CRY AND THE LORD HEARS

Psa 34:6  This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 

David refers to himself as he shows God’s response to those that cry unto God. Now he sees the need to praise God. Many times, we are stressed because of events that are, seemingly destroying our lives and the lives of family and loved ones. David experienced these things and always “cried” unto God.

We must understand that God desires to help us through the tough times, through the difficult times, through the distresses and turmoils of this life. We must communicate with God and call upon Him. Through out the Old Testament and New Testament, we find the saints calling upon God. God is waiting for our call and then He will respond to our need. He already knows our need. Much like our earthly father that knows our need but patiently waits for us to express that need and then responds to the call we give unto he as our earthly father.

David praises God for His response. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. He is there in the morning. He is there at noon. He is there in the evening. He is there at night. Let us praise Him at all times for the marvelous work He does for us. He brings us through the valley of the shadow of death. Praise God and Give Him all Glory.

THE VOICE OF THE LORD

Psa 29:3  The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters. 

The go to verse in this chapter is verse two – “…worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” The true emphasis is on the voice of the Lord. We find the voice of the Lord is “upon the waters.” We find that His voice “thundereth.” We also see several other things about the voice of the Lord. It is “powerful,” it is full of “full of majesty.”

We then proceed to the results of the voice of the Lord. His voice “breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.” He makes the cedars to “skip like calves.” The voice of the Lord “divideth the flames of fire.” It “shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.”, It makes the “hinds to calve.” The voice of the Lord affects all things that have to do with life.

The lost never hear it. They never experience or see the results of the Lord’s voice. The Lord’s voice is in everything that we do. The voice and presence of the Lord can change lives. For the saved and the lost. For the lost it can give everlasting life. For the saved, it can lead in the path of righteousness.

Psa 29:11  The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.

The Lord gives strength. The New Testament reveals the care of the Lord for His people. The providential care and nourishment is similar to the care of the nation delivered during the exodus and the hand of the Lord during their wandering in the wilderness. This is my Lord. Is He your Lord?

Joy for our Protector

Psa 28:7  The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

Is it not interesting that Joy goes with protection. We will always have enemies that pursue us and attempt to destroy the gospel we preach and the life we live. There will always be mockers and those that ridicule. We must continue faithful with our Lord because He is always faithful to protect us. We always need to call upon the Rock.

Let me tell you something about my Rock. This rock I stand on is not a pebble but an immovable boulder. I stand on a Rock that cannot be moved. I am on a firm and safe foundation that will never crumble or was away.

My enemies can assault and assail this Rock and it is to no avail. My Rock is my shield and protection. There is no life storm that can remove me from my Rock. My Rock is a sure foundation that cannot be moved.

I can sing praises to my Savior because of the joy in my heart because of His protection. May I always love and be faithful to the Rock of my salvation and the source of my joy.

MY ENEMIES

Psalm 27:12 – Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

My reading this morning is very interesting. This verse caught my eye. As I watch the swearing in of the new president, I contemplate who are my enemies? Will my country become my enemy? We find a new mind set that some in this new administration have a tremendous animosity towards Christians. There is a call, rather a written petition which has a thrust of re-educating Christians and denying them a voice. There is a call to roll back the pro-christian legislation. The executive orders that has allowed more freedom for Christians is under attack. The assault against Christians has begun.

I have no fear because God is with me. Psa 27:13I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Though this nation moves farther away from God, I have his presence. If you know the Lord as Savior, he continually walks beside you. He is our fortress and our shield. He is our defense. My faith is built on nothing less than Jesus and His righteousness. I stand upon the Rock. This is the Rock that followed Israel from the Egyptian bondage and through the wilderness. He will be my guide, my light and my strength through these difficult days. I praise Him for His love. I pray to him for my help. I rest in His mighty arms of comfort. God Bless.

DIVINE COMFORT

Isaiah 40:1; Isaiah 61:1,2; John 14:1

What a wonderful concept, comfort.

• Comfort is something that each of us seek from time to time.
• We work hard each day and come home to comfort.
• We travel from time to time and sleep in unfamiliar beds.
• We are happy to get home to our own familiar comfortable bed.
• There is a desire for comfort and it does not just relate to physical comfort. We desire to be mentally comfortable.
• There are times when we cannot wrap our mind around happens and events.
• When these mental issues chase away the comfort we want, we seek knowledge to dispel the mystery that makes us uncomfortable.
• We seek mental comfort.
• The other area of comfort is spiritual comfort.
• Spiritual comfort is the most neglected area of comfort.
• Neglected not by God but by man in ignoring the Word of God.

God said to His people, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people saith your God“ Isaiah 40:1

God is speaking comfort to His people. God’s comfort is that warfare is accomplished. Another comfort was that Jerusalem’s iniquity is pardoned. God said that His people had paid double for their sins.

Now God is calling for them to be comforted. God has a desire that his people are comforted.

Isaiah has more to say about comfort. I believe there is a list of comforting things that Isaiah speaks relays to us.

Isaiah 61:1,2 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, an the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

• We each should have the Spirit of the Lord GOD upon us; certainly not as a prophet or a preacher, but as a comfort for us.
• Each of us should comfort the meek and tell others about Jesus Christ our Savior. Surely this is a comfort to us and our desire should be to comfort others by telling about our Savior.
• A comfort is that the Lord is coming again. With the heartbreak that is experienced here, the sorrows that overcome us, the disappointments that abound; the LORD is coming again.
• During our present day trials and tribulations, history does not inform us, but God’s word informs us and comforts us that prophecy is being fulfilled, yet God is with us and His return is close.

We are called to not let our heart be troubled. Here is the question with which we need to deal with; do we believe in God? If we believe in God, we must also believe in Jesus Christ.

Joh 14:1  Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 

2  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 

3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 

4  And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

Here are our marching orders. – Let not your hearts be troubled. This does not mean to simply lay down and not resist. Resist the sin and wickedness with all courage and might. Yet we are comforted, knowing that God is in control and we know his coming is imminent.

• We have divine comfort knowing that the provision of God is manifest in that He has already prepared a place for us.
• We have divine comfort knowing that He is coming back for us.
• We have divine comfort knowing that He is going to receive us in the place He has prepared for us.
• We have divine comfort knowing that where He is we will be also.
• We have divine comfort knowing where He went and we know that way.
• That way is through the blood that Jesus shed for us upon the cross. That way is by repentance of sin and receiving the free gift offered by Jesus.

“KISS THE SON, LEST HE BE ANGRY . . .”

William Andrew Dillard

There are times when certain verses of scripture appear somewhat strange to the modern reader. An example is Psalm 2:12, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.” Think with me about this verse for a moment. It means something far different to the practice of those who spread their germs by repeatedly kissing a statue.
The context of the second Psalm has as its subject matter the raging of heathen, vain imaginations of people, and kings and rulers of the earth taking counsel together against the LORD (Jehovah), and against His anointed (His Covenant People). They want to break their bands, and cast away their cords. (Moral and spiritual attachments). It is a word picture of modern man in his determination to achieve an ill-conceived utopia apart from any acknowledgment of God. The grace of God allows them to continue to do this for a limited time.
Meanwhile, God shall laugh, and have them in derision, and shall vex them in his sore displeasure. The Son of God is given the heathen for inheritance, and the uttermost part of the earth for possession. He shall indeed break the nations with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. In view of that fact, the admonition and instruction of wisdom is written in the eternal Word: “Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
To kiss is to join with the mouth. “Kiss” is the translation of the Hebrew word, “Nashaq.” In Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies, the Hebrew term is defined as “to kiss by joining the mouth to the mouth or hand of another in token of the friendly, affectionate union of hearts or of reverence and subjection.” (Page 239). Two really important accomplishments with the mouth are ingestion for nourishment, and projection of communication of the thoughts of the mind. Then one should discern from the terminology that to kiss the Son implies one should ingest in subjection the Word and Will of the Son. Furthermore, that one should then project from the mouth that which is sanctified and holy, even such as becomes the Son. Applied to modern day judges and governmental leaders, it seems a tall expectation indeed. In fact, it might just be considered such when applied to ministers and other church members. But all may rest assured that wisdom and life lies in the Son. He will be kissed in subjection and affection or those who refuse will be dashed in pieces in irrevocable judgment.

LORD, REMEMBER ME! A SINNER'S CRY

William Andrew Dillard

The multiple facets of life which men choose to follow amazes the keen observer. Some are meek and humble; others are haughty and proud; some are weak and fearful; others are bold and aggressive; some are quick to inquire while others already know it all; some are consumed with power and authority while others are content to fulfill their tasks of life, leaving the authority worries to others, It goes on! Here is a graphic illustration. Think with me about it!
Once upon a time on a hill far away were raised three cruel crosses. Upon these were men, still alive, badly beaten and abused, whose fate was to die in intense agony for crimes allegedly committed. The cross on one end contained a convicted thief. The cross on the other end also contained a convicted thief and/or robber or insurrectionist.
The cross in the middle contained the unrecognizable figure who without sin admitted the sins of the entire world upon Himself: Our altogether lovely, Wonderful, Precious Savior: Jesus, God’s only begotten Son. He was unrecognizable because the heavily wielded, Roman cat of nine-tails has laid upon his flesh to expose His bones. His beard had been pulled off His face with its flesh. His vestige was marred more than any man (Psalm 22, Isa. 52), and interestingly enough, a brief dialogue of the three dying men occurred.
The thief on one end of the three-cross line spoke sarcastically to the man on the middle cross. “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.” Luke 23:39. He neither knew nor cared that the greatest single event in all of human history was occurring, and he was also a part of that monumental scene. He thoughts were not of the world beyond in which he would soon find himself, or that he was beside the resurrection and the life who could pardon his wicked soul of the sins for which he was dying. How typical of the world of sinful men.
On the other side of the middle cross the second thief rebuked the first, saying, “Doest not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.” Luke 23:40-41 It was then that he turned his head to the middle cross and said, “Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Jesus said, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
Let it then be shouted to the darkest regions of the universe: Jesus is Lord, and there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
I want to be remembered by the Man of the Middle /Cross, and I am, and I shall be.
Men in every generation should follow the undeniably successful attitude of the second thief. It is just this simple, and there is no plan “B.” In repentance from sin, and singular trust in the Savior, let prayers ascend, “Lord, remember me!”

How Do You Act?

You can’t act like a skunk without someone getting wind of it.

Joh_11:39  Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

Sometimes this how others think of a few people’s actions and mannerisms. They stink.

Don’t let this be you.

Fear of Man

Proverbs 29:25 – The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. 

Isaiah 51:12 – I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; 

John 12:42 – Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:

There are many signs that show the fear of man. There is not a one of us that want to admit we have fear, especially the fear of not having mans approval. When we have fear, we feel the lack of safety. Mn normally seeks the approval of other men. For many, this fear keeps them from taking a stand. This fear holds them back from doing outstanding deeds. There are some that struggle with this problem all their life. Because of it they do not witness to the lost or take a stand for the truth.

Through Isaiah, God says “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;”. God always puts things in perspective. Man dies. At present, man lives. While man lives every man makes a fool of himself from time to time. The most knowledgeable says or does something stupid. The most cunning messes up from time to time. If truth is made known, we fear man more than we do God. What keeps us from blessing our meal in public? Fear of man. What keeps us from witnessing about our Savior? Fear of man. What keeps us from standing firm on the truths of the Bible. Fear of man.

Consider that some that know the Lord as Savior do not reveal themselves to others because of the fear of the things that they might have to give up or the worldly pleasures. One of the fears of some Jews that were saved was, they would be pushed out of the synagogue. They were saved but wanted to cling to their past life. Some are like that today.

We need to rise up and dispel the fear and be bold to take a stand for Christ and truth.

Worry

Worry is the misuse of imagination.

Psa_37:1  Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

Psa_37:7  Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.8  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.