I LOVE our Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan! We use this same plan, reading through the Bible chronologically, year after year, and yet each and every day is completely relevant to the times that we are living in! Only GOD can do that! Today's Psalm is an exhortation and encouragement to God's righteous people who are being blasphemed, ridiculed, persecuted, wrongly charged, slandered and attacked for no other reason than that they ARE God's people, and are standing for what is RIGHT according to the Word of God. Those who reject the Truth of God's Word will go to any lengths to try to stop or silence the Word from going out and from being heard and acted on. And we KNOW that the people themselves are simply clueless pawns in the hands of a spiritual enemy! Look at Psalm 94:1-11:
1 O Lord God, You to Whom vengeance belongs, O God, You to Whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! 2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render to the proud a fit compensation! 3 Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph and exult? 4 They pour out arrogant words, speaking hard things; all the evildoers boast loftily. 5 They crush Your people, O Lord, and afflict Your heritage. 6 They slay the widow and the transient stranger and murder the unprotected orphan. 7 Yet they say, The Lord does not see, neither does the God of Jacob notice it. 8 Consider and understand, you stupid ones among the people! And you [self-confident] fools, when will you become wise? 9 He Who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He Who formed the eye, shall He not see? 10 He Who disciplines and instructs the nations, shall He not punish, He Who teaches man knowledge? 11 The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vain (empty and futile—only a breath).
The psalmist is calling on the Lord to vindicate them, and then answers his own questions and pleas with the Word of the Living God! Verses 12-17 is more encouragement for the righteous to hold on strong to the Lord and to His Word!
12 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law, 13 That You may give him power to keep himself calm in the days of adversity, until the [inevitable] pit of corruption is dug for the wicked. 14 For the Lord will not cast off nor spurn His people, neither will He abandon His heritage. 15 For justice will return to the [uncompromisingly] righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. 16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? 17 Unless the Lord had been my help, I would soon have dwelt in [the land where there is] silence.
Then verses 21-23 tell what the enemy has done and what the LORD is doing and will do in answer to the attacks!
21 They band themselves together against the life of the [consistently] righteous and condemn the innocent to death. 22 But the Lord has become my High Tower and Defense, and my God the Rock of my refuge. 23 And He will turn back upon them their own iniquity and will wipe them out by means of their own wickedness; the Lord our God will wipe them out.
The LORD will wipe out the lawsuits, slanders, charges and lies against His anointed! Those allowing themselves to be used by the enemy to hurt God's Anointed will see their targets vindicated and themselves charged! But the truly great aspect of our wonderful Lord and Saviour is that He will give them the opportunity to repent (change their thinking to agree with God) and then they, too, can call upon the Name of the Lord to be saved! AMEN! Learn, and choose, to see every situation as an opportunity for YOU to represent JESUS well, and for HIM to show Himself strong and powerful, drawing ALL men unto Himself! AMEN! And isn't THAT why we are all still here, anyway? Sharing the Good News so that all of the 'whosoever wills' can be saved? YES! Here is Hillsong with "No Reason To Hide":
Shalom in Him!
