"Outlandish"

"With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth." (Psalms 35:16) Continued thought from yesterday, only this ones a little over the top! Have we not seen the power of God move upon this place, yet we hold out for something new to happen, as if God must make the first move. Remember what it is that this Psalm is all about, that being 'A Prayer for Help'; more importantly, remember that God wants us to need His help; He expects us to cry out to Him for help, primarily because He is God and we are His broken vessels that need to be fixed. That said, there is a little thing called 'action', which sometimes might be reaction to something happening in our lives, but primarily it involves a disciplined movement in a certain direction; reaction on the other hand takes it's motivation from an outside influence, and is seldom disciplined, but more often than not, it requires quick response and little planning. Don't ask me what I am saying, because I really don't know; except to say, God has a plan for each and everyone of us to perform in our lives for His kingdom; unfortunately, most of the time we are reacting to His prodding us along, instead of stepping out in the direction that we should be going. Let's try and understand what God desires for our lives, and then begin moving in that direction. Now then, after saying all of that, I will speak to these "hypocritical mockers", who just so happen to have "teeth", yet they really have no bite; instead they merely grind their teeth together as they snarl and act as the buffoon that they are; not actually realizing how godless they are acting, nor how much shame they bring upon themselves. If we need an illustration of what this might look like, we just need to look at the way Jesus was treated by the Jewish leaders, as they always gathered around Him mocking and grinding their teeth at Him, wishing they could bite, but having no authority to do any such thing. The sad thing was that He came to save their souls also, yet they could not see that because they did not see their need to be saved; keepers of law they were, however, they did not actually keep the law as in performing it, they keep the law, as in owning it as if they were the ones responsible for making sure everyone else kept it. In their effort to keep the law, they failed to see the fulfillment of the law, and their own need to be made complete. This is really not that uncommon of an attitude within the church, although it might be 'outlandish' to look upon, it happens all the time; it can happen within our own hearts if we are not paying attention to the way we judge others. We really do want to be on the right side of this issue; and more times than not, it requires action, not reaction: action being the disciplined movement in humility; while reaction is having to say, Oops!
"What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not be faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that Stumblingstone; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumblingstone and rock of offense: and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed." (Romans 9:30-33)