"The Fountain of Life"

"For with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light." (Psalms 36:9) When Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, He said, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The thing that is worth taking note of, is that the well of water springs up 'into' everlasting life; which, in case you did not know, that denotes entrance into or direction towards eternal life; actually, it means that our eternal life began the moment we received Jesus Christ into our hearts; and from that moment on, we would never thirst for our eternal salvation again, for the water that comes from the saving grace of our Saviour will continually spring up in us in the direction of everlasting life. What the means for us as believers, is that we are not waiting to begin everlasting life after we are done with this one, we are living our everlasting life beginning now; meaning that we can begin now to experience a little bit of heaven, as we are waiting to be "transformed in a twinkling of an eye" into our new glorified bodies. It's a little like the old question as to whether the glass is half empty, or is it half full? For us that are in Christ, the glass is half full, as we live and move here in this place awaiting for the glass to be filled to overflowing; yet in the meantime, the glass is being filled even as we wait. However, for those that are not in Christ, their glass is half empty, and shall be poured out at the end of this life; meaning that this life will be the best that it gets, and that it doesn't get any better than this. While we, on the other hand, that are living together now in Christ, this is the worst that it gets; and from here, it's all about a glorious eternity with Christ..."And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise Thee: though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon His name, declare His doings among the people, make mention that His name is exalted. Sing unto the LORD; for He hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." Isaiah 12:1-6)

"Abundant Goodness" -2

"They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasure." (Psalms 36:8) Secondly, and most importantly, we are satisfied because God is just so good! Abiding in His house, which not only means our home to come, but is the sanctuary of His love and protection, is that place that brings us complete satisfaction. This word "fatness", although easy to see it's obvious meaning of 'fatness', as in fat with goodness, it also has the meaning of 'fertility', as in fertile in the way we are satisfied beyond what we could ever use up or need; like fertile ground that grows abundant crops, more than we could ever use up on our own; or the fertility of the womb, that produces offspring after offspring, leading us into a deeper satisfaction, the more we abide in His house. Oddly enough, this same word also means 'ashes', as fat ashes from victims burned on the alter, and from corpses burned on a funeral pile; which is something to compare to the way that we must enter into God's presence, in that all of our wickedness must be burnt away, or stripped away, and what is left are ashes to be used in His garden of love; much as the ancients used ashes for fattening or manuring the fields: just another way to look at the meaning, "Beauty from ashes". And the "Thou shalt make them drink" reminds me about "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters", which is from the 23rd Psalm, and speaks not only of God's great goodness in providing that which satisfies, but it also speaks about the desire of our hearts to be cared for in such a way; whereas, He not only makes this available for us, but because He is so good, we do not want to be anywhere else, and are made to lie down out of sheer pleasure of being satisfied. And the final portion of this "Abundant Goodness", is that of "the river of Thy pleasure", which like a river, it is always flowing with His abundant goodness; bringing with it fresh blessings and newness of the relationship we have in Him; always flowing with pleasure, as we enjoy the absolute satisfaction of abiding in the sanctuary of His house... "Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together in the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all." (Jeremiah 31:12)  

"Abundant Goodness"

"They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures." (Psalms 36:8) Contrast the goodness of God compared to the wickedness of our hearts; it's hardly even something that comes close be being balanced out: God's goodness so far surpasses and overcomes our wickedness, it's almost laughable to even try and compare the two. For those of us that abide in the shadow of His wings, the wickedness of our hearts is completely overshadowed by His goodness; so much so, that we are completely satisfied, and there is no need to look any further for something to satisfy our wicked desires, because the wickedness has been overcome. What that means for those of us that still suffer with wicked desires, (if that might be something you are dealing with), is that we need to abide deeper under the shadow of His wings. Simply put; if you are struggling to resist being tempted, then you need to get more protection; much as a young chick that is feeling threatened will retreat further under the mother's wing, so too is the response that we must have. This works the same with being threatened as it does with being weak, because they both involve weakness and vulnerability. God wants us to count on Him for His protection! If we start thinking that we are beyond needing His protection, whether it's from without or from our own wicked desires, we are outside of His covering; we have stepped outside the shadow of His wings, and are not trusting in Him alone, but have put trust in ourselves; not such a good idea! Again, this is all about choice; how we choose to rest in the Lord, is based totally up to us; some of us learn to rest in Him to live, while others, are forced to rest because of failure. I think it is also very interesting how God will make us to do certain things after we choose the right choice; for example, those that are satisfied with the fatness of His house, are made to drink of the river of His pleasure..."Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow." (Jeremiah 31:13)

"Look Deep" -2

"How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings." (Psalms 36:7) Now, if you take this word "excellent", having spent the first twenty-three years of my life trying to fill that void with foolish things, this word expresses the value of finally finding what I was looking for; for it's meaning is that of valuable, prized, weighty, precious, rare, and splendid; and of all those meanings, the one that is given the most is the word precious, as in costly, highly valued, and precious stones or jewels. This is not something that can be taken lightly, as if you receive something of such great value, and then go on with your life as if nothing has happened; much as the parable of the 'Treasure Hidden in a Field' which Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13:44. The reason that this parable is so much like the radical change that must take place in the heart of new believer, is the whole point of the field, in that it is mostly looked over and not seemingly of any value; that is until you discover the treasure that is hidden within it! As in the parable, the man that finds the treasure hidden in the field, hides it, protecting what he has found, and then for the joy of finding it, sells all that he has, and buys the field. This is what you call, "Being Sold Out for the Gospel of Christ"; whereas, Jesus is the Treasure, and the Gospel is the Field; the Gospel being the message of redemption that is declared throughout the entire Bible; the message that is so commonly looked over, yet buried within is the hidden treasure of Jesus Christ, and the greatest prize that man can obtain, eternal life. I can remember all the times I was shown this field, and how I saw nothing there of any value; that was until God's Spirit opened my eyes to the Treasure buried within. When you sell all that you have, you are basically changing your life; all that was before is meaningless compared to that which has been found, and now everything is dependent upon the value of the treasure which has been discovered. This is the simplest way I can describe the second part of this verse, and the "trust" that is placed in God's excellent lovingkindness...
"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasure; then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God." (Proverbs 2:1-5)

"Look Deep"

"How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings." (Psalms 36:7) When it comes to our dependence upon God, something like love is not always what stands right out and makes us take notice; mostly because we are so prone to love all the wrong things, especially when it come to those things that will satisfy our hunger for the love that only God can fill. We all are born in this world with a certain void within us that can only be filled with God's Spirit; it was present in Adam before the fall, and it was part of the death that God spoke about being the result of eating of that fruit. All through our lives we try filling that void with all sorts of foolish things; but there is nothing that can fill such a void found in this fallen world; that is except Jesus, who came down from His glory in heaven to this fallen world, that He could demonstrate the love that we had been missing, fill the void within our existence, and bridge the gap between us and our Heavenly Father. When it comes to the 'lovingkindness' of God, there is nothing more boldly demonstrated to man than what Jesus did on the cross; He did what we could not do, He paid the price for our sins, a price we could have never paid, not in a thousand years of trying to be righteous. As a matter of fact, the Bible declares that our righteousness is just filthy rags to God; that in our attempt to make ourselves clean by our own righteousness, is like talking something meant to be clean and pure, wiping it on our filthy sinful bodies, and then handing it up to God as if it is to be accepted as pure; but they are rages covered sin and wickedness. Our greatest problem is that we are always looking deep within ourselves searching for answers, and trying to find the secret to what might be hidden deep within; but it's not within ourselves where the answer is to be found, but deep within God's lovingkindness towards us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; demonstrating that He did not die for the righteous, but for those that were lost and separated from God because of sin; having no other way to be redeemed, except to look deep within the love of God and just believe... "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, but wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." (Isaiah 55:1-3)

"Look Hard..."

"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, Thou preservest man and beast." (Psalms 36:6) Odd title, don't you know; but if God were as visible as say 'the great mountains', then maybe we wouldn't need to look so hard; but He is not, He is the Invisible God, but made visible in all He does and all that He has made. His righteousness however, if you were to look at the word used here by David, is very visible and is actually the virtue of His character; much as 'the great mountains' which tower over the land, with their majestic peaks, and mysterious features, God has established a rule in His creation that establishes how justly He has performed all things, and that without His outstretched hand nothing would continue, not man, not beast, nor any living creature; for He literally holds all life within His hands. There is absolutely no way that we can deny God's justice and His great love for His creation; the harder we look into it, the greater complexity and wonder we discover; it's almost as if He welcomes it to be discovered, just to impress us with His majesty and awesome attention to detail. And as for His judgments, they are far to complex and lofty for our understanding; as 'a great deep' they are beyond our reach; yet we can understand that He does everything in a certain order, we just cannot determine what that order is, or the plan He has set before us. We can however take great comfort in knowing that He provides for all that we need; if He can provide for the beasts, which cannot praise Him, He will supply for all our needs. More importantly; if He provides goodness unto those that are bad, how much more will He supply His goodness to those that are called by His name? When He supplies sunshine, He supplies it to all; when He supplies rain, He supplies it to all; and when He supplies mercy, He supplies it to all; those that see it and receive it, are those that get to experience it... "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:8-10)

"Look Up!"

"Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." (Psalms 36:5) In light of all of our wickedness and the weakness of our goodness, God does not lack any mercy when it comes to those that are of a contrite heart; really, it's all about our choice to either accept His mercy or to reject it; He leaves that choice totally up to us. For those that accept it, it's all a matter of looking up in order to receive His mercy; no matter what we are going through, and no matter how impossible it might seem to overcome the odds, we can look up to Him and know that He loves us; when we do that, we can also take comfort in knowing that He is smiling down upon us. The word "mercy" that David is speaking of, has more than just mercy at it's core, although it is used for "mercy" 149 times out of the 248 times it is used in the Old Testament writings; the word is 'checed', and it is a word that also means goodness, lovingkindness, and faithfulness. As for the "heavens", this is the visible sky, as in what you see when you look up; point being, that our help is not here, but is there, way up beyond all of the destruction and wickedness, that's where our help comes from! It is sometimes hard to remember that we live in a fallen world, especially when it gets personal; but it's not the world that God designed, nor were we made to be filled with wickedness; these are the results of a choice as to obey or disobey. When it comes to who's sin was the worst, either Adam or Eve, it was Adam that flat out rebelled, Eve was deceived; Adam knew that he was sinning against God when he partook of the fruit, Eve was deceived into thinking she would gain something; but I believe Adam knew in his heart that he would be losing something, something very dear and special, which was his relationship with his Creator. That little fact makes those 149 times for mercy to mean something very special, particularly because when we sin, we like Adam, know in our hearts that we are losing something very special and dear, which is the relationship with a God that loves us; not that He ever stops loving us, because He does not; but our relationship towards Him is torn by sin, guilt and shame, whereas we are separated from Him, not Him from us. With that in mind, Where does our help come from? and aren't we glad that He is faithful to forgive us? But it's our choice to accept or reject His mercy; it's our choice as to whether we continue to hang our heads in shame, or if we will look up to the Redeemer of our souls and ask for forgiveness... "Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:6 & 7)

"The Goodness of God"

"Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are great and deep: O LORD, Thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy sight shall we see light. O Continue Thy lovingkindness unto them that know Thee; and Thy righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me. There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise." (Psalms 36:5-12) The second part of this simulcast is twice as much as the first part; meaning, "The Wickedness of Man" belonged to just four verses, but "The Goodness of God" belongs to eight. I am not sure what is being said in that, whether it's God's goodness is two times more than we need to get right, or God has twice as much goodness than we need; either way, He is sufficient for all that we need, in any situation of our life, especially in the righteousness department. As with the first part, I thought I would lay everything out there, and then break it all down verse by verse; seeing that this part is twice as long, I might be here until the end of the year. Anywho; God is not unhappy with us, as wild and crazy as that might sound, it is something that we need to understand about the goodness of His heart. God loves us! He has only goodness in His heart for us, and He has a heart that breaks for us, as a Father that cares for His children... "And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people. For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, Whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit shall fail before Me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid Me, and was wroth, and he went on forwardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." (Isaiah 57:14-21)

"The Design of Evil" -2

"He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil." (Psalms 36:4) The whole reason for the use of the word "Design" in my title, is that of purposeful as apposed to chaos when it comes to the evil that allow into our lives; in other words, it doesn't just happen, we allow it to happen! Not only do we allow it to happen, but we plan for it by setting ourselves up for it; simply not taking every precaution to avoid it, in and of itself, is allowing it to happen. This is the meaning of Paul's rendering of the "Whole Armour of God" from Ephesians 6:10-19, as his point was more about doing all that we can to stand, more than it was about dressing ourselves in armour; besides that, as I have said before, we cannot stand at all unless we are seated in Christ, let alone walk in the Spirit; which addresses the part of this verse that speaks to "he setteth himself in a way that is not good", because if we are not seated in Christ, then we have no chance at all of being good, let alone are we going to abhor evil. As a matter of fact, isn't odd how walking in the flesh causes us to accept those things that are evil? I say odd, because if we are walking in the Spirit, there is no way we would accept some of these things into our lives; yet, a little walk in the flesh, and they become familiar and acceptable to be around, or even to store up in our homes. Idols are what they become, plain and simple, they are idols! This word "abhorreth" speaks about 'to reject', and with the "not" after it, it simply means 'to accept', as in "he accepts evil". If you are really interested in staying away from those things that are evil, then start by cleaning house, and destroying all you have that is evil; getting rid of the idols and tearing down the high places that you have placed into your life. This includes those crazy dreams and fantasies; as you make a stand to not allow them into your mind, you commit your mind to Christ, allowing Him to be Lord over all, including your thoughts. If we are to be seated in Christ, we must allow Him to be Lord of all that we are, all that we do, and all that we think; this is our Design of Goodness, opposed to our Design of Evil: we do not devise mischief upon our beds, we do not sit ourselves in a way that is not good, and we abhor evil; all the while, we remain dependent upon Jesus Christ, "The Design of God's Goodness"... "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." (Ephesians 6:10-13) 

"The Design of Evil"

"He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil." (Psalms 36:4) Continuing on from the last four words of verse three, which are "and to do good", this is the result of those that leave off doing good, they design evil. A good case in point would be David's sin with Bathsheba, which would not have taken place if David had been doing what he should of been doing, instead of staying back from war and playing in his room. This "deviseth mischief upon his bed" statement can be taken in several different directions, all of which result in mischief, but some of which are just down right perverted; but the main point of what I believe that David is speaking to, is that of not doing what you should be doing when you go to bed. Going to bed at night is a time to pray and to meditate upon the goodness of God; having made it through another day, we should be giving Him thanks and praying for forgiveness of any wrongs that were committed along the way; let alone asking Him to bless our tomorrow, unless by chance we should go to be with Him during the night. Continuing on with God's words that were spoken to Cain, God said, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door"; which in a general sense has the same basic meaning, whereas not doing that which is good will result in giving way for evil to come knocking at the door, actually crouching at the door, waiting to pounce upon you as you walk though it, or laying there ready to trip you up; which is also the example of "he setteth himself in a way that is not good". The main point of which is that we have a choice by which we are to conduct our daily lives: choosing to do good, we become part of God's design; while choosing to not do good, we become part of the devil's design, and we will devise mischief. This word "mischief" is a word that speaks very loudly of idols and everything that is involved with idol worship; surprisingly enough, idols are things that get placed between us and God; which do not necessarily need to be an object of worship, they can also be something that we design within our own minds, and that take the place of spending time meditating upon the Lord. This is another good example of "he deviseth mischief upon his bed", which is what we allow our minds to build up and to build upon; instead of going to sleep focused upon God and His goodness, we have certain playgrounds we continually visit; all of which are also idols... "No man when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light." (Luke 11:33-36)

"Utter Foolishness" -2

"The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good." (Psalms 36:3) Just in case you have not noticed, there are several different directions that this simulcast is coming from; not only does this deal with the sharp contrast between "The Wickedness of Man" and "The Goodness of God", but there is also the contrast between those that walk in the Spirit and those that walk in the flesh. Which brings me to the second part of this verse, dealing with the words "left off", they speak about having departed from something, as in having left off from doing that which is right and doing that which is bad. The whole point about walking in the Spirit is that we get to experience doing that which is good; those that walk in the Spirit experience the fruit of the Spirit, all of which are good things, and things that not only bring us into a closer relationship with God, but also bare fruit in our lives when it comes to relationships with others. When we leave off from walking in the Spirit, it is the result of walking in the flesh; the result of doing such is not good, and the fruit of such becomes rotten and will only lead to death. Death is such a complex issue, we seldom want to think about it, but it has many different shapes and sizes; much like the example given in the beginning, as the Serpent told Eve, "Thou shalt not surely die", his deception was not totally false, at least not in the way that Eve saw death to mean. When it comes to the life of the Believer, what I believe that death represents is regret; those that believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour have eternal life that has been given them, and eternal life cannot be taken away; however, regret is something that steals joy from our hearts, and faced with a possible eternity of remembrance, death has a shape of sorrow; fortunately for us, God will be taking care of that after about a thousand years or so, but in the time in between, I do believe we will grieve for those that we did not bring with us. "Left off to be wise" is a lot like saying, Count the cost of what you are doing, much like God told Cain in Genesis 4:7; whereas "wise" is to be prudent and to prosper by doing that which comes from understanding what is right, and "left off" is to leave that undone; mainly, what that amounts to, is to not finish well; something I hope not to say or hear when I am done; that would be utter foolishness... "For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. And why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:43-46)

"Utter Foolishness"

"The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good." (Psalms 36:3) If you really think about it, God's fingerprints are completely undeniable when you study any portion of creation; I really don't care what sort of story you have been fed about where we all came from, if you study creation, you will see God's handiwork and know that it was Him who created it all. The thing that stops those from seeing His handiwork is that they refuse to consider the Creator, thereby making up empty ways to explain the hows and the whys of existence. Is it any wonder our younger generations don't respect life as they should? if life is just a mistake, then what's the use in making life mean anything beyond just going for it? The word "iniquity" that David is speaking of is different than the iniquity from the previous verse, whereas the previous one spoke of perversity and depravity, this one here speaks of trouble, wickedness and sorrow; all of which are the result of emptiness that is brought on by false belief, or the vanity of idols. Those that believe that there is no God, although they might think that their belief is not a religion, it is; and although it is utterly false, it is what they have placed their belief in, and what they worship as the truth; like it or not, it is a religion. The word "deceit", on the other hand, is a word that speaks of treachery, and treachery requires an effort to cover up the truth, or to deceive after having realized truth; in other words, it is like denying what you know in your heart to be true, and making every effort to explain away the truth with a lie. Like I said, you cannot study creation and no see that there is a Creator; the way to get around that, is by denying that there is a Creator, and then to study a result of something else; the problem with that, is that you have so many dead ends without considering the real source of the beginning; and then you just have to make stuff up in order to satisfy your belief. Doesn't this sound like pure idolatry? Idol worship is really idle, going nowhere and leading nowhere... "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both the Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Corinthians 1:18-24)

"A Self Centered Life" -2

"For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful." (Psalms 36:2) More importantly, we have this thing about our relationship towards God, as in the lack of fear we have, most directly connected to the lack of relationship that we have with God; the stronger our relationship is with God, the more we fear before His eyes. Living a life that is self centered does not afford a person to invest the time or effort into any strong relationships, especially with God; strong relationships take sacrifice of self and require less of me and more of Him to make it actually matter when it comes to respect and honor; an occasional pray or reading the Word once a week will not amount to much when it comes to knowing God's heart, let alone having any sort of ongoing relationship. Which brings me to the second part of this verse, in relationship to our fear before God, "hateful" is a word that speaks to those that are enemies of God; much as Jesus spoke of trying to serve two masters, which leads to love for one and hate for the other, when we have a life that revolves around self, our life is all about serving ourselves, not God; and who do you think gets the love, and who gets the hate? The only way that we can achieve victory over the flesh is by denying ourselves, which means that we live outside of ourselves, as strange as that might sound. To try and make this seem simple to understand, it is very much the same as when we are building a strong relationship, say with a spouse, or someone you are trying to win over; you build that relationship by living to please that person, not yourself; taking the time to study what they like, and then sitting aside what you might want, for the sake of winning their heart and showing them that you care for their needs and wants. The same is for what is required to please our Lord, because to pick up our cross and follow Him, requires that we deny ourselves, just as He denied Himself and placed Himself on that cross for our sins, which was what we needed to be saved. That said, let me sum this up by saying, it is impossible to please the Lord when we are serving ourselves, because serving ourselves is basically the same as living in the flesh, and this flesh will not be inheriting eternal life... "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21)  

"A Self Centered Life"

"For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful." (Psalms 36:2) Aside from the fact that heart is desperately wicked, we have this notion of being far more important than we really are; sometimes taking it to the point of pure hatefulness towards others, especially those that seem to be competing with our important self centered life. Everything might be perfectly fine in our life, until someone steps into that arena we have designed for the protection of our self and our ego; then it's fighting time, and no one gets out of that ring until somebody is knocked out. If you don't know what I am rambling on about, then maybe I should slow it down a little, and let's look at a couple things being said here today; remembering that David is speaking about "The wickedness of Man", and relating that in a simulcast to "The Goodness of God"; showing not only the sharp contrast between our heart and God's, but also showing us that God's great mercy and grace are more than enough to cancel out "The Wickedness of Man". The word "flattereth", although it might appear to mean 'to flatter', it has a much deeper meaning, more to the point of dividing or apportioning wealth or power to one's self, thereby making self more important than anyone else. Jesus spoke to this several different times, but I think the simplest example that He gave was the one about entering a wedding, found in Luke 14:8-11, where He spoke about humility; the general point of what He was saying was that we should be humble of heart, not lifting ourselves up over other people, and He uses the example of entering a wedding banquet and taking the highest seat, as if you deserve to be seated there; because when you do, you will be asked to move when someone more honorable than you enters the room. This actually needs to carry over into many areas of our lives, especially when it comes to our ability to live a life of being filled with the Spirit of God... "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such here is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affection and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another." (Galatians 5:22-26)  

"The Harsh Reality of Sin"

"The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes." (Psalms 36:1) The first thing David mentions here is considerably the most obvious problem in man that makes him sin before God; simply put, "there is no fear of God before his eyes". Technically, there are two way to look at this statement; frankly though, I don't really know which is worse; no I take that back, I believe the second one is worse, because the Bible clearly says so! Let's take the first one first, since that's the way that we all start out anyway. The first way to look at this is to examine "before his eyes" in the light of that which is speaking of the eyes of the wicked; we all pretty much start out this way, and no one needed to teach us how to sin, because we start out doing that which is right in our own eyes. (Judges 21:25; Proverbs 12:15) It basically comes with the territory of being ignorant of God, that man should do whatever seems pleasing in his own heart, but this speaks somewhat more about the man's lack of fear towards God, even though he knows what God expects of him; much the same as when the parent says, "Don't do that" to a child, and the child straightway does it anyway, showing complete disregard for what might happen, because they do not see the consequences of their actions; basically, they are blinded by the desires set before them, and the fear of disobedience is cast out of their sight. The second way to look at this statement, is to change the "his", and to make this God's eyes we are talking about; in that case, it would go like, "there is no fear of God before His eyes", which is slightly similar in meaning, because God sees all no matter what; but this way of looking at this demonstrates that the wicked care not what they do before the eyes of God. In other words, here there is no ignorance involved, as if to say, "I did not know that God was watching, or that He even cared"; but this takes straight defiance against God, by saying, "I know You are watching, but I am going to do this anyways, so there". When you actually think about it in that light, it's pretty obvious what causes that to happen within our hearts is all about darkness, and what satisfies that darkness, is sin; and yet the darkness is never satisfied; oddly enough, nether is the law... "Knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:16-21)

"The Wickedness of Man"

"The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he sitteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil." (Psalms 36:1-4) Given the magnitude of man's wickedness, I thought I would change things up a little and demonstrate the simulcast of these two different realities, that being our wickedness and God's goodness. I know that there are some that think they are good, you hear their flattery of themselves all the time; and yet from the same mouth, they spew hate towards anyone that they think is not worthy to share the same space with them on this earth. On the other side, you have those that see themselves as lacking in God's eye, yet they demonstrate works of righteousness to gain His approval and to try to counter the goodness they lack by performing acts of goodness. Either way you look at it, man's wickedness is real, and it cannot be taken out; if it could, don't you think that God would have removed it? But God, who is rich in grace and mercy, has provide His Son to give a covering for our sins; by the precious blood of Jesus our sins and the wickedness that is within us are covered, and the Father sees only the blood of His Son when He looks upon us; even the stain of sin has been washed out by the blood of Jesus, and we that are washed in His blood are made as white as snow. That my friend is the simulcast that I am referring to; where two totally different realities are being broadcast at the exact same time: one is showing the wickedness of man, making his hopelessness undeniable; while at the same time, showing the goodness of God in providing the hope for mankind. Interesting enough, in order for a man to receive this hope, and retain this hope that is given, a man must also see the simulcast that is being presented; in other words, we must see our hopelessness in order to receive hope; and, because the wickedness still remains, it is the blood of Jesus that continues to cover us, making us subject to His blood, and only to His blood for our own righteousness, because without His blood we are hopeless... "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1-3)

"Simulcast"

As we come to Psalms Thirty Six, there are a couple of things that need to be noted about this particular Psalm, the first of which is that this is the second Psalm which is broken up into two sections, the first being Psalms 19; the second thing to note, is that this is the first Psalm in which David refers to himself as God's servant within the introduction, as he writes, "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD". In my Bible there are two separate titles over each section; with the first section being the first 4 verses, and titled The Wickedness of Man, while the second section is verses 5 through 12, which is titled The Goodness of God. If you have been a Christian for any amount of time, then you should have had a chance to experience defeat when it comes to having any real power over the sin that you like; it's not to hard to turn away from the sins that you hate or don't care much for, but the sin that you like is the sin that seems to keep popping up in front of you; almost as if it was meant to be, something like that, or so we think to ourselves. In many of the parables Jesus gave concerning those that call themselves His servants, the main reason that they get called "Wicked Servant" is because they do not consider the desire of their master before making a choice to do a certain task; and those that are called "Wicked Servant" and have tried to consider what their master might want, do not really understand their master, nor what it means to be his servant. The contrast between what we want and what God wants for us are like night and day; such also is the life of a servant, because a true servant, although he might want something else, does not satisfy his own desires or that which he might want to do, but only does those things he is told to do by his master. Oddly enough, the loyal and faithful servants usually get more freedoms to do the things that they want, as long as those things are pleasing to their master; this is because the master rewards them for their service by giving them more responsibilities which allow for more liberties in the process. A good example of what I am talking about would be a servant that would like to be a master, is given other servants which he is over, or is given property of his master that he is placed in charge over; this the master does because he knows his servant cares for his desires and not for his own. In this same light, our relationship with God, as a servant of God, is based upon this principle of a servant verses a master; whereas, the servant owns nothing and is subject to the master, yet gets to enjoy the use of the master's property; while the master, although controlling and overpowering, is more than generous to those that are his faithful servants; this actually works out the same way with righteousness and the umbrella of God's grace and mercy: we are so very wicked at heart, but God is so rich with grace and mercy... "For we ourselves also were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:3-7)

"Caused Praise" -2

"And my tongue shall speak of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all the day long." (Psalms 35:28) The number one instruction that God has given His children in His word is "Do Not Fear", second to that, is that we "Trust in Him"; don't you think God knows the difference between those that walk in that instruction and those that don't? We all can fall a little short of following His instructions, and even the strongest of His servants have had their days of doubt; but it's really more about a pattern for our lives, not about the once in awhile moments where we might doubt God will protect us in a certain situation; most of those times, the thing that we fear is not even real anyways, it's just something that we have imagined in our own minds. But what about when something really big does actually happen? Do we fear what might become of it, or do we trust in God? (Right now I am having an issue with this blog; I have had to restart it six times already, and I am getting really tired of dealing with this every morning; I think it might be time to find another blog site!) Anyway, when it comes to "help" from God, all the things that really matter are taken care of; in other words, God has provided everything already to ensure for our eternal security, and there is nothing that anyone can do to take that away from us. The next most important thing that we need "help" with in our lives is living out our faith in God, which is sometimes harder than we thought it could be. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it is hard to do, because our simple belief in God is enough to get us through, as long as we are putting our trust in Him; but it's not the same faith we thought we would have, mostly because we were putting our faith in God through our own selves; which is to say, we base the faith that we are going to have upon the faith that we think that we have, and then we get surprised by the fact that we are not a strong as we thought that we were. This is where we really need help! But God!!! But God knows every weakness that we have, and He knows every doubt we have in His ability to change our circumstance or situation; we just need to confess that it is so, and ask Him to "help" us with our weakness and our doubt. Really, it is that simple! God does not want His children to be afraid of the monster in the closet, because He has taken care of it and made it so that we can put our trust in Him; now we just need to trust Him, proclaiming everything that He has done, and knowing that everything that needs to be done, He has done already... "Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art My servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that confounded with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee." (Isaiah 41:9-13)

"Caused Praise"

"And my tongue shall speak of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all the day long." (Psalms 35:28) You know, this Psalm could have been two verses long and still the meaning would have been the same; with only verse one and this verse we have before us today, we could sum up this entire Psalm, and it would go something like, God has called me, made me and defends me, and I must give Him all the glory! Really we can not take any glory for what God has done; and any glory that we might receive, we will cast at His feet when we stand before Him in heaven. Here is something that we need to practice more, at least I know that I do, which is, when I really feel that I need God's help in my life, whether it be because I am feeling overwhelmed, or I am just feeling depressed, I need to start praising Him for all that He has done; starting with saving me, and then adding onto that all that is part of my salvation, and just thanking and praising Him for His great love. It is really not the difficult to get overwhelmed by life, especially if you are constantly living in a trial or have been given a challenge that never goes away. You no doubt have heard the saying, "I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet"; no matter how hard you might think you have things going against you, there is always someone else who has it worse off than you. But when it comes to our salvation, there is absolutely nothing that can compare to that, nor nothing that can take it away; we are guaranteed eternal life in Jesus Christ, and nothing can take that from us; not even the most difficult day you could ever imagine. So here is something to consider as a new saying for comparison to any suffering you might be going through: I cried because I suffered here, until I thought of those that will suffer there...
"Your words have been stout against Me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against Thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall Ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not." (Malachi 3:13-18)

"Righteous Cause" -4

"Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servant." (Psalms 35:27) Okay, I am almost done; but I need to address this one other angle about prosperity, and it has to do with God's awesome provisions in our daily lives here, as we live here waiting to be with Him. First I wanted to examine the part of the verse that says, "let them say continually", which might seem a bit much to ask; however, if you look at the reference of them shouting for joy and being glad because they favor his righteous cause, then it really makes perfect sense why anyone would be glad that God loves to bless His servants. Not only does He love to bless them, but He has pleasure in the prosperity of His servants; mainly because those that are His servants will turn their prosperity into a blessing for others, thereby giving God the glory for having blessed them in the first place. After all, we are not taking anything with us, and we only need what we need to live on for today, so why not bless others while you can? Which brings me back to the "let them say continually" part of this verse, because this is something that those that do get blessed by prosperity in this life must always keep in mind, that God has blessed us in order that we can bless others, not that we can horde everything and become rich in wealth, but that we might share what we have been given and become rich in spirit. Being on the inside of the church operations, you truly learn some interesting lessons by observing the lives of those who give faithfully, and those that don't; those that don't give very much at all, are always seeming to have hardly enough to get by; while those that give abundantly never complain about not having enough, nor do they shy away from stepping up when there is a special need in the church. It is really about this thing called trust in God, whereas they trust that God will continually bless them because of their giving attitude and their desire to bless God in their giving because He has continued to bless them. I see it like a wheel that must keep on rolling along: God blesses us, we bless others, God is blessed, and God continues to bless us; and there we go, rolling on down the road with God having pleasure in our prosperity; however, if we fail to bless others when we are blessed, then there becomes a flat in our wheel, and although it might still roll, it doesn't roll all that easy; and if we continue to fail in that difficulty, then it might stop rolling altogether, and will require a fix to get it going again; but that's just from my own experience, we all need to judge how we are to give by what God places upon our hearts, but we all do need to give... "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In thy tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. And all the nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts." (Malachi 3:8-12)  

"Righteous Cause" -3

"Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified in the prosperity of His servant." (Psalms 35:27) Sure, David did receive some unjust treatment from Saul and those that were closely aligned with his reign; after all, Saul was the first king of Israel, yet David is the one called King of Israel, reference in the Scriptures as David the king, David had the unique position of being the one whom God made King, establishing his throne for ever. (2 Samuel 7:16) Then, as we consider the result of David's sin with Bathsheba, that it was a child from her which would fulfill the part of God's promise concerning the house which he should build, as well as the throne being established through him, that being Solomon, we can see that the righteousness was not in the bloodline, but was in Jesus Christ alone; just one more proof of God's perfect plan to redeem man, not based upon the righteousness of man, but based upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ His Son. However, when it comes to the prosperity of David, because he was called of God and appointed by God, then his was a righteous cause; so too are the appointments given to all of God's servants, which are those that are called by God and have been given the unique position of being used of God for the furtherance of His kingdom; whether that be a Sunday School teacher, or a Street Preacher, we all have a part in His righteous cause; and in the finial moments before Jesus returns, we need to be focused upon the prosperity of God's kingdom, not in the prosperity of this world. When it comes to "A Prayer for Help", I believe that this issue of 'whom do we serve' is one of the biggest issues that we face as children of God living in these last days; not just because of money, although money is a large enough part of it, but because of stature, stature being our level of achievement, or that by which we base achievement measured by. In God's economy, even those that have no visible stature in this world, can have great stature in His kingdom; yet we get caught up in that which is looked upon, instead of keeping focused upon that which really matters. Stature also includes that which we put our trust in, whether that be our personal finances, or our own righteousness; both of which have no foundation, and both of which can cause us to serve the wrong master... "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (that which is trusted in other than God). (Matthew 6:24)    

"Righteous Cause" -2

"Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servant." (Psalms 35:27) There are so many different levels of good when it comes to prosperity, and what some might consider as good for them, others might look upon it as something that is bad or unhealthy; but when it comes to being good in the eyes of God, what God decides is good for us, might to some appear to be a living hell. Thereby comes the question, Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? A question asked by many, but never really given the answer that satisfies the naysayers or those looking for an excuse to deny God loves us so. It might be hard to see how someone suffering through something can be any type of prosperity, but then again, so it was for those that observed Jesus hanging upon the cross. There was none more good than Jesus, who healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, made the lame to walk; on and on you can go with good things that Jesus did, yet the Bible says, "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him" (Isaiah 53:10); in other words, God saw it was good, the same kind of 'good' that God said in the beginning of creation, because it was His wonderful work, just as everything that He created that had life, continued to reproduce of itself, so to did that which was performed on the cross by Jesus Christ. For thousands of years, millions of souls have been given new life by looking back at that cross; a cross that looked so pitiful and so bad at the time which it happened, but that gives so much life continually and repeatedly, over and over again. Basically what I am trying to say, is that while Jesus Christ hung upon that cross, the Father looked upon His Son and said, "It was good", which is closely aliened with "prosperity"; that which would be a benefit for all of mankind...
"Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee." (Isaiah 55:4 & 5)

"Righteous Cause"

"Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servant." (Psalms 35:27) This might take a little while, so please have a seat. When it comes to God's help for the helpless, nothing is taken for granted; as a matter of fact, every single day our lives are filled with small miracles, and God's hand upon our lives in ways we just many times do not realize; never mind the big things that always catch us by surprise, but there are literally thousands of things that happen all around us that we never even know about; some of which may not even happen in our general region, but they some how, or in some way will have an influence upon our lives. Looking at Jesus, and at the way He was brought into this world, just imagine all that needed to happen for God to orchestrate that arrival, and for the thousands of prophecies that foretold of His coming to be fulfilled. Taking a quick look at the word "prosperity", as in "the prosperity of His servant", the word that is used is the word 'shalowm', which means completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace; all of which are properties that are handed to those that have been called of God; none of which are properties that we can obtain on our own, nor do we have the capacity to do so; at least not anything that will last! When we are talking about worldly matters, prosperity can take on many forms, and comes in many shapes and sizes: we can have prosperity in our homes, with the gift of a wonderful family, or many children; or, we can have the prosperity that comes through hard work, or owning your own business, or making the right investments; all of which are things that have no eternal security, nor do they even guarantee anything in this life in which they are manifested; they are but a vapor, just as our life here in the flesh. (James 4:14) As a matter of fact, you might be surprised by how little control we have over our own daily lives; because our lives are really not our own, they really belong to the Lord... "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:9 & 10)

"Explained by Discourse"

"Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me." (Psalms 35:26) After thinking about what is being said within this verse, I came to the conclusion that this is a pretty lofty thing for just David to be asking alone; in other words, I really don't know if David had it in him to place himself on such a high pedestal, as to go as far as to ask God to avenge him in such a manner. However, this fits perfectly into the vengeance pored out on those that reject the gospel message, and that do not understand the Salvation that they have rejected, nor the perfect Gift that they have refused; but instead, speak boldly against it, bringing not only shame upon themselves, but they are confused by the darkness that they have surrounded themselves in; thereby, making their fate and their demise the actual garments that they wear; and do they wear them proudly, further confusing the fate that awaits their actions. That said; I do however see David speaking this in hindsight; which is to say, he more or less is speaking of that which God has already performed in the life of his enemies; which just so happened to be what Saul went through all the way to his death. Looking at what Saul did, as he was unable to hear what God wanting him to do, so he goes to a Medium to seek out answers from Samuel who was dead; yet Samuel tells him that God will deliver him and Israel into the hands of the Philistines, yet he goes out to war anyways, thereby sealing his fate. This is how it happens to those that refuse God's free gift of salvation: their fate is sealed by the Word of God; that which God has spoken concerning their fate, becomes their fate, thereby making God completely free from the responsibility of their judgement. In other words, those that are condemned forever into the fires of hell, will not a have excuse, nor will they be able to say, How could you do this to me, if you are a God of love?
"Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the Word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed." (1 Peter 2:7 & 8)

"Not Confounded"

"Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up." (Psalms 35:25) To not be ashamed carries with it something that assures us that we can stand before God and be fully exposed; something like that requires that we be clothed in Light, just as He is Light, which requires us to be free from the darkness associated with sin. Since the very beginning of the fall of man, man has tried to cover up his own sin, and has tried to hide from God; just as Adam and Eve had done in the garden, as they covered their nakedness with fig leaves, and then hid when they heard God approaching. We can know when we are dirty or not, it's pretty much obvious to our conscience when we have sinned against God; but as soon as we are exposed to God, or when God is near, then we feel as though our sin is exposed for all to see, especially God. Covering our sin really does nothing but give us more shame; not only do we have the sin, but now we have compounded the sin by guilt, and we have made our condition worse by the efforts to hide it. Take Adam and Eve, who after partaking of the fruit, saw their nakedness and tried to hide it with fig leaves; not really thinking about how they were made by God, they just tried to hide what was obvious to them; but when God sees them, He sees His creation as ashamed of the way that they were made, which is in a way being ashamed of their Creator who made them that way. It's a lot like Job saying, "I wish that I had never been born" (Job 3:3), which is to declare that your life is wasted, and that you are without fulfillment or purpose based on your current circumstance. If we truly believe that God has called us and predestined us for His special purposes, then we must realize that every circumstance or situation that we might find ourselves in, is nothing that can overtake God's plan for our lives. Besides, Who is the One in control?
"Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a Chief Cornerstone, Elect, Precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded." (1 Peter 2:6)

"Vindicated" -2

"Judge me, O LORD my God, according to Thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me." (Psalms 35:24) Actually this verse has a very interesting twist to it; if you connect to dots between God's grace, His mercy, our justification, and the fact that we have been vindicated, then it's all a perfect cube filled with God's perfect love. You do know that it was our sins that nailed Jesus to the cross, right? So what does it mean to be vindicated? To be vindicated means that we have been cleared from the blame and can no longer be accused of a certain matter. In this, I believe God's mercy goes far above all that we really need or deserve; yet, He chooses to forgive us this much; because it was His choosing, it was His will, and it was His perfect plan to have His Son pay the price for our sins. If we are totally honest with ourselves, then there is absolutely no way that we can be judged according to God's righteousness without His righteousness having vindicated us from being guilty, because sin includes every thought and every imagination of the heart; this is something that goes far beyond our actions or what we might say, but includes what happens in our minds and in our hearts, even though we might never do anything with it, it's still sin that is stirred up inside of us. I personally do not believe that the devil can read our minds, nor can he see inside of our hearts; but he does witness and observe our actions, and if we bring those things inside of us out, by actually doing them, then he will use that against us because we have given him something to accuse us for doing. Having put this into a seemingly very confusing statement, let me say that we do not want to give the devil anything to rejoice over, because that is what we do when we sin; nothing makes him happier than when someone that has been forgiven of their sin sins and dirties themselves by sin again; but God, who has more mercy than we can ever imagine, is willing to forgive us time and time again; and it all is according to His righteousness... "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby: if so ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:1-5)  

"Vindicated"

"Judge me, O LORD my God, according to Thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me." (Psalms 35:24) To have the complete right to ask God to judge you, you had better make sure that He is the LORD your God; that isn't that hard to figure out, however there are many who swear to God, yet do not tell the truth; probably thinking that either God does not care if they lie, or that He really isn't there to listen. Now, what do think makes a person God does not care or is not there to listen? Most assuredly, I will say, that it is because they do not feel His presence in their life; which is not to say that they do not believe in God, but it's just that they do not believe that God is here or even near, watching over all of our lives. If you have ever talked with someone that feels that way, then you might know what I am talking about. But really; what are we thinking when we sin? if not the exact same thing? When you visit that forbidden website, our you sitting there thinking God is watching you, or our you thinking He has stepped away? or do you even care? If He is LORD of your life, then there really isn't any down time from Him being over your life; it is a 24 hour, seven day a week journey that we are on, all the way to the Promised Land; and there should be no looking back! That said, what David is asking here goes beyond our simple life of do's and don'ts; this is about God's righteousness, which far surpasses anything that we are capable of accomplishing; however, God's righteousness also includes His covenant-keeping, meaning that which He has sworn to, because keeps His promises; and if God says that you are forgiven of your sins, then you can believe with all certainty that you are forgiven... "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into His grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1 & 2)

"Justification" -2

"Stir up Thyself, and awake to my judgement, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord." (Psalms 35:23) If you stop your busy life long enough to sit and rest before God, you might just get a chance to understand what grace actually means to you; not just what grace is, or is all about, but what does God's grace mean to you; you that have been called of God for a specific purpose; you that He has snatched from the grip of hell, and has promised to never let go of you; you that He has loved, even before you were a seed in your mother's womb. The thought of being justified in Christ might begin to take on the life that it is meant to have, with grace being the door that let's you live to the fullest. Taking a look at this verse from the point of being justified in Christ, you might be able to see the other side of grace, that being the side that God knows and understands. We are the recipient of His grace, so it's hard for us to see the whole picture; but God, being the one who pours out that grace, He sees the complete picture, including why He does what He does. With that in mind, we can look at this verse as one that is studying God's grace upon their life, and the imagine asking good to fulfill all that He has established for our lives. Actually, I think it's safe to say that God wants us to ask Him for His help; as a matter of fact, I am pretty sure that He gets offended when we don't; maybe even to the point of letting us discover what happens when we don't. But, the really funny thing is, I think that God uses those misadventures for the good; taking that which was meant to harm us, into that which draws us closer and more secure in Him; isn't that what it is really all about? If you really want God to judge you, then you better make sure that Christ is on your side; and if you know that Christ is on your side, then you are justified in Him, and there is no fear of judgement; none whatsoever... "What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." (Romans 8:31-34) (That never gets old!!!)

"Justification"

"Stir up Thyself, and awake to my judgement, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord." (Psalms 35:23) When it comes to the argument as to the truth of eternal security, I trust and believe that it is all a matter of faith in what you believe; in other words, Do you believe that you are forgiven, and that you are justified before God because of Jesus and what Jesus has done for you, not by what you have done, nor could ever do? Therefore; the point of what we put our faith in, is in fact the end of the argument; because if you are putting your faith in Jesus Christ, and Him alone, then you are eternally secure; but if you are counting on your own righteousness to be what carries you through, then your security is flawed, just as your ability to be righteous before God is flawed. What we might be before other men, we might consider to be righteousness, but what that constitutes before God is nothing, based upon the unrighteousness of our heart, and the evil thoughts and imaginations of our minds; of which, God knows and will judge us on. Yes, I said we will be judged; all will be judged; however, we that are written in the Lambs Book of Life, even though those books will be opened that judge all, including ourselves, we are only judged as being innocent, because we are written in the Book of Life; therefore, we are not condemned because the price for what we did which is presented in those other books has been paid. If you study all of the characters of the Bible, there are really only a few that were blameless; and when I say a few, I mean maybe two or three, Jesus Christ being one of them. And when you examine the life of David, who was considered and called by God to be "A man after God's own heart", you discover a man that had great sin in his own life; depending on how you might look at what David did when he sinned with Bathsheba, what he did to try and cover up his sin, far exceeded the sin he first committed. But, if you actually think about how much that is a picture of what happens when we try and cover up our sins, the act of trying to cover our own sins, is actually more damaging than the actual sin we are trying to cover up... "This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (1 John 1:5-10)

"Real Security" -2

"This Thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O LORD, be not far from me." (Psalms 35:22) Having said what I said, I must remind you that God knows our heart; and because He knows our heart, He knows when we are trying to please Him, and He knows when we are basically just out to please ourselves; in other words, we can't fool God! With that in mind, the other side of this issue is our confidence in the salvation we have in Jesus Christ; not that we are allowed to get away with sin, but the forgiveness of sin means that our sin no longer condemns us; we might still suffer some sort of consequence for sinning, but no matter what that consequence might be, we are secure in Christ, all the way to the very end! I truly believe that is the reason God hates divorce so much, because it is giving up on something that is meant to go all the way to the very end; just as He will not give up on us, and we should never stop believing in His great love and mercy. I actually know people that do not think God can forgive them; as if God's great mercy is not great enough to have mercy a second time; which is to say, I know God forgave me when I accepted Christ into my heart, but I slipped back into the world, and Jesus only died once for my sin, so I blew it. What an incredibly stupid thing to even think, let alone put into practice; Jesus paid the price for "ALL" sin, and the last time I checked, all still means ALL, we just need to believe that it is so, and then put that into practice! Do you want to be forgiven of your sins? Then hear Jesus knocking, because that is what is happening to your heart: Jesus is knocking to come in again and to take control of your life; if you did not care to be forgiven, that's a different matter all together; but if you want to be forgiven, then that's redemption time, and by redemption time, I mean that it's time to redeem the time, while the Lord is knocking! Open that door and let Him in: NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION... "As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." (Galatians 6:12-17)