Sunday, October 30, 2011

Psalm 109:21-22, 30-31 NASB

But You, O God, the Lord, deal kindly with me for Your name's sake; because Your lovingkindness is good, deliver me; for I am afflicted and needy, and my heart is wounded within me... With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the LORD; and in the midst of many I will praise Him.  For He stands at the right hand of the needy to save him from those who judge his soul.

There are some who seem to always see the negative side of life, and if we aren't careful, anyone of us can easily fall into this kind of thinking and living.  If we stay here too long, soon everything is bad, everyone is against us, and the only hope is "the second coming".  I dare say, much of the evangelical world has fallen into this terrible morass of pessimism, where the problems of the world are impossible.  I think we as Christians, especially North American Christians, are suffering from a terrible eye problem.  We don't see what is there because we suffer not persecution, but blindness.  We talk about God, but we don't see Him, for, if we saw Him, our heart language would move from an I (the play on words is intentional) problem to His profound presence. This is what happens with the Psalmist who genuinely feeling the wounds this world can inflict, all of a sudden sees;  He's right there, "at the right hand of the needy".  With this joyful knowledge, his language changes from "poor me" to "praise Him":  With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the LORD; and in the midst of many I will praise Him. We desperately need eye surgery; the kind that removes the "I" and causes us to see Him; where, like Steven in Acts 7, under deadly opposition, instead of the nearsightedness we have suffered with, we now see the unseen.  Look at what Luke says about Steven, as Steven's case worsened:  "But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God," (Acts 7:55-56).  Better yet, where Steven saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father, look again at what the Psalmist sees  "For He stands at the right hand of the needy to save him from those who judge his soul."  God's people see well!  They see Faithful Presence!  And "If God be for us, who can be against us".  Our outlook has changed.  Now, because we aren't so taken up with who is against us, we aren't so heavy into who we're against. Can you see that?

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