"Misery Without The Lord"

"The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever." (Psalms 81:15) Getting back to the title above this Psalm that is, "A Song for a Feast," there needs to be something said for all those things we miss out on by not submitting to the Lord. All the ministry opportunities, is only one little factor, because the greatest mission field that we have is at home, with our families. I tend to spiritualize the Text, so you need to forgive my way of trying to bring life into something, whether it is there or not. Imagine for a moment that you see yourself seated at a table with your family, and you are all partaking in a glorious feast, the biggest feast you could ever imagine. Don't you think that all those seated at the table would look forward to having that kind of a feast? That is the picture I see for our families wanting to submit themselves to the Lord. It could be the same for a neighborhood, a city, or even a nation; people coming together to be fed and filled by the Lord. The message is really quite simple, we can either love the Lord, or we will fear Him; and if we don't fear Him now, we will surely fear Him later. The word "haters" is one that pretty much means what it says, those that hate God. We can pretend that we love Him, while all the while, we could be hating Him; it all depends upon how well we submit to Him. Another meaning for the word is 'foe,' as in, are you a friend or foe? Which reminds me of Jesus' question to Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" The love Jesus spoke of in His third question was 'Phileo,' which pretty much means 'To befriend.' Oddly enough, it also means "To love with the meaning of having common interests with another." The point I am trying to make has to do with how we usually act towards those we have a common interest with, that we usually try and get to know them...
""I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command."" (John 15:9-14) NLT