These verses seem to describe, at least in part, the tension and burden of many in our church today.
145 I cry out with my whole heart;
Hear me, O Lord!
I will keep Your statutes.
146 I cry out to You;
Save me, and I will keep Your testimonies.
147 I rise before the dawning of the morning,
And cry for help;
I hope in Your word.
148 My eyes are awake through the night watches,
That I may meditate on Your word.
149 Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness;
O Lord, revive me according to Your justice.
150 They draw near who follow after wickedness;
They are far from Your law.
151 You are near, O Lord,
And all Your commandments are truth. – Psalms 119:145-151
Hear us Lord! We cry to You! Save us! We hope in Your Word! Hear our voice! Revive us!
Verses 153a and 154a ask longingly, “Consider my affliction and deliver me, … Plead my cause and redeem me”! And in verse 158 the feelings towards the enemy are revealed, “I see the treacherous, and am disgusted, because they do not keep Your word.”
I consider how broken hearted I am over another division in this church, but unfortunately I’ve seen selfishness before, in my own life. … Simon and Garfunkel sang, “Hello darkness my old friend.” And I see it in those who would stand rigidly on sandy soil with no Scriptural basis or Spirit leading, but only on their own desires. Then they take actions against others.
“Lord Save Them!” I plead. It is selfish on my part. Sure, I always want people to follow God more closely because He tells us that His way is the best way for us. But I really just don’t want to have to deal with them over His way.
As Sam told Frodo in the Lord of the Rings, “I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. … Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.” This is the way I feel inside. I don’t want to be here. But I am here, we are here. This is the Lord’s battle. That’s all I have to hold onto.
Christian rapper Lecrae sings that “God is Enough, Never too much, More than enough”. He is our only hope. David walked in front of the Israelite king and army down to Goliath who sought to discredit the Lord and His anointed. The Lord answered in the actions of David. I’m guessing, that David didn’t want to be there. But he was there and he had to answer the call of the enemy who defied the armies of Israel, God’s chosen people. “The battle is the Lord’s” David declared and so we must declare, but be willing to be David and step onto the battlefield.
This isn’t a time to be angry, except at Satan’s ability to infiltrate people’s lives. This is a time to desperately pray for people’s brokenness, including my own, and submission to our Savior. Yet, even so, I have to pray boldly that the Lord will crush those who oppose His Word, His message, His testimony and His people. “Walk before those who are walking with You and put Your Word in their mouth. Strike down those who would persecute Your beloved in Your house. Break to the soul those who walk in their own accord before those who seek Your face and Your will for Your people. Amen.”
145 I cry out with my whole heart;
Hear me, O Lord!
I will keep Your statutes.
146 I cry out to You;
Save me, and I will keep Your testimonies.
147 I rise before the dawning of the morning,
And cry for help;
I hope in Your word.
148 My eyes are awake through the night watches,
That I may meditate on Your word.
149 Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness;
O Lord, revive me according to Your justice.
150 They draw near who follow after wickedness;
They are far from Your law.
151 You are near, O Lord,
And all Your commandments are truth. – Psalms 119:145-151
Hear us Lord! We cry to You! Save us! We hope in Your Word! Hear our voice! Revive us!
Verses 153a and 154a ask longingly, “Consider my affliction and deliver me, … Plead my cause and redeem me”! And in verse 158 the feelings towards the enemy are revealed, “I see the treacherous, and am disgusted, because they do not keep Your word.”
I consider how broken hearted I am over another division in this church, but unfortunately I’ve seen selfishness before, in my own life. … Simon and Garfunkel sang, “Hello darkness my old friend.” And I see it in those who would stand rigidly on sandy soil with no Scriptural basis or Spirit leading, but only on their own desires. Then they take actions against others.
“Lord Save Them!” I plead. It is selfish on my part. Sure, I always want people to follow God more closely because He tells us that His way is the best way for us. But I really just don’t want to have to deal with them over His way.
As Sam told Frodo in the Lord of the Rings, “I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. … Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.” This is the way I feel inside. I don’t want to be here. But I am here, we are here. This is the Lord’s battle. That’s all I have to hold onto.
Christian rapper Lecrae sings that “God is Enough, Never too much, More than enough”. He is our only hope. David walked in front of the Israelite king and army down to Goliath who sought to discredit the Lord and His anointed. The Lord answered in the actions of David. I’m guessing, that David didn’t want to be there. But he was there and he had to answer the call of the enemy who defied the armies of Israel, God’s chosen people. “The battle is the Lord’s” David declared and so we must declare, but be willing to be David and step onto the battlefield.
This isn’t a time to be angry, except at Satan’s ability to infiltrate people’s lives. This is a time to desperately pray for people’s brokenness, including my own, and submission to our Savior. Yet, even so, I have to pray boldly that the Lord will crush those who oppose His Word, His message, His testimony and His people. “Walk before those who are walking with You and put Your Word in their mouth. Strike down those who would persecute Your beloved in Your house. Break to the soul those who walk in their own accord before those who seek Your face and Your will for Your people. Amen.”
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