Month: August 2017

92. Bring your way to pass

 Psalm 37:5

Commit thy way unto the Lord; Trust also in him;

And he shall bring it to pass.

 “Let go and let God.” “Give it to God.” “Put it in God’s hands and let Him take it from there.” “Have Thine own way.” The promise of this verse echoes several clichés well meaning Christians often use for advice to others. They are clichés precisely because they are true, they work, and they are Biblical. The advice has stood the test of time. If the advice is so good, why don’t people take it? Self-centered people with problems are more inclined to just complain than they are to act on good advice. Proud people with problems still prefer to use their own wisdom and strength rather than admit weakness and need. Unbelieving people are those who doubt that God really cares or answers prayers. Ignorant people are just uninformed or do not know that there is a better way than their own way.

But other people take the advice and hold the Lord to His promise. If you commit your way to the Lord and trust Him, then He will bring your way to pass. The purpose of your life will be accomplished; fruit will grow from your life; success will be assured; the way to joy, peace, satisfaction and contentment in life will be maintained; problems will be solved; difficulties will be worked out; prayers will be answered. All of this is given to the person who responds to God’s love and salvation by committing his life, himself, and all that he has to Jesus Christ.

“Commit…Trust.” After you give it all to God (commit your way), then you leave it in His hands to work out His way (trust in him). Surrender and submission to God is extremely difficult, even impossible without the Holy Spirit. Only He can make us believe what we often pray: “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” The truth of God’s Love and the fact that Jesus gave His life up for you is the motivation and the power the Holy Spirit uses to bring you to surrender your will to His. “We love Him because He first loved us.” Now I can trust Him to do for me what is right and good. He will bring it to pass.

91. Grant your Desires

 Psalm 37:4

Delight thyself also in the Lord;

And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

 The conditional promise: if you delight yourself in the Lord, then He will give you the desires of your heart. It sounds like God is a Santa Claus who will give me all the things on my wish list, whatever my heart desires. Can this be true? This cannot be true according to common human experience and common sense. If God gave me everything I desired my life would be ruined, and my spiritual, eternal life itself would probably be in jeopardy.

Therefore, the condition is important and it is worded the way it is for a reason: Find your delight in the Lord. When one is happy with the Lord and the Lord Himself occupies one’s happy thoughts and joyful emotions, the world with its allures and temptations becomes smaller, less attractive and less pleasant by comparison. He who finds his joys and delights and satisfactions in the Lord, in His mind, and in His ways will discover that his desires change.

When God is your delight His desires become your desires, your will happily and freely conforms to God’s will, you like what God likes, and what pleases God also makes you happy. God’s Law and the Ten Commandments look beautiful and the more one delights in God the more one desires to keep the Commandments. Obedience, righteousness, holiness and purity please us as much as it pleases God. One delights in the Lord by hearing and meditating on His Word, by spending time with Him in prayer and praise, by fellowshipping with the saints of God, by practicing His Presence, by setting one’s mind on the things above, and by turning instantly to Jesus in repentance whenever he is convicted and aware of sin (at least daily). One delights himself in the Lord by humbly accepting God’s Providence and learning through afflictions to trust Him instead of complaining.

Once our desires become what God desires He will certainly grant those desires. Do you want to crucify the flesh, drown the old man, resist the devil, hate evil, and live a better life? Do you want to be forgiven, loved, accepted, cared for, provided for regularly?The Lord will surely grant you those desires. “Delighting in the Lord” and seeing prayers answered is the natural way of living as God designed it. It is not manipulating “Santa Claus” to give you things, for that is not delighting in the Lord. We have the mind of Christ; learn to know it better and enjoy it. Let Jesus change your desires and give you these new desires in answer to prayers that are in accordance with God’s will.

90. Be fed

 Psalm 37:3

Trust in the Lord, and do good;

So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

 Believers who are faithful to the covenant have the promise of dwelling in the land and being fed. For NT believers this promise means that they can be sure of living and remaining in the Kingdom of God, both the spiritual kingdom on earth and the eternal kingdom in heaven, and that they will be cared for and nourished for strong living in the kingdom of God. They will be strengthened in their faith and hope for peaceful and joyful dwelling in this life and the next.

The NT believer lives in two worlds all the time at the same time: in one he walks by sight and in the other he walks by faith. We do not have a promise that we shall dwell in the land called the world and in the kingdoms of the world. In fact, just the opposite: in that world we will die, and from that world we will be torn asunder. We may be removed from that world or that world will be removed from us in the End. Either way, the world has the sentence of death upon it and the believer shall definitely be separated from it sooner (by growing in faith) or later (at the Last Day). But the Promise to “Dwell in the Land” is for living and enjoying God’s Life in the Spiritual Kingdom in which we walk by faith. This is where we shall live, and by the way, live forever. That inheritance is imperishable kept in heaven for you. For now, the Holy Spirit is keeping “The Land” in our hearts by faith. The believer enjoys this promise by turning to Jesus, walking by faith, and seeking the things that are above.

God has given promises of having enough physical bread not to starve to death, but the essential meaning of the promise is that He will always feed us with the spiritual bread for life and sustenance to stay alive and walk strongly in that spiritual world, where the spiritual life of God breathes and pulses in our spirit and affects our soul.

God loves to, and He promises to, make you dwell peacefully and be fed healthily. Let Him.

89. Satisfies with Fatness

 Psalm 36:7, 8

How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!

Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house;

and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

 The promises for those people who place their trust in God’s protective covering are abundant and pleasant. People trust in God for protection because His love and kindness and goodness are exceeding excellent. Those trusters in God will receive a lot of rich and delicious food and a never ending flow of refreshing drink. God promises a “heavenly banquet” that greatly satisfies with fatness. “Fatness” means food that tastes wonderful and fills up but is still healthy and nourishing; it will not make one fat and unhealthy; it will not leave one bloated and satiated, just perfectly satisfied. “The river of God’s pleasures” must be thirst quenching, tasty, liquid refreshments that are continually running and never run dry. God promises to give us humans what brings pleasure to Him.

Banqueting on the fatness of His house and feasting on the river of His pleasures is a metaphor using physical terms that we can understand to refer to a spiritual life that we cannot yet understand. A “Messianic Wedding Banquet” certainly describes the indescribable joys of life with Jesus in heaven, after death. But there is also a “foretaste of the feast to come” that is enjoyed by the truster in the spiritual world in the inward life promised by Jesus, before death. This present spiritual banquet is Jesus Himself: (John 6:55-56) “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him…. Whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me… Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” We do not wait for Jesus; we do not wait for this bread; we do not wait for this life: It is now; it is here; it is today; it is for present enjoyment. Eat, drink, be filled and be refreshed = believe in Jesus.

87. Delivers

 Psalm 34:19

Many are the afflictions of the righteous:

But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

 The conditional promise is: if you are righteous, then the Lord will deliver you out of all your many afflictions. We settled this before: the righteous persons are those who believe in Jesus Christ. Those who do not believe in Christ are not righteous and the promise does not apply to them.

Believers will suffer afflictions, many of them, and this is not news to anyone. What may be news to some people is that God is allowing some of these afflictions to teach, shape, break, mold, file, or to do other things in us of which we have no clue; we don’t know what God is doing, but we know He is doing something useful and good. Some of these afflictions come directly from the enemies, sin, death, and the devil to tempt us into despair, misbelief, complaint, and other great shame and vice, and God is allowing them to test and strengthen us.

Some afflictions are physical injuries and illnesses that come from the Enemy Death. Some afflictions are relational, including harmful marriage relations and destructive relationships with friends and neighbors. Some afflictions are mental or emotional, causing fear, anxiety, stress, depression, obsession, addiction, anger, and other soul-destroying issues. Some afflictions may be financial, where poverty and overburdening debt removes the joy of living. Sometimes the affliction may be spiritual in that unbelief and doubts about God and salvation arise to steal peace.

It would be a good idea to learn from the afflictions what God is teaching. It may be as simple as God getting our attention so that we turn to Him in repentance and faith. “Turn to the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:16-17)

The Promise of Deliverance is actually astounding and unbelievable: He says all; “the Lord delivers them out of them all.” “All afflictions” is a bold statement and a brash promise. Does God really mean all? Does He mean the serious problem I am facing now? Does He mean the heavy affliction I am presently undergoing? What can He do? How can He help? Will He really deliver and save me from the bad end of this present affliction? Can God really turn this affliction into something good? The answer to these questions is: Yes! God can and He will “deliver from all.” Pray for deliverance and salvation; then wait for Him to deliver and save. He said He would. Can you believe in such a good God?

86. Near to and Saves

 Psalm 34:18

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;

And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

 A broken heart and a contrite spirit is a wonderful blessing and gift of God because He promises to be near to such a person and He saves him. No one enjoys undergoing inner brokenness or conscience pangs and sorrows, but it is to just such a person that the Lord comes close to and saves. God loves to mend brokenness, put lives back together, and forgive sins and take away guilt and sorrow. As a matter of fact, this is the kind of person God is looking for, the person who is shattered and empty, overwhelmed by his sinful condition. Jesus eats with sinners, prostitutes and dishonest tax collectors. When Jesus comes near and saves such people their lives are restored to wholeness, their burdens lifted, and their sorrows turned to joy.

God resists the proud heart, avoids the stubborn heart and turns away from the hard heart. He avoids them because He cannot help them; He cannot come into their lives to fix what’s wrong because they won’t let Him in. Impenitence, unbelief and pride keep God away; godly sorrow, brokenness and humility bring God near.

God loves the proud, too, but He loves them in such a way as to bring them down and break them. Once broken, humbled and convicted of sin they are open to receiving Him, and so He comes to forgive, restore, and save. It is wiser on our part to “preemptively repent” of sin, guilt and shame before God must come and do some breaking in order to induce repentance and faith.

85. Eyes and Ears open

 Psalm34: 15

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,

And his ears are open unto their cry.

 The omnipresence of the Lord is a wonderful thing when it is connected to His care and compassion. The eyes of the Lord upon the righteous are not for surveillance and punishment of wrongdoing, but His eyes are upon the believer for care and protection and to see if he needs anything. Provision and protection is promised from God, but here we have the promise that the Lord knows what to provide and when to protect. The promise is that God knows what we need and when we need it because His eyes are always looking out for us and watching over us.

And His ears are open to the cry of the righteous. The Lord is always ready to respond to any prayer directed toward Him. He is not only watching, but He is also listening for any mumble or whisper of prayer (their cry) from His people. God’s response to save and deliver can be even quicker than a 911 call, because He knows, sees and hears the need or the problem even before His people do.

It is a great comfort for the righteous (the believer in Jesus) to know of the constant vigilance and attention of the Lord God Almighty. We can go about our daily affairs and take care of business without having to think about having our eyes and ears looking and listening for lurking dangers. God is taking care of that. We can live our walk trusting the Lord to take care of spiritual threats to our soul that we cannot see coming. Unfortunately, a few people are not aware or do not believe that they have a God who promises to take care of them and they end up as mental cases with extreme anxiety. It is a blessing to emotional and mental health to know what kind of God we have and what promises He makes: His eyes are upon us and His ears are open.

84. No Want

 Psalm 34:9-10

O fear the Lord, ye his saints:

For there is no want to them that fear him.

The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:

But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

 Many of God’s promises are hard to believe because we do not see them working out that way in real life. This is one of those hard promises: can we really believe that those who fear the Lord and seek Him will not want any good thing? Aren’t there countless individuals who die of hunger and want? Do not I myself often want something that I wanted?

What I see: God does let some people die of hunger, and I do want some good thing. What I believe (according to God’s Word and promise): God does not let God fearers and God seekers want any good thing: there is no want for them. Will you walk by faith or by sight? Will you trust in what God says or in what you see?

We can rationalize and say: I have not seen a true believer die of starvation, and even if he did die of want it would be a “good thing.” For he is with the Lord and away from suffering. There are other ways to explain or rationalize this promise, but ultimately, rationalizations and specious explanations are not good responses to God’s Word. The faith response to God’s Promise is: “I can’t explain it; I don’t understand it; it does fit my experience; I just believe it because God said so. Period.” At the end of the day, God promises me: You shall not want any good thing. Now my response to His Word is to take Him at His word and believe what he says whether mind can grasp it or my eye can see it or not. Some day it will all be clear. For now: since I am a seeker of the Lord I believe that I shall not want any good thing. I will let the Holy Spirit show me what that means in His time. Right now, I accept that wonderful promise for myself.

83. Blessed

 Psalm 34:8

O taste and see that the Lord is good:

Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

 God blesses the man who trusts in him. God promises blessings for the person who puts his trust in the Lord. It is the believer who receives the blessings from God. God calls all believers to taste (test, try) and see (experience for yourself) that theLord is good. All believers know that God is good at least in some degree or they wouldn’t be believers. But believers do not really know by experience that the Lord is really totally good all the time.

Once you have tried it out you will see that it is true: God is good! He is! He really is! He is so good He is great! The man that knows that by experience is truly blessed in all things, in every way, at all times. God is with him, and God is for him.

But how does one taste and see? What kind of test can one put God to? How do you taste the goodness of God? For one thing, just keep your eyes open and observe how God is blessing you on any given day; count your blessings. Happy events may be attributed to God’s goodness rather than to luck or coincidence. A second thing to do is to pray about some specific and difficult issue. Then “Wait,” as God commands and don’t stop looking for the resolution until you see it. See if it is good.

Generally, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Deuteronomy 6:16). Just live your life right, He goes on to say; do what is right and good and it will go well with you. However, there is one exception, when God says, “Test me.” He tells us in Malachi 3:10, “Put me to the test, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” The test instructed here: bring the full tithe into the storehouse. It seems we may test God if He will bless according to the tithe we contribute to Him. The tithe is a bold step to take in tasting and seeing, but it is a real experience for it hits us where we feel it the most, in our pocketbook.

Trusting in the Lord is a blessing and the trusting person is blessed.

82. Angel delivers

 Psalm 34:7

The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him,

And delivereth them.

 God promises His children, His people, those that fear Him that the angel of the Lord will position himself around them and deliver them. The promise again is only for those who believe in Jesus Christ, and those believers can be sure of the promise of God. We do not see angels, almost ever; although in extremely rare instances, in the Bible and in modern life, angels have been seen by human beings. But we do not live by sight, but by faith in the Word of God, and if God says angels encamp around us then we can be sure that angels are encamping around us. God promises this for our comfort and security, and He wants us to know that our comfort and security are entirely in His hands; for these are “the Lord’s” angels that are watching over us. They are watching us at the Lord’s direction and command. They are watching us to see if we come into any physical or spiritual danger and they will deliver us. That is the purpose of angels: to guard and keep God’s children until they reach the heavenly home, where evil does not exist.

The verse says, “The angel of the Lord,” which is singular, one angel, owned and sent by God. We can take this as a technical term, sometimes used in OT, referring to “THE Angel of the Lord,” whom many scholars take to refer to the Son of God, the Second person of the Trinity, before He was born as the human Jesus. This does not seem to be the case here since one appearance would not cover all God’s people everywhere at all times. Many angels of the Lord, who move and minister at His command, could represent the “Angel of the Lord.” Either way, someone representing the power and love of God is always present around us to protect, defend and deliver us.

Whether one or many, angels are “all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.” (Hebrews 1:14). It cannot be proven that each Christian has his own guardian angel, but the promise can be believed (and therefore proven) that at least one angel, and probably many, is always around us to deliver, guard and protect. Rest assured in God’s love and care.