dying if he didn’t eat soon (chances are he was not as near death as he thought). Suddenly, he comes upon his brother who had prepared a pot of lentils. The hungry hunter asked the lentil cooker for a bowl of the soup. “Well,” the lentil cooker said, “I will do that if you will give me your birthright.” Now you may be wondering what a “birthright” is and why the lentil cooker desired it. The birthright was the blessing given to the first born of a family. With the birthright came a better inheritance. Since the hungry Hunter was the first to emerge into the world, he would necessarily have the greater blessing of the father. Well, the hungry Hunter decided that the birthright would be nothing to him if he starved to death (a decision he later greatly regretted), therefore he “sold” his birthright to the younger twin for a bowl of lentils. Well, the time came when it looked like the father was close to death so that the blessing would need to be soon bestowed. So, the lentil cooker colluded with his mother to deceive the father. The truth was that the father actually favored the hungry hunter because he liked the food he provided. Knowing that the father now was basically blind, the mother fashioned hairy covers for the arms of the smooth lentil cooker and sent him in to get the blessing from the father. The father was successfully deceived and blessed the younger twin.
Of course, there is much more to that story; and—as you might’ve guessed—we’re talking here about Jacob and Esau. Jacob was the lentil cooker, Esau, the hungry hunter, and Isaac, the father. This story, alone, indicates how important the blessing was to the Lord, and, by extension, to His people.
Consider this: the Lord thought that the blessing was important enough that He instructed Moses exactly how the priests were to bless the people:
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’ “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.””
Numbers 6:22-27 NKJV
So, here we have the people whom the Lord had blessed, now being instructed to bless the people. In this case, the priests were to be dispensers of God’s favor to the people.
It’s very sad to deal with people who have never felt the favor of those whose approval they so desperately seek. It seems that they flounder through life, looking for approval to fill the hole in their souls produced by what was not given: the blessing.
Now, I don’t clutch my pearls at every four-letter word I hear. I watch what comes out of my mouth; but I’m not trying to police everybody else. However, the one thing that is difficult for me to hear is when people invoke the name of God while damning other people. It may be said out of anger; it may be said without thinking about what is really being said. But, damming other people is very, very serious. Whether we “mean” it or not, to take the words of cursing into our mouth, is not pleasing to the Lord (to say the least). Now, we know that there are people who will be damned because of their rebellion against God. But, it is not our place to run around damning everybody.
On the other hand, we should not bless what God would not bless. We often invoke the words, “Bless you,” superstitiously when someone sneezes. In so doing, we may be blessing what is not blessed by God. I mention that just to make us more aware of what we’re saying, and the meaning of what we are saying. With that, I will repeat: a blessing is a very serious thing. Additionally, God wants us to be conduits of the blessings we have received by extending that blessing to others.
In our portion from Psalms today we see that David understood the importance of a blessing. It seems that verses 1 - 5 and 9 (Psalm 20) were actually spoken by the congregation to the king as a request for the favor of God on him as he went into battle. Can’t you just see David in his battle array, standing or kneeling there, as the people spoke the blessing over him before he went into battle? God was pleased with this; and, He is pleased when we bless one another.
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
There is power in blessing.