If the Foundations are Destroyed, Can the Righteous Stand?

If the foundations are destroyed, 

what can the righteous do?

Psalm 11:3

We live in an unbelievably beautiful, undeniably great and unusually free nation as citizens of the United States of America.  Our constitution has sufficed and has guaranteed us for well over 200 years now the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.  But the liberties that we have so enjoyed are being challenged from the Supreme Court of our land to the Presidency to our lawmakers and judges who think that they have the answers for the "new millennium."  The foundations are being destroyed; we are living in a different good ole' USA than any of us have ever known, and it does not seem to promise to improve for our children.

I read an article in our local newspaper that 45 percent of the public schools in our state failed to meet minimum standards of education. (http://www.therepublic.com ) I have been trying to help a college student learn to write properly--a college student who was in AP English classes.  He cannot write a paper without help!  Is it because he is not smart?  No!  He is an engineering major.  His education just fell very short.  The foundations are being destroyed.

Men and women who merely stand on the street and talk of the Lord Jesus Christ to passersby or pass out gospel tracts have been arrested--for using one of the freedoms that this nation was founded on.  Since when do those who are intolerant to what they deem intolerant have the privilege of calling themselves tolerant?  The foundations are being destroyed, and these are just two of the many ways in which they are.

This could be a very discouraging passage of Scripture if David had no answer to the question.  

Why could he say,

"In the Lord I take refuge."? (verse 1a)  

Because he knew that

The Lord is in His holy temple; 

the Lord's throne is in heaven.

His eyes see,

His eyelids test,

the children of man.

  The Lord tests the righteous,

but His soul hates the wicked

and the one who loves violence.

(verses 4-5)

Therefore we can say with David, 

"For the Lord is righteous; 

He loves righteous deeds; 

the upright shall behold His face.

(verse 7)

As we trust in Him and seek His face,

Gloria

Why?

Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off? 

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?...

In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek Him;

all his thoughts are, "There is no God."..

The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.

  He says in his heart, "God has forgotten;

He has hidden His face; He will never see it."...

But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,

that you may take it into your hands;

to you the helpless commits himself; 

you have been the helper of the fatherless.

  Psalm 10:1,4,10-11,14

You may notice in the Psalms that the psalmist goes from confident expectation of God's nearness to questioning wonder about His distance.  In this Psalm he begins with a question, one that we ask many times:  "Why?"

Why do the enemies of God live licentiously, whether they be the filthy rich who blaspheme the name of God , hoarding their assets or spending frivolously on extravagant toys; or the elite group of intellectuals who deem belief in a Divine Creator beneath them?  And what of those who try to expunge even the memory of those who call themselves by the name of Christ?  Oh, yes, this is not an uncommon thing in our modern world.  If you are not familiar with the organization, Voice of the Martyrs, go to http://www.persecution.com/  and receive a free newsletter that will keep you informed about the persecution of Christians throughout the world.  It is not a fun read, but it will help you to know how to pray for those who are standing strong for the cause of Christ in a hostile world.

If we look at injustice and think with the enemies of God that perhaps God really doesn't exist, or that He has forgotten the plight of the helpless, we are falling into their trap.  God does hear; He has not forgotten, and He will deal with them in His time.

Many times I have read the testimonies of those who are being persecuted for bearing the name of Christ, and their testimony is, "I count it a privilege to suffer for the sake of my Lord Jesus Christ."  Our American freedom mentality has caused us to fear persecution and to consider its evils rather than to rejoice in suffering.  God does hear the cries of those who are being abused and will avenge the enemies of the cross and of his own.

Serving the God who hears,

Gloria

Not Forsaken

 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;

I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. 

I will be glad and exult in you;

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High...

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

And those who know your name

put their trust in you, for you,

O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you...

Psalm 9:1-2, 9-10

The confidence which David had in the Lord at this time allowed him to say without reservation, "I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.  I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

God  promises that He will not forsake those who put their trust in Him.  Do you ever feel forsaken?  Put your trust in the Lord.  I have found that one of the best ways for me to renew my trust in God's continual presence is to  praise Him for who He is and to begin to recount the ways in which He has acted on my behalf. Remembering the One who gives us life and preserves us is a great boost of confidence that He will continue to do so.  We can say with the apostle Paul, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."  (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)  We may rely on His promise, found in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Let's begin our day recounting God's wondrous deeds,

Gloria

The Divine Majesty

"Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic 

is your name in all the earth!...

when I look at your heavens, 

the work of you fingers,

the moon and the stars, 

which you have set in place, 

what is man that you are mindful of him, 

and the son of man that you care for him? 

Yet you have made him a little lower 

than the heavenly beings 

and crowned him with glory and honor...

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic

is your name in all the earth!  

Psalm 8:1a, 3-5, 9

This Psalm begins and ends with a prayer of worship.  Our Lord is the Divine Majesty of all the earth!  What prompted the psalmist to bow in worship before the Lord, declaring His majesty?  Be sure to read the remainder of this Psalm.  

David's thoughts turned towards humanity and our unworthiness to receive what God deemed fit to give us: His thoughts, His care, our position in the grand scheme of things (only a little lower than the heavenly beings), glory and honor, dominion over the earth.  All of these are ours, given to us by the Divine Majesty.

What else can we do but fall prostrate in worship before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, knowing our sinfulness and yet possessing such honors? 

I am reminded of a wonderful old song.  The chorus goes like this:

Holy, Holy is what the angels sing,

And I expect to help them make 

the courts of heaven ring!

But when I sing redemption's story,

They will fold their wings;

For heaven never felt the joy

That my salvation brings.

(Okay, I know angels don't have wings!) 

Holy, Holy Is What the Angels Sing

Singing redemption's story in praise and worship,

Gloria

Can You Pray This With Confidence?

 O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;

save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,

lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,

rending it in pieces, with none to deliver. 

O Lord my God, if I have done this,

if there is wrong in my hands,

if I have repaid my friend with evil

or plundered my enemy without cause,

let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; 

and let him trample my life to the ground

and lay my glory in the dust.

Psalm 7:1-5

Are you able to pray this prayer of David, confident that you are free of the guilt of wronging another, friend or enemy?  Do you have an "I'll get you back" mentality?  Or do you, as David, take refuge in the Lord of Hosts, allowing Him to deliver you and deal with them?

As we are free from the guilt of wronging others, and as we hand them over to the Lord, we can be assured that they are in the hands of the only One who is completely capable of avenging them, and we can say with David,

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, 

and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

Psalm 7:17

Meditating on this,

Gloria

Just You Wait!

"The King David praying for Solomon" by Shirley Swanson

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, 

nor discipline me in your wrath.

  Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;

heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.  

My soul also is greatly troubled. 

But you, O Lord--how long? 

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;

save me for the sake of your steadfast love...

I am weary with my moaning;

every night I flood my couch with my weeping.

  My eye wastes away because of grief;

it grows weak because of all my foes...

The Lord has heard my plea; 

the Lord accepts my prayer.  

Psalm 6:1-4a, 6-7, 9

David was a man of prayer, as indicated by the 150 Psalms that were recorded as God's Word to mankind.  Some were Psalms of praise, but many were cries to the Lord for help.  David did not live an easy life, even though he was a man after God's own heart.  And neither are we to think that we should live a life of ease.  If you have lived any length of time, you know that there are many trials in this life on earth.  

This was obviously one of those times of trial for David.  His enemies encroached on every side.  His groanings to the Lord were many, and he even cried out to Him, "How long?"  It seemed they would never end at this point.  He was tired; he cried so much that his eyes felt like they were "wasting away" because of his grief.

But in verse 9 David has a burst of confidence in the Lord.  It seems that he was able to say in his heart of hearts, "Just you wait, enemies of myself and God!"  Why?  Because he knew that God--his God--had heard his cries to heaven.

Don't give up, Pilgrim.  Cry out with a pure heart to the Father who hears.  Keep crying out.  Just you wait!  Along with David, we can say, "The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer."  Someone once wisely said, "God is seldom early, but He is never late!"  Our hope is in the Lord.

Waiting on Him,

Gloria

Not a Morning Person?

Give ear to my words, O Lord; 

consider my groaning.

 Give attention to the sound of my cry,

my King and my God, 

for to you do I pray. 

O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; 

in the morning I direct my prayer to you and watch...

Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; 

let them ever sing for joy, 

and spread your protection over them,

that those who love your name may exult in you. 

For you bless the righteous, O Lord;

you cover him with favor as with a shield.  

Psalm 5: 1-3, 11-12

Not a morning person, you say?  My first inclination is to tell you to get up and spend  time in prayer anyway, but I know too many who are not morning people to do that.  My oldest daughter, who is now 40 years old and a morning person (4 kids 15, 12, 10, and 7) was definitely NOT one as she was growing up.  One morning when she was in college I walked into her room and said, "Good Morning!", to which she promptly said, "Why is it that every morning you have to say, 'Good Morning!"  I asked her what she would rather I say, and she said, "Well, I'd rather you didn't say anything, but if you have to say something, just say, 'Morning!'  So from then on I would go into her room and say, "Morning!" in a very cheerful voice.  She didn't appreciate that, either!

All that to say, it is so important that we spend time with our Father--that we either learn to get up in the morning and have our daily time with Him, or we carve out another time in the day.  Why?  I believe that Psalm 5 gives us some hints.

• We have groanings which no one can hear or reply to but God.  Our cries must go up to Him if we are to receive an answer. (verse 1)
• We can look to Him with expectation.  No one else is able to give us the desires of our heart. (verse 3)
• The Lord hates the evil of the deceitful and wicked, and without Him as our refuge, we would be in the same place. We must stay in close fellowship with Him. (verse 4-6)
• It is He who makes our way straight, who shows us the way to His house. (verse7)
• Taking refuge in Him gives us cause to rejoice, to sing for joy, to exult in Him. (verse 11)
• He is our protection from our enemies.  It is to Him that we must go. (verse 11)
• As we are righteous before Him (and the only way to live righteously is to be bathed in His Word and in close communion with Him) we are covered with His favor.  He is our Shield. (verse 12)

Not a morning person?  Go to bed earlier.  Or carve out a time when just you and the Lord are in close communion.  Don't wait until your enemies are on your heels and you feel desperate.  We are always desperate and in great need of our Father's time.  And you know what?  He is need of our fellowship, as well.

Yawning by noon,

Gloria