The Safety of the Faithful

This past week I have been studying Psalm 4. It was written by David and it speaks of the reality of finding such peace in God’s presence that even when torn by physical and emotional pain, a person may still have restful sleep.

As I pondered this concept, I was reminded of a statement that Kay Arthur wrote in one of her books that dealt with the topic of why Christians suffer. She had said that Christians would do well to have the word “eternity” stamped on the inside of their eyelids in order to keep the proper perspective of life and all of its trials and tribulations. In reading Psalm 4, David sees past the temporal, past his enemies, past those that love only the good the world has to offer, and he rests in His God who makes him dwell in safety. What a marvelous spiritual truth to allow to captivate our lives and thoughts.

It is also worth pointing out that throughout the Psalm David repeatedly refers to the righteousness and holiness of God. In verse 3 he states, “But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The Lord will hear when I call to Him.” Many people call out to God for help, especially during difficult trials but notice that God hears those that are righteousness. This calls to mind James 5:16, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

God hears those that have made a decision to follow Him and forsake sin. And this really gets to the heart of the issue. God is first and foremost concerned with our sin not our circumstances. On the cross, Jesus defeated sin and its power to have dominion in our lives. God expects His people before they even call out to Him, to be leading lives separate from the world. This does not mean we are perfect by any means, but as John MacArthur likes to say, “It is the direction of our lives not the perfection.” If our lives show a pattern of worldliness in thought, deed, and action than how can God work His goodness and blessing into our lives?

David was able to pillow his head at night and say, “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” because in his life he was “offering sacrifices of righteousness to the Lord.” In fact, it was David in Psalm 51 who said about God, “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart - These, O God, You will not despise.”

I think often as Christians, we can come to God with our requests and expect Him to fulfill them based on our terms. I try to remind myself that every time when I begin to pray to first confess sin and asked to be cleansed because if we are not seeking to be holy first than all else really does not matter. We serve a holy and just God who tells us in Matthew 5:48 that He is perfect and His desire is for His people to be perfect.

God wants us saved, sanctified, and filled with His Spirit. The circumstances of life are a distant second to this objective. This is not to say that God is not interested in our day-to-day lives and struggles. On the contrary, He tells us to bring our requests to Him, but if we are not seeking to become like Him than why would we expect Him to hear us?

"For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8:6)

Never Forsaken, Always Fed

This past week I found myself fretting about money. Again. Almost two years ago, I stopped working after being laid-off. My husband and I felt at the time that the Lord was leading me to stay home with my two daughters who are now five and three years old. To say the Lord has blessed the decision would be an understatement. Not only has He had provided for us financially, He has revealed more of Himself to us in the process, which is the wonderful benefit of obedience. Every time we obey the Lord according to His Word, we see more of Him manifested in our lives.

So, even though the Lord has been faithful, I still found myself in a weak moment fussing around the kitchen worrying about how we were going to pay this bill and that bill. As I reeled my hectic and fearful thoughts back to God and His sovereignty, He brought Psalm 37 to my mind, “I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed.”

This psalm was composed by David and addresses the issue of why the wicked prosper in this life and the righteous suffer, which is a repeated theme in the Bible. The Lord makes it clear that although the wicked enjoy great prosperity for a season, their felicity is momentary and evanescent. In other words, it is temporal and it will end in destruction and divine judgment because they have rejected God and abused His bounty and paternal goodness.

In contrast, the pious and devoted servants of God never cease to be happy, even in the midst of their greatest calamities, because God takes care of them, and comes to their aid in due season. Admittedly, this appears to be paradoxical in nature and in opposition to human reasoning but as you look deeper, you realize that God is trying to pull our thoughts off of the temporal and focus us on the eternal. By moving our attention to the spiritual realm, this psalm invites us to lay hold of the providence of God, as He stretches forth His hand to help those who are His servants while quietly reminding us of the ultimate end of the wicked.

In Ecclesiastes chapter three, the Lord says that He has “put eternity in the hearts of men.” God has put the things of eternity in our hearts as believers so we will not lose focus and grow faint and weary in well-doing. It is there as a source of comfort because we know that one day we will see Jesus. We will see Jesus! And if our focus is centered on Him, then the things of this world really do grow strangely dim as the great song, “Turn You Eyes upon Jesus” states in its chorus.

I have found in my own life that I begin to despair when I lose eternal focus. The temporal world is hard at times, isn’t it? Between mortgage payments, car payments, school tuitions, health concerns, marital problems, etc., we have a lot on our plates to deal with on a daily basis, but the Lord is always trying to pull us away from those temporal things unto Himself.

It is at His feet, in His presence, within the pages of His Word that we find our fulfillment and purpose. And still, He understands we are frail and but dust. So, when we fret about unpaid bills in the kitchen, worry about lay-offs at work, or agonize about a crumbling marriage at 2:00 a.m., He tells us all we really need to know and believe, “I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.”

"Be content with such things as you have. For He Himself [God] has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we may boldly say: 'The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'" (Hebrews 13:5-6)