“Who stands up for me against the wicked? Who takes a stand for me against evildoers? 17. If the Lord had not been my helper, I would soon rest in the silence of death. 18. If I say, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your faithful love will support me, Lord. 19. When I am filled with cares your comfort brings me joy.”
One of the reasons I wrote this blog is to help people realize that they are not alone in the world, and to remind myself as well. We all need to be reminded that God is ever near. In Psalm 94, the psalmist was faced with the dilemma of needing to be reminded. In verse 3, he wrote: “Lord how long will the wicked—how long will the wicked gloat?” At this moment the psalmist felt alone and threatened by all of the wickedness and the wicked people by who surrounded him. Whether or not we have ever felt surrounded, we have all certainly felt the insecurity that comes from living in this world. We serve a loving, living, Almighty God, but we still feel the insecurities of this world. He even went so far as to write in verses 4-5: ”They pour out arrogant words and all the evildoers boast. Lord, they crush your people; they afflict your heritage.” At this point, the psalmist was in a negative frame of mind. I’m sure that you can identify with that – I surely can. Then in verses 14-15, he remembered something: “The Lord will not forsake His people or abandon His heritage, for justice will again be righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.” He remembered that Yahweh is the faithful God. He is the God of justice who will not forsake His people. We come now to the heart of what I want to write about today, the psalmist moves from a general statement about the faithfulness of God to a more personal statement: “Who stands up for me against the wicked? Who takes a stand for me against evildoers?” He is not alone in his struggle with life in this world after all. There is a “Who” who looks out for him. There is the great God who takes a stand for him against evildoers. Romans 8:31b reminds us: “If God be for us, who can be against us? ”This is similar to what came to the mind of the psalmist at that time. Then the psalmist proclaimed his complete dependence on God in verse 17: “If the Lord had not been my helper, I would soon rest in the silence of death.” The presence of the Lord in the psalmist’s life literally saved his life. His entire life depended on God’s presence and intervention in his life. We need to understand this as well. There are people, and even things, that can bring meaning and joy into our lives. It is good to be surrounded by family and friends, but they do not hold the thread of our lives. It is God/Jesus who holds our lives in His hands. There are people who bring joy to my heart when I think of them, but they do not hold my life in their hands. Only God does that, and that life will be with Him here and now or by and by. When the psalmist feels that his “foot is slipping," he remembers that he has God’s “faithful love” to support him. We cannot be reminded often enough that God loves us. We do not need to take that love for granted but we do need to embrace it and be thankful for it. It sustains us in the hard times of life. In verse 19 he wrote: “When I am filled with cares, your comfort brings me joy.” The psalmist knew that it was impossible for him to live a life completely free of care, but he knew that he could take those cares to the Lord. What happened when he took those cares to the Lord? He was filled with joy. Our joy in life ultimately rests in our complete dependence on God/Jesus. Our joy is not in what the world gives, but in what God gives. Don’t you think that it would be a good idea to put your complete dependence on God today? Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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