Psalm 40…The Lord Inclines (Part 2)

February 9, 2011 at 4:09 am (About Sin, Assurance, Devoted To My Daughter, Devoted To My Son, Devotional Thoughts., Family, Forgiveness, Guidance, Life, Lighter Burdens., Love, Our Unchanging God, Sins, Sovereignty of God, Thanksgiving, Transformation., When you are afraid, When You Feel Like Crying., Wisdom)

Originally posted on June 8, 2010 at 7:24 pm

Scripture Reference;

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.  He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.  And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.  Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.  Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.  Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.  Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.  I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.  Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha. Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified. But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.  Psalm 40 KJV

Today I’m going to pick up where I left off in Part “1”, and look at some more verses.

⁵Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

I am having a little trouble grasping this one, and I dare say that I am not the only one. All of us humans see only in part.  We live in a world that has so much access to news, but the tendency in reporting and commenting is to focus on mostly negative reports and opinions.  Sometimes our bigger battles are to do with thinking on that which is good.  Actually, I am beginning to see that probably one of  the biggest battles that we must face is the battle of choosing “NOT to battle”. I hope you don’t mind if I digress a little here, and please know that I am aware that the Bible teaches us to put on the “Armor of God”, and even David Himself fought in battles (both physical and spiritual) and spoke of them in the Psalms. Below is the passage of scripture that speaks about armor and battling. The Apostle Paul wrote it to the saints at Ephesus while he was in prison.

The Armor of God

^“10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

¹⁹Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”  Ephesians 6:10-19 NIV

The above passage mentions the “day of evil” I am sure that many Bible scholars have many varying opinions on what that phrase means. I am not a scholar. I am just a woman, a wife, a daughter, a mother, a sinner, and a blood bought child of God. There is one thing that I have learned and am still learning and will probably continue to learn for the rest of my life here on the earth. It is that the day a Christian is tempted to doubt that his/her sins are forgiven, that salvation has truly been “SECURED”, that Jesus DOES hear every cry, and have pity instead of anger when we cry out to him, the day one is tempted to think that  He “WOULD” put more on His children than they could bear, that He “WILL NOT” cast out the type of fear that “TORMENTS”, the day one is tempted to doubt that the love of Jesus is powerful enough to save to “THE UTTERMOST” those who come to him(Hebrews 7:25), the day one is tempted to doubt that the very most important battle ever fought for us was fought and “WON” by “JESUS” when He died on that cross and rose the 3rd day… that day is truly a “day of evil”! I will never forget a few years ago I was in a Sunday School class and heard something that really struck me. It had to do with the following verse:

^“31And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: ³²But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Luke 22:31-32

I remembered that as the teacher read verse 31 I recognized it, but had no memory of verse 32. The goal of all sifting is to separate one thing from another. The teacher explained that morning that Christians cannot be separated from Christ’s love and their salvation (see Romans 8:26-39 and Psalm 139). BUT look at verse 32. It was Peter’s faith or confidence in Christ that Satan wanted to separate from Peter. Look at this:  “⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 4:8-9 KJV . Now look again at Luke 22:32. Jesus told Simon (Peter) that not only had He pray(ed) for Him that his faith would not fail, but also that when Simon (Peter) was converted that he would strengthen his brethren. Jesus didn’t say “IF” thou are converted”, but “WHEN” thou are converted. I am so thankful for that Sunday School teacher’s words spoken that day.

Well, what started out as a digression has become the message. Now back to my first thought… “The battle to think on that which is good”… that which is of “good report”.  Does that phrase sound familiar?   Look at this:

^“4Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.⁵Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.⁶Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.⁷And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.⁸Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.⁹Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. ” Philippians 4:4-9 KJV

…Our sin is not good and it certainly is not lovely.  Christians have Christ dwelling in them. This means they have new life and light in them, and yes, that light makes their sins visible to them, and when they see them they are commanded to confess them and turn from them. It is so important that we understand what it means to turn from our sins. Part of it means to understand how bad they are, and to strive to not commit them (to follow the Spirit instead of the flesh…see Romans 7 and 8). BUT do you understand that when you turn your back on something you can no longer see it? The Lord does not look at them. We are not supposed to dwell on the past(This includes both distant and recent past. Past is past…5 minutes ago is past.), we are not to wallow in shame. The Lord does not look at them… We are not to look at them either…we are to look at Jesus, to look up, not down, not over our shoulder, but up!

Now I am going back to the subject of “the battle NOT to battle”. Samuel was so upset when Israel rejected the Lord by asking for a human king to lead them in their battles.  They sinned a terrible sin when they made that choice. We must choose our battles carefully, and remember that there are some battles that have already been fought and won. The Lord’s Prayer illustrates this. It is a prayer we all need to memorize and pray.  Here it is:

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

¹⁰Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

¹¹Give us this day our daily bread.

¹²And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

¹³And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. Matthew 6:9-13 KJV

Now finally I will conclude today’s entry by returning to the original Bible verse:

^“5Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Psalm 40:5 KJV

We are taught in scripture to take time to give thanks. But we often think of “giving thanks” as just a duty or obligation. We forget that there are real benefits to us when we give thanks. Whenever we take the time to give thanks unto the Lord we take the time to recall all of the things we know the Lord has done and promised to do in the Bible, and we also think about all of the things the Lord has done for each of us throughout our lives. We often think about difficult times where the Lord delivered us either by changing the circumstances or by changing our perspective or both, and as a result we start to magnify the Lord, and as we do this our hearts are encouraged and touched by a keener awareness of his love. It is true that the Lord’s thoughts about each and every one of us are more than can be numbered; there is no way that we could recall them all in order. However, as we become still in His presence He will bring them to our minds. What a privilege it is to give thanks unto the Lord!

Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord?  Please click here:https://pronetoponder.wordpress.com/category/about-salvation-very-important-words/ and make sure.

Do you have a Bible? If you don’t have one, you need not worry. Just go to http://www.biblegateway.com. They have many versions and translations of the Bible that you can read. Some of the best things in life are free!

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