"Not So Mighty"

"The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him: Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness." (Psalms 52:6-7) It is really not hard to see that wickedness does not prevail; although it does destroy some lives and might make some appear mighty; in the the end, the righteousness of God will be all that remains. I know that this is a Psalm that is meant to be about Doeg and how he tried to be strengthened in doing Saul's dirty work, but I see this relating to a character that will also turn out to be "not so mighty". If you know who I am talking about, then you get the picture, because in the end, this is what will be said of Satan (Isaiah 14:12-17). We really need to get this straight in our hearts and minds: Satan wants to make us believe that we have no hope, which is very easy for him to do because of our sinful nature; we pretty much give him the opportunity to convince us every time that we sin; and as James said in verse 1:15, "And sin when it is finished, brings forth death". The result of sin is always death in some form or fashion, there is just no other way to explain what sin does; sin and death are always hand in hand, because they go together; had Adam not sinned, then there would be no death, and we would have not been born in sin (Romans 5:12). What that translates to, for those that don't pay attention, is that we live in a fallen world; everything that is not alive in Christ remains fallen, and in that fallen state, it is weak, pitifully weak; that includes Satan and his minions. No one can convince me that there is no hope for me, because I have no hope in myself, my hope is in Jesus Christ and in His finished work on the cross! As soon as someone says, See, your a sinner, and you will die in your sins; I get to answer back, No, I will not die in my sins, because my sin has been paid for on the cross, and as far as death goes, it is no more! The opposite of that declaration, is the one that puts any kind of hope in themselves; whether that involves trusting in their own righteousness, or trying to earn their way into heaven; anyone that tries to do that really has no hope at all. If you consider these two different aspects, then you can read something very significant into this verse: "The righteous" are you and I that have put our faith in Christ, for without the righteousness of Christ, we have no righteousness at all (Romans 3:10); and when we see what God has done (the whole picture that will be revealed in the end), we will be in awe and astonished; astonished not just in what God has done, but astonished also that anyone could try to come against Him. "This is the man that made not God his strength" will not be a question, it's astonishment by the truth; the truth being the foundation of our faith, which is Jesus, and the fact that God knows our weakness; but our God is Mighty to save those that are weak...
"Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (James 5:19-20)