It is so unfair!

 I had a conversation this week with some friends in which we were lamenting the increased dishonesty in our society, dishonesty that is known and accepted with nothing being done (so it seems) about it.  Honesty no longer seems to be the best policy.  Consequently, in some settings, hones people are a great disadvantage.  This has been the case for a long time, we all know, but it seems like in recent years it has become more "acceptable."  It is frustrating to the one who is trying to live a godly, Christlike life to be thwarted in your effort to be honest, but that is increasingly often the case.

This morning when I read Psalm 141, I immediately thought of that conversation.

Psalm 141:5 yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.

David had a lot of trouble that came from wicked people who for one reason or another wanted to harm him and destroy the good he had done or was trying to do.  He was determined to not become like them.  His prayer often included words such as found earlier in this psalm (verse 4): “Do not let me incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies!”  In fact, not only did David pray for his own spiritual protection, he went so far as to pray against the evil deeds going on around him.  I thought of a conversation I had yesterday with some friends about the unfairness we see in our own 2021 society where being honest in one’s dealing so often put you at a great disadvantage.  It is hard to remain honest when you see those who are dishonest gain what looks like the advantage, and nothing is done about it.  How can a Christian manage in such a situation?  I think I see at least a partial answer to that question in this psalm.,  You pray two things regularly: 1) pray that you will not compromise what you know God wants you to be and do as a child of His to be a good example to those around you, and 2) you pray that He will thwart the efforts of those who are dishonest.  We cannot control what others do like we can control our own actions, so we do what we can and leave the rest in God’s hands, just as David did in Psalm 141, we pray against the evil deeds of those around us while we pray for their spiritual renewal.

Keeping myself

Joshua 6:18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction.

God’s command to Joshua and the children of Israel was to not leave anything that lived and breathed when they took over the Promised Land because of their vulnerability to being led astray from God and His Word of commandment for a pure and holy life.  From the remaining part of this verse we know that to leave anything would bring trouble to them.  God knew how easily the people could be led astray.  As I read this verse this morning I was reminded that I too must keep myself from anything that is a part of the sinful world that might lead me astray in my walk with God.   In the words of the Apostle John, I must not love the world, neither things of the world because if I do love the world, the love of the Father is not in me.  This was true for Joshua and his time, and it is true for me in my time. 

People pleaser?

Galatians 1:10b If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul the Apostle learned “the hard way”, to so speak, that his salvation from sin did not come by merely obeying a set of rules.  It took a special revelation from God to get him to see and understand that salvation is a matter of the heart and spirit rather than one of physical and mental effort.  He could not truly serve God until he understood that principle.  For a people-pleaser such as me, this is an important lesson to learn.  As someone whose personality makes me want to be and do things to make the people around me approve of me and like me, I need a constant reminder that my first and foremost responsibility is to please God.  In a society that is growing further and further from godly principles, it becomes more and more challenging to stand for the Truth of the gospel and be a strong servant of Christ as Paul became, so this verse is a powerful message to me personally.

Strong talk to ministers

Ezekiel 13:5 You have not gone up to the breaches in the wall to repair it for the people of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord.

This is certainly a scathing condemnation of spiritual leaders who do not do what they could have and should have done to prepare the people under their care for facing spiritual battles.  Through the years I have observed this kind of minister over and over, in various settings, and have often thought of their spiritual negligence as particularly odorous and this verse reminded me of them.  There are those on television and/or the public eye who fall into this category but I also have seen this on the more personal, local level as Russ and I have visited various churches.  One vivid memory I have is of a minister of a liberal church near us who was visiting with us in our home after we had taken him a meal when he was ill.  After we had talked for a while about God and living the Christian life, he made this comment as he was leaving, "I feel like a Volkswagon with my message of God compared to your Cadillac."  He went on to explain that he had seen and heard from us something more powerful and meaningful spiritually than he had to offer to his congregation.  We know that those ministers who fall into this category of those who have not brought people a true message from God will have to answer to God, but in the meantime, I can only trust God’s justice and mercy to bring a true message to the people under those ministers’ care who are truly seeking to know and grow.

No compromise

II Chronicles 33:16b-17 [He] … told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.  The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

After King Manasseh’s wickedness and repentance, God brought restoration to him, and that is when he began leading the Israelites out of their spiritual wickedness.  The damage was not easily undone, as seen in this verse.  It appears that the people tried to compromise rather than make a clean break with their waywardness.  They kept the “high places” where the sacrifices to idols had been made, and used them to worship God.  Even though God had commanded them to only worship Him at the tabernacle and had commanded that all “high places” be destroyed, they continued to use them.  It is so easy for us to compromise the un-compromisable things unless we determine to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and thus protect ourselves from such compromises.  It is just too dangerous, spiritually, to do so.