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NATIONAL REPENTANCE MUST BEGIN IMMEDIATELY
Though the following Psalm obviously applies to ancient Israel, there are many parallels within it which relate to our present. Seek the Lord.
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PSALM 106: Israel’s Rebelliousness and the Lord’s Deliverances
1
Praise the Lord!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
2
Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord,
Or can show forth all His praise?
3
How blessed are those who keep justice,
Who practice righteousness at all times!
4
Remember me, O Lord, in Your favor toward Your people;
Visit me with Your salvation,
5
That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with Your inheritance.
6
We have sinned like our fathers,
We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.
7
Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses,
But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
8
Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His Name,
That He might make His power known.
9
Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up,
And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness.
10
So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11
The waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left.
12
Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise.
13
They quickly forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
14
But craved intensely in the wilderness,
And tempted God in the desert.
15
So He gave them their request,
But sent a wasting disease among them.
16
When they became envious of Moses in the camp,
And of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,
17
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
And engulfed the company of Abiram.
18
And a fire blazed up in their company;
The flame consumed the wicked.
19
They made a calf in Horeb
And worshiped a molten image.
20
Thus they exchanged their glory
For the image of an ox that eats grass.
21
They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
22
Wonders in the land of Ham
And awesome things by the Red Sea.
23
Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them.
24
Then they despised the pleasant land;
They did not believe in His word,
25
But grumbled in their tents;
They did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
26
Therefore He swore to them
That He would cast them down in the wilderness,
27
And that He would cast their seed among the nations
And scatter them in the lands.
28
They joined themselves also to Baal-peor,
And ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
29
Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds,
And the plague broke out among them.
30
Then Phinehas stood up and interposed,
And so the plague was stayed.
31
And it was reckoned to him for righteousness,
To all generations forever.
32
They also provoked Him to wrath at the waters of Meribah,
So that it went hard with Moses on their account;
33
Because they were rebellious against His Spirit,
He spoke rashly with his lips.
34
They did not destroy the peoples,
As the Lord commanded them,
35
But they mingled with the nations
And learned their practices,
36
And served their idols,
Which became a snare to them.
37
They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons,
38
And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and their daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with the blood.
39
Thus they became unclean in their practices,
And played the harlot in their deeds.
40
Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people
And He abhorred His inheritance.
41
Then He gave them into the hand of the nations,
And those who hated them ruled over them.
42
Their enemies also oppressed them,
And they were subdued under their power.
43
Many times He would deliver them;
They, however, were rebellious in their counsel,
And so sank down in their iniquity.
44
Nevertheless He looked upon their distress
When He heard their cry;
45
And He remembered His covenant for their sake,
And relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness.
46
He also made them objects of compassion
In the presence of all their captors.
47
Save us, O Lord our God,
And gather us from among the nations,
To give thanks to Your holy name
And glory in Your praise.
48
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
From everlasting even to everlasting.
And let all the people say, “Amen.”
Praise the Lord! [1]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Achieving the Objective in the Face of Adversity
Followers of Jesus are often attacked in ways that cannot be anticipated. Veteran believers have been attacked so many times and in so many ways one would think they could learn to prepare for such whizzing cannonballs from out of left field and howitzers from the darkness of deep space. We all know it happens, it will happen, and there is nothing to do about it happening.
Persecution is simply a fact of the real Christian’s life, and it takes many forms. Many are subtle and arrive from various, seemingly unconnected sources. The worst forms come through people you know. Possibly the worst form of all is associated with betrayal at the hands of a friend.
All such persecution took place against the Lord Jesus, the One who pioneered what we call Christianity—the One who first stepped forth to face the full brunt of the devil’s attack. He told His hand-picked men that it would happen to them also, that it went with the territory, and that there was essentially no way to fulfill God’s will and attend to our callings without taking shots, some very severe, from rabid spiritual enemies.
Judging by what happened to the Lord, the apostles, and the early saints, the devil is a dirty fighter.
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.
A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household! Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.
Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” [Matthew 10:16-28]
All people experience fear, and at times the fear meter spikes. The Word of God says that people have fatal heart attacks due only to fear. It is a powerful emotion brought on by tough circumstances, sometimes dire, and is often the result of spiritual retaliation. Those people who never surrender their lives to God will potentially fear everything and everyone but God, and as a result have no answers for fears arising from very real circumstances.
But the Lord teaches us to fear Him. He clearly illustrates the fact that God has the ability and authority to destroy an unrepentant sinful person, both body and soul, by tossing him or her headlong into the fires of hell.
It is Scriptural passages such as this that cause nominal believers to question the Word of God and wonder if they will continue on in their trek toward total faith in God. They think that maybe such a passage was added later by a scribe or was translated incorrectly. Or maybe the verses were written down verbatim per the Lord’s teachings. And maybe, just maybe, one should cease and desist from his or her sorry, disrespectful, and rebellious ways, and FEAR GOD.
Considering the fact that non-believers have no answers for their fear beyond mental therapy and drugs, and that real Christians experience peace, courage, and strength by trusting in and obeying the Lord in the midst of terrifying circumstances, it would follow that such directives are absolutely true.
The cool thing about surrendering to God, despite the devil’s lies to the contrary, is that one is putting oneself under the authority of a loving and merciful Creator.
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” [John 6:37-40]
Yet, even though we may be in the will of God and be loved as a child of God and be watched over by God and be in the hands of God, spiritual attack and persecution are still in play and will happen as a matter of course. In fact, the more one lives for God, the closer one gets to God, and the more one successfully attacks the enemies of God, the more attack and persecution one will experience.
Therefore, the idea of a peaceful, calm, and steady Christian experience devoid of any form of retaliatory murder, bloodshed, dirty fighting, vile and untrue accusations, filthy gossip, and persecution is simply and unequivocally not Biblical. It is manmade. It is devoid of life. And it is fake.
Real Christianity is only for the valiant and courageous who are willing to put everything on the line and face the devil head on. Such followers of the Lord are either fearless or will never allow fear to stop them from achieving the objective. Winners are those who endure to the end, who finish a specific trek or mission, and who see things through regardless of impossible obstacles, wicked betrayals, and all forms of attack. They are those who complete the course.
None of it is possible without the Lord but that does not make it easy. Just because the Lord Jesus is with His sons and daughters in the fight and on task does not mean such battles and spiritual construction projects are a breeze.
But it does mean one thing. It means that as long as one continues to respect and honor the Lord Jesus and maintains his or her faith, courage, and obedience toward Him it will get done.
The job will be completed.
The objective will be achieved.
“No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” [Joshua 1:5-9] [1]
© 2012 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
