"When All Else Fails..."

"They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but He answered them not." (Psalms 18:41) When there is something that is to be considered as dead, there really is no saving it; plain and simple! Yet, how often do we try to resurrect the flesh after having reckoned it dead?  The apostle James had something to say about this thing we call the flesh, and how we are prone to be deceived by trying to satisfy it, sometimes even when we think that we are trying to keep it down. In James 4:3, he says, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts". It is the flesh that causes us to ask amiss; hoping to be satisfied regardless of what it might cost us in the end. Paul explains this need that is there for us to establish God's law in our hearts; not because we have got to do it or else, but because we need to do it. In Romans 3:30 & 31, Paul puts our responsibility to the law in a manor that puts things in perspective to this need, by saying, "Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law". Therefore, we cannot ask for something that contradicts God's law or standards for our life; and in trying to do so, we are not going to be answered. God does not change, and what He held true to His word then is still true to His word now; so rather, it is we that must change and be changed within. Talk about spiritualizing the text; I think that we can all agree that I have that covered; but when it comes to what David is saying here, he is being led by the Spirit of God to write what God puts upon his heart; how that relates to us is totally up to God. What we must do, if we are so incline, is to ask God to speak to us where it counts, and then to make our choice what to do based upon what He reveals to us through His word. The main question that we must ask, and that which is detrimental to our faith, is whether or not God's word is relevant to where we are and to what we might be going through. I believe that it is! And having said that, I believe that His word is meant to be spiritualized to our particular lives; whether they be lives that are living out His promises, or lives that are waiting to be taken to the next level in our walk with Him; whatever it is that God is working in us, He does so to draw us closer and closer to Him. Really; that main thing that we must remember and hold dear to our hearts, is that God does not want to burden us down with heavy laws or requirements; but He is a Holy, Righteous, and a Loving God, that wants us to be captured by His great love for us, that we might be willing to do whatever it takes to be as close as possible to Him. After all; He has already done the same for us...