"The Advance"

"Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood." (Psalms 7:14) So here we are; the place that requires turning towards God in surrender, or advancing forward through the briar patch, with all of it's thorns and thistles. What would make someone so stubborn, and harden their heart to such an extent? Pride might be one thing which could cause such an action; yet, I am not sure that it is the main reason. There is another term for such action; although closely associated with pride, yet it takes on a life of it's own, in more ways than one. The term is called vanity; and what that does in our heart, is to create an image unto ourselves, or an idol of ourselves; whereby, there is created an image of someone who knows better than God what is best for us, and takes the attributes of man and contributes them unto God. Image what that might look like, if you can; because in doing so, you must discount the mighty power of an all-knowing, and loving God! Although, this is what David is describing, as he paints a picture of a man who is trapped in the depths of vanity. The first part of the description, is that "he traverseth with iniquity"; which could be interpreted as being lost in sin; however, it really goes quite further than that. It goes further, because being lost requires that someone not know the way; this however speaks of someone who has pledged something, which points to the direction that they have chosen; instead of just stumbling into sin, they have intentionally reached out for it. This is the thing about idols, is that they are set before God, and then reached out to, as in an effort to facilitate a need, in lieu of God. The second part of this picture, is that he "hath conceived mischief"; which again, is something that involves intent, and requires a foreknowledge of what is right, yet chooses to do wrong. What this speaks about is a plan to do wrong, or to sin; which requires the knowledge of what is right, in order to conceive such a plan to do wrong. And then, we have the third part of this picture, which is that he "brought forth falsehood"; which speaks about making something up, or to bring forth something that is false. Do you see the picture? It paints a picture of a man that is defiant to his core, and is determined to press forward, even knowing that he is wrong. What could make such a man do such a thing? Envy? Jealousy? How about unforgiveness? Yes, that is what I think that it is! Not unforgiveness on his part, but his inability to see God's forgiveness towards him! Now why do you think that is? Could it be that the image of himself has gotten in the way of his ability to see God's love for him? Can a man even begin to see God's forgiveness if he is focused upon himself? We cannot understand God's ability to forgive us, if we cannot get past ourselves...