A person with a perverse heart does not prosper. He whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble. ~Proverbs 17:20
Come my children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. ~Psalm 34:11-14
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek piece and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” ~1 Peter 3:8-12
This is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure. In vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued. I have been punished every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed Your children. When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their final destiny. Surely You place them on slippery ground; You cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! As a dream when one awakes, so when You arise, O Lord, You will despise them as fantasies. ~Psalm 7312-20
“How long O Lord, how long?” We were betrayed once, in a former ministry. The betrayal was so complete that it resulted in the termination of that ministry. We knew that there were many lies being told about us, mostly by one person, but we couldn’t get anyone in the ministry or those over us, to believe us. It came on fast and it was over quickly and we were left, outside, not being sure how it had all come about. I have to admit that Psalm 73 type thinking was pretty prominent in our hearts as we wrestled with where God was in all of it. It was hard to hold on to faith in the unseen when the seen was so real and so painful.
So many scriptures lead us to think that God will rescue swiftly. He will not let His children suffer too much, He will swoop in at the last minute, just like in the movies and set things right, the way they should be. The villain will get his and the victims will be victorious. As we’ve said so many times before, it is so easy to focus only on the here and now and not take history into account or remain patient into the future.
We lose heart because we want things set right now. We are supposed to be consoled by the idea that the last chapter hasn’t been written yet. But watching the evil person continue to get away with their evil makes it hard for us to wait for the day when everything will eventually be all right. We want evil to stop NOW to prevent any more innocents from being harmed. It is so hard to remain patient.
“A person with a perverse heart does not prosper. He whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.” Solomon just forgot one word at the end, “eventually.” This is one of those times that requires us to lean into the promises of God. Do we believe He is truth? Do we believe that He hates evil? This is a time that calls us to believe what we do not see.
I know that, in our case, we kept thinking, surely, God will rescue us. He has blessed what we are doing so much, and things are really turning around. We just couldn’t believe that God wouldn’t save it. We couldn’t imagine what a bigger picture could possibly be! On some levels, we still don’t know. That destructive person is still out there. He has, moved on to other places, and still doing well, as far as we know. He is no longer with that ministry for his own reasons, but otherwise, he is doing fine.
However, what has been sweet is reconnecting with many that we left behind. We’ve been able to rebuild relationships and they have been able to apologize and confess to us that they now know the truth. It has been an interesting journey and a time of growth for us. The rescue never came in the way we had hoped, but maturity and trust have taken place that we may not have experienced otherwise. We have also been able to pray for the person who caused the trouble, and forgive him, which also took time and space for us to do well.
It has also been sweet to have God provide for us and move us into a new ministry without having to physically relocate far from where our kids had settled. We have made new friends and been blessed with new opportunities to serve, which is not to say there have not also been new challenges. Thank God for growth and maturity!
It is interesting that the Psalmist mentions that he saw the truth when he entered the sanctuary. This is where we belong always when we walk through a hard time. Unfortunately, so many give up on their time with the Lord when they are betrayed or walk through other difficulties. However, that’s when we need the Lord to speak into our lives more than ever. We need His perspective because He is over it all while we are feeling our way, along the ground, in the fog. We need to cling to His promises and let them remind us of His love and reassure us that, He’s got this.
The one with the perverse heart, if he does not repent, will not succeed in the end. He will have to give an accounting. May this sober us to reflect on our own thoughts and actions. We too will give an accounting of our own. Perhaps we have caused trouble for someone else and we too need to repent. Stay close to God, stay humble and keep short accounts with Him. He is faithful and will keep His promises.
Prayer: Father, I am so glad to know that I can hold Your hand and You hold me tight. No matter how scary the world gets, I fear no evil for You are with me, even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death! Thank You for so many good and faithful promises that I can hold onto and believe in. In Jesus’ name amen.
Song: Hold on To the Promises
Come my children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. ~Psalm 34:11-14
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek piece and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” ~1 Peter 3:8-12
This is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure. In vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued. I have been punished every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed Your children. When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their final destiny. Surely You place them on slippery ground; You cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! As a dream when one awakes, so when You arise, O Lord, You will despise them as fantasies. ~Psalm 7312-20
“How long O Lord, how long?” We were betrayed once, in a former ministry. The betrayal was so complete that it resulted in the termination of that ministry. We knew that there were many lies being told about us, mostly by one person, but we couldn’t get anyone in the ministry or those over us, to believe us. It came on fast and it was over quickly and we were left, outside, not being sure how it had all come about. I have to admit that Psalm 73 type thinking was pretty prominent in our hearts as we wrestled with where God was in all of it. It was hard to hold on to faith in the unseen when the seen was so real and so painful.
So many scriptures lead us to think that God will rescue swiftly. He will not let His children suffer too much, He will swoop in at the last minute, just like in the movies and set things right, the way they should be. The villain will get his and the victims will be victorious. As we’ve said so many times before, it is so easy to focus only on the here and now and not take history into account or remain patient into the future.
We lose heart because we want things set right now. We are supposed to be consoled by the idea that the last chapter hasn’t been written yet. But watching the evil person continue to get away with their evil makes it hard for us to wait for the day when everything will eventually be all right. We want evil to stop NOW to prevent any more innocents from being harmed. It is so hard to remain patient.
“A person with a perverse heart does not prosper. He whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.” Solomon just forgot one word at the end, “eventually.” This is one of those times that requires us to lean into the promises of God. Do we believe He is truth? Do we believe that He hates evil? This is a time that calls us to believe what we do not see.
I know that, in our case, we kept thinking, surely, God will rescue us. He has blessed what we are doing so much, and things are really turning around. We just couldn’t believe that God wouldn’t save it. We couldn’t imagine what a bigger picture could possibly be! On some levels, we still don’t know. That destructive person is still out there. He has, moved on to other places, and still doing well, as far as we know. He is no longer with that ministry for his own reasons, but otherwise, he is doing fine.
However, what has been sweet is reconnecting with many that we left behind. We’ve been able to rebuild relationships and they have been able to apologize and confess to us that they now know the truth. It has been an interesting journey and a time of growth for us. The rescue never came in the way we had hoped, but maturity and trust have taken place that we may not have experienced otherwise. We have also been able to pray for the person who caused the trouble, and forgive him, which also took time and space for us to do well.
It has also been sweet to have God provide for us and move us into a new ministry without having to physically relocate far from where our kids had settled. We have made new friends and been blessed with new opportunities to serve, which is not to say there have not also been new challenges. Thank God for growth and maturity!
It is interesting that the Psalmist mentions that he saw the truth when he entered the sanctuary. This is where we belong always when we walk through a hard time. Unfortunately, so many give up on their time with the Lord when they are betrayed or walk through other difficulties. However, that’s when we need the Lord to speak into our lives more than ever. We need His perspective because He is over it all while we are feeling our way, along the ground, in the fog. We need to cling to His promises and let them remind us of His love and reassure us that, He’s got this.
The one with the perverse heart, if he does not repent, will not succeed in the end. He will have to give an accounting. May this sober us to reflect on our own thoughts and actions. We too will give an accounting of our own. Perhaps we have caused trouble for someone else and we too need to repent. Stay close to God, stay humble and keep short accounts with Him. He is faithful and will keep His promises.
Prayer: Father, I am so glad to know that I can hold Your hand and You hold me tight. No matter how scary the world gets, I fear no evil for You are with me, even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death! Thank You for so many good and faithful promises that I can hold onto and believe in. In Jesus’ name amen.
Song: Hold on To the Promises
Comments
Post a Comment