Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Psalm Big Sacrifices...

Psalm 10 has been a great reminder for me to stand firm in the Lord even in times when I feel as though He is not near me. The only thing that will keep me away from Him is sin and if I am not careful, I may indulge and even find myself liking what the world indulge in. I need God to constantly remind me to keep my focus on Him and to remind me that He is my helper in times of trouble.

V1-13 showed how the wicked seem to prosper while the good felt as if God was not there to protect them from their sufferings.
Know this, ‘everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’ (2 Tim 3:12)
I have learnt that though life may seem unfair at times, God is always fair. Indeed, there are times where you may feel really demoralize by what’s happening around you. Things like people committing crimes and getting away, people who backstab you going away scot-free with it or you working so hard to get the opportunity you have been waiting for, just to see that opportunity given to someone who has put in the least amount of effort.

Be sure that the devil will take hold of these circumstances to tempt you with deceptions like, ‘You can be just like them, prosperous’, ‘your God is an unjust God’, ‘God is not with you’ or ‘come on, if they can get away with it, I’m sure you will be able too. Besides, you can always ask God for forgiveness’. I can say all this because the evil one has tempted me with all this things. Oh and by the way, temptation is not a sin for Jesus was also tempted in the desert.

In Ephesians 2:3, it says ‘All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.’
In Colossians 3:7
‘You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.’

I really thank God that by His grace, I am able to stand firm in my faith and not fall back to my sinful nature. For the only way to do that is to be more alive in Christ and to die more to ourselves. As said in Philippians 1:21 ‘For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.’

So after reading v1-13, you might ask yourself ‘where is God when they needed help?’ Well, here comes the encouragement:

V14-18
‘14But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. 15Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out. 16 The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. 17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, 18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.’

God do see the trouble and grief we are experiencing and He WILL LISTEN to your cry and ENCOURAGE us. Know that God is a God of justice and the protector of the righteous and the world will never stand against the Lord nor will the world take Him away from us. So let us continue to live a life of righteousness and do remember that we can only do so by faith.
Just as it is said in Romans1:17
"The righteous will live by faith."

Labels: Devotion, PSALM devotions