Psalm 85 seems to have been written on the occasion of the nation's return from captivity. Look at verses 1-2:
1LORD, YOU have [at last] been favorable and have dealt graciously with Your land [of Canaan]; You have brought back [from Babylon] the captives of Jacob.
2You have forgiven and taken away the iniquity of Your people, You have covered all their sin. Selah [pause, and calmly realize what that means]!
The cycle usually was that the people would forget God and begin to do things their own way. They would get into idolatry and God would send prophets to warn them. After many warnings, they would go into captivity and then would begin to call out to God in desperation. After a time, He would answer their cry and deliver them again. They would rejoice and worship the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible. And then... Over and over and over again. Thank You, Father, for your mercy! Some of us do that same thing! We call on the Lord for something that we need and He answers that prayer. Then we get complacent and begin to let people, places and things distract us from doing the daily things we need to do in order to stay on fire for God. We hit a bump in the road, some type of test, trial or tribulation, and we get desperate for God! He answers and we rejoice! The Scottish preacher, George H. Morrison said it best. He said: "The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings". Amen to that! The key is to continue to change our thinking to agree with God! WHEN we fall, we shall arise! (Micah 7:8) The mind-set found in verses 8-9 is what they needed to maintain in order to stay in fellowship:
8 Rejoice not against me, O my enemy! When I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me. 9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes judgement for me. he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteous deliverance.
8 Rejoice not against me, O my enemy! When I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me. 9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes judgement for me. he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteous deliverance.
In Romans 13:1-7 we see the proper attitude towards government official and those in authority! OUCH! We need to stay in close fellowship with the Spirit of God in order to successfully walk that fine line between noticing wrongs to pray about and make our voices heard about, and disobeying God's Word! But He IS faithful and He WILL show us! AMEN! Then we see the importance of walking in love. The verses I want to look at specifically are 11-14:
11Besides this you know what [a critical] hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep (rouse to reality). For salvation (final deliverance) is nearer to us now than when we first believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Christ, the Messiah).
12The night is far gone and the day is almost here. Let us then drop (fling away) the works and deeds of darkness and put on the [full] armor of light.
13Let us live and conduct ourselves honorably and becomingly as in the [open light of] day, not in reveling (carousing) and drunkenness, not in immorality and debauchery (sensuality and licentiousness), not in quarreling and jealousy.
14But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature] to [gratify its] desires (lusts).
The most important thing we can realize, in the times we are living in, is that those in the world without Jesus are running OUT OF TIME! We believers are running full speed into an eternity with HIM, but unbelievers are rapidly facing an eternity WITHOUT HIM! That means FOREVER! We need to be about our Father's business and doing it well and with all of our heart so as to be pleasing to Him! After all, we KNOW that He wants that none should perish. (2 Peter 3:9) AMEN!
In Numbers 13-14 we see the twelve spies sent to spy out the land. They came back with a great report of WHAT they found in the land, an extremely prosperous and fruitful land! But only 2 believed God's Word that He would bring them into the land. The rest were so moved with fear over the people of the land that they forgot the promise. The people believed the negative report and not the report of the 2. The result was that everyone suffered in the wilderness for another 40 years! Check what you believe in the Word of God and don't let ANYONE or ANYTHING sway you from your faith in God!
Shalom in Him!
