1 I have a message from God in my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
2 In their own eyes they flatter themselves
too much to detect or hate their sin.
3 The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;
they fail to act wisely or do good.
4 Even on their beds they plot evil;
they commit themselves to a sinful course
and do not reject what is wrong.
Well ok….it’s nice of David to write
about me. This hits a little close to home but usually the psalm discussions of
the wicked do that. Ok so all kidding aside, it really is small passages like
this that do give me hope. He says that they can’t “detect…their sin.” Though I
can honestly say I struggle with hating my sin in the fullest sense of the word
but I can say I fuuuuullly doubt most any Christian that says they do. But he
says they can’t detect their sin…I can say that the Spirit has done a fantastic
job pointing that out in my life. I really hope that what I know of is all of
it….who knows…maybe it isn’t but it is, as David says elsewhere in the psalms, “my
sin is ever before my eyes.” I’m not going to say verse 3 and 4 are not me,
because they totally are, but I do hope that they are reducing and lessening. I
do fight it with what meager heart I have but I can say there is just no hope
for me in that….so there is this.
5 Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
This is the only hope I have. I think
that, since I see my sin and I fail (and we really all will by ourselves), that
I will cling to the love of the Lord. Not to the justice, not to the glory of
God but His love. I can say that His love is priceless because He has shown me
how broken I am but then has poured out His grace and love to me. I can’t hold
onto anything else but the truth of His unfailing love. My favorite Spurgeon
quote is
“The justice [and wrath] of God is sheathed in the jewel
encrusted scabbard of His love.”
Though my reformed brothers and
sisters love and exalt many other aspects of God’s nature, all I can say is
that those things, in my experience, push us to fall on our knees before Him
for His love. There is nothing that so endears me to Him like His love. There
is nothing but His love that makes me sing so loud, and transforms my life.
There is nothing more precious, glorious, or amazing than His love. I really
think His love is the comfort that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7. I find no hope for change or a future outside that. I
can ever grow to be better or like Him outside of His love. It is my main
motivation. Yet I still pray with David
10
Continue your
love to those who know you, your righteousness to the[m].
Lord please continue your love and
uphold me in Your righteousness because I do not have in me. Make me better and more like You because I can't do it...I do not have it in me. Make my evil and sin good as only You can, because I do not have it in me. All I have in me is rotten. Please make me clean. Make me a better son in Your household, because the only thing good in me....is You....Amen.
In
Christ,
paul
music for the week (as usual: no claim of being not "offensive" but it is really good):
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