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Lowell Brueckner

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April 23 – 29 Daily Meditations in the Psalms

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 April 23

Psalms 36:1-3

1.  The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
2.  For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.
3.  The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.

   There is nothing about an unregenerate man that is credible. “The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit” (verse 3). As he sees himself in his own eyes, so he will communicate with his lips. He will attempt to convey a flattered image of himself. How can you believe him? Hear what the friendly neighbor says about you in the privacy of his own home, when your dog digs up his flower garden. The cheerful words of the corner grocer are for his good customers, the ones who feed his family and help him fulfill his life’s dreams. See the amicable smile erase from the face of the commentator as the TV camera swings around and he is off the air. Come backstage and watch the preacher/entertainer change his demeanor as he discusses business with his staff.
     “He hath left off to be wise, and do good.” Outside of heart-felt, God-breathed Christianity, there has been no real wisdom or goodness in this world since Adam. How can we think anything good can be derived from it? The “all truth is God’s truth” adage is subject to how one defines the word “truth”. It is better to start with the true God and learn truth from His word, the Bible, than to start with that which society may call truth and try to find something of God in it. The world’s society left wisdom and goodness far behind when it forsook obedience to Him.


April 24

Psalms 36:4a

4.  He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

     God judges thoughts and intents, as well as deeds. The most wonderful deeds can come from the most horrible motives. Most pleasant words can hide the most terrible thoughts. Saul, the king, was one whose words and thoughts did not coincide. Saul said David could have his daughter as wife, but Saul thought to make David fall (see 1 Samuel 18:22, 25). The sharp sword of the word of God penetrates the deep, unseen regions and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. He who handles the word of God is expected to go beneath the apparent and superficial and reveal the secrets of the heart, if he expects the unconverted to confess, “God is in you, of a truth.”



April 25

Psalms 36:1-5, 9

1.  The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
2.  For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.
3.  The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.
4.  He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.
5.  Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
9.  For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

     Here is another lesson to learn about those, whom the Psalmist calls wicked – “He abhorreth not evil.” Tolerance is the name of the game – tolerance for himself and for everyone else, while the earth becomes too corrupt for habitation and God’s cup of wrath fills to the brim. His conscience is in hibernation, buried deep below layers of delusion and disobedience to God. Christian, don’t join him here with a positive attitude and big-hearted good will. People are to know true Christians for their intolerance to evil, as well as their love for good. Jesus Himself “loved righteousness and hated iniquity”. One day, earth’s leaders will cry for the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. The loving Lamb abhors evil. Wake up the sinner’s sleeping conscience. Bring in God’s commandments and let sin be known by its name again. Carry the bright searchlight of honesty and be able to say, as Jesus, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.”
     “In Thy light shall we see light”. The Samaritan woman recognized the Christ, when He exposed her sin. It was the result of contacting the fountain of life. The beginning of life, in any person or situation, is the end of deceit. It may be unpleasant, even painful, but blessed is the man who has the veil lifted, with which the king of darkness had him blinded in comfortable delusion, and has his eyes exposed to the Sun of Righteousness. Let Christ come to the sinner, spoil his self-flattery, reveal the hateful state that incites divine wrath, rebuke his foolish language, uncover his tolerance for evil and let him experience, for once, the fear of God. To do that is merciful and faithful. The Samaritan woman, with a true heart, rejoiced in finally being discovered for whom she really was.


April 26

Psalms 36:5, 9

5.  Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
9.  For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

     The light-hearted pretender would have us pass quickly over exposure of sin and get on to more pleasant subjects. He may have hardened his conscience enough to allow him to sit under an attack against iniquity for a time, as long as the theme presently changes to the positive aspects of faith. Otherwise, he will take his leave, before his resistance turns to depression and despair, his weightless heart not able to bear brutal reality. However, when divine life brings light into the human soul, it first reveals his sin, before it goes on to other truth. Let me quickly add that when the fountain of life, Jesus Christ, is at work in the heart, He will never bypass hidden sin. Thereby, we can perceive what comes from a heavenly source and what does not.
     The revelation of sin leads to quickening action: “And you hath He QUICKENED who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:5). It is quickening mercy, as stated in verse 5: “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens.” Blind Bartimaeus cried, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Jesus could see his obvious need, but He gives the opportunity for the beggar to express it. He puts aside the temporal quests for morsels of food and money and Bartimaeus aims for the all-encompassing necessity, “Lord, that I might receive my sight.” Life brought light. He saw and he followed Jesus.


April 27

Psalms 36:5, 9

5.  Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
9.  For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

     I wonder how many spiritual beggars there are, whom Christians have tried to make disciples of Christ, but who have not seen themselves in their sinful rags. No transfer of source has been made in their lives. We are frustrated that they still hold out their hands to the beggarly elements of the world. They are still dependent on the same principles and people as always for their source of living. Rather than being brought to utter hopelessness and helplessness, they have been led through a type of spiritual rehabilitation program and pumped up with self-confidence and self-motivation. They have one need – the mercy of spiritual light.
     “Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.” The best friend of David, the king, must have been Nathan, the prophet. David had sinned terribly, but somehow managed to go on with life, justify himself and live under a delusion. There was no future for David or Israel in this condition, although there was nothing to indicate imminent disaster. Then a faithful friend, under the inspiration of Him whose faithfulness reaches to the clouds, pointed an accusing, revealing index finger at the king’s nose and, in no uncertain terms, declared, “Thou art the man.”  The Proverbs tell us, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend”, and David was wounded. The comforts of his delusion were removed and his spirit was broken. Psalms 51 describes in detail the agonies, which came as a result of the revelation light of a faithful God, shining upon David’s sin. It was the only way he could see his way back to the fountain of life.


April 28

Psalms 36:6

6.  Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.

     Who was it that wrote of the eternal, unchanging hills? People live and die, towns are born and end in ruins, fields are cleared, hollows are filled, but mountains go on unchangingly.
     The highest, snow-covered peaks are not difficult to see. Though low-lying clouds, smog or fog may blot them from our view, they stand true and fixed behind it all. The present blindness of moral decay, low standards and compromise has not changed God’s ways at all. “In the beginning it was not so,” Jesus said and He who is the beginning is also the end. His high, white peak of righteousness will stand until judgment day. All other attributes are subject to God’s righteousness. There is no peace until it kisses righteousness; no mercy until it meets with unchanging truth. Love is powerless to manifest itself, until it can do so in righteousness. God remained just in order to be the justifier.
    


April 29

Psalms 36:6

6.  Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.

      Jesus loved righteousness. We should hunger and thirst after it, esteem and maintain it at all costs. The Holy Wind from heaven came to blow away all that blocks our vision from seeing the great eternal mountains of righteousness. He sweeps away the fogs of human reasoning, social opinions and situational ethics to convince the world of heaven’s values.
     “Thy judgments are a great deep”, the Psalmist states. They are preservative in nature. In order to carry them out, God says, “I create good and I create evil.” When all is said and done, we will find that those awful “acts of God”, which have shaken the earth and men’s souls, have actually kept the planet and its inhabitants from self-destruction. Here again, man needs his eyes opened to the depths of evil inherent in his sin, that he might rightly understand and receive the wisdom of God’s judgment.
     Sin is a horror, which is beyond our capability to comprehend. Its consequences, nothing less than the judgments of God, help to open our eyes to its putridness. We could begin with the deformities and corruption upon unborn babies due to the lusts and sinful habits of their parents. We could discuss syphilis and AIDS, major health problems in the world today. Do not forget lung cancer caused by the lust for tobacco and heart disease, some of which is brought on by the inordinate desire for food.


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