The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

 

 

Psalm 94: 1-23

 

8-6-2022

 

The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth!   Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!  O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?   They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage.  They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;  and they say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

 

 Understand, O dullest of the people   Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear?  He who formed the eye, does he not see?   He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?  He who teaches man knowledge—the Lord—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.   

 

Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble until a pit is dug for the wicked.  For the Lord will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage; for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

 

Who rises up for me against the wicked?  Who stands up for me against evildoers?  If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.   When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.  Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?  They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.  But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.  He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the Lord our God will wipe them out.

 

As I read the opening five words of Psalm 94, call my wife over and ask her do you view God in this way?  (O Lord, God of vengeance,) She said no I have not.  I must confess I was in full agreement; I see Him as a warrior, but most of all as a loving, merciful, Holy, Pure, All-knowing, and jealous God.  Could it be that it comes from the worldview that has crept into the Church of the USA?  The Western Church wants a Loving, and Merciful God, and that He is but is He also a God of vengeance?  The answer is sure He is a God of Vengeance, or it would not be recorded in His written Word.  But if one set their mind on what God did to the nations like Egypt that treated His people and Him with contempt, you will know that our God is the God of Vengeance. 

 

As we move down in the Psalm we see these strong words to all who forget that our God is not the Western or Eastern God but that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.  Understand, O dullest of the people   Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear?  He who formed the eye, does he not see?   He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?  He who teaches man knowledge—the Lord—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.  Strong Words, but needed for our generation. 

 

The generation we are living in does not like discipline, in fact, most do not discipline their children, and this generation of children, or the most entitled kids on planet Earth, are not thankful, or respectful, they want more stuff. Is that in line with the word of God; Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble until a pit is dug for the wicked.  If God does not discipline you it is because you are not His Child.

 

When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.  Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?  They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.   But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.  He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the Lord our God will wipe them out.

 

It is not hard to have your foot slip if you’re not in God’s word, and applying it to your daily life.  If you’re not in a relationship with other men who also are walking with the Lord.  And the same thing goes for a woman, with other women.  Watch out for the deceiver, he always going to do two things, tell you you deserve, or that you are of little worth and the world is better without you.

 

 

Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?  No, but that is why they see followers of Jesus as their enemies.

 

But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.  He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the Lord our God will wipe them out.  Yes our God is a God of vengeance, but we must never be vengeful, we are called by our Lord to love our enemies, and to pray for them.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice