The Psalm
Psalm 130
De profundis
1 Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice; *
let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.
2 If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, *
O Lord, who could stand?
3 For there is forgiveness with you; *
therefore you shall be feared.
4 I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; *
in his word is my hope.
5 My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen for the morning, *
more than watchmen for the morning.
6 O Israel, wait for the Lord, *
for with the Lord there is mercy;
7 With him there is plenteous redemption, *
and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.
Comment: Last night I read a most profound meditation written by Chris Tiegreen in his One Year Wonder of The Cross Devotional. Inspired by the Word of God. And I was so excited to share it with all of you this morning. But the Lord said read the lessons appointed for next Sunday in the Liturgical Cycle. And the Psalm above placed the message in its proper context. Beginning with another Word from Jeremiah which prophetic book I am going through at nights:
“But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.”
Jeremiah 10:10 NIV
A Word which helps us to fully, well maybe not fully, but have a better understanding, appreciate what Jesus went through for us on Calvary. Suffered under the wrath of God as the “ substitute “ for the Sins of the whole world. And died! And praise God, was raised from the dead with mighty power, to grant us new and unending life. So we don’t play legal or social of moral games with Sin as redeemed sinners. For as Oswald Chambers wrote last night and I posted it on Facebook:
THE WISDOM OF OSWALD CHAMBERS
Acquainted With Grief”
He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
ISAIAH 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
This is the context in which the Psalmist appeals to God:
2 If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, *
O Lord, who could stand?
And waits upon the Lord for mercy:
5 My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen for the morning, *
more than watchmen for the morning.
Time to read the meditation from Chris Tiegreen now. That we may fight valiantly against sinful thoughts, with the help of a God of mercy.
CHRIST TIEGREEN
OUR MENTAL DIET
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Philippians 4:8
We may not always be conscious of it as we go through the normal curse of our day, but we’re surrounded with poisons. The air we breathe – at least figuratively if not literally – is polluted with toxins of inaccurate belief systems, inappropriate visual images, pervasive does of fear and doubt and discouragement ( Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” …..yesterday’s Gospel reading comes to mind), unholy lifestyles ( hmmm…..have mercy) slanderous words against God and others and more. We like to think that we aren’t affected by by such constant exposure, but how could we avoid being affected? When you’re swimming in water, you can’t help but get wet. And when you’re swimming in polluted water, it cannot be healthy.
When we hear ourselves talking in destructive or careless ways : when we start to look at life through dark-colored lenses, though we don’t why; when our relationship patterns seems to be self-defeating; when our thoughts towards God seem dull and lifeless – then we know we have been influenced by a poisonous world.
That’s why our thought life is such a critical battlefield.
( 1 Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice; *
let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication)
The word and the enemy have conspired to undermine the spiritual vitality of numerous Christians and the strategy works. ( Unless we cry out like the palmist for help). We can go from joyful to depressed without even noticing the decline. Wed can shift from selfless to selfish before we’re even aware of it. We can move from fruitfulness to futility without knowing how we got there. The effects of the world’s pollution can be so gradual or imperceptible that we’re defeated unless we decide not to be ( With him there is plenteous redemption, *
and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.)
All it takes is a careful assessment of our thoughts at frequent intervals . We have to know how we think . More than that we have to know what to think. ( That’s why being thoroughly “ soaked “ in the Word of God as Oswald Chambers recommends, is so vital so vital to the life of a child of God, and effective witness as a Missionary in this polluted world.
Be proactive. Make sure you are feeding your mind with healthy food ( no more mindless watching of TV or Netflix …it is poisonous and not mindless). Refuse to let the let the seeds of bad thinking …from Lisa Hanna et al….and the proponents of the prosperity gospel….infiltrate your thought process. Choose a mental diet of whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and pray worthy . Let the battlefield of your minds be dominated by the things of God. Why.
Listen carefully to what Helen Baylor sings in this song which was in my head last night:
https://youtu.be/st6cGzXuKVM?si=7SxNkvII2k9HOFzy
We’re in a battle people. We’re are ministers of defense for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pushing back the darkness. We are, as my daughter heard in a wonderful spiritual retreat she attended recently, “ mini-tabernacles” called to shine our light in the darkness of this world which leads the charge to “ You came O Lord with the Living Words that should thy people free, but with mocking scorn and a crown of thorn they born thee to Calvary”. And so the land mourns as “ bloodshed follows bloodshed “ and people wonder why. A lack of vision and belief and understanding that Sin has been defeated by the power of God in Christ Crucified Risen. And soon coming again!
O Jesus renew thy church beginning with this your sinful servant, redeemed by your precious blood, and all who have surrender their lives to you, so that the church may renew the nation(s) where people do not understand that:
But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.”
Jeremiah 10:10 NIV…and so they will perish. Forever! O Jesus have mercy.
danielgodsurelywilldeliver 