Shalom,
When we looked at Psalm 88 before we mentioned that this Psalm is the only Psalm that is completely a "downer" without the psalmist encouraging himself in the Lord and becoming positive about things again. There IS a hidden clue, though, that this psalmist WAS encouraging himself in the Lord! Look at verse 1:
1 O LORD, the God of my salvation, I have cried to You for help by day; at night I am in Your presence.
In the KJV, whenever the Name LORD appears with all capital letters, it is referring to Yahweh, or Jehovah, which means: The Eternal, Self-existing One! This is His Covenant Name! This IS the great I AM! When the psalmist referred to Him by that Name, he was reminding himself AND God of the Covenant they had together. The word "salvation" is the Hebrew word, "yeshuw`ah", which means: deliverance, aid, victory, prosperity, health, welfare. You may feel at times that everything is going against you, BUT, if you will remind yourself of the Covenant you have with Almighty God through the Blood of Jesus Christ, then you will be "equal to anything" as Philippians 4:13 says:
13 I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].
If you have received Jesus of Nazareth as your Lord and personal Saviour, then you have the right AND the responsibility to stand on THIS promise and all of the others in the Word of God! Make sure that you are finding out every day what belongs to you so that you can be blessed in order to BE a blessing to others!
What we are going to look at in Luke 9 today may seem a little strange, but I believe it is important to have the right mind-set when it comes to the promises of God! Verse 5:
5 And wherever they do not receive and accept and welcome you, when you leave that town shake the dust off [even] the dust from your feet, as a testimony against them.
The "testimony" that they were giving by doing this was that they would have no fellowship with these people because they had rejected the message of God. Did that mean that no one should ever preach the Gospel to them again? NO! It simply showed the separation between the believers and the unbelievers! Whether people like to hear it or not, God DOES play favorites! He favors HIS children over the children of the enemy! You become a child of God by receiving Jesus of Nazareth as Lord and personal Saviour. God loves the entire world (believers AND unbelievers) so much that He sent His Son! There is nothing more that God can do for those who refuse that gift UNTIL they change their thinking to agree with God and receive the Gift of Salvation! Until then, He concentrates on blessing HIS OWN!
In Micah 3-5 we see the that the prophet was again warning the people what was to come in their future IF they did not get right with God! It is exciting to see that he also spoke about the coming future for the believers! At the time of the second coming of Jesus as Messiah we see this promise in Micah 4:1-2:
1 BUT IN the latter days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains; and it shall be exalted above the hills, and the peoples shall flow to it. 2 And many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways, and we may walk in His paths. For the law shall go forth out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
A lot is going to happen of this earth BEFORE these things come to pass, but here is NOTHING that would prevent them from beginning AT ANY MOMENT! Be ready, not for yourself, but for others, so you can be free to be led by the Holy Spirit in taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to YOUR world! AMEN!
Shalom in Him!
