PSALM 69
Psalmist overwhelmed with present conditions verse 1- 4
Save me – O God – for the waters are come in to my soul
I sink in deep mire – where there is no standing
I am come into deep waters
where the floods overflow me
I am weary of my crying – my throat is dried
mine eyes fail while I wait for my God
They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head
they that would destroy me – being mine enemies wrongfully
are mighty – then I restored that which I took not away
Psalmist confesses his sin with regret verse 5- 8
O God – YOU know my foolishness
and my sins are not hid from YOU
Let not them that WAIT on YOU – O Lord GOD of hosts
be ashamed for my sake
let not those that seek YOU be confounded for my sake
O God of Israel
BECAUSE for YOUR sake I have borne reproach
shame has covered my face
I am become a stranger unto my brethren
and an alien unto my mother’s children
Psalmist object of scorn verse 9- 12
For the zeal of YOUR house has eaten me up
and the reproaches of them that reproached YOU
are fallen upon me
When I wept – and chastened my soul with FASTING
that was to my reproach
I made sackcloth also my garment
and I became a proverb to them
They that sit in the gate speak against me
and I was the song of the drunkards
Psalmist feels like he is drowning verse 13- 15
But as for me – my prayer is to YOU – O LORD
in an acceptable time – O God
in the multitude of YOUR mercy hear me
in the truth of YOUR salvation
Deliver me out of the mire and let me not sink
let me be delivered from them that hate me
and out of the deep waters
Let not the water flood overflow me
neither let the deep swallow me up
and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me
Psalmist wants deliverance verse 16- 18
Hear me – O LORD – for YOUR loving-kindness is good
turn to me according to the multitude of YOUR tender mercies
And hide not YOUR face from YOUR servant
for I am in trouble – hear me speedily
Draw nigh to my soul – and redeem it
deliver me because of mine enemies
Psalmist has no support from those around him verse 19- 21
YOU have known my reproach – shame – dishonor
mine adversaries are all before YOU
Reproach has broken my heart – and I am full of heaviness
and I looked for some to take pity
BUT there was none
and for comforters – BUT I found none
they gave me also gall for my meat
and in my thirst
they gave me vinegar to drink
Psalmist wants his enemies judged severely verse 22- 28
Let their table become a snare before them
and that which should have been for their welfare
let it become a trap
Let their eyes be darkened – that they see not
and make their loins continually to shake
pour out YOUR indignation on them
and let YOUR wrathful anger take hold of them
Let their habitation be desolate
and let none dwell in their tents
For they persecute him whom YOU have smitten
and they talk to the grief of those whom YOU has wounded
Add iniquity to their iniquity
and let them not come into YOUR righteousness
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living
and not be written with the righteous
Psalmist asks for relief verse 29
BUT I am poor and sorrowful – let YOUR salvation – O God
set me up on high
Psalmist states he with rejoice after deliverance verse 30- 33
I will praise the name of God with a song
and will magnify him with thanksgiving
This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock
that has horns and hoofs
The humble shall see this – and be glad
and your heart shall live that seek God
for the LORD hears the poor
and despised not HIS prisoners
Psalmist realizes an inheritance is coming verse 34- 36
Let the heaven and earth praise HIM – the seas
and everything that moves therein
For God will save Zion – and will build the cities of Judah
that they may dwell there – and have it in possession
The seed also of HIS servants shall inherit it
and they that love HIS name shall dwell therein
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 3 I am weary of my crying my throat is dried mine eyes fail while I wait for my God (3021 “weary” [yaga] means to labor, struggle, strive, to be or become weary, tired, or sleepy, to be fatigued, exert oneself, take pains, or cause to go toilsomely.)
DEVOTION: Each day is a new time of service to the LORD. It is not easy to serve the LORD with all the temptations that the enemy sends our way each day. He wants us to fail and it seems like we do more than we success in our growth in the LORD.
David was crying because he knew that life was a struggle if he wanted to serve the LORD faithfully. The temptations are great to just stop serving the LORD because it seems that most of those around us are not even trying to serve the LORD and they think they are on their way to heaven.
God wants us to serve HIM each day with the strength HE gives us each day. We are to pray the LORD’S prayer each day to realize that HE is there to help us face all the trials HE allows in our lives.
There are days or time periods when we fail and we need to confess those sins and ask forgiveness and move one. HE is willing to forgive us if we genuinely come to HIM in prayer and confess our sins. HE is then faithful and just to forgive us our sins can cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
CHALLENGE: There are going to be days that we can identify with David and state that we are weary and that the Christian life is a struggle but we have the Holy Spirit to help us face each day.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. (3637 “confounded” [kalam] means to wound, to insult, blush, be put to confusion, hurt, reproach, or shame.)
DEVOTION: Have you ever done something to compromise your testimony for the LORD? Do those in your family know all the sins you committed while you were young and hold them against you now that you are a believer? Have your friends ever turned their backs on you because of something you did?
David was a sinner. He describes himself as in deep mire. He describes himself as crying out to God for forgiveness. He knows that his sin is not hid from God. He knows that the enemies of God hate him. He knows that when he sins they have an excuse to put God down. They don’t understand the relationship between the LORD and HIS followers.
The LORD will forgive, they will not. David asks for mercy. He knows that what he has done will hurt the testimony of the LORD with his enemies. His enemies are also the LORD’S enemies. David didn’t want fellow believers to be disappointed by what was happening to him.
David was concerned that fellow followers of God would be in confusion when they saw what was happening to him. He didn’t want the testimony of the LORD to be hurt by what was happening to him or what he had done. He knew that God knew that he was a sinner but that what was happening was not because of a sin he had committed but because of enemies who just hated all of those who followed the LORD.
Our world hates us like they hated Christ and are always looking for reasons to blame us for anything. If they look hard enough they will find something. We are all sinners, even after we begin to follow the LORD. But David turned these enemies of the LORD over to HIM to judge. He gave some suggestion.
We sometimes like to give God suggestions on what HE should do with our enemies. Our sin causes other to have excuses not to follow the LORD. However, some people don’t need any excuses not to follow the LORD. They don’t understand how much the LORD loves us. They are just full of hatred toward anything the LORD’S followers do.
Our responsibility is to follow the LORD. Our responsibility is to confess our sin to the LORD. Our responsibility is to continue to witness for the LORD. If people bring up that we are sinner, we have to say we are, but that the LORD has shown us mercy and grace.
CHALLENGE: Never give up because of your past. David knew what he had done and asked for forgiveness and continued to serve the LORD in spite of his failure. Our failures should lead us to a closer walk with the LORD never to give up!!!!
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: 19 “You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; My adversaries are
all before You.” The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).Reproach – 2781 חֶרְפָּה [cherpah /kher·paw/] n f. From 2778; TWOT 749a; GK 3075; 73 occurrences; AV translates as “reproach” 67 times, “shame” three times, “rebuke” twice, and “reproachfully” once. 1 reproach, scorn. 1A taunt, scorn (upon enemy). 1B reproach (resting upon condition of shame, disgrace). 1C a reproach (an object). James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2001).
DEVOTION: David found confidence in the knowledge that God knew of their reproach (cf. scorn in v. 10) and mistreatment of him (giving him gall [rō’š, possibly a poisonous plant] to eat and vinegar to drink). The word for food (bārûṯ) means a meal given “to a mourner by sympathetic friends. Christ also found these words to be true when he was facing the cross and aware that those who had just a few days earlier cheered and cried out Hosanna now cried out “crucify him.”
God knows when people deceive and thrust you into situations that doom and jeopardize your character and reputation! As the psalmist cries out to the Lord to hear, turn and draw near so we can call upon Him when catastrophe strikes! God is in control and knows what the plan is even when He calls us to suffer and be unjustly accused! After all that is what Jesus did for us when he died on the cross!
CHALLENGE: We are called to live like Christ and sometimes we are called to suffer as He did as well! Are we willing to look our adversaries in the face and pray, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”? Luke 23:34 (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 32 “The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that
seek God.” (“Heart,” 3824 לֵבָב [lebab] 1 inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding. 1a inner part, midst. 1a1 midst (of things). 1a2 heart (of man). 1a3 soul, heart (of man). 1a4 mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory. 1a5 inclination, resolution, determination (of will). 1a6 conscience. 1a7 heart (of moral character). 1a8 as seat of appetites. 1a9 as seat of emotions and passions. 1a10 as seat of courage [Strong, J. (2001). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software]).
DEVOTION: While the meaning of the second sentence in this verse is not readily apparent from reading the KJV, the Hebrew text suggests that what he psalmist is saying is that one’s heart is revived or restored by seeking God. In other words, God wants us to seek Him out first, and then He will restore our hearts.
Many times in Scripture God refers to the humble as those who are “broken” in their hearts (Matthew 5:3). We have many heart aches in life, and these all occur for the purpose of “breaking” our hearts and making us more humble before God. It is precisely in these times that we need God to come in and restore our hearts as we reflect upon Him. He says He is the one who will pick up all the broken pieces of our hearts and put them back together again.
All of this requires humility. The starting point for the Christian life is a contrite heart (Isaiah 66:2). That means that I no longer want the things that I once wanted, but that I am seeking His kingdom and His righteousness above all else (Matthew 6:33). Once we make that our goal, then we start the process of purification of our hearts where God begins to remove the things that we once thought were important to us.
But that process is often painful! We need to continue to come back to Him in order to restore our hearts. Only as we spend time with Him do we see that He gives us a heart to fully follow Him.
CHALLENGE: Is there an area of your heart where you feel broken right now? Is there an area where you really struggle to trust in Him? If so, tell Him that right now, and ask Him to restore your heart to a place of rest and peace in fully trusting Him. (Dr. Marc Wooten – board member)
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: 36 The seed also of HIS servants shall inherit it and they that love HIS name shall dwell therein. (5157 “inherit” [nachal] means to maintain as a possession, to take possession, to obtain something by legal right from someone as an heir, receive property, or assign an inheritance.)
DEVOTION: The children of Israel were called to be the servants of the LORD. Many in the nation didn’t follow the LORD faithfully.
So even though they were part of the nation of Israel some were not willing to follow the LORD. They wanted to go their own way. It was only those who “love” the LORD that would inherit the blessing of the LORD. It was a small group of the total tribes of Israel.
It is sad that the LORD gave them so many blessings but they always wanted more and if they didn’t get what they expected they were willing to worship the false gods of the LORD.
God wants all those who “love” HIM to inherit the promises found in the Word of God. Remember that the percentage of those who were faithful to the LORD was small compared to the nation.
This seems to be true today as well. There are many people who attend church and yet they really don’t “love” the LORD. They are there to have the blessings but they are not faithful in their personal lives to make sure that they keep short accounts with HIM>
We need to daily confess our sins and ask the LORD forgive our sins and then move on to serve HIM faithfully.
We will never be sinless but we can sin less if we keep short accounts with HIM. This means a daily time of confession and the realization that we are never going to be sinless but we can sin less.
God knows our frame. HE knows we are sinners from the day we are born until the day we die. HE wants us to show our love for HIM by going to HIM daily and confess our sins and ask HIM for strength to sin less. Remember we will never be sinless because only Jesus was sinless and yet HE was condemned.
The children of Israel are promised the land for eternity. We are promised a mansion in heaven for eternity. We have different promises but the same LORD.
CHALLENGE: Are you trying to sin less? Are you confessing your sins regularly? Are you keeping short accounts with God? HE wants us to realize that we are HIS servants and that we need to understand that HE loves us.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Chastened my soul with fasting verse 10
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Save me verse 1- 12
My prayer is
to YOU verse 13- 29
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Zeal of YOUR house has eaten me up verse 9
Praise the name of God verse 30- 34
Song verse 30
Magnify HIM with thanksgiving verse 30
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign) verse 1, 3, 5, 6, 13,
29, 30, 32, 35
Lord – Adonai (Owner, Master) verse 6
GOD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 6
Lord GOD of hosts verse 6
God of Israel verse 6
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 13, 16, 31, 33
Mercy verse 13, 16
Lovingkindness verse 16
Indignation of God verse 24
Wrathful anger of God verse 24
God’s righteousness verse 27
LORD hears the poor verse 33
Despises not prisoners verse 33
Save Zion verse 35
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
They gave me gall for my meat verse 21
They gave me vinegar to drink verse 21
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Enemies verse 4, 18
Adversaries verse 19
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Hate verse 4, 14
Destroy believer verse 4
Foolishness verse 5
Sin verse 5
Speaking against David verse 12
Drunkards verse 12
Persecute believers verse 26
Iniquity verse 27
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Save verse 1
Crying verse 3
Wait verse 3, 6
Restoration verse 4
Bear reproach verse 7, 9, 19, 20
Zeal verse 9
Fasting verse 10
Prayer verse 13
Mercy verse 13, 16
Hear verse 13, 16, 17, 33
Salvation verse 13, 29, 35
Deliver verse 14, 18
Loving-kindness verse 16
Trouble verse 17
Redeem verse 18
Deliver verse 18
Full of heaviness verse 20
Righteous verse 28
Praise verse 30, 34
Song verse 30
Thanksgiving verse 30
Please the LORD verse 31
Humble verse 32
Seek verse 32
Glad verse 32
Servant verse 36
Inherit verse 36
Love verse 36
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
David – author of Psalm verse 1- 36
Floods overflow me
I am weary of my crying
I wait for my God
God knows my foolishness
My sins are not hid from YOU
Borne reproach
Stranger to my brethren
Zeal of YOUR house has eaten me up
Chastened my soul with fasting
Hide not YOUR face from me LORD
I am in trouble – hear me speedly
Redeem me
Deliver me
Know my reproach
Know my shame
Full of heaviness
No comforters
Wants LORD to pour out indignation
Zion verse 35
Cities of Judah verse 35
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Pit verse 15
Blotted out of the book of the living verse 28
Not be written with the righteous verse 28
QUOTES regarding passage
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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3 John 1
John praises and encourages Gaius for his “witness of . . . love before the church” (v. 6).
INSIGHT
Affirmation is a powerful force for good in the Christian life. We all long to be affirmed for who we are and what we are doing. We all like to hear: “Good job.” In essence, that is what John writes in his third epistle. He affirms Gaius in several areas: for his knowledge of truth, for his application of that knowledge, for offering hospitality to fellow Christians and to strangers, and for helping to support traveling missionaries. Good job, Gaius.
(Quiet Walk)
2 John 1
False teachers do not confess Jesus Christ as God incarnate.
INSIGHT
The Bible teaches that Christians are to be tolerant, understanding, and compassionate. We are to go out of our way to be kind and loving to others; we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. However, how should we act toward false teachers who subvert our faith? The Bible teaches that while we should not be unkind, we should have no fellowship with them. John writes: “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine (salvation in Christ), do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (vv. 10-11). (Quiet Walk)
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Esther plans a banquet to set the stage for the revelation of the death plot.
INSIGHT
“Pride goes before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18). One of the supreme examples of this truth in all of the Bible is Haman. His ego is on a feeding frenzy. He has power, wealth, position, family, friends, and honor. Yet all of this fails to satisfy his ego. Mordecai’s unwillingness to bow down to him sticks like a bone in Haman’s throat. Haman’s wife reveals her character by suggesting a flamboyant display of vengeance: “Let a gallows be made, fifty cubits high [75 feet], and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it,” she counsels (v. 14). The same shadow is darkening both hearts. When pride is taken to this extreme, we see how exceedingly ugly it is. Beware of pride! (Quiet Walk)
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Daily Hope
Today’s Scripture
Micah 5:2; Luke 2:1-7
As we enter the week leading up to Christmas, we may be involved in a multitude of events. There will be last minute shopping, travel, and other items that will seek to drown out the special celebration of Christ’s birth. As you rush in and out of stores, travel to see family or events, perhaps you can enjoy the wonder of Christmas by catching snippets of Christmas songs playing in the background.
It was a far different setting the night that Christ was born. It is recorded that Caesar Augustus had required for all the world to be registered. There was a lot of busyness as people returned to their ancestor’s hometown to be numbered. Yet among the commotion and confusion, there was still a silence as the day turned to night and the world grew quiet and darkness settled upon the land.
Bethlehem was an important community historically. As the birthplace of Israel’s greatest king, David (Ruth 1:1-2), it remained a small insignificant village (Micah 5:2) and is not mentioned among the towns of Judah in the books of Joshua or Nehemiah. With the events now transpiring in Matthew and Luke, its name recognition exponentially increased.
The song, O Little Town of Bethlehem, captures the quiet, almost shadowy, beginning of the life of Christ. In 1865, Phillip Brooks after he had ridden by horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem was struck by the silence and the solitary nature of Bethlehem on that Christmas Eve night. While standing in the fields and looking at the village peacefully residing, he was deeply moved by the scene. Some three years later after returning to Philadelphia, he desired to have a special carol for the children in his church. Remembering the scene, he wrote the text in just one evening. The song has been a favorite ever since, with both children and adults around the world.
During the rush and activity of this Christmas week, take some time to rejoice in the joy of Christ’s birth. If the moment is right, take the opportunity to step out into the quiet night and reflect upon that first Christmas night in the little town of Bethlehem! Be reminded of the third verse, “How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv’n! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heav’n.” May we be thankful for the gift of God’s love to us!
With Expectant Hope, Pastor Miller
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WE ARE EXHORTED TO PRAY
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us. 1 John 5:14
We must be exceptionally careful in the matter of comparing Scripture with Scripture. The Bible never contradicts itself. We must never base our doctrine upon one statement only; or to put it in another way, our doctrine must never be so formulated as to be in conflict with any other statement of Scripture or to contradict any other clear and obvious scriptural teaching.
Then, having done that, we come to certain conclusions. One conclusion is that there is an element of mystery about this question of prayer; it is one of those aspects of God’s gracious dealings with us that is beyond our understanding. Now I feel like saying, “Thank God for that!” I mean that in an ultimate and absolute sense you and I simply cannot reconcile God’s omniscience and foreknowledge and sovereignty with this fact of prayer that we find so clearly taught in Scripture.
But there are so many other things one cannot understand. I cannot understand how a holy God would ever forgive or can ever forgive a single soul. I cannot understand it, but thank God, I believe it! I cannot understand the eternal mind and heart, but I thank God for a revelation that assures me that God can be just and a justifier of the ungodly. And there are many other instances and illustrations that I could give of exactly the same thing, and this question of prayer is one of them. In an ultimate philosophical sense there is an element of mystery about it, but praise God, we are not left with philosophy. We have a Gospel that comes to us in its simplicity and tells us what to do. So though our little minds cannot understand it philosophically, there is nothing that is so plain and clear in Scripture as that we are taught and exhorted to pray. Go through the Scriptures, and notice the frequency of the exhortations to pray.
A Thought to Ponder
Prayer is one of those aspects of God’s gracious dealings with us that is beyond our understanding. (From Life in God, p. 116, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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Justified–by Faith or Works?
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16)
Some have argued that James contradicts Paul at this point, since James emphasized that both Abraham and Rahab, among others, were justified by works (James 2:21, 25). In fact, this seeming conflict between Paul and James has often been cited as one of the “contradictions” of the Bible.
There is no contradiction, however. Neither Abraham nor Rahab could have been justified by the “works of the law,” and James never said they were. Abraham lived before God even gave the law to Moses, and Rahab lived in a pagan culture that knew nothing about it. Furthermore, James himself knew that no one could really be saved by the law, for he said that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
Actually, both Abraham and Rahab were “justified”—which means “seen as righteous”—by faith in God and His provision of salvation (James 2:23; Hebrews 11:31). The righteousness of Christ, who perfectly kept the law of God, is imputed to believers by faith (Romans 4:3-5). God sees him or her as “in Christ,” and so they are justified (recognized as righteous) solely through faith.
However, other men cannot see our faith, and therefore we must be justified in their sight by our works. True saving faith inevitably will manifest itself in works of righteousness. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:…For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8, 10).
(HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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GOD’S WORK IN US
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:13
I have the assurance that if God’s work in me has begun, the work will end. I “know” that if I have eternal life, I shall stand one day faultless and blameless, without spot and blemish, in the presence of God’s glory. So as I meet temptation and sin in this world, I realize that I am not left to myself. I cease to feel helpless and frustrated.I say, “If God is in me, if God has destined me for that, then He will come and hold me though all hell and the devils be opposed to me.” That was the mighty argument of a man like Martin Luther.It was because he knew he had eternal life that he could defy all those enemies the way he did, and all those who have this hope in them can say the same thing.
And were this world all devils o’er
And watching to devour us,
We lay it not to heart so sore;
Nor they can overpower us.
If we have eternal life and know that we have it, we know that God’s work in our souls will be carried on until it ends in ultimate perfection and glory. As Paul puts it in that mighty bit of logic in the middle of the eighth chapter of Romans, “Whom he called, them he also justified; and whom”—you see the jump—“he justified, them he also glorified.” If He starts, He will finish; so if the life is in me, I can be certain of the glory. Far from presuming on that in order to sin, while I am in this life and world I rather say with John, “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure”
(1 John 3:3).
A Thought to Ponder: God’s work in our souls will be carried on until it ends in ultimate perfection and glory. (From Life in God pp. 111-112, by Dr.Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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A WOULD-BE FOLLOWER
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Luke 9:59
Here is someone whom our Lord invites to follow Him. “He said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59-60). Our Lord challenged him and said, “Follow me!” And the man, you remember, responded by saying, “All right, I am coming, but ‘suffer me first to go and bury my father.'”
What is the principle here? Well, our Lord is teaching this man the urgency of entering the kingdom of God at once, without a moment’s delay. You must be right in your understanding of it, and then you must enter it immediately. Now let us be clear about that. Our Lord’s statement sounds terrible, does it not? On the surface it sounds as if He was refusing this man permission to go home to bury his poor father who was dying. But it does not mean anything of the sort. If this man’s father had been ill and had died, the son would not be with the Lord. The Jews were strict about this.
The question was that this young man says, “Yes, I am going to be a Christian, but not just now. I will be a Christian later on, when I have time. I am very busy at the moment. I am at the top of the ladder. I have great success ahead of me. I am beginning in my profession, or in my trade, or in my industry. Not yet! Oh, I like this teaching! I believe it is right; but I cannot do anything about it now.”
A Thought to Ponder: Our Lord is teaching this man the urgency of entering the kingdom of God at once, without a moment’s delay. (From The Kingdom of God, pp. 128-129, by Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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The Media Monster (Part One)
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. PROVERBS 4:23
What if I told that every day a legion of competitors was lining up to enter your home, your workplace, your car and even your phone to seduce you and your spouse?
They are. Each day assorted voices and images lure your spouse and you away from each other: television, cable, Internet, email, blogs, chat rooms, radio, magazines, newspapers, music, movies, books and video games. Media is competing with you for your spouse’s attention and affection!
Media takes time away from your relationship with your spouse. Keep track sometime of how many hours you spend each week just watching television. Then think of what you could have done together during that same time.
Media twists your sense of reality, creating unreasonable expectations for your spouse.
The media usually present a distorted picture of relationships. For example, how often in a movie or on a television program do you see a man and woman fall in love, get married and remain committed for a lifetime? More often, the norm is two people falling in love and into the sack without much thought about moral issues. If you constantly feed these images into your head, doesn’t your spouse stand to lose in the long run? Competing with fantasy is difficult.
Media facilitates emotional adultery through pornography and Internet liaisons. Although the benefits of using the Internet are obvious, its costs and risks are not always so plain. Pornography is a click away on computers and now phones. It can be as damaging to the mental and emotional health of a marriage as a physically realized affair. And just as bad, people use Internet chat rooms to meet strangers and engage in intimate, sexually oriented conversations.
With all these temptations lining up outside our lives, isn’t it time you took an inventory of your media consumption? (Moments with You Couples Devotional by Dennis and Barbara Rainey)
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